“Jewish day schools putting Apple iPads to the test” by Rabbi Jason Miller WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (JTA) — Toward the end of his life, Apple’s visionary leader, Steve Jobs, was visited by another computer innovator, Microsoft’s Bill Gates. The conversation turned to the future of education. As related in Walter Isaacson’s recent biography of Jobs, both [...]
The #1 question during Hanukkah is: What is the correct way to spell the name of this holiday? As I blogged about last year, “Since it’s a Hebrew word that is transliterated into English, there are several acceptable spellings. But people still want to know if there is a consensus.” Just as there is no consensus as to [...]
Detroit Brothers Produce Over 500 Mobile Apps. There’s An App For That! Local brothers’ jacAPPS business rolls out more than 500 mobile apps. In what could have easily been mistaken for a scene from HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, two brothers sit at a conference room table in Southfield bouncing ideas off each other for mobile applications that [...]
QR Codes in Jewish Education I’m often asked what I think will be the “next big thing” when it comes to technology and Jewish education. Recently, I’ve been focused on QR codes. You know those odd little squares that look like a cross between a thumbprint and a bar code? Scanning that QR code automatically [...]
One might think that rabbinical students spend much of their days sitting in the beit midrash arguing over sections of the Talmud containing the debates of the medieval sages. That’s only partially correct. When I was in rabbinical school, I remember the arguments we had (students and teachers) over which is the best Hebrew word processor. [...]
Is Twitter a good medium for Judaism? Two articles were recently posted on the Web that took opposing viewpoints on this question. Donniel Hartman, President of the Shalom Hartman Institute and the director of the Engaging Israel Project, penned a critique titled “Judaism is not a Twitter-able Religion” in which he explained that the ideas [...]
As digital readers are becoming more popular, it’s important to give some credit to Israel’s hi-tech industry for helping launch the Amazon Kindle. While there were digital readers on the market before Amazon released its Kindle, they never really caught on. So what’s the Israeli connection to the Kindle? As David Shamah reports on the israel21c.org [...]
The Jewish Classroom, More Wired Than Ever Many 30- and 40-year-olds will remember when a cart with a computer and monitor was wheeled into the classroom and students formed a single line waiting for a chance to use the device for a few minutes. Perhaps it was typing out a few lines of code in [...]
Sunday’s Detroit Free Press ran a cover story detailing how social media (SM) is being used by religious leaders. In his article, religion editor Niraj Warikoo looks at how houses of worship are using Facebook and Twitter to reach out to its membership and potential members. He writes, “Religious groups are increasingly trying to harness [...]
Every synagogue minyan (daily prayer group) has the one person who always seems to be there. In some congregations, this might be the gabbai (a ritual director of sorts). In other shuls it might be the rabbi. And in others it might be a lay person who is very dedicated and wants to ensure there is always [...]
What do Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg, blogger Emily Gould, and the 10th-11th century scholar Rabbeinu Gershom have in common? They all articulated their views about privacy. Zuckerberg was criticized last month for Facebook’s new privacy settings. Over 500 million worldwide users of Facebook had more of their information made public because Zuckerberg believes that ”if [...]
Trope Tools is an iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad app that allows users to learn, review, and teach the Ta’amei HaMiqra (cantillation symbols) for the reading of the Torah and Haftarot. Students can use the app as a reference, and teachers can use it as a memory game for the trope notes. The app also helps students learn [...]
Google.com‘s logo has quickly become one of the most recognizable corporate logos. It also has been changed more than any other logo, sometimes even daily. According to the Wikipedia entry, “The current official Google pop logo was designed by Ruth Kedar, and is a wordmark based on the Catull typeface. The company also includes various [...]
