Learning, Technology & Change

As Wind, Mobilicity and Public look for exit strategies, the Canadian public will be left with fewer choices and really have no one to blame but themselves. Rogers, Telus and Bell did their job by aggressively retaining customers matching prices - for now. Knowing full well that if they are able to reduce the customers going to the new providers in the short-term once they bleed their initial capital they can get back to their oligopoly. Many called and threatened to go with Wind's great all in packages but in the face of making a change - balked. Perhaps they matched the features or even went a bit cheaper for a year, provided a contract was signed. Our short-sighted thinking  gets us every time. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/technology-video/video-is-the-dream-of-four-strong-wireless-competitors-dead/article11518408/

There was a great article in Macleans last week on how medical sensors are close to being sold to consumers. I have a few hypochondriac friends who will be all over this. Beyond that this could have huge implications for our current healthcare system. So much time and cost is put into minor diagnoses with people clogging up clinics and emergency rooms, convinced they have ebola. This could make a huge difference in wait times and unnecessary diagnoses. Imagine being able to check if the bug you have is bacterial and viral. Will people still want to go to the Dr? Most of the time folks simply want piece of mind. The hospital ER is the best place to rule everything out, but most are willing to clog up a walk-in or their family doctor's office. If you could plug in your smartphone read the throat swab yourself, wouldn't you take that convenience? "So many great apps who's got time to make friends"-Macklemore Being able to get more data on your health throughout...

When was the last time you gave someone an email address and they said "Sorry I don't email." Some folks from a simpler time might not email people. Perhaps they have communications people or assistants for that. However that group is quickly diminishing. There are very few roles that don't benefit from the instant and accessible benefits of electronic mail.Similar there is internet usage, like it or not, Know it or not, everyone uses the internet.   The same can be said for social media. Maybe not today, but that day is coming very soon. Eventually everyone will be involved with social media. To say you don't "facebook" or use that "Social Media stuff" would be to identify yourself as part of the dwindling minority. The ability to get your idea or brand, out to millions of people almost instantly is an incredibly powerful tool. The next step to integrating internet culture is less about just how to use the tools, and more about how...

A great post by Andrew McAfee on the technological obsolescence of car gadgets. In a time where keeping a cell phone for more than 2 years feels painfully long, a touchscreen interface in your car can be asking for trouble. Car companies are trying to use consumer electronic integration as a differentiator. My car has the nav/dvd/jukebox and I love it. However  I plan on  keeping this car for quite some time. That interface will be quite the antique by then when compared to other consumer electronics. My biggest concern with this car is the battery (hybrid) but second to that is the touchscreen has my climate controls, radio Everything. I would have to replace that screen at who knows how much, and being a 3+ year old car it's unlikely there will be an updated interface. If cars were to be more modular we'd need some open interface with rules around it for safety purposes. No movies or attention-grabbing apps should run while the car is docked. Perha...

Technology on its own doesn't necessarily facilitate change. It can have massive effects but it isn't inevitable or automatic. The noble idea behind One Laptop Per Child OLPC was meant to represent an enormous change. Making computer literacy cheap and affordable would transform 3rd world countries. Giving students access to computers would allow them to access the infinite and free internet. The problem was that they gave away computers and didn't show them how to use it. No training was provided to teachers so they could incorporate it into classroom lessons. This is change management on a massive scale. You're changing the paradigm of how people can access information, how they build knowledge. People can change all by themselves, but a lot of the time they need some help. Remember even Farmville & Ipods have books about how to use them. link: http://readwrite.com/2012/10/23/readwriteweb-deathwatch-one-laptop-per-child-olpc

In the neverending mission to reduce costs, I'm actively researching ways to work solely through the internet. The main ways i'm looking at it are through increasing my ISP package  using a voip phone service installing an HD antenna setup a media server Subscribing to netflix, hulu plus buying NBA League Pass getting a newsgroup subscription (gasp)  The last point definitely presents more of a moral dilemma. The content is there it's easy to access, there are no previews to wait through Copyright warnings etc etc that come on the legal material i own. I wonder whether DRM for free content isn't a bad idea. Try before you buy. I'm pretty sure even with netflix, hulu plus even a proxy service to make it work i'm still going to be better shape than the 180/mth i'm currently paying. Anyone done it? have suggestions?

As a fully employed father of two, free-time is definitely at a premium. Being an avid basketball definitely fan doesn't help. Being health-conscious and liking sleep makes personal projects damn near impossible. Yet hear I am with constantly more projects than I care to admit. In an interesting piece in Macleans on the growing trend of out-sourcing so much of our lives in the constant pursuit to find time and reduce stress, one tangential point was about our current psychology “There’s this sense that we aren’t doing enough, that there’s all this other stuff that we could be purchasing or learning that will make us better,” says Krull, who is also an associate dean at Queen’s. “It’s a brilliant marketing strategy. It plays on that feeling of inadequacy.” Hochschild takes it one step further: “We’re a self-improvement-oriented culture. But it’s gone from self-help to other-help.” I think this identifies how I feel. I could be healthier, I could be doing more charitable w...