I wrote this post 11/10/06 8:28 AM. Now there are new thoughts on my mind about the use of iPod for product training.
iPod, podcasting, audio from a little whit box you carry with you. The headpset is a superb user interface for the person in the move.
We can listen to music and talkshows created by artists and ordinary people everywhere.
In the Car
On the Street
While in the Gym
Jogging in the woods
Rowing on the river
Cycling on the track
Dish washing at home
At work to get attuned
At home spending your time
To get into mood with the music you like
Listen to your teacher, professor, adviser, mentor and seminar speaker
User manuals on an iPod
Internal training and communication
One company bought and distributed 2 500 iPods for in-house learning
There it was: the example, the company that delivered 2 500 iPods for employees to listen to corporate strategy, services and product information. This type of information distribution is still valid.
We had some time to experiment with podcast production with a small mobile Creative MP3 player 11/27/06. That was one and a half year ago.
In the podcast Doinita, Ferran and Helge are talking about education and research. I like to point out that this and the previous recording from Helsinki IST 2006 are experiments with very small and low-cost devices.
We wanted to experiment and explore how we could create time and location shifted content that could be expanded into various learning processes to support people on the move.
Distance learning of truck drivers who on the road
University professors podcasting lectures to their students and they can listen while they are on the bus or exercising
Distance learning of people downloading MP3's at Internet Cafés
Low-cost MP3 players / recorders are now (2006) available to prices starting at 30 euro
On-demand, time and location shifting, low-cost eLearning
We also discussed, how mobile phones / devices could be used for education. Our example is all about how to apply existing low-cost tools; no need to create massive eLearning portals. New tools and technologies can be used to do things with small budgets. There are unlimited possibilities.
An US based company delivered 2 500 iPods for its work force. The idea being that employees can listen to corporate training and product information while driving to work or returning back home. The mobile workers, sales personnel and customer support people are trained while on the road. Employees can also create own podcasts and send them back as feedback.
What do you think? What more could be done? In smart phones we also have cameras and the possibility to respond with SMS and MMS. eLearning to the masses is soon available to the common man / woman as the information can be carried in the pocket.
I did record the complete workshop and there is a lot of material to be edited. The distance of the MP3 recorder to the speakers was quite long and the quality isn't very good. I'm not yet sure if it's worth wile to publish the material. I might just take out some of the sections and produce a podcast mash-up. Let's see what it soudns like. But that will be available later this week.
A better voice quality can be achieved with digital stereo recorders with a price tag of 500 euros, but our experiment underlines the possibilities given to innovative teachers and educators who just want to use very low-cost devices. The editing can be made by Free programs that can be downloaded from the Internet. I use Audacity.
Terveisin, Best Regards, Med Vänliga Hälsningar, Mit Freundlichen Grüßen, A Bientot,
This is one of the earliest podcasts I have made. The recording and editing took place November 11, 2005. The language I speak is Finnish. The Podcast is about Visual Radio or the application for Mobile TV channels in Finland. My podcasting has been very sporadic. It takes some effort to get started and the editing takes some time. But podcasting is fun. I ought to do it more in the future.
cubicgarden.com...: "Its been a really busy week and I've still not quite got around to blogging most of it but I did want to say (quickly) that the Videos for the Women in Games Mixer videos (part 1 and part 2) are now up on BlipTV. As usual unedited and under a creative commons licence, so you can edit the best bits if you like. Nothing to stimulating but interesting. Good work Thayer."
The blogging culture isn't very old. I did start early. Blogging is still a minority hobby in Finland and those who use Twitter, Jaiku, Facebook and other Web 2.0 and social media tools is even smaller. The short form SMS twitters and jaikus are a great way to communicate with the world. Podcasts are very useful but take more time to produce.
I am a big fan of Doc’s and the things he says. Heck, I’ve listened to and internalized so much of what he’s said, I’m sure a lot of what I write here is merely channeling Docisms.
Doc also taught me to look out of the window when I fly. Because he takes incredible photographs out of the windows of airplanes, I look forward to his travels because — in “where’s Waldo fashion” — I can’t wait to see what geologic formation or natural phenomena he’ll record: I can recall photos of mud-slides, forest fires and, just recently, an awesome display of the Aurora Borealis.
I think Doc Searls sees lots of things the rest of us don’t because he looks while others don’t think to. His depth of curiosity is, fortunately, balanced by his gift for analysis and the ability to write in such a way as to convey perceptive — sometimes even radical — ideas in a provocative (but respectful and professional), non-technical and entertaining fashion"
Micro Persuasion. Steve Rubel on how technology is revolutionizing PR and marketing.
Steven Rubel blogs about PR and marketing. This posting caught my attention. "Rocketboom, the pioneering video blog, although quite successful is realizing that advertising alone won't sustain its future growth. According to a Marketwatch report by Frank Barnako, Rocketboom's Andrew Baron is exploring other revenue streams, including potentially charging for shows. Further, he views the show as a loss leader that is driving demand for other services like consulting. Baron is producing John Edwards' video blog.
Advertisers want eyeballs and millions of impressions. The startup sites - even the successful ones - can't deliver so they need to explore alternative streams. Video is hardest hit here because it's more expensive to operate.
I've said it before [Steven Rubel], "If you're a Web 2.0 site counting on advertising as your sole source of revenue, don't do it. Advertising is very cyclical. Yes, your overhead is low, but you might be ahead of the curve. The marketer's way of thinking hasn't shifted yet."
So if Rocketboom is facing these issues, what about Podtech and Podshow? Could a shakeout be in the works?
I need this link to remember what kind of portable digital recorders there are on the market. I was looking at Edirol as a possible addition to my Web 2.0 toolbox.
Robert and I have talked about changing the Horse Power Podcast from audio to video. Currently, we record the podcast on an Edirol 4-channel portable recorder with an internal hard drive. It mixes up to four mics into one track. Yesterday, I went out and bought a Sony DCR-SR80 hard drive based video camera (I say “I,” but Twelve Horses paid for it). We also purchased a directional shotgun mic for it for better sound quality.
The camera is pretty sweet. Every time you hit record, it creates a separate MPEG-2 file on the hard drive. When you connect it to your computer, it shows up like an external hard drive. You can simply drag the clips you want from the camera to the computer. It’s very similar to shooting video on most digital still camera. Last night, I shot a 43 second clip of my kids, dragged it to my desktop, and then uploaded it directly to YouTube. What could be easier?
I've to get back to this blogger and ask for advice.
This is for people who care about communication. Podcasting can be used for internal communciation. Audio isn't new but podcasting is only two years old. The possibility to subscribe and listen to podcasts with portable tools is a great feature making podcasts popular as a corporate communication tool.
Communicate with your sales reps distributed around the country or the globe
According to a new Forrester research study, just 1% of online households in North America regularly download and listen to podcasts. That's not a very big deal. I do see a potential for podcasts. The time will come when we can use our mobile phones to download big audio files and then podcast listening will increase.
This is a long post. I've been digging into modern mobile phone applications and new trends. The street smart smart phones will soon be showing multiple mobile TV channels. We're going to receive more entertainment than we ever can consume.
Podcasters and mobile video casters will soon start to produce and distribute content while on the move. Celebrities and politicians will be the targets of massive armies of citizen journalists. Mobile applications will be moving fast into new smarter application areas while the lifespan of mobile gadgets is soon down to 6-12-24 months, compared to 3-4 years for a portable computer.
iTunes is offering movies on a 640 x 480 display. DVD 720 x 640? Have to check it. Did I get the numbers right. My experience is based on what I've seen. The Mobile device for watching movies is quite interesting. The user interface works with a touchscreen pen.
The presentation wasn't not the ideal way to show a video on iTune, but I was able to grasp the idea. Current UMPCs run around 900 MHz to 1GHz processors and have integrated graphics with shared video memory.
iTunes and UMPC Kevin C Tofel:
40 Gb to download movies, music, podcasts
iTunesUMBC story
Some interesting eye candy was deliverd
The presentation did show how to go to search the movies from an Internet site
Various movie posters were shown in a 3D gallery on the Internet page
Scrolling the movies highlighted the one you wanted to select for downloading
I did see how the movie was downloaded and how much time was used
2 h 11 minutes of movie took over 1 h of 20 minutes to download over ADSL. Maybe the server was quite busy. With a faster connection the download to the UMPC would be faster
You could select chapters, read them just like dvd-chapters
Watching in actual size, turn the volume down, playback is very good UMBC has been made to provide portability, it's not a high-definition tv like 800 x 680 (or is it 480) have to check this out
iTunes I can re-size it, Dolby surround size, a quite good sound without headphones
"I wish you would have shown us the full screen of the video, but still, it's good." Was a comment to the presentation.
Mobile marketing. Mobile youth on marketing interview in UK. "They text you all the time," a teenager told. A nice video is appreciated. New phones makes mms possible. The mobile youth opinion on marketing analyzed how text messages and pictures were sent to teenage target groups. They get sms and mmsdelivered to their phones. "The ads load all the time. Night clubs. Stuff of bills. Where to go. All kinds of invitations." One of the youths told.
Are the advertisers really harming people with the mobile phones? The ads just keep popping up. Mobile storytelling is becoming a new thing in evolution. What does it mean for you? me? us? consumers? What can mobile digital storytelling be used for? What kind of business models can we figure out around digital storytelling?
There is a continuous search for new high-profile applications that will appeal to various target groups and especially to the younger generation.
Ads should / could be classified
Tele-medicine reports delivered over your mobile phone
The mobility as a life saver in case of an accident promises new possibilities
"I'm ok," information to folks at home in case of accident
Teenagers watch: Where are you now? Is everything OK?
I try to put many pieces together. Radio online. Podcasting. Mobile TV. Gaming. Multimedia. They do already have mobile TV and entertainment online in UK. Imagine what the life was without the present mobile phone. Bluetooth will add something? The phone can be connected more easily to devices. Visual Radio is a project initiated by a Nokia ecosystem and I guess after some digital rights discussions about compensations to artists this service will be implemented. The mobile TV is just around the corner.
I rush into a new situation. This is a journey into digital lifestyle. I don't know what they are doing. The youngsters walk around in a mall and make a low-quality mobile movie and plan to publish it on YouTube. The calendar is set. Their timing is excellent. They talk to strangers. It won't be a box-office hit, but it's an example of cool things today's teenagers can do with their mobile phones while on the move. It's probably okay for a small target group. Shaky picture. There's isn't an attempt to make an intelligent statement. It's enough that it's cool to make and fun to watch. The viewers will be family and friends. Or maybe the whole world. Sharing is an important aspect. Did someone say party? Alright. Young people coming together, having fun, recording, laughing, joking, telling stories. That's it. It's a toy. But it can be used for business and other more serious applications as well. Documenting accidents.
I also dig into a talk about Telecom TV. "It's a pleasure to chat with you." Says the moderator and the story begins: "The big new thing is mobile content." I learn about Executive reports. Very small phones. The carriers are offering new pricing models.
Continuation of mass-market growth in India, China and Southeast Asia
Developed markets are getting much more segmented services
The rise of the youth market has great potentials
New models are available to appeal to
gaming
video
audio
music
social networking
picture messaging
entertainment on the move
choosoo??
digital database
China and India are growing markets. The rise of the new economies means that a lot of mobile phones will be sold to China, India, Southeast Asian countries in the coming years. A rising tide of micro entrepreneurs is adding to the need for smart mobile phones in those areas too. The ability to run their business on the move is very important. The mobile phone can be used as a download tool in Internet Cafés.
Intelligent segmentation has also brought new phone users. There are mobile Symbian phones destined for the sporty persons. Another interesting segment is the phones for elderly where the camera can be used to magnify a part of the menu in a restaurant. Elderly people get devices that can make their every day life easier. A lot of innovations have been made over Symbian platforms, but they haven't been advertised much. They would earn to be more talked about.
The service providers are catching up
More and more discussions going on
Now there are early users / adopters
3D doctor application that measures blood pressure
The phone then takes the information to a online doctor
The aspiration for seamless connection. Mobile devices can be used everywhere:
Mobile TV
What is happening in the east? Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hongkong, China?
There are 2 million digital TV watchers in Japan (DoCoMo)
NTT Docomo is launching three new Symbian handsets
What kind of content do we see in the future on mobile devices?
Broadcast TV, also reporting TV programs
Flickr, Photostream, podcasting
The wild west of the web is not yet on the mobile devices
How to introduce multimedia environment is an evolutionary process
Third party applications will spread the mobile application range
There are still vast underexploited areas to be covered
Laptop doesn't have a location
You can report with your mobile while wandering down the road
Mobiles will be exploited in a very different way
What are the issues not yet taken in consideration
Flash and mobile space
Flash
Same kind of transition
Flash is a great technology also for mobile phones
The user experience has to be made affective and interesting
The user experience has a great role in mobile space
It's a growth area
Browser plug-ins
S-60 browser, Flash-light will be available
Lacks some of the functionalities that Flash has
Lack for support of the video
Emerge into the same devices
Use the graphical strenghts of Flash
Gizmodo. Samsung Q1. TV. Antenna. Full screen, change the screen resolution. CF-card, USB, power, the ccapabilities of that. It's going to be a mass market. Where can I find interesting websites? Do you want to share?
Opera is the browser that will be used
The device has positional values. We need to
Simplicity to identify
Personal configuration.
Websites can / should / would be marked as mobile friendly:
Technical solutions still needed
What's the best way to do it?
Opera will be used as browser in mobile devices
Automatically formatted for mobile viewing
How to make mobile even more successful
Can we get a microphone for better audiorecording(podcasting)
Lauri Tirkkonen at Nokia explains
Why mobile users don't use data services?
2 % at present
They have to promote these mobile places. Mobile friendly sites are available but we still don't know where they are. There is much more publicity needed.
ICANN the master of Internet
We have a special permission...
Provide a great user experience
Highlight games: it's one of the ways contents is used
Games communities
Chats with mobile phones
The kids at schools are the trend setters
That ought to be a success
Push a rich gaming platform
It's happening already
User generated is very important!
Focused devices to various user groups
I'm not too educated about it yet
Communities and games will be very important
Stand-alone games
Social mobile services already exists
Legal music downloads
We are going to see a change
Content devices
4,5 h video play downs are needed not 30 minutes
New generation of devices are able to do that already
It's already been used
Videocapture
Social mobile games
The X-box communities
The mobile is super nice. I like to have some fun with my mobile. Watching entertainment while on the move. Teenagers tell again that there is too much advertising on Internet"I like the iPod ones. Where they show the chocolate ads...Animation of photos, I can't remember. The orange is very good. Loads of music with the ads would be appreciated. Such things attracts you to the phones. I don't know about the techie things. I got them on my MP3 player. Like to watch or listen while on bus or on train."
When would you watch mobile TV? "If I'm out and missing a TV program." It would be great to get the show on my mobile.
40-50 services
convergences are happening
networks, IPTV, 3G and other networks
How can we be deliver more
DVB-H
Multichannel TV
Cellular capability
Internet
Oxford Trial 16 channels of television
Users expanding their mobile usage to more than 3 hours a week
The surprise: most are doing it at home, the project didn't expect that
The home is a much stronger viewing place than expected
There is a mobile TV trial operating in Spain
The Olympics in China will bring mobile TV
The rights of content, choices of content have to be broad
The individual on the move wants to watch, view and communicate
150 companies offering content
Italy, Spain, Germany
The content community is very keen
We need to address that market that clearly exists today
Talking with telecoms
The information comes from Barcelona
Cherry source
There is a proven demand and we need to be delivering to that demand
The content producers are bring that opportunity
Do you have to deal through operators?
There are direct to consumers portals
The industry has developed a lot during the past two years
Access control and age verification. We need to limit access to certain content
Content brings a revenue model to screen viewing
What they search for has to be provided
Operators own the consumers
Where do you source the content?
Aggregating from ad production companies
Slow to download content doesn't work so well
Now producers are shooting specifically for mobiles
Filming is taking in consideration the limitations of the screen
2 minutes clips, these are the restricting elements
Poor end-user experience
Do they resent you?
Are you down there?
Mobile entertainment
They want a third partner aggregating on their behalf
We need to have a clear business focus. The operator industry is coming together with the content providers and suppliers
Providing a pipeline
Act in a very controlled way
There is a proven demand
Build their own systems
How many messages
333 messages a day is most
600 messages inthe month as an average for some mobile sms addicted
Young woman says: "I love the mobile phone"
Another says that "Maybe my mobile phone is number one and mother comes next."
People are addicted to that
Sign up here. Go mobile. Mobile phones are everywhere
Bring us all together, communities are evolving, they are not same as on Internet
Are the devices driving usfurther apart from each other? Or where are they taking us?
More ad more ways to interact with each other with mobile and online tools
Browse the Internet
Wireless communication with Bluetooth
160 mobile messages in a month to a third person
Young people are constantly messaging
Couldn't live without it. It's my life live
UK 60 mio mobile users
TV on the move is the next big step
I love my child first and the mobile phone next
Live Television
Rather than speak we use a different language sms and mms
Predicted text helps to send sms
Children in school: short form has a bad impact on grammar
30 40 messages per day
Some use hundreds of pounds per month for sms and mms
Watching media will increase the bill
It can be seen on every public place, the addiction is evident
Speaking about seeing our partners
More dependent of mobile phones
As a society: It's gone a little too far
Shouldn't talk on the buses says older lady
Youngsters and teenagers: I can't imagine life without mobile
A big part of my life: Dependency is evident
Always hooked on to a mobile device
You don't leave home without mobile phone
Inseparable used in moderation, sometimes excessively
A weekend without a mobile phone?
I like to try. Maybe I couldn't survive without it
Podbop presented at some seminar, somewhere February 2006. I have to check out their home page to see what it's all about. "Podbop provides a simple, revolutionary way to discover concerts by matching legitimate MP3s with upcoming shows." Informs the home page. The front page has a map showing "Recently viewed Cities."
It is completely community driven, meaning anyone can list events, add MP3s, or edit existing content for free. Wikipedia style. The Old Way: Look up concerts in your town, google 100 different bands, try to track down an MP3 to see if you like them, and then decide if you want to go.
The Podbop Way: Type in a city, get events and MP3s, discover new music, and go see a show. Podbop was launched in February 2006 by Taylor McKnight and Daniel Westermann-Clark. Days later it won Best Mashup Award at Mashup Camp.
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I wrote this post 11/10/06 8:28 AM. Now there are new thoughts on my mind about the use of iPod for product training.
