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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.
Also see:
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.
Also:
Count on Apple iTV in 2012, analyst says — from technewsdaily.com by Leslie Meredith
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Excerpt:
Addendum on 12/2/11:
Excerpt:
A REVOLUTION IN PERCEPTION is in the air, a transformation decades in the making. It will require a radical shift in viewpoint, as the way we experience data and information revolves 90 degrees from our traditional bird’s-eye view of maps, paper and screens to a more natural cinematic vision of the real world, one overlaid with digital information virtually attached to specific places.
And while augmented reality may still be in its infancy – with smartphone viewfinders displaying floating objects that are only vaguely connected to real places – don’t let that fool you.
The changes could reach far beyond mobile broadband and potentially be as profound as the development of the World Wide Web, says Michael Liebhold of the Institute for the Future. Liebhold forecasts that within five to 10 years, “the unadorned world will be history,” and our reality will have become a mix of the real and the digital. Telecom companies need to be ready, he says, to meet the demands of networks in which we are connected right before our eyes.
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HTML5 program promises to be game changer — from mediapost.com by Diane Mermigas
Also see:
- #1: “Next” web architecture = Hypernet + Hyperweb
- #2: The decline & fall of Windows unlocks revenue
- #3: Index search is peaking
- #4: Apple’s model threatens web
- #5: HTML5 is game changer for publishers
HTML5 is not just a programming language; enables new models of web experience
– Developers will embed audio and video directly in web pages, replacing Adobe’s Flash plug-in; enables much greater differentiation in sites, advertising, etc.
– Content publishers will redesign their sites to reduce power of Google, ad networks
HTML5 will be disruptive in ways we cannot imagine today: pendulum swinging to favor content creators and publishers. Imagine Amazon or eBay storefront as an ad.
– Everything can be an app . . . every piece of content . . . every tweet . . . every ad
– Ads: create demand and fulfill it at the same time . . . without leaving publisher’s page
– Other tech (e.g., Wordnik) enables publishers to protect and monetize text onsite and off- #6: Tablets are hugely disruptive
- #7: First wave of “social web” is over
- #8: Smartphones in US: Apple + 7 Dwarfs
- #9: Wireless infrastructure is a competitive threat to US
- #10: Integration of TV & Internet could be disruptive
From DSC:
Apple plans to revolutionize your living room next, just as Steve Jobs wanted — from readwriteweb.com by John Paul Titlow
Excerpt:
“I finally cracked it,” Steve Jobs told his biographer Walter Isaacson just months before his death. He was referring to the design and functionality of television, something Jobs had long wanted his company to reimagine.
In the official biography of the late Apple founder that came out today, one of the last topics discussed before Isaacson touches on Jobs’ summer 2011 resignation is how he had hoped to revolutionize the television set.
From DSC:
Interesting thing about those who innovate…sometimes, others come to them in the hopes that the innovative company will create an X, Y, or Z product line. Jobs and Ives, by being known as two of the top heads of an innovative company, had an army of people contributing ideas to Apple (and many of them doing so freely through the years).
So I also give credit to those encouraging Apple to take certain approaches, for submitting potential ideas and suggestions, and for those employees/contractors/suppliers who are working at (or on behalf of) Apple who are working hard to bring those ideas/visions to fruition (Jeff Robbin comes to mind). Jobs most likely didn’t come to cracking this thing on his own.
Seven ways an integrated Apple TV could change everything — from forbes.com by Louis Bedigian
Sony expects “fight for the living room” — from warc.com
Excerpt:
TOKYO: Sony, the electronics group, believes it is in a “fight for the living room” not only with traditional rivals like Samsung and LG, but also with new players in the TV arena, such as Apple and Google.
PlayJam Closes Round A Financing for $5 million from Adobe, GameStop and Endeavour for Connected TV Games — from http://appmarket.tv by Richard Kastelein
One More Thing….Does Jobs Have a Final Trick Up His Sleeve? — from http://digitallivingroom.com
Apple Could Release TV Set in 2012 [REPORT] — from Mashable.com by Lauren Indvik
Google TV reboot expected imminently — from informitv.com
Excerpt:
The release of Google TV 2.0 is imminent. It was supposed to be available in the United States before the end of the summer. Developers were told in May that existing devices would be updated to the version of Android known as Honeycomb, which has already been overtaken by a new release. While the first release of Google TV failed to impress many, the presence of Android applications on television could be the start of something.
Polycom® RealPresence™ Mobile — now for both the iPad and Android-based devices
Take video collaboration mobile with the first enterprise HD software solution for Motorola and Samsung tablets
Polycom® RealPresence™ Mobile is a new, free-to-download software solution that extends our legendary HD video collaboration technology, built on the Polycom RealPresence Platform, beyond the office and conference room to your Apple® iPad® 2, Motorola XOOM™ and Samsung Galaxy Tab™ tablet PCs.
Also see:
On October 12, Polycom president and CEO Andy Miller gave a keynote address during the CTIA Enterprise & Applications™ 2011 conference in San Diego, Calif., discussing video collaboration in today’s mobile society. During his keynote, Andy presented key industry trends, and share how Polycom is delivering video to mobile platforms, extending HD video collaboration technology beyond the office and conference room. The keynote included a live demonstration of a game-changing mobile video solution for enterprises – the Polycom® RealPresence™ Mobile.
Also see:
The Cloud & HTML5 — Smart TV’s Dynamic Duo — from itvt.com by Edgar Villalpando
Excerpt:
Why is HTML5 so awesome for smart TV?
For the smart TV space, HTML5 will speed app development cycles, reduce development costs, provide a much larger reach, and make integration of apps with the Web, and Web-connected devices, much smoother.
We’re about to exit the Walled Garden era of smart TV, and enter the Smart TV Everywhere era.
From DSC: Expectations, today, are getting hard to beat
Since Apple’s event yesterday, I’ve heard some conversations on the radio and reviewed several blog postings and articles about Apple’s announcements…many with a sense of let down (and some with the usual critical viewpoints by the backseat drivers out there who have never tried to invent anything, but who sure like to find fault with everyone else’s inventions and innovations).
It made me reflect on how high our expectations are becoming these days! It wasn’t enough that iCloud is coming on 10/12 (and who knows the directions that will take society in). It wasn’t enough to introduce some serious software-based innovations such as Siri (which bring some significant advancements in the world of artificial intelligence) or AirPlay for the iPhone. It wasn’t enough to enter into the multi-billion dollar card industry with their new Cards app for the iPhone. Wow…tough crowd.
What might these announcements — and expectations — mean for education?
Well…I can see intelligent tutoring, intelligent agents, machine-to-machine communications, the continued growth of mobile learning, learning from the living room, the initiation of programs/events caused by changes in one’s location, continued convergence of the television/computer/telephone, continued use of videoconferencing on handheld devices, cloud-based textbooks/apps, and more.
