Twistori is absolute genius
Twistori is a very interesting way to waste time and yet feel like you’re doing something significant.
It follows the twitters of thousands of people whose messages start include the words
- I love
- I hate
- I think
- I believe
- I feel
- I wish
Pure genius … and hard to keep your eyes off.
What do you love, hate, think, believe, feel, or wish? Tell the world!
Get yer textbooks here
In the extremely unlikely event that you or anyone you know might be looking for an educational technology textbook, I’m selling one.
Educational Research: Competencies for Analysis and Applications is yours, all yours, for a steal: $10.
Of course, I have almost zero eBay history, so you’d kinda have to trust me …
Turns out the mobile web is just … the web
Russell Beattie should stand up tall and proud. The Yahoo! alum gave up a secure job (well, sorta secure) and a steady paycheck to tread the uncertain waters of the startup life, and unfortunately was sucked down.
He developed Mowser, a mobile web browser for small-screen mobile devices (OK, that’s a fancy phrase for cell phones). Mowser made big fat web sites small and lean for tiny screens and narrow pipes. (Example: check out Sparkplug9 in all its Mowser glory.)
But then iPhone showed us that the future of the mobile web was … err … the web. Not some “baby internet,” in His Steveness’ words, but the real internet. In your pocket. On your phone. On your iPod. And those of us who had tried to scrunch the web down onto our 2″ screens jumped up and said Amen.
Here’s how Russell says it:
The argument up to now has been simply that there are roughly 3 billion phones out there, and that when these phones get on the Internet, their vast numbers will outweigh PCs and tilt the market towards mobile as the primary web device. The problem is that these billions of users *haven’t* gotten on the Internet, and they won’t until the experience is better and access to the web is barrier-free - and that means better devices and “full browsers”. Let’s face it, you really aren’t going to spend any real time or effort browsing the web on your mobile phone unless you’re using Opera Mini, or have a smart phone with a decent browser - as any other option is a waste of time, effort and money. Users recognize this, and have made it very clear they won’t be using the “Mobile Web” as a substitute for better browsers, rather they’ll just stay away completely.
I can’t agree more … as unfortunate as it is for someone who’s sunk his life savings into making the web work in miniature.
In any case, he’s now looking for a job.
Someone will benefit by having him on-board. Not only is he new media savvy, he’s just spent his life savings figuring out what doesn’t work. Some smart company is going to be the beneficiary of that hard-won wisdom as he starts building what does.
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More analysis, insight, and general reportage:
ReadWriteWeb sort of agrees
Last 100 disagrees
Mobile Marketing Watch might want to buy Mowser
Another one hits the deadpool
Venture Chronicles thinks the mobile model is wrong
Larry Dignan at ZDNet mostly agrees
OpenMac: ugly but cheap
Please see the comment on this story from David Boone. This whole company appears to be a hoax - Gizmodo has the story.
PsyStar Corp’s new OpenMac is a game changer for Mac switchers. It’s not pretty, and it’s not small. But it is very, very cheap.
Here’s the basic box. It’s available without any extras for $399.
And here’s the price … loaded up with a big hard drive, faster processor, 4 GB of RAM, a fast graphics card, and 3 FireWire ports:
I’m tempted to pick up one, but a couple of things hold me back.
First of all, I love Apple fit and finish. Aesthetics are important to me, and I don’t want objects in my house that I don’t love. Secondly, I’m fairly certain Apple’s next OS update will include some code checking if it’s on an OpenMac, and potentially brick your computer. (I’m also fairly certain that enterprising hackers will find a way around that, but I’m not the type that likes to do open heart surgery on my operating system.)
But I bet a lot of potential switchers will pick one up - primarily technical types who have wanted to check Apple out, but have not wanted to drop the grand or more that is the current price of admission (Mac Mini aside).
And the end results will actually be good for Apple with an expanded market, OS sales to anyone who antes up, and a cheap entry point to Mac that does not compromise the Apple brand.
Live-blogging: Hi-Tech Communication, Lo-Tech Principal
I’m liveblogging a NAESP session by Tod Harrison from Durant Intermediate School in Oklahoma. Should be interesting.
Problem: getting information home
Just not getting there … and not much budget to play with. Also, many parents not available during the day. But they needed to get information to parents.
His assistant principal is not tech-challenged … and neither is Tod. But if he tells that to teachers, he’ll be doing tech support all day long. So … they’re looking for solutions that don’t involve them doing it all themselves.
But, found out that 60% of parents have email (at library, work, school). So, they started a weekly email newsletter. No size limitations, and no paper wasted either. Teachers started a section: Teacher Brags, in which teachers brag about how well kids are doing.
Response
First week - hundreds of responses. Parents loved it. Interesting … his assistant created it in Word and converted to PDF to email. Don’t use an HTML email format or anything like that.
Evolving the idea
After starting, they then added podcasts, using a Mac server and Audacity for recording. Their podcasts are now publicaly available at Durant’s site.
They’re now using Macs with Garageband to capture podcasts. They’re doing enhanced podcasts with photos so that essentially you’ve got a presentation.
Now with kids
Now they’re getting the kids involved … 5th grade class did a video for presentation for the staff Building Leadership Team meeting. Took them about 20 minutes a day for 2 days, plus some editing time, I presume.
The kids know this … it’s simple for them, and teachers need to catch up.
Bumps along the path
There are some challenges they’re working through …
- It’s technology … so there are still some bumps along the way.
- Plus, it costs a decent amount of money.
- Need to learn the programs
- Takes time
- Teachers have some technology fear
Interesting … I asked whether he’s had any pushback from parents who don’t have email. Not really, he said - he’s got 75 new email addresses in the last month. So more parents had email - or just got it - than he knew of originally.
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Now we’re just all chatting in the room, and the principal (Steven Puckett from Indian Land Elementary School) sitting next to me mentioned they use ConnectEd, which can send messages in multiple formats to multiple groups of people automatically.
Live-blogging: LMS in Elementary?
I’m currently in a session at NAESP on using Blackboard, a Learning Management System, in elementary schools. This is interesting, because LMSs or CMSs (course management systems) are almost always only used for high school and higher education, and sometimes in middle school. But elementary is almost unprecedented.
Betsy Jones, an administrator in Greenville, SC, uses it for:
- sharing info and resources
- formative and summative assessment via surveys & tests in Blackboard
- self-directed learning
- collaborative learning experiences
- 21st century skills
- parent involvement
- activities for early finishers
- differentiation for different types of learners, and learners who learn at different speeds
She teaches a few students to use the system … then the students teach each other. Interesting! Then students start playing with what they’re seeing, and sharing what they’re learning.
Even more interesting, she had requested students with major discipline problems, and so filled her class with kids like that … and saw huge improvements in learning and behavior. Betsy attributes that almost entirely to student engagement.
She had one student who was a “problem” introduce Blackboard to the teachers … a huge bonus for him and also a major boost to teachers using technology - if this 5th grader could do it, they had to be able to do it. Teachers were scared to use tech … but the students helped them along. Betsy even had some students attend professional development for teachers when the school acquired SMART boards.
… currently getting an overview of Backboard functionality … fairly standard stuff.
A teacher in the group pipes up and talks about how she uses their LMS to post the weekly schedule every Friday night, and updates with announcements every morning.
I asked Betsy if she lets students use discussion boards. Some classes yes, some classes no. When she does, she gets parents trained at the beginning of the year with students, and they sign an “acceptable use form.” Has worked very well, even in a high-poverty area where only 2 of her students had computers at home. Some parents even started coming into school with their kids in order to use the computers and get on the class site. Very cool.
For spelling tests, she recorded words and then had kids listen to them, writing down what they thought the spelling was. She had 5th graders post notes from Math classes to Blackboard so that they could access it at home later when they were doing homework and needed to refresh their memories.
Overall, she felt there was much more student excitement and engagement … resulting in much improved student learning
Speculation ends on MSFT and YHOO
Gotta love the front page of Techmeme this morning:
Obviously, the speculation was continuing right up until the end.
2000-year-old computer
Now this is amazing … a mechanical computer from 65 BC with differential gears.
Reminds me of a Difference Engine …
Microsoft!
From Reuters via Information Week:
Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO)’s second-biggest investor urged Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) to raise its $42 billion bid for the Web pioneer and warned Yahoo it has few options left, raising the pressure on them to seal a deal.
Isn’t it somewhat hard to argue both of those positions at the same time? Wouldn’t that almost be like talking out of both sides of your mouth?
You would think, huh …
First miss for Shelfari (and Amazon)
As you may have noticed, I’ve begun using Shelfari to catalog the books I’m reading.
However, Indigo (a Canadian bookseller owned by Chapters) does, and here it is (volume one at any rate).
I’ve wondered before if Amazon and Shelfari are linked … particularly since Shelfari buy-the-book links are to Amazon. Amazon has invested in Shelfari … which is probably why Shelfari seems to be using the Amazon book database.
. . .
. . .
Interestingly, when I fed Shelfari’s import functionality this page, it came up with a different book by the same author: Clio’s Warriors.
Oddness abounds.
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Sparkplug 9 is John Koetsier's blog on life, the universe, and everything,
but mostly the stuff you see big in the tags to the left.
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