Monthly Archives: June 2009

iphone, psp, sony

PSP Phone

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The iPhone has dominated the thoughts of many, more so with the release of the new iPhone 3GS. I have met many e-learning professionals and lots of them use iPhones and extol the benefits of the iPhone. The same is happening across the country and elsewhere in the world

Reuters reports that

Sony Corp is considering developing a cellphone-game gear hybrid in a bid to better compete with Apple Inc’s highly popular iPod and iPhone.

The PSP is a very popular gaming console, I can’t though see the PSP Phone as an alternative to the iPhone, but more a different beast appealing to a different audience.

apple, iphone, podcast

e-Learning Stuff Podcast #025: To tether or not to tether

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James talks about his opinion of Apple’s new iPhone 3GS. He talks about the new features, the 3MP camera, video, digital compass, faster hardware, internet tethering.

iphone3gs

He mentions JoikuSpot, the Nokia N95, MiFi, wifi hotspots and the WiFi Zone and Wifi Trak iPhone applications. He then reviews his new Polaroid Pogo printer and finishes off on Evernote.

This is the twenty-fifth e-Learning Stuff Podcast, To tether or not to tether.

Download the podcast in mp3 format: To tether or not to tether

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

James is on his own this week.

Shownotes

  • Apple launch the new iPhone 3GS which has some nice new capabilities.
  • JoikuSpot allows you to use your wifi phone, such as the Nokia N95, as a wireless access point.
  • The MiFi is a 3G wireless access point, which runs on battery.
  • WiFi Zone and WiFi Trak are iPhone applications which allow you to find WiFi hostspots (both links are iTunes Store links)
  • The Polaroid Pogo is a Bluetooth portable battery powered printer which prints 3″ x 2″ sticker prints using a zero ink technology called Zink.
  • Evernote is a web based note application.
gloucestershire college, psp

Using the PSP

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Luke Fletcher from Gloucestershire College talks candidly about how he used the PSP with camera with his learners.

Luke was in the office for a chat, when a colleague (off camera) asked him how he found using the PSPs, luckily for I had a camera to hand, so I just picked it up and hit record and caught this wonderful natural narrative from Luke about using the PSP.

jisc

Open Educational Resources

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Those who know me know that I am a huge fan of sharing and collaboration. It was a key part of my role at the Western Colleges Consortium and I have contined to promote sharing of practice and resources.

Back in 2002, MIT launched their OpenCourseWare, and I on this blog reported in December 2007 about Yale’s entry into this field.

Yesterday, JISC officially launched the Open Educational Resources programme.

Open Educational Resources (OER), funded by HEFCE and run by the Academy and JISC, aims to make a wide range of learning resources created by academics freely available, easily discovered and routinely re-used by both educators and learners.

OER could include full courses, course materials, complete modules, notes, videos, assessments, tests, simulations, worked examples, software, and any other tools or materials or techniques used to support access to knowledge. These resources will be released under an intellectual property license that permits open use and adaptation.

As well as providing a wealth of resources which can be used (and much of the material can be used in FE as well as HE courses) it also sends a message to universities and college that it is okay to share and good to share. It should have a positive impact on your reputation and enhance and enrich the learning experience of your learners.

flickr, jisc

RSC SW Summer Conference

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Despite earlier problems with embedding a Flickr slideshow into a WordPress.com blog, Vodpod appears to have resolved the issue.

Here is a slideshow of photographs I took at the RSC SW Summer Conference.

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.2792873&w=425&h=350&fv=offsite%3Dtrue%26offsite%3Dtrue%26lang%3Den-us%26page_show_url%3D%252Fphotos%252Fjamesclay%252Fsets%252F72157619902384508%252Fshow%252F%26page_show_back_url%3D%252Fphotos%252Fjamesclay%252Fsets%252F72157619902384508%252F%26set_id%3D72157619902384508%26jump_to%3D]

more about “RSC SW Conference“, posted with vodpod

jisc, keynote

Keynoting in the South-West

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This morning myself and David Sugden delivered the keynote for day two at the JISC Regional Support Centre South West Summer Conference.

glitterball

Our keynote was entitled, Cultural Confidence.

We used Activexpression, learner response systems, with the audience to allow them to interact with the keynote.

We also used Ustream to stream a video of the presentation, however flaky wireless meant that we kept losing the stream, however I did also record the presentation using my HD video camera.

I will post the video and the slides later, when I have sufficient bandwidth to upload.

conference, jisc, keynote

Down the road…

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rscsw01

Over the next two days I am attending the JISC Regional Support Centre South West Summer Conference 2009 which is just down the road for me in Rookery Manor in Somerset, just South of Weston-super-Mare.

I am presenting (with David Sugden) a keynote tomorrow morning and running a workshop later on in the day.

This afternoon I am on an expert panel which will be interesting as I have no idea about what we will be asked!

Today’s keynote is from Derek Law who is going to be running the JISC Services Management company which goes live in August.

Was quite interesting, now onto the workshops.

apple, iphone

iPhone 3GS

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Apple have announced a new version of the iPhone, the iPhone 3GS

iphone3gs

Now incorporates

  • 3MP camera with better optics and autofocus
  • video recording
  • digital compass
  • voice control
  • faster 3G
  • faster hardware

Find out more or take the Guided Tour.

So is it worth upgrading?

Well considering the cost of upgrading, probably not! Moving from the Edge iPhone 2G to the iPhone 3G was less of an issue for many O2 customers, they won’t get the same kind of deal upgrading to the iPhone 3GS.

So what about if you don’t have an iPhone, is what was a really good phone even better now with the 3GS?

In the past I have mentioned why I did not get an iPhone when it first came out.

So do I have the obvious choice, Apple’s iPhone? No, partly as when it came out it did not meet my needs, no tethering, no 3G, no applications. Even the 3G model has some limitations, in the main the poor quality camera and lack of tethering. With the Nokia N95 I can use it as a 3G modem or as a wireless hotspot, likewise the 5MP camera does make it quite capable of taking decent photographs.

The iPhone 3GS now meets some of those needs.

You will be able to use it as a tethered modem (well if you buy into the right O2 plan). The camera in the 3GS is now much better, 3MP, auto-focus, macro mode and able to take video too! Still not as good as the Nokia N95 camera, but good enough and better than what was in the 3G phone. I suspect that with the 3GS we will see a JoikuSpot type application very soon that will enable you to use the 3GS as a wireless access point.

I do think that the voice control and digital compass now add features that students with special needs may find useful in helping them become independent learners and also gain more independence in the community.

Overall I do like the new iPhone 3GS, I think it is a great phone to get, but if you already have an iPhone 3G then you probably can live without the extra functionality and just upgrade to the free iPhone 3.0 software.