2012 Year of Mobile?

Whip myself–and Path–into fighting shape

By Dave Morin, Co-Founder and CEO, Path (As told to Colleen Taylor)

Dave Morin is the CEO and co-founder of Path, a social media sharing site that emphasizes privacy controls. Morin is also an investor in and advisor to a number of startups. Before Path, he was involved in the launch of Facebook’s Connect platform. We wanted to know what he has learned from going from a web platform to a mobile product, and how this influences his plans for 2012.

I think 2012 will truly be the year of mobile Internet. I think Path and Flipboard and a few others are leading the way. We don’t even have a website. And the growth we’re achieving through the second version of Path is like nothing we’ve ever seen.

I mean, it’s so big. I get the GigaOM Pro reports on mobile, and I see these numbers: The amount of mobile display inventory, the fact that Apple’s paid out $2 billion to app developers, there are something like one million Android phones being activated daily. It goes on and on. The industry as a whole hasn’t come around to realizing how big mobile is just yet. But I think this will be the year where we focus on building companies that solely address the post-PC era.

Products you build for the Web, which people access with a big screen and a keyboard and mouse while sitting at a desk, need to be completely different than what you build for a mobile device. You can’t just hire one mobile developer and take the interface you’ve built on the web and cram it onto a mobile device. I can say this with some confidence, because we just spent two years failing at a bunch of interfaces and doing better with some other ones. Most of us at Path worked in desktop and Web software before we started this company, and we learned the hard way that you have to approach the platform with a “beginner’s mind.” It makes me think of something that Steve Jobs said: You can’t serve two masters. Well, the Bible said it first, but I think it applies to product design as well. You can’t serve both the Web and mobile with the same product. You have to choose.

The one big lesson I’ve learned from the past year is that every entrepreneur goes through really hard times — periods of time where people don’t believe in what you’re doing, or the numbers don’t look good. Entrepreneurs always have a vision: You wouldn’t have started a company if you didn’t. But the first implementation may not be getting you all the way there.

Find the users who see your vision and talk to them. Find out why they love the product and what they’re trying to do with it. Often, they’re trying to do something that you haven’t designed it for. You need to unlock that potential. Take away the things that don’t matter, and unlock the stuff that does — remove the complexity. That’s what will make it catch on with everyone.

Here’s another thing Steve Jobs said: “If you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.” So, we’re happy that Path 2 [http://gigaom.com/2011/11/29/path-launches-path-2-journal-app/] has been successful. We did it, we made a good new product. But now it’s on to version 2.1.

News: Apple to hold iBooks-focused media event this month?

iLounge | All Things iPod, iPhone, iTunes and beyond

Apple will hold a an “important” event in New York City later this month, focused on publishing and iBooks, according to a pair of independent reports. Citing multiple sources close to the situation, AllThingsD reports that the schedule for the event could change at any moment, and that the event will focus on a media-related announcement — although it states that the event could be related to some kind of advertising or even publishing.
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Mobile To Surpass Wired Internet Connections

  • By David Nagel
  • 09/12/11
  • Forty percent of the world's population will have access to the Internet by 2015, according to a new forecast released this week by market research firmIDC. But the way they access it is shifting drastically, particularly in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan, as media tablets and smart phones begin to take the place of the traditional PC.

    In fact, in the United States, more people will access the Internet through their mobile devices than through wired connections by 2015, IDC reported.

    Click here to read the full article.

    AP News: Pakistani tech wiz harnesses Internet for the poor

    Pakistani tech wiz harnesses Internet for the poor
           
    SEBASTIAN ABBOT
    Published: 9/5/11


    LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) - While many young tech wizards strive to invent the next iPad, Umar Saif is working to bring Internet-style networking to millions of Pakistanis who don't have access to the Web. He could shake up the country's politics in the process.
    From: http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_16034/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=HnwqZPHZ

    The New and Improved Remind101: Drop dead easy text messaging service for students

    Remind101_text_messaging_for_t

    Remind101 has been updated and it is easy as ever to send text message reminders to your students. Don't worry, students never see your mobile phone number and your never see theirs. Students live in the text message world. The rarely if ever use email. If you want to get a message to your students send them a text. Remind101 makes this possible. Oh, by the way, it is free.

    Horizon Report: Mobile is King in the Near-Term

    The latest edition of the Horizon Report came out yesterday. The Journal had a summary of what the report includes. Here is what The Journal said the report predicts for the near-term:

    Near-Term Technologies

    In the near term--one year or less--those technologies include cloud computing and mobile devices.

    For education, the relevance of cloud computing this year--as opposed to last year, when cloud computing was focused more heavily on data systems--will be in allowing schools to expand the tools available for learning and teaching in ways that desktop software, with its restrictive licensing and often high costs, cannot.

    "Schools are increasingly taking advantage of ready-made applications hosted on a dynamic, ever-expanding cloud that enables end users to perform tasks that have traditionally required site licensing, installation, and maintenance of individual software packages," according to the authors. "E-mail, word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, collaboration, media editing, and more can all be done inside a Web browser, while the software and files are housed in the cloud."

    Mobile devices, of course, are already having an impact, but their potential, according to the report, has increased considerably with the launch of Apple's iPad, as well as the new and upcoming slate of Android- and webOS-based tablets that will help solidify the mobile/handheld device class as a well rounded and feature-rich technology category.

    "With always-on Internet, mobiles embody the convergence of several technologies that lend themselves to educational use, including electronic book readers, annotation tools, applications for creation and composition, and social networking tools," the report said.

    Mobile computing will continue to dominate the education landscape for the foreseeable future. Ubiquitous access, instant on features, and low price point will drive more adoption of these devices. I have seen a huge increase in adoption of the iPhone since it became available on Verizon in the school where I work.

    Should students be allowed to use their own electronic devices in school?

    It is only a matter of time before schools allow students to bring their own electronic devices to school. Below is a snippet from an article in this weeks eSchools News titled "Bring your own device’ catching on in schools."

    Mobile devices are now found in the hands of most children, and school leaders are using that to their advantage by incorporating devices that students already own into classroom lessons and projects.

    Concerns remain about students who are unable to purchase or borrow a device for use in the classroom, but districts might find creative ways—such as asking local businesses or community organizations for help—to provide devices in such instances, advocates of the trend say.

    With access issues in mind, allowing students to bring their own devices from home can offer educational benefits, as well as some surprisingly positive results when it comes to creative thinking and classroom behavior.

    You can read the full article here.

    Free Resources for Teachers to communicate with students or parents and never give out your personal cell phone number

    Below are some resources to help you use email or text messages to communicate with your students. These services work for class assignment reminders, communicating with students on a class trip, updating the members (and parents) of a sports team about a change in practice, and so on and so forth.


    Remind101_logo
     Remind 101 is a free service you can use to set up text or email reminders for when assignments are due. As a teacher you create an account and then set up classes. The students can then log in and set up what kind of reminders they want to receive (text, email, or both). You can set reminders up in advance or as you go along through the semester. Parents can even create an account and choose to get the reminders.


    Cel.ly is a new mass text messaging
    service that says they are interested in schools using their free service! You can get started by texting "start" to 23559. Cel.ly will then ask you for a login and password. You can then go to the website Cel.ly, login and set up text message channels. Each channel is set up with a keyword so that students, teachers, community members, and parents can join your mass text message with a keyword from their cell phone! There does not seem to be a limit on the number of people that can join your mass alert. Cel.ly also gives you three choices in how you want to set up the mass text alerts. You can have all members send messages back and forth to the whole group. You can have only the teacher (owner of the channel) send messages to the group. You can have the group members send messages back to the teacher only! In addition your texting channel can be public or private! All messages are archived in Cel.ly! You can send messages via the Cel.ly website or via phone. It works quickly and easily!

    Pulse.to is similar to Cel.ly. You can login to the website, create a free account and then you start to set up pulses. You can have a public or private mass texting channel (called "pulses"). In addition, you can select if only the pulse owner can send messages or if everyone in the group can send messages. Pulse.to works in many different countries besides the US and Canada! In addition there is not a short code to join, rather students/teachers/parents can text in to a real phone number (so phones that don't work with short codes or keywords will still work with this service!).

    Voice_logo
     Google Voice is a free service from Google that allows you to get a phone number that you can use to ring all of you phones. Sign up for a free account and you can use it for the services listed above with your students. This way you never have to give out your cell phone number to students. You give them your Google Voice number. You can set the Google Voice number to ring whatever phone you want to. You can have voice mails go to your email account, your cell phone, home phone, your neighbor's phone, or any phone you choose. It can even ring all those phones at once if you want. You can set up the number to send you a text message when you get a new call. You can give out the number and use it for text messaging as well. Using Google Voice with the one of the services mentioned above allows you to communicate with your students without ever giving out your personal phone number.

    Thanks to Liz Kolb (@lkolb) for most of this information.

    Wanna cook your steak, now there is an app for that!

    The information below was taken from the iGrill website. What will they think of next?
    Also available in black!

    iGrill is revolutionizing the way we cook & grill today!

    The iGrill combines standard function, technical innovation and impeccable style to produce the most complete cooking thermometer on the market today.

    Equipped with long-range Bluetooth®, useful Apps and a range of amazing features, iGrill turns your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad into your own personal Sous-Chef.

    Stop giving out mobile devices and beefup your wireless access

    Below is a snippet from an article about George Fox University about how they are getting out of the business of giving out laptops to students and instead putting the money into their wireless infrastructure.

    The proliferation of smart phones and other mobile devices has also lessened the need for a laptop on campus, said Smith. Already equipped with multiple WiFi-enabled devices, students don't really need another piece of equipment, particularly one that's partly or entirely controlled by their institution of higher education. 

    So instead of focusing on equipment giveaways, Smith said, George Fox University is focusing its efforts on beefing up its WiFi network to accommodate all of those devices.

    "That's where we'll be throwing most of our dollars (the money saved by not having to buy laptops) this year," said Smith, who pointed to coverage and density as the two biggest issues that the college will be addressing within its wireless network. "We've seen weaknesses within our network, and we'll be working to address them."

    The full article can be read here.

    Given the proliferation of ubiquitous mobile computing devices I think this is the proper strategy going forward for schools and universities. Spend your money beefing up your wireless infrastructure and allow students to use their own devices. The best mobile computing device is the one the student is most comfortable using.

    Use Your iPhone 4 for Science with Mini Microscope

    via GottaBeMobile by Chuong Nguyen on 3/31/11

    Mini Microscope is an attachment for the iPhone 4 that will allow you to use your Apple smartphone to conduct science experiments. The attachment comes with a 60X zoom lens and dual-LED lights to turn your iPhone 4 into a mini microscope that can come in handy for those who are working in the field.

    At a recent Nokia Musings technology panel in Silicon Valley, Nokia had invited researchers from Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley to talk about the intersection of technology and humanity. Those researchers, who used Nokia smartphones and outfit those devices with their own custom lens solutions to create their own mini microscopes, say that the quality of their miniature microscopes are almost as good as more expensive and bulkier systems in the lab, but are a lot cheaper and more portable. With mobile labs enabled by high-powered smartphones scientists can rapidly obtain results without having to send their data to a lab, which can save time and resources.

    If the iPhone 4′s kit offers similar results as the Nokia solutions, this may help field researchers and scientists in remote areas obtain, gather, and analyze data relatively inexpensively. Unlike the custom Nokia solutions that research scientists had to create, the iPhone 4 kits are commercialized, similar to telescopic lens solutions for a faux DSLR experience on an iPhone, and can be obtained for £29.99,

    Mobile Communications on the Rise

    No surprise here. Mobile phone use is skyrocketing.
     
    mobile stat info
     

    The following is from NetWitsThinkTank:

    This phenomenon is not just occurring in the US – According to a report by International Telecommunications Union (ITU) mobile subscription growth was strong in developing countries (which have 3.8 billion subscriptions), from 53 per cent of total mobile subscriptions at the end of 2005 to an estimated 73 per cent at the end of 2010. AMD is predicting that, by 2015, 50% of the world will have an Internet connection and Phone Count predicts that by 2012 there will be as many connected mobile phones as there are people in the world.

    Mobile: The Key to Education Anywhere

    via GigaOMMobile by Rob Woodbridge on 3/17/11

    iPad in school

    In 1985, when Bruce Springsteen wrote “We learned more from a three-minute record than we ever learned in school,” he was talking about the lure of whatever might be waiting outside every classroom around the world. That  youthful feeling of the world passing you by — the things you were missing as you sat in a classroom day after day — is an age-old challenge for educators. It’s one that’s about to be subjected to an even greater assault as the digital generation moves deeper into education.

    The Internet was the first volley on the way a generation learned. Students no longer had to trudge to the library to research a topic. The encyclopedias of our parents’ generation were tossed into recycling bins, and a combination of Google and Wikipedia was all students needed to complete even the most ambitious assignments. Even with all their merit — the world’s opinions and research at your fingertips — educators shunned the tools in the class. They banned the Internet to the corner, equipping it with the dunce cap.

    Mobile is the second volley in this assault on education, and the impact is going to be far larger and broader-reaching than the Internet and computers were before it. If the web brought research to the desktop, mobile brings all that power — plus context — to the hip pocket. We all have the ultimate ability to find, disseminate, discuss, opine, distribute and create on the fly, and this power is something educators will need to embrace — and quickly.

    New mobile technologies such as augmented reality, Google Goggles and real-time language translation applications are helping smartphones become key tools in the real-time learning toolkit. And students are bringing this technology into the classroom.

    This generation of students is far different from its predecessors when it comes to the consumption of technology. Students coming of age during the Internet revolution seemed to be much more engaged in the making of technology — building the foundation of bits and bytes — while students today are much more inclined to use the technology for other pursuits, including education. Using mobile technology to learn is as natural a move and non-disruptive for this generation as it was for their parents to bring encyclopedias out of the library and into the home.

    The single, most powerful pull of mobile is the seamless connectivity it enables. There has never been a time in history where the earth has been flatter, where it was easier to have a social network that extended beyond a city or country or hemisphere, or that different cultures were as exposed in real time – and it’s all because of the smartphone. This power is global and comes to life through the 250 million mobile Facebook users, photo applications like Instagram and mobile video sharing services like Qik.

    “The next wave of teaching, when you’re facing students who have computers in their hands or on their desks, really is about taking advantage of that connectivity,” says Sidneyeve Matrix, National Scholar and Assistant Professor in the Department of Media and Film at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. “So that’s just another reason for educators to push for mobile learning opportunities or to challenge themselves to figure out to utilize the technology their students already have.”

    With this power, there’s the growing potential to also increase the gap between the technology haves and the technology have-nots, as well as the growing concern that  “always connected” means never able to concentrate on the task at hand. The classroom is the perfect place to teach the potential of mobile learning and, at the same time, expose the technology to students who don’t have access to it. Teachers can start by bringing in games that leverage mobile. Quizzes and micro-learning opportunities abound during the school day; use mobile to capture them. Exposure can also come in the form of recording classes and turning them into podcasts, assigning teams to work on mobile video projects or even doing real-time scavenger hunts on campus or in the community.

    This often leads to a profound argument that has been in our discourse since Google launched and became the Internet’s conduit to humanity’s collective brain: Are kids learning to learn or are they simply learning to find. It’s a subtle difference. Has information become temporary, or even disposable? Face it; we don’t go to school really to learn about things — natural curiosity will overcome learning lethargy to drive lifelong education — but we do go to learn to learn and that’s what will be impacted the most with mobile.

    Learning is a skill. Teaching that skill happens every day in the classroom but it need not end there, and that’s where mobile can truly shine. Mobile holds the nascent promise of bridging the desire to learn about everything and the ability to learn about it anywhere. The key now is to start.

    For almost 10 years Rob has been immersed in the middle of the mobile revolution in roles ranging from strategic advisor, board member and coach to VP Operations and President and CEO. Rob currently runs UNTETHER.tv where he interviews mobile luminaries about how they are building their businesses and he also strategizes with major brands on embracing mobile within their organizations.

    Image courtesy of Flickr user mortsan.

     

    Need a Hearing Aid - There's an app for that.

     
    EARs is an app for the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch that works as a hearing aid.
     
    From the company's website:

    EARs lets you use your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad as a hearing aid. The app amplifies the sounds around you in real time and allows you to easily shape their tone so you can hear clear, crisp speech. With EARs’ innovative interface, improving the sounds is as easy as moving one finger. EARs can be helpful when you are having a hard time understanding a conversation in a loud room, or when you want the television to be louder without bothering others.

     

     

    Mobile Reviews with Study Boost

    There is a new free resource called Study Boost that connects with mobile phones. You create an account on Study Boost, then you can create your own "batches" of study questions. You can subscribe to the study questions via cell phone (you can also view them on the mobile web). In addition you can share your study questions with friends, teachers, and others so they can also review on the go.

    Study Boost would be a great project for extending learning and allowing students to study at their own pace (and on the go!).

    This is a repost from Toy to Tools: Cell Phones in Schools