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From DSC:
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Global Smart TV market worth $265 billion by 2016 — from appmarket.tv by Richard Kastelein
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From DSC:
You can bet educational apps will be part of these emerging technologies. My take on this is that:
Also relevant/see:
TVs to become ‘communications hub’ expert claims — from t3.com by Luke Johnson
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From
http://www.lifewithsiri.com/siri-links
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What is Siri? — from Apple.com
Siri is the intelligent personal assistant that helps you get things done just by asking. It allows you to use your voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, and more. But Siri isn’t like traditional voice recognition software that requires you to remember keywords and speak specific commands. Siri understands your natural speech, and it asks you questions if it needs more information to complete a task. Siri uses the processing power of the dual-core A5 chip in iPhone 4S, and it uses 3G and Wi-Fi networks to communicate rapidly with Apple’s data centers. So it can quickly understand what you say and what you’re asking for, then quickly return a response. Siri is currently in beta and we’ll continue to improve it over time.
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Voice Control Will Disrupt Living Room Electronics — from techpinions.com by Patrick Moorhead
Excerpt:
In what seems to be a routine in high-tech journalism and social media now is to speculate on what Apple will do next. The latest and greatest rumor is that Apple will develop an HDTV set. I wrote back in September that Apple should build a TV given the lousy experience and Apple’s ability to fix big user challenges. What hasn’t been talked about a lot is why voice command and control makes so much sense in home electronics and why it will dominate the living room. Its all about the content.
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From DSC:
The tidal wave of technological change swept over Blockbuster and the article below shows how it drowned Kodak as well. These players were once at THEE top of their games…now they are either bankrupt or soon to be bankrupt (if things don’t change fast).
This relates to higher education as well, but I don’t think that we’ve seen anything yet (though 2012 may change that). Higher ed may have a limited window of time left before the conversation moves completely out of academia and higher ed as we know it gets left behind. The word “reinvent” and the phrases “staying relevant” as well as “lowering the price” should be at the top of the agendas for boards at most academic institutions of higher education throughout America (and other nations as well). I use the word most here because some folks will likely continue to pay enormous prices to get the name brands that they’ve been paying $50,000+ per year for.
If companies eventually don’t care who accredited your degree but rather what you can DO for them, watch out. The barriers to entry will plummet.
You Press the Button. Kodak Used to Do the Rest. — from technologyreview.com
Kodak saw the shift from analog to digital photography coming. Here’s why it couldn’t win.
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Excerpt (emphasis from DSC):
But the industry landscape was completely different in the digital era. Barriers to entry were significantly lowered and the industry was flooded by entrants with a background in consumer electronics, such as Casio, Samsung, and Hewlett-Packard, not to mention Japanese camera manufacturers including Canon, Nikon, and Olympus. Large parts of Kodak’s competence base related to chemistry and film manufacturing were rendered obsolete. The vertical integration that had previously been a core asset to Kodak lost its value. Digital cameras became a commodity business with low margins. The problem facing Kodak wasn’t just that film profits had died but that those revenues could not be replaced.
Once images became digital, Kodak’s business model of “doing the rest” was effectively destroyed. Doing the rest used to entail a large and complex process that only a couple of companies in the world could master. Today, it is done by the click of a button.
Related graphic from DSC:
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12/15/11 addendum re: the conversation moving away from higher ed:
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
No single blog can adequately capture or represent what was going on at Learning 2011. But if you are intrigued, I suggest you go to www.Learning2011and see what the agenda and the presentations looked like for yourself.
.What I sensed, and what I am trying to describe here, was an accelerating transition in workforce education from a higher education-centric model to a learner-workplace-centric model. In a world where higher education institutions have dominated, controlled, and driven the conversation about quality, content, access, and results; the balance of power is shifting away from that more monolithic tendency to a far more disaggregated power structure where good information, metrics, and results that can be validated against third party standards are the “coin of the realm”.
Educational content and learning experiences wirelessly delivered to home TV console — from marketwatch.com
Excerpt:
DALLAS, Dec. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Don’t touch that dial. A new variety of interactive educational content for the youngsters in the household is headed to a TV near you.
AT&T* today announced an agreement with TVTextbook to provide mobile broadband connectivity to TVTextbook’s eLearning connected device portfolio. TVTextbook (TVT) delivers high-quality K-12 curriculum that is distributed through a learning console connected to the television. Only TVTextbook leverages basic television-a product found in virtually every U.S. household-to help school districts deliver a digital education to 100% of their students. AT&T’s connectivity will bring a seamless, wireless connection between school and home.
From DSC:
Do I think this will be excellent in 2012? No. Do I think it’s innovative? Yes. Do I think it will be potentially helpful to many? Yes…and so will many apps that are coming to our living rooms in the next 1-3 years.
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From DSC:
Below are some items concerning the continued convergence of the telephone, the television, and the computer — it involves the smart/connected TV as well as human-computer-interaction (HCI)-related items. But this time, I’m focusing on a recent announcement from Microsoft.
However, I have to disagree that, given this announcement, Microsoft will now rule the living room — or at least I surely hope not. Why do I say this? For several reasons.
1) How long has Microsoft Office been around? Years and years, right? If you think that Microsoft should control your living room, I ask you to show me how I can quickly and easily insert some audio-based feedback with one easy click of a record button within Microsoft Word. Go ahead and check…such a quick and easy method is not there….still…and it’s almost 2012. (BTW, here are some resources on this if you’re interested in seeing how this could be done, but you will quickly notice that this is not a streamlined process — and it should have been so years ago.)
2) Performance/not doing what it’s supposed to do. My Dell PC running Windows 7 still can’t even shut itself down half the time. It just sits there with wheels-a-spinnin’ at some point…but not powering down. I’m not sure why this is the case, but I never have had trouble with this simple task on my Macs.
3) Regarding troubleshooting Microsoft’s solutions, an entire support industry has been built on supporting Microsoft’s software — go to a local bookstore and see how to get MS certified on some particular package/application/service — none of the books are thin.
4) Security has never been Microsoft’s strong point.
Bottom line:
I think you get my point. Microsoft has a loooooonnnnngggg way to go in my mind before I want their products and services controlling my living room.
With that said, I do congratulate Microsoft on being more innovative and forward thinking with the Xbox announcements mentioned below. I just hope that items such as usability, user experience, security, and streamlined interfaces are high on the list of their priorities/deliverables.
Disclosure/note:
I do use PCs with Windows a significant amount of the time and they do a nice job with many items. But if I were to assign grades to Microsoft, usability, performance, and security are not items that I would give A’s to Microsoft on.
Upgrade: The Xbox 360 Slim game console.
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Count on Apple iTV in 2012, analyst says — from technewsdaily.com by Leslie Meredith
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Excerpt:
Addendum on 12/2/11:
The state of streaming, cable, and television: What can we expect in 2012?–– from digitaltrends.com by Molly McHugh
The future of television remains up in the air as content providers and cable companies prepare to fight it out, and streaming services wait in the wings.
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Apple’s voice app has Siri-us implications for TV — from digitallivingroom.com by Michael Stroud
