There are a couple of things to note, the drag and drop lesson planning, the sharing of content and ideas (look today at Twitter) and the learners using mobile devices to capture stuff (today we’re using mobile phones and PSPs with cameras).
I like watching these videos to see how far we haven’t come and how far we have.
Thanks to Martin Ebner for pointing this out.
We often don’t get gadgets here in the UK that they have in the US, for example anyone want a Zune? Well even if you did, not available officially in the UK.
I remarked very early on when Amazon released the Kindle back in January 2008 that
Of course they aren’t available in the UK at all, I wonder if we will ever see a UK version of the Kindle?
Well the Kindle eventually made it to the UK in October 2009, however without the full on connectivity that made it an attractive device and one that stood out from the other e-Book devices out there. Without the connectivity I couldn’t see how the device was that much different to the Sony eBook Reader which I was using for eBooks. I was also pretty sure that we would see a new tablet/slate device from Apple soon (well probably in next couple of weeks) and that sounded a much better deal.
Having said that, released this week is the Kindle DX
The other big advantage of the Kindle is the backing of Amazon, making it very easy to buy and download eBooks to the device. This is something that other companies like Apple know, make it easy to buy content and people buy content.
With my Sony eBook Reader, I need to make sure I am on the right computer and then download the eBook to that computer before syncing with the Reader and then I can read my book. With the Kindle, I can browse and download the book via the device. In the US this is pretty seamless, however in the UK it gets a little more complicated and adds an extra charge to the book (as you have to pay roaming 3G charges).
I do like eBook Readers, however I won’t be buying a Kindle DX as I am going to wait and see what Apple bring to the market before the end of the month.
The rumours continue to ruminate, the possible leaks continue to leak, the stories continue to be told.
It is almost 100% likely that Apple will sometime this year, probably this month, release a table slate type device.
No one knows for sure, but there are lots of rumours and speculation running around the web.
One thing that I recently heard about and caught my eye was this simulation of a tablet device showing a magazine. Note that this is not the Apple device, this is just a concept of a future device.
This concept is Sports Illustrated, however replace a sports magazine with a core text book, or a relevant magazine for a vocational area.
No more just pictures and text, now throw in video, audio and animated diagrams.
Yes we can do this already, and with the NLN Materials this was been done a few years ago. However the difference now is the device on which someone would view this content. With 3G and WiFi you can now have the connectivity to download content quickly and easily when you want to use it. A device with a battery life of a day rather than an hour and a half. A device with an intuitive interface that just works then one that requires a pen, stylus or a degree in mechanics to work out how it works.
I have no idea when the Apple device will come out though I think the 26th or 27th January are possible, I certainly will consider getting one.
NVIDIA made a major announcement on Thursday introducing their latest Tegra 2 mobile chipset.
The Tegra 2 chipset incorporates 8 independent processors to handle web browsing, HD video encoding/decoding as well as mobile gaming. It also accomplishes all this with a very low power consumption. In part, this is accomplished by the use of the ARM Cortex A9 dual core processor. The ARM Cortex A9 is the same processor that has been rumored to be utilized in Apple’s future tablet.
NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 powered Tablets boasts the following features:
– Over 16 hours of HD video or 140 hours of music on a single charge
– Adobe Flash Player 10.1
– 10x faster than processors used in smartphones today
– Playback 1080p video
On Ollie Bray’s blog a comment was made on Ollie’s post about e-Books.
Neil commenting on the blog said:
I don’t think e-book readers will cut it. They will please a few – gadgeteers and the followers of Oprah (or would that be Jonathan Ross over here?) – but I think they will only be a niche product. After all, you can already read e-books on many phones, netbooks and PCs, so why would you want a specialist device?
Which would you rather spend on – a class set of Kindles (at £175 each) or a set of iPods touches (@£149)? No-brainer really. ANd you are never going to get a head to spend that kind of money twice.
I do agree that in terms of functionality that the iPod touch (currently) is superior to the Kindle, but you do need to ask what functionality are you looking for when purchasing a device.
I am going to disagree with Neil about the e-Book, personally I think they are going to be one of the next big technologies.
Many negative things were said about early mp3 players and notably the iPod. If you go back to 2001 the following comments were made which are not exactly positive about Apple’s music player.
The iPod does cost considerably more than the nearest competitor with a portable hard drive…
…analyst Tim Deal dinged the $399 price as “a little high.”
“I question the company’s ability to sell into a tight consumer market right now at the iPod’s current price.”
“Apple lacks the richness of Sony’s product offering. And introducing new consumer products right now is risky, especially if they cannot be priced attractively,”
Stephen Baker said that the iPod will likely stand out for its large storage capacity but predicted that the device may have trouble digging out a niche in the market.
The iPod has “good features, but this is a pretty competitive category,” Baker said. “The question is whether people want that robust of a feature set with that high of a price.”
Look where the iPod is now!
Let’s take Niel’s comment:
After all, you can already read e-books on many phones, netbooks and PCs, so why would you want a specialist device?
If you rewrite this as
After all, you can already listen to mp3s on many phones, netbooks and PCs, so why would you want a specialist device?
That’s what many people said about the iPod and the early mp3 players.
e-Book readers are supplementary to netbooks, iPhones, iPods and PCs, not replacements.
They also have one big advantage over those devices for e-Books and that is battery life.
I have to charge my iPhone on a daily basis, I charge my e-Book reader once a week.
For me the Kindle and Sony Reader are generation one devices, and as the technology matures and changes I expect to see better and smarter products.
The rumours are that Apple and Microsoft will both release an e-Book Reader type product in the next twelve months. These devices will certainly raise the profile of e-Books and the market for devices to read them.