World peace and climate change

Originally uploaded by “Cayusa”

I have received a link to this tongue in cheek article from a number of sources now. It qualifies for one of the definitions of "link bait" (I know, I just linked to it myself. I get the irony!) although comment bait is probably a more accurate description and where I want to focus attention. I got a bit of a chuckle out of the article. It's well written (much better than anything I could produce that's for sure) and I have a soft spot for satire but the comment stream indicates the human race is so far away from anything approaching world peace it's not funny. Give me an extra ear and call me odd but I get super concerned when people have so much emotional investment in a computing platform they feel compelled to comment let alone troll. I'll let you in on a secret people "It's a computing platform". Where not talking oppressive dictatorship, civil war, terrorism, drought or starvation. Just a frickin' computer platform which will be superseded in two or so years time. Value the differences. Better yet, celebrate them.

What's all the fuss about?

There's a lot of hype around the Flip. In fact it seems to me the education world has "Flipped out" (sorry, it was bad, I know) so I'll try to set the record if not straight, at least less crooked.

I recently had the fortune of being asked to run a few flash memory cameras through their paces and compile a critical comparison. The Flip Mino and the Kodak Zi6 were among them. Now I haven't quite understood all the buzz surrounding these things (my Panasonic SD5 ain't much bigger!) so this was a great opportunity for me to see what all the "cool kids" were talking about.

It's important to set the terms of reference at this point. Both devices are being analysed from a "classroom deployment" perspective. The question I was presented with was along the lines of, "I want a class set of compact video cameras, what do I get?" So please note this is a very different question to, "I want to buy a compact video camera for my own use." I will also make this quick. If you want more in depth treatment a number of gadget sites provide ample detail. So here goes.

Video quality

Both cameras record through tiny little lenses so neither perform particularly well in low light conditions. The Zi6 outperforms the Mino in well lt conditions, particularly outdoors, which is no doubt largely due to shooting in HD. The Zi6 also has the "bonus feature" of being able to capture still images. Why the Flip doesn't escapes me. The killer Zi6 feature for the classroom (if taking photos wasn't enough) is the macro function. At the flick of a switch you can get up close and personal with whatever organism or mineral deposit takes your fancy.

Form

The Kodak initially felt much lighter but that was due to having no batteries (it runs on two AA's) With batteries on board there was no noticeable difference. There is very little difference in size as can be seen in the photo.

Usage factors

The version of the Flip I had did not have removable batteries and could only charge via the "flip out" USB connector. This is a deal breaker for school applications requiring a camera to be passed from one class to another through the day with little "charge time." The Flip also lacks an expandable memory slot which is also vital for schools. No card means the Mino is tied up with logging footage as well as capture. In a time precious environment it's much better if you can pop the card and hand hand the camera on. A criticism of the Zi6 is low "on board" storage making it card reliant but when you can score a 4GB SDHC card for AU$13 (at time of writing) your being a bit picky. Students should have their own.

Recommendation

Well it should be clear with HD, macro function, removable AA batteries and SDHC card the Zi6 is an obvious choice for school deployment. Add that it's cheaper and available in pink what more needs to be said? Watch for the Kodak Zi8.

Reely useful, reel possibilities

I heard about ReelDirector by Nexvio on MacBreak Weekly 163 when Leo Laporte made it his "pick of the week." and purchased it almost immediately. (I don't exactly fall into the category of impulse buyer so that should be enough of an endorsement right there!) ReelDirector (available in iTunes store for AU$9.99) is a very capable video editing application that has been released this month for the iPhone 3GS. It covers almost all of the features you could want. Trim video, add titles, transitions and adding and reordering of clips. The only minor complaints are it can't access photos or audio tracks from the iPhone for digital stories and mixing into your projects. But according to Hongyu Ch, president at Nexvio given the lack of API support at the minute from Apple they have done well to get this far and development of the application is continuing.

There are plenty of other sites that will give more detailed description of the features and limitations of ReelDirector so I there is no need for me to repeat stuff here (I believe in outsourcing!) but I am genuinely excited about the impact this application may have, especially for the education market (more on this later).

I strongly recommend ReelDirector to anyone who has ever contemplated shooting video with their iPhone.

The conversations you have

I get the feeling sometimes that people think I just walk around all day at work talking. At times that may be an accurate description but to say we're "just talking" can cheapen the human interaction. For example here is a link was sent to me by a fellow member of staff. Nothing too remarkable there (about me getting the link that is, the topic of the link I have quite strong opinions of!) but here's the background...

"I remember we spoke about this [at a work event] sometime ago"

So what?

Well this was a conversation with a non-teaching member of staff about a topic that perhaps they would not usually need to take an interest in but did as a result of our chat.

So what?!

So the conversations you have are important. They get you thinking. Just as importantly, they can get other people thinking too, which, in an education environment can't be a bad thing. Can it?

Bring back tough love?

Po Bronson on NurtureShock

Embedded video from CNN Video

The basis of the book by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman is a meta-study of the most recent available research on parenting, child development and associated topics. It's been a couple of years in the writing (as books usually are) and I linked to some "in progress" stuff they published online in another blog. There is a lot of buzz on the web surrounding the book and I am quite keen to get my hands on a copy (preferably in audible form!) but it's not due for release in Australia until the end of the year. Now where's that Amazon link...