Living in the 4th Screen

Why should your voice be heard only on Election Day? Why not let your position be heard by your representatives each and every time there is a measure to be voted on?

Visible Vote allows you to do just that. It is the first and only application to allow you to cast your virtual vote and then notify your representatives of your position weekly. Visible Vote also monitors how often your Congressmen vote in alignment with you and the people they represent.

Visible Vote is non-partisan and unbiased service that brings greater transparency and accountability to our representative form of government. Discover the most technologically powerful way to advise, communicate and track your legislators today.

Loading mentions Retweet

In this WKBT.com article it talks about the Cashton School District in Wisconsin that is using iPods and iPod Touches in the classroom. Below are some quotes from the article:

"If we think about the world that we're preparing them for, it's not a world of textbooks and pencils," says Cashton Elementary principal Ryan Alderson.

The Cashton School District is preparing students by bringing some of the latest technology into the classroom.

"We use the SMART boards or the iPods or the iPod touch on almost a daily basis," says Cashton Elementary teacher Beth Lee.

It's not just at the high school level, First and second graders practice their arithmetic on the iPod touch, and are already learning the basics of Microsoft Publisher.

"By using technology it really does individualize their instruction," says Alderson.

For example, an entire class could watch a video together, but the iPod touch allows each student to take in the information at his or her own pace.

Loading mentions Retweet

A post over on the moblearn blog walks you through some steps to help you make a decision regarding which device to purchase for your classroom or school. I like the focus on outcomes instead of just what the best device is. It does depend on what it is you want your students to learn and do.

Below is a snippet from the post:

Do you want your learners to be consumers, or creators of media? 

long term, helping your learners to be “creators” is always better and can be applied to a wider range of learning situations. (Think writing, filing, reporting, synthesising information, publishing.)  

Follow the link above to read the full post. There are some good ideas there and it will definitely get you started in your search for mobile learning devices.

Loading mentions Retweet

According to a Morgan Stanley Report, blogged about on the ReadWriteWeb Blog, the mobile Internet market will be twice the size of desktop internet. Apparently Morgan Stanley bases the on analysis comparing Internet users with mobile subscribers. 

Additionally, ReadWriteWeb states that the Morgan Stanley report:

...starts out by saying that Apple's iPhone/iTouch/iTunes ecosystem "may prove to be the fastest ramping and most disruptive technology product / service launch the world has ever seen."

Growth in the Mobile Internet is being driven by 3G adoption and the increasing popularity of smartphones, of which the iPhone is the leader in terms of Web traffic. Morgan Stanley predicts that smartphones "will out-ship the global notebook + netbook market in 2010E and out-ship the global PC market (notebook + netbook + desktop) by 2012E."

These are interesting predictions by Morgan Stanley. Judging by my own internet consumption, I use my iPhone to access the web for information far more than my work Desktop or my home Tablet PC. My wife almost exclusively uses her iPhone for web content. She touches the home laptop maybe once every two weeks. It is just faster and easier to get the information we need via our iPhone's. Regardless of how the growth of mobile computing goes, it is obvious that it will be a disrupting influence for the next several years.

Loading mentions Retweet

I have mentioned the iPhone initiative at Abilene University here and here, but it was in reference to something else and not the entire initiative the University has undertaken. In the Fall of 2008 Abilene University gave each of the incoming freshman an iPhone or iPod Touch.

Loading mentions Retweet

The NY Times is reporting that Raytheon has developed software that could be used by soldiers in the field with an iPhone. The software is called One Force Tracker and can be used by the police, fireman, and emergency medical technicians. The software works like other crowdsourcing websites or apps which:

...has volunteers use cellphones to report real-time traffic flow, could be adapted to turn each soldier into a reporting unit, delivering real-time data about position and status.

Military units in the field could use the software to track the positions of other units. It would work in the same way Google Maps does with points of interest. Each point of interest could be a sniper or an enemy hideout.

Field information would be transmitted to a central computer that would crunch the data, update it and push it back out to the soldiers. “This is hypothetical, but if there is a building with known terrorist activities, it could automatically be pushed to the phone when the soldiers get near that area,” said Mr. Smart.

Live information could also be used to reduce tactical errors and friendly fire incidents. “If there was another platoon that was supposed to arrive, and they were delayed or ahead of schedule, you could adapt your plan,” said Mr. Smart. “If one of the units you are counting on is redirected, you know that in real time.”

The software could work with a new iPhone right out of the box but most likely the phones will be altered in some ways to make them battle tested. The article states that Raytheon is working on other iPhone Apps

Loading mentions Retweet