Author: John Ayers

Google’s Mission Revealed, and it is amazing, because they are delivering. #digital

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So you use Google every day, you use the word google as a verb. And so it goes.

2

I was in fact ‘Googling’ recently, and was interested to learn, what is Google’s mission? It seems they are continuing to do everything in the digital space that I can think of, and much more I haven’t even thought about, and likely other areas they are reaching into evey day.

Outside of the virtual – there is also the truly transformational impact the company is having on so many other aspects, such as mapping, google goggles, the self-driven car and others.

So going back to their mission.

Here it is.

Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Read the full details and more on their ABOUT PAGE

The reason why I say Goolge is Delivering, is because the fight for first to market now – is the CLOUD… and while I have been an Apple fan, user, adopter and on the inside of the Apple industry in the late 80s-early 90’s – I am slowly becoming a Google believer when it comes to the Cloud.

Their apps, their usability, their social, their mobility, their reach, their impact, their growth, do I need to say more? They are making it happen and the use of the tools and products continues to grow across the globe.

I am not pleased with Apple’s approach to the cloud.   Mobile Me, iDisk, iCloud, AirDrop, ShareFiles within a computer, Share files locally, DropBox this, public folder here or there. I am so frustrated with the way they have handled the usability factor and to see Google actually making way – is remarkable.

 

I’ll leave you with this – if you haven’t jumped into Google Drive – check it out. 

Still have all the Apple hardware and use many Apple products – but am a bit sour on their Cloud thinking at the moment.

UPDATE: http://technologyspectator.com.au/google-apps-dominate-higher-education-sector

 

Mary Meeker and Digital Disruption

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Screen_shot_2012-09-28_at_2

If you haven’t seen the presentation (below) by Mary Meeker – you should. 

A great look at the disruption that technology is playing our lives today and a sesne of what it will be looking forward.

 

It is a over 11mb and 120+ pages so it may not load quickly. If you have problems viewing, you can try to download. If all else fails – go to BusinessInsider

KPCB_Internet_Trends_2012_FINAL.pdf

Awesome list of #education #hashtags.

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Twitter-hashtag

You’re in education, and you’re on Twitter.

Do you use the right tags?

Do you know them all?

Is your hashtag on the list?

The Most Popular Hashtags

  • #edchat – Education, worldwide (lots of US teachers). A really useful hashtag if you are interested in tweeting with a wide range of educators worldwide.
  • #schools – Massively wide ranging but used far less than #edchat or #ukedchat
  • #teaching – This hashtag seems to largely be used for jobseeking, FYI
  • #lrnchat – Learning chat
  • #TT – Teacher Tuesday where educators suggest others to follow
  • #kinderchat – hashtag for discussing kindergarten aged children
  • #EdChatIE – The educational hashtag for Ireland for all three levels
  • #ukedchat – UK Education
  • #ClavEd – The educational hashtag for French Speakers – Wednesdays at 12h(EST) 13h(ATL) 18h(Paris)
  • #GlobalEd – Education with a global dimension

Check out the full list

http://edudemic.com/2011/10/twitter-hashtag-dictionary/

As the iPhone 5 rolls out – I am reminded of the early days – Waz and Jobs – 1976

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As the iPhone 5 rolls out – I am reminded of the early days – Waz and Jobs – 1976 

 

Steve_wozniak_and_steve_jobs

 Excerpt from Wiki on Apple…

 

 

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had been friends for some time, having met in 1971, when their mutual friend, Bill Fernandez, introduced 21-year-old Wozniak to 16-year-old Jobs. Jobs managed to interest Wozniak in assembling a machine and selling it.

Jobs approached a local computer store, The Byte Shop, who said they would be interested in the machine, but only if it came fully assembled. The owner, Paul Terrell, went further, saying he would order 50 of the machines and pay US $500 ($2.04 thousand in present-day terms[2]) each on delivery.[3] Jobs then took the purchase order that he had been given from the Byte Shop to Cramer Electronics, a national electronic parts distributor, and ordered the components he needed to assemble the Apple I Computer. The local credit manager asked Jobs how he was going to pay for the parts and he replied, “I have this purchase order from the Byte Shop chain of computer stores for 50 of my computers and the payment terms are COD. If you give me the parts on a net 30 day terms I can build and deliver the computers in that time frame, collect my money from Terrell at the Byte Shop and pay you.”[4]

With that, the credit manager called Paul Terrell who was attending an IEEE computer conference at Asilomar in Pacific Grove and verified the validity of the purchase order. Amazed at the tenacity of Jobs, Terrell assured the credit manager if the computers showed up in his stores Jobs would be paid and would have more than enough money to pay for the parts order. The two Steves and their small crew spent day and night building and testing the computers and delivered to Terrell on time to pay his suppliers and have a tidy profit left over for their celebration and next order. Steve Jobs had found a way to finance his soon-to-be multimillion-dollar company without giving away one share of stock or ownership.

The machine had only a few notable features. One was the use of a TV as the display system, whereas many machines had no display at all. This was not like the displays of later machines, however; text was displayed at a terribly slow 60 characters per second. However, this was still faster than the teleprinters used on contemporary machines of that era. The Apple I also included bootstrap code on ROM, which made it easier to start up. Finally, at the insistence of Paul Terrell, Wozniak also designed a cassette interface for loading and saving programs, at the then-rapid pace of 1200 bit/s. Although the machine was fairly simple, it was nevertheless a masterpiece of design, using far fewer parts than anything in its class, and quickly earning Wozniak a reputation as a master designer.

Joined by another friend, Ronald Wayne, the three started to build the machines. Using a variety of methods, including borrowing space from friends and family, selling various prized items (likecalculators and a VW bus) and scrounging, Jobs managed to secure the parts needed while Wozniak and Wayne assembled them. But the owner of the Byte Shop was expecting complete computers, not just printed circuit boards. The boards still being a product for the customers Terrell still paid them.[5] Eventually 200 of the Apple I’s were built.

 

Why I’m sharing my personal email from @BarackObama. #BO

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This is not a political post – it is a social media post. My email from President Obama – and others are shared below. Read on for the details.

Politicians (or better yet – their political campaigns) are showing us some great case studeis on social media.

Social Media overload is something that can be debated for sure. And as social media grows at different rates for different people at various geographic locations and cultures around the globe, the depth and pervasiveness of it is relevant.

Having said that, I am seeing a shift in the social aspect of social media.  I have shared before that this may be the time that Warhol was speaking of – everyone’s 15 minutes of fame may be happing now – because it can and everyone seemingly wants their time.

I have also stated that I believe social media is as perfect an oxymoron as JumboShrimp.  Social by it’s very nature is human interaction. Conversely, media by it’s nature is primarily about broadcasting.

Social media then, in its best form finds the balance – right? The social woven eloquently within the media. The nuance of retweets, comments, likes, digital conversations, texts and even face to face, event based, word-of-mouth all wound up into the media – the broadcasting of the overall (long-term) marketing efforts intended.

But the social aspect may be losing.
7_00_12

I saw this ad inviting little ol me to have dinner with the President and just had to click.  I wanted to see where it took me. And that started the inspiration for this post.

I then recieved emails from Barack, Michelle, VP Joe, John Kerry, David Axelrod, and a host of others.

Click on an ad, and you’re in their sights!  They use the term “Friend”, they sign-off with just a first name, the seemingly personal invite to a birthday party, dinner? Sometimes 3-4 emails in one day – do you buy this anymore? And I’ll say it again – I’m not making a political statement… it is a social media observation – I am getting at here.

A campaign is media but it is not social. Some will buy into it, they likely would have bought into it anyway.

When the media turns social – now THAT is when it can have influence.

You see – I think social media worked liked this 4-5 years ago really well, in fact it worked well for the presidential race back then. There was still a newness to the social media space. But since that time, Twitter, Facebook, and all of the others have exploded in terms of use – and now those using and more importantly consuming are smarter or perhaps more cynical and jaded than they once were.

Sure, the campaign is probably working, but this along with the use of social media in the Olympics shows a sign that the social may be lost to the media in some of the grand-scale (campaigns).

Now I will contradict myself. As horrific and tragic as some of the news has been in the middle east the past year or so, social media has had and continues to have a massive role in that process. Which speaks to the point that when there is a common thread among a large population, social media can unite quicker than anything we have ever seen before.

See multi-page PDF of screen grabs showing some of the emails received over the past 45 days.

SocialMediaPolitics.pdf Download this file

Social Media? – The social is still primary before the media. We need to all remember that. Social media is a tool that can be effective if/when used properly.

Infographic

 

Why I’m sharing my personal email from @BarackObama. #BO

/ John Ayers / Leave a comment

This is not a political post – it is a social media post. My email from President Obama – and others are shared below. Read on for the details.

Politicians (or better yet – their political campaigns) are showing us some great case studies on social media.

Social Media overload is something that can be debated for sure. And as social media grows at different rates for different people at various geographic locations and cultures around the globe, the depth and pervasiveness of it is relevant.

Having said that, I am seeing a shift in the social aspect of social media.  I have shared before that this may be the time that Warhol was speaking of – everyone’s 15 minutes of fame may be happing now – because it can and everyone seemingly wants their time.

I have also stated that I believe social media is as perfect an oxymoron as JumboShrimp.  Social by it’s very nature is human interaction. Conversely, media by it’s nature is primarily about broadcasting.

Social media then, in its best form finds the balance – right? The social woven eloquently within the media. The nuance of retweets, comments, likes, digital conversations, texts and even face to face, event based, word-of-mouth all wound up into the media – the broadcasting of the overall (long-term) marketing efforts intended.

But the social aspect may be losing.
7_00_12
I saw this ad inviting little ol me to have dinner with the President and just had to click.  I wanted to see where it took me. And that started the inspiration for this post.

I then recieved emails from Barack, Michelle, VP Joe, John Kerry, David Axelrod, and a host of others.

Click on an ad, and you’re in their sights!  They use the term “Friend”, they sign-off with just a first name, the seemingly personal invite to a birthday party, dinner? Sometimes 3-4 emails in one day – do you buy this anymore? And I’ll say it again – I’m not making a political statement… it is a social media observation – I am getting at here.

A campaign is media but it is not social. Some will buy into it, they likely would have bought into it anyway.

When the media turns social – now THAT is when it can have influence.

You see – I think social media worked liked this 4-5 years ago really well, in fact it worked well for the presidential race back then. There was still a newness to the social media space. But since that time, Twitter, Facebook, and all of the others have exploded in terms of use – and now those using and more importantly consuming are smarter or perhaps more cynical and jaded than they once were.

Sure, the campaign is probably working, but this along with the use of social media in the Olympics shows a sign that the social may be lost to the media in some of the grand-scale (campaigns).

Now I will contradict myself. As horrific and tragic as some of the news has been in the middle east the past year or so, social media has had and continues to have a massive role in that process. Which speaks to the point that when there is a common thread among a large population, social media can unite quicker than anything we have ever seen before.

See multi-page PDF of screen grabs showing some of the emails received over the past 45 days.
Social Media? – The social is still primary before the media. We need to all remember that. Social media is a tool that can be effective if/when used properly.

Infographic

 

@medium introduces me to @BeyondMeat

/ John Ayers / Leave a comment
Have read about and now just signed up for @medium.

If you’re not familiar yet, you might be very soon.

A new social publishing tool “brought to you by” – well it’s Obvious. 🙂

While poking around a bit in the semi-launched service I was immediately inspired by the user experience, simplicity and beauty of both.

The name medium – is about seeking a niche between the 140 character world of twitter or the quick Facebook post space — and the personal branding of full-time long-form blogging.

Am interested to learn more how the positive feedback will work.

If I understand it, a reader/viewer can provide positive feedback to a post that is within a particular “collection”. The more positive feedback a post gets, the higher that it will rise and therefore – be more prominently displayed/presented on the screen(page). Makes sense.

The collections will be interesting too. Here are some details as @medium describes:

“Posting on Medium (not yet open to everyone) is elegant and easy, and you can do so without the burden of becoming a blogger or worrying about developing an audience. All posts are organized into “collections,” which are defined by a theme and a template. (For example, this post is in the About Medium collection with a simple article template.)

We believe that good design supports the purpose (not just the appeal) of content, so Medium is diverse in look and feel—ranging from different types of articles to images to, eventually, much more.

Collections are sometimes closed (like this one) but optionally open to contributions. For example, here’s an open collection of crazy stories. Here’s one of nostalgic photos.

Collections give people context and structure to publish their own stories, photos, and ideas. By default, the highest-rated posts show up at the top, helping people get the most out of their time in this world of infinite information.

Together, the contributions of many add up to create compelling and useful experiences. You may be inspired to post one time or several times a day—either way is okay. If you’re more ambitious, you might create a collection of your own.

Can’t help to read between the lines that they have big far-reaching plans based on what they’ve learned.

Check it out
Medium.com
Stay tuned.

And if @medium would like to include me in their beta-testing friends & family plan. I’m interested.

@medium introduces me to @BeyondMeat

/ John Ayers / Leave a comment

Screen_shot_2012-09-12_at_9

Have read about and now just signed up for @medium.

If you’re not familiar yet, you might be very soon.

A new social publishing tool “brought to you by” – well it’s Obvious. 🙂

While poking around a bit in the semi-launched service I was immediately inspired by the user experience, simplicity and beauty of both.

The name medium – is about seeking a niche between the 140 character world of twitter or the quick Facebook post space — and the personal branding of full-time long-form blogging.

Am interested to learn more how the positive feedback will work.

If I understand it, a reader/viewer can provide positive feedback to a post that is within a particular “collection”. The more positive feedback a post gets, the higher that it will rise and therefore – be more prominently displayed/presented on the screen(page). Makes sense.

The collections will be interesting too. Here are some details as @medium describes:

“Posting on Medium (not yet open to everyone) is elegant and easy, and you can do so without the burden of becoming a blogger or worrying about developing an audience. All posts are organized into “collections,” which are defined by a theme and a template. (For example, this post is in the About Medium collection with a simple article template.)

We believe that good design supports the purpose (not just the appeal) of content, so Medium is diverse in look and feel—ranging from different types of articles to images to, eventually, much more.

Collections are sometimes closed (like this one) but optionally open to contributions. For example, here’s an open collection of crazy stories. Here’s one of nostalgic photos.

Collections give people context and structure to publish their own stories, photos, and ideas. By default, the highest-rated posts show up at the top, helping people get the most out of their time in this world of infinite information.

Together, the contributions of many add up to create compelling and useful experiences. You may be inspired to post one time or several times a day—either way is okay. If you’re more ambitious, you might create a collection of your own.

Can’t help to read between the lines that they have big far-reaching plans based on what they’ve learned.

Check it out
Medium.com
Stay tuned.

And if @medium would like to include me in their beta-testing friends & family plan. I’m interested.