Month: April 2007

TLT Symposium and Hubs of Activity

/ Cole Camplese / Leave a comment

The title says it all. Our annual Teaching and Learning with Technology Symposium is upon us once again and it has turned most of the people I spend time with lives’ upside down. We do it to ourselves and wouldn’t have it any other way, but it is all I can think about. We’ll be up to our eyeballs in social computing themes come Saturday. If you are interested, head over and check out the Symposium site — a Drupal space that has become the hub to a ton of activity. There are blog posts, comments, podcasts, and all sorts of stuff going on over there. Take a peek and let me know what you think.

And speaking of hubs of activity, we are managing two good ones here at PSU — the ANGEL Community Hub and the Adobe Connect Community Hub. I think the whole community supporting community thing is the future of all this teaching and learning with technology thing. Stuff changes so fast, that getting smart people to help other people implement these technologies are so critical. At any rate, this is my bridge post to get me a much larger Symposium story thing I am working on. Stay tuned.

Apple TV Thoughts: The Wireless Content System

/ Cole Camplese / 6 Comments

I’ve been using my Apple TV for close to two weeks now and I am really enjoying it. After some initial setup issues (with my old receiver, not the Apple TV) I have had nothing but good things to say about it. It has worked perfectly with my iMac in the other room — wirelessly grabbing content any time something new flows in. All I have to say is that it just works. Not a surprise, but for a new space for Apple, this thing works like a second or third generation product.

Seeing that I am not into the hacks that so many people seem to be psyched about, I would like to share a thought about the Apple TV … I think it could be a killer school-based content platform. What strikes me is how easily it all works — plug it in and let it grab content wirelessly from anywhere. Imagine a school with one in every classroom all connected to not only a central iTunes library, but to any other iTunes enabled machine in the vicinity. Schools could subscribe to any of the thousands of available audio or video podcasts and be constantly playing fantastic educational content in their classrooms.

If you used it in combination with a school-based iTunes U implementation, individual teachers could easily subscribe and share their own content as well as student work. What an affordable way to create a high end “streaming” solution. I don’t know yet if there is a limit to the number of Apple TV systems you can setup and connect to one machine (I know there are limitations in the other direction), but it all seems like an outstanding option for moving audio and video around in an educational context.

Here at PSU, our public broadcasting network is establishing a nice presence in the Penn State on iTunes U space we’ve been creating. Imagine schools simply connecting to that and the other Universities’ spaces to grab resources that are now easily and affordably moved around a building. I think it makes the case for Apple to include an educational discount for this device. Talk about a new age wireless cart for content distribution! Am I missing something or is this a great way to leverage the emerging public iTunes U spaces as well as the podcast directory and the Apple TV?

apple_tv_synch.png

With the Apple TV it seems like you could (un)wire access really well.

Wow, That Hurts

/ Cole Camplese / 3 Comments

Just as WVU Basketball was making it all go around, Coach Beileine is heading off to Michigan. Well, it was a fun little run. The last three years? Elite 8, Sweet 16, and NIT Champions. That hurts. At least we found a way to keep Coach Rod to make a run at the football national championship.

Update: It looks like Bob Huggins might be coming home. Not sure how I feel about that given his past with Cincinnati … I will play wait and see. I am happy we went out and got a big name guy and someone who understands and appreciates WVU.

Meet Up Cancelled

/ Cole Camplese / 2 Comments

Tomorrow’s Un-Conference must be cancelled. Sorry. We’ll come up some alternatives later … sorry everyone … it would have been great and I look forward to pulling another event together soon.

The thing I am most impressed with is how our community is coming together. I can honestly say that it is amazing that we were even able to mobilize so many smart people so quickly. Let’s regroup and think of a new way and time to pull something killer off. Any thoughts for me?

DRM Free Music

/ Cole Camplese / 8 Comments

So I am guessing that when State Jobs posted his open letter on digital rights management two months ago he was well on his way to getting exactly what he wanted. With Apple and EMI’s announcement of selling their entire catalogue on the iTunes Store without DRM it appears as though someone was listening. To say it out loud from the get go — DRM Free music is the right thing to do. I can’t tell you how happy I am to see at least one label getting it. I buy the stuff and I don’t need to be treated like a criminal from the start. I don’t steal music and I certainly don’t provide access to my hard drive for others to take my music. I posted my thoughts on it at the time so I won’t rehash it all.

Here’s the rub in my mind however … by charging a premium for the music I feel like they are saying something to the effect of, only those who can afford the right to purchase this will be treated like a law abiding citizen. In other words, if you can’t fork over an extra 30 cents then you aren’t to be trusted with our music. I understand the higher quality, but I don’t see that as a legitimate claim — data is data. Also it bothers just a bit to have to go back and pay an additional 30 cents for every song I already own to be unlocked. I guess the label figures that is enough of a sharing tax? I just don’t get this.

Another thought after the original post … I do recall reading that the labels had been putting pressure on Apple to raise their prices on singles. Was this the deal Steve was able to make — if I raise the price of a single can we sell higher quality, DRM Free music? If you look at it, from what I understand album prices are remaining the same. Just pure speculation.

How does this deal make the rest of you feel? Will you go back and repurchase your tracks to be DRM Free? Am I barking up the wrong tree on this one?

Misty Cat

/ Cole Camplese / 6 Comments

There is too much to say about how bad I feel right now. I know it sounds crazy, but I am grieving far more than I ever thought I would over to loss of a pet. On Saturday I took Misty, our nearly 16 year old cat, to the Vet one last time. When they checked her out an X-Ray revealed a tumor that had broken her jaw. There was nothing we could do and so I signed a little piece of paper that gave them permission to put her to sleep.

No need for me to tell the story of Misty as my wife has done a much better job than I could ever do. All I can say is that my heart is heavy and I miss her. I think I am also really trying to come to grips with how my little girl is taking all this — her first word was Kitty and she loved Misty like a sister. This morning as I was getting ready for work, she, my son, and my wife came into the bathroom and I said something to the effect that, “the whole family was here.” My little five year old looked at me and said, “no it isn’t, Daddy, Kitty isn’t here.” The house is quiet and the adjustment is big. Hard to articulate and I feel silly and strange to walk around with this much hurt for my cat. She was with my wife and I since we moved in together in college, traveled the east coast with us as we forged a life together, and was with us through the birth of both our children. She is missed greatly.

Misty Cat
Misty, August 30, 1991 – March 31, 2007