Rockit… Gameshows in Second Life

By Liz on August 16th, 2007

If you can’t get enough of who wants to be a millionaire in your first life be a part of Rockit in your second life. A veteran Australian Second Lifer started a trivia competition Rockit which was a blaring success last week. Two teams were picked out of the audience and then with numerous rounds of audio, visual and text questions we had a winner. its amazing to see how close and supportive the Australian community is in Second Life… check out SLOZ.org.au for more details

Flaws of Facebook (and we thought they didn’t have any)

By Liz on August 16th, 2007

Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace have become part of the daily routine for millions of Internet users who connect with friends, share photos, and reach out to other people with similar interests. The popularity of social networks has resulted in an unfortunate byproduct, however: the mushrooming number of requests that come from dozens of these sites.

While not quite spam, the steady stream of requests for Facebook friends, LinkedIn connections, Dopplr travellers, or Plaxo contact updates, highlights the lack of interoperability between social network sites and significantly undermines their usefulness.

The interoperability issue is likely to become more prominent in the months ahead as hundreds of specialty social networking sites — covering virtually every area of interest from dogs to cooking — jostle for new users. In fact, services such as Ning now enable anyone to create their own social network site.

The result is that Internet users are repeatedly required to re-enter their personal information for each new network they join and find that each network is effectively a “walled garden,” where the benefits of the network are artificially limited by the inability to link a friend in Facebook with one in MySpace.

Friend me, Uruguay

These limitations are particularly striking when viewed from a global perspective. While Facebook is a leader in Canada (as well as in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Norway), nearly a dozen other sites hold leadership positions in other countries. These include:

• MySpace (United States, Australia, Mexico, and Italy)
• Bebo (Ireland and New Zealand)
• Cyworld (South Korea)
• Friendster (Indonesia, Philippines, and Singapore)
• Fotolog (Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay)
• Hi5 (Colombia, Ecuador, and Thailand)
• Mixi (Japan)
• Orkut (Brazil, India, and Paraguay)
• Skyblog (France, Belgium, Senegal)
• Studiverzeichnis (Germany, Austria)
• Vkontakte (Russia)

The result is that social networking sites are far more “local” than is often appreciated. Unlike the global Internet, which enables virtually the entire world to connect, social networks have created very large, localized communities with far more limited international interaction.

Doctor interoperable

The obvious solution is to facilitate greater interoperability between social networking sites, thereby enabling users to better control their personal information and reduce the need for duplication, while simultaneously enhancing the value of all social networks by removing the current barriers. This suggestion is not new — experts began commenting on the desirability of open social networks years ago — yet there are reasons to believe that the opportunity for greater interoperability may have finally arrived.

First, the focus on the benefits of interoperability cut across a wide range of technological issues, including recent calls for interoperable wireless networks and the music industry’s recognition of the need to offer downloads that operate with all music players. Moreover, the frustrations associated with the initial lack of instant messaging interoperability serves as an important reminder of how the issue resonates with consumers.

Second, there are signs that the social networking industry recognizes the value of openness. Facebook moved toward an open platform for software developers this spring, enabling third party developers to bring thousands of new Facebook applications to market. Similarly, Plaxo recently launched a service called Pulse, a social networking aggregator that works with many popular sites.

Third, there is mounting interest in developing open standards for social networks that would facilitate greater interoperability. For example, the Liberty Alliance and Project Higgins are two privacy-focused identity management initiatives that claim to provide users with the ability to manage their personal information across social networks in a secure and trusted manner.

Talk to the hand

The irony of the current generation of online social networks is that although their premise is leveraging the Internet to connect people, their own lack of interconnectedness is stifling their potential.

Some services may believe that it is in their economic interest to stick to a walled garden approach; however, given the global divisions within the social networking world, the mix of language, user preferences, and network effects, it is unlikely that one or two services will capture the global marketplace. The better approach — for users and the sites themselves — would be to work toward a world of interoperable social networking.

Tyree.ca

Richard Hames’ New Book - The Five Literacies of Global Leadership

By Liz on May 21st, 2007

Last week went to see Richard Hames speak about his new book it was really good and here is what i learnt:

There are 4 enablers which are connected to the 5 literacies (proficiencies)  to being an effective leader:

4 enablers:

• Adaptive receptiveness (open mindedness) – teachers > learners (tangible)
• Ability to re-invent one’s self (constant searching) – can change what they know/ who they are to better one’s self
• Vigilant responsiveness (constant awareness) – opportunities/ explore/ risky – take advantage of opportunities when they arise
• Appreciative reciprocity (giving back) – how can this benefit everyone – grows value

5 literacy’s

• Networked intelligence (networks of networks) – using weak links making global networks
• Literacy of futuring (strategic foresight)
• Strategic navigation (adaptive management of where we need to go)
• Ecological design (environmentally sustainable)
• Brand resonance (understanding their role in the world and fitting their ideas inside it)

Thought Controlled Video Games

By Liz on May 4th, 2007

Neurosky has just released their prototyped mind reading game controller. That’s right… with focused thought the user can effectively control movements and game play actions. There is a mask which below it has sensors that touches the user’s forehead and reads the brain’s electrical signals which sends them wirelessly to a receiver which lights up when you are concentrating. Engineers at NeuroSky Inc. have big plans for brain wave-reading toys and video games. They say the simple Darth Vader game — a relatively crude biofeedback device cloaked in gimmicky garb — portends the coming of more sophisticated devices that could revolutionize the way people play. Imagine the other implications of this in medicine and anywhere…

Solar Phone Charger

By Liz on May 4th, 2007

You no longer can use the excuse that my phone died with the creation of Solio. With Solio, you could charge almost all of your portable handheld electronics using just sunlight. Solio Charges mobile phones, Ipod, PDAs and even your Digital camera. It comes with an internal battery that you can pre-charge for use later. A fully charged Solio will charge an average mobile phone completely at least once, and while charging an iPod directly under the sun, One hour of sunlight will give one hour of playtime.  Solio comes in White, Silver, Black, Pink, so you have no excuses for not being contactable…

Virtual Land Law Suit

By Liz on May 4th, 2007

Interactivity - The New Phase of Advertising

By Liz on May 4th, 2007

Nokia has launched a new series of interactive touch screen bus stop advertisements. The touch screen advertisements launched around London to promote Nokia n95 phone. “Nokia’s latest campaign for the high-end N95 features touch screen games built into the advertising hoardings at London bus stops. It’s a version of the old tile matching game where you flip tiles and attempt to make a pair”. It shows the idea that awareness is grown by interacting with your consumer. What could this mean for tradition advertising?

Jim Carroll’s Top Ten Trends

By Liz on April 26th, 2007

i found these new trends interesting and here they are:

10 Long Term Trends of Real Substance

The level of hype right now with “social networking” and technology is getting a bit out of hand. It’s a little bit like 1999 all over again! While what’s happening right now is important, it’s more fun to think about some of the things that are happening on a 15-20 year horizon. Big change is everywhere, and most people miss the big transformations while they are underway. Here’s my list of some of the trends we should really be watching.

• rapid movers start to predominate: some of today’s XBox/Wii players are going to be CEO’s of big companies within 15-20 years. The high-velocity economy is just starting to take off. Just wait until the Gen-Connect starts to run things.
• everything is gaining intelligence: chips and connectivity are immersing themselves into everday, ordinary things, and you likely aren’t even noticing. Hyperconnectivity changes everything: bioconnectivity and device-intelligence are the things to watch.
• volatility is the new normal: increasing connectivity increases the likelihood of cascading failures. Risk management is becoming more important, and more complex. Fewer organizations pay serious attention to the complexity of risk, leading to greater potential for short, sharp economic shocks.
• boredom increasingly drives markets: people can’t stop fidgeting with their cell phones long enough to pay attention to anything. Clarity of value is critical, creativity is crucial, engagement is the next brand foundation.
• transformational change is everywhere: there are lots of people dying to mess up the fundamentals in almost every industry, and they aren’t your competitors. Industry blurring will continue unabated, as rebellion against established business models becomes the norm; think GoogleCar, not Toyota. Flexibility with change is critical.
• the bar of expectations continues to increase: you have to innovate to keep up with the expectations of your customer, partners and suppliers, or you don’t survive. An increasing number of brands will expire and become something from “the olden days,” simply because their organizations lack the ability to innovate.
• the “created in China” phase comes next: half the population is under the age of 25. They’re wired, highly collaborative, and have tasted the early stages of economic success. Innovation is thriving - forget manufacturing, think design.
• big trends rule. Over 20 years, health care transitions from prevention to detection; ethanol moves from distillation to production; manufacturing goes from production to fabbing. There are big, sweeping industrial changes underway, and it has nothing to do with the current hype around “social networking,” et al.
• knowledge and discovery exponentiates: the new global-mind generates new knowledge at furious rates. We’re going from 19 million known chemical substances today, to 80 million by 2025, and 5 billion by 2100. Any new substance can lead to the emergence of a billion dollar market. Discovery rules, time-to-market defines.
• experiential capital dominates over financial capital: over a 20 year span, it’s the depth of experience that counts; the agility to respond to rapid change that will define the success or death of an organization. Money thrown at innovation doesn’t work; the knowledge that comes from trying things out, and learning from the experience, leads to greater innovation success.

These are all things I’ve written about on this blog over time. The trends are all quite simple to understand, surround us today, and are breathtaking in scope.

Written by  Jim Carroll

Verizon’s Innovative Teaching Techniques

By Liz on April 20th, 2007

The teacher may never have to fully leave the classroom again thanks to new technologies from Verizon. On April 3 this year Dr Tim Warren paused his trip up Mount Everest using these technologies to give a brief 15 minute lesson to primary school students across the US.

An estimated 400 students from all over the US will tune in for the innovative lecture. Students from Warwick’s Park Elementary School will be able to interact with him through the system. The question and answer session will be broadcast live online. He will use the opportunity to explain Verizon’s FiOS technology before talking about his experiences including base camp activities and details of the climb itself.

In addition to the webcast, Warren will be blogging on his site, www.drtimwarren.com and replying to student e-mails using Verizon’s internet technologies.

How will this effect a teachers job when take their students with them virtually? No more need for paid holidays? Or no more need for a teacher to be in the classroom?

Apple TV - Revolutionising Your Digital Media Experience

By Liz on April 20th, 2007

Sick of downloading the newest movies from iTunes and then sitting around your computer watching it? Well… Apple have now developed Apple TV (released earlier this week), which allows you to download movies and shows from the net, sync them to your mac OR PC and then watch everything on your TV.  From $299 you can now watch movies, TV shows, movie trailers, podcasts and photos from your computer on your TV.

Apple TV connects to your TV via an HDMI port and its built-in, superfast 802.11 wireless capability syncs your iTunes library to any Mac or PC in the house. Best of all, what’s on Apple TV stays in sync: Anytime you change your library in iTunes, it changes on Apple TV — wirelessly, automatically. That now changes the way you watch digital media. Apple TV puts your iTunes library — movies, TV shows, music, and podcasts — plus movie trailers from Apple.com on your TV. And your digital photos from iPhoto on a Mac or Adobe Photoshop Elements or Adobe Album on a Windows PC appear in high definition, so you can put on a stunning big-screen slideshow.