Month: May 2010

Weeknote #2

Posted on May 22, 2010 by Doug Belshaw

This week I have been mostly…

Talking to important people
I’m preparing the ground for a review of mobile and wireless technologies at work at the moment. This involves talking to some very important and innovative people so this week, for example, I’ve been talking to (amongst others) John Cook, Mike Ellis and Andy Ramsden. I even bumped into Graham Brown-Martin and his iPad!

Taking 6 hours to put together a 7 minute presentation
I decided a couple of weeks before the bMoble conference that I attended on Thursday that I would try a different method of presentation at the TeachMeet. Having read about the Lessig Method but never actually tried it, I thought I’d give it a go.

So, 6 hours and 124 slides later I was finished. That’s about 2.9 minutes creation time per slide and about and less than 4 seconds per slide in terms of delivery time. Well, you know, sometimes you have to challenge yourself and raise the bar a little… 😉

Deciding to end the ‘Wednesday Wisdom’ series at number 20
I really enjoy putting together the Weekly Wisdom series and I’ve had a couple of people give me positive feedback. However, it takes a while to put together and it’s clear from Google Analytics that it’s not as popular as my other posts.

What’s going to be in its place? I think I’ll use the space for short series of posts. I’m still weighing up the first of these, but it will probably be education-related.

Realising how much I love my iPhone
OK, so it’s only got a 2 megapixel camera, the battery life is shocking and it feels a bit slow sometimes, but I do actually take the functionality of my iPhone for granted.

I’ve realised this through researching in-depth (as I always do) my options in the form of the Google Nexus One and HTC Desire. They’re both great phones, but Apple provide an extremely high-quality ecosystem. And that matters.

Not doing enough work on my thesis
I’ve got a deadline to produce a journal article by the end of the month. I should be writing that instead of this…

Battery life: iPhone 3GS vs Google Nexus One vs HTC Desire

Posted on May 21, 2010 by Doug Belshaw

It infuriates me when I want a quick visual representation to make an informed judgement; all I wanted to do was compare battery life of the 3 major smartphones. Having not found an at-a-glance version, here you go (and you’re welcome!) 🙂

The question is, how much better (or worse!) is that than my current iPhone 3G? The latter is supposed to be capable of 3oo hours standby. Which is laughable, so take the above with a pinch of salt…

Links to the specs pages for each can be found below:

bMobLe Conference 2010

Posted on May 20, 2010 by Doug Belshaw

See the full gallery on Posterous

This was the second bMobLe Conference, organised by Education Bradford. The latter is an independent company that took control of the Local Authority in Bradford in 2001. They focus heavily on using technology to raise standards – and have done a very good job.

In many ways the conference was a object lesson on how to run a conference well. Why do I say that?

Open wifi – no problems with connecting any kind of device to it.
Great venue with rooms big enough for each activity.
Engaging speakers – the people leading sessions knew how to present (which helps!0
Well-organised audio and video – everything was streamed live over the internet.
The right people there – they brought pupils along to showcase what they’ve been up to with new technologies. Powerful!
An incentive to visit exhibitors stands – you had to collect stamps from each to enter a prize draw.
Audience participation in a fun way – engaging speakers and use of voting pads with feedback.
Great food and drink – makes people feel valued
Informal aspect – the teachmeet was informal, well-organized and had alcohol and curry (what more do you want!)

But that’s not to say it was perfect. Things that could be improved for next time:

Drinks available in more areas and for longer.
Name badges to include space for Twitter/social media names (QR codes for websites?)
A delegate list (they may have had this: I mislaid the bag I was given)

Overall, the best conference I’ve been to this year. Well done to the people who organised it! 🙂