GPhone and Education – Better than the iPhone?

Okay, first off I apologize for the long delay in writing. The beginning of the year is a terrible time for everyone in education. Us techies are no exception. 🙂 Things are somewhat under control so I took a couple of minutes to scan through my reads.

Google Phone Rumors

So there have been rumors of a Google-Phone for over a year now. There was even a picture of one circulated earlier this year (to the right). As an avid Google evangelist, I pictured a free device that ran all the programs I love! Everything from Google is free… right?

Well, I am not so naive to believe that is actually the case, but this morning TechCrunch posted an article rumoring that the GPhone (nice name, huh?) might be coming out in as little as two weeks. It is worth a read.

GPhone vs. iPhone

In my office a colleague of mine and I constantly battle over who is better, Google or Apple. He is all aflutter about the iPhone, so now I have something to talk about. 🙂 I especially love the last paragraph of the TechCrunch article:

“Any Google phone will also be immediately compared to Apple’s
iPhone. Whilst the iPhone provides an attractive package, it has so far
only taken a small marketshare in the US cellular market, and is yet to
have been released anywhere else in the world. A 3G (and therefore
quicker) internet focused GPhone with a broad release worldwide could
well present a strong competitor to Apple.”

GPhone vs. iPhone in Education

Yeah, how will it compare? I wrote an popular article several weeks ago about how the iPhone will impact education. There are some great things about the iPhone… don’t get me wrong. I still want one. 🙂

But, one of the major points I brought up was the lack of a true high-speed network connection. The other was the cost. If Google get’s the 700mhz spectrum it is rumored to be bidding on, they can (in classic Google way) build a super fast network and hopefully develop a cheap device that could actually be feasible/free to us educators.

Google and Education

If nothing else, history has proven Google to be nice to educators. Look at Google Apps for the domain and the way it has taken off! 🙂 (Free for educators!) And all the awesome programs they have! If you want to see some examples of Google’s benevolence, check out this Trailfire trail I built a while ago. Good stuff!

So what do you think? Does Google have something brewing… and if they do, hypothesize with me for a moment… what WOULD it be like?

Here’s to hoping…

EASY! Screen Capture and Share? Forget Camtasia, Try Jing!

As technology and teaching becomes more and more important, so does the need to teach others to use that technology. For a while the standard in the industry has been Camtasia. Don’t get me wrong, the program is great, but it costs around $300. Not always feasible for educators like me.

A couple days ago Doug Edmunds from the School of Law here on campus sent out a link to a new, free (for now) screen capture program called Jing. This article looks at how to use the program, some of the features, and some missing features.