technologies for your home

The Internet of Things: 10 things consumers should expect [Davis]

On 07/23/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, emerging technologies, innovation, internet, mobile technologies, technologies for your home, by Daniel Christian

The Internet of Things: 10 things consumers should expect — from econsultancy.com by Ben Davis

Excerpt:

Microsoft recently announced its newly branded Lab of Things. It describes this as ‘a flexible platform for experimental research that uses connected devices in homes.’

I thought I’d use this opportunity to look again at the rise of the connected device, and the future of the so-called internet of things, or IoT. Below you’ll see 10 things that you, the consumer, should expect over the next few years.

By the way, if you’re new to IoT, here’s a handy video summing it up, from EVRYTHNG.

One of the vendors/tools/developments mentioned was canary:

This is a portable bunch of sensors that connects with your router. It requires no modification of your home. It has a hd camera with nightvision, and does the following, deep breath;

Live Video & Sensor Data
Mobile Alerts / Push Notifications
Bank Level Encryption
Media Archive (Video, Audio)
Learns & Improves From User Behavior
Guided Action Plans for Emergencies
Manual Arm & Disarm
Automatic Arm & Disarm thru Geofencing
Trigger Siren/Speaker Remotely
Enable/Disable Features & Modes
Enable Backup Alerts to Friends/Family
Customizable Privacy Settings
Track Data & Trends

Also see:

The vision of Thinfilm
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Thinfilm-Vision

The Internet of Everything.

Thinfilm is bringing intelligence to applications where electronics have never been possible. In so doing, we dramatically expand the scope for one of this decade’s most significant strategic trends—the Internet of Things (IoT). The $100,000,000,000 opportunity.
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Thin-Film-Electronics-ASA-Printed-Memory

Very sharp!!! A glimpse into the future of digital video & online learning! Lifelong learners of the world, let me hear some noise! [Christian]

On 07/09/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, adult learning, attention, convergence, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, internet, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, lifelong learning, love of learning, motivation, multi-touch, multimedia, new media literacies, online learning, online media, participation, presentations, student-related, technologies for your home, transmedia, trends, user experience (UX), user interface design, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
First, take a look at this interactive video from the Wall Street Journal:

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For further information on that video, you can also see:

‘Obamacare’ Made Easy to Understand — from /live.wsj.com
David Wessel discusses a new WSJ.com interactive video that helps viewers better understand the Affordable Health Care Act as well as its slate of rules and penalties.

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From DSC:

Excellent, creative use of technology! Lifelong learners of the world, let me hear some noise! Your learning futures just got much more interesting, dynamic, and interactive!

You will be given more choice and more control than you’ve ever had before. You will be able to interact with digital videos, drill down, take some rights turns and come back again, and more.

For example, during the WSJ video, you can click on the radio within the digital video in order to “drill down” and listen to more about a certain topic — while the main presentation “holds on”…

…you can jump ahead to the next marker…pause…rewind…click to get some further text-based information/details on a topic of interest:

…and more. In other words, you have more choice, more control in your learning experience. This, at minimum, is a piece of online learning’s — and digital video’s — future.

But I hear you saying, so what? Flash has been doing this for a while now. And that, my friends, is the only downside I see in this implementation from the WSJ — it was done using Flash.

As Flash won’t fly on iOS-based devices, an HTML5-based solution needs to come into the picture…and this is where Touchcast shines!

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As Paul Sawers explains, you can add interactive, browsable layers onto your video and deliver it in an HTML5-based format.

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An excerpt from Paul’s article:

Things start to get really interesting with video apps (vApps). TouchCast lets you create videos that are layered with live Web pages, video clips, maps, Twitter streams and other facets of the digital world. “We’re actually claiming that this is the future of the Web,” says Segal, TouchCasts’s CEO.

Indeed, TouchCast’s vApp library is ‘open’, so developers can create and customize their own vApps.

Bottom line:
“Digital textbooks” will never be the same again (not to mention learning modules, transmedia, ads, presentations, digital storytelling, and more)!

Also see:

TouchCast aims to redefine the web video

Reflections on “A swiveling proxy that will even wear a tutu” by Bobbie Brown [NYT]

On 06/28/2013, in 21st century, Daniel S. Christian, K-12 related, robotics, student-related, technologies for your home, telecommunications, telepresence, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

A swiveling proxy that will even wear a tutu — from nytimes.com by Bobbie Brown

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John W. Adkisson for The New York Times

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Excerpt:

SUMTER, S.C. — Lexie Kinder solves problems during math class, earns gold stars from her teacher and jokes with classmates at her elementary school.

All without leaving her living room.

Born with a chronic heart disorder that weakened her immune system and made attending school risky, Lexie, 9, was tutored at her home in Sumter for years. But this spring, her family began experimenting with an alternative — a camera-and-Internet-enabled robot that swivels around the classroom and streams two-way video between her school and house.

From DSC:
I sometimes get the feeling that I’m coming across as though I want everyone to learn from their living room and that’s it; end of story. But that’s not the case. I just get encouraged/excited about the opportunities that various technologies can provide for us, if we leverage them properly. Ultimately, I see blended solutions being the most effective solutions in the future. But this article is a great example of when technology can benefit someone.

Here’s why the TV apps economy will be a $14 billion business [Wolf]

On 06/25/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, analytics, animation, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, blended learning, Bring your own device (BYOD), business, business side of he, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communications, communities of practice, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, convergence, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, distance education, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), e-readers, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, heutagogy, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, interactivity, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, learning spaces, lifelong learning, machine-to-machine communications, marketing/social marketing, marketplaces, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, more voice more choice more control, multi-touch, multimedia, music, New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, new media literacies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, open courseware and systems, passions, personalized/customized learning, play, podcasting, professional development, programming, reinvent, second screen apps, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, staying relevant, storytelling, streams of content, student-related, tablets, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, telepresence, training / L&D, transmedia, trends, ubiquitous learning, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Here’s why the TV apps economy will be a $14 billion business — from forbes.com by Michael Wolf

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Excerpt:

According to new research published this week, the TV apps economy is forecasted to reach $14 billion by 2017.

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Take for example today’s news that Apple will begin selling video advertisements served by iAd through iTunes Radio loaded on Apple TVs. This is only the first move for Apple in this space, and others like Samsung and Google are already investing heavily in connected TV app advertising.

From DSC:
Why post this? Because:

It lays out future directions/careers related to Programming, Computer Science, Data Mining, Analytics, Marketing, Telecommunications, User Experience Design, Digital and Transmedia Storytelling, and more
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It leads to “Learning from the Living [Class] Room”

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From DSC:
And if this does take off,
$14 billion won’t begin to capture the profits from this new industry.
It will be far larger than that.

Relevant addendum on 6/27/13:

The future of cinema is on demand — from bitrebels.com by Ben Warner (From DSC: Having just paid $32 for 4 people — 3 of whom were kids — to see Monsters U, I believe it!)
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Via: [The Verge] Image Credits: [Venture Beat] [Home Theater]

Much faster Wi-Fi coming soon — 802.11ac approved on 6/19/13

On 06/20/2013, in mobile technologies, technologies for your home, telecommunications, by Daniel Christian

Much faster Wi-Fi coming soon — from CNN by David Goldman
A new, faster version of Wi-Fi was officially rubber-stamped Wednesday.

Excerpt:

The latest Wi-Fi technology, called “802.11ac,” offers speeds of up to 1.3 Gigabits per second. That’s fast enough to transfer an entire high-definition movie to a tablet in under 4 minutes, share photo albums with friends in a matter of seconds or stream three HD videos at the same time. It’s more than double the top speed of the previous standard, known as 802.11n.

Those speeds are theoretical maximums — very few people have anything close to 1 Gigabit speeds from their home broadband connection. Average speeds are less than 1% of that. But the faster speeds mean the new Wi-Fi standard will offer a much bigger pipeline for all those videos, songs and games that a growing number of people are streaming on multiple devices simultaneously.

Also see:

Apple adopts 802.11ac wireless standard quickly as new study forecasts the next standard to follow in 2015 — from patentlyapple.com
Excerpt:
According to a new report that was just released, the growth of 802.11ac and 802.11ad will occur in very different ways over the next few years. The adoption of 802.11ac is expected to explode into devices including smartphones right out of the gate this year while 802.11ad will see a more modest and staggered growth pace. 802.11ac is being pushed into smartphones by key carriers’ device requirements that are in sync with 802.11ac hotspot plans for more robust Wi-Fi offloading.

Wireless witch: Should you buy an 802.11ac router? — from pcmag.com by Samara Lynn
802.11ac is all the rage among networking vendors, with all their 802.11ac routers touting incredible speeds. But is 802.11ac worth the investment?
To Buy or not to Buy?
So, what’s the short answer on upgrading to an 802.11ac router right now? If you’re an early tech adopter and Wi-Fi enthusiast, definitely check out 11ac. Everyone else is better off waiting until the technology matures. What if your old router dies and you’re not upgrading so much as replacing hardware? The same applies: if you’re comfortable with tweaking settings to get the most out of your router, by all means check out the 802.11ac routers on the market. At the the very least, you shouldn’t lose performance; in certain cases, you might see improvements. If you’re more of a plug and play user, however, stick with 802.11n, for now.

Another great example of convergence –> “60 beautiful examples of websites with full-blown video backgrounds” [Young]

On 06/12/2013, in convergence, digital video, smart/connected TV, technologies for your home, television, web design and production, by Daniel Christian

60 beautiful examples of websites with full-blown video backgrounds — from hongkiat.com by Nancy Young

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From DSC:
Yes, you read that right. Video-based backgrounds — motion pictures. Another great example of the convergence that’s been happening with the TV, the telephone, and the computer.

My reflections on Katherine Brodsky’s interesting article: “The new storytelling frontier”

On 06/11/2013, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, attention, Canada, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, entrepreneurship, experimentation, flipping -- inverted learning, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, immersion, innovation, interactivity, internet, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, machine-to-machine communications, media/film, memory, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), online learning, online media, participation, play, second screen apps, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, social media, story, storytelling, streams of content, student-related, technologies for your home, television, transmedia, trends, ubiquitous learning, user experience (UX), user interface design, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

The New Storytelling Frontier — from huffingtonpost.ca by Katherine Brodsky

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

Long gone are the days of static content. Consumers are looking for more and transmedia storytelling offers an increasingly popular approach for creating property-based universes. Transmedia content itself is also evolving. It’s becoming more dynamic, more interactive, offering greater opportunities to engage audiences with creative user-generated content that adds to the storytelling experience. It is becoming more communal.

…

Although traditional models allow for greater control of content, strategies that can engage fans more actively and allow them to express themselves and even contribute to the development of a show, get them more involved and, ultimately, more willing to buy in.

From DSC:
As the use of storytelling is a powerful tool for learning, I can’t help but wonder…

What might be some creative possibilities arising from the developing world of transmedia that students and/or educational organizations could develop?
In what ways could we build more interactivity and social networking into our “digital textbooks” and mobile-based applications?
Would transmedia-based content help maintain interest, engagement, attention?
Would it help establish longer term memories/recall?
How might it help build students creativity and foster more experimentation/play/participation?
What roles might students play? (Writer, videographer, sound designer, actress, programmer, game designer, project manager, entrepreneur, etc.)
What tools and skills would students need to create their own transmedia-based experiences?
What new forms of storytelling might evolve from these efforts?
Could transmedia work its way into blended learning models?
Are new opportunities for immersing oneself in a particular subject matter becoming more available through transmedia-based experiences?
Could streams of content be wrapped in transmedia-based experiences?

Some announcements from Apple’s WWDC

On 06/10/2013, in Apple, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, computer science, convergence, digital audio, digital video, multimedia, music, platforms, technologies for your home, by Daniel Christian

Also see:

Crazy iPad numbers from the WWDC 2013 Keynote — from ipadinsight.com by Patrick Jordan
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The Best Features Of iOS 7 — from techcrunch.com by Sarah Perez
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Everything You Need to Know about iOS 7 — from hongkiat.com
Excerpts:
iBooks is now available on the Mac, giving users access to 1.8 million books including interactive textbooks.
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AirDrop Sharing Between iOS Devices <– potential uses in the Smart Classrooms…?
AirDrop is now available for transfers between iOS devices via peer-to-peer WiFI connection. Turning on the Share Sheet on an app, you can find users who are nearby and tap items to share. A notification will appear on their device and when they open it, it will open to the relevent app and show the content that you shared.
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Apple’s WWDC 2013 Keynote: Highlights, Summary & History — from hongkiat.com by Singyin Lee
Excerpt:
Multiple Display <– potential uses in the Smart Classrooms…?
Multiple Display support allow you to work on, multiple screens, even though only one device is physically connected, even if it means you are using Apple TV as one of your screens. Full screen spaces can be pulled from one display to the next and the dock and other menus will be displayed on each connected screen as well.
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Apple’s App Store hits 50 billion downloads, 900K apps, $10 billion paid to developers; iTunes now with 575M accounts — from techcrunch.com by Sarah Perez

Heads up Jony Ive! You need to see this brilliant concept for the Apple TV! Superb work by Sam Beckett!

On 05/31/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, analytics, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, attention, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, convergence, cost of getting a degree, creativity, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, Google, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, internet, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, lifelong learning, love of learning, machine-to-machine communications, media/film, Microsoft, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multi-touch, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, new media literacies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, second screen apps, simulations, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, social media, streams of content, tablets, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, technology (general), telepresence, television, transmedia, trends, ubiquitous learning, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, by Daniel Christian

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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!

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Nuance: Virtual Assistants will work across platforms within two years [Fried]

On 05/30/2013, in Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Google, IBM, platforms, technologies for your home, virtual tutoring, by Daniel Christian

Nuance: Virtual Assistants will work across platforms within two years (video) — from allthingsd.com by Ina Fried

Excerpt:

Siri is good at predicting the weather on your iPhone. And Google Now can tell you a few interesting things.

But within two years, virtual assistants will be able to do a wide range of tasks from handling all types of media to making reservations to offering full control of devices. More importantly, they will work across tablets, televisions and phones.

“I think we will see virtual assistants within two years that are quite robust,” Nuance CEO Paul Ricci said, speaking at D11. “I also believe that within two years we will see that virtual assistants will work across platforms.”

Setting up your own Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) / home recording studio [Dachis]

On 05/22/2013, in creativity, digital audio, music, passions, technologies for your home, tools, vendors, by Daniel Christian

First a definition:

A digital audio workstation (DAW) is an electronic system designed solely or primarily for recording, editing and playing back digital audio. DAWs were originally tape-less, microprocessor-based systems such as the Synclavier. Modern DAWs are software running on computers with audio interface hardware.

Secondly, some items from Adam Dachis on LifeHacker.com:

From DSC:
For those who want to dip their feet into the pool quickly to see what it’s like, I would recommend checking out Garageband — it’s a powerful tool that can give you some nice results — and the learning curve is far better/easier than the more complex tools out there.

Netflix CEO: ‘TV in the future will be like a giant iPad’ [Ligaya ]

On 05/17/2013, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, experimentation, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, learning spaces, lifelong learning, machine-to-machine communications, media/film, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multi-touch, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new business models, new media literacies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, presentations, publishing, reinvent, second screen apps, smart classrooms, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, social media, staying relevant, streams of content, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, telecommunications, telepresence, television, training / L&D, transmedia, trends, ubiquitous learning, user experience (UX), videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, webinars, by Daniel Christian

Netflix CEO: ‘TV in the future will be like a giant iPad’ — from business.financialpost.com by Armina Ligaya

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Q: What do you think is going to happen over the next five or 10 years in internet video?

A: Well, you know, the fundamental thing is the internet has been getting faster. And now it’s video capable, which is really a last-five-years phenomenon. And, internet video will be very transformative across all societies for telemedicine, for online learning, for education. For communication of various sorts. And it brings, whether it’s person to person, or a recorded video like a movie or a TV show, to a person it will be very transformative.

And, TV in the future will be like a giant iPad. It will have a bunch of apps on it, each app will have a unique experience.

…

So we’re getting beyond just a stream of video, which is all broadcast technology can do, to really try to be innovative about the interaction.

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Mezzanine – A beginning of what “Learning from the Living [Class] Room” might look like…?

On 05/16/2013, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, blended learning, Bring your own device (BYOD), collaboration, communications, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, distance education, education technology, educational games / serious games, experimentation, face-to-face, global / globalization, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, interactivity, internet, IT in HE, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, machine-to-machine communications, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, multi-touch, multimedia, nursing, online learning, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, tablets, technologies for your home, telecommunications, telepresence, television, training / L&D, vendors, videoconferencing, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

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From the Oblong.com website:

Mezzanine™ is a collaborative conference room solution that introduces multi-user, multi-screen, multi-device collaboration. This is next-generation communication: share any content from any device with anyone, anywhere.

Mezzanine transforms creative teamwork, executive meetings, and sales presentations into real-time, collaborative work sessions. Mezzanine expands on existing telepresence technology by providing what we call InfoPresence™—the incorporation of multiple users, multiple devices, and multiple streams of information in the collaboration environment. The future of conference room collaboration is here.

A Mezzanine workspace lets any person on a network bring their own device and share content and applications with any colleague, anywhere in the world, interactively. Mezzanine is a collaborative conference room solution combining presentation design and delivery, application sharing, whiteboard capture, and video conferencing, all within a framework of multi-participant control.

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Also see:

Oblong Technovates with LA High School
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Oblong at OME
Oblong Industries recently participated at OME, a summit hosted by UC San Francisco. The two-day summit focused on charting the future of precision medicine—an emerging field combining big data with clinical research and patient care to deliver insights and advances in treatment that is more targeted and enables improved patient outcomes.

A solid article explaining why iOS-based devices are tough on the campus (true for the enterprise as well)

On 05/09/2013, in Apple, Bring your own device (BYOD), corporate / business world, digital learning, mobile learning, platforms, technologies for your home, by Daniel Christian

IT does not love iPads — from by Michelle Fredette
Students and faculty may love them, but IT personnel get a major headache when they try to integrate Apple tablets–and the company’s TV technology–in an enterprise setting.

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From DSC:
The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) train has arrived. As such, this is a huge issue and as you can tell from reading Michelle’s article, there is no silver bullet out there (at least not as of 5/9/13). I sure wish all of the relevant vendors could get behind a secure, efficient, reliable standard here…or at least have Apple come up with something that would get past the multi-cast issues for wireless networks (i.e. what works great for the consumer at home doesn’t work well on a campus or throughout an enterprise). It also adds to the already difficult job we in IT have when the targets are constantly moving — and moving faster than ever. Add to that the need to consider entire ecosystems/platforms these days.

Futuring media, one solid project [Alexander]

On 04/30/2013, in Canada, collaboration, future, media/film, technologies for your home, technology (general), web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Futuring media, one solid project — by Bryan Alexander

Also see:

Learning Ecosystems

The Internet of Things: 10 things consumers should expect [Davis]

Much faster Wi-Fi coming soon — 802.11ac approved on 6/19/13

Another great example of convergence –> “60 beautiful examples of websites with full-blown video backgrounds” [Young]

Setting up your own Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) / home recording studio [Dachis]

A solid article explaining why iOS-based devices are tough on the campus (true for the enterprise as well)

Futuring media, one solid project [Alexander]

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