Archive for April, 2010
iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, Android now in HP-Palm’s sights
Apr 30th
I guess it’s innemitable. With recent announcement of Hewlett-Packards purchase of Palm Inc. the idea of a “iPhone killer” will eventually surface.
Of course, why would HP bother to snap up the ailing mobile device pioneer if it doesn’t have Apple’s top selling smart phone in its sights?
Actually, HP is gunning for more — the iPhone, BlackBerry, Android phones and Ipad’s market share.
During HP’s media briefing on Wednesday, Todd Bradley, executive vice-president of the personal systems group at HP, assured Pre and Pixi users are safe for now as he expressed support for Palm’s, critically acclaimed WebOS.
Bradley also revealed what the public could expect in the very near future from the HP-Palm union. Read the rest of this entry »
PDF reading tool helps visually impaired use computers
Apr 27th
Each day I turn on my computer in the morning and after moments of waiting for the machine to boot up my eyes are greeted with the familiar icons doting the computer screen. Click on any one of them and their contents or the pages they are linked to come into view.
Rarely, if ever, do I give a thought to what I would do if suddenly the whole screen simply appeared as a plain black slate or a jumble of mushed up cloudy letters.
This, however, is a reality to perhaps millions of computer users who are either blind or visually impaired. Many of whom struggle for the lack of adequate assistive devices to accomplish tasks that others normally take for granted.
Over the years there have been many products in the market geared towards converting text into audio. However, converting more complext elements such as illustrations, graphs, images and large bodies of numbers such as financial statements have remained a challenge.
A new accessibility tool that focuses on PDF documents now promises to make such of documents produced by huge data geerators such as banks, hospitals and government institutions more accessible. Read the rest of this entry »
New Brunswick teachers receive new laptops
Apr 26th
New Brunswick’s Department of Education is serious about building a 21st Century model of learning. On April 16, 2010 the Department announced that every teacher in our system will receive a new notebook computer. The multi-million dollar investment involves over 8,000 teachers. The New Brunswick Teachers Association applauded the investment and all agreed that a 1:1 teacher-computer model is essential in today’s 21st Century learning environment.
The Department of Education first offered a personal notebook computer to teachers in 2006. At that time teachers were offered a computer to support their daily teaching activities, including the delivery of provincial curricula, programs and services and accessing online information and resources. A high percentage of teachers accepted the offer in 2006. The more recent announcement to refresh all the notebook computers will keep New Brunswick teachers at the leading edge of using technology and their profession.
The New Brunswick teaching force is now among the highest trained in the world on using ICT applications for teaching and learning. They depend on their computers for creating, storing and sharing lesson plans, report cards and formative assessment information. A growing number are using email, twitter, Facebook and other web based applications to communicate with students, parents, and their local communities. They are collaborating electronically with other teachers in their own school or elsewhere in the New Brunswick system, accessing information on the internet, and increasingly partnering with schools in other parts of the world. With the growing number of interactive whiteboards in New Brunswick’s classrooms teachers now have the capacity to link their notebooks with the whiteboards and create engaging lessons for students. Having their own notebook also allows them to access the department’s on-line portal that offers a host of information, ranging from curricula to on-line resources and best practices. The 1:1 teacher-computer model also facilitates the development of our electronic special education plans for children with disabilities and special needs. Read the rest of this entry »
Facebook changes a slap in the face of privacy authorities
Apr 23rd
Facebook has once again trounced the notion of user privacy in a week when privacy authorities from around the world issued a stern warning to companies offering online service.
Canada’s Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart and nine other international privacy watchdogs warned the likes of Google and Facebook they’d crossed the lines too many times when it came to launching new services without fully considering the privacy ramifications. Terms such as “enforcement”, “fines”, “investigations” and “last straw” were freely used at the press conference that mainly blasted Google Buzz.
What is HTML 5 and why does it matter to you?
Apr 22nd
A columnist from the Wall Street Journal famously quipped: Last time there was this much excitement about a tablet there were commandments written on it. 
As you all know by now, the iPad has arrived. At first the response to the latest Apple offering was… let’s say lukewarm. Now however, as all of the pieces of the iPad user experience start to fall into place the buzz is starting to grow to a roar as people begin to realize the potential of this platform.
It has been said that 2010 is the year of the tablet. Along with the iPad there are dozens of tablets on the market that both predate it and are trying to play catch-up. So what does the advent of this new web browsing form factor mean for your business, your web site, or your web application? Well not a whole lot. Read the rest of this entry »
Top 4 questions you should ask about digital media metrics
Apr 21st
One of the wonders of our digital world is the ability to measure anything. The challenge remains in making sure that the appropriate indicators are being measured and that the data is correctly interpreted.
The opportunities and challenges of audience measurement were discussed at the most recent iLunch – The Face of Demand presented by Interactive Ontario.
The conversation evolved into a best practices guide for offline and online audience measurement and cross-platform conversion between traditional and digital media.
Paul Bernier of Advisio spoke about Google Analytics and other traditional web measurement tools. He emphasized that despite the overabundance of data it is important to distinguish which metrics are relevant for a particular site. Read the rest of this entry »
Cyber attacks target sensitive data and specific individuals
Apr 19th
Authorities in many countries are concerned that attacks on business and government resources will become the next battleground in cyber warfare. In the throne speech earlier this year, the Canadian government announced that it is developing a National Cyber-Security Strategy to address a range of concerns from economic disruptions and state secrets to consumer scams and identity theft.
Seth Hardy, Senior Malware Analyst at Symantec Hosted Services
The March 2010 MessageLabs Intelligence Report examined the nature and origins of targeted attacks. The ultimate aim of a targeted attack is to gain access to sensitive and valuable data or internal systems by targeting specific individuals or companies.
These malicious emails are sent in relatively small volumes, typically to senior executives, with the express purpose of getting control of a target’s computer for industrial espionage.
iPad surges into the market
Apr 15th
The iPad launch is the death knell for Kindle – 300,000 iPads sold on day one in the USA alone.
The day Apple launched its eagerly awaited iPad, Sony was running ads offering their top of the line Touch Edition e-reader, featuring a 6″ touchscreen display for $299.99. Down from $699.99.
Who wants a small, black and white screen, that really only functions as a book, when you can have a larger, 9.7″ beautiful color screen iPad that lets you read books, manage your e-mail, send and receive photos, handle your Twitter and Facebook accounts, or watch a movie?
The 9.7″ LED back-lit IPS screen (in-plane switching – the liquid crystals are aligned horizontally instead of at an angle providing almost perfect color reproduction) has a remarkably precise Multi-Touch screen.
Right now you will find over 1000 Apps available on-line at the App Store. The new iPad can run almost 150,000 Apps for iPhone, iTouch, including the Apps you already have. Read the rest of this entry »
SMBs win with bundled mobile licensing of Maximizer’s CRM 11
Apr 14th
Budget conscious small and medium sized businesses get a double bonus from a recent mobile customer relationship management (CRM) software product from Maximizer Software Inc.
The company’s latest product, CRM 11 acquired a broader Web access footprint but also got a slimmed down TCO (total cost of ownership) by way of a new all-access license pricing that consolidates desktop, mobile and Web access under one single fee which starts at $699. This group edition license is which is available for up to 10 users and includes one full year of inclusive upgrade assurance and technical support is ideal for SMB operations.
“A lot of SMBs still don’t get CRM and one of the major barriers is price. With this new pricing we home to lower that hurdle,” Bob Neudecker, director of marketing for the Vancouver-based company.
Because some CRM vendors currently charge separate licenses for desktop, laptop and mobile access, many companies prefer to forgo one or two of the three channels, Neudecker said. For example, companies can save as much as $550 with the new all-access license as opposed to the stand-alone license for just a desktop or Web access.
Neudecker is also optimistic over adoption of mobile CRM. “We found that one in four users is taking up mobile CRM options,” he said.
With the new licensing plan, some businesses could same as much as 20 per cent, he said. Read the rest of this entry »
Videos spark 21st Century learning discussion
Apr 13th
A video created to stimulate discussion on a new 21st Century model of public education in New Brunswick was uploaded onto Youtube last week. (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=new+brunswick+education&aq=f)
The video was originally targeted at an internal audience of education leaders in the province’s Anglophone sector as a means to foster debate. However, the video was so warmly received Youtube was seen as the best vehicle to share its message further afield.
In previous articles for ITBusiness I have shared ideas on 21st Century learning and the role of ICT. The video’s overall message is that life and business are now moving at the speed of the internet, and New Brunswick wants its students out in front leading the way. The brainchild of the video is Bill Kierstead, a former principal and now key member of the department’s leadership team. He wanted to show how rapid advancements in ICT are transforming the world and that these transformations are precipitating the need for new approaches to knowledge acquisition and instructional practices. Read the rest of this entry »
