The TWAIN blog

I just received my new iPhone. I ordered it a few days ago since all the stores are sold out. I love it. I know its sort of the “new car” phase of loving every bit of it until it annoys me, so I thought I would post that I do like it now.

It did arrive at a time when I had family coming to town. I changed my phone number for the new place here and proceeded to play with the phone. I forgot to call them and give them the number. My mom said that they drove around for about 20 minutes wondering if I forgot to pay my phone bill. ha ha

Anyway, the phone is great. The new number is good too because I got to keep my last three digits that include 911. I do like the tactile system and the ease of use. I am in the process of setting up my email and calendars to autosync.

The really cool thing is that I have been using MoblieMe with my Gmail account for the past few weeks and everything syncs really well.

My laptop at work has had some issues lately so this new device is going to serve as my backup for it. Since I will be all over the district training staff, I am now officially MobleMe.

iPhone - I recommend it.

I am gathering and using the Web tools to connect to Beijing and to be an active participant in the world-wide audience of the Olympic games. To me, it isn’t just about the competitive sports. It’s about these 17 days of connection between all of our countries.

An issue is the restrictions placed on athletes and participants in the Olympics by the IOC and Chinese government. There are not as many “sites” for Olympic inside information. But there are microblog techniques for sharing what is happening. Below, I am listing sites for Olympic news and resources.

Search the Twitter streams and search Twitter streams for “#080808″ for up to the moment information about the opening ceremony.

Personally, as a Facebook user the updates, images, and blog posts are micro-blogged to me through my account in FB. I suggest if you haven’t made the jump to Facebook that you do so if you want good coverage of the Olympics.

I received a note today of Michael Phelp’s gold medal with this link in Facebook: http://2008gamesbeijing.com/write-a-message-to-your-favorite-athlete-team-or-country/ - a site where you can also leave a note to your country, team, or athlete all in one place.

http://2008gamesbeijing.com - Olympics in Beijing website

http://www.usolympicteam.com/ - The official US Olympic Team website.

http://beijingvisitor.blogspot.com/ - Beijing Visitor blog.

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/olympics2008/index.html - NY Times coverage of the Olympics

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/olympics_blog/ - LA Times blog about the Olympics coverage

http://olympicsblog.dallasnews.com/ - Dallas Morning News blog about Olympics

http://www.cctvolympics.com/ - Forget the language barrier. The images are easy to navigate on this site produced with help from Adobe.com.

Commercial blogging: Sponsored by Lenovo, these are blogs by athletes - http://summergames.lenovo.com./?language=en+es+fr+de+it+ja

Others recommended by readers?

Dear AT&T,

I have been a customer of your wireless cell phone network since it was Southwestern Bell. It then became the Cingular network and is now the “new AT&T”. I am a big spender in your services since I use text tools, email, and Internet on my phone.

Each month, I am impressed by the number of minutes stockpiled in my account. I can’t seem to get it to drop below 7500 rollover minutes. I also pay the premium price for SMS/MMS and text messaging. I pay for unlimited texting for my account. Each time I speak to a customer representative, I ask about changing my plan to reduce the number of minutes but I am told that I have a great plan and I should not change it.

I wonder if on their screen they see the word “sucker” pop up when they see how much I pay and how much extra I have on my account. I wonder if that is why they say that my plan is perfect?

As for phones, I never buy the cheapest one or the most expensive for that matter. I go for the one that has all the features I want AND the features I may not use. I pay extra for a device that may offer something I will learn to use.

I think I am a good customer. I don’t complain. I even fill out customer surveys online and even compliment the web developers on the ease of navigation on the site. I prefer to visit the stores and talk to AT&T people rather than use the online tools. I even use the real AT&T stores and not the other ones out there that sell other carriers in one place. I like to think of myself as loyal to AT&T.

But, I am facing a real dilemma and I wonder if anyone in this world wide web can help me out? In the past four weeks, I have visited a total of five different AT&T storefronts. I have spoken on the phone on six different occasions with six different representatives. I have also visited the website to help me and none of these places have offered me a workable solution.

The problem: I currently use a Samsung Blackjack I for my phone. It has been extraordinary! It does everything I want. But, lately the keys stick and sometimes the screen freezes. In each time, I have to take the back off and remove the battery. I then force a reboot and it works fine. This happens at least once daily. I have asked for a fix for the phone but they all tell me that this particular model of Blackjack just has this issue. I have been in the stores asking for a new phone to replace it and each time I am told that I have to wait until December when my contract expires.

I have my phone choice narrowed down to the Blackberry, the Blackjack II, and the iPhone. The iPhone is on limited supply now so that may not work until December anyway. In three stores, I offered to purchase a new iPhone but was told I would have to pay the original price of the device of the first gen iPhone for the new one because my contract is still valid. So, that made me shy away as well. That and the statement that I would have to pre-order the new one by paying full price in advance for a phone that would not come in until Apple makes more of them.

So, if I want an iPhone I need to pay full price for it. I need to pay double the price of the current iPhone to get one. Or if I want to purchase a Blackberry or a Blackjack II, I need to pay the full price for these devices as well instead of the discount price afforded to new customers. Not only do I get to pay the full price, I also get the added bonus of signing another 2 year contract for service.

Basically, this means I get to pay twice the amount of a new customer and I get the same device with the same contract. To me, this means that a brand new customer receives more benefits than someone who is a current customer. This makes sense. I know it is business. But now this business affects my business.

So, AT&T, I am asking (begging) you to help me as a customer find a better solution. In my line of work as a technology leader in a school district, I need to have something that will serve my needs in this mobile environment. I would think you would want your product to be in my hands when I am working with teachers and students in our schools.

Otherwise, I may just let that contract expire and see what deals I can get from other carriers who may treat ALL their customers as if they were new to the company. Thanks for any help or suggestions you can send my way!

I think the generic post for “what are you reading?” is too broad a category for our field. Especially during summer when any Jackie Collins book could be added to the shelf as fast as the newest US Weekly for some.

I want to ask the question differently. What books are considered part of the “Web 2.0 Educational Technology Must Read” list? Which ones are the books that lead us toward more informed arguments?

After books, which blogs? which magazines? which podcasts?

What are our “must-reads”? “must-listens”? “must-bloggers”?

What are yours? And yes, this is completely subjective. Lay your cards out on the table. Who are your influencers when it comes to education and educational technology integrating 21st century skills?

Who are our “ceWEBreties” of today?

I heard the story of these three grey whales in church this morning. The story was summarized from a book on worship by Craig Larson so I am not direct quoting it but summarizing the summary I received this morning.

In 1988, three grey whales were trapped under ice off the coast of Alaska. You may remember this item in the news as there was such an effort to help the whales move out to free waters. Under ice, the whales had no where to come up and get air. They did manage to find one small hole in the ice where they were gathered to share the air.

The whales were gathered around a small hole in the ice which they were using as a breathing hole. The rescuers drilled a hole in the ice about 6 feet down to expose another hole 20 yards away. The whales moved over to the new hole. The rescuers then drilled another hole 20 yards away again and the whales moved with them. This continued for 6 miles with the crew drilling holes every 20 yards for the whales to get access to a breathing hole. After six miles, the whales were out in the waters and no longer under the ice sheath.

Now, one could use this story to connect philosophies of how we need to put out more breathing holes for teachers to use to connect to global learning. But I choose this story to connect to my last post.

What if we - the ed tech community - are the ones bunched up around one breathing hole? We would need to spread out. I think we are all reading the same things to add to the same conversation that we keep having over and over. And we are all stuck under the same ice sheath.

I believe we need to spread out. We need to check for other breathing holes. Or as we heard at the NECC first keynote by James Surowiecki - we need to fill our groups with more diverse individuals. We need to listen to diverse thoughts and endulge in diverse conversation.

As discussed in my last post, I think we need to hear a little more dissention in the ranks. Its okay to get frustrated with what is going on. It is also okay to vent a little and let people know. I don’t think we all have to be pro-Twitter if some of us don’t think its useful for our teachers or students. I don’t think everyone needs to blog or wiki either. Its okay if you don’t listen to certain podcasts too!

I was not greatly impressed at NECC by the content of the conference. I was more impressed by the growing gap between the speakers and followers at the front of the room vs. the ones who just want to try in the back. The cliques of the Twitter crowd and the teachers/administrators who are just starting to untie their shoes to put in a toe to test the waters.

*I keep picking on Twitter only because I hear more people complain about it than anything so far. I pick because I love.

Lemme ask you this:

Have you read any divergent thought lately?

Who are you following on Twitter/Plurk?

Are you following education specialists?

What about small business owners? Media specialists? Mathematicians? Scientists? Innovators in other fields?

Are you following anyone in a field other than your own?

Can I make a suggestion? Go through your followers’ followers’ followers. You may find your own breathing hole further down the ice.

Another suggestion? Think about and post a thought that may be different than the group.

I post blog after blog and I read blog after blog. In our education circles, I read the same posts over and over. One person posts one idea and then their idea is reposted on everyone else’s blog until the next idea. And then they all comment on each other’s posts and it all ties them together more and more. It reminds me of junior high when all the same people dated within the same group. It just was a perpetual date it seemed with the same person over and over.

Find the divergent thought in the group and if it isn’t there, be the one to speak it first. Take the devil’s advocate point and see where the discussion goes next. Don’t jump on the bandwagon.

I don’t get it. But then again, I never liked crowds. I like my own breathing hole. Better than that, I like my own ocean to swim in. And I like the other creatures in there who may not ever get an iPhone or a Twitter account.