Don’t get me started…

Anyway with a month of using the iPhone, I’ve had one lasting annoyance and that’s synching my calendar information with Google Calendar.

I plunked down $20 and picked up Spanning Sync to sync calendars between Google and my Mac. If you’re a Mac user and you normally use Google Calendar to expose your calendaring information from “the cloud,” it’s worth the $20 for the lack of drama.

It just works. The Google CalDAV deal is great from iCal by itself, but you can’t write from the iPhone using only Google’s CalDAV exposure.

I’ve been using the iPhone like a fiend for organizing my consulting, work and home stuff, so after the 15-day free trial period, I bought it. Spanning Sync usually costs $25/year, but you can save $5 by using my discount code if you decide to buy it:

DYHBSH

In full disclosure, if you use my code I’ll get a $5 referral fee from Spanning Sync. Once you’re a subscriber you’ll get a code of your own so you can make money every time one of your other friends subscribes to Spanning Sync.

Every time I synch the iPhone to the Mac, it syncs with iCal. iCal synchs flawlessly with Google. In version 2.0 (coming soon, I read), they’ll also be able to synch contacts — again it should be no fuss.

More on LETSI and SCORM 2.0 coming next week.

Technorati Tags: iphone, ical, google calendar, spanning sync

From the site:

“Enkin” introduces a new handheld navigation concept. It displays location-based content in a unique way that bridges the gap between reality and classic map-like representations. It combines GPS, orientation sensors, 3D graphics, live video, several web services, and a novel user interface into an intuitive and light navigation system for mobile devices. Check out our web page enkin.net.

Charles Stross’ novel, Halting State is an interesting mystery/thriller recommended to me by Rovy Brannon back at Learning 2007, and the major technological device it employs is a world about 4 years away now where the phone is THE pre-eminent device that connects us to the internet. Bounded with glasses, the book shares an impressive vision of how Augmented Reality works in the context of gaming, commerce, recreation, work, productivity — everything.

Enkin looks a LOT like a predecessor to the vision Stross described.

Or maybe not.

For weeks, arguably months depending on how connected you are to technology and gadget news, there’s been this rumbling that Google was coming alone with a phone of their own, and that it was going to be a competitor to Windows Mobile.

And for the most part… what they’re doing is. They’re developing with a bunch of partners on the service provider side and the hardware side… they’re developing a competitive OS platform for phones. Except that it’s not only competing with Windows Mobile, which even to my Microsoft-bashing-self is remarkably solid, if unexciting. It’s also going to compete with Symbian, which is what Motorola uses for the most part. So sure… it’d be nice to have a tighter integration on a mobile platform with all my Google apps, like Gmail, Maps, Calendar, Documents, YouTube… but, uh…. so what?

The rumors were talking about free phones with unlimited text messaging on a wireless spectrum that Google would own and just kinda… give… away, provided you agreed to get the trademarked unobtrusive advertising on the phone. So basically, everyone in the world could get hold of a mobile device that would work just about everywhere with ultra-high-speed access to the Internet. And you could access youtube and whatever else you wanted.

And for us in the content development business, even the sliver of us that do learning, education and training content — that meant that you’d have a ubiquitous default device that you could develop for as its own platform. And how cool would that be? Well, for me, that would’ve been pretty sweet and truly paradigm shifting.

But that’s not happening anytime soon. So while I was holding my breath about getting an iPhone, thinking that I might just rather get the gPhone… well, when my service contract is up, I’ll likely be picking up that iPhone.

Unless the Android system is flippin’ sweet. But it’ll have to be now. Because the more my co-workers and friends (and parents) pick up iPhones and iPod Touches.. the more I wants one. The more I wants to build for it.

Which raises the question again, because I’m impertinent: where’s my Flash Player on the iPhone? It’s been months now!

.mobi

New domain names are available for mobile sites, starting at $7.99. The masie.mobi site was created with a wizard by mobisitegalore.

Industry status and directions

Most of us have mobile devices. We take them everywhere, they’re always on — they can be both incredibly private AND social. Mobile provides choices. When we define “mobile,” any one of us can be talking about laptops, micro pcs, cell phones, tablets, audio/video players, handhelds or pdas, wearable items (including usb drives or e-books) or even gaming devices.

Mobile growth has grown to more than 100 million handsets with touch screens to ship in 2008 (ABI Research). Global mobile phone use is hitting 3.25 BILLION (Reuters, July 27 2007). Over eighty percent of Americans over the age of FIVE have a mobile device.

America is still playing catch up with data speeds and connection process in cell phone use, but the demographics, speeds and prices are all suggesting that there is a huge opportunity in mobile devices as a platform. The adoption and the adopters are there. It’s a convergence of supply and demand. More and more of the workforce needs better access to learning when they’re away from the office. There’s volatile information that requires constant updating and delivery to staff and there’s pressure to maximize productivity and downtime.

Mobile users tend to focus more on the content of what they’re looking at on their mobile device, part in due to the private and personal connection to the device itself.

Examples

• Mobile Pandemic Flu Preparation - http://publichealthgames.com/
• Colorado State University -
• DMRTI - Open site with multiple examples and checklists
• Mayo Clinic InTouch
  • $2.99 a month
  • First aid tips
  • Watch health videos
  • Find the closest emergency room
• myfoodPhone
• Bones In Motion
• SkynetMD
• http://podclass.co.uk/ - partnered with Apple to reward course participation with iTunes store credits
• Language and Culture on iPod
• Homewood Suites - Video iPods deployed for training
• iPods in baseball
  • Pitchers review batters videos in the dugout (this is happening now!)
  • “It’s a good way to refresh yourself on how you got guys out.”
• Audio tours for portable digital players (http://podtrip.com/)
  • Museum tours
  • Download to iPod
  • Receive discount (even for colonial Williamsburg)
• Montclair State University - Campus Connect
  • All incoming students
  • GPS-enabled phone
  • Part of their tuition/fees
  • Bundled with tools for mobile learning, safety, community, campus navigation
• PSP with video-enabled.
• Questionmark Perception - assessment tools to develop mobile assessments
• Augmented Reality Scientific Role Play Environments
  • Game Engine decoupled from Game Content
  • Desktop PC-based AR content editor
  • Significant collaboration, teamwork and inquiry-based learning
• Assessment and Learning in Practice Settings (ALPS)
  • 9000 students
  • 16 subjects
  • Assess competencies
  • Encourage reflection
  • Capture evidence of achievement

“Developing competence and confidence in a practice setting is vital for students training for a career in health and social care because there is a wide range of general and specific skills that can only be developed in the clinic, hospital or workplace.” - Rob Arnsten

• Collaboration - coaching and mentoring via mobile — particularly for sales
• C-Shock Mobile Game (helps international students cope with culture shock and to get accustomed to UK university life) > onboarding game

We’re seeing a convergence of devices, network, applications and lifestyle(s).

Hardware

iPhone is influencing innovation in all hardware makers. Bug Labs is an open source, web-enabled, modular software + hardware platform coming Q4 2007 — with GPS ssystem, camera, motion sensor and LCD screen.

The top Japanese Smartphone Features: 1. mobile wallet 2. MANGA on mobile 3. mobile check-in at airports 4. mobile keys for doors 5. mobile employee badges 6. mobile cinema tickets 7. mobile transport passes …

Tiny movie projectors can fit into a phone now. Texas Instruments has a working prototype that beams DVD-quality video onto a screen or a wall. Motorola is beginning to build this into their nextGen phones.

The constraint is the battery — and they are also improving.

Tools

Check out what you have at http://mr.dev.mobi/ which tells you what you need to do in an emulation to adjust your content for mobile devices.

There are lots of authoring tools. Captivate publishes to Flash Lite (mobile Flash). Camtasia exports to quicktime for iPod use.

Zirada (gotzapp.com) allows you to build applications in a non-wizard way (like an actual authoring tool). Looks a lot like Lectora.

Hot Lava Learning Mobile Author supports both JavaScript (SCORM???) and Blackberry. It acts as a player that can send data back to your LMS.

iWriter allows you to build support sites ported directly onto the iPod via the Notes.

studycell.com allows you to create flashcards online, and then downlaod them to your mobile device

Alternatives to Mobisite Galore are Mob5 and Winksite (focused more on collaboration). MobiSiteGalore is the only one that allows you to download the files that it generates.

Future

• Cell Phone as a guide
• For additional information - graphical codes where you use your camera to transpose a black and white graphic into text that is over 4000 characters long. (Quick Response Codes)

Management considerations

Opportunities

Look for opportunities Focus on user’s context and needs Build content in modular formats Assess readiness Begin with pilot initiatives

Resources

“We’re still trying to figure out what the questions are.”

Accenture had an opportunity for Mobile Learning. The Business need they had was to increase the speed and ease of uptake of corporate required training by senior executives. They also needed to provide important information at the moment of need.

Fortunately, they have a receptive audience that would benefit from and use a mobile approach to training. Mobile devices for their senior executives are enabling technologies. Senior executives make up a large population of our mobile device users.

• January 2007 = 6,000; October 2007 = 14,000

The Future Scenario:

1. The SE receives email aobut required training on their mobile device just before heading to the airport.
2. SE selects the “myLearning mobile solution” option for this training from her mobile device.
3. myLearning automatically enrolls the SE in the course and the SE has access to the mobile training course
4. SE takes a 15-20 minute segment of training and successfully completes an assessment en route to the airport.

Obstacles:

• Flash not supported as it needs to on mobile
• LMS Communication issues
• Configuration issues with the broad span of devices that need to be supported (dozens with different OSs)

Accenture decided to pilot it with a 12-screen prototype, intentionally selecting 12 screens that would present a challenge porting from their E-Learning to mobile. The decision to do this rather than designing from the ground up was intentional, as SEs wanted an experience that was as close to traditional E-Learning as possible. Accenture started in-house with a live demo with a very small population, and then they went remote for a pilot. Both groups came back and said they’d use it (about 90% in each group) when asked — stating they had a “better than expected” experience with the prototype.

Phase 1: Prototype

• Goals
  • Develop small prototype
  • Test with SE
  • Refine future scenario
• Key Research
  • Audience reaction
  • Insight on mobile technology
  • User interaction design considerations and trade-offs
• Content Interaction Definition
  • Ten minutes of content from existing ethics course
  • Simple text and graphics
  • Two types of interactions: multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank

Phase 2: Field Testing

• Goals
  • Develop a full Ethics course on a mobile device (no LMS interaction)
  • Test with a broader audience
• Key Research
  • Audience reaction and insight use of mobile devices
  • user interaction and design considerations
  • Preliminary infrastructure research

Phase 3: Infrastructure (including LMS integration for the first time)

• Goals
  • Develop LMS integration for mobile training delivery
  • Create a seamless experience from notification and enrollment on through to completion
• Key Research
  • Enrollment and completion communication to the LMS

Phase 4: Rollout

• Goals
  • Expand Accenture’s mobile learning asset catalog
  • Increase the richness of the user experience
• Key Research
  • Determine how to make the user experience better

Effective Design

Elements of effective designa nd usability of a mobile learning solution:

• Refreshable content
• Appropriate chunking of focused content
• Concise writing
• Effective and logical navigation
• Simple graphics