Techcordance

Free Speech?

An Ohio college administrator recently lost her job after she wrote an article in her local newspaper against homosexuality. Now, Crystal Dixon, former associate vice president of human resources at the University of Toledo, is fighting back. “I wrote with no malice, no hatred in my heart. But I wanted to present another perspective on the subject and that was what was going through my mind,” Dixon said. “It never occurred to me that I would lose my job.On the morning of April 6, 2008 she woke up with a divine mandate, which was to respond to an editorial in the Toledo Free Press where editor-in-chief Michael Miller argued against gay prejudice, “based in religion.” He also advocated for domestic partner benefits for the Medical University of Ohio, the University of Toledo’s sister school.

Alternatives

Apple’s iPad will be available on April 3 and reports suggest that the product is off to a good start, with hundreds and thousands being ordered from Apple’s Web site. But the device has faced some criticism for lacking features such as a video camera, USB ports and support for technology called Flash that enables Web video.
But those technologies could be available in iPad alternatives reaching the market soon, including Neofonie’s WePad, Hewlett-Packard’s Slate, Notion Ink’s Adam and Innovative Converged Devices’ Ultra. These handheld devices have diagonal screen sizes from 7 inches to 11.6 inches and will be based on Google’s Android Linux OS or Windows 7.