What is Dual Coding?

The following video describes dual coding theory as well as cognitive load. The point of the video is briefly explain the main concepts around this theory. For more in depth analysis I would suggest the literature and in fact I will post some that I have written. Also, here is the image I used in the video if anyone would like to use it (for educational purposes citing me of course).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwHaq3xlNdA]

dual coding

 

 

Is Google taking over the world?

I have mentioned this before, but yes, I believe Google is taking over too much. I love their products, and I love the fact that many are free but I wonder if they are doing too much without putting focus in certain areas. Here are some of main things google controls/owns:

Google Search
Youtube
Android/Droid
Google+
Google Maps
Google Docs
Google Wallet
Google Earth
Google Scholar
Blogger

Now there are many more. But how many of you can say you are not using at least one of these? Every one of us is using a Google product in our daily lives. Do I get scared when a company has this much control? Yes. Do I like what Google is doing? Yes. So having said that I think it’s good to keep an eye on Google’s motives and make sure they keep a good course as they currently are.

How to use HTML5 to publish mobile apps to apple and android app stores

Yes it is possible use HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript to make mobile apps that are published to Apple and Android app stores. I have mentioned it before. However, it is not as seamless as one would like. You unfortunately have to use 3rd party software to do it.

However, the great thing is that the 3rd party software is pretty good, and opensource. One such software and probably the most popular is called Phonegap (http://phonegap.com/).

Now the main question is when will Apple and Android support HTML5 and allow everyone to publish these kind of apps without using 3rd party software? As of right now both google and apple are hard at work pushing their own agendas and leaving HTML5 is the dust – and yes I am aware that both companies say they support html5 but until they stop pushing C/C++ and Java as the only way to build their apps then I will argue they are not pushing HTML5.

PHP Contact Mail Form

I know I have another of these posted on my blog however that one assumes that php global settings is OFF and many servers have it set to ON. So here is one that should work regardless of your server settings. To see an example of this working, just click on the contact page of my website in the links above.

Code:

<html>

<body>

<?php

//if submit button pressed

if(isset($_POST[‘submit’])){

//sending to my email
$name = $_POST[‘name’];
$email = $_POST[’email’];
$comments = $_POST[‘comments’];
$subject = $_POST[‘subject’];
$sql = “‘$name’, ‘$email’, ‘$comments'”;
$em = “‘$subject'”;
mail(‘enterYourEmailAddressHere’, $em, $sql);

echo(“<p>You message has been sent!” . “</p>”);
}
?>

<form name=”form1″ id=”form1″ method=”post” action=”<?=$PHP_SELF?>”>
<p align=”left”><strong>Name:</strong>
<input type=”text” name=”name” />
</p>
<p align=”left”>&nbsp;</p>
<p align=”left”><strong>Email:</strong>
<input type=”text” name=”email” />
</p>
<p align=”left”>&nbsp;</p>
<p align=”left”><strong>Subject:</strong>
<input type=”text” name=”subject” />
</p>
<p align=”left”>&nbsp;</p>
<p align=”left”><strong>Message:</strong>
<textarea name=”comments” cols=”60″ rows=”3″></textarea>
</p>
<p align=”left”>
<input name=”submit” type=”submit” id=”submit” value=”submit” />
<input type=”reset” name=”Submit2″ value=”Reset” />
</p>
</form>

</body>

</html>

Are we overestimating technology use in younger generations?

For this piece, I am speaking about the current undergraduate – 18-22 year old in college, and not computer science majors. My experience is mostly with education and communication majors. Having taught at two different universities in the last several years, and teaching many technology classes, I have had a lot of experience with students of this age their perceptions and experience with technology. So…

I think we believe these students are inundated with technology, are experts, and all have new iPhones. What I am finding in my classes is quite the opposite. Here are my observations:

The students are not inundated with technology in their classes. In fact, many come to my technology classes with a little anxiety because they are going to have to use the computer in new ways. What I find is that many of my students are comfortable using Word and Powerpoint. They can check email and do basic web searches using Google. When I ask who has heard of Google Docs, maybe 1% of the class raises their hands. And this isnt just Google Docs, this goes for many Web 2.0 technologies with the exception of Facebook. Do these students all have new iPhones? I find that in general, less than 50% of my students have smartphones.  In fact, some have hand me down smart phones from their parents. None have ipads but a few have used them because their parents might have one. All of my students have laptops. None have standard desktops. This is not surprising as the cost of laptops has decreased a lot in the last few years. A portion do have Macs which are more expensive.

So what does this all mean? I believe it means that these students are not using every new gadget that comes out. They do not have the money to buy the latest smart phones. And they are not tech experts, in fact, they are just as nervous about new technology as older generations in my opinion. Now will this change? I believe so. I have observed the current elementary/middle school students doing significantly more with technology in the classroom. So I believe in the next 5-10 years the undergrads will be much more technology driven than the current generation.

Having said all of that, there are the students that remind me of myself. They make it a priority to have the latest and greatest. They can recite every popular web 2.0 technology and read blogs such as mashable daily. But these are not the norm. These are the techies:)

HTML5: When will it be ready for prime time?

At this point, HTML5 is not ready to be used, which is why pretty much everyone is NOT using it. I recently did a test of a few of the major HTML5 tags, such as the video tag, one that will be most common, and it failed on more than 50% of the browsers I tested it on. I tested this on firefox, IE, Opera, and Safari for the mac and pc. Then on mobile devices including ipad, iphone, and android froyo. You can test the page yourself by clicking this link. Check to see where it works and does not.

So at this point, I would strongly recommend NOT using HTML5 until is becomes more standardized. Its just full of too many holes. As new browsers get released these holes may become larger or smaller so you really need to just pay attention. W3C has said the standards would be ready by 2014 and you currently can ‘trick’ all browsers into working but honestly I am not going to write code for every browser possibility. That is not the point of HTML5 and if that is the case I might as well use a plug in.

Anyone interested in learning html5 should check out: http://www.w3schools.com/html5/default.asp

And anyone interested in learning more about why HTML5 is not ready for prime time should check out this link. This site describes why youtube is continuing to use flash player and not HTML5: http://www.streaminglearningcenter.com/articles/what-is-html5.html

Apple’s Siri vs Google’s Android Voice Control

Apple’s new iPhone 4s introduced voice to phone communication. At first I was not too impressed with this feature as I have a droid 1 that has had voice to phone communication since 2009. However, after reading about SIRI I realized this was a significant step up from Google’s voice commands but in the end would not be a significant deal breaker for me to switch to iPhone.

What can they both do:

text message
Find location on map
Make phone calls
Play music
Web searches
Email
Open the browser

Now where is the difference? The major difference is that Google voice relies on commands like ‘call john smith on cell’. Whereas SIRI relies on natural language such as ‘call my mother on her cell phone’ You can also ask SIRI questions like ‘what are my meetings for the day’ and SIRI will know to look at your calendar. This would be important for people who cannot remember or do not want to remember the commands. This introduction in AI is a significant step in voice communication with the phone and Apple has a slight advantage. However, I should point out that Android does have 3rd party apps that are supposed to do the same thing as SIRI.

A difference in favor of Android is that SIRI does not give text to speech voice directions like Google voice does. You need a 3rd party app for apple to do that. In light of that, there are rumors that Apple will soon have a good GPS system just like android does.

So overall is SIRI a deal breaker? I think it depends what you want. It seems like either way you can make each phone function the same using 3rd party apps (GPS apps for apple, AI apps for android).

I guess the main question is, are you going to talk to your phone?

Here is a good source with more explanation: http://gigaom.com/mobile/speech-smack-down-siri-vs-android-voice-actions/