"...it makes perfect sense as a tool for kids and parents alike to preview their purchases online before handing over their cash." That's marketing spin for watch a commercial at point of sale. Still, it is a useful idea.
See the story and watch the video here.
... That’s one big difference between Kno and Apple: Kno is squarely — in Rashid’s terms, “maniacally” — focused on university-level education, while Apple is looking at the K-12 market. The other difference is that while Kno’s products work on all platforms, including the iPad and the web (with an Android version about to launch), Apple’s only work with Apple’s ecosystem. Which make sense: The business case for Apple is to sell more iPads. And that brings us back to price. ...
The reasons for homeschooling vary — but not that much. In a survey of 7306 homeschoolers, NHERI found that 77% claimed religion as a motivation, 74% cited the desire to teach their children “particular values and beliefs,” and two-thirds “objected to what schools teach.” ...
The proliferation of unvetted texts is one of Rashid’s primary questions about Apple’s new vision. “I think most people want to make sure that the textbooks kids are studying have gone through a certain level of peer review,” he says, “as opposed to being produced randomly by some author, with who knows what bias in their thinking.” ...
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Khoshnevis calls his technique “Contour Crafting” and it operates on roughly the same principle as consumer 3D printers like MakerBot’s Thing-O-Matic. His robot pours out a trail of viscous concrete while tracing along the footprint of a wall. As the nozzle sweeps back and forth, the layers rapidly build, with the lower ones hardening enough to support the increasing weight. Its speed puts construction workers to shame.
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(This is a very good overview of the current state of box-office and movie distribution)
...Chicago Sun Times film critic Roger Ebert wrote recently, “Box-office tracking shows that the bright spot in 2011 was the performance of indie, foreign or documentary films. On many weekends, one or more of those titles will capture first place in per-screen-average receipts.” Ebert goes on to complain that, despite this many theatres outside urban centers never play these movies, even though the process of obtaining them is at least theoretically simpler with digital technology.
“The myth that small-market moviegoers don’t like art movies is undercut by Netflix’s viewing results,” Ebert wrote. “Its third most popular movie on December 28 was Certified Copy, by Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami. You’ve heard of him? In fourth place, French director Alain Corneau’s Love Crime. In fifth, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but the original, subtitled, Swedish version. The message I get is that Americans love the movies as much as ever. It’s the theatres that are losing their charm. Proof: Thriving theatres police their audiences, show a variety of titles and emphasize value-added features. The rest of the industry can’t depend forever on blockbusters to bail it out.”
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[NPD Group website]
... According to The NPD Group, a leading market research company, U.S. consumer rental of movies in DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats fell by 11 percent in 2011, versus the prior year, and the landscape of retailers has shifted dramatically. The leader in physical-disc rentals was Redbox, whose unit volume increased by 29 percent year over year; as a result, Redbox’s share of DVD and Blu-ray movie rentals rose from 25 percent in 2010 to 37 percent in 2011.
NPD’s VideoWatch consumer tracker indicates that much of the share gains came from traditional brick-and-mortar retailers like Blockbuster, whose share fell 6 percentage points to 17 percent in 2011. Netflix’ share of DVD and Blu-ray rentals was flat for the year at 30 percent; however, in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2011 the company reached a two-year low of 25 percent. ...
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This will be an interesting addition to the media mix. I hope they can monetize this adequately.
- Reuters Investigates. Investigative journalism and special reports from around the world, in coordination with Reuters’s Enterprise unit.
- The Trail. Featuring Reuters political reporters covering the presidential candidates on the campaign trail.
- Felix TV. With Reuters finance blogger Felix Salmon.
- Media Bite. Featuring Peter Lauria, editor of technology, media & telecommunications, and his team of reporters covering a media world experiencing massive change.
- Tech Tonic. Hosted by de Rosa.
- Freeland File. With Reuters Digital Editor Chrystia Freeland interviewing top newsmakers.
- Fast Forward. Hosted by Chrystia Freeland and featuring Reuters’s commentators and journalists David Rohde, Rob Cox, Bethany McLean, David Cay Johnston, Geraldine Fabrikant, Steven Brill, Ian Bremmer and James Ledbetter, among others.
- Money Clip. Featuring personal finance editor Lauren Young.
- Rough Cuts. With Jen Rogers, showcasing news video that Reuters video journalists shoot around the world.
- Decoder. Key topics in the news, ranging from the debt ceiling to the Strait of Hormuz.
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here.
The research results, carried out by AIJU, demonstrate the possibilities for this application technique within the personalized decoration of 3D pieces.
This technique will allow the decoration of a large amount of products with different geometric shapes in an efficient and versatile way. Moreover, after several baths, a 360º surface covering of the piece to be decorated can be achieved, with a good finish and that includes any small grooves the product could have. Besides, the decoration is homogeneous throughout the entire surface.
... Throughout its development, the applicability of Water Printing Technology in the decoration of scale cars has been observed, with several colors and designs, although other products could also be considered within this and/or other future activities.
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The Core of Gameification
The heart of the gameification trend is using interactive gaming as a tool to transform training and education. Based on 25 years of research, I’ve identified five core elements that, when applied together, can dramatically accelerate learning. When you model your company’s training to include these five elements, your employees will learn more in less time and have better results.
• Self-diagnostic. In the world of gaming, as you accomplish new feats and as your character gets better, the game gives you greater challenges. When you power down, the game remembers where you left off. When you return to the game, you still have your capabilities and all the things your character has previously learned. You don’t have to start over from ground zero. ...
• Interactivity. For centuries, education and training have been, for the most part, passive experiences. ... When you learn by gaming, you’re interacting with the information and concepts. You’re moving things around, you’re manipulating items and you’re actually doing things. It’s no longer passive training. Now you are much more engaged and immersed.
• Immersion. We’ve seen 3D TVs where you have to wear special glasses to make the images pop out at you, but that’s because TVs have a lot of viewers spread throughout the room. When you’re playing a game on a small screen like a tablet or a smart phone, the viewing angle is such that you can have images appear 3D very easily without special glasses. In the recent past to the present, video games use interspatial 3D, which allows you to enter worlds. So instead of images popping out at you, you go inside to them. That’s how games on the Xbox 360 and others have been working for years, by using a regular television set or flat panel display. This sort of technology gives an immersed effect, which engages people more. To apply this to business, if you’re training salespeople on a particular manufacturing tool they need to sell, why not let them see the tool in 3D and actually manipulate the tool virtually rather than having them read spec sheets about it? The former will give them more insight into the tool, which will make selling it easier.
• Competition. Humans are naturally competitive beings. ... When you’re competing, however, as in a game, you get an adrenaline rush that keeps you engaged and focused on the task at hand. In an effort to “win,” people master concepts faster so they can be first…and certainly not last.
• Focus. When you’re playing a game, you’re forced to focus. You have to do A for B to occur. If you don’t do A, then you won’t get far in the game. Focus is the result of interactivity, competition, immersion and self-diagnosis. When you can focus, you can learn virtually anything…fast.
...
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From internet-connected toilets and trash bins to video walls, this is an interesting collection of ideas.
Read the story here.
See the accompanying story here.
Network from Michael Rigley on Vimeo.
From internet-connected toilets and trash bins to video walls, this is an interesting collection of ideas.