The Hottest Chat App for Teens Is Google Docs – The AtlanticThey’ll clone a teacher’s shared Google document, then chat in the comments, so it appears to the casual viewer that they’re just making notes on the lesson plan. If a teacher approaches to take a closer look, they can click the Resolve button, and the entire thread will disappear. Chris Anderson on Twitter: “As an industry, we had high hopes for the use of drones in anti-poaching efforts. But in hot climates everything looks hot to airborne thermal cameras and fleet logistics are crippling. Dogs work much better. Sobering report frreality vs tech How UT-Austin’s Bold Plan for Reinvention Went Belly Up – The Chronicle of Higher EducationThe costs of filming a new SMOC are between $9,000 and $66,000, according to data provided by Williams, with about two-thirds of classes between spring 2015 and fall 2018 costing more than $20,000. These figures don’t include instructional costs. ___________ Project 2021’s budget would rest on three legs: the university system, which would contribute a one-time $16 million; the extended campus, with revenue from non-degree-seeking students and other operations; and the provost’s office, which would kick in a few million dollars annually.

Programming SucksAlso, the bridge was designed as a suspension bridge, but nobody actually knew how to build a suspension bridge, so they got halfway through it and then just added extra support columns to keep the thing standing, but they left the suspension cables because they’re still sort of holding up parts of the bridge. Nobody knows which parts, but everybody’s pretty sure they’re important parts. **** This is what it is to learn programming. You get to know your useful tools, then you look around, and there are some handy new tools nearby and those tools show you the bottomless horror that was always right next to your bed. **** Remember that stuff about crazy people and bad code? The internet is that except it’s literally a billion times worse. Websites that are glorified shopping carts with maybe three dynamic pages are maintained by teams of people around the clock, because the truth is everything is breaking all the time, everywhere, for everyone. Right now someone who works for Facebook is getting tens of thousands of error messages and frantically trying to find the problem before the whole charade collapses. There’s a team at a Google office that hasn’t slept in three days. Somewhere there’s a database programmer surrounded by empty Mountain Dew bottles whose husband thinks she’s dead. […]

A guide to fighting lies, fake news, and chaos online – The Verge