Smartphones – Microsoft & Nokia JOIN FORCES!

Two huge companies are getting into bed together to go against the NEW leaders in the smart phone arena. If these two very large companies do it right, I would think that both Apple and Google are going to have a fight on their hands… but will they – Can they?  To this point neither have shown themselves to be quick to market – Reason for them joining together!

The other questions is how long before we see product, Iphone 5 is coming, new Android O/S coming – things are changing quickly and can these players get into the game in time?  Microsoft already took too long to get into the mix, though they did bring a great product to market – one that people should be looking at as an alternative.

 

Related Articles

• Nokia and Microsoft team up to build ‘iPhone killer’ (thestar.com)
• Nokia, Microsoft to Join Forces, Shares Tumble (businessweek.com)
• Smartphone Wars: Nokia’s Rallying Cry (news.sky.com)

Junk – Can everything be JUNK! Disposible Technology

I have been saying this for years…   No one can really keep up with technology, but companies are certainly trying to force the issue with the methods they produce product today.  It’s truly sad that we have gone down this route, might be too late to turn around though.

Companies creating product that cannot be upgraded, batteries that cannot be replaced and the quality of the product just not standing up.  This includes everything from little electronics to large appliances!

Found this great article today that I wanted to share, it positions the current situation perfectly using the products of today!

That shiny new Android phone you just bought? Yeah, it’s a piece of trash. No, I’m not some Google-hating Apple fanboy. The iPhone 4 is junk, too.

So is that giant, flat-screen 3D TV and tablet you bought in the past year. It’s trash. All trash.

Of course, everything ends up broken, obsolete and unusable at some point. The trouble is, the companies that make our consumer electronics are deliberately or carelessly decreasing the useful life of our gadgets so they can sell us another one sooner 

Gadgets: Built to Not Last READ MORE

Notebook in the CLOUD – 10th Grade Students – TEAM Resource – Evernote

If you have been reading this blog you know I am user of Evernote and starting to use it more as I learn from others on just how powerful this tool can really be.

On the Evernote BLOG there was a great story about how a TEACHER introduced Evernote to her students for a specific project and they love it and have started educating other students as they all feel it’s a great tool.

Why I chose Evernote

I felt Evernote would be a perfect solution for the students’ need to archive and organize traditional and non-traditional sources of information. In addition to the more common features, Evernote offered some specific ones that made it the perfect tool for what we would be using it for. These included:

• Handwritten notes – Students could take handwritten notes if they preferred and still add them to their research by scanning or taking a snapshot.
• Flexibility – Students could use Evernote on their smartphones with apps available for iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android, as well as at home using any computer they had access to.
• Sharing – Students could make their notebooks public and import the RSS feed into Google Reader, iGoogle, or Netvibes.
• Email – The unique email address every user gets is very useful for adding things to your account from different places.

FULL ARTICLE –

How my students started using Evernote – Education Series 

Smartphone – Windows Phone 7 – Couple days later!

I love the media – really! 

They love to have headlines to attract readers and most of the headlines today are negative on the sales to date of Microsoft Phone 7.  Some of the numbers being mentioned is only 40K units sold to date – that would be North America (US & Canada).

I believe the uptake will be slower today

1) The market is a much different world then when the iPhone was announced

2) Since the iPhone many other manufactures have come to market, so a lot of the early adopters have already invested in a phone with a contract period

3) Economically there is a huge difference, the world has gone through some difficult times the last year or so and most are still be very careful.

When you put all these things together, the growth of Windows Phone 7 will be one that grows over time.  They have a wonderful product with some really cool features you don’t find on anything today.  There application store is growing daily, but it will take time to build quality titles.

Just give it time!

Related Articles

• Report: 40,000 Windows Phone 7 devices sold (news.cnet.com)
• Why Windows Phone 7’s first day sales numbers don’t matter (venturebeat.com)
• Are You In Line For A Windows 7 Phone? (MSFT, T) (businessinsider.com)
• Windows Phone 7 Success Tied to a Million in Sales (CIO)

Windows Phone 7 REVIEWS – Something to watch!

Though this is not specific to the K12 arena – I thought alot of Tech people might find value in this information.

I believe this review was done wonderfully, he touched on almost everything and seemed to be very open.

I loved this piece about iPhone and kids –

Notifications — that is, alerts that pop up to tell you whats going on in various places around the device, such as when you get a text or an IM — are something that everyone in the mobile world does differently. Android does it quite gloriously, with a pull down drawer that hangs out on top of the screen, storing all of your recent notifications for one-click access to their respective applications.

The iPhone, on the other hand, alerts you much in the way a child would: it runs into the room, shouts what it has to say (by throwing an alert window at you, thereby interrupting whatever you’re doing), and then runs off to do something else and pretty much forgets it ever said anything.

Windows Phone 7′s notification system is somewhere between the two. Notifications pop up at the top of the screen, appearing where the status bar usually sits. Tap the notification, and you’ll jump to the app that pushed it. It won’t pause or otherwise interrupt what you’re doing — but it also doesn’t let you manage recent notifications that you didn’t address as they came in. It’s cleaner than the iPhone’s seemingly tacked-on system, but not nearly as handy as Android’s drawer.  MobileCrunch Full Article

If you have the time you should review the comments, you learn almost as much from those as you do the article itself. As I was reading I thought the same as many of the people making the comments – the NEGATIVE items are either coming or really just doesn’t matter to the typical smartphone user.

Another review that is not bad, but he forgets to mention that the things missing either will be coming very soon, or for most users it just doesn’t matter just like above…. CIO REVIEW

Tablets are COMING – look out!

Rumours have been going wild from everyone about what product is going to go up against Apple and the iPad.  They are starting to arrive and I bet there will be many more for the Christmas session.  It’s going to get very confusing very quickly – Android 2.2 or 3.0 in the new year – Palm O/S – WIN7  and RIM with QNX.  You are going to see lots of options with Android as any manufacture can use this.  Palm O/S you will only see HP most likely, but HP will have and does have a WIN7 versions.  Others will also be using WIN7 and QNX will be only on RIM offering.

One of the key features most if not all of these products will be a USB Ports and Flash support.   Memory I believe will be key and one of the limiting factors with the iPad, what are people doing with these – reading and listening to books – Picture slide shows – what do these things use a lot of – MEMORY. 

Samsung Galaxy Tab – Android 2.2 7″

RIM – BlackPad – QNX  – 7″ – Might be announced next week

Viewsonic ViewPad 100 – 10″ WIN7 Atom N455

Just to mention a few, this market will be changing and I see too many options – key to success is the backend, the applications and ease of use.