8 surprising facts about undergrads and ed-tech — from eCampusNews.com by Meris Stansbury
Excerpt:
It’s not every day, after scouring headlines from dozens of news sources, that news—especially education technology news—can surprise a seasoned education writer; but in recent research provided by EDUCAUSE, as well as a spiffy new infographic, many details on how undergraduate students are using ed-tech are fascinating…in that they’re not always as ‘cutting-edge’ as some may think.
Microsoft expands cloud services for mobile scenarios — from Microsoft.com
Office for iPad and Enterprise Mobility Suite showcase Microsoft’s mobile-first, cloud-first approach.
Excerpt:
SAN FRANCISCO — March 27, 2014 — Microsoft Corp. on Thursday announced several new and updated applications and services including Microsoft Office for iPad and free Office Mobile apps for iPhone and Android phones. Microsoft also announced the Enterprise Mobility Suite, a comprehensive set of cloud services to help businesses manage corporate data and services on the devices people use at work and at home. In addition, the company announced the upcoming availability of Microsoft Azure Active Directory Premium and enhancements to Windows Intune.
“Microsoft is focused on delivering the cloud for everyone, on every device. It’s a unique approach that centers on people — enabling the devices you love, work with the services you love, and in a way that works for IT and developers,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer for Microsoft.
Microsoft CEO Nadella pulls the trigger on long-gestating Office apps for iPad — from businessweek.com by Joshua Brustein
Excerpt:
Read-only versions of the iPad apps are available for free. To create and edit documents, customers will need a subscription to Microsoft’s Office 365 software, which costs individual users $99 a year. By making the iPad app part of its wider software package, Microsoft avoids splitting revenue with Apple (AAPL), which takes a cut of the money that developers make through its App Store. Because the full versions are only offered as part of a wider package, it also means all those bosses who want their employees tapping out spreadsheets on their iPads while they wait in the airport will have to start ponying up for Office 365.
Microsoft and Office in a multi-platform world — from techcrunch.com by Alex Wilhelm
Microsoft finally brings Office to the iPad — from forbes.com by Parmy Olson
Excerpt:
Microsoft Office is at last coming to the iPad, marking an important step for the software giant as it races to catch up with the move to mobile. Microsoft general manager Julia White said that as of 11am Pacific Time on Thursday, key Office programs Word, Excel and PowerPoint would be available on the App Store for the iPad.
Microsoft’s popular email application, Outlook, was notably absent from the list of available programs. The apps are free but users will require a subscription to Microsoft’s Office 365 service to use them.
Office for iPad review: Surprisingly worth the wait — from techcrunch.com by Darrell Etherington (@drizzled)
Xbox, watch TV: inside Microsoft’s audacious plan to take over the living room — from by Nilay Patel
Can the Xbox One finally kickstart the TV revolution?
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
Taking over your cable box also means the Xbox can overlay your TV signal with interesting information: a voice-activated channel guide, pop-up notifications when you get a Skype call and Xbox Live invites, a new NFL app that shows you real-time fantasy stats. You can even snap the TV window to the side of the screen while you play games. Your nasty cable interface is still there, but it allows the Xbox One to replace the cable box as the primary living-room entertainment device and go from gaming console to major new computing platform.
…
So the entire Xbox One is designed around what you might call a bold compromise: instead of directly integrating TV, the system hijacks it. Rather than plugging your cable box and Xbox into the TV separately, you first plug the cable box into the Xbox, and then the Xbox into the TV. Your cable box is still there, and still doing all the heavy lifting of providing TV, but now it’s doing it in service of the overall Xbox One experience. Smith describes it as “augmenting” the cable box experience in an effort to eliminate the friction of switching between games, apps, and TV.
From DSC:
The battle for the living room continues. I hope that we can eventually leverage these developments not just for entertainment, but for creating, contributing, sharing, absorbing, and discussing streams of content. The creative possibilities involving transmedia-based storytelling are exciting in this type of environment as well.
Some items re: Steam and OUYA — with a thanks going out to Mr. Steven Chevalia for the information here
For the past 20 years, the video game industry has been controlled by three primary companies:
However, the past two years have shown an increased interest in hardware solutions from 3rd parties, such as:
These smaller, lesser known devices are prime targets for educational and kid-friendly material. (NOTE: Not all of the games available via these sites are appropriate for kids, as many of the games therein are meant for older audiences.) It is likely that iTunes U, YouTube, etc. will all be viewable on these consoles and the games made for them will be able to be made by smaller companies that can’t compete on the market with Nintendo, Playstation, or Xbox-based games.
Microsoft joins Degreed’s crusade to ‘jailbreak the degree’ – from gigaom.com by Ki Mae Heussner
Excerpt:
Degreed, a San Francisco startup taking on traditional degrees and diplomas with a digital credential that reflects lifelong learning, has recruited its first corporate partner to its corner.
This week the startup said it will launch a partnership with Microsoft Virtual Academy, the tech giant’s online IT training site, which will give students who complete the program’s classes a way to display their achievements on Degreed.
From DSC:
AT&T and Georgia Tech.
Google and edX.
Microsoft and Degreed.
IBM sending Watson to school and partnering with 1000+ universities (see here and here).
JP Morgan and University of Delaware (see this addendum from 10/7/13)
Is there a new trend forming here?
True personalization is the next big thing in multiscreen TV — from .v-net.tv by John Moulding
From DSC:
Not a far stretch to see some applications of this in the future aimed at learning objects/learning agents/and personalized streams of content.
![The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV](http://danielschristian.com/learning-ecosystems/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/The-Living-Class-Room-Daniel-S-Christian-July-2012.jpg)
Addendum:
(With thanks going out to Mr. Richard Byrne over at the Free Technology for Teachers blog for this item)
The battle of the ecosystems: Apple, Google, Microsoft, & Amazon.com — by Daniel Christian with thanks to Krista Spahr, Michael Mandeville, Bill Vriesema, and Adam Tozer from Calvin College for their feedback/inputs on this.
Also see:
Addendums on 8/13/13:
.
From DSC:
Now picture this from the educational standpoint — and what MOOCs could morph into. The foundation for some serious learning power (from the living room) seems to be developing!
Streams of content/learning channels/cloud-based applications that each of us can create and make available.
Voice recognition, learning analytics, machine-to-machine communications, transmedia and more! Wow!
.
Microsoft unveils Xbox One: the ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system — from microsoft.com
Excerpt:
REDMOND, Wash. — May 21, 2013 — A new vision for the future comes to life today as Microsoft Corp. unveils Xbox One , the all-in-one gaming and entertainment system created for today and the next generation. At Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash., the company showcased how Xbox One puts you at the center of all your games, TV, movies, music, sports and Skype.
“Xbox One is designed to deliver a whole new generation of blockbuster games, television and entertainment in a powerful, all-in-one device,” said Don Mattrick, president, Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “Our unique, modern architecture brings simplicity to the living room and, for the first time ever, the ability to instantly switch across your games and entertainment.”
…
With Xbox One, games push the boundaries of realism, and TV obeys your commands. Say “Xbox On” to launch your personalized Xbox One Home screen, discover what is popular on TV or see friends’ latest gaming achievements all using the most natural interface — your voice. The more you interact with Xbox One, the more it gets to know you and learns what you like.
From DSC:
Here’s the item I find particularly interesting (emphasis DSC):
Apple Inc. (AAPL), Google Inc (GOOG), Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN): Ecosystems are widening moats — from insidermonkey.com
Apple smartphone strategy: It’s the ecosystem — news.investors.com
The strength of Apple’s ecosystem remains its greatest asset and will secure customers and profits despite slowing growth and margin dips — from tbrnewsommentary.wordpress.com by Beau Skonieczny, Analyst
iPad continued to fuel growth and healthy margins for Apple despite headwinds
From DSC:
Those of us working in the tech side of the house know how difficult it is to navigate this space. The targets are always moving, and determining which tool to go with has changed through these last few years. It used to be about individual tools (and sometimes still is). But increasingly, one needs to fly at the 50,00-foot level and ask how the ecosystems are playing out and how an individual tool fits into a greater ecosystem or platform. Some ecosystems that come to my mind right now include: Apple, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft.
