Galileo

two weeks ago, a package arrived in the mail.


and northville was changed forever.


after it was acquainted with its predecessor, it was given a name. because after all, every passionate mac user names his or her machine. [be warned... the amount of nerdiness is about to reach astronomical proportions] every computer i have owned has had a name of some significance. my g4 1.33GHz powerbook was named isis after the egyptian mother of the gods because the g4 was the first mac i have ever owned and thus the progenator machine. the macbook my masters program issued me was named prometheus after the greek demigod who stole fire from zeus and gave it to mankind and from that fire, civilization was born. that white macbook's purpose was to for teaching and bringing knowledge and civilization to the world. and now, the new metalic macbook has been named galileo after the man who challenge the accepted norm and changed the way an entire world thought.


so far in the project, we have been able to refit a standard overhead projector cart to house all of our various pieces of equipment. the smartboard has now become stand issue in my classroom. but only recently have i devised a means to overcome the pesky problem of where to place the wiimote sensors. too close doesn't produce a cone of reception large enough to cover the entire display surface. too far and the spatial resolution deteriorates and the tracking speed diminishes. sensors placed too close make the display more succeptible to dead zones produces by the IR shadow the teacher's body casts by simply being in the way of the light. here is at least the first step to a viable solution for a nomadic teacher.



The wiimote can now pivot on a verticle axis, which drastically increases its versitility. the rubber feet of the tripod make it useful on various surfaces, even ones on an incline.

project galileo will be a multi-step project to build a classroom of the future. or at least... a classroom of the present.