Bing For Schools Launches, Removes Ads And Rewarding Searches With Surface RT Tablets For Schools

Microsoft previewed its Bing for Schools initiative back in June, an opt-in program for educational institutions that allows schools to sign up to offer a version of Bing to their students that drops advertisements and increases privacy protections. The Bing for Schools program launches for K through 12 schools today, and as an added bonus, using it will earn users points that their school can redeem for free Surface RT tablets.

Students, parents and anyone else who wants to contribute get credits via Microsoft’s Bing Rewards program for using the search engine, and can add those to a general pool for a specific school. Once a school hits 30,000 points, it gets a free Surface RT tablet, complete with a Touch Cover (the one with the capacitive keyboard built-in). The conversion is roughly such that about 60 users contributing to a school and using Bing as their default search engine can earn a school a Surface RT per month, which actually sounds pretty good.

Of course, the Surface RT is not the finest of all devices under the sun, and some argue that it probably shouldn’t exist to begin with. But at least they’ll do some good in schools, as opposed to sitting around on store shelves. And for Microsoft, the benefit is getting more hardware in the hands of educational institutions and students; that’s a highly attractive market to any computer or software maker.

The Bing for Schools pilot project launches today in a number of districts that have signed up to take part in the pilot project, which covers over 800,000 students going into the new school year. In addition to the benefits listed above, the program also offers automatic strict filtering of adult content, as well as lesson plans based on the Bing home page, broken up into three categories targeted at grades K-4, 5-8 and 9-12.

If you’re already Binging, you might as well sign up and support a school, no matter where you happen to be located – turning your searches for cat gifs into tech bonuses for kids is never a bad thing.

As A Youth You too Can Make A Difference

As a Youth You too can Make a difference

One summer day a player sweated all alone in a gymnasium, long snapping footballs from the half court circle on the basketball court to a target hanging on the wall underneath the basket. No one in that community had ever seen a player do that before.
A couple weeks later the same player walked up to local business owners at their place of business and handed them a card which stated the local football team was going to win a state championship that upcoming year. This was a feat the school never had accomplished. No one in that community had ever seen a player do that before.
During the season fans noticed the same young man playing offensive center. Every play he would sprint from the huddle to the line clapping wildly as if to say, "Here we come!" How long had that young man been breaking the huddle that way? All year - every game. No one in that community had ever seen a player do that before.
Later, during a playoff game, the same young man played ever single play of the game, never coming off the field during offense, defense and special teams. He was the only player who did. When the game was over he was so exhausted he collapsed on the way to the team bus. No one in that community had ever seen a player play to exhaustion before.
Finally, during the state championship game, this young man snapped punt snaps on a field covered with eight inches of snow hitting the punter right in the hands. What made the feat more remarkable was he was wearing a pair of gloves that he could not remove because they had become frozen to his hands. The team went on to win the first state championship in school history thus fulfilling the prediction of the card. No one in that community had ever seen something like that ever done before.

Years later a call was made to the former player. "Your teammate has cancer. We need you."
On a Sunday afternoon the player stood in front of a crowded banquet hall. He spoke about courage. He spoke about teammates. He spoke about loyalty. He spoke about love. Over $80,000 were raised that day for medical expenses. No one in that community had ever seen that done before.
In your life do what no one has ever seen done before.
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Inspiring + Ugandan Youths on Teenage Pregnancy

When Christine started talking to young people at the youth debate on teenage pregnancy at UMA show ground last week, many people were half asleep after long speeches.
Then she said the words that jolted everyone back to reality and put teenage pregnancy right back at the centre of the debate.

"I was raped when I was 13 years old. My father had died and my step father tried to rape me. I ran away to work as a house girl but my boss raped me. I got pregnant and gave birth at that age. It is not easy being a young mum," Christine said at the event, organised by the UN Population Fund, the Population Secretariat and Straight Talk Foundation.

The debate reflects the organisers' conviction that it is important for teenagers to access age-appropriate sexuality education and to speak out on issues that affect them. Now 21, Christine sought the help of Wakisa Ministries, which helps teenagers like her, and went back to school. She has just joined university.
And yet Christine's situation is not unique. According to POPSEC Acting Director Charles Zirarema, nearly half of teenage girls in the country have had their first child by their 19th birthday. The revelation sent many young people calling leaders to end teenage pregnancy in Uganda.
Racheal Akidu, from Comprehensive College Kitetikka, said that the decline in moral standards was driving young boys and girls into early sex.
"Parents just pay school fees, take them to school and leave them there. They do not ask the daughter if they have boyfriends and leave them to peer pressure," Akidu said.
UNFPA Program Director Prossy Nakanjako weighed in with a message for young people: "Getting pregnant is every young girl's nightmare and getting a girl pregnant is every young boy's nightmare ...Unfortunately some of our friends are growing up much faster, becoming mothers before they are ready."
The debate came at the end of an essay writing competition, organised by UNFPA, POPSEC and Straight Talk Foundation for youth. The competition was aimed at getting their views about teenage pregnancy.
Eight winners were selected from 524 entries.
"One of the ways we can be effective in fighting against teenage pregnancy is if young people are supported to make their voices heard," Zirarema said.