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Skype Connecting Classrooms with Classrooms

Friday, September 30th, 2011

This is either a really cool online learning initiative, or the beginning of a global conspiracy to completely outsource teaching.

Skype in the Classroom has a goal of connecting 1 million teachers with teachers. Teachers can sign up and create teaching profiles that describe their classes and learning interests – and search through a directory of teachers by student age range, language and learning subjects.

A classroom in Chicago can chat with students in Chile. Boston to Barcelona. Even cities without shared alliteration.

Imagine a teacher taking advantage of resources bigger than their individual minds. My favorite part about this? Skype is doing this just because it’s awesome. Not because there’s a big profit motivation behind it.

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Subscription Commerce as a Business Model

Wednesday, September 14th, 2011

Fruit-of-the-Month. Wine-of-the-Month. Cigar-of-the-Month. Organic Diapers for Eco- and Economically-Friendly Parents (of the month)? Subscription commerce is a quick growing industry. But, is it a simply a flash in the pan?

The subscription commerce industry as a whole is far and away leaning female. Shoes. Clothing. Accessories. Hand-picked based on your style (as determined through online quiz) and delivered monthly.

Honestly, it’s an excuse to get new clothes every month. There’s no real cost savings with subscription commerce. So, in pragmatic terms, it makes much more sense as a gift purchase. And for those who hate the Christmas weight, perhaps you could send a monthly foodie gift subscription to your friends rather than the giant package of cookies this Christmas?

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Bing Provides Red Flag List for Content Providers

Friday, August 5th, 2011

The recent Google Panda Update has left search engine professionals scrambling, trying to understand what Google is looking for in terms of quality content, and more specifically, what they’re looking to slap. So, many content providers have been re-habbing their entire organization for Google search. And they’re probably smart to do that. After all, Google is far and away the leading search provider.

But let’s not forget about Microsoft Bing, which also powers Yahoo search. And Bing has recently come out with their own list of red flags to avoid in order to avoid getting on Bing’s bad list.

Don’t duplicate content. Produce authoritative content that displays topic expertise. Make your content easy to share.

This largely overlaps Google rules – focusing on a good user experience. So, like most search engine experts will tell you, if you’re optimized for Google, you’re largely optimized for everyone else, too.

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GoDaddy.com Domain Registrar Sold for $2.25 Billion

Monday, July 11th, 2011

In a move that left virtually every web domain owner in the world a little bit nervous, the world’s largest domain registrar was sold in a deal valued at $2.25 billion.

But let’s not fret quite yet. In fact, CEO Bob Parsons told The New York Times, “This isn’t a sale. It’s a partnership that’s reinvesting in GoDaddy.” So, it appears that Parsons isn’t bailing ship. He will become the company’s executive chairman and remain a large stakeholder.

GoDaddy’s sales rose by 25% from 2009 to 2010, and projects $1.1 billion in sales for 2011. It’s clear that GoDaddy’s new investors understand the cash cow that GoDaddy is and the monopolistic hold they have in the market. As a consumer, the fear lies in whether or not they will continue to take a long-term growth perspective on the company, or ramp up domain costs to try to milk some more money out of their current clientele.

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Could Better Content Make Us Watch Less of it?

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

Streaming video consumers watch less TV. That’s the takeaway from Nielsen’s latest report. And it comes as a bit of a surprise.

Until now, streamers were thought of as the glut consumer. They just couldn’t get enough. But now, it looks like streaming video users are replacing their television viewership altogether – which brings up an interesting question that until now would have sounded ludicrous.

Does better content make us watch less of it? In other words, does great content make us more picky. For instance, with a 1-channel television, you’re watching whatever’s there. With 100 channels, you get to browse and be picky. With unlimited options, browsing becomes impossible. And could it actually limit our streaming content intake?

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Cyber Warfare: The Evolution of the Suicide Bomber

Monday, June 27th, 2011

You watch the movie, “The Patriot”. You see both sides standing in lines. Taking turns shooting each other. Fighting like gentlemen.

And you think to yourself, “What a bunch of morons!”

Warfare has evolved since then. Once our enemies learned that their own defense systems were no match for the biggest militaristic country of all time, they resorted to human shields and suicide bombing. It’s barbaric. And it’s brilliant. So, what’s next in the evolution of warfare? Many people believe it will be cyber warfare.

Data breaches against big commercial entities are terribly common nowadays. There are thousands of simply brilliant computer hackers, who we have just recently seen, have the technical prowess to break into the CIA with ease. These individuals can hide under anonymity. There is no real hierarchy. No leader. So, what do you do with that? How do you defend yourself? Same thing we did with suicide bombers….which is… not figure it out quite yet.

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Is LulzSec the New Anonymous?

Friday, June 24th, 2011

Move over Anonymous. It used to be that whenever something was hacked, we turned your way. Gave you blame or credit.

But now there’s another. LulzSec. These Internet pranksters seem more excited about causing “Fight Club” style mayhem then promoting the cause of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. But, just like Anonymous, it’s hard to classify the entire organization. Because the organization is simply an aggregate of individuals with individual ideals. Some like hacking into Facebook accounts and changing profile pictures to disturbing imagery. Some like hacking into major online databases and publicizing their work.

And just like mainstream media outlets aren’t publishing cartoons of Muhammad just to prove they believe in free speech, they’re largely leaving LulzSec alone. It’s hard to blame them.

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Can Online Education Ever Be “Free” Education?

Friday, June 24th, 2011

With federal and state budget crises raising up the voices of people calling for higher education becoming “free”, this brings up an interesting dilemma. Because, government subsidizing the costs of higher education isn’t “free” obviously. But, we’re actually closer to “free” education than we’ve ever been before. You can jump online and learn how to do nearly everything. Free tutorials that are easy-to-follow and detailed. You can learn how to design websites. How to program. But more than tech skills, universities are now beginning to release the comprehensive audio and video of lectures from entire courses. Now, you wouldn’t get “credit” for doing college this way. But, it’s becoming easier and easier to  learn online the same things for free.

And while schools like the University of Phoenix have led the way in for-profit online education, organizations like the Khan Academy are pushing free versions of high-quality educational content. So, how long will it be until an individual is able to get their undergraduate degree completely free online, and more importantly, it be recognized as valuable by a hiring manager?

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Comcast Partners With Skype in Reach to Stay Relevant

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

It would be tough to be an executive at Comcast right now. Well, not “right now.” But if you had any vision at all, you have to see the cable provider going away entirely, in exchange for streaming entertainment providers. Granted, Comcast is trying to transition to be “both”, but this attempt is similarly behind Blockbuster’s attempt to play catch-up to Netflix.

In truth, life at Comcast is scary. But Comcast isn’t giving up. Comcast has partnered with Skype in order to bring HD video calling to the TV, allowing Comcast customers to utilize their HD television for Skype communications among friends and family.

But, it’s not as simple as it sounds. The service requires a separate adapter box, a “high quality” video camera and a special remote control. This isn’t making our lives any easier Comcast. And that’s just one reason you’re dying.

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Glenn Beck Enters Daily Deals Game with Markdown

Friday, May 27th, 2011

Glenn Beck is leaving Fox News to…compete with Groupon? Really? Glenn Beck announced the launch of Markdown, a new daily deals service.

What makes Markdown different? Supposedly, it’s about pairing consumers with, not just great deals, but great companies. Companies they’re proud to partner with, and proud to send their friends and family to. What else? Well, this new online daily deals competitor isn’t going to offer daily deals. They refuse to send out a deal unless it’s amazing. If that means rarer offers, that’s what you’ll get.

That’s the business plan. But, here’s the reality. They’re probably hoping that this hooks the giant online niche market that is conservatives. It’s a weird idea. But, Glenn Beck knows how to build an audience.

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