Can Technology Save Us From the 2020 Pandemic?
With the news around COVID-19 & “The Great Pandemic of 2020” growing ever more bleak by the day with more major events & movie premieres canceling; restaurants, gyms, & even schools closing their doors for the duration of this outbreak; it is easy to think that the world is falling apart. Parents are concerned with how their kids will be able to keep up with their education, while many schools have effectively ended their academic year halfway through the spring semester. Employees sent home without the ability to work from home are trying to distract themselves from boredom, while wondering what they can do if this required social distancing goes on for too long. While we could try offering the same empty advice that has become common place right now like, “just be patient & things will get better,” we actually have something different to offer. The more we have paid attention to the news, we slowly noticed something…nerdy happening. As it turns out, while there may not be a miracle cure for the virus, yet, there is a solution to the other problems created by our self-isolation: technology!
Yes, this may seem a little out there, but here me out. After we have spent the last 5-10 years heatedly arguing over what role technology should play in our lives & whether America is even capable of handling what the internet is growing up to become, we have seen some of the most unprecedented shifts in the public discourse from small businesses, major corporations, & ISP’s alike within a matter of days to help counteract the negative effects of entire communities across the country being stuck at home. As it turns out, new opportunities for education, job training, small business resources, &, of course, mass entertainment, have all come up for grabs to anyone who knows where to look. So, we decided to do the hard work of tracking down all of the resources you NEED to know about to save you time!
Skip Ahead:
- Education
— School (Online)
— Music
— Museums
— Photography
— Online Classes
— Adobe (for Schools)
- Entertainment
— Streaming Services
- Internet
— AT&T
— Comcast
— Spectrum
— Sparklight
— Suddenlink by Altice USA
- How You Can Help
Education
Before you try anything else, students should be sure you check your school & school district’s websites to see if they have already provided resources of their own for you to use. Most school districts here in North Texas have already posted those links to their home pages for quick access. However, if you want something more than that, then let’s dive in!
School (Online)
If your school does not currently offer online classes or have limited resources available to do so, the have no fear. The book company beloved by kids everywhere is stepping up to offer daily lessons for kids Pre-K through 6th grade.
And for the younger kids out there, ABC Mouse is offering their own help for kids ages 2-8 with a free 30 day trial for their online lessons & educational games.
Music
Many musicians are providing free online concerts to help entertain everyone stuck at home. This includes many internationally renowned orchestras, operas, & theaters that can provide a wonderful online field trip for your students to become immersed in classical performances almost every day. Media outlets like The Star & NPR have kindly provided links & live performance listings to help parents keep track of where they can find these musical gems.
International Performance Links:
Calendar of Performances with Links:
On the other hand, if you are looking for something more modern & fun, you can go to Instagram or Twitter & look up #TogetherAtHome to find musical artists of all kinds giving free performances live from their homes & studios. Yesterday alone, we saw the likes of John Legend, Chris Martin of Coldplay, & Pink all go live to offer up their musical talents to the internet at large!
Museums
Museums all around the world have ramped up their online tours and educational resources to give students the chance to explore history, science, & art all from the comfort of their homes. We’re not just talking about your local museums, either. The Smithsonian Institute, The MOMA, The British Museum & The Louvre have all joined the fight for education during this hard time with their incredibly expansive online tours & educational resources. While you can always go to each museum’s website individually to find what they have to offer, Google has stepped in using their Google Street View app to provide full guided tours of these & many other locations that will allow students to dive deep into a world of art, science, & history!
The Smithsonian
Dallas Museum of Art
Museum of Modern Art (New York City)
The British Museum
The Louvre
The Museum of Science, Boston
Photography
For the photographically inclined out there, this is also the perfect time to take advantage of some of the best deals to learn how to take your photos to the next level thanks to Jared Polin over at FroKnowsPhoto. He is giving away his 3 hour “Guide to Getting Out Of Auto” (normally a $67 guide) & he’s even hosting a camera give-away worth $3,499! Anyone who is just starting off learning photography or has been taking pictures for a little while, but wants to get even better should absolutely take advantage of this while it lasts!
As a side note, if you sign up for his e-mail list, you can also get his Guide to Capturing Motion in Low Light, absolutely FREE, too!
Online Classes
Of course, if you have a more diverse subject preference that you want to add to your educational experience, there is always the leading site & app for online classes made by subject matter experts around the world: Skillshare. If you sign-up with them right now, you can get the first two months free!
If you are a parent trying to save money right now, but want to take advantage of this deal, you can always sign up for the 2 free months & then end your subscription before the third month. Now, understand, we are not “officially” advocating this. However, we understand that finances are tough for everyone right now & this is technically an option available to you to keep educating your kids without breaking the bank.
Adobe (for Schools)
While this final option isn’t available to just anyone stuck at home right now, if you are a student or are the parent of a student wanting to learn photo or video editing, or graphic design, then contact your school & ask them to contact Adobe to take advantage of their free access offer to their entire suite of cloud applications. This way, students & teachers can take advantage of the time out of the classroom to add something more to student’s curriculum.
Entertainment
Streaming Services
Obviously, if you’re stuck at home with nothing to do, the easiest go-to thing to do is turn on Netflix, Disney+, YouTube, or one of the MANY other streaming currently available. While we sadly cannot say there are any major discounts to subscribe to any of those services right now, we are seeing new movie releases beginning early & in mass, starting with Frozen 2 & The Rise of Skywalker over on Disney+. What’s more, NBC Universal announced yesterday that they will be moving several of their movie premieres to streaming in an attempt to still get them out to the public, while movie theaters are closed.
The good thing is that, while there are no free offers from any of these sites, exactly, they do all have free trial periods that you can take advantage of right now.
*Apple TV Plus offers 12 months free if you have recently purchased a new Apple device.
Internet
If all of these options seem fantastic, but you find yourself concerned about whether you can afford the internet connection needed to support all of these fantastic options, we have some good news for you there, too. In an uncharacteristic act of kindness, Internet Service Providers across the US have made some temporary changes that will allow more families to afford high-speed internet connections during this hard time.
AT&T
According to Vice, AT&T has agreed to suspend all data caps for their broadband internet service. Yes, in case you were unaware, AT&T has had data caps in place for all of their packages that were less than their Internet 1000 package & that will automatically throttle your internet speed if you exceeded usage amount that they placed on your account. You can see what those data usage caps are HERE.
Now, we could go on & on about how, if they are capable of removing those caps now, why have them in place at all, but we’ll save that for another day. For now, let’s just appreciate that we’re getting this much from them. Why this is important, however, is that it means that you can stream high quality content as much as you want & not worry about it slowing down as long as this pandemic continues.
Comcast
While Comcast isn’t giving anything away, they are at least discounting their service for those with the greatest need. Low-income families in the Comcast service area can sign up for 60 days of complimentary Internet Essentials service, which is normally available to all qualified low-income households for $9.95/month. Also, Comcast is increasing Internet speeds for the Internet Essentials service from 15/2 Mbps to 25/3 Mbps for all new and existing customers, which will be the speed of the service going forward. To sign up, applicants can simply visit www.internetessentials.com. There are also two dedicated phone numbers 1-855-846-8376 for English and 1-855-765-6995 for Spanish. For additional information, visit Comcast Increases Access to and Speeds of Internet Essentials to Support Americans Through Coronavirus Pandemic.
Spectrum
In contrast to Comcast, Spectrum WILL actually be giving away service for free (temporarily). Beginning March 16, Charter will offer free Spectrum broadband and Wi-Fi access for 60 days to households with K-12 and/or college students who do not already have a Spectrum broadband subscription and at any service level up to 100 Mbps. To enroll call 1-844-488-8395. Installation fees will be waived for new student households. For more information, see Charter to Offer Free Access to Spectrum Broadband and Wi-Fi For 60 Days For New K-12 and College Student Households and More.
Sparklight
While not able to offer some of the same speeds as the larger ISPs, some of the smaller third-party providers are also stepping up to do their part. Sparklight has made unlimited data available on all internet services for the next 30 days. Late fees are waived for customers for the next 60 days. Customers who call to make arrangements can obtain payment deferrals. Sparklight plans to reassess after 30 days based on the continued impact and evolving nature of the virus. Sparklight’s Wi-Fi hotspots are open to the public across Sparklight’s footprint. Customers can call 877-692-2253 for more information and to set up arrangements.
Suddenlink by Altice USA
For households with K-12 and/or college students who may be displaced due to school closures and who do not currently have home internet access, Altice USA is offering its Altice Advantage 30 Mbps broadband solution for free for 60 days to new customer households within our footprint. Eligible households interested in this solution can call 888-633-0030 to enroll in the Suddenlink region, which includes Texas.
How You Can Help
Nvidia is giving everyone at home a chance to help find the cure for COVID-19, along with many other devastating diseases. If you have a desktop or laptop with a dedicated graphics card (or select gaming consoles) & want to put it to use, then you can become part of a virtual super computer working on finding a cure with the Folding@home network.
Folding@home is a network of volunteer computers distributed around the world that aims to perform biomedical research with the single intent of helping to further understand and develop cures for a range of diseases such as; Alzheimer's, cancer, and Parkinson's. The exact research that is done is simulating the 'folding' of proteins in the body, this is important because the function of a protein id directly related to its physical shape. And this, when the protein is created in the body it needs to reshuffle its shape to get into the correct structure to perform its task. Many illnesses can be linked to faulty proteins in the body such as many cancers and neurological issues, along with a wide number of other general health concerns. This network if compared with the TOP500 list of supercomputers would fall into 2nd, Folding@home is one of the world's fastest computing systems, with a speed of approximately 98.7petaFLOPS. It would be 50% faster than the fastest x86 computer currently listed on the top500.
For more information about Folding@Home, here are 2 resources that can simplify the explanation a bit.