Saturday, May 31, 2008

May edition of Tech news available

Becta's regular lo0k at whats tech in education is out now for download with amongst other things analysis pieces on:
  • Context awareness
  • Handheld games consoles
  • Robots in education
  • Online reporting
download it at
http://partners.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=rh&catcode=_re_rp_02&rid=13669


Tech news pages on Becta website are on my links panel

Desktop Asus

Thanks to Ian Stewart for this. Desktop eeepc ?



Asus Ebox



http://crave.cnet.co.uk/desktops/0,39029426,49297099,00.htm

Friday, May 30, 2008

death of the computer lab ??

Interesting piece but up to you if you think its true

http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i38/38a01301.htm.

worth a read.


Thursday, May 29, 2008

MID or Smartphone call them what you like its all getting interesting

As Engadget puts it "iPhone vs. HTC Touch Diamond vs. Xperia X1... Fight!" Its all getting interesting as I have been predicitng for a while.

The killer device like the killer app for mobile doesnt yet exist and probably never will. But the tipping point in functionality moved on by the Iphone is being caught up and some would say surpassed ( Iwouldnt of course pass comment) by other device manufacturers devices and specifically device specifications.

Worth a read a love the visuals
.http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/29/iphone-vs-htc-touch-diamond-vs-xperia-x1-fight/

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Mobile web the new cash cow

Interesting piece of work by juniper research . Does make me think back to a economist article that the mobile web is the hope for making money from the internet !
worth a read.


http://www.juniperresearch.com/shop/viewpressrelease.php?pr=91

Beyond Blogs Newsweek points to social media

Interesting article reflecting on an original article three years ago on how blogs would change your business
. The year was 2005, and the story was "Blogs Will Change Your Business."

this update is worth a read.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_22/b4086044617865.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_dialogue+with+readers

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Frontline sms now this is such a cool use of technology

Discovered this via the great podcasts from the www.theworld.org The World is a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH Boston.

I listened on the train ride back home from a great but wet and stormy weekend in Southwold courtesey of my Ipod Touch .

One of the pieces was about frontline sms http://www.frontlinesms.com/what/
developed and promted by Ken Banks and colleagues http://www.kiwanja.net/
I first heard of Kens great work through Mike and his name check on theworld podcast made my ears prick up .

Ken also came up again the silverback guerilla mobile phone game http://www.theworld.org/?q=node/17534 working with flora & fauna international who ironically I used to work with two of there ex staff Martin Hollands and Mike Appleton.

so loads to listen to look at go on !!!

Mobile phone ingenuity in Africa

well what a nice post for me combining my interest in development issues and mobile technology to items of interest on this post. With a recycling and possibly benevolent hacking.

http://www.afrigadget.com/2008/04/15/mobile-phone-ingenuity-in-africa/

Firstly dual sim
This product has two SIM card slots in a single phone - primarily to
support price sensitive/prudent consumers who wish to optimise their
call costs by maintaining SIM cards from two different phone operators.
As in many countries - calls to a customer using a different Ghanaian
operator cost slightly more than those on the same network.

Dual SIM card in Accra, Ghana

http://www.afrigadget.com/2008/04/15/mobile-phone-ingenuity-in-africa/

The village phone project in Uganda is also trailed well worth a look

http://www.janchipchase.com/blog/archives/2007/01/village_phone.html

whats interesting in the role of Nokia actually looking at how users are using phone rather than telling them what to do with them.

Village Phone setup in rural Uganda


Monday, May 26, 2008

2gether08

Now I cant make this I am elsewhere but its going to be great so book yourself on contribute debate . Steve Moore the unconference facebook king is yet again driving this great event forward for Channel 4

copy below

http://2gether08.com/about/

2gether 2008


Solving bigger problems

2 – 3 July 2008


Rochelle School

Shoreditch

London E2 7ES


Digital innovations are changing our world, the way we perceive it and our notions of what is possible ….


But are we doing enough or being imaginative enough to harness the potential of internet, mobile and games technologies to:


  • promote social progress,
  • improve the quality of our public life,
  • enhance our collective well-being and happiness and
  • tackle the most intractable problems facing the world at the outset of the 21st century ?

The first 2gether Festival will bring together over 300 radical
innovators practical visionaries from a wide range of fields to focus
on how using digital technologies we can generate real social benefits.


2gether is not just about wise words and rousing presentations. A
defining hallmark of the Festival will be how we frame problems and
work towards solutions. This will begin on-line, in advance of the
Festival and continue during and after the event.


Imagine what we might be able to achieve…


Who will be there?


An eclectic mix of technologists, policy makers, campaigners, TV
producers, software and games developers, designers, politicians,
digital innovators, writers, bloggers, social entrepreneurs,
philanthropists, leaders from charities, NGOs and leading players in
the marketing, PR, cultural and creative fields as well as anyone else
who believes that creative use of emerging digital technologies can
generate solutions to society’s most pressing problems.


Format


Our Festival will include a mix of structured content featuring a
showcase of world class speakers and panels, other more
self-organising, conversational sessions with lots of opportunities and
spaces for people to mingle at their leisure.


We will also be hosting ‘open space’ facilitated
conversations, brainstorming sessions, pecha kucha micro-presentations,
short films, musical performances, a big party and a few surprises!


There will also be “white spaces” to include time and
physical space, that participants can use to develop creative inputs
into the event. These could focus on specific issues, for example
climate change or education, or genres for example, serious games, and
many more experimental interventions.


These will make the most of the ingenuity and expertise of those
present and the opportunity to showcase ideas and solutions that have
been developed in the weeks before and during the event.


2gether will include an opportunity to meet the nominees for the inaugural UK Catalyst Awards, the presentation of the 10th anniversary New Statesman New Media Awards and the launch of Channel 4’s new public service pilot fund 4 Innovation Public.


Personally I might make the party !!

Sunday, May 25, 2008

EEEPC in a different form is it coing soon ?



Asus hint at eeepc in a different wrapper

http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/23/asus-vaguely-hints-at-alternative-eee-form-factors/

It could look like existing asus pc foorms as above

Friday, May 23, 2008

Anyone for Google sites and the APT STAIRS Project

Google apps has been around for a whole and Trinity University Dublin has been using it with students staff in an educational context fro quite a while.

But this is another project I just been made aware of a really interesting project. The APT STAIRS project is an acronym for Appropriate and Practical Technologies for Students, Teachers, Administrators and Researchers.

They are using JISC funding to run six demonstrator projects across the six Bloomsbury institutions. These demonstrator projects will examine how the latest online collaborative tools (Google Docs) can engage all users in supporting and developing learning, teaching, administration and research.

The Bloomsbury Colleges comprise six internationally renowned HE institutions within the University of London. The Colleges collectively have over 15,000 undergraduate and 14,000 postgraduate students (HESA 2005/05).

They are using a range of google services google docs, calendar mail etc .

Going to be exciting to see what outcomes and impacts the project have.

http://sites.google.com/a/jiscapt.net/project-plan/Home

What interesting on the same day I became aware of Google sites uptil now available for business and institutions only is now available for http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/google-sites-now-open-to-everyone.html

going to have a goodl ook at this over the weekend and get back to when Ive had a good luck. But initial looks like it takes integration and prsentation of google services to a new level but I could be wrong !!




I will see how well it works on my ipod touch as well.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Learning at Work Day



presentation I am giving at work later today as part of learning at work day.

same prsentation in sldr using powerpoint slides exported as jpegs to flickr and made into on screen prsentation using slidr


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

And a different way of seeing same slides using splashr picking up the content from flickr

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Handheld Learning 2008

When doing a bit of site maintenance I noticed I had the link for Handheld Learning 2007 in my links in the side bar . Well I have updated it worth keeping an eye on it regularly because I know its being updated very regularly . http://www.handheldlearning2008.com/

plus of course its in the sidebar !!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Xacti camera is it waterproof !!

See photo evidence from teachmeet one Sanyo Xacti in a pint glass of water. Thanks Tessa for the photo!


Monday, May 19, 2008

Mobile 2.0 lands in Barcelona

amongst the teachmeet stuff Mobile 2.0 conference thanks to Bob for sending me this.. Anyone going !!!






http://www.m-trends.org/2008/05/mobile-20-europe-conference.html

visualiser forum

From teachmeet the great the excellent visualiser forum. Some great video clips around improving practice.
http://visualiserforum.blogspot.com

teachmeet



--
Andy Black

"Where Technology and Pragmatism Meet"
blog http://andysblackhole.blogspot.com

"One can resist the invasion of an army but one cannot resist the invasion of ideas" Victor Hugo.

teachmeet

http://andysblackhole.blogspot.com



http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=628488082

Saturday, May 17, 2008

SMS Burma Donations by SMS

Thanks Mike for pointing this one out !! from 160 characters.org UK mobile operators have have set up a SMS donation shortcode for the
Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) to support the Burma / Myanmar
disaster appeal. Text D0NATE to 83696 to make a £1.50 donation.


http://www.160characters.org/news.php?action=view&nid=2583

Well done uk mobile industry

from Sky


Stephen Fry on the BBC for Dec

So go on get your cash going somewhere it can make a difference victims dont choose the regime they live under !!!

Friday, May 16, 2008

Mobile Mondays London anyone want to push for mobile learning focused event !!

Hi All
Ive been in touch with Dan at mobile Monday promoting an idea of a mobile Monday meeting focussed on m learning. Anybody else keen to get involved ?

Just noticed the Finnish chapter are ahead of us http://www.mobilemonday.fi/event/mobile-learning-need-and-tools

will keep blog readers posted !