The Information

I've found a free site statisics tool for my blog (you'll see a new icon on my side bar). Go to the following URL if you want the same:

http://extreme-dm.com/tracking/?reg

Enjoy :0)

At the moment, the stats tell me I have no visitors!!!! Perhaps ignorance was bliss...

Mindful

Test

Um, I'm afraid this is as lame as it sounds. It's a test!

eLearn Magazine: Predictions for 2004

Some e-learning predictions for 2004:

eLearn Magazine: Main Page

My predictions:

E-learning gurus will predict that their favourite approach will become popular in 2004
E-learning organisations will predict that their view of e-learning will become a roaring success in 2004
E-learning providers will predict that the approach that makes them the most money will become popular in 2004
E-learning magazines will predict anything that sounds nex and sexy will become popular in 2004
E-learning critics will predict that e-learning will die in 2004
E-learning enterprise vendors will predict that LMS, standards and learning objects will be big in 2004

I predict I will be big (well fatter) in 2004.

Internet Time Blog: Recent Presentations

A quote from Jay Cross,

"without narration or notes are about as useful for learning as a Rorschach test. The interpretation tells you more about the reader than about what the author had in mind. Wordless PowerPoint decks are cop-outs, e.g. "I missed the meeting but I looked through the PowerPoints." You betcha."

Internet Time Blog: Recent Presentations

This so ring true for me. The number of times I've had a customer say, "can't we just give you the PowerPoint slides and you script from that?" It's just impossible. Very hard to get them to understand that too.

Basecamp Launches: Signal vs. Noise Weblog / Blog (by 37signals)

The project management tool from 37 signals has launched:

Basecamp launch

Even though I've had some reservations, I can see how this could be a useful communications centre for customers/suppliers. With some updates/modifications I can see how it could also be a very useful tool for myself as a content producer:

my comments on Basecamp

Furl - Your web page filing cabinet

Came across something called 'Furl', which is in the spirit of my 'blog for bookmarks' idea:
Furl - Your web page filing cabinet

For me, two missing things:
1) A visual thumbnail of each bookmark (I can't emphasise how important I think this is). Actually, something like Google should be able to do this easily as they already hold a cache of each page
2) Wouldn't it be great to either:
a) be able to also show a trail of hyperlinks that led up to the particular bookmark so you get more context of what led you to that bookmark
b) allow you to save a 'thought trail' that is a whole lot of bookmarks as one post, showing a chain of thought you followed

Something like Google could also add 'similar pages' links next to your particular bookmark, if you wish.

Furl - good prototype, but not what's in my imagination

Fast Company | If He's So Smart...Steve Jobs, Apple, and the Limits of Innovation

This article really resonates with me:

Fast Company | If He's So Smart...Steve Jobs, Apple, and the Limits of Innovation

The bespoke e-learning company I work for has historically had this problem. We created great products, our customers praised us, yet we had absolutely no idea how to profit well from our work. We are the Apple of e-learning. It's a crying shame. However, I fear the pendulum has now gone too far the other way - we are chasing profit but the product is suffering badly.

If you want to make money, innovation in business models has gotta be the way forward. However, is there a middle ground?

Ignore this..

Personal note about blogs as bookmarking tools again...not really of any interest to anyone but me :0)

Using Blogs for bookmarking/Favourites - this would work well if:
a) The blog entries can have screenshots, so visual bookmarking can be used
b) The 'Blog This' utility can be used
c) Categories functionality was built in
d)A good search utitlity was built in

Advantages: blog comments give context to the bookmark, the screenshot allows a visual memory to be used but as this sits on a server doesn't take up huge amounts of space on a person's computers, bookmarks can be accessed from any Internet machine, comments functionality can be used, group bookmarking can be allowed.

Activity-centered design: Why I love my Harmony Remote

An article by Don Norman, Activity-centered design: Why I love my Harmony Remote, gave me a software idea:

a utility that allows you to configure your O/S and all your apps for particular tasks. I.e. I might say, "For this task, I want my overall screen resolution set to a specific value, I want App A and App B to be configured in a certain way, I want to use Netscape as my default browser and I want all 'Save' dialogues to point to a particular network location" In other words, something that lets you set your whole work environment to help you do a particular task.

AskTog: Make Your Mac a Monster Machine

Tog gives tips on getting the most out of the new mac interface:

AskTog: Make Your Mac a Monster Machine

I wish someone would write something similar for Windows...what combination of customisation and 3rd-party utilities can you use to make the most out of Windows XP and overcome some of its shortcomings....anyone know if this kind of article has been written. This kinda links to a previous article of mine where I mentioned that I'd love to see the different ways users configure and customise their operating systems and software to make it perform better or to overcome limitiations.

you'll never blog alone...

I wish I could get site statistics for my blog. I have no idea if I have 1 reader, 10 readers or, um, erm, none :0)

I'd blog anyway, this is kind of a handy, external memory for me (a journal really), but my vanity requires I have some idea of my readership.

Anyone know how I can get some idea of how alone I am out here?