As a geek, I am required by law (I think) to be into stereo gear and music. In my many years, I’ve learned a great deal about what it takes to reproduce very high quality audio and that it can be done at a reasonable cost. Yes, you can easily spend $100,000 on an audio rig (take glance at any issue of Sterophile or www.sterophile.com), but it’s not necessary. You will spend $2,000-$5,000 or more – depending your your resourcefulness and creativity – so be prepared. Take it a step at a time and enjoy the process.

With a well configured system, you should be able to close your eyes and pick out the position of individual instruments in the original recording session and hear all the detail and harmonics. Yes, a stereo system can be that good.

Here are the key components and related comments:

Speakers. Put most of your money here. No idea what to buy? Get an equipment review issue of Sterophile and buy as high in their rankings as you can. In metro-Atlanta, there are a few high-end audio stores where you can listen to some REAL speakers. (I have Martin-Logan electrostatic speakers. They are picky about setup, but they are nothing short of awesome.)

The preamp is the next most important component. Get something with one or more tubes. Yes, tubes. If you go all solid-state/digital for your electronics, you are likely to end up with a system that is edgy and fatiguing to listen to. A tube preamp adds smoothness and harmonics that return realism to your music. You are always safe to use the Sterophile list mentioned above. But here is an alternative: In the last few years, a cottage industry has developed of small entrepreneurs selling one or two tube preamps that sound amazing – for not much money. Check out “Indeed” , “Bravo” and other tube preamps on EBay. These simple, made in Taiwan units sell for about $100 and will add tremendously to your system. (See pic at the top.) You’ll want to try “tube rolling” too (swapping tubes for a different sound).

You will need a great power-amplifier. Here again, there are many good possibilities. Go for higher power than you think you need. You’ll get solid bass and clean mids and highs in return. I use a classic “Acurus” amp built in the 1990s. It delivers a solid 250 watts per channel at 8 ohms and is a beautiful sounding amp that is still in high demand. There are lots of classics out there – high-end amps a few years old that sell at a tremendous discount. Power amps are pretty simple devices – so you have a lot of latitude here. Again, if all else fails, take a look at Stereophile.

Source equipment – get the best CD/DVD device you can or use a streaming source like an Apple TV box or similar. Always use a “lossless” music format as a source – never MP3 (which is highly compressed and incomplete.)

Cables are also an important component – better cables “sound” better than cheap ones. Be careful here – big box retailers will try to up-sell you. They make huge profits on cables. Start with moderate price patch and speaker cables and see how they sound. Borrow cables, swap with friends, etc. Experiment. The differences will amaze!

In all of the above, you’ll need to experiment and tinker, tinker, tinker. Your overall objective should be to reproduce as closely as possible the original live (or studio) event.

Music Choices

Everyone has their own tastes in music. I happen to prefer powerful instrumentals for the most part. Check out three of my favorite artists if you have never heard of them (samples are on Amazon, etc. You can read about them in Wikipedia. Interesting.) All three will adequately challenge any stereo system!

E.S. Postumous – start with Nara on Unearthed
Paul Schwartz – start with Ebben or Aria 2
Mars Laser – start with anything on The Eleventh Hour

Enjoy!

Questions?

It’s New Years and time for all those soon to be forgotten resolutions. Want to do something different this year that will REALLY change your life?

OK – no yawning now – you need to get serious about Goal Setting and Exercise. I can help you with both and make them simple and doable!

Goal Setting

Madge and I have been goal setters for a long time. We meet periodically to discuss goals and take a look at where we are on the goals we have already set. Are we perfect at this? No. Nobody is. But depending on how seriously we focus on them, we achieve 50-80% of our goals every year. Doesn’t sound impressive? Well most Americans achieve 100% of no goals – so I think we are doing ok.

(Madge and I became debt free years ago through goal setting.)

How to Set and Achieve Meaningful Goals

You and your spouse should sit quietly and brainstorm what you would like to accomplish in the coming year. If this is your first time doing real goal-setting, limit yourself to 10 big goals. Here are some sample categories and goals:

Financial

Our net worth has risen 15% in 2012.
We are debt free in 2012.

Spiritual

I have read the entire Bible in 2012.

Career

I have improved my value to my company by 25% in 2012.
I have taken two classes in 2012 that improved my value to my company.

Family

Our family met for one hour every week to discuss goals.
We watched no more than 1 hour of TV per day in 2012.

Leisure

We spent a week at the beach without incurring debt in 2012.

Health

I spent 2 hours, 3 days a week, on my treadmill in 2012. (Am I crazy? See below.)

Notice that goals are written AS IF THEY HAVE BEEN ACCOMPLISHED. Once you have a good list, print it and post it on the refrigerator. Try hard to meet regularly (once a week is ideal, once a month will do) to discuss progress. Feel free to add, modify, or delete goals as seems appropriate.

Does this work? The mere fact that you have established goals and take time to discuss them will set your subconscious in motion – you will accomplish a significant number of your goals. Try it! Test me!

Exercise

OK – let’s be honest, most Americans are way overweight and not very healthy. Exercise is one way to turn this around. But exercise for most is a pain, boring, and takes too much time! So how about something REALLY EASY that REALLY WORKS?

Some years ago, researchers at the Mayo Clinic determined that simply walking a few hours a week makes a HUGE difference in weight and health. I happen to be a BIG FAN of walking on my treadmill while I work. Huh? It’s easy! All you need is any old treadmill (easy to get via Craigslist for $100 or less) and a work surface that you build or buy.

(You can add a work surface to any treadmill with scraps of wood.)

You get on the treadmill, set it for a comfortable walking speed, and work (write, make calls, read, etc.) Your body will adapt within minutes and you will forget you are walking. So you are doubly productive – you are getting healthy (losing weight) while getting some things done. Perfect! Easy! Try it! Test me!

(Commercial work surfaces are also available. www.trekdesk.com )

Goal setting web sites might be helpful to you. For example: http://www.smart-goal-setting-tips.com/index.html This year, do something that will really change your life: GOAL SETTING.

(Yes, there is a ham radio station on the International Space Station. Many astronauts are ham radio operators.)

For the uninitiated, ham radio involves the use of various radios, antennas and other technology to contact other ham radio operators around the world – and in space – as a technical challenge and a way to spread good will and camaraderie. It also happens that ham radio provides a means for emergency communications in all kinds of situations.

(Picture from when I had hair. I built my first ham station – remember Heathkit?)

I got involved with ham radio long, long, ago. I started with an old Hallicrafters short-wave receiver (S-38B) in the 1960′s – listening to international broadcast stations from all over the world – including the Soviet Union, China, and many more. I collected QSL cards – colorful confirmation cards that radio hobbyists exchange with each other to acknowledge contact. My attempt to get a QSL card from the Chinese international broadcaster resulted in a large box of communist propaganda arriving in the mail – not exactly what I wanted!

(A 1950’s vintage S-38B – my first radio)

My first ham radio license was earned while I was in junior high and through the years was upgraded to an “Advanced Class” which is what I currently hold. My “call” is WB4SPA.

Some might wonder if ham radio is a dying hobby – what with all of the computer and internet technology available today. But the fact is, ham radio licenses are at an all-time high – probably due to the removal of the morse-code requirement in the license tests and the fact that modern technology has made ham radio equipment less expensive (at least to start).

While I’m not nearly as active as I used to be, owing to work, family, and other commitments, I still try to stay involved. Besides the excitement of making contact with others around the world and keeping my skills sharp, emergency preparedness is a motivation too. If you look at any major disaster anywhere in the world, the first communications are always from ham radio operators. When TV, radio, cellphone, etc. facilities fail or are destroyed, ham radio still works. In my years I’ve handled a good bit of “traffic” from disaster sites, passing messages to authorities or to families worried about the health and welfare of loved ones. It’s a good and important service that ham radio provides for the benefit of all.

(With an ability to quickly bring up world-wide communications in a disaster, ham radio plays a vital emergency role.)

If you want to learn more about ham radio, feel free to contact me – or visit www.arrl.org

Madge to the rescue! I’ve been looking for a smaller, lighter, computer controlled alternative for a while, but just had not stumbled on the right ‘scope. Call it a late birthday present or an early Christmas present, Madge found an incredible deal on a Celestron Nexstar 102GT at Costco. It’s street price has been around $400 – but I guess Costco picked up all the inventory and has been selling them at $159! Unbelievable! This is not a toy, but a reasonably serious telescope good enough for a serious amateur. It’s a computer controlled 4″ refractor with a nice, stable tripod and all the important accessories. With its handheld controller you simply select the object of interest and the scope quickly slews to it.

(That’s the 102GT in the foreground and the much heavier and larger Super C8 behind it.)

I’ve done a good bit of side-by-side observing with the two telescopes and find the image quality of the 102GT nearly as good as the Super C8 (which has a reputation for high quality astronomical images). Viewing the moon, Jupiter and it’s moons, star-clusters and more, I found the 102GT images to be very sharp and of high contrast, even in my light-polluted home location. Plus the 102GT folds to put in a car, weighs about 20 pounds, and takes all of 10 minutes to set up and align. It comes with 5 oculars and all the other accessories needed to jump right in to a quality observing experience. I find it a pleasure to use – it’s nice being able to focus on the astronomy – and not all the hardware.

If you know a budding astronomer, you can hardly go wrong with this scope – particularly at it’s very low price.

I recently attended a meeting at which a group of educators were discussing STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) and how to recruit qualified teachers and raise the performance of current Georgia classroom teachers. In this meeting, a good bit of attention was given to all of the online training resources that are being developed or are already in place.

I raised the question, “How will teachers be motivated to put time and energy into learning new things via these online resources – to improve their skills as teachers and improve classroom outcomes?” Silence.

Let us first agree that their are many excellent, motivated teachers who gladly put in extra effort to be the best they can be in the classroom. They are not the concern. It’s the other end of the bell-curve that worries me. There is a reason Georgia has a 35% dropout rate and 490 math SAT average – part of it is teachers that see their work as just a job or frankly who are not sufficiently skilled or motivated to be in the classroom anyway.

Anyone who has worked with Georgia teachers for any length of time will have encountered individuals with difficulty forming a syntactically correct sentence, frequently misspell words, still don’t know the difference in left and right-click, etc. They leave one wondering how they made it through college and into the teaching profession. How does one motivate these teachers to put in the extra work (time) to upgrade their skills? I’m asking the question – I don’t pretend to have the answer.

It is a critical question.

I do know that we must convince underperforming teachers that it is in everyone’s interest that they do their part to help turn our system of education around. As we move into the age of wireless devices in the hands of every child, teachers will be called upon to teach in new ways. Motivating kids and helping them become education consumers (responsible for their own learning) will be chief among their new roles.

How do we make this happen? Or do we simply continue to consign 35% or more of our children to lives of mediocrity and want? I heard an interview with Condoleezza Rice over the weekend in which she commented that public education has reached the point where the success or failure of a child (and ultimately adult) can be predicted by their zip code.

Why aren’t Americans outraged by this? Oh that’s right, American Idol is on…

Question: What is the HS dropout rate in Georgia? About 35%!

Question: What is the average Math SAT score in Georgia? About 490!

Keep doing what we’re doing? Are you kidding me?

Over the last several weeks and months, I’ve heard lots of questions and concerns about putting tablet devices in the hands of kids. Frankly, most comments come in the form of objections – “here is why we can’t or won’t do it.” In this post, I’d like to list some of the more pertinent objections and address them. Your comments are always welcome.

Objection: We can’t afford to put a tablet device into the hands of each child.
Overruled: Stop spending money on expensive PCs, the software for them, and the support organization that tries to keep them running. That will help. Supplement that with grants, SPLOST, and other sources. You still may not have enough. You may have to roll out tablets a grade at a time, a school at a time, etc. It probably needs to happen slowly anyway. Just because you can’t supply everyone at once, don’t use that as an excuse not to serve anyone. BYOT/BYOD might be useful and help the process. Look, we KNOW that 2 or 3 PCs in a classroom or a lab-full here and there HAS NOT, in general, improved outcomes, retention, etc. Why keep doing the same thing? This is a radical shift in the way that you do business. Plan accordingly.

Objection: Teachers will need to be retrained.
Sustained: Yes, this will be the single biggest snag in doing a large tablet deployment. This is fundamental reform. Teachers will need to get off the stage and learn to be coaches in an environment where differentiation and project based learning rules. Further, teachers will need to get up to speed on apps and web resources and be able to demonstrate use. Some won’t like it. Some won’t make it.

Objection: Students would be better off with a Windows laptop or netbook.
Overruled: There are a number of reasons a tablet is a better choice for students including being more compact, lighter, no exposed keyboard, better as a book reader, instant on and ready, etc. Apps for tablets offer productivity tools, broad coverage of education topics, and connect easily to web content. Yes, you CAN type on them. I’m doing this WordPress blog on one.

Objection: Some kids won’t be able to take them home – for safety or other reasons.
Sustained: As much as I would like for every kid to have their tablet 24/7, that may not be possible. OK, move on. Have them pick them up at the beginning of the day and turn them in at he end of the day – or whatever variation is required.

Objection: Kids may not have network access at home.
Overruled: That is the beauty of a tablet device. They can be loaded with cheap and free education apps, students can pre-download files before they leave school, etc. Also, $10 home Internet is now widely available. That might help. Free wifi is available in many locations including libraries, downtown areas, McDonalds, etc. Get creative.

Objection: Tablet devices are fragile.
Sustained: Build quality varies and screens are always an issue. They will slide off desks and kids will drop them. Fortunately, there are cases at reasonable prices that are designed to provide robust protection. Think OtterBox and equivalents. Plan on stocking spares so that if breakage occurs, it’s a quick matter to get a student (or teacher) back in business. I’d go for 5% spares as a start.

Objection: We will need to upgrade our network infrastructure (especially wifi.)
Sustained: Plan for at least 25% of your students actively using wifi at any given time. That may mean a significant upgrade is needed. Fortunately, wifi N is now widely available and offers far greater speed, capacity, and range than the legacy G you may have now. Careful: Put N in the 5 GHz band. Cost? See above objection.

Objection: We won’t be able to control security.
Overruled: Apple, for instance offers the iPhone Utility and MDM in $49 OSX Server. 3rd parties are falling all over themselves to provide security/management solutions for Android and iOS. For wifi, put up a VLAN for student access that is filtered and gives no access to important systems (SIS for example.)

Objection: Students will abuse the tablets
Sustained: There is no perfect solution. Don’t let the troublesome 1 or 5% spoil the tremendous possibilities tablets bring for the rest of your student population. If teachers and administrators are well trained and policies well thought-out and written, abuse can be minimized. Given the privilege of having and using a wireless mobile device, students have been observed policing each other.

Objection: We’ll need to retrain our support staff.
Sustained: Supporting tablets is very different from supporting PCs. For one thing, it’s a simpler environment. But yes, tech folks will need training on iOS or Android, minor configuration and troubleshooting training, etc.

Take-Away

Lets be clear, making the move to tablets will take time, money, policy changes, experimentation, and lots of work. But I repeat, what we have been doing for the last 20 years, in general, HAS NOT worked (yes, I know there are exceptions.) As a technology person and citizen, I don’t want to look back in another 5 or 10 years and again see that we have made no real improvement in achievement and retention. I hope you agree.

I’ve written and spoken a great deal about the REAL paradigm shift that is now underway in K12; the end of the PC era and the arrival of real one-to-one via wireless mobile devices. I don’t keep it a secret; I’d love to see a tablet device in the hands of every student. Let me explain why and talk about the bumby road we all face to make it happen.

Why I Love Tablets for K-12

Imagine, for a moment, you are back in high-school. Maybe you were lucky enough to be in a great school, with great teachers, and a home environment that encouraged exploration and learning. If so, you were one of a very small minority – you occupied the upper end of bell curve that, in the lower standard deviations, represents a whole lot of students in lesser situations. Many of those “lesser” students, if they graduate, will go on to low-income, bleak, low-prospects futures. For those students, particularly in bad schools or with bad teachers, can you not imagine they would be better off with a tablet device in hand?

At least with a tablet, there is a chance that a students future can be salvaged – if they are motivated enough to take responsibility for their own learning and seek out education resources via their tablet. (Ahhh, a new role for teachers!) Between apps for every imaginable topic and great web resources like kahnacademy, iTunesU, infoplease, virtual schools, etc. it IS possible for a student, even in a tough situation, to succeed.

I recently attended a conference at which I polled teachers to see which knew about the web resources I mentioned above – to recommend to their students as resources for help. Most had no idea what those things are. How is that possible?

You mean we have bad schools and bad teachers that are permanently damaging students? Please.

Tablets are not a magic bullet – they will not be used to the best advantage by all students – but at least some of the souls that would fall by the wayside will avoid a predictable future of mediocrity. Key to success in the above scenario are teachers and others (parents, preachers, coaches) who can be cheerleaders for education; anyone who can convince a child that THEY are responsible for their own future and what they will have.

The Bumpy Road

I’ll write in more detail about the bumps in my next post. But suffice it to say, many things must come together well in order for students to receive tablet devices and for there to be real benefit.
Those “things” include money to buy tablets, infrastructure upgrades, changes in policy, serious teacher retraining, and much more.

Let’s face it. What we have done with technology in K-12 in the last 20 years has not worked very well. Don’t agree? Take time to research test scores, retention, crime rates, poverty rates, etc. over the last 20 years and try to convince yourself that technology in schools made things better. Why has classroom technology failed us? The reasons are many, including ineffective technology, immature technology, picking the wrong technology, not having enough of it, not training teachers well, etc.

Finally, time and circumstances have now conspired to, for the first time, give us the possibility of putting a device into hands of every child that could really change their future. The best we can do is to offer them the opportunity and encouragement to learn. It will take leadership, guts, innovation, energy, and (probably) years to make it happen – so let’s get started!

FYI: This and most of my blog posts are written and edited on a tablet device using the on-screen keyboard. It’s easy.

There basically three choices; 1. iOS tablets from Apple, 2. Android tablets from a variety of vendors, and 3. Windows 8 tablets which should arrive in 2012.

The Apple iPad is the device that really sealed the fate of the traditional PC in the classroom. It’s powerful, connected, and nearly ideal as a teaching and learning device. Some object to the end-to-end Apple environment – but it actually works to our advantage in education. Apple tightly controls all apps that become available in the app store – so distasteful and inappropriate apps are not a problem. Apple also makes the “iPhone Utility” available as a way to further secure iPads for classroom use. At $500 to start, the iPad is a bit pricey for some situations. Rumor: In 2012 Apple will introduce a less expensive iPad with a seven inch screen.

There are now many models of Android based tablets available and many more in the pipeline. Competition in this space has resulted in rapidly declining prices. A nice nine or ten inch Android based tablet can be had for around $350 and a seven inch tablet for about $200. Android provides an excellent graphical environment that is simple to learn and use. It is a much more “open” environment in which anyone can write and supply apps. This seeming advantage could be just the opposite in the K-12 world. Today, we spend a fortune in technical and human resources fighting spyware and virus infections in PCs because they are “open”. Will we now extend this to the tablets we put in the hands of students? Worth pondering! The world of Android has also suffered complications from vendor specific versions and a lack of upgradability.

Finally, there is Windows 8. As if we needed more evidence that Microsoft has lost it’s innovation edge, they are very, very late to the tablet dance. We will see our first Windows 8 tablets sometime in 2012 and when released, apps will be the chief issue for anyone purchasing one. MS has already announced that PC Windows apps will not run on Windows 8 tablets. So MS will be depending on developers to create a whole new generation of apps for this new environment. Only time will tell if MS can become a player in the tablet space.

If Moses had to make a decision on a new tablet today, I think he might proceed as follows: If paying $500 and the unique Apple environment were not a problem, an iPad would be an excellent choice. If initial price were a significant issue, he might pick an Android tablet. He might, however, be surprised by TCO – the additional ongoing costs of supporting an “open” device.

So what is the REAL paradigm shift? The education “establishment” has pretty much thrown up it’s collective hands when it comes to real reform. Thankfully, we are at the intersection of the explosive growth of sophisticated mobile devices (phones, tablets, etc) and students and parents demanding access to mobile devices in the classroom. While the evidence is still mostly anecdotal, classrooms with devices in the hands of each child, with a teacher who “gets” how to motivate and coach kids, result in increased participation and achievement. Plus, if a kid happens to be in a bad school or have a bad teacher, they can use their device to go to school (or take a course, or get help) online!

It’s time for school systems to quit buying expensive, ineffective PC’s and supporting infrastructure and shift focus to making sure each student has access to a mobile device (either their own or one provided by the school system.) I happen to be a big fan of tablet devices in the hands of students. The time is right – let’s do it now to give each child a shot at their best possible future!