Just a quick post to share this concept video from Sports Illustrated (digital breadcrumbs: Scott McLeod , Judy O’Connell , Daniel Pink , Apple Insider , Peter Kafka ). More evidence that the way we interact with “text” is changing. To combine and paraphrase something I’ve heard David Warlick say more than once with something Jason Ohler says: We need to stop paper training our students
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I Read (?) The News Today, Oh Boy
So, Google Goggles is now in beta in Google Labs and available on Android phones. Humorous name aside, the product looks to be a huge leap forward in the field of visual search — by which I mean, you point a camera at something and Google figures out what it is. Here’s a little video explanation
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Google Goggles: Why Didn’t I Think of That?
Ahead of Skype worldwide is Tencent ( HK:0700 ), a diversified Chinese online empire with the QQ instant messaging service at its core. Building on free IM, QQ makes money with ” Online Media , Wireless Internet Value-Added Services , Interactive Entertainment Service , Internet Value-added Service , E-commerce , and Online Advertising Service .” Tencent had another record quarter. QQ now has more than a billion (1057MM) user accounts
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Tencent QQ 2009q3: 1B accounts, .4B active, 75MM online
Fring is again in acceleration mode after being quiet for a while. With competition popping up in the Mobile VOIP space, Fring still enjoys customer loyalty. Fring now added support for video conferencing using Skype technology on S60 devices, the first time that the feature has been made available on mobile handsets
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Fring now enables Skype Video Conferencing Support to S60 SmartPhones
NPR has a short, but interesting story on the use of mobile devices by young people. Citing research by the Pew Internet and American Life Project , the story states that in regards to “robust” uses of mobile devices, “most of those hyperusers are young Latinos and blacks.” Chart from NPR , source data from Pew Internet and American Life Project, refers to above uses on mobile devices only Now, the story is certainly not saying that the digital divide is no longer an issue, but it does bring up some interesting points. It attributes the higher and more sophisticated use of mobile devices among Latinos and blacks to four factors: Networking teens that spread the use to older members of their ethnic group (happens in all ethnic groups, but faster among blacks and Latinos, perhaps due to the relatively higher proportion of young people) Cheaper than a home connection (mobile upgrade cheaper than buying a computer and broadband) Communication across borders (easier on both sides) Convenience (the phone is always there, always gets a signal, no need to worry about wifi or battery) I see some similarities to the cell phone versus landline access in countries like China and India, where lots of folks have gone straight from no phone to cell phone, skipping the landline phase
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A Shift in the Digital Divide?
Cyber Monday is the biggest online shopping day in USA and We have identified some great Cyber Monday Deals for VOIP. 1) Are you fed up of using VOIP Phone Service with monthly phone bills which are out of your control? then its good time to switch to Ooma Phone Service which comes with no Contract and no monthly bills.
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VOIP Cyber Monday 2009 Deals
Last year I wrote a couple of posts about Kiva, so I’ll keep this one fairly short (please go read those two posts if you want more context). In a nutshell, this is the time of year when lots of folks in my neck of the woods are celebrating holidays, and many of us have lots to be thankful for. So, here’s what I did last year and am doing again this year: First, I’ve donated $25 to an entrepreneur ($25 is the minimum they accept)
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Giving More Than Thanks
Kristin Leclaire (who needs to blog more often) just posted about her 10th graders reading The Kite Runne r . I wrote about this last year , but this year she knew about Rob ahead of time so could plan a little better. As Kristin writes : I explained that our contact, Rob Dodson, had contacted me last year after reading my class blogs, and that he was a military officer stationed in Afghanistan
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It Was Amazing
(Note: This post is personal and a departure from the regularly scheduled content for this blog.) Today is Gotcha Day in my house – nine years ago today we adopted our daughter Abby in China. We traveled with six other families and tonight four of them were able to come over for dinner. As I was gathering some memories this morning I tweeted out a story and a few pictures and videos, so I thought I would share them here as well
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Gotcha Day
I had the opportunity last week to participate along with the amazing Jim Burke from English Companion in an Education Week/Teacher Magazine chat on Social Networking and Teacher Professional Development . I hope some people found it useful and I appreciate the folks at Education Week / Teacher Magazine that put this together. None of the rest of this post is meant to disparage those folks, but simply to ask the question: What makes a chat a chat?
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What Makes a Chat a Chat?
I’m pleased to announce that the 2010 Edition of Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation will be hosted by Loveland High School on February 20, 2010. Like the original in 2008 and the 2009 Edition , this year’s get together is free. What is Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation
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Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation (2010 Edition)
Recently I commented about how Verizon’s doubling of its early termination fee to $350 makes sense as the company needs to keep investing in ensuring its network is the best in the US. I may be the only person who appreciates having a fee go up as evidenced by the noise from journalists which is not subsiding. One of my favorite writers and video producers, David Pogue of The New York Times comments today that Verizon is gouging and has a plethora of ideas the company can implement to save consumers money.
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Verizon’s Rising Fees Still Makes Sense
If you are interested in the Skype/Joost/eBay soap opera of recent months, be sure to check out this article from Brad Reese which shows a chain of emails between Mike Volpi and a number of other execs involved in the Skype deals as of late. You rarely if ever get a look at these sorts of communications and for that reason alone this piece is worth looking at. Tags: brad reese , consumer electronics , ebay , ip communications , joost , mike volpi , network world , p2p , rosenberg , sip , skype , tech , voip Follow me: Facebook Profile Google Reader Profile Twitter Profile Related Entries Skype Soap Opera Update – Oct 15, 2009 eBay Unloads StumbleUpon, Skype Next?
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More on the Skype Soap Opera
I blogged previously about some of the great stuff that Heritage High School , our sister high school – and rival – is doing. For the last three years Heritage has held MAD Week (Make A Difference), and raised money to help children in Sierra Leone. ( Arapahoe , my high school, does similar things with both the Make A Wish foundation and Toys for Tots.) Well, this week something even more special is happening – they are opening a school in Sierra Leone, the Heritage School of Kabala
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The Heritage School of Kabala
I was part of an interesting discussion on Twitter Friday night and I wanted to share it here, as well as add a few final thoughts. Participants that I reference are Bud Hunt , Brian Crosby , Dean Sharesk i, Anne Van Meter , Barbara Barreda , and Karen Fasimpaur
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Twitter Lists & Aggregated Content: Are We Responsible?
iPhones may be all the rage in tech-crazy Silicon Valley, but if a new political app is any indication, RIM’s BlackBerry is at the heart of government. This time the RIM love comes not from President Obama, who made headlines for trying to hold onto his BlackBerry after being sworn into office, but from across the aisle. From the office of Republican Whip Eric Cantor comes WhipCast for BlackBerry , a free GOP-focused aggregator for text, pictures, and videos from the House floor
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WhipCast app hints at GOP smartphone of choice?
FoxyTunes unlocks access to a wide range of music players. (Credit: Yahoo) FoxyTunes , the popular music-player plug-in for Firefox , Internet Explorer , Mozilla Thunderbird , and so on, is now a plug-in supporting Yahoo Messenger for Windows, versions 8.1, 9 , and 10 beta . Maybe we should to call it “FoxyHoo.” With the plug-in installed, you can control your desktop music player in addition to sharing what you’re playing in the status bar.
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Now playing: FoxyTunes on Yahoo Messenger
These 10 videos from CNET TV cover a range of useful tips for Windows 7 users, including how to make a system repair disc, how to customize the Start menu, what some of the best hot keys for the operating system are, and more. There’s also advice on how to upgrade from either Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7, how to fix Ethernet driver problems in VMWare, how to burn an ISO directly from the newly enhanced Windows Explorer, and how to get to the jump list from your left mouse button.
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10 tips and tricks for Windows 7
– buy skype, replace p2p with SIP (standard-based, open, can interwork with other VoIP systems – like the Cisco phones) – use social graph to augment other socials via API or develop its own social – replace heavy client with flash/html/java version – make it lightweight for embedded devices (mobile) – clean up staff and cut costs while private [Links are mine.] Exhibits 1-20 to Declaration of S. Dargitz In Support of PI – PUBLIC , page six, redacted. Discuss amongst yourselves
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Volpi’s Skype Business Concept: SIP, social, lite, layoffs
The National School Board Association has a companion blog to their Board Buzz specifically for their Technology and Learning Conference coming up in October in Denver. A recent post pointed to research comparing students’ writing with a pen versus with a keyboard. Board Buzz said: Virginia Berninger, a University of Washington Professor of Educational Psychology, discovered that children write better and longer essays at a faster pace when using a pen
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Is the Pen Mightier than the Keyboard?
I wrote an email to an editor at the Denver Post last Sunday in response to an editorial titled, Twitter: A Medium without a Message (please read it before reading the rest of this post). Now, this is somewhat ironic because, while I certainly use Twitter, I’m not a frequent user compared to many folks and I don’t necessarily think it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. But I truly felt like he was missing the point somewhat, and he generally seems like a thoughtful guy (even if I don’t always agree with him), so I dashed off a quick email in about eight minutes or so
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More Than a Passing Trend