Udacity To Offer $100 Degrees?

The website Udacity offers free computer science related courses. They offers certificates of completion for these courses as well. However I have avoided mentioning websites like this, as compared to established universities who have been doing the same thing because, well... Stanford and Princeton are a lot more prestigious than some website nobody has ever heard of.

However Udacity founder Sebastian Thrun plans to change that. In this interview he mentions that he is looking to pair up with testing centers so that students can receive a more valid form of certification in the classes they take. While the classes will remain free, the certification is what would cost money.

This situation offers an interesting question. Can websites receive certification? If University of Phoenix can be run as a for profit school, and Liberty University can give away science degrees with full accreditation while teaching creation science, why not Udacity? This could be a tremendous slap in the face to all the private and public colleges and universities in the US that have gradually been increasing tuition every year. This can't happen soon enough.

Learn To Program

Just think of it like a puzzle.

Academic advisers have told me that if I ever expect to work under them in a lab, I better learn to code, or expect to be taught how to code. I have found a couple of resources since then to help me out. The most likely one to hold my, and your attention alike is codecademy, which treats learning to program in Java more or less like a game; you are taken through stages, given achievements, and there are even hints available. This is how I have been spending my Saturday nights as of lately.  

Another option is the book Invent Your Own Computer Games With Python:

This is a trend setting programming book
simply for the fact that it has a cool cover.

I purchased this book when it came out, only to realise that the book was released under Creative Commons, and you can download the PDF for free. (I command you, go forth dear readers and succeed where I have once failed!) It honestly is a good book, although it is actually geared more towards children. I have also read books in the "Dummies" series, such as "C For Dummies", and as expected; these books move at a boorish pace.

The website Coding Tortoise is another place to learn Java. I believe the person running it has cut back to posting once every two weeks, but there is still a backlog of posts.

Livemocha Unlimited Free Content

I posted about this before, unfortunately in that case the premium content was limited; you had to spend points that you were rewarded through grading other users' submissions. There is however, a way to receive unlimited premium content:

Hi Carm,


Thank you for applying to become an Apprentice Livemocha Expert! It is definitely not too late and we are pleased to invite you to join our force of Expert Reviewers. This is a special type of Livemocha membership that gives you unlimited access to our premium learning content in exchange for helping others on the site.

Expert Reviewers provide a consistently high caliber of feedback that students can trust. A key part of the position is providing words of positive encouragement to remind students that they are on the right track. Language learning can be daunting, which makes it hard to stay motivated - so you will play a key role in spreading enthusiasm and confidence.

Another important aspect of an Expert Review is helping the student improve grammar and pronunciation. Sometimes free reviewers provide incorrect suggestions, and it can be difficult for language learners to decide whose suggestions they can trust. Your feedback will be marked as an Expert Review so the student knows they can count on your accuracy.

Now for the nitty gritty details:

You will receive unlimited, uninterrupted Gold Key as long as you complete at least 10 quality Expert Reviews each month. An Expert Review typically takes anywhere from 5 - 15 minutes depending on the complexity of the student's exercise.

This of course, means that you have to spend some time grading users until you get to this point, but in the meantime you can practice whatever language you want to learn as well. This is "free" in the sense that you do not have to pay any money, and the fact that other users will be evaluating your submissions as well makes the system seem more fair than, "hey, come work for us for free!"

Free College Lectures and Courses

Do you see my Sallie Mae balance on the right side of the page? Fuck college, take free courses online, and learn a tangible skill. Stanford and MIT both are offering online material for free. MIT, like UC Berkley, has over one-thousand Youtube video lectures online. I am hoping maybe I can take a calculus class, before I have to take one at my host university.

Stanford is offering free online courses which start in January. Some of the courses include Computer Science, Game Theory (the two I signed up for), Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning, and others.

This is amazing! As the bachelors degree continues to be the most over markets product in the United States, I hope more colleges follow suit.

Livemocha Giving Away Premiuim Conent To Contributing Users

January 22, 2012 - I have a new article on becoming an Apprentice Livemocha Expert.

Livemocha, a language learning website, is giving away their premium content to Contributing users. Considering other users grade your submissions, you really should return the favor anyways. It's fun too, you listen to records others have made, you have to think about your language, as well as how this person can improve their language ability, and if you find someone who is a good grader/reviewer you can friend them!

If you haven't checked this site out yet, this is honestly a good reason to start now.

Free PC Games

updated 2/22/13

In the past week I have been busy behind the scenes, tweaking code and making small aesthetic changes to the site. So today how about we take a break and play some free (albeit old) video games? I promise they all have aged well!

Games marked with an asterix may require DosBox.

5 Days a Stranger - A free horror game released around 2003. Highly recommended.

Alter Ego - A "life simulation" game that was designed by a psychologist. Live someone's life through a series of experiences. If you're going to look at any of the games in this list, play this one. Not a lot of graphics, but don't let that stop you from trying it. Playing it may put your own life into perspective.

Captain Forever - Space shooter where you build your ship from parts from the enemies you destroy. 

Dune 2 - * A RTS that was really good for when it came out in 1992. Has voices, and awesome music. Doesn't have anything to do with the Dune storyline as far as I can tell. Reminds me of Command and Conquer. This is where the guy on the Dosbox website comes from.

Incredible Machine, The - * I never have played this game, but I have a lot of friends who played it in school, and are really nostalgic about it. No idea if it has aged well.

Jones in The Fast Lane - The concept of this game is from the idiom "keeping up with the Joneses". Another "life-simulation" game where you get a job, and have to buy things you don't need in order to compete with the other players. Like alter ego, playing it may put your own life into perspective.

Mad TV - * A game where you control a TV station, and compete against other networks. You're also trying to buy the love of a women, it's part of the humor of the game. Satirizing the rat-race like qualities of life is a common theme in a lot of these games. Licensed under the name Mad TV in the states. This is originally a German game, and has some great examples of Denglish.
A browser based version is also available, which you don't have to download.

Real Lives - Another "life-simulation" game. Based off of global statistics, you are born somewhere in the world, and then you live that person's life. Is supposed to make you feel bad about living in a first world country, and you will usually die as a child. (If you don't want to provide them with personal information to download the game you can use the identity generator, and 10-minute mail).

Rebuild - A short game where you have to manage and grow an outpost in a zombie apocalypse. There are multiple endings and events that can happen.

Sim Ant - * Played this a ton as a kid on our first computer, a black and white Macintosh Classic. Maintain an ant colony, and fight against the red ants. You eventually infest the poor lawnmower guy's house.

Sim City - Need I say more? The version that might have came with your computer if you had Windows 95.

Sim City 2000 - When the graphics in the Windows 95 version of Sim City are too bad for you.

Super Offroad - * This little addicting racing game used to exist in arcades with a cabinet that had three steering wheels and sets of pedals. It is still fun enough on the computer, with the satisfaction of gliding through each level upgrading your ride along the way.


The Lurking Horror - This game is a text adventure. However, consider the following: part of the fun of these games is supposed to be drawing up the maps for them. pick up a spiral-bound notebook and pen and you'll have no problem navigating this game. Second, it is about a student at MIT (you) that ends up exploring the campus due to mysterious events that lead up to a Lovecratian horror. Highly recommended.

Top Eleven - A soccer management game in the vein of Hattrick. I like this much better than Hattrick however because instead of maybe playing a match once a week, you have one every day.

You Don't Know Jack - Now free to play through Facebook. It pairs you against Facebook friends that have already played through the same "episode" before. Although you only get one free game a day, there are plenty of easy ways to win more tokens to play more games.

Where In The World is Carmen Sandiego - * This is the version I first played when I was a kid. Although I thought later versions where you had to talk to different people, and match the profile of the thief was more fun. For other versions, as well as answers to the copy protection questions click here.

Livemocha

Ok this is sort of a shameless plug, but I think this site is cool so here it goes.

Livemocha is a language learning site. Higher course levels cost money, but basic levels are free. The courses are like worse versions of Rosetta Stone. However the best part of the site is that there are exercises that have to be rated and graded by native speakers of the language, and as long as you are helpful you are matched with other helpful graders. This is absolutely free of charge. 

On top of that you can find native speakers who speak the language you want to learn. Because they are on a language learning site, they are more inclined to work with someone who does not speak well!

Check out the site, if you sign up cite rividzATgmailDOTcom as a referral if you can.
Website: https://www.livemocha.com/
My profile: http://www.livemocha.com/profiles/view/4388194