Kindle is developing a feature allowing readers to query authors (@author). I have been attempting to get my past publisher to understand this possibility for years. Technology allows opportunities for blurring the lines among traditional roles – say student, teacher, content developer. I imagine more roles and more possible opportunities for interaction. You are starting to see some of this – e.g., readers can see things other readers highlighted in some forms of online content (Kindle again). What if teachers who used the same content had a more convenient way to share some of their ideas for implementation? etc.
I spend huge quantities of time writing stuff in Google docs and I must admit I learned something new and helpful about docs I should have known this evening (yes my wife did bring this to my attention). There must be a lesson here somewhere – experience does not always translate as understanding, listen to the woman (I think that is a line from a movie), etc.
It seems that in docs you can get some of the same info you would get from a dictionary or thesaurus (a difficult word to spell) by selecting a word and using command, shift, Y (on the mac). Brings up a dialog box with word info.
THE Journal claims that Google is evaluating adding Google + to the Google apps for schools package. Seems like a good use of Circles to control sharing. Will the software then be modified in some ways so that the potential population of “friends” will be controlled?
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For a while now, the trend in generating content online has been away from software on a computer owned by an author and toward online content creation sites. For example, you do not need to own software to blog. You use a browser to connect to a site allowing you to write and integrate multimedia. Some blog sites allow the creation of pages (instead of posts) allowing the generation of something more akin to a web site. Google sites, etc. offers a browser-based approach to creating a web site.
Adobe appears to be interesting in revisiting the older model. They have just announced Muse which appears to be what might be described as a “drag and drop” authoring environment. With Apple pretty much abandoning iWeb, I am certainly glad to see that a company is still developing tools for the “hobbyist designer”. These tools used to exist (anyone remember PageMill) and I still like the idea. The related challenge is going to be “hosting” – I wonder if Adobe will also provide a hosting service of some type.
I do not like the funding model which basically requires you to rent access by the month.
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Blogger and photographer Thomas Hawk posted recently contended that Google + would soon provide the opportunity for Google to overtake Flickr as the digital photography destination of choice. Hawk provides two contrasting galleries of his own pictures in support of his claim.
I do like Google’s Picasa and I do understand that Google seems to be consolidating services (perhaps Picasa with the photo service in Google +, hangout and the videoconferencing feature of chat) and focusing its offerings elsewhere. I still prefer Flickr to the Google services. The “does not count against space allocation” feature of Google + photos gives me trouble. I don’t like a service that has a built in crop feature that messes with my images. I will still pay $25 a year to store my photos in the form factor I prefer.
Hawk does make some other points I consider more damaging. He claims Google is now “interested” in photo storage and sharing and is making constant upgrades. He claims Flickr has offered little new since 2004. I cannot evaluate these claims, but, if true, innovation is certainly a factor in maintaining user interest. I think Google + is focused (get it, a photography pun) on digital images because uploads from phones are so popular for Facebook users and Google wants to compete in the social networking space. Flickr may have little to do with the commitment to images.
I hope Flickr holds on – Yahoo! based or otherwise. Multiple players are important in the online innovation process. I would rather see this as Flickr and Google + Photo than as Google + photo and Facebook.
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