iPad - Steve Job's Presentation

Apple CEO and showman extraordinaire Steve Jobs introduced Apple's new iPad tablet on January 27, 2010 in San Francisco. It was an invitation-only event, but it was captured on video and posted to the Apple Special Event site. The first half hour is pure Steve Jobs. The next hour is a series of more detailed demos on applications that already exist for the iMac, iPhone, and other Apple products that are also available on the larger device, the iPad.

PC World's review of the iPad lists five "best surprises":

• Price - lower than expected. Priced to compete with netbooks and/or eBook Readers
• Pre-paid, nocontract, unlocked G3
• External keyboard support
• iWork for iPad
• ePub support of International Digital Publishing Forum Standard for open-standards-based-format for digital books.

Another review, "Tablet Makers Rethinking Things in Wake of iPad's $499 Price" points out, among other things, that the iPad has no USB interface ports, so it is more like a larger version of the iPhone. Tricks to keep iPad price low:

• "... iPad left out some key hardware features and will instead charge users a nice markup on accessories designed to give those features back. Specifically, the lack of built-in USB ports and SD card support saved a few dollars per unit, and for a unit that will eventually sell in the tens of millions, that's real money."
• "...the classic up-sell. The company is charging considerably more for the 3G and/or more storage, with the result that buyers of the higher-end models are pitching in extra money to pay for the low-end model's discount."
• "...making up lost hardware revenues with content sales. ... Apple can afford to give away the hardware because it's taking a cut of iTunes, App Store, and iBook sales."

Federal Stimulus Fund Dollars for Public Libraries and Community Colleges

The American Library Association's Office of Information and Technology Policy (OITP) successfully advocated for more Federal Stimulus Funds for public libraries. Carrie McGuire, ALA Director, OITP Program on Networks, is to be commended.

On Friday, 1/22, Carrie hosted a "GoToWebinar" presentation for ALA members, featuring John Windhausen and Robert Bocher on "Stimulus Funds: Round 2 -- Get Connected". See archived version at http://ala.org/knowyourstimulus

John Windhausen credited ALA for upgrades to NTIA and RUS grant programs. He said that part 2 of the Stimulus Funds will have the same 3 programs as the first part:

• CCI - Comprehensive Community Infrastructure - emphasis now includes libraries as key community "anchor" entities.
• PCC - Public Computer Centers
• Sustainable broadband

Timing:
March 15 is deadline for applying for round #2; Grants will be awarded from Summer through September 30, 2010.

Scoring preference:

• Applications for programs that serve the needs of healthcare, education, children and "vulnerable populations" and unserved/underserved areas.
• Public Computer Center programs are obvious areas for libraries and community colleges, yet there is a lot of competition for this money from other community organizations.
• NEW emphasis on community colleges and training (workforce training)
• NEW emphasis on "community anchor institutions"

Priorities: (p. 12 NOFA)

• includes partnerships - govt, nonprofit, for-profit, community
• addresses economically distressed areas
• commitment to serve community colleges

Hope the end result of these grant requests and programs do what they are meant to do: provide broadband connectivity to communities and individuals who do not have access or are underserved.

Horizon Report 2010

On January 19, 2010, the Horizon Report was officially released. Each year, New Media Consortium (NMC) and Educause releases its technology trends report for Higher Education. Last year, apparently it overlooked a big trend: open (free) content!

This year, top trends are:

• Mobile computing - YR 1 or less
  
• Open Content - " " "
  
• Electronic BOoks - 2-3 YR Horizon
• Simple augmented reality - " " "
• Gesture-based computing - 4-5 YRS
• Visual Data Analysis - " " "

This is "must" reading and sharing. It is ideal for strategic planning and technology planning committees. Share it widely and discuss how the higher education tech trends will impact your institution.

LITA Top Technology Trends - ALA Midwinter 2010

Twice a year at the American Library Association conferences, Midwinter and Annual, the Library & Information Technology (LITA) Division has a panel of library technology gurus talk about top tech trends. At MidWinter in Boston this January, the panel presented a number of trends. (Missing: Clifford Lynch.)

• David Walker talked about discovery layers.
• Amanda Etches-Johnson spoke on user experience design. Amanda co-founded INFLUX, a UX design agency targeting libraries. The push toward putting content on mobile devices necessitates better UX design, in that with mobile devices developers are forced to give users the simplest access to data possible.
• Lauren Pressley talked about augmented reality, or, the blending of physical and virtual environments, as a great tool for learning or microlearning.
• Joe Murphy discussed mobile apps as a research gateway. SMS, he said, is the oldest and most popular of all the means of mobile communication, and the protocol has exploded in libraries in the past year, with services like Text a Librarian.
• Jason Griffey talked about mobile access to data in libraries.
  

Broadband Stimulous Funding - New Applications

News from the Commerce Department on Federal Broadband Grants:

Friday, January 15, 2010

Press Release: Commerce Department's NTIA and USDA's RUS Announce Availability of $4.8 Billion in Recovery Act Funding To Bring Broadband To More Americans. NTIA and RUS have released separate Notices of Funding Availability for the second and final round of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP). Hopefully, some significant dollars will benefit public libraries. ALA OTIP and others have worked hard on getting libraries and their important role in providing broadband Internet access to communities. See library-specific wording in the announcement below.

Text of press announcement:
WASHINGTON – The Commerce Department‟s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and USDA‟s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) today announced availability of $4.8 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grants and loans to expand broadband access and adoption in America. This is the second funding round for the agencies‟ broadband programs. The investment will
help bridge the technological divide, boost economic growth, and create jobs. NTIA and RUS also announced the rules for applying in this funding round, which have been modified to make the application process easier for applicants and better target program resources.

“Based on the feedback we received from stakeholders and our own experience in the first funding round, we are making the application process more user-friendly, sharpening our funding focus to make the biggest impact with this investment, and streamlining our review process to increase efficiency,” said Lawrence E. Strickling, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and Administrator of NTIA. “In response to lessons learned from the first funding round, RUS is making important changes that will make the process easier for applicants and target our resources toward „last-mile‟ broadband connections to homes and businesses,” said Jonathan Adelstein, Administrator, Rural Utilities Service, United States Department of
Agriculture. “This draws on our long experience in improving rural networks to the most difficult-to-reach areas of our country that need it most. We‟ve streamlined the application process, added support for satellite service for rural residents left unserved after other funds are awarded, and provided ourselves more flexibility to target areas of greatest need. We are going to stretch every last dime to maximize economic
development in rural areas that currently lack adequate broadband service.”

The agencies announced the rules for this funding round in two separate but complementary Notices of Funds Availability (NOFAs) that promote each agency‟s distinct objectives. NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) NTIA‟s NOFA allocates approximately $2.6 billion in this funding round of which approximately $2.35 billion will be made available for infrastructure projects. In this round, NTIA is adopting a “comprehensive communities” approach as its top priority in awarding infrastructure grants, focusing on middle mile broadband projects that connect key community anchor institutions – such as libraries, hospitals, community colleges, universities, and public safety institutions. Comprehensive Community Infrastructure projects maximize the benefits of BTOP by leveraging resources, promoting sustainable community growth, and ultimately laying the foundation for reasonably priced broadband service to consumers and businesses.
In addition, NTIA plans to award at least $150 million of the funding for Public Computer
Center projects, which will expand access to broadband service and enhance broadband capacity at public libraries, community colleges, and other institutions that service the general public. NTIA also plans to award at least $100 million for Sustainable Broadband Adoption projects, which include projects to provide broadband education, training, and equipment, particularly to vulnerable population groups where broadband technology has traditionally been underutilized.

RUS’s Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP)
RUS‟s NOFA allocates approximately $2.2 billion in this funding round for broadband infrastructure projects. A second funding window will open later which will provide grants for satellite service for premises that remain unserved after all other Recovery Act broadband funding is awarded, make Technical Assistance grants for developing plans using broadband for regional economic development, and grants to provide broadband service to rural libraries funded by USDA under the Recovery Act.

RUS will focus this round on last mile projects, which are anticipated to receive the vast majority of funding. RUS will also fund middle mile projects involving current RUS program participants. The first NOFA had two funding options – grants up to 100 percent in remote rural areas, and 50/50 loan/grant combinations in non-remote rural areas. In the second NOFA, RUS has eliminated this distinction and adopted a base 75/25 grant/loan combination for all projects. The new approach provides RUS with flexibility to seek a waiver if additional grant resources are needed for areas that are difficult to serve, and priority for those who seek lower grant levels. RUS believes this simplified and flexible funding strategy will promote rural economic
development.

Separate NOFAs will allow applicants to apply directly to either program. RUS also eliminates the two-step process for BIP applicants to improve program efficiency. These changes will also add valuable time for applicants to focus on one specific program in preparing a more solid application.

Incorporated into the RUS NOFA is an opportunity for the reconsideration of BIP requests to provide viable applications with every chance for funding. There is also a second application review process during which RUS would allow an applicant to adjust its application to better meet program objectives and for the Administrator to provide discretionary points or to increase a grant component to meet rural economic objectives.

The agencies plan to accept applications from February 16, 2010, to March 15, 2010, and announce all awards by September 30, 2010.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided a total of $7.2 billion to NTIA and RUS to fund projects that will expand access to and adoption of broadband services. Of that funding, NTIA will utilize $4.7 billion for grants to deploy broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas in the United States, expand public computer center capacity, and encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service. RUS will use $2.5 billion in budget authority to support grants and loans to facilitate broadband deployment in primarily rural communities. - # -

HARO - Help A Reporter Out

I'm experimenting with a web 2.0 tool by media/PR guru Peter Shankman. The free tool is for both reporters and sources, called Help-a-reporter-out (HARO) . As a "source" for library issues, I've registered and will get 1-3 e-mails a day. Most will be irrelevant and ignored.

How does HARO make money? According to a MoneyWatch article, HARO membership gets three emails with press queries each business day, and those emails are sponsored. Do the math: Three emails/day times five/week times fifty-two weeks/year = 780 ad placements (3 x 5 x 52). Interesting. Comments from reporters and sources alike are positive. Let the experience begin!

Education Applications for iPhone and Mobile Devices

Today, I received a request for a list of the top education apps for iPhones. Talk about tech trends -- last year's explosion of mobile apps will be nothing compared with this year's. iPhone started it all -- today, there are 100,000 iPhone apps. Other mobile devices (Blackberries, Palms, smartphones, netbooks, etc) also have mobile apps.

To some extent, I have covered library/educational mobile apps on 2CoolTools. See
- top 10 list of categories of mobile applications
- Mobile Learning
- API - applications for libraries
- Mobile devices

I didn't have a specific list of most popular education apps, but the question made me look and find some sites that review education apps:

• http://www.iear.org/iear/author/iear
• http://iphone-apps.toptenreviews.com/education/
• http://www.eduinreview.com/blog/2009/05/8-must-have-education-apps-for-iphone/
• http://www.apple.com/search/?q=education&sec=iphone (almost 5,000 education apps)
  

Decade in Data - Forbes

Forbes article on "The Decade in Data" by Oliver J. Chiang offers some 2000 vs 2009 data points for presentations and perspective:

--CONSUMER BROADBAND. Percentage of U.S. households with a broadband connection in 2000: 6.3% vs 2008: 63%

--E-MAIL: Number of e-mails sent per day in 2000: 12 billion vs. 2009: 247 billion

--MOBILE DATA: Revenues from mobile data services in the first half of 2000: $105 million vs. first half of 2009: $19.5 billion

--TEXT MESSAGES: Number of text messages sent in the U.S. per day in June 2000: 400,000 vs. June 2009: 4.5 billion

--DIGITAL CAMERAS: Percentage of U.S. households with at least one digital camera in 2000: 10% vs. 2008: 68.4%

--MP3 PLAYERS: Percentage of U.S. households with at least one MP3 player in 2000: less than 2% vs. 2008: almost 43%

--PAGES INDEXED BY GOOGLE: Number of pages indexed by Google in 2000: 1 billion vs. 2008: 1 trillion

--GOOGLE SEARCHES: Number of Google searches per day in 2001: 10 million vs. 2009: 300 million, estimated

--WIKIPEDIA ENTRIES: Number of total Wikipedia entries in 2001: 20,000 vs. Wikipedia entries in English in 2009: 3.1 million

--BLOGS: Number of blogs in 2000: less than 100,000 vs. 2008: 133 million

--COST OF HARD DISK SPACE: Amount of hard-disk space $300 could buy in 2000: 20 to 30 gigabytes vs. 2009: 2,000 gigabytes (2 terabytes)

AT&T emerging devices web site

AT&T announced an emerging devices web site for companies withing to partner with AT&T or launch a new product. According to AT&T, the site "will serve as an entry point into the emerging devices organization for consumer electronics and next generation device manufacturers interested in connecting devices to AT&T’s nationwide wireless network. The site offers a complete suite of resources to investigate the right business model, network options, product specifications, and potential customer care and distribution needs to ensure a seamless, accelerated product launch."

LibraryThing introduces Mobile App for iPhone

LATimes' book section "Jacket Copy" carried an item about LibraryThing introducing an iPhone app. LibraryThingLocal is used for mobile devices because you enter your location, such as your zipcode, and a map appears with the libraries, bookstores, fair/festival, and other book places (color coded by type). You can add your favorite bookstores and libraries, keep track of interesting events such as an upcoming author visit or your book club meetings, and connect with friends.

There is a "local members" option, which might be a way to publicize local librarians or book sellers. It does not appear to be a heavily-used option.

CES - Consumer Electronics Show 2010

Good to hear that the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was more upbeat than last year. Apple no longer does trade shows, but in anticipation of Apple's planned end-of-January announcement, lots of vendors showcased tablet PCs. Top three products that got media attention were tablets and netbooks, 3D TVs, and e-book readers. See Wildstom's summary and LATimes item on e-book Readers. See FLICKR slideshow for a glimpse at all the gadgets, games, and guys (99% male audience). CNET editors announced its "Best of CES" (Panasonic 3D plasma TV and Intel Wireless). Local California company Sling Media made some big announcements -- Slingbox is a TV streaming device that allows consumers watch their home TV from all sorts of devices, from anywhere.

CES reported its 2010 Top Trends:

1. Year of the App - 2009 was only the beginning!
2. iPhone vs Palm - 2010 will see more mobile announcements
   
3. Green is the new black - Sustainable planet
4. Software - Windows 7
   

Education products and applications were addressed in several forums, including "Living in Digital Times"and HigherEd Tech Summit, but the news media focused mostly on consumer gadgets.

Scribblar -- fun with a friend

Scribblar basic is a free and easy whiteboard. It requires no sign-up and lets you take a snapshot of the page. Kids of all ages should find this fun and useful. It allows audio, so no phone call is necessary. I experimented using my netbook, which is handy but not as good as a full screen.

CNET 2010 Top 5 Predictions

Here is CNET's 2010 top five technology product predictions:

Social Media - A Force for Good (video)

Marin, CA Teacher Librarian Tom Kaun recommended a panel discussion on "Social Media as a Force for Good" with Twitter and LinkedIn founders and UK author/activist Stephen Fry. It was well worth the time (1.5 hours).

Stephen Fry said he got the most joy from Twitter about a year or so ago when he decided to use Twitter as "verbal post cards" for a trip to Africa to do a story on Rhinos. He suddenly got thousands of followers and started to realize the power and potential of Twitter. He also pointed out that humans are emotional creatures and need to communicate. Writing -- even on Twitter -- is a literary form. Twitter is an instrument of free speech.

Biz Stone (CEO/Founder, Twitter) said early on he saw how Twitter was used for "Tweet-ups" (like "meet-ups") to organize events or meetings. People in a conference session would tweet that a different session was more interesting, and lots of people like a flock of birds would leave the first session to go to the better session. Similar use of "Tweet-ups" for raising money for a charity, to do good. Biz said Twitter was created to do good.

Biz also said Twitter was created with mobile devices in mind, and mobile devices are growing way faster than desktop computers. Re: Twitter as news media -- it is good for breaking news, but journalists are better for putting news in context.

LinkedIn's Reed Hoffman, in commenting about social media trends, said "you haven't seen anything yet." "Web 2.0 is power to the people, a '60's expression." Social networking sites are platforms upon which other sites are built ("platforms" rather than "features" on a site.)

source: http://www.stephenfry.com/2009/11/19/social-media-force-for-good/