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Journalists Cover Microsoft, Using Macs

It’s not an easy time for Microsoft — with Steve Ballmer having to field questions about being “buffoons” and an “evil empire”  at the shareholder’s meeting (.doc) — so when they get together “the world’s most influential technology pundits and online writers” (nb: we weren’t invited) for Mobius to discuss super-secret mobile tech you’d think [...]

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Review: Voices Is Today’s Best Thing Ever, Grab It Now While It’s Cheap

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Free iPhones for Students = No More Hooky?

iphonejapan

A university in Japan is giving out hundreds of iPhones to students, in part to keep truants in check with the GPS system.

Aoyama Gakuin University is handing out 550 3G iPhones to those enrolled in the School of Social Informatics and, much like its growing use in other colleges, it’ll be used as a research tool (press release in Japanese, or semi-comprehensible  Google-translated English) and to give out information on class schedules and lectures.

Attendance is a key requirement for graduation in Japan, the AP reports, so the cat-and-mouse game of skipping class and getting someone to sign-in for you or put a hand up during roll call is rampant. The school plans to give out another 500 iPhones for a total of 1,000 to complete the program after a test phase.

Not sure how effective this will be. Students who are determined to sleep in or play hooky could hand the iPhone to a friend and get on with it.  Seems easier, and in some ways less deceitful, than getting someone to pretend they’re you or fake a signature.

Would you take the free iPhone in exchange for being monitored?

Photo from the iPhone project press conference courtesy @ Aoyama Gakuin University

Via AP

About the author

nicole_martinelli

Nicole Martinelli was born in San Francisco and has lived in Milan and Florence, Italy. Cultish tendencies and love for DIY increased while living on the Old Continent, where tech came late and cost more in Big Mac index terms. She's written for Wired.com, The New York Times and Newsweek, and since 1999 on her site, Zoomata. If you're so inclined, friend her on Facebook or connect on Linked in.

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3 comments

    This from a country that does a brisk business in soiled panties vending machines.
    And the surprise is *where* ?

    @CaryMG

    What? Really? I had a really clever comment, but then I read your post… Really? That’s… perverse.

    There’s this system of tubes out there that can answer all of your questions:

    http://www.snopes.com/risque/kinky/panties.asp

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