Online video viewing is more ubiquitous than ever. According to comScore, in the month of December 178 million people watched 33.2 billion videos, with the average viewer watching 187 videos per month in the U.S.
The astronomical numbers for December mean that viewers tuned into two billion more videos than in November, and that, as expected, a majority — nearly 40% — of those videos were YouTube videos, with Hulu still coming in a very distant second place and accounting for 3% of video views.
What’s most interesting to us is that while these video-viewing numbers are giant, we’re not seeing too much fluctuation as to where online denizens are consuming this video content. Month-to-month Google’s YouTube maintains its commanding lead, while everyone else battles it out for a marginal piece of the video pie.
The month-to-month data clearly points to the fact that watching videos online is a trend that will continue to gain momentum, meaning that we can expect to see a few billion more videos added to next month’s total. The video sites we turn to for content, however, aren’t likely to change, so we can expect YouTube, Hulu and all the rest to continue to grow at the approximately the same rate.
For decades, educators have been scrambling to find better ways to prepare students for the real world. It began with the mildly apocalyptic government report, A Nation at Risk, which warned that an outdated school system was unwittingly sabotaging America’s economic superiority. Year after year, major educational organizations would echo the report’s call with threats of dire consequences and pleas for sweeping reform, from the U.S. Department of Labor to the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology.
Audits of the U.S. educational system have revealed that the highest hurdle to adopting skills-based teaching practices is the lack of an easily implementable curriculum.
Enter social video games as a solution — immersive environments that simulate real-world problems. Today, technologically eager schools are replacing textbook learning with social video games, and improving learning outcomes in the process. Here’s how they’re doing it.
Contextual Learning
While university departments have cleanly separated academic subjects, solving the real-life problem of, say, building a website, requires individuals to orchestrate the expertise of communication, business, and economics, in addition to computer science. At the ultra high tech Quest2Learn school in New York City, small groups of 6th graders will marshall a range of social technologies, from video games to social networking, to solve hypothetical problems.
For instance, 6th graders learn geography from Google Earth, collaborate through an internal social networking platform, and present ideas through a podcast. Administrators hope that wrestling with the question of “How can a system function within a larger system?” will bolster critical thinking skills. Many experts contend that so-called “Scaffolded Problem-based learning” is known to improve academic skills and enhance motivation. With all these new toys, it’s no surprise that one student admits his least favorite part of the day is “dismissal.”
What About More Popular Gaming Models?
It should not come as a shock that Quest2Learn exists because of endowments from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Intel, among other big-name donors. For the less well-to-do educator, the Federation of American Scientists has developed a first-person shooter-inspired cellular biology curriculum. Gamers explore the fully-interactive 3D world of an ill patient and assist the immune system in fighting back a bacterial infection. Dr. Melanie Ann Stegman has been evaluating the educational impacts of the game and is optimistic about her preliminary findings. “The amount of detail about proteins, chemical signals and gene regulation that these 15-year-olds were devouring was amazing. Their questions were insightful. I felt like I was having a discussion with scientist colleagues,” said Stegman.
Perhaps more importantly, the video game excites students about science. Motivating more youngsters to adopt a science-related career track has became a major education initiative of the Obama administration. So desperate to find a solution that motivates students to become scientists, the government has even enlisted Darpa, the Department of Defense’s “mad scientist” research organization, to figure out a solution.
For Stegman, however, the video game solution is intuitive: The actual phenomona of science are fascinating, unlike their 2D textbook drawings. “Explaining how proteins interact takes lots of new words and new vocabulary that can put you to sleep when you’re a 5th year graduate student,” Stegman told Mashable. “But, watching two proteins interact and bump into each other and using them in a video game is fun and exciting.”
Check out the video of some gameplay below. You can download the game here.
Simulated Life
For some school subjects, poor test results aren’t simply a matter of personal failure, but can mean life and death; especially for security officer training. Loyalist College in Canada recently boasted “massive” test score improvements for its border officer training via simulation in the virtual world of Second Life. “No single technological addition has ever impacted grades at the college in such a positive way,” says Ken Hudson, their Managing Director of Virtual World Design. Indeed, the results speak for themselves. According to the report:
“The amazing results of the training and simulation program have led to significantly improved grades on students’ critical skills tests, taking scores from a 56% success in 2007, to 95% at the end of 2008 after the simulation was instituted.”
While security screenings are taking an onslaught of criticism for what are sometimes seen as abject failures, these kinds of successes may give hope to both security experts and the future of online learning.
Conclusion
Social gaming has a come a long way from the days when a dozen students would squint at a 10-inch screen of Oregon Trail. The 2000s seemed to be the decade of case studies: Bold educators willing to experiment with developing technologies. But now, the involvement of major funders, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, points to an industry that is on the cusp of freeing education from its 2D textbook prison.
The Internet has made the list of nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize this year, going up against a Chinese dissident and a Russian human rights activist, among others.
The nomination was made after a petition by the Italian version of Wired Magazine, which cited the Internet’s contributions to “dialogue, debate and consensus through communication.” Signatories include Iranian activist Shirin Ebadi, and organizers say the nomination will make for a legitimate entry.
Legitimate or not, it’s unlikely that the Nobel Committee would choose such an unlikely winner this year: As the AP reports, last year’s pick of Barack Obama proved controversial given his short time in office. This year’s choice is likely to be a conservative one.
What do you think? Has the Internet improved the world through better communication?
This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.
Now that the dust has settled and we know what the Apple iPad is, many people have begun trying to answer the question, “How can I justify spending the money to get one of these things?” There is certainly no denying that the iPad is a very cool looking device, but as a small business owner, do you really need one? And what about netbooks? Apple CEO Steve Jobs claims that the new iPad fills a niche for which netbooks were failing to deliver, but is that really true for business users?
Here, then, are reasons why you should go out and buy an iPad as soon as they’re available, and reasons why you shouldn’t.
Why You Need One
There are many reasons why small business owners could justify purchasing an Apple iPad. Though clearly aimed at casual users and touted primarily for couch web surfing and multimedia consumption, the iPad also has plenty of potential business uses. By creating a special iPad optimized edition of iWork, Apple’s productivity suite, Apple also clearly sees the iPad’s business potential. Their ultra-competitive announced price of just $9.99 for the app indicates that Apple plans to aggressively court business users, even if that is not necessarily their core customer.
Essentially, the iPad is a big iPod touch that in theory provides a better typing experience (by virtue of its larger onscreen keyboard). Because the iPad will run any of the 140,000 iPhone/iPod apps right out of the box, any business use you already have for your iPod touch or iPhone (except making phone calls) will be available to you on the iPad — but bigger. With that in mind, the iPad could certainly become an asset to sales people who make presentations on the road (what’s more impressive — clicking through PowerPoint slides or manipulating product demos and data visualizations with your fingers?) or anyone who needs to easily monitor core business functions (server health, web site traffic stats, sales indicators, financial numbers, etc.) from the road using a relatively cheap and compact device.
Why You Don’t
What the iPad isn’t, however, is a replacement for your desktop or laptop computer. There are many features missing from the iPad, but two in particular could be deal breakers for serious small business users.
First, the iPad lacks a standard USB port. There will almost certainly be aftermarket accessories available to add USB support to the tablet, but the bottom line is that using the USB devices you already own, such as memory sticks and external hard drives, will not be easy or even possible with the iPad out of the box.
Second, and more egregious, the iPad, like the iPhone and iPod touch, currently lacks the ability to multitask. For Apple’s apparent target consumer — users who will use the iPad for casual web surfing, to watch movies, and to play games — not being able to run more than one program at the same time isn’t likely a big deal. But for business users, that’s a major setback. If you’re putting together a presentation or writing up a sales report, you need the ability to be able to refer to a web page or data locked in some other application while you work. For that reason alone, the iPad in its current form is not an ideal business machine.
What About Netbooks?
For about half the price of an iPad you could buy a very capable netbook (some come even cheaper when subsidized by a 3G data plan subscription). According to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, “netbooks aren’t better at anything.” But in many ways, a $299 netbook outshines the $499 iPad, especially for business users. If what you’re after is a machine that offers extreme portability and business critical features for a low price, a netbook might be a better option.
Netbooks have a number of advantages over the iPad. They multitask, they often have cameras (for video conferencing), they can generally run Windows (meaning they run Microsoft Office and Outlook), they support an open software ecosystem (meaning more choice and the ability to easily custom develop and deploy software for your organization), and they have standard ports and inputs. While they can’t match the iPad for cool factor, as far as business functionality, netbooks pack a lot of bang for the buck.
So which should you buy? That will come down to what type of device you need and its intended use. The iPad, however, is not a must-have purchase for all small business owners — at least, not in its first generation.
Macmillan printed books and e-books began to return to Amazon last night following a dispute over Amazon’s $9.99 e-book pricing scheme. Under the agreement, publishers can now raise prices to up to $14.99.
Macmillan, which was later joined by fellow publisher Hachette, requested the price increases over fears that Amazon would undercut its hardcover sales.
Amazon reacted by pulling all Macmillan books, but later conceded to the publisher’s demands. Under the agreed agency model, Amazon will receive 30% commission on sales.
Will you pay up to $14.99 for e-books? Let us know in the comments.
Even before Apple announced the iPad last week, the Internet was going tablet-crazy. After speculation, literally years in the making, finally built to a crescendo, the public reaction has been decidedly mixed. Discussions about what’s missing and why the announcement was a disappointment have been covered from nearly every angle.
However, whether Apple’s iPad ultimately succeeds or fails, it is yet another sign of an emerging device class. With Google, Microsoft, and others investing in researching tablet-style computers, this is a trend that will not begin or end with the iPad.
The Tablet Redefined: A Media Pad
The concept of tablet computing is hardly a new idea. Although prototypes of tablet or pen-input based computers go back to the late 1970s, the first big industry push for pen computing came in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The GO operating system and later PenWindows were lauded as the next big innovation. Pen computing never took off. Undaunted, manufacturers decided to try again, and almost ten years ago, Microsoft introduced its Microsoft Tablet PC platform. Again, the concept never gained traction.
What’s different about this new wave of tablet devices is that the intended use cases for the device have evolved into something completely different. These new tablets are not being presented as a replacement for the existing computer but for an ancillary type of platform. The new tablets are also not being primarily targeted at business users, but at home users instead. The usage cases are more tightly defined as well. The new tablet devices are about accessing and consuming web content.
Plus, unlike tablets of decades past, these new devices come on the heels of similar devices with similar usage cases: Smartphones.
A New Device Class
When you think about what this new wave of tablet computers offers — easy access to the Internet, a way to watch video, portability without being a smartphone — you might think, “hey, that’s a netbook.” And you would be right. However, the netbook, despite its early aspirations, has never been able to define itself as a separate class of device.
The problem with netbooks is that the form factor is too similar to that of a traditional laptop. In fact, as time has gone on, the line between a netbook and a CULV notebook has blurred to the point that the two categories have almost become one. Plus, because the physical appearance of a netbook is so similar to that of a traditional laptop computer, the expectations of the overall experience are often higher than the devices can adequately offer.
Steve Jobs commented during the iPad launch that people buy netbooks because they want cheap laptops. This is by and large completely true. What this wave of tablet computers is doing is repackaging the intended purpose of a netbook into a form factor that doesn’t confuse its abilities.
But Do We Really Need Another Gadget?
The fact that tablets and smartphones seem so similar on its face have many people questioning the need for this new device category. It’s true, in the beginning, tablets will become a secondary product. I don’t think that any tablet maker is going to advertise their solution as a complete replacement for a main computer. Instead, this is for people who want to have something larger than a smartphone, yet more portable than a regular laptop, to use to access content.
Touch-input is key here. Yes, the ability to use add-on accessories is important, but touch is one of those features that instantly makes a product easy to use and also limits the need to carry add-ons like a stylus or other input device.
Consumers might not need a tablet device or media pad any more than they need to have multiple TiVos or Blu-ray players, but many will want them and buy them anyway.
Don’t Count Out Students
Beyond just entertainment, tablet computers have one huge, huge area of potential: Education, specifically college textbooks. Already textbook publishers are lining up to support the iPad. I have long believed that whatever eBook platform could conquer textbooks would end up winning the battle of this generation of technology. Why? Because this is an area ripe for innovation.
College students spend hundreds of dollars on textbooks every semester — textbooks that are heavy, that are sometimes out of date as soon as they are published, and that don’t fit well with the existing digital lifestyle of today’s students. Even without subsidizing the initial device price, I know that students would flock to using a tablet computer if they could get all of their textbooks, have the ability to make notations, get online updates and see supplementary information all in a device that weighs under a pound and can fit easily in a backpack.
The convenience factor alone makes it a killer device. Mark my words, whoever is able to get textbook publishers and universities on-board en masse first will ultimately win the eBook market.
The great thing about tablet computers is that they aren’t just eBook readers. They can offer additional content experiences as well.
What Do You Think?
Tablet computers are coming. By the end of the year, a variety of tablet devices will be on the market. Do you want one? How do you see it fitting in with your existing lifestyle. Let us know!
Google keeps adding new features to Google Maps and Google Earth. The latest: As of today you can type in a restaurant or other place you like in Google Maps and receive recommendations of nearby places you might like just as much or more.
Sure, it’s not quite as radical as something like the rumored store interior pics in Google Street View, but it’s always good to see more robust location services. Yelp offers something vaguely similar with a “people who viewed this also viewed” box, but Google’s algorithm is probably more sophisticated.
Google has beaten location-focused services like Foursquare to the punch with this. That’s too bad, because we imagine Foursquare could in theory use your check-in history to provide much better suggestions just like Netflix suggests films based on which movies you’ve already rented or streamed and how you’ve rated them. It’s not surprising that Google did it first, though; Google has a lot more experience using algorithms to determine what you’re looking for than Yelp or Foursquare do.
Google wasn’t very clear about how its algorithm works in its blog post on the subject. You’ll just have to try it for yourself to see if the results are helpful to you, but your mileage may vary.
We viewed the place page for the Indie Cafe sushi and Asian fusion restaurant on the far north side of Chicago and received a bunch of — you guessed it — sushi and Asian fusion restaurant suggestions in adjacent neighborhoods. But when we looked up Big City Swing dance studio in the same city, the results were a bit less precise. Some were great, like the Lincoln Tap Room and Tango Chicago. Others made a lot less sense, like a barber shop and other unrelated venues in a distant suburb almost an hour’s drive away.
Try it out and let us know what you think: How does it work? Do you think it’s helpful enough that you’ll be using it regularly?
Online video viewing is more ubiquitous than ever. According to comScore, in the month of December 178 million people watched 33.2 billion videos, with the average viewer watching 187 videos per month in the U.S.
For decades, educators have been scrambling to find better ways to prepare students for the real world. It began with the mildly apocalyptic government report, 
The Internet has made the list of nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize this year, going up against a Chinese dissident and a Russian human rights activist, among others.
For about half the price of an iPad you could buy a very capable netbook (some come even cheaper when subsidized by a 3G data plan subscription). According to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, “netbooks aren’t better at anything.” But in many ways, a $299 netbook outshines the $499 iPad, especially for business users. If what you’re after is a machine that offers extreme portability and business critical features for a low price, a netbook might be a better option.
Macmillan printed books and e-books began to return to Amazon last night following a dispute over Amazon’s $9.99 e-book pricing scheme. Under the agreement, publishers can now raise prices to up to $14.99.
Even before Apple 
The concept of tablet computing is hardly a new idea. Although prototypes of tablet or pen-input based computers go back to the late 1970s, the first big industry push for pen computing came in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The GO operating system and later PenWindows were lauded as the next big innovation. Pen computing 
The fact that tablets and smartphones seem so similar on its face have many people questioning the need for this new device category. It’s true, in the beginning, tablets will become a secondary product. I don’t think that any tablet maker is going to advertise their solution as a complete replacement for a main computer. Instead, this is for people who want to have something larger than a smartphone, yet more portable than a regular laptop, to use to access content.
Beyond just entertainment, tablet computers have one huge, huge area of potential: Education, specifically college textbooks. Already 
Google keeps adding new features to