That'll learn ya!

Technology is changing the face of education in a fairly dramatic fashion. Most of today’s Uni-goers get the options of streaming lectures, podcasts and vodcasts, plus a whole host of other online tools for them to pick and choose from. But there’s another revolution happening, one that the rest of us can benefit from. Called School of Everything, it’s a kind of social network that helps teachers of all shapes and sizes connect with those that need their services. 

Having recently tried to get hold of a local Swedish teacher (to converse with the in-laws) here in Sydney, it was bloody frustrating. I eventually found a leaflet in the Swedish embassy when I managed to make it there before the 12pm closing time….I think you’re getting my point…..This type of service would be incredibly useful. 

I’ve not signed-up yet, but I hope they incorporate a lot of feedback into the site – like recommendations for teachers.  I’ve also heard that they are going to have a payment system on the site at a later date, allowing you to pay for courses and additional lesions/lectures more easily.    

MyTake – It sounds like a pretty great site and the idea of having a number of different teachers and resources in one searchable place is a huge plus. Most people have a list of things that that want to learn but have put-off for years because they either couldn’t find the right teacher, it wasn’t convenient, or it was simply too much of a task to try and sort it out. By combining the best elements of a social network (sharing) with a receptive audience, you’re pretty much hitting the nail on the head when it comes to web 2.0 (proving relevant content).

St Paddy goes virtual

The world loves to celebrate St Paddy’s day – usually with a few pints of Guinness. But how about celebrating with a few virtual pints? Tourism Ireland has hosted a virtual St Paddy’s day parade in Second Life featuring up to twenty floats and a treasure hunt around recreated landmarks such as The Guinness Brewery.

MyTake – great move and interesting content, they have really thought about the network and provided residents with something interesting to take part in. We’re seeing a lot more brands getting involved with Second Life, the tipping point can’t be far off.

Tune out and log on

A new survey by UK-based analyst The Future Laboratory has revealed that nearly 25 per cent of 18 to 25-year-olds have ditched the TV in favour of networking on the web. The research also found that 22 per cent said they wee playing less video games, while 25 per cent spent more time instant messaging.

MyTake – The battle for eyeballs is become fierce and TV is going to lose-out if it can’t offer a bigger variety of content. Since the advent of digital we’ve had a lot more choice in what we watch in terms of free-to-air and the pay-to-view guys have been making inroads for years with movies and sports, but they still can’t offer the depth and breadth of content that the internet can. They need to stop thinking linier and start thinking access – they need to provide content on an “I want” basis, just as the net does. The big thing in TV’s corner – they have some killer content, they just need to change the distribution model.

The Sleeveface phenomenon

Yes, it's just a fad, but it’s a cool, creative fad. Sleeveface, which started in a Cardiff bar and since become a global phenomenon, involves people putting record sleeves in front of their face and taking a picture - so the face on the sleeve becomes theirs, check out the pic.

John Rostron is one of the original guys behind it and said it all started when he and some mates were DJ-ing at Cafe Bar Europa in Cardiff. They started to mess around with album sleeves, holding a couple of them up in front of their faces. A couple of pictures later, Sleeveface was born.

Now with its own website and a strong presence on Facebook, something that started as a few mates messing around has fans in the USA, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, Iceland, Israel and the UK all posting Sleeveface pictures.

MyTake – This is exactly what User Generated Content is all about – fun, inclusive and shareable. I also love the fact that they have started a Social Network within a Social Network through their Facebook page. Older generations often question the worth of the Social Networks, but by asking that question, they have already missed the point – the answer is simple – there doesn’t need to be a point.

The Book beats the Space in Aus

Alright - so I'm a bit late posting on this.  But the news is that it's all about the book and not the space.  What I mean is that Aussies prefer Facebook to MySpace, at least that's what a new survey commissioned by B&T says.  According to the results, 23 per cent of respondents favored Facebook compared to just 11.5 per cent for MySpace, while YouTube came in with 11.5 per cent and Bebo at 2.6 per cent.  Perhaps the more interesting figure from the study is that over 40 per cent of respondents stated that they didn't visit any social networking sites - which basically means there's a hell of a lot of room for growth.  

My Take - Facebook has struck a chord with users offering them a unique blend of functionality, flexibility, privacy and....fun. Build it and they will come, put on a party, and they'll stay.   

Let it be.....heard in space

When the Beatles wrote Across the Universe, I wonder if they thought that someday, someone would take that literarily. To mark NASA's 50th anniversary, the Beatles classic, Across the Universe, will be the first song ever to be directly beamed into space. The song will be beamed out via the Deep Space Network and will be aimed at the North Star, Polaris - 431 light-years from Earth. Sir Paul gave the project two thumbs up sending the following message to the boys at NASA: "Well done, Nasa," he added. "Send my love to the aliens. All the best, Paul."

My Take - I don't think we're going to see any major scientific breakthroughs here, but hey, it's a pretty cool thing to do. And who knows, maybe the Deep Space Network will become the universe's first social network - we share Beatles music and someone sends us back the secret of immortality.

At Last.FM, some sense

Last.fm, the Social music network has agreed deals with both major and indie record labels to let fans listen to the music they want, when they want - without payment. The Deals Will allow fans in the US, Britain and German to stream music for free or pay to download MP3s via Amazon.com.

The new steaming scheme is entirely funded by ad revenue and fans get to listen to each song on the website up to three times before being urged to purchase a copy.

It's been six years since Lat.fm started trying to broker deal with music companies, Last.fm co-founder Martin Stiksel remarked "They wouldn't even take our calls back then"

My take - another win for the consumer, it appears that the music industry is waking up and modernising. MC Lars had a point.

My(Parents)Space

A Melbourne teen by the name of Corey who has an unhealthy obsession with his sunglasses (and a pink doona with fairies on it!) held a party at his parents place, using the open invite function on MySpace. The invite saw more than 500 teenagers descend on the quiet street to attend the party which resulted in the police being called.

"It was just an open house party and a lot of people came and it overflowed on to the street," Corey said. "The cops came and told all the people to quiet down and get inside. It just kept getting bigger and bigger. There were people bottling cars and the whole streets were flooded with people. We knew we'd get about 200 but there was probably about 300, 400 easily."

Corey's parents, who were on holiday, have cut short their trip to head home and deal with situation. But Corey doesn't care - he can't quite see what all the fuss is about and when interviewed on Channel 9's A Current Affair, he refused to say sorry and refused to take off his colourful glasses. When asked what his advice would be for other would-be party organises using MySpace, he said he'd be happy to organise a party for others.

Outtake - kids have been doing this for years, it's nothing new. What it does show is the power of Social Networks and their validity among this age group - not that I am condoning what he did...I never did anything stupid when I was a kid....never......

Social networking hits snooze...

This does seem a bit crazy to me, but a new social networking site has started up which is "The first sleep and wake up social networking site, where your friends' alarm messages wake you up! check it out http://sleep.fm/beta

Crazy or just the way of the future? I for one am starting to have memories of the madness of the 90's where everything had to have a dot.com. Interestingly enough this article posted in November last year shows that we probably still not learning form all those mistakes http://www.insidecrm.com/features/20-worst-vc-investments-111907/

My take - jump on the band wagon if you want, but bring an idea to there party!