When is an UMPC not an UMPC?

When is an UMPC not an UMPC?

When it’s a 10″ UMPC.

When is an UMPC not an UMPC?

Okay before I mentioned how Asus were releasing a new 9″ version of their EeePC, well according to Engadget they are going to release a 10″ version!

As if it weren’t official enough already, the subnote war is on. According to a Computex invitation from ASUS, the outfit is planning to not only showcase the Eee PC 901, but also a brand new variant that will likely go mano a mano with the 10-inch MSI Wind. We quote: “[ASUS] would also like to specially extend an invitation to you to attend the official global launch of the new Eee PC 901 and 1000 series.” There’s no details beyond that right there, but it’s plenty to whet our appetites on the heels of the 10.6-inch Eee PC 1001 evidence we’ve already collected

So would you count this machine as an UMPC? Well strictly no.

Is it a mobile device? In a way yes!

Will people buy it? Most certainly.

Twitter has landed (on Mars)

Some of you may follow me on Twitter (or Jaiku) and will know I flit around the South-West and sometimes further afield.

Looks like there’s a new Twitterer to follow and they’re on Mars.

Twitter has landed (on Mars)

Nasa are using Twitter (amongst other web tools and sites) to update people on what the Pheonix Mars Lander is doing on Mars.

Twitter has landed (on Mars)

This to me illustrates another way in which micro-blogging tools can be used to provide information and interesting stuff to learners.

One of the features of Twitter is that the tweets are available as an RSS feed and therefore can be fed into a browser or into a VLE (such as Moodle).

Web worlds ‘useful’ for children

BBC reports on research into virtual worlds for children.

Virtual worlds can be valuable places where children rehearse what they will do in real life, reveals research.

They are also a “powerful and engaging” alternative to more passive pursuits such as watching TV, said the BBC-sponsored study.

Makes you think about how we can use virtual worlds in FE for learning.

Web worlds \'useful\' for children

Google helps the web to go social

BBC reported on how Google is making it even easier for people to interact online.

Google has joined the drive to make the web more social by introducing tools to enable people to interact with their friends.

Of course this means that educational and learning sites can use the same tools making it easier for learners to interact and engage with each other.

This may mean of course that learners from other “places” and “institutions” will interact and engage with each other.

Some institutions will see this collaboration as a “danger” or “cheating” and therefore block the sites. Whilst others will engage with this process and look at how it could impact on learning and enhance it and the changes that may be needed to be made to assessment models.

Adverts on Web 2.0 Services

BBC reports on how credit companies are using Facebook to advertise their wares.

Credit companies are using the Facebook social networking site to target young people, a debt charity has warned.

Credit Action says adverts promising cheap loans for people with poor credit ratings are appearing on the site and many break advertising regulations.

In particular, they are promoting two new products – payday loans secured against a salary or logbook loans secured against a car, it says.

It is an issue with any advertising based Web 2.0 service and one that you do need to consider if you are considering using Web 2.0 services within an educational institution.

Blocking the ads though may be considered one option, this generally doesn’t work for learners who are accessing the services outside the institution.

Even this blog has advertising inserted by WordPress.com over which I have no control and therefore if you found this blog through Google I suspect that there may be a credit advert embedded into the page.

It happens most times that a new viewer searches Google and finds a link to my site in the search results and clicks through as seen here.

Adverts on Web 2.0 Services

I have no control over those adverts and they are based on the text of my entry (and who is visiting), therefore you could potentially have an unsuitable advert. Now these are text based adverts so offence is less likely.

I could of course move the blog to my own web host and lose all the advertising, but the advantage of WordPress.com is that it is a free service and I don’t need to pay for hosting or bandwidth. Of course the real price I then have to pay is on the inserted advertising.

No such thing as a free lunch!

However other Web 2.0 services (such as Facebook) use banner and image based adverts and therefore there could be some unsuitable advertising.

I recall looking at a video streaming service and the two I looked at Stickam and Ustream, I chose Ustream as the adverts on Stickam could potentially cause offence.

As with any website (or service) which depends on advertising, there is a risk that there may be unsuitable advertising content over which you have little or no control.

It’s all about making a compromise between paying for services through upfront costs or using free services which are funded through advertising. What should we do as institutions?

Personally I believe that the decision about which services we should use it being made for us, by our learners.

Post first appeared on Hood 2.0 Blog.

Microsoft is cutting the cost of putting Windows XP on low cost laptops

BBC reports on how Microsoft is making it easier and cheaper for manufacturers to put Windows XP on the current plethora of micro low cost laptops (such as the Asus EeePC) that are currently very popular.

The price cuts will only be available for ultra-portable laptops that meet a strict set of specifications.

The move is widely seen as an attempt by Microsoft to bolster its market share in one of the PC industry sectors showing growth.

Low-powered laptops, such as the Asus Eee PC, are proving hugely popular in developed nations and in projects trying to bridge the digital divide.

I am sure that (depsite the ease of use) the fact that many of these cheap laptops run Linux have put off many a purchaser (as does Mac OS X put off potential purchasers of the Mac) the fact that you will soon be able to have Windows XP on the laptop without a huge increase in the cost of the device will make these low cost laptops even more popular.

Microsoft is cutting the cost of putting Windows XP on low cost laptops

Regardless of whether we think these are good or bad devices, I have certainly seen quite a few now in the college, including one a student was using (with Windows XP on it) and a Three 3G dongle for access to the internet.

I think more and more of our learners will start to buy these. One of the main attractions other that price is the portability, the small size means it is very easy to carry on the bus or in a bag as you move around college. Before if you wanted a small micro laptop, the only real choice was from Sony and these cost a lot, five or six times the current price of the Asus EeePC.

Expect to see more of these devices in your college.

Sketching on the PSP (or teaching an old dog new tricks)

One of the advantages of giving technology to learners is more often then not they will teach you what it can do.

We have been using PSPs (with the camera attachment) with a group of 14 year old learners. This is part of our MoLeNET project.

They have been using them to create stuff.

One of them today told their tutor about the effects option (something I had certainly missed) and the tutor told me.

One of the nice effects is the Sketch effect.

Sketching on the PSP (or teaching an old dog new tricks)

Now from a photography purist perspective you should really shoot in full colour and then use filters for this kind of effect.

Well that’s all nice and dandy if you have the computers (and software) to do this, but sometimes you don’t and come on let’s be honest a 1.3MP camera (which is what you have on top of the PSP) is certainly not a high end camera.

It’s actually quite an effective effect and much better than other sketch type effects or filters I have used.

Alas you can’t capture video with a sketch effect (though I am thinking if I can using a Pinnacle device we have.

Need to write a guide.

Fed up with Facebook

It would appear that I am not the only one fed up with Facebook applications. I do like the social and interactivity that Facebook provides, however I am fed up with the super pokes, the zombies, the quizzes and so on…

Fed up with Facebook

Mashable undertook a poll of their readers and the resounding response was people were fed up with Facebook.

The results were a fairly resounding “yes.” In our most active poll ever, only 13% of you said that you are “Not At All” fed up with the social network and are still enjoying it just as much as when you signed up.

Does this mean we are seeing the decline of Facebook (as we did with Friendster) and seeing an opening for a new social networking site?

Are you fed up with Facebook?

What is going to be the next “thing” that will replace Facebook?

Can we still use Facebook for learning, or are our learners fed up too?

Linux Ultra-Portables

Engadget has a nice feature on the growth of Linux based UMPCs.Linux Ultra-Portables

ASUS set the pace with Xandros on the Eee PC, and HP has tapped Novel SuSE Linux for the 2133 Mini-Note, but whereas the Eee’s positioning has been somewhat of a loose hybrid between an adult OLPC and the Nintendo Wii’s culture of global inclusion, the HP Mini-Note has been strongly focused on reckless, immature students while acknowledging potential for senior executives that have been known to share their temperament.

It’s interesting to see how this product niche has almost appeared from nowhere and is growing rapidly.

It seems to be a product that appeals to people who already own a computer, but want a laptop (and a small laptop at that) to complement it. The advantage of these little Linux laptops as well as the small size is the small price.

I have already seen quite a few of these laptops in college, brought in by learners, so I am expecting to see more of them.

news and views on e-learning, TEL and learning stuff in general…