Education is undergoing significant transformations, due in no small part to technology. Video chats give students and teachers the opportunity to interact without even being together in the same room, software makes teaching and learning more effective, reading books can be done without turning even a single page and, for an increasing number of students, jotting down notes has shifted from pen and paper to PCs.

It should not surprise anyone that, in this day and age, eager students can learn new, relevant skills and land good paying jobs through alternative learning programs that require much less of their time to graduate and are more affordable, compared to traditional education. RefactorU is one of the companies which offer alternative learning programs that "challenge" people to reinvent themselves, giving them the chance to learn how to code, manage projects or how to build and fly drones. I chatted with RefactorU CEO Sean Daken to learn more about what it offers, the entailed cost and more.

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One of the major knocks on Google, is that the company collects its users' data. It is that data, coupled with advertising, that makes most of the search-giant's services free. Something being "free", however, is subjective. In other words, just because actual money is not being exchanged, does not mean that something valuable isn't. Your data is very valuable. So is Gmail truly free?

That is a decision that adult users must make. If they don't mind Google scanning their emails, that is OK. Quite frankly, there is nothing morally wrong with this approach on Google's behalf. However, children are an entirely different argument. Harvesting a child's data for profit comes off poorly to many, including myself. Sadly, Google had been doing just that -- scanning the contents of students' email accounts. By definition, this is spying, but luckily Google has decided to stop.

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Recent high profile stories like the Heartbleed bug have turned the spotlight on IT security. A new report by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) highlights how a skills crisis is putting more pressure on security teams.

ISACA surveyed enterprises to understand the level of attacks and their security preparedness. Key findings include that one in every five enterprises has suffered an advanced persistent threat attack, but that one in three of those don't know where it came from.

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When you are a child quite often your parents' careers are foreign to you. Sure, you may see them get ready for work in the morning and you may even know their title ("Fireman", "Lawyer", "Janitor"), but what they do throughout the course of a work-day is a mystery.

In reality, it is very important for children to know what a work-day entails. After all, children grow-up, and they need to be prepared for the real world. Unfortunately, while some businesses offer things like "Bring Your Child To Work Day", not all do. And so, many children are unable to get the exposure that they need. Well, Google is aiming to change this, using its Hangouts service, for what it calls "Take Your Classroom to Work Day".

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Amazon began its retail life as an online book distributor, though it's something we rarely consider the company now -- unless you choose to count digital versions for Kindle and Kindle apps. However, a thriving market for textbooks exists and that has become a recent focus for the company -- also in digital format.

Amazon now lands a major contract in that market, announcing it has reached a textbook deal with the Brazil Ministry of Education. "National Fund for Educational Development (FNDE), has been working with Amazon to convert and wirelessly distribute more than 200 textbooks to hundreds of thousands of public high school teachers via Whispercast", the company states.

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For many, open source is believed to be the future. If you aren't familiar, in basic terms, open source is software that is accompanied by free to distribute source code. By having the source code, users can see the guts of the program they are using. This is in contrast to closed source software, like most of Microsoft's, where the code is hidden to retain intellectual property and make a profit.

Neither school of thought is wrong -- you can't fault a company for trying to make money by going closed source. Bill Gates would not have become the richest man in the world if Microsoft's software portfolio was open. However, not everyone lives for money. Open source allows even the poorest people to potentially access quality software at no charge. Today, Google announces it is looking for college students to work on open source projects for its 10th year of Summer of Code.

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While self-learning and real-world experience are both great types of education, there is still something to be said for a quality, structured classroom lesson. College is a great place for structured learning, but the costs can be overwhelming. Even though education and self improvement are great investments, no one wants to be buried in student loan debt.

If you are interested in learning, the subject of Linux is a great choice. After all, more and more businesses are utilizing Linux-based operating systems, while Android and Chrome OS are increasing in popularity. Luckily, the Linux Foundation has partnered with edX to bring free Linux courses to the masses.

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Google's Chromebooks are becoming synonymous with education. Schools are embracing them for the low cost and ease of use. It's hard to argue with that, but I am dubious that it is the best choice for students.

A Windows PC is still the best option for readying a student for the world of business. Outlook, Excel, Access -- these are the programs that a future successful person will learn. Today, Dell announces a new laptop that is focused on education and gives Chromebook a run for its money -- the Latitude 13 Education Series.

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My knowledge of Australia is rather limited. I know of Crocodile Dundee, Outback Steakhouse and Rocko from Rocko's Modern Life. I'll admit, I need to learn more about the world. Luckily, the internet allows me to learn from the comfort of my computer chair.

Google is one of the great resources from which to learn, especially Google Maps. From my web browser, I can navigate to anywhere in the world. Even better, Street View allows me to experience the locations as if I was really there. Today, Google announces that it is bringing Street View down under, to Sydney, Australia. Well, the search-giant is going even further down under than that, into the sea!

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My first-ever Chromebook was a Samsung. The 11.6-inch laptop was inexpensive and revolutionary. Heck, it looked like a plasticy Macbook Air -- very sexy. However, all that glitters is not gold. While my relationship with the laptop started strong, the dual-core ARM processor and paltry 2GB of ram proved underpowered. Pages would load slowly, and the lag could be extremely frustrating.

While many people think of Chrome OS as being just a web browser, remember, it is actually a Linux distribution running a web browser. The more RAM the better, with 4GB being the bare minimum for an enjoyable experience. Today, Samsung announces two new ARM-based Chromebooks to serve as a follow-up to the original. Not only is the RAM increased, but the CPU is supercharged too.

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Children are the future and education is key to creating valuable members of the workforce. Sadly, the USA is no longer a leader in producing quality engineers and scientists.

Luckily, President Obama has been focusing on technology in the classroom, with universal access to faster broadband. Also, Barack is pushing the education of teachers to keep up with advances in technology. The President has mentioned working with the public sector as well and today, Adobe answers the call with a promise of $300 million.

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Today, at ZDNET, James Kendrick's commentary "Chromebooks and students: Long term trouble for Microsoft" adds to a growing meme. With a few schools deploying Chromebooks (emphasis few) and rumors Microsoft has slashed Windows licensing fees (remember unconfirmed), recurring theme "2014 is year of the Chromebook and Windows is in deep dodo because of it" isn't surprising. But just because bloggers say something's true often enough, doesn't make it that way. Twenty fourteen isn't year of the Chromebook, nor is its utility to the education market guaranteed.

That said, Kendrick makes some good points about why Chromebook appeals to students. I won't recap them. This isn't an aggregated synopsis. You can read his fine points. My post adds to them, from experience. I am a long-time Chromebook user.

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While the gold-standard of office suites remains Microsoft's Office, many competitors are trying to catch up. While Libreoffice is a nice alternative, it has failed to truly take off beyond Linux users and people who don't want to spend money or cant afford to buy Microsoft's solution.

However, the biggest competitor lately has been Google. The search giant has been making a push with both web apps (like Google Docs) and Chrome OS. Education institutions have been high on Google's web philosophy as it is cheaper. Today, the search giant announces that it will be providing Google Apps for Education to students in the Brazilian city of São Paulo.

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A new white paper compares Android and Windows devices for use in the public sector and education. It looks at four areas it considers critical -- ease of use, security, productivity and lifecycle -- and finds Windows devices to be the "superior choice".

The paper says there are "significant challenges and issues with Android" and that Windows devices "offer better security and utility, enabling new usage models AND more productive users, while giving IT flexible deployment options to evolve the existing infrastructure and in some cases even produce savings as no new processes need to be developed". But since the white paper comes from Microsoft, those findings are unsurprising.

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In case you missed it, the Rambling Wrecks of Georgia Tech will next year begin offering an online masters degree in computer science for a total price of just under $7,000 -- about 80 percent less than the current in-state tuition for an equivalent campus-based program. The degree program, offered in cooperation with AT&T and courseware company Udacity, will cost the same no matter where the students live, though two thirds are expected to live and work outside the USA. Time to complete the degree will vary but Georgia Tech thinks most students will require about three years to finish. The program is inspired, we’re told, by the current hiring crisis for computer science grads -- a crisis that anyone who reads this column knows does not exist.

Programmers in Bangalore will soon boast Georgia Tech degrees without even having a passport.

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