I saw a two-year old kid (in diapers, in a stroller), using an iPod Touch today. Not just looking at it, but browsing menus and interacting. This is a revolution, guys.

Symantec recently highlighted Flash for having one of the worst security records in 2009. We also know first hand that Flash is the number one reason Macs crash. We have been working with Adobe to fix these problems, but they have persisted for several years now. We don’t want to reduce the reliability and security of our iPhones, iPods and iPads by adding Flash.

In addition, Flash has not performed well on mobile devices. We have routinely asked Adobe to show us Flash performing well on a mobile device, any mobile device, for a few years now. We have never seen it. Adobe publicly said that Flash would ship on a smartphone in early 2009, then the second half of 2009, then the first half of 2010, and now they say the second half of 2010.

We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform. If developers grow dependent on third party development libraries and tools, they can only take advantage of platform enhancements if and when the third party chooses to adopt the new features. We cannot be at the mercy of a third party deciding if and when they will make our enhancements available to our developers.

Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.

Some interesting thoughts from the writer of the uLearning Blog. Follow the link to read the full post. Most enlightening was the writer's response to the growing proliferation of iPod Touches and iPhones in classrooms:

And what should an educator’s response be? Possibly you’re already in the middle of deploying one of these options – and if so, my biggest suggestion is – reflect. While our sector has stood still for so long, the current rush might make us forget our usual values of tying everything we do to our learning vision first. So reflect first, then on how these devices can enhance learning – don’t make learning fit to them.

It is refreshing to have an educator say that we need to reflect first and tie everything we do to our learning vision. So often in schools we run after the latest educational technology fad. In education we need more sustained deep reflection before embarking on any technology initiatives. Do small pilots to test a hypothesis and find critical stress points.

I also like the writer's comment that we should not make learning fit the device. I am not a big proponent of electronic whiteboards or Smartboards. I feel these devices are an example of trying to make learning fit the device. We spent years trying to get teachers away from the front of the classroom controlling everything and now we anchor them to the front of the room using an electronic whiteboard. Backwards innovation.

The people at the Slide to Learn website have put together this PDF as a comprehensive guide for using Apple's mobile products in the classroom. Follow the link and give it a look, It is very well done.

The feud between Cablevision and WABC came to a peak today as WABC was pulled from Cablevision’s line up. Apparently the two companies could not agree on fees to be paid between the two companies. Who is the big loser? The customers who subscribe to Cablevision’s service. What can customers do about it other than write letters or make phone calls to each company’s headquarters? Not much. The two big babies want more than the billions they are already making. How does this feud tie into Apple's iPad? Let me explain.

I believe Apple is positioning the iPad to be a device for people to consume media on, i.e. television, movies, books, magazines, and newspapers. I believe eventually they will be successful in shifting people from their current media diet to a robust electronic diet. The same way Apple has taken control of the music industry it will become the dominate player in all forms of media. In my mind it is troublesome when a few people control the flow of vast amounts of information. In no way do I think Apple has evil intent or even wants to control the media industry. I think Steve Jobs and company want to create a device that will be easy to use and enjoyable to watch shows and read books on. A byproduct of the iPad's success will be a further shifting from print media to electronic media. As this shift happens someone has to control the pipes. As Cablevision and WABC control the pipes and have turned them off for millions of people tonight, the same could happen in the future with all forms of media.

I am not sure how long the shift will take for all major media to be in an electronic format delivered over the Internet, but anyone who reads the news can see that it is happening. I believe the iPad will be the device that accelerates this shift. What does that mean for the future?

After all our books are in electronic format who will control what can and cannot be sold. It won't be the publisher per say, but the person who delivers the e-book to the consumer. If the NY Times, as it seems very likely, has a subscription for the iPad, it will eventually give up control of the delivery of their content to the consumer. As the media companies merge over time, a small amount of people could potentially control most if not all of our media. I am a big fan of electronic media, and consume almost all of my media via the Internet. I think the Internet has been a tremendous medium to deliver vast amounts of content to the masses. I am able to read and see things I would never had been able to even just a few years ago. But electronic media is easy to control and manipulate. The reformers were able to get around restrictions in Iran via Twitter, but think about how that government reacted to the protests. They shut down all kinds of access. Will those of us who eschew the virtues of all things technological (myself included) come to rue the day when all our access to media is in the hands of a few large corporations?

According to this article in Distrcit Administration, authors Cathleen Norris and Elliot Soloway think every student in every grade in every school will be using a mobile computing device for learning within 5 years. Why do they think this will be the case? The authors give two reasons for their hypothesis.

The first reason they state is that it was adults who brought laptops, electronic whiteboards, handheld clickers, and online materials into the classroom, whereas it is students themselves who are bringing in the mobile technology (for the record Soloway and Norris consider cell phones, smartphones, and netbooks as mobile devices. They do not consider 5-7 lb laptops to be mobile devices). They elaborate on this analysis by highlighting the electronic whiteboard:

The electronic whiteboard, quite frankly, is the quintessential example of our generation’s technology. An electronic whiteboard is just a whiteboard— albeit an expensive one. Teachers have been using chalkboards and whiteboards for hundreds of years. Teachers are comfortable using their generation’s technology. By and large, students don’t see a significant difference between chalkboards, whiteboards and electronic whiteboards with respect to teaching and learning.

Norris and Soloway then make the case the cell phone is the "quintessential technology of today’s mobile generation." They argue that cell phones are essential to student's lives and that we should meet students where they are ( A point Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently made). They also state that:

...schools are waging a battle—a battle they are losing and should lose—against cell phones.

They think we should let students use their toolbox ( i.e. mobile devices) for teaching and learning. They say if you turn off the voice and texting function of cell phones you eliminate 95% of problems schools have with cell phones (Note - a cell phone with voice and text turned off is an iPod Touch, read here why I think these are compelling devices). According to Norris and Soloway:

Mobile devices will do for student-centric K12 what desktops and laptops have done for adult-centric industries.

The second reason they give for supporting their hypothesis is that:

Over the next five years, Internet connected mobile computing devices will drop dramatically in price—and increase in functionality. 

Norris and Soloway believe the inverse relationship between increasing functionality and decreasing prices will drive wide-scale adoption of mobile devices. So much so that schools might only need to provide 25% of their population with a mobile device because the rest of the students will already own one. They think one-to-one computing is:

...as necessary as textbooks, as desks, as oxygen. The only way America’s schools can afford one-to-one is by going mobile.

Almost all of the points Norris and Soloway make in their article I have been trumpeting here on this blog ( Here, here, and here). I think they are dead on in their analysis of the current educational landscape and where it will inevitably end up. I never thought of it as adult centric computing devices and student centric devices, but they make a good point. I have stated that students are less bothered by the small screen real estate of a mobile device than adults are. Today's students grew up on handheld video games and they seem to have no problem with the small screens. When I think of today's generation and learning the words access, mobility, creating, collaborating, and others come to mind. It is truly amazing what can be accomplished so easily with today's technology. Students today arrive at school with different expectations and a different skill set than yesterday's students.

On Norris and Soloway's point of decreasing prices and increasing functionality I couldn't agree more. This was highlighted with Apple's announcement last week of the new iPad. Apple was able to get AT&T to cut their mobile broadband prices in half. In my opinion that was one of the major outcomes of Apple's announcement and I listed it as one of the major things I liked about the new iPad (click here to read the post). Other wireless providers will now have to follow suit if they want to keep up with Apple and AT&T. Prices will continue to decline and already we are experiencing a ramping up of new smartphones from many different providers. It is getting difficult to stay on top of all the new devices that are showing up on the mobile landscape. Apple has kicked the proverbial can way down the road and Nokia, Palm, Google, Microsoft, Motorola, and Dell, just to name a few, are desperately trying to keep up. I think this competition is good for consumers and will eventually be good for education.

If school leaders are wise they will begin now to prepare for the mobile explosion that is arriving on their shores, even today. They can start by embracing mobile technology and crafting policies and practices that allow for their limited and controlled use in classrooms. Schools can conduct pilot projects with a small set of mobile devices in their high school or elementary classrooms. They change their high school cell phone policies to allow for limited use throughout the school day and spend time educating students how to use handheld deives in a socially responsable way. I believe if schools cautiously and incrimentally over time embrace mobile technology the disruption they can cause will be minimal and can even improve teaching and learning in the long run.

The mobile computing earthquake has unleashed a tsunami that will eventually change the educational landscape as we know it. The schools that acknowledge this and take action now will be better prepared for the changes that are coming.

• The price. Apple exceeded my expectations on what I thought the tablet would cost.
• The long battery life. Who knows how long it will actually be, but 10 hours is nice.
• The size and weight. Thin and light.
• Email. I liked the way it displayed on the device.
• The calendar also looked nice.
• The price for AT&T's 3G connection. $30/month for unlimited use is reasonable. Maybe it will drive down other wireless companies prices.
• The dock with a keyboard. I used to own a Slate Tablet PC. Sometimes you want a keyboard.
• The case that folds into a wedge. Clever and useful. See below.

• The tablet is screaming to be written on using a stylus. Look at the picture above. I envision one of these on every student's desk using a stylus to write down notes and draw diagrams. The stylus is about writing in ink not about converting it to text. Those who are new to tablet PC's think handwriting to text conversion is what you get a tablet for. No. You use a tablet to quickly write down notes or jot an email in your own handwriting and leave it like that. Use One Note or Evernote to search your handwritten notes.
• No flash. How stupid did it look when Steve Jobs was showing the NY Times page at one point and there was a little blue cube showing that the flash animation was not visible. Apple, either work out your differences with Adobe or develop you own product to make the flash animations work. This is already frustrating on my iPhone.
• No SD card reader or a USB port. I thought either one of these would have been useful.
• No multi-tasking. A device this size with a decent processor and 10 hours of battery life should allow for multi-tasking.
• The need to tether it to a laptop to sync or backup. We need to move away from this model. Can't we have full over the air synching and backup.