Apple's thoughts on Flash

Very interesting posting by Apple.

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

With the demise of the PC as we know it now looming in the future, we should pay a close eye on where technology is heading. I don’t read this as Flash will not be successful in the long run, but I do believe that Flash will need to respond through their own software releases. All in all we want to follow these things closely so that we can develop for the trend and not find ourselves converting because we chose beta when everyone else chose vhs.

One problem that I face in developing in HTML5 is that a lot of user base I run into in elearning would not have the browser support for that. Given that I field support issues from clients using IE 5.5, it may take some time before I can introduce an HTML5 based course into my development. However, to develop for mobile learning it does seem that HTML5 may have the upper hand based solely on the expanding consumer base of Apple devices.

iPhone for education case study

Great Article discussing Abilene Christian University's implementation of the iPhone to enhance education.

In class the iPhone allows for anonymous student polling and quizzing. It also connects students with class notes or access to web resources so that students can look up anything they are not fulling understanding as they listen to the lecture.

Outside of class the iPhone has apps to "turn in homework, look up campus maps, watch lecture podcasts and check class schedules and grades".

It's ideas like this that really make me believe that the iPhone/iTouch is the next Personal Computer. What we have now is a smaller portable processor, with its own platform for application development, and constantly connected to the network. I would not be surprised that in five years, you'll walk into work or school, throw your iWhatever on your desk, turn on your wireless Monitors, start navigating using your wireless mouse and keyboard and when you're done pick up you iDevice and walk away.

Is your infrastructure planning for the future?

Apple Tackle Education

A very short article posted at gizmodo about a possible holiday release of a brand new Apple product: http://gizmodo.com/5335942/an-insider-on-the-apple-tablet

Obviously the key quote here:

But it will come in two editions, one with a webcam and one for educational use

Unfortunately, it looks like that's as far as that information goes, although a little trip down the rabbit hole of comments and we get this totally unreliable addition:

The educational version checks out. I got some insider info that said Apple recently started an Education division (without anyone really noticing) and poached a former honcho from Microsoft education to head it up.

My source also said that Apple employees have been told to be excited for something in September...

They're seriously looking into educational uses for their iPhone OS so it looks like the tablet is a-go.

Assuming that the actual product itself is real, I can completely see students roaming campuses with these tablets. The immediate use that comes to mind is to completely blow Kindle out of the water, but I'm sure Apple has something much more inventive in mind as always....

A fun little rumor, but don't be surprised if there's going to be a new demand in elearning for iTablet App Developers.