What are your thoughts on the following video?
Future Internet Video from Castemelijn on Vimeo.
Cheers!
Hello there,
In case you’d like to study some vocabulary this week, this is a very nice text. It comes from this page: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/sep/27/computers-tablet-microsoft-apple
I’ll copy it here, anyway. Maybe you could post some comments on the new words you found interesting.
Microsoft beats Apple to the Tablet
Microsoft is working on a lightweight device combining power with the convenience of a paper notebook
John Naughton
The Observer, Sunday 27 September 2009
The quest for the Holy Grail is generally regarded as a preoccupation of those of a religious or mystical bent. But in fact the community which suffers most from Holy Grail Syndrome is made up of geeks and early adopters who would never be seen within a mile of an altar.
For Christians, the Grail is the cup, plate or dish supposedly used by Jesus at the last Supper. For the computing community it is the Tablet, a slim, lightweight device which combines significant computing power with the convenience of a paper notebook. And sightings – or rumours – of the mythical device provoke the kind of delicious excitement so masterfully exploited by the novelist Dan Brown.
We had such a sighting last week, courtesy of the technology site Gizmodo (http://bit.ly/3ScSo) which had descriptions, photographs and even a video of an intriguing manifestation of the Tablet concept.
It’s called the Courier. At first sight, it looks just like a notebook, but when you open it you find two hinged screens with elegant, touch-driven interfaces. When you want them to behave like paper, they are happy to oblige; you can scribble and sketch away to your heart’s content. But when you want them to behave like computers, then they do that too, enabling you to browse the web, compute with spreadsheets, manipulate images and pull in data from just about any application you can think of. Then when you’re finished, you close the “notebook”, put it in your bag and resume normal life.
What made the Gizmodo scoop even more intriguing was its claim that the Courier is not just a concept but a real device under development in the bowels of a big, powerful corporation. But the thing that really caused a stampede for the smelling salts was the news that this company is, er, Microsoft! This was definitely not in the mystical Tablet script. It was as if Vladimir Putin had suddenly announced that the Kremlin had been in possession of the Holy Grail all along, and indeed that Lenin used to take his breakfast on it most mornings.
The Keeper of the Tablet flame, you see, is supposed to be Apple, the home of everything cool in modern computing. There has been fevered speculation that the Tablet is what Steve Jobs and his designers would do next. One couldn’t go to any gathering of the faithful without people whispering that Apple had been secretly placing large orders for 7-inch (or 9-inch or 10-inch) screens.
The company’s patent applications were scrutinised with an intensity previously accorded only to the Dead Sea Scrolls for evidence of interface technology (touch-screen, gesture-based) that would confirm that the Tablet was nigh. Kids with a mastery of PhotoShop were taking images of the iPhone and iPod Touch and producing pictures of what the Apple device would look like. And so on.
So you can see why the revelation that the Evil Empire (aka Microsoft) might actually have some better ideas on the Tablet front has caused such discombobulation. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. And of course it might not: these are still early days. The Microsoft concept seems more ambitious, in a way, than what Apple is rumoured to have in the works, which will probably be an iPod Touch on steroids.
And even if the Courier and the Apple device do eventually go head-to-head, what will determine the outcome will be mundane things such as which operating systems they use. Because Microsoft’s co-founder, Bill Gates, was a strong believer in the Tablet-computing idea – and always used one himself – the company has been producing software for “Tablet PCs” for aeons. But these were very clunky devices, mostly laptops with reversible screens made by Taiwanese manufacturers. They were relatively expensive to buy and heavy to lug around. And they ran Windows, which meant that they were not exactly intuitive to use.
Since Apple made its own hardware and produced more intuitive software, the assumption therefore was that, in the end, the Tablet market would be Jobs’s for the taking. Maybe it will be. But this week’s revelations about the Microsoft Courier have planted the first, tentative, thoughts in the minds of detached observers that the quest for technology’s Holy Grail isn’t over yet. All we need is for Dan Brown to take up the story.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009
Hello there,
We spent most of today’s class working on the speaking exam, huh? I don’t know if you noticed, but we didn’t even correct the homework. But fret not, we will correct it next class, together with this week’s homework.
If you’d like to learn a bit more about the speaking test, you can pay a visit to this website: http://www.splendidspeaking.com/exams/cae_speaking.html
There are also some videos to help you get around the site:
And there’s this one as well:
Make sure you pay it a visit, OK?!
Homework:
- Course book: page 108 (Vocabulary)
- Exam Maximiser: pages 74, 75 and 76 (everything!)
- If you still haven’t sent me your PROPOSAL, do so! (thanks for noticing that, John)
Have a great week!
I just stumbled upon this and thought you like to have a look at it. Pay attention to what the guy says.
And I had to add a couple more:
If you liked it, here’s part 1 of 6 of his show:
So, how did you like it?
Hello there,
This has taken me longer than I expected, but at least there was enough time for Pedro to pay a visit to the blog! 
Homework for next class? Units 1-5 review in the coursebook. It’s right after unit 5 and just before unit 6. Pretty easy to find it, huh?!
Cheers!!!
Dear students,
This is mainly for fun, but if you can spot the problems with the signs, it means you’ve been doing a good job. If you can’t, don’t worry! Humour is one of the most complicated things for foreigners to grasp.
Some Strange British Signs
Spotted in a toilet of a London office:
TOILET OUT OF ORDER. PLEASE USE FLOOR BELOW
In a Laundromat:
AUTOMATIC WASHING MACHINES: PLEASE REMOVE ALL YOUR CLOTHES WHEN THE LIGHT GOES OUT
In a London department store:
BARGAIN BASEMENT UPSTAIRS
In an office:
WOULD THE PERSON WHO TOOK THE STEP LADDER YESTERDAY PLEASE BRING IT BACK OR FURTHER STEPS WILL BE TAKEN
In an office:
AFTER TEA BREAK STAFF SHOULD EMPTY THE TEAPOT AND STAND UPSIDE DOWN ON THE DRAINING BOARD
Outside a secondhand shop:
WE EXCHANGE ANYTHING – BICYCLES, WASHING MACHINES, ETC. WHY NOT BRING YOUR WIFE ALONG AND GET A WONDERFUL BARGAIN?
Notice in health food shop window:
CLOSED DUE TO ILLNESS
Spotted in a safari park:
ELEPHANTS PLEASE STAY IN YOUR CAR
Seen during a conference:
FOR ANYONE WHO HAS CHILDREN AND DOESN’T KNOW IT, THERE IS A DAY CARE ON THE FIRST FLOOR
Notice in a field:
THE FARMER ALLOWS WALKERS TO CROSS THE FIELD FOR FREE, BUT THE BULL CHARGES
Message on a leaflet:
IF YOU CANNOT READ, THIS LEAFLET WILL TELL YOU HOW TO GET LESSONS
On a repair shop door:
WE CAN REPAIR ANYTHING.(PLEASE KNOCK HARD ON THE DOOR – THE BELL DOESN’T WORK)
Dear students,
How did you like the pictures we used in class today? Could you find the photographer’s website?
No ‘official’ homework has been assigned, but I did ask you to do a couple of things, remember? First of all, look up some important verbs and the phrasal verbs formed by them (MAKE, LOOK, GET, TAKE, BRING, COME, and SEE). In addition to that, you may also finish everything you still haven’t done in the Maximiser (unit 5).
This is something we wroked with last semester, but it might give an idea of how phrasal verbs might be tested on the exam.
See you on Wednesday!
Howdy,
So, today we talked about inspiration, travelling, and we also discussed a bit about Disney. If you want to see more pictures from that photographer, her website is: http://www.dinagoldstein.com/
Mikhael also suggested a nice video even though I’m not a tennis fan.
Incredible, huh?!
Homework:
- Coursebook pages 105 – 108 (DON’T do VOCABULARY)
Enjoy your weekend!
Dear students,
Yesterday we watched a video from CNN Student News and worked a bit more on reported speech. Do you want to have another look at it?
And you can find some more tips here:
You can also look for exercises and information on your Dictionary CD-ROM (at least if you have either the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English or the Longman Exams Dictionary).
At the very end of the class, I showed you a video which had been shown to me by a CAE student. If you liked the video, put your hands together for John Gabriel. Here it is:
Oh, and if you check the comments, you may find something interesting. Such as this one: “Dane Cook carries himself like a douchebag, and his material has nothing to do with anything. He doesn’t have a message or make you think nor does he stand out, he is not unique (unlike Carlin) and isn’t groundbreaking. I hate Dane Cook, and the first time I saw one of his shows I asked myself, “This is supposed to be comedy?”
Do you know Dane Cook? Check him out on You Tube. Do you agree with what this guy said about him?
Homework:
- Coursebook: Pages 61 and 62 (Exam Focus AND Vocabulary 3)
Have a nice weekend!
Howdy guys,
It was really nice being with you again. I’ll try my best to fill Lara’s shoes, ok?!
Homework:
- Coursebook page 60/61 – Grammar 2
See you on Wednesday!!!
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