Genetically Engineered Stomach Microbe Converts Seaweed into Ethanol

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=genetically-engineered-stomach-microbe-turns-seaweed-into-ethanol

A genetically modified strain of common gut bacteria may lead to a new technology for making biofuels that does not compete with food crops for arable acreage

By David Biello

Seaweed may well be an ideal plant to turn into biofuel. It grows in much of the two thirds of the planet that is underwater, so it wouldn't crowd out food crops the way corn for ethanol does. Because it draws its own nutrients and water from the sea, it requires no fertilizer or irrigation. Most importantly for would-be biofuel-makers, it contains no lignin—a strong strand of complex sugars that stiffens plant stalks and poses a big obstacle to turning land-based plants such as switchgrass into biofuel.
Researchers at Bio Architecture Lab, Inc., (BAL) and the University of Washington in Seattle have now taken the first step to exploit the natural advantages of seaweed. They have built a microbe capable of digesting it and converting it into ethanol or other fuels or chemicals. Synthetic biologist Yasuo Yoshikuni, a co-founder of BAL, and his colleagues took Escherichia coli, a gut bacterium most famous as a food contaminant, and made some genetic modifications that give it the ability to turn the sugars in an edible kelp called kombu into fuel. They report their findings in the January 20 issue of the journal Science.
To get his E. coli to digest kombu, Yoshikuni turned to nature—specifically, he looked into the genetics of natural microbes that can break down alginate, the predominant sugar molecule in the brown seaweed. "The form of the sugar inside the seaweed is very exotic," Yoshikuni told Scientific American. "There is no industrial microbe to break down alginate and convert it into fuels and chemical compounds."
Once he and his colleagues had isolated the genes that would confer the required traits, they used a fosmid—a carrier for a small chunk of genetic code—to place the DNA into the E. coli cells, where it took its place in the microbe's own genetic instruction set. To test the new genetically engineered bacterium, the researchers ground up some kombu, mixed it with water and added the altered E. coli. Before two days had gone by the solution contained about 5 percent ethanol and water. It also did this at (relatively) low temperatures between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius, both of which mean that the engineered microbe can turn seaweed to fuel without requiring the use of additional energy for the process.
An analysis from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (pdf) suggests that the U.S. could supply 1 percent of its annual gasoline needs by growing such seaweed for harvest in slightly less than 1 percent of the nation's territorial waters. Humans already grow and harvest some 15 million metric tons of kombu and other seaweeds to eat. And there's no reason to fear the newly engineered E. coli escaping into the wild and consuming the seaweed already out there, Yoshikuni argues. "E. coli loves the human gut, it doesn't like the ocean environment," he says. "I can hardly imagine it would do something. It would just be dead."
The microbe could turn out to be useful for making molecules other than ethanol, such as isobutanol or even the precursors of plastics, Yoshikuni says. "Consider the microbe as the chassis with engineered functional modules," or pathways to produce a specific molecule, Yoshikuni says. "If we integrate other pathways instead of the ethanol pathway, this microbe can be a platform for converting sugar into a variety of molecules."

The fact that such a one-stop industrial microbe can turn seaweed into a variety of molecules has attracted the attention of outfits such as the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy, or ARPA–e, which has funded BAL work with DuPont to produce other molecules from such engineered microbes. "Because seaweed grows naturally in the ocean, it uses the two thirds of the planet that we don't use for agriculture," ARPA–e program director Jonathan Burbaum wrote in an e-mail. "ARPA–e is directing a small portion of the remaining funding toward an aquafarm experiment to measure area productivity and harvest efficiency."

Facebook Credits Gaining Influence and Momentum

2 articles originally combined via slashdot.org:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeanders/2012/01/20/is-facebook-a-central-bank-too/

George Anders, Contributor

Is Facebook a Central Bank, Too?

Facebook’s 27-year-old founder, Mark Zuckerberg, isn’t usually mentioned in the same breath as Ben Bernanke, the  58-year-old head of the Federal Reserve. But Facebook’s early adventures in the money-creating business are going well enough that the central-bank comparison gets tempting.

Everything started quietly, in 2009, with the experimental launch of Facebook Credits, billed as “the safe and easy way to buy things on Facebook.” Anyone who chipped in $5 from a Paypal account, Visa card or the like, could do the equivalent of changing money on an overseas trip. Voila! — $5 turned into 50 Facebook Credits.
Initially, the Credits-based economy was confined to the virtual world’s trifles. Credits could be spent to buy imaginary gold bars for aficionados of Mafia Wars, or bouquets of virtual flowers for birthday postings on friends’ Facebook accounts. This new form of digital money was cute but essentially useless for mainstream activities.
Lately Credits have become more intriguing. Warner Brothers this summer offered movie-goers a chance to watch “Harry Potter” and “The Dark Knight” for 30 Credits apiece. Miramax and Paramount countered with film-viewing offers, too. In a provocative post this week on Inside Facebook, guest blogger Peter Vogel argues that Credits in the next few years will become more of a true currency. Facebook’s 800 million worldwide users represent a lot of buying power. He figures Credits could evolve into commercial mainstays for digital movies and music.
Vogel has a personal interest in seeing Credits take off. He is co-founder of Plink, a customer-loyalty program in which people earn Facebook Credits by eating at participating restaurants.  Plink is just getting started, and no one knows yet how much traction his company ultimately will enjoy. But such uncertainties can’t stifle Vogel’s ebullience. He predicts that the Facebook Credits economy could double every year for the next five years.

Already, Credits looks very rewarding for Facebook, thanks to built-in commissions or transactions fees. Merchants participating in the Credits economy receive 70 cents of every dollar spent on their wares; the other 30% goes to Facebook. That’s in line with the way that Apple Inc. runs its iTunes store. It’s far more lucrative than the 2% to 5% fees associated with credit cards or currency-exchange counters in the traditional economy.
Facebook won’t say how much it’s making from Credits, but the research firm of eMarketer offered up a widely quoted estimate in September. Its tally: $470 million of revenue in 2011, or about 11% of Facebook’s total business. Costs associated with the Credits program are likely to be trivial. So while advertising remains Facebook’s dominant source of revenue, banking looks like an alluring second way of making money — literally.
Edward Castronova, a telecommunications professor at Indiana University, is fascinated by the rise of what he calls “wildcat currencies,” such as Facebook Credits. He has been studying the economics of online games and virtual worlds for the better part of a decade. Right now, he calculates, the Facebook Credits ecosystem can’t be any bigger than Barbados’s economy and might be significantly smaller. If the definition of digital goods keeps widening, though, he says, “this could be the start of something big.”
In the short term, Facebook may choose to move cautiously with its Credits-based economy. Company executives are likely to have their hands full the next few months, trying to manage a successful initial public offering of stock. Moving too aggressively into banking could invite more government regulation than Facebook wants.
Still, Facebook’s buildup of Credits suggests more than just a minor dalliance. Facebook already takes payment for Credits in more than 40 currencies — ranging from the euro to the Vietnamese dong. Exchange rates are adjusted daily.  It probably won’t be long until some economist tries to calculate the inflation rate, money-supply velocity or other traditional dimensions of the Facebook economy.
If Facebook at some point is willing to reduce its cut of each Credits transaction, this new form of online liquidity may catch the eye of many more merchants and customers. As Castronova observes: “there’s a dynamic here that the Federal Reserve ought to look at.”

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Predictions for Facebook Credits in 2012

 http://www.insidefacebook.com/2012/01/18/predictions-for-facebook-credits-in-2012/

[Editor's note: This is a guest post by Peter Vogel, co-founder of Plink, which lets consumers earn Facebook Credits for dining out and shopping online. He argues the rise of Open Graph applications will push Facebook Credits beyond social games and one-off experiments to become a major source of revenue for Facebook and developers.]
Although Facebook Credits is still primarily an in-game currency, in 2011 we began to see a glimmer of what Credits will look like when it grows up.

Movie studios like Miramax, Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures, not to mention BBC Worldwide began offerings movies and TV shows for rent on Facebook. As an example, in promotion of “Mission: Impossible, Ghost Protocol,” the series’ first three movies were made available for rent on Facebook for 30 Credits per rental. In addition, to promote the launch of “Tower Heist,” Universal Pictures gave away 1 million Facebook Credits ($100,000 value) in an online scavenger hunt. DJ David Guetta began selling MP3s on his Facebook Page (19 Credits per track) and U.K.’s “Big Brother” and “The X Factor” began allowing fans to vote for contestants using Facebook Credits.
These examples, however, were few and far between in 2011 and it’s fair to say that even most Facebook users don’t know what Credits are for. 2012 is the year this will change.
Prediction 1: Facebook adds subscription billing as an option for Facebook Credits
Currently companies who sell virtual goods or products on Facebook can only accept one-time payments via Facebook Credits. For example, a player can use a small amount of virtual currency to buy a new cow in Zynga’s FarmVille. But media companies such as Netflix and Spotify would need a monthly billing plan. Consumers could agree to pay 100 Facebook Credits for monthly access to movies or music and would agree to be billed monthly. Until Facebook adds a monthly billing feature, it will be difficult or nearly impossible for many of the largest media providers to accept Credits.
Facebook will continue to improve the Credits platform in other ways as well to make it more functional and profitable for developers to use. Credits is the primary way, if not sole way, most developers generate revenue, so you can be sure that Facebook is truly committed to making Credits as flexible and effective a currency as possible.
Prediction 2: Open Graph Partners, including Spotify and Netflix, start to accept Credits
 During its F8 conference, Facebook announced 17 music partners who would integrate Open Graph, allowing users to share their listening and other behaviors with friends. Spotify initially gave users a six-month free trial. Now, though, the nearly five million new members who’ve been getting unlimited free music will be limited to 10 hours a month and only five plays per song — not that much for a real music fan. Look for Spotify to add Facebook Credits as a payment option for these new users, potentially even offering special introductory rates to entice users to commit to a year-long membership.
In addition, a few notable facts lead me to believe something big is coming from a Netflix/Facebook partnership.

1. Netflix’s CEO Reed Hastings joined the Facebook Board of Directors in June of 2011.
2. Netflix recently signed deals with BBC, DreamWorks and Disney to increase the quality of available streaming content.
3. A piece of legislation cleared the House and is on its way the Senate that would reverse a law enacted in 1998 that forbids public disclosure of video rental records. This would prevent the sharing of movies being watched between Facebook users. Much as users now have “Like” or “Listening to …” labels, it’s widely anticipated there would be a “Watching” tag as well.

This increased level of sharing could dramatically increase the number of Netflix movies watched and shared on Facebook, leading to a Facebook-only Netflix plan that could be paid for with Facebook Credits.
Prediction 3: The size of the Facebook Credits economy will double every year for the next five years
Similar to Moore’s Law, which famously predicted that the number of transistors than could be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit doubles every two years and Mark Zuckerberg’s Law that (scarily to some) states that people will be willing to “share” twice as much each year, I believe the Facebook Credits economy will double every year for the next five years.
This is based on the staggering amount of new ways that people will be earning and spending Facebook Credits over the coming years and the international growth, which will follow innovation in the U.S. This is conservative based on reports we’ve already seen that global revenue from Facebook Credits more than tripled in size from 2010, $140 Million, to $470 million in 2011. By 2016, Facebook Credits could be a $15 billion business.
What’s driving this? One example is the efforts by Milyoni, one of Facebook’s leading commerce and video streaming platforms. This year, Milyoni was responsible for hosting the first ever movie available for rent on Facebook, Warner Bros.’ “The Dark Knight,” at a cost of 30 Facebook Credits. Milyoni also hosted the first ever live pay-per-view concert on Facebook, “Widespread Panic” live from Austin, Texas, at a cost of 50 Credits. This year, according to Dean Alms, VP of strategy and marketing at Milyoni, they have deals in place with 13 movie studios and expect to offer 3,000 movies for rent on Facebook. That’s compared to less than 100 films offered in 2010. In addition, the company has plans to stream 40-50 live concert and events available on a live pay-per-view basis, compared to just two in 2010. Multiply this by other innovative companies and you get an idea of what’s to come this year and beyond.

Final Take:
Facebook has proven that the Credits model can work in social gaming, which represents between 25-30 percent of Facebook users, and will now utilize the same model to first enter the business of music, movies, TV and any other shareable media, before entering larger industries like financial services and health care in the coming years.
While still relatively unknown, Facebook Credits will emerge and begin to mean very real cash to a quickly expanding group of first-mover entrepreneurs and innovators who are just starting to get a whiff of the opportunities presented by the Facebook Credits economy.
It’s for real and it’s here.
Peter Vogel is co-founder of Plink, a Facebook Credits-based loyalty program that rewards Facebook members for dining and making purchases at their favorite restaurants and stores. Reach him via email at peter@plink.com or follow him on Twitter @pvogel.

MS damage washed away by stream of young blood

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328475.400-ms-damage-washed-away-by-stream-of-young-blood.html

from the article:

A FOUNTAIN of youthful cells reverses the damage found in diseases like multiple sclerosis, a study in mice reveals.

Nerve cells lose their electrically insulating myelin sheath as MS develops. New myelin-generating cells can be produced from stem cells, but the process loses efficiency with age.

Julia Ruckh at the University of Cambridge, and colleagues, have found a way to reverse the age-related efficiency loss. They linked the bloodstreams of young mice to old mice with myelin damage. Exposure to youthful blood reactivated stem cells in the old mice, boosting myelin generation.

White blood cells called macrophages from the young mice gathered at the sites of myelin damage. Macrophages engulf and destroy pathogens and debris, including destroyed myelin (Cell Stem Cell, DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2011.11.019)

"We know this debris inhibits regeneration, so clearing it up is important," says team member Amy Wagers of Harvard University.

Neil Scolding at the University of Bristol, UK, who was not involved in the new work, says reactivating ageing stem cells may be a more realistic approach for treating MS than transplanting stem cells from a donor.

Next-generation video screen glasses could lay messages or GPS over your field of vision

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2086180/Lumus-PD-18-2-video-screen-glasses-lay-messages-GPS-field-vision.html

By Gavin Allen


As advances in computer technology make gadgets ever smaller and more portable the idea of carrying a screen of any kind could soon be outdated. 
Consumer products with screens have dropped in size from computer to laptop to tablet via phone.
But one company specialising in cutting edge visual technology waIsraeli company Lumus has shown off the PD-18-2, which may look like a cumbersome pair of shades but allow the user to see high-quality images while they walk.nts to beam information directly into your field of vision.

Translucent TV: Lumus' PD-18-2 is a set of spectacles that can beam high-quality images directly into your eyes but allows the user to see through the images too

Instant messaging: Text and icons can be laid over your field of vision so that users can work on the move

Lumus, an Israeli company, specialises in what it calls Light-guide Optical Element (LOE) technology.
It's latest product is the PD-18-2, which may look to the untrained eye like a cumbersome pair of sunglasses.  
But inside the lenses of the glasses, the user can see high-quality full colour images.

 

Products like this are already on the market for professional and military use, but where the next-generation PD-18-2 differs is that users can see though the spectacles too, instead of having the images block their vision.
The translucent lenses allow for what the manufacturer calls 'augmented vision', overlaying images or graphics over your usual field of vision.
They are designed for professionals such as pilots, surgeons and soldiers but there are hopes that it can be adapted for the consumer market so people could watch film or TV on the move, or play video games as they walk around.

How it works: Lumus speciaises in what it calls LOE technology - Light-guide Optical Element

Heavy duty: The spectacles have to contain the technology, which currently makes them more cumbersome than your average shades

It works by collecting image components from a micro display and projects them into the eye to create a large virtual image with SVGA resolution
'Following the successful deployment of our first generation PD-18-1 in combat aviation, ground soldier and assembly applications, we are pleased to release our next generation PD-18-2 that takes our competitive superiority to a whole new level,' said Dr. Eli Glikman.
'Our new display offers even higher brightness, increased contrast ratio, sharper image, improved image uniformity and enhanced optical efficiency.'
The company currently sells its products to aviation companies as well as military, medical and maintenance markets.

Contact lens: The electronic attachments to the 'glass' contains a mini-projector to beam the images into your eyeline

But the possibility of a move into the consumer market has already brought mixed reactions from technology watchers.
It could be extremely useful as a portable GPS system, but there are concerns that it could be distracting for pedestrians who can often be seen walking round with their heads buried in mobile phones.
One commenter, Erin Altman, wrote in a technology forum: 'Bad idea alert! Just like hands-free devices for cell phones, these things will give people a false sense of security. They will THINK they can still see what's going on around them but will be way too focused on the display instead.'
Another commenter wrote: 'It's bad enough already that people walk around texting and on the cell phones... an example of the DOWNSIDE of technology.'

Smart TVs

Thoughts: 

"We must know who these mutants are and what they can do."

Personally, I'm thinking more about content creation and means of distribution.

Think about Kinect merging with other media like GPS, and the real deal will be smart glasses and blended reality. I think it's going to be getting really weird around here.

There will have to be compelling content to drive the Smart TVs. I would tend to think that these smart TVs will be effectively like big iPads, and if the price point is right, the addiction factor of mobile devices, social media/chat, and web surfing is certainly chumming the waters, but bring on the aforementioned advances and maybe some practical usage, and you have justification. Back in the day, VR was the buzz word, but this could really make it happen. Think haptics ala reach and out touch someone.

I'm no eager consumer. Afterall, it took my mom buying me a kindle fire to get me out of the stone ages. I was outcast as untouchable for waiting until Fall of '07 to get a cell phone and I'm still peeling off the dry rot today.

Consumers don't buy what they need, they buy what crosses their minds once the impulses are properly seeded into the nerve centers, and that's what propaganda is good for. You're watching the rumors and lies channel, brought to you by Paranoia. Sponsored by the 7 Deadly Sins. Let the gladiatorial combat and zombie porn begin.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/smart-tvs-the-next-tech-war-is-in-the-living-room/2012/01/11/gIQAMFgHrP_story.html

Smart TVs: The next tech war is in the living room 

View Photo Gallery — A peek into the future of TVs: Companies are scrambling to be the one-stop shop for Web, media consumption, social networking and gaming with their TVs and accessories.

By Hayley Tsukayama, Published: January 11

Hawking their wares at the Consumer Electronics Show this week, the world’s top television manufacturers are bent on making a splash: They’re trying to sell a whole new approach to television.
In a world where the latest gadgets are automatically expected to be hooked up to technology “ecosystems” — apps, Internet connectivity and access to social networks -- television makers are banking on the fact that couch potatoes will want to see their friendly living-room TV get in on the act.

We’ve heard this all before. The idea of a “smart” television has been around for a few years, and Google introduced its Google TV platform in May 2010, promising to put all the convenience of the Web onto the largest screen in your home. But a little over a year later, the idea has yet to take off, hampered by low adoption and a lack of hardware partners.
All that’s changing this year for Samsung, LG, Sony and Lenovo, to name a few. Microsoft has proven with the Kinect — which chief executive Steve Ballmer announced had sold 16 million units to date — that there’s a market for quality apps on your television. Even Google has the chance at a second wind, having partnered with several of the major television manufacturers, each offering its own take on putting the TV back to the center of home entertainment.
Samsung is working on integrating voice and motion control into its new sets, enabling users to speak commands to their TVs or change channels and other settings with just a wave. Vizio is the first to join with the cloud-service company OnLive to put streaming games on its Google televisions. All Google TV partners have added the OnLive Viewer app, which lets users manage their accounts and watch others play games, to their app ecosystems with the promise that gameplay will be close behind. Sharp is augmenting its huge television lineup with access to apps from Netflix, Hulu and Facebook.
To compete, the companies will have to offer carefully curated, high-quality applications and be open to supporting mobile devices such as tablets. Other media companies have already started: Comcast, for example, announced that it’s going to allow OnDemand streaming not only to Samsung Smart TV’s but also to the iPad.
The TV makers are hoping that the multitude of additional features will be enough to trigger turnover like the industry saw after the introduction of flat-panel screens, Bloomberg noted. It’s a big market, if the television makers can figure out how to crack it. A consumer media report from Nielsen released Friday showed that 114.7 million American households have at least one television and that almost one-third of of those households have four or more sets.
But the big manufacturers have to fight the historically long television buying cycle: Consumers are more hesitant to upgrade to newer televisions than to trade in their smartphones, computers and other devices for the latest model.

Obama picks immigration reform advocate to lead domestic policy

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/203355-munoz-to-head-domestic-policy-council-

By Amie Parnes and Erik Wasson - 01/10/12 03:30 PM ET

President Obama has picked a strong advocate of immigration reform to head his Domestic Policy Council.
The White House announced Tuesday that Cecilia Muñoz, a former senior vice president of the National Council of La Raza, would replace Melody Barnes at the top of the council. White House press secretary Jay Carney announced the appointment during his press briefing.

Muñoz is now serving as the White House's director of intergovernmental affairs and is in charge of outreach to state and local governments. "The president has asked, she has accepted," Carney said.

Muñoz is an immigration expert who worked for the National Council of La Raza, the largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, until she joined the administration in 2009. The group works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans and advocates legislation that would provide a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
Obama has frequently been criticized by pro-immigration reform advocates for not pressing harder for changes to the country's immigration laws. Hispanic groups also have complained that the administration has stepped up deportations of illegal aliens.
All of this has led to questions about whether Obama will garner strong support from Hispanics in his 2012 reelection bid. It is crucial to Obama's reelection that he win a large majority of the Hispanic vote, particularly in critical swing states such as Florida, New Mexico and Colorado.
Carney called Muñoz "the best person for the job."

In her new role, Muñoz will become the president’s senior adviser on domestic affairs that fall outside the strict purview of the National Economic Council, which is headed by Gene Sperling.

“Over the past three years, Cecilia has been a trusted advisor who has demonstrated sound judgment day in and day out,” the president said. “Cecilia has done an extraordinary job working on behalf of middle class families, and I’m confident she’ll bring the same unwavering dedication to her new position.”
A senior administration official credited Munoz's work on immigration and disaster relief and said she has successfully brought the voices of local and state officials into the White House through her work at the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.
"She's the perfect fit for this job," the official told The Hill. "This is someone who is very much ready for the position."
On immigration, she has been the president's "key person" on the issue "working to fix the system that's broken" the official said, adding that she brings 20 years of immigration policy with her to the post.
While her new post will continue to give Hispanics a "strong voice," administration officials said she wasn't given the position to pander to that community. "She's immensely qualified for this position. She's someone who is very much respected by her colleagues."
At the same time, "she's not afraid to make her viewpoints known," the official said.
The National Immigration Forum, which supports providing a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, applauded the Muñoz appointment while saying it underlined the need for Obama to take action.
"With this move, the pressure is on the president to move forward with an aggressive domestic policy agenda" on immigration," said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum. He said this agenda should include focusing enforcement on security threats and not on immigrant workers and families "caught up in a broken system."
The group later amended Noorani's statement to call on action by Congress as well.
"While Ms. Muñoz’s appointment is a positive step, at the end of the day, Democrats and Republicans in Congress need to come together to pass comprehensive immigration reform," Noorani said in the amended statement.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) praised the appointment, saying Muñoz "has developed strong relationships with members of Congress in Washington and activists nationwide, and a sterling reputation as a powerful voice on behalf of comprehensive, compassionate immigration reform." 
She said the appointment reflected Obama's "strong and ongoing commitment to diversity across his administration."
Barnes left her position at the end of last month and is looking for work in the private sector. On Monday the White House announced that Chief of Staff Bill Daley will soon step down and be replaced by Office of Management and Budget Director Jack Lew.
Carney said there is no word yet on who will replace Lew as Budget director. In the briefing he offered praise for congressional liaison Rob Nabors, a man insiders think has the best shot at the job.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Raza

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http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/01/admin-extends-salvadoran-deportation-freeze-110304.html

By BYRON TAU and JOSH GERSTEIN |

1/10/12 11:12 AM EST

The Obama administration has extended temporary protected status to El Salvadoran nationals through late 2013, shielding them from deportation and forcible return to their home country.
The Department of Homeland Security cites ongoing disruptions from a series of earthquakes in 2001, concluding that "El Salvador remains unable, temporarily, to handle adequately the return of its nationals."
The Obama administration's deportation policies have come under scrutiny, just as the president has geared up for his reelection campaign. Despite his support for comprehensive immigration reform and a path to citizenship, deportations have soared to new highs under the Obama administration— and the president's approval ratings among Latino voters have flatlined.
Hugo Martinez, El Salvador's Foreign Minister, was in Washington this week to discuss the policy and meet with Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano. The protected status designation currently applies to 215,000 Salvadorans living in the U.S. illegally and otherwise subject to deportation, and remittances from ex-patriate Salvadorans in the United States help keep that country's economy afloat.

Free Online Education

See also Udacity.com

See also Academic Earth:
http://academicearth.org

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesmarshallcrotty/2011/12/21/m-i-t-game-changer-free-online-education-for-all/

M.I.T. Game-Changer: Free Online Education For All

James Marshall Crotty, Contributor

 For Wall Street Occupiers or other decriers of the “social injustice” of college tuition, here’s a curveball bound to scramble your worldview: a totally free college education regardless of your academic performance or background.  The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) will announce on Monday that they intend to launch an online learning initiative called M.I.T.x,which will offer the online teaching of M.I.T. courses free of charge to anyone in the world.

The program will not allow students to earn an M.I.T. degree. Instead, those who are able to exhibit a mastery of the subjects taught on the platform will receive an official certificate of completion. The certificate will obviously not carry the weight of a traditional M.I.T. diploma, but it will provide an incentive to finish the online material. According to the New York Times, in order to prevent confusion, the certificate will be a credential bearing the distinct name of a new not-for-profit body that will be created within M.I.T.
The new online platform will look to build upon the decade-long success of the university’s original free online platform, OpenCourseWare (OCW), which has been used by over 100 million students and contains course material for roughly 2,100 classes. The new M.I.T.x online program will not compete with OCW in the number of courses that it offers. However, the program will offer students a greater interactive experience.

Students using the program will be able to communicate with their peers through student-to-student discussions, allowing them an opportunity to ask questions or simply brainstorm with others, while also being able to access online laboratories and self-assessments. In the future, students and faculty will be able to control which classes will be available on the system based on their interests, creating a personalized education setting.

M.I.T.x represents the next logical evolution in the mushrooming business of free online education by giving students an interactive experience as opposed to a simple videotaped lecture. Academic Earth (picked by Time Magazine as one of the 50 best websites of 2009) has cornered the market on free online education by making a smorgasbord of online course content – from prestigious universities such as Stanford and Princeton – accessible and free to anyone in the world. Users on Academic Earth can watch lectures from some of the brightest minds our universities have to offer from the comfort of their own computer screen. However, that is all they can do: watch. Khan Academy, another notable online education site, offers a largely free interactive experience to its users through assessments and exercises, but it limits itself to K-12 education. By contrast, M.I.T.x will combine the interactivity of the Khan Academy with the collegiate focus of Academic Earth, while drawing primarily from M.I.T.’s advanced course material.
“M.I.T. has long believed that anyone in the world with the motivation and ability to engage M.I.T. coursework should have the opportunity to attain the best M.I.T.-based educational experience that Internet technology enables,” said M.I.T. President Susan Hockfield in the university’s press release.
According to the university, residential M.I.T. students can expect to use M.I.T.x in a different way than online-only students. For instance, the program will be used to augment on-campus course work by expanding upon what students learn in class (faculty and students will determine how to incorporate the program into their courses). The university intends to run the two programs simultaneously with no reduction in OCW offerings.
According to the New York Times, access to the software will be free. However, there will most likely be an “affordable” charge, not yet determined, for a credential. The program will also save individuals from the rigors of the cutthroat M.I.T. admissions process, as online-only students will not have to be enrolled in the prestigious, yet expensive, university to access its online teaching resources.
Those chomping at the bit to dive into M.I.T.x will have to wait, as the university doesn’t plan to launch a prototype of the platform until the spring of 2012. According to M.I.T. Provost L. Rafael Reif and Anant Agarwal, director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, the prototype might include only one course, but it would quickly expand to include many more courses.
Once launched, M.I.T. officials expect the M.I.T.x platform to be a giant hit amongst other universities looking to create or expand upon their online course materials.  “Creating an open learning infrastructure will enable other communities of developers to contribute to it, thereby making it self-sustaining,” said Agarwal in the M.I.T. press release.
Whether M.I.T.x will directly threaten the margins at for-profit online universities, such as the University of Phoenix, APUS, or DeVry remains to be seen. But as M.I.T.x starts to provide many of the salient virtues of for-profit online colleges, such as a robust learning management systems and real-time virtual interaction, these publicly traded education companies might have to lower fees in order to compete with M.I.T.x’s compelling free price. In addition, the success of M.I.T.x, OCW, and Academic Earth may push dramatic technological innovation at for-profits, so that they can maintain a unique selling proposition versus their free competitors. Moreover, as the rapidly growing number of what are termed “self educators” choose free college education, a cottage industry of social media support services might evolve to bring them together for free in-person study and help sessions.

Which is all to say that, against this country’s sizable need for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) graduates, M.I.T.x is nothing short of revolutionary. This is especially true if you aren’t a credential freak and, like me, just want to improve your chops in a marketable subject area. Heck, maybe Gene Marks’ (“If I Were a Black Kid”) tech-based view of education can become a reality after all.