15.5.12 - Assignment

1. Kickstarter


There is some really crazy stuff on there :-) But there are also pretty cool projects with products I would buy. 
I chose 3 projects I really thought they were interesting.

First one is the "Ringbow" - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/669350010/ringbow-next-generation-gaming-accessory?ref=category

It is a ring that can be used in many different ways. For clicking further in a presentation, for gaming, for surfing, for changing music on your phone... For me the functions I liked the most, are presentation and changing music, in my opinion the rest is not really useful... but thats only my opinion :-)
I will definitely follow this project and see if it gets funded, at the moment it looks like it will.

Second one is the iPen - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ipen/ipen-the-first-active-stylus-for-ipad?ref=category

Well... At first I wanted to write a devastating criticism on that pen because it is against the idea of multitouch and the way an iPad or iPhone should be used. There are so many projects on Kickstarter based on any kinds of pens for smartphones or tablets.
The most funny ones are the ones for Apple products. Why? Well watch this little part of the Keynote of 2007 where the first iPhone was introduced by Steve Jobs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YY3MSaUqMg

As he said: "Who wants a stylus??!!" Thats the reason why people should stop designing pens for Apple products or trying to sell them... Well at least most of these people, because this iPen really isn't that bad I guess. It looks like it could be very useful for artists designing on the iPad as it is really precise.


And the last project I wanted to talk about is Juicies - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/laudowicz/juicies-colorful-cables-for-ipod-iphone-and-ipad?ref=category

It's nothing really special, these are cables for a few Apple devices, so what? They have different colors! Wow amazing :-) It really isn't anything great but the reason why I picked this project is something else. Without knowing about the project on Kickstarter I had already bought one of these cables. It was a offer on eBay and I think I payed 1€ for it. But I think it is not coming from the same person that tried funding them on Kickstarter as my cable was delivered from Hong Kong.
I checked the updates and read the comments and apparently I am right, the project on Kickstarter is finished and was successfully financed but the cables aren't ready to be sold at the moment as the guy who had the idea is working on different methods coloring the cables and hasn't found the perfect method yet.
So I guess this is the bad side of Kickstarter, before you get the chance to finance and sell your product someone else can steal it from you and act faster.


2. Flattr


I have to admit I am very skeptical when it comes to investing money in this kind of thing. I don't really trust these systems.
So I am not interested in adding the Flattr button on my blog and don't want to register wit Flattr and spend money.


4. Dell Hell


Google lists some 41.300.000 results.
Dell Hell is one of the Social Media Crisis, it happened in 2004 and was a big mistake by Dell. Jeff Jarvis is a journalist, a professor and blogger and posted his dismay about the customer service of Dell in his blog.
The biggest mistake Dell made was to ignore him. Readers of Jarvis' blog didn't, they are angry at Dell as well and want justice. Soon the story reaches media and the share prices of Dell as well as their selling numbers start to decrease.
At least afterwards Dell learned not to ignore the needs of their customers and started the "IdeaStorm" so they can find out what their buyers are thinking and what they want so they can improve their products.

15.5.12 - Corporations and Marketing

The class about Corporations unfortunately wasn't about how to make a lot of money ;-)
Amazon, eBay, Kickstarter, SwapTree and Flattr are the topics that are introduced here.

Everyone knows Amazon right? Amazon is a platform to buy all kinds of stuff with a section of customer reviews. These reviews help to make the decision for a certain product easier. If you want to find out what the product you are interested in really is like, you have to read especially the bad reviews. What disturbed the customer? Why do they criticize the product? Was it only because it took too long to be delivered or was there a technical problem and the product wasn't working as it should?
These are questions need to be answered when buying a product, so Amazon is being pretty helpful with these reviews.

eBay also relies on the evaluations made by the users, you are interacting with people all over the world or just in your own country and have to find a way to trust the other person your money and be sure you will get the product you bought for it.
So, evaluations made by customers is on the one hand a very good way to find out whom to trust, but still you have to be careful and not just check one or two evaluations but a few more to find out if these are really true.

Kickstarter, I have to say I hadn't heard of that before. Kickstarter is a new way to raise money for projects. For example, if you have a great idea you want to bring to life but don't have enough money on your own, you can place your idea in Kickstarter with videos and descriptions etc. and ask for a
self-chosen sum of money. If people like your idea they can invest money in your project.

SwapTree is kind of a modern bric-a-brac market on the internet. People who want to get rid of their own stuff place it on the online market and create a whishlist with things they want to have.
So people sell their own junk and at the same time buy the stuff others don't want anymore.

8.5.12 - Assignments

1. Evaluation: MeinProf.de (RateMyProfessor)

Done.

2. Evaluation: GoogleDocs


Done.


4. Stanford's "Introduction to Computer Science"


"How many people can recognize a computer that is on?" - Hilarious :-D and its getting even better
"More seriously, how many people have actually used a computer for anything?" :-D
It is really fun listening to Mehran Sahimi.


5. Virtuelle Hochschule Bayern


Courses that might be interesting:

Internetkompetenz - Webdesign für Anfänger
Einführung in CAD mit solid edge
Computergrafik
Rechnersehen mit Anwendungen in der Augmented Reality sowie beim bildbasierten Rendering Teil 1

8.5.12 - Teaching

Wow, finally I have time to blog again ;-)
Todays topic is Teaching and Learning. First of all I am watching the video of Salman Khan now, so hang on a bit... or check out the video for yourself :-)

http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html

... I have to say I am impressed. I absolutely agree with Khans ideas about teaching. Students being able to work on the subjects on their own pace by watching videos and doing challenges online is a great way of improving the way students are learning things. I wish this kind of teaching had existed in my school when I was a kid. I guess I wouldn't have so many leaks in my math knowledge then ;-)
Being able to ask your teacher questions about the topics you have problems with in class is a great improvement, as in normal ways of learning the teachers only have limited time to offer real help to students.

So I really agree with Salman Khan and would love to turn back time and start school again with these new teaching methods :-)

I think all these tools like Podcasts, YouTube videos, Moodle, and any other platforms are helpful to make teaching and learning more interesting. Learning new things isn't always easy stuff, especially if a student is for example only interested in one part of the whole topic but has to know all parts to pass his exam. With those tools the student might be able to learn the things better because most of the students nowadays are interested in social media and all the tools and platforms around it.
Of course, in the end everybody has to decide on their own, how they want to learn their stuff.
I for myself like to use YouTube videos to understand better the topics that were discussed in class, especially when it is a course I am not so good at ;-)

24.4.12 - Assignments

1. Social Network Games


Hmm write about a social network game you have already played... well here we go.
The very first social network game I played was FarmVille by Zynga on Facebook.
I was pretty new on Facebook, it was summer holidays, everyone was on vacation except me and I was bored to death :D
So I started playing FarmVille which also was pretty new as it hat started only a few months ago.
For those who don't know what it's all about:
You as the player are a farmer with a very small farm at the beginning. You have to plant and harvest crops to earn money, buy farm animals to also earn money after a period of time after collecting from them, expand your farm and become a super farmer ;-)
After playing for a few weeks it was really fun because you had enough many and you could design your farm as you like. The first few months I really enjoyed playing FarmVille on a daily basis for about an hour split over the whole day or so.
I stayed on the game for about a year but I have to say the last half of that time was more a habit that really playing.

All in all I think these sort of games can be really fun and are great to spend some time if you have nothing else to do. But it shouldn't become an obsession or something ;-)


2. What makes Games successful


http://www.ted.com/talks/jesse_schell_when_games_invade_real_life.html

In 2010 Game designer Jesse Schell talked about Games.
I don't really know what to write about it, watch it for yourself it is really worth it because Jesse Schell has really a great way of presenting stuff...

"Moooooom can I have 6 bucks so I can be a payed member?" :D


3. MMORPG


I have no experience with MMORPG, I never played any game that can be called that.

24.4.12 - Social Gaming

Todays lesson was really fun^^

Why? Because it was about Social Gaming. In the first about 30 minutes or so of the lesson we talked about Social Network Games such as Facebook Games like e.g. CityVille, The Sims Social or Bejeweled Blitz.

Then There was Second Life, a 3D virtual world which was very popular in 2007/2008 and still is. 

And there are also MMORPG (= massively multiplayer online role-playing games) such as World of Warcraft. 

The rest of the lesson was going over to the computer room and well... playing some social games ;-)

3.4.12 - Assignments

1. Social Networking Service


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking_service

Well as all articles in Wikipedia it is not so funny to read and makes me unbelievable tired...
To summarize the article which contains 14 chapters I can divide it in 3 main chapters.

1. The history of social networks and its development regarding emerging trends
2. The issues that come up with social networks like e.g. privacy
3. Applications, coming from the government, enterprises or schools

2. Try another Network


I hope its ok but i'd rather prefer not to become a member of another social network... I am already member in Facebook, StudiVZ (yes my account is still existing^^ but unused) and Xing (unused as well)
and I really don't want to try Google+  or any other of the existing social networks. I had accounts in some other social networks as well but I deleted all of them (e.g. Lokalisten, SchuelerVZ, mySpace).


3. Small World Experiment 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_world_experiment

Well what can I say, the Small World Experiment by Stanley Milgram is social networking in the 1960s.
That means the idea of social networking was developed long before it was as easy as today with the use of the internet.

4. Web 2.0 vs Social Media


This is the Google trends graph about the popularity change of "Web 2.0":

And this is the graph of "Social Media":

As you can see, the graph of "Web 2.0" had its peak in 2007 and is decreasing constantly since then.

Whereas the graph of "Social Media" has been constantly rising since 2008.