Daniel Wilson, in his Popular Mechanic's article "10 Genius Inventions We're Still Waiting For":

Augmented Reality
Kids’ knees and noggins can be protected with padding and helmets—but how do we safeguard their delicate minds? The answer may lie with Augmented Reality (AR), a technology that combines sights and sounds of the real world with virtual information. AR eyeglasses could detect inappropriate sights and remove them from view, while AR-enabled earbuds would delete ambient cursing. Meanwhile, adults might wear glasses that substitute blessed blank space for roadside billboards, television commercials and the annoying corporate names on most stadiums. Professor Jie Yang of the interACT research center at Carnegie Mellon University recently laid the groundwork for this technology. His prototype digital camera picks out street signs and billboards from a scene and translates their text to another language. Next on his to-do list, we hope: figuring out a way to translate obnoxious on-hold music into songs we actually like. 

The ultimate in rose-colored glasses - or goggles. Put these on and all the "unpleasantness" in the world simply goes away. Gee, let's blank out not just commercials, but:

• people who are too fat or too thin
  
• people who are a different race or religion or culture
  
• poor people, street people, scary people
• any person with a pimple, scar or wart
  
• boys wearing those baggy pants that show their drawers
• people with bad hair
  

I can see this list might get very, very long... 

Here's the scary thing. Are people who egocast already using a "reality filter?" How much do any of us look only for like minds in the blogs we read, speakers we invite to our conferences, or journals we study and cite? Do we only work with the other teachers in our schools who share our educational beliefs?

I thought about this as the LWW headed out this fine spring day to tend her beloved flower gardens. Wouldn't it just be ever so much easier to wear glasses that would block the weeds than to take the time to pull them ?

Put a blogger you disagree with in your feed today. Read a real newspaper. Talk to the social studies teacher who lectures and hates computers.

From the New York Times "Start Writing the Eulogies for Print Encyclopedias," March 16, 2008:

A series of announcements from publishers across the globe in the last few weeks suggests that the long migration to the Internet has picked up pace, and that ahead of other books, magazines and even newspapers, the classic multivolume encyclopedia is well on its way to becoming the first casualty in the end of print.

What, first no Readers Guide to Periodical Literature, and now no print encyclopedia? The world is definitely going to hell in a handbasket. (Official slogan of the 50+ club.)

I do have to say that I read this article with a twinge of sadness. As a kid, I remember spending many hours reading the two battered sets of encyclopedias in our home. (Yes, children, by lamplight.)  I particuarly liked the plastic sheets displaying human anatomy in one of the volumes, as I recall.

Will my grandson's will have the same fond memories of Worldbook Online?

Vicki Davis at the Cool Cat Teacher blog reports that the 2008 Horizon Report from Educause is now available. I've enjoyed past issues of this publication that predicts those technologies that will have a major impact on education in 1 year, in 2-3 years, and in 4-5 years. I always find in these reports stuff wasn't even on my radar, let alone on my horizon. So to speak. Worth a read.

I took advantage of another Educause resource this week when I heard the term "google jockeying" used during a presentation. Since I was listening with my laptop open, I had to google the term and came up with this: 7 things you should know about... Google Jockeying published by ...  wait for it ... Educause. This is just one document in the long list of the 7 things your should know about ... series. These one-page, double-sided papers on technologies and technology uses (often social) include a scenario, a definition, and a "what are the implications for teaching and learning" sections.(I just saw that Ryan Bretag has the list on his blog.) 7 things are great to share with your less than 100% tech-oriented staff members.

Remember as well that Educause produced Educating the Net Generation in 2005. The first two chapters of this online book are still the summaries of demographic research done on today's kids. 

Happy reading.