We need to learn quickly to keep up with the massive change around us so we don't get run over. We need to outrun change.
radical changes taking place around us now
Check out the photo –
Thanks to capitalism all of these things now fit in your pocket.
If you wanted to move those things from one room to another, it would take half a dozen trips back then.
Continue reading “14 bulky electronics gadgets from 1980 fit in your pocket today”
I finished listening to two series of lectures from Great Courses. This is the first time I’ve used their material. They have great stuff.
I’ve long thought that the concept of taking their recorded, college-level lectures and adding a reading list plus a test could produce a high-quality, college-level class. I’m more convinced now than before.
The courses were presented by subject experts. Even with my above average level of knowledge on these two topics, I learned a lot and was stretched intellectually.
The courses were Continue reading “Recorded lectures are a great starting point for online education”
Several times recently I was wondering about the meaning of a phrase in common use. Spent a couple of minutes searching the ‘net and learned.
When I get a cold call from a potential client, first thing I do is check out their website and browse the 990. Then I return the call.
It is so easy to get simple information.
That’s the whole point of the post from Seth Godin earlier this week. In his post, The curious imperative, he says: Continue reading “If you don’t know something, it is so easy to look it up”
Via Meadia talks about new tech that could go around the traditional credit card payment model: Startups Threaten Visa and MasterCard.
He mentions this article at Quartz: Why the two hottest US startups in payments might collaborate to marginalize Visa and MasterCard
Here’s the short version:
Continue reading “Disruptions on the near horizon for Visa and Mastercard”
The technology is in its infancy, yet bioengineers are creating human tissue through computerized adaptive manufacturing, or 3-D printing right now. Today.
A Wall Street Journal article, Printing Evolves, An Inkjet for Living Tissue, has details.
Scientists can build tissue, such as a blood vessel, one dot of tissue at a time, just like other 3-D printing applications. Around the tissue a separate nozzle places a water-soluble gel, called hydrogel, that works like a mold to hold the tissue in place until the dots of tissue knit together. After the printing is done, the tissue is stored in a solution that provides nutrients. Then after a few weeks to stabilize, the hydrogel is washed away.
There is a lot of change education. Huge online classes. Electronic textbooks incorporating ‘net technology.
Here is a survey of 10 developments and an initial assessment of which won’t go anywhere and which are huge hits. The article is Many-to-One vs. One-to-Many: An Opinionated Guide to Education Technology, by Arnold Kling.
The key distinction Mr. Kling perceives will produce the most change is adjusting away from the one-to-many model where one teacher or professor lectures to a group. The new concept he suggests is many-to-one, which he describes as: Continue reading “Survey of changes in education technology and preliminary assessments”
Way cool. DARPA is working on some amazing things. A robotic cheetah that currently can run 28 miles an hour. Also, a robotic pack mule that can walk over rough terrain, obey simple instructions, and follow its leader (master?) without instructions. It can right itself if it tips over. A dog that can walk across a rocky surface, up a 45% snow-covered hill, or carry 400 pounds:
Check out the National Geographic article, Animals Inspire New Breed of War Robots.
Check out the pack mule:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xY42w1w0TWk#t=21s]
Check out the cheetah: Continue reading “Robotic cheetah, pack mule, and dog”
We Take Your Class is a web service that offers to have a tutor take your online test or complete an online project. They can even take your entire online course.
Wow. Cheating for hire.
You can find them here on your own.
Their pitch:
We need to work really hard to stay ahead of the massive change taking place. That’s the concept of this blog. Mark Schaefer points out that the rising use of mobile phones is reducing some of the effective parts of blogging.
Wow! Yet more change. This time affects bloggers, who otherwise are fairly well advanced on the coping-with-change curve.
In Five ways the mobile revolution impacts your blog, he explains an increasing number of people use the smart phone as primary access to the ‘net. That small screen drops out a lot of information that appears on a full-screen.
Continue reading “Now massive change is starting to undercut the effectiveness of blogging”
In this economy, it is difficult for employers to keep providing great benefits. Check out this email from Mikey’s Funnies. It just might explain why the benefits package from your employer isn’t really great and might even be shrinking.
today’sFUNNY===========================
A woman, searching for a job, inquired about the benefits. The Personnel Manager informed her they had group health and life insurance, but the costs were deducted from the employee’s pay.
She said, “My last employer had full health coverage, as well as five years salary for life insurance and a month’s sick leave AND they paid the full premiums.”
Continue reading “One possible reason your benefits package at work might be shrinking”
I’ve been wanting to start commenting on the big changes in on-line education. Wanted to introduce the ideas as a part of a big series of posts I have in mind, but change is running far faster than my limited time to write. So I’ll start commenting before having chance to introduce the overarching idea….
Two economists, Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok, have started an on-line college. Marginal Revolution University will offer their first class on Development Economics starting October 1st.
The professors are structuring their curriculum for the online environment from scratch. Videos will be recorded uniquely for the course and will be structured in short, five-minute blocks.
Here is a short description of the course:
Emma, the child in the video, was born with a disease that means she can’t lift her arms. Available technology helps but is too heavy for her. Looks like the equipment isn’t very mobile.
The manufacturer used 3-D printing to make parts light enough for this little girl to move her arms and mobile enough for her to go everywhere with it.
From the YouTube link:
Two-year-old Emma wanted to play with blocks, but a condition called arthrogryposis meant she couldn’t move her arms. So researchers at a Delaware hospital 3D printed a durable custom exoskeleton with the tiny, lightweight parts she needed.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoZ2BgPVtA0&feature=player_detailpage#t=122s]
Continue reading “3-D printing of exoskeleton for child who is no longer immobilized”
What can get in the way of developing a social media platform in your organization?
The Social Media Minefield: Five factors blocking your success is a great post by Mark Schaefer describing five obstacles.
The takeaway is you need to figure out the obstacles in your organization to developing a social media platform. Then you can figure out a plan to remove them.
He sees five very common obstacles routinely encountered in organizations: Continue reading “5 internal obstacles that block social media progress”
3-D printing is already being used for some airplane parts. A Wall Street Journal article, Next 3-D Frontier: Printed Plane Parts, provides details (behind paywall).
Here are some details on the types of parts currently printed: Continue reading “3-D printing of airplane parts”
Ever play with maple seeds? They have a flat, blade-like tail. When they fall, the tail creates lift, generating spin, and the seed floats to the ground quite some distance from the tree.
They were fun to play with when I was a kid. Throw them in the air and they slowly spin to the ground like helicopter in auto-rotation.
Lockheed Martin has developed drones based on the same concept. A small propeller on the end of the tail creates a controllable, rapid spin which allows the drone to fly. A fixed camera on the drone is synchronized to the spin to produce a very stable view from the drone.
Check out this video:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=n_q_DD_4LNg]
The drone could be scaled down to a small size for recon.
Continue reading “Scaleable drones based on how a maple seed flies”