Technology

Duolingo

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For dual reasons (appropriately enough) I have made myself a commitment to pursue several months of language lessons on Duolingo, which describes itself as “the free science-based language education platform that has organically become the most popular way to learn… Read More ›

The Chalk Artist

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I know the characters in this novel. Not literally, of course. But it feels as if I know them. Local author Allegra Goodman brings her characters to life as real people. I’m sure it helps that so many of them are like… Read More ›

Player by Proxy

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Online gaming? “IRL”? What’s real life anyway? What’s the virtual world? Is it really possible to be literally addicted to technology? Questions like these are much discussed these days, and they are addressed in the Weston High School Theater Company’s excellent ensemble-written… Read More ›

It’s Complicated

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I almost never write about a book that I didn’t or couldn’t finish, unless there’s just something egregious about it. Some people, of course, feel a sort of moral obligation to finish reading any book they’ve started, but life is… Read More ›

Coding in middle school math

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Google Blockly? What’s that? And should we say coding or computer programming? We’ll deal with that terminological question in the last paragraph, but let me first tell you about Blockly and about the workshop we had yesterday. A group of… Read More ›

Unseen World

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Unseen World, a fascinating and complicated novel, will capture and maintain your attention — if you’re the right sort of reader. Right for this book, I mean of course. You probably are if you’re interested in computational linguistics, artificial intelligence, online virtual worlds (as… Read More ›

3D pens?

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Who’d a thunk it? Is there really such a thing as a 3D pen? Can you really write in the air? It all sounds very science-fictional. But 40 years ago 3D printers seemed science-fictional, and yet they were invented soon… Read More ›