Thanksgiving Unplugged

I love Thanksgiving!  I find it very easy to recall many wonderful memories of my childhood spent in rich and living color with my family as celebrated this holiday.  And every year is a new chance to add to those memories by SHARING the time away from work and school with each other which of course now includes my own children.

All to often today sharing is defined by my last update on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, not as being present.

Last week I read a blog by Randi Zuckerberg the former CMO of Facebook titled Stop Sharing on Thanksgiving .  Her suggestion of unplugging on Thanksgiving is very appealing and the more I thought about it the more it made sense.

I don’t want to be a father that speaks to his son through Instagram … although I have done it before when I busted him for having his iPod when he was grounded but that is a different story.  (You’re grounded why would you post updates on Instragram where I’m following you?)

This is Thanksgiving and spending time together is important … in fact spending time with those we love if probably the most important thing we do.  It shows we are thankful for the opportunity to do so.  If my time and attention is taken away by thumbing through several hundred “Happy Thanksgiving” messages from friends what am I saying to my family … It says that someone who I’m linked to on Facebook just because we happened to go the same high school 20 years ago is more deserving of my time and attention than you are.  That is something I’m not willing to say.

So I’m unplugging for Thanksgiving.  No Facebook updates, no Twitter Posts, and perhaps the most difficult … no Fantasy Football Score Updates.  I will have my phone but will be careful to only used it for pictures … pictures of the time spend being with my family.

Happy Thanksgiving to You, I hope you’ll consider sharing your time with your loved ones too.

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Is Google Destroying Learning?

“He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.” –  Friedrich Nietzsche

There was a time when if you wanted to research something you had to go to a library.  I can easily recall the hours of time I would spend at the local county library researching topics for school papers.  The library was probably the very first place my Mother and Father would allow me to stay by myself.  They would drop me off and I would find a corner or chair to call home for the next several hours.  And I would get to work, rifling through the card catalogue, browsing articles in reference materials and spinning my way through news articles on the microfiche machine.

My experience wasn’t unique.  If you were born before 1990 you probably had very similar experiences in middle and high school.  And while we may not have appreciated it at the time we were learning.  Learning to gather information from a variety of resources on a common topic, learning to distill that information into something new that we created … we were actually learning HOW to learn.

Since then the computer age has ushered in a whole new way to access the world’s information, and libraries have become symbols of antiquity.  No longer do you have to spend hours looking through reference indexes to find material, then read it to determine if it contains the necessary information you are looking for.  You no longer have to separate the unrelated material and refine your search.  No Google can do all of that for you in milliseconds.

Case in point, tonight I was “helping” Aiden with his homework.  I use quotes because as I look back I may not have truly been helping at all.

He is working on a chart for his 6^th grade Science class discussing the phases of matter, their properties, as well as describing how the properties change during phase changes.  A project certainly worthy of a little research elbow grease.

But that’s isn’t how he completed it.  No instead he would formulate a series questions based on what he wanted to know and as I watched him, he entered each of his questions into the search box for Google.  Google would use it’s trillions of pages of stored information to locate what it thought was the most relevant answer and Aiden could read two or three sentences and then write down the answer he was looking for.

If for some reason he could not find the answer he needed, he would come over and ask his question to me, just as he had Google.  Before I realized I was being used the same way I use Siri, I would try help him by talking him through the answer but he wasn’t patient enough to not immediately get the answer.  And would start settling for whatever he could find on Google.  In most cases, I believe he got the correct answer but I’m not sure he learned anything accept the answers to potential trivia questions like “At what temperature does water evaporate?”

Is using Google the equivalent of using a Calculator in Math Class?

Don’t get me wrong, I think Google is an amazing tool, but is it creating a bunch of kids who can find the answer to any question but not understand the WHY behind the answer?

As a parent, my research skills were embedded in me in an analog era and I have no idea how to help my sons use these tools to build good learning habits.  They know how to find the answers but can they truly research a question.  How do you balance using the power of modern tools like Google with the need to understand how it works and where it doesn’t?  We’ve had the discussion that “not everything you read on the internet is true.”  But to me that consideration falls short of helping to describe how and why to do better research online.

After he was done for the night, I grew very concerned about this dilemma and what it could mean for Aiden and our future:  if young people become the best consumers of information but produce little on their own.

I am very interested in your ideas about how you’ve addressed this with your kids or students.  Please consider sharing your insights in the comments below.

iSavants

This morning an interesting headline caught my eye.  It said “The Most Important Skill of the 21st Century”

So naturally as someone who will hopefully work for the first third of the century I decided to check it out, call it self preservation.  Here is a link to the Article ; I was surprised when it said that “Computer Programming” was the skill of the 21st century.  There was one line that really stuck out to me …

[Writing Code] is the new literacy

As a Programmer I found this article very interesting.  But one of the nuances of this finding, that the article does not explore, is that if we agree that Writing Code is the new literacy … is being “Tech Savvy” the new illiteracy?  For many years we’ve known that in order to succeed in the modern economy an individual needed to know how to use a computer … they had to be what was commonly called “Tech Savvy”.  When this term became common place many years ago, it assumed that knowing how to use a computer is something that not everyone did, or could.  It may have been because of environment, access to a computers, training, interest, or because a computer was not easy to use.  Therefore the potential employee that knew how to use a computer was set apart … they were “Tech Savvy”.

But times have changed …

I argue that what was once “Tech Savvy” is no longer good enough, because the computers (phones and tablets) have been designed to hide their technical complexity behind very simple interfaces. In fact every product in Apple’s entire product line is designed to make using it simple, requiring less and less savviness to use with each revision.

Has the movement toward improved UI design in apps created less knowledgeable  users?

My oldest son Aiden is 11.  He can to ANYTHING with an iPod, iPhone or iPad.  He does homework on it, he communicates with his friends through Instagram and posts videos out to his network.  He is by all definitions a true Millennial.  He has never known a world without the internet.  Don’t know something … ask Google, but even now that’s too much work because it requires typing … just ask Siri.  And necessarily repeat the question over and over again until Siri finally understands what you are trying to say.  It really would be easier to type in the question.

These tools are designed so that everyone can do all of these things; today Aiden’s technical abilities are nothing special.   The high degree of designed simplicity and integration have fooled people into believing they know how to use technology.  They are no longer using the technology they are using a developers vision of the technology with no ability to change or modify it.  Ask these iSavants how the technology works and you’ll hear everything from “I don’t know” to “Magic”.  It used to be that USING technology required you to UNDERSTAND technology … but that dependency is no longer true.

In Aiden’s case while he is doing all of these things the moment he gets a pop-up with come kind of error message he calls for my help like an old grandpa.  “What is wrong with this thing!”

I can only imagine how insulated many people will be from the process of computing in the future.  In fact there was an incredible short story written in 1909 called The Machine Stops that predicted mankind’s dependence on machines and simultaneous inability to understand them.  It is an amazing read.

Programming IS the skill of the 21st century, because it provides a level of technical understanding that very few other skills can.  It will tell you how computers work at the most basic and lowest level, how they communicate, how to modify them and how to create entirely new computer services.  But our isolation from the technology is going create fewer and fewer people who have this kind of knowledge and skill.  But while we will know less of it we will become more dependent on it as everything with a microchip in it will require someone to program it.

I’m gonna go see if I can find a computer programming camp for Aiden this Summer, and dust off my old Java books.

A New Look at QR Codes and My Geek Flag

For no other reason the technical curiosity I’ve become very interested in QR Codes over the past few months.  And that is perhaps the Geekiest statement I have ever written.

It was just a couple of years ago that Quick Response or QR Code first gained popularity while at the same time Microsoft was trying to create a proprietary version called Microsoft Tags. There was some debate in the darkest of geeks basements, typically covered in Star Trek Voyager posters, as to whether Tags or QR Codes would be come the standard way of bridging the physical and virtual worlds. And the technical folks among us started including them in the signature blocks or our email and on our business cards. Presumably because entering the information from the card or email into one’s contact folder was too onerous a task to be done manually. But after this initial flutter of activity Microsoft Tags went by the way side and the use of QR Codes slowed.

But very steadily I noticed the reemergence of QR Codes in new and interesting ways. In fact looking at this 2012 Technology Hype Cycle you can see that QR Codes are now moving from the “Trough of Disillusionment” and entering the “Slope of Enlightenment”

New QR Code Use Cases

I was in New Jersey waiting for a movie outside of a pet store. This modern version of the old classic had several very cute puppies in the window. To allow passers by to learn more about the animals and their breed the store had posted QR Codes on the outside glass. When you scanned the code with your smart phone it took you to a web page which had information about the puppy including many of the common questions that patrons ask. It was a pretty smart way to leverage the data they had in a way that helped encourage people to learn more about the “product” the store was selling.

Later in the Summer I was on my annual pilgrimage to South Carolina to buy fireworks (the good kind) for the 4th of July. The fireworks store has monitors up in all the aisles which play videos of each of the fireworks in that aisle going off. This allows us wannabe pyros to see the effects of the firework to know if we want to purchase it.

The problem is you have to wait for several minutes to see the firework you are interested in demonstrated on the video. But this store created QR Codes for each of their fireworks which was posted next to their price on the shelf. When you scanned the QR Code it took you to Youtube where you could see the video for that firework on your cellphone.

Then you could decide whether you wanted to purchase “Hillbilly Armor” for your party. Which you do because it rocks, just like Hillbilly Armor should.

Lastly, I think it was the third Alien movie where Sigourney Weaver’s character debuted a barcode tattoo on the back of her neck. And there have been several interesting uses of Barcode tattoos in the past including:

But are people brave enough to attempt a QR Code Tattoo? If so what would you connect it to? After all making a small error in the wrong spot would make the entire tattoo a failure. But check this out … this is what happens when it goes well:

In fact there was even a tattoo shop that used a QR Code to search for new artists. The published a QR Code with no description which needed to be filled in exactly to work. When any would be artist completed the QR code and scanned it, they found the real ad asking them to apply as a Tattoo artist. Pretty cool.

What other neat uses of QR Codes have you found? Have you seen a Credit Union or Bank using them for a interesting application? It’s beginning to look like retailers have found the right way to use them to share information with consumers and I think we will definitely see more of them.

Don’t Worry There’s an App for Fat

Tags

C25K, Technology

I love the holiday season. It’s a great time to look back on the previous year and think about all we have accomplished. We get to spend more time with our family and friends celebrating the season and making rich new holiday memories.

Unfortunately those memories are often accompanied by buffets of rich food, decadent desserts, holiday parties and lavish luncheons. Pair that with the lack of time for anything that resembles physical activity and we will all gain a few unwanted pounds during this season. Which leads to the next very predictable tradition … New Year’s Resolutions.

Just before I and my team broke for the holidays, I overheard a co-working trying to convince a peer that she should consider training for a 5K that was going to be taking place in April. Wanting to be supportive, I joined in the conversation and in no time at all we had forged the classic “If You Do It, I’ll Do It” challenge. As we continued to discuss how we could get ready for this event our co-worker, who clearly does this a lot more often than us said, “there’s an app that will train for you for a 5K!”

Now I’m a technology guy, which includes the on-again-off-again use of Nike+ applications for training but it had never occurred to me to find an app that included an actual PLAN for training you to go from the Couch to Running a 5K.

So I found the 5K Runner: 0 to 5K Run Training App.

This week I’ve started using this app to get ready for the 5 K in April. I’ve only completed two of the prescribed workouts so far, but can say that the app and the workouts it includes are very well designed. During the workout the app tells you when to start running and when to walk. It’s goal is to safely build you up over time to running the full 5 k. The company that makes this application, makes other as well which include:

And another that promises to build you up from 0 to 200 Situps.

So I’ve decided that while I’m doing the 0 to 5 K Program why not incorporate the other apps for push ups and sit ups as well and use a total fitness program completely driven by my iPhone. I’ll document my results here on Kofacts.com to see if these applications are effective. Are there other apps that I should consider adding to my training program?

Hopefully, I don’t come to loath my phone when it reminds me that I’ve got one more set to do.

Ride the Lightning? That will be $29, please!

Yesterday Apple announced the release of the iPhone 5 which included the revamping of the power and sync connection from a 30 PIN socket to a new branded socket called Lightning. This represents the first time Apple has changed the connector that has existed for 9 years to connect their devices to everything from chargers to clock radios and stereo systems. They announced that there would of course be an adapter that would allow you to continue to use the cords and devices you’ve already purchased.

Today I went online and found this on their store.

Apple wants $29 for the adapter, WHAT?!?!?!?! Are you kidding me? For something that probably costs a $1 to make? No wonder some are saying that Apple could make $100M off the connectors alone. But now they are hearing from their customers on social media who are aghast at the added expenses.

This is a huge opportunity that Apple has squandered. If you assume that they did indeed have to change it to create room in the new device, why not include one adapter in each new iPhone you sell? After all even Dell did that as they were transitioning from a PS2 Keyboard Connection to the USB …. you got an adapter in the box. Their fans would have fallen all over themselves pointing to what could have been a huge customer service win.

Did Lewis and Clark Complain?

It was just a little over 200 years ago that Lewis and Clark set out from St. Louis following the Louisiana Purchase to find the Northwest Passage. The journey would take more than two years and force the Corps of Exploration to endure two harsh winters. Eventually finding the Pacific Ocean near present day Portland, Oregon.

By contrast, today I find myself following nearly the same path … of course I’m jetting from Raleigh, North Carolina to Seattle, Washington in less then 6 hours, while enjoying movies and internet access at 30,000. I wonder if Lewis and Clark complained as much as we might be inclined to about the hardships for our trip? Of course they had to contend with unforgiving weather and hostile native peoples, but come on we’re dealing with crying babies, spilled drinks, slow internet connections and the occasionally un-friendly stewartesses. So what’s become of us? Has our ability to endure been so diminished?

I mean we can post new blog messages from 30,000 as I’m doing right now. What do we have to complain about? We should be amazed at what we can do!

Blogging from 30,000 Feet, K

New Blog Entry Test

This is a test blog entry from my new MacBook Air using the MacJournal application.

I’m adding a photo from our vacation over Thanksgiving. This photo was added with no sizing changes. How does it appear on the site?

I had to change the image sizes manually so they weren’t fixed larger than the page allows.

k

What would you do if you could not fail?

Tags

Technology

This is a truly inspiring video from TED done by Regina Dugan from DARPA.

 

Teleflora – An Epic Social Media #FAIL – Updated!

Three weeks ago red blooded American males were gathered around our TV’s in celebration of that most American event called the Superbowl. The game of course is not only celebrated for the football that will be played, but for the foods that are eaten and the commercials that are run.

Early in the first quarter this ad was played:

Suddenly, hundreds of thousands of men decided they needed to buy flowers for Valentines Day.

Me included, and for the added surcharge you to could “Give” on Valentines Day and make sure your flowers (and chocolates) arrived on the big day.

Fast forward to the big day. I thought it strange that during the day I never got the message from my wife that “The flowers came they are so beautiful ….” instead by the time I got home at 6pm still no flowers. Checked my email nothing from Teleflora about any delays.

But when I checked Twitter there was an explosion of people complaining that Teleflora was emailing them that night and saying that they were not going to be able to deliver their flowers … despite in many cases them being ordered just a few minutes after the airing of their million dollar ad during the Super Bowl.

Screen shots of some of the many complaints that were being aired:

In real time more and more complaints were being added by the second.

It wasn’t in just one place in the country it was happening everywhere.

And all along Teleflora was silent. As a tidal wave of negative publicity was sweeping over Twitter they were silent. And Twitter became a feeding frenzy with links being sent out to media and reporters asking for someone to look into all of the money that Teleflora took from people and never delivered.

I know someone that’s gonna have a tough day. Marvin you should call in sick today, cause you are going to be on BLAST!

So it goes without saying that you should never buy any flowers from Teleflora ever … they can deliver a great Super Bowl ad, but they can’t deliver on the Super Bowl of Flower Days.

Unlike Teleflora every company today has to be monitoring Social Media and when something goes wrong you have to engage.

To see just how big a failure this was, if Teleflora took you money and you didn’t “receive” add your name and order number to the comments section of this blog and we’ll keep a running total of just how many Valentine Days they ruined!