|
|
Category >> technology
 This year both the live broadcast and the delayed video from the Apple WWDC (WorldWide Developers Conference) were much improved and now readily available. Nearly every blog and publication has covered the news on the iPhone 3G. Most of the rumors we had heard were true and indeed there are some impressive improvements, plus a reduction in price.
With the enterprise improvements and the fact that many leading colleges and universities and 35% of the fortune 500 participated in testing, it will be surprising if the rate iPhones appear in education, corporate and government organizations doesn't increase. Apple has definitely raised the bar, which is good for the industry. But what about education and training? Location-based services, language support, additional document support and even a scientific calculator could be useful, but it was a medical learning example that showed how excellent paper-based materials can be improved. Modality demonstrated their medical anatomy materials which are "more portable and more powerful than paper." Study materials and quizzes are available to medical students on their iPhones. A student of Dr. S. Mark Williams claimed to have learned five new brain terms while waiting for his latte.
Thanks to a heads up from Leonard Low, I tried Wirenode for an easy mobile blog. It took less than a minute to set this up. Check the mobile version of this blog out at mlearnopedia.wirenode.mobi. There are a number of additional tools available to quickly create a mobile site including Mob5.com, Winksite.com and Mobisite Galore. Wirenode provides the standard text, image, header, list or separator capabilities, but also enables you to easily add widgets. These include widgets for an RSS blog, twitter status, image gallery, message of the day, clock or a message widget for visitors to leave messages. There are also nice promotional widgets that you can use to place on your current clog or website to direct visitors to your mobile site. You can see my current experiment at judyb.wirenode.mobi.
 After almost a year from announcement (see 3 June 07 post ) I received my Pulse Smartpen this week. Livescribe (http://livescribe.com ) has added a recorder to its Anoto technology Pulse Smartpen, as well as additional applications, with a retail price of $149 to $199 (depending upon 1 GB or 2 GB of storage.)
It is fairly easy to see the potential value to students, journalists and administrators or others who need to regularly capture and share or locate notes from meetings or events. But what I didn't readily see until starting to use a Pulse smartpen is the exciting potential for very easy and effective creation of online learning materials.
 For some time now, we have seen leading applications on mobile devices in the health care field. Today's technology column in BusinessWeek profiles several mobile phone applications in health care. Be sure to click on the View Slide Show to see several more examples.
 The Consumer Electronics Show has just concluded in Las Vegas. As a MASIE Learning Fellow, I covered the show for Learning TRENDS. I was interviewed by Elliott Masie via a PodCast and prepared three reports which you can access at: http://www.masieweb.com/CES2008-coverage. (The second covers more learning related topics.)
The CES show was all about hardware with lots of mobile devices, but for the mlearnopedia readers some of the things that stood out for me included: The progress and status of NFC (Near Field Communications) using the Nokia 6131 NFC, about which I will blog soon Bug Labs "build-it yourself" mobile devices showcased and shipping in March MyRapidMD's ESP which provides critical medical information on your cell phone when you need it most Ease of use of new devices, such as a wearable video camera or a camera with automatic wireless uploads of photos The new Nokia N95 with the preloading of a QR reader
 We have been watching mobile codes for sometime now. Today there was activity from both of the leading contenders.
Kaywa QR (Quick Response) code released the 7-page PDF "Scan, Buzz, Beep, Ok! A Guide to Kaywa's QR Code Solutions". By simply typing in your website URL at feed2mobile.kaywa.com you receive a free QR code for use by mobile devices with a Kaywa Reader. Additional sites for generating QR codes are available in the Guide.
 Especially at this time of the year, we tend to review--and hopefully learn from--the past and to look ahead to the future. I have always been intrigued by what the future holds for us in the mobile area for our lifestyle, but mainly for learning. I have been excited about what sensors can and will bring us for our safety and health, but have added several videos this week to get you thinking about what if my mobile device were able to...?
Check out these additions: Not in the future, but happening today, check out the video at Droga5.com under Case Studies and then Million. (Sorry the site is created in Flash prohibiting us from linking to the specific video.) We have been hard at work redesigning mLearnopedia.com and although it is still in process, we'd love your feedback!!
 We are beginning to see the future of mobile devices with information coming out of research labs. With location awareness, accelerometers and orientation sensors, plus increased storage and processing power, the devices we carry have powerful capabilities to improve our lives. Much of this research can also be applied to learning at the point of need.
An article in MIT's Technology Review showcases Palo Alto Research Center's (PARC) mobile software, Magitti, which suggests things to do based upon the location and behavior of the user. The software "uses a combination of cues--including the time of day, a person's location, her past behaviors, and even her text messages--to infer her interests." Screen shots and further details are available here.
Researchers at Intel Labs Seattle have developed mobile device software to detect and record conversations to learn about the person's situation, mood, and social network -- not the
Watching Europe and Asia mobile markets can give the U.S. an indication of what we might see in the future. Recently Symbian posted a list of the top 20 smartphone features requested in Japan:
1. mobile wallet
2. MANGA on mobile
3. mobile check-in at airports
4. mobile keys for door
5. mobile employee badges
6. mobile cinema tickets
7. mobile transport passes
8. fingerprint authentication
9. face recognition/authentication
10. mobile discount/promotion coupons
11. scented phones
12. mobile fashion consultant
13. mobile live TV
14. wii-like mobile phones (motion-sensor)
15. physical bookmarks for mobiles (shops)
16. privacy screens
17. 1D and 2D codes for marketing and even on fruit and veg labels
18. mobile GPS navigation for pedestrians
19. electric wave posters (uses RFiD)
20. waterproof phones Now this week the News & Observer claims that PCs [are] losing their relevance in Japan. Is this a future indicator for the U.S.? We'd love to hear your comments.
It has been a very busy Fall for mobile learning. We are making plans to upgrade this site and add some new features, but want to wait until the new Joomla is released (hopefully very soon now). We'd love to hear what else would make this a valuable site for those interested in mobile learning. Some recent happenings of interest include:  T-Mobile is offering one year of complimentary T-Mobile HotSpot service to those who participate in the Give One Get One campaign to put laptops into the hands of children in the developing world. This service is normally $29.99 per month with a 12-month commitment. From Nov. 12 to Nov. 26, 2007 – people can donate $399 for two laptops. One laptop will be given to a child in the developing world. The other laptop will be sent to the donor along with information on how to activate the one year of complimentary T-Mobile HotSpot service. More information is available at http://www.laptopgiving.org/ and http://hotspot.t-mobile.com .  Philippe Kahn's new company Fullpower began to come out of stealth mode with some very exciting technology. (Philippe is the mathematician who originally started Borland, invented the camera phone and several other accomplishments.) Philippe and his wife, Sonya, have been working on this for the past 5 years and have over 50 partners in the life sciences area. They appear to have to complete solution for the future. From their web site "The Fullpower inference engine is the breakthrough technology that makes it all happen. Fullpower’s all-in-one complete solution allows multiple applications to concurrently take advantage of motion, imaging, and other sensors such as proximity, ambient light, pressure, compass, GPS, heart rate, and blood glucose. The Fullpower solution is designed to minimize integration efforts for the device manufacturer and maximize benefits to the end-user." Definitely a site
<< Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>
|
