Now when just reading the German News Magazin spiegel.de they also wrote an article about this little video/project.
It's not only published at their website but also in the printed magazin "Dein Spiegel", which is especially made for children.
The time gap between my entry and the publishing now shows the advantages of web2.0. But it also makes me a little bit proud to write about such little things that early, which then became famous...
Since years and years expert forecast that TV and Internet emerge. With google.tv and apple.tv also the big players offer services, all big video consoles like playstation or wii offer internet access...
But the user still prefers to have both devices on its own.
Now another service is available and tries to finally bring TV and internet together. boxee.tv is a nice service now also started in Germany.
On the one hand you can buy the boxee box with remote control to run boxee. And on the other hand you can just download the app and install it on a existing computer which is connected to your TV. An app for the iPhone allows you to use your mobile as remote control.
I think especially those two ways of using the system are a really interesting step.
But anyway, i think it will still need some time until every TV is connected to the internet...
Some month ago apple introduced its new macbookair. And every othter company dealing with computer has its own netbook.
The idea: These small versions of laptops have only one purpose: Instead installing software on their own machine the internet browser is the access to software. Why should the computer use its power to calculate and run programs when the internet provides all kind of software without installing on a local machine, accessible from everywhere with every computer.
Cloudcomputing is this idea called, that webbased services are installed on servers instead of your own computer. googledocs is maybe the famoust one.
This trend is some years old, but with spoon comes now a software, which allows you even to run desktop software in the cloud.
You just have to register and can start a lot of wellknown software like skype or secondlife without installing it anymore.
It's a nice service which shows a new way of marketing. Instead of buying a software, maybe even on the good old dvd you more and more take it as service and pay a monthly fee. Especially cloud computing software offers this pricing models. But that's a big field which is worth an own blog entry...
Yesterday we heard another example of "what to do after studies".
This time, Shane Cronin from the DEIS department. For all non-irish: DEIS is the irish word for "oportunity". The DEIS department does research in the area of elearning and is founded by the 7th European Union Framework Programme. At the moment it is staffed by 4 persons.
After a short introduction of his career Shane told us about his daily work. Shane studied Mutlimedia App Development (dipl.), then made his Bachelor of Arts Honor at the CIT in Multimedia. After 2 years working experience as freelancer for Food's kool at the West Cork Leader and Safe Food Ireland he came back to the CIT to work as app developer for the elearning department.
The elearning department works for both, commercial project and European research projects.
As we already heard a lot about research projects Shane focused his presentation more at the commercial projects and showed us examples, how such projects work.
The projects usually have 6 steps:
Brief from client
Quotation
Contract
Project work begins
Client Review
Sign Off
Elearning is not just distance learning for further education. It can also mean to explain a product to customers. Those explanation videos are often seen on homepages where start-ups explain there services (e.g. dropbox, prezi)
Shane gave us an example of the AIB Merchant Services system, which AIB offers in cooperation with zapatag. Zapatag is a bonus point system (an RFID chip on the customer's mobile), which brings customers discounts and the store owners detailed data about their customers and their shopping habbits. But why should I explain it when the DEIS department created a video. But before watching it, Shane explained us the steps before, showed us the storyboard, the voice over, so it was quite interesting to see the finished product, which is now embedded at the AIBms.com homepage. But also in my blog:
Another example which was more elearning in the classical sense was the production of elearning videos for the staff of the postbank, to teach them in new products.
The videos are mainly made in flash, in case of the postbank example there was also real video, shooted in a studio in a bluescreen.
But the production of the videos/animation is the last step. Im comparision to normal video production much more effort is neseccary to put in the concept, that the viewers really understand and learn, what the video wants to teach.
University kills free economy?
After those examples we had a lively discussion, lead by the freelancers of our masters course, if the trend, that the CITs do commercial project weaks the small companies and freelancers. CITs get their equipement by the government to do research. When doing commercial projects, the can perform much cheaper and efficient then a normal company, which is a damage for the normal economy, especially small media companies.
Again I enjoyed the input, because I never thought about working in such an area.
Maybe it's a little bit boring, but what I read today is that strange, that I have to write about it.
Like the Newspaper "der Westen" (the west) published today, "fans" of google throw eggs against walls of pixelated houses and put letters in the postbox with the creative text: "google's cool".
Especially in cities where many flats are in one house the concern of one tenant is enough to pixelate the house. That his housemates may see their house online doesn't count.
One tenant was obvoisly really angry about that fact and wrote a letter, which get's quite famous.
The letter says: Dear tentants, as at least one of the tentants living in that house is concerned, that his privacy could be destroyed by google street view I will to protect your privacy not longer accept packages for others. I fight for your privacy!
But all discussion and punishment doesn't lead to any success, cause google pixelated the raw data, so there is no way to unpixelate the houses.
Next blog entry will defentely be about something else then google street view... Hopefully...
One of my favourite topics is the launch of google street view in Germany. As I mentioned already, on the one hand, house owners who feel disturbed in their privacy can apply, that their house will be pixelated by google. But, on the other hand, every private person can take pictures of streets and houses and publish them in the internet. And as many online picturedatabases are linked with google maps (e.g. panoramio), you can also see were the picture is made.
So some very clever people combined both and suddenly, you can see pixeled houses again, like this example in Berlin shows. First, you see only the pixelated house, but in the top you can click on a small picture and then you got the original view:
House first pixelated, then visible by a picture of Panoramio.
Comment: Midwhile the picture is removed. But when clicking on "photos" in the right corner you can see another perspective of the house.
