[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-M77C2ejTw[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMeX2D4AOjM[/youtube]

Tags: OLPC, Sugar Labs, laptop per child, XO, open source, globalization, trends

Tags: OLPC, XO-2, laptop, XO, Negroponte, globalization, trends

BTW: The cover is not an actual photo rather a Photoshop’d image. However the image clearly represents his message.  The book is about Generativity impacting the internet.  Ultimately his argument is to place generativity at the core of all open technologies that tap into the internet.

Zittrain begins Part I in the book with a bit of historical reflection: The Battle of the Boxes, Battle of the Networks and CyberSecurity.  He followed on the impact of legal lessons learned from Wikipedia.  There are plenty of examples how open, generativity systems make the internet better.  Here are a couple of examples Zittrain addressed that do not:

Law enforcement agencies have used network devices to manually turn on OnStar (the in-vehicle security, communications, and diagnostics system from GM) to record and monitor conversations of unknowing passengers.  OnStar is installed in over 50 models of GM cars alone.

The FBI requested from a judge the ability to turn on the microphone of a unsuspecting cell phone owner allowing law enforcement to tap, track and record conversations.

Think about that for a moment. Ever take a picture with your digital camera or cell phone?  Millions of people do this everyday and upload content to photo-sharing websites like Flickr.  Can you imagine taking a series of photographs — only to later realize the camera (via remote commands) copied all your photos without your knowledge.  Zittrain addresses how your personal content can be affected by a judge in Texas while you live … say in Ohio.  Don’t believe it? Read Chapter 5: Tethered Appliances, Software as Service and Perfect Enforcement” to see how a judge in Marshall Texas did just that — regarding a copyright case involving TiVo.

Zittrain accurately addresses how generativity (on the internet) will impact how we engage data — regardless if the task is email, video streaming, blogging or accessing robots over a wireless network via smartphone.   He uses the example of two products from Apple that were developed in opposite directions exactly 30 years apart:  The Apple II and the iPhone but missed out on Amazon’s Kindle.  The Apple II fit the idea of generativity perfectly.  It was an “open” desktop computer and the world began to tinker, develop, push and ultimately secure the product’s success.

Zittrain compares this approach to the 1st generation iPhone.  Zittrain recently blogged about a bizarre copyright conflict between an iPhone application that clearly reinforces his position: Apple has the ability to control application distribution.  This means you can purchase an application at Apple’s iTunes store, download it and use it on your iPhone but Apple can remotely kill that program at any given point in the future.

To be fair: At the time of his writing the 1st generation iPhone was selling for $500.  Today we have the iPhone 3GS, OS 3.0, The App Store and Apple’s road-map for iPhone developers. The most change has been the highly successful App Store on iTunes with over a billion apps downloaded.
Yes – BILLION.  Profit gets in the way too.

To see another example of Zittrain’s idea substitute TiVo or Amazon’s Kindle and you’ll get his message. Remember TiVo tipped its hand revealing it tracks what users watch? That came as a bit of a surprise to many  unaware their viewing habits were tracked.

Even though Amazon recently updated their Kindle ebook reader to support users adding PDF files, the Kindle’s generativity score (this might be a new blog all by itself) would be very low due to its lack of open standards.  Amazon has run into issues due to remotely crippling installed ebooks due to copyright and DRM.

There is also a copyright issue with the new Kindles.  The new model has the ability to read ebooks aloud.  Publishing companies began suing Amazon over this “feature” on the bigger Kindles.  Publishers want to sell you an Audiobook version of the eBook loaded on your Kindle.  So in the end you pay twice for the same digital product!  Publishers argue eBooks legally cannot be read out loud.  Amazing.  For all the technology advances, profit still drives old school publishing companies to sue Amazon.

I found his conclusion powerful.  He shares the impact of Generativity on the OLPC project.  I am a fan of the One Laptop Per Child project.  As he suggests Generativity is really at the core of this product.  It has changed the world and can be viewed (in a limited way) as a path for future internet generativity.

Tags: Jonathan Zittrain, Future of the Internet, Generativity, copyright, internet, Network, Apple II, iphone, TiVo, onstar, amazon, OLPC, reading, trends

who controls the internet

On the surface you may believe — even in 2009 that you can still say anything, do anything or hack any computer around the globe without impunity because you can hide inside the internet.

Goldsmith and Wu challenge Tom Friedman’s (The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century) position that globalization is opening up communication in countries that have long suppressed their citizen’s ability to speak freely.

China for example. Or think about the European Union.  Is the EU able to dictate how Microsoft releases software?  Think again.  When Microsoft published it’s passport technology it was rejected by the EU.  Rather than pay a fine Microsoft added the tougher security standards dictated by the EU for all customers worldwide.  Those standards are even tougher than those used in America.

Can France tell Yahoo or eBay what products to sell?  They can and they already do.  This book is written from a legal standpoint since both teach at the Law Schools of Harvard and Columbia respectively. Is it strange to see government control over the internet?  Would this be different if today was September 10 2001?  Goldsmith and Wu share their insight to the way Law helps and hinders the internet.  From simply selling memorabilia to cybercrime you learn gaping holes exist even today to prosecute offenders and criminals.

The “I Love You” virus that cost US companies millions of dollars originated in The Philippines, but since there is no law against this type of crime in the The Philippines the US was unable to arrest the known hacker.  Similar rules apply in Russia. When the FBI arrested a hacker who extorted millions from US companies, Russia did not acknowledge this type of crime and did not agree to extradite, so the FBI was forced to release the criminal.

Goldsmith and Wu share the legal case between Yahoo and the country of France that forced Yahoo’s online store to pull Nazi related memorabilia even though Yahoo is an American based company.  But Yahoo’s remote offices in France proved to the key error Jerry Yang overlooked.  Yahoo has stumbled a lot lately.

Control over the internet extends to US K12 School Districts who filter web content to protect minors from material that is deemed to be offensive, sexual or drug related.  But many in America may find that the country of Australia has been trying to impose the same type of filtering for the whole country.

As the internet has grown in popularity and extending access to schools, banks, companies and financial firms the need to protect assets against cybercrime has also grown.  To no surprise the US and foreign countries have begun to establish laws to protect citizens and business.

Finally Goldsmith and Wu show how companies eager to enter China’s vast market have been answering to the communist party vs. individual freedoms.  Yahoo provided the strongest example when they give Chinese authorities the identity of a blogger who wrote “controversial” posts about the Chinese government and leadership.

Who Controls the Internet is a valuable read to understand that governments can control access and at the same time acknowledge some laws are not enough when hunting cyber crime.

who controls the internet

I have been impressed with the book, including a new preface to the paperback release.  But guys, seriously….why did you ditch the original hardcover visual? The typography on the updated paperback is terrible in comparison. Looks like someone forgot to ftp the master cover art to the book publisher.

Goldsmith and Wu also trace the history of DNS and ICANN regarding the recent discussions about moving control of the internet to the UN or to other countries, both friend and foe.  There is a lot to be considered if giving up control of a democratic tool to the Chinese or any non-democratic country including Russia.

There are plenty of examples of how the net began as a US defense department project and has revolutionized the world.  But they also do not acknowledge any issue with ICANN and the role of spam.  Since many spam servers sit outside the US there is little the government can do to stop this threat.  Ditto for identity theft.

Tags: internet, Legal, China, Cisco, Tom Friedman, filtering, European Union, Microsoft, trends,

Tags: smartphone, IPv6, network, advanced technologies, trends

The most surprising session was “HD video over IP for Distance Learning” because the original presenter did not show up….so I decided to try an Unconference session that ran two hours long.  Lots of great learning about how K12 Districts around the Midwest want to bring distance learning and HD video into the classroom.

Wii value bundle: $325.00
XBox 360 Pro: $300.00
PlayStation3 80GB Console: $400.00

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQiA5F6AJcQ[/youtube]

Tags: OLPC, Give One Get One, Amazon, XO, G1G1, globalization, trends

Tags: OLPC, Sugar Labs, Amazon, XO, open source, globalization, trends

Many canceled their orders when shipping glitches and production delays hit the first XO laptop.  This new unit is expected to begin in November.  Pricing has not yet been announced.

Tags: OLPC, Sugar Labs, Amazon, XO, open source, globalization, trends

Walter Bender, former President of OLPC has launched Sugar Labs to promote the use of Sugar on more devices. Sugar is open source and I’m running it on my Powerbook via VMware’s Fusion. Sugar Lab’s approach: children should not be forced to learning a legacy operating system designed for adult computer programmers.

Lets face facts. XP is not designed for the world’s children living in poverty. The design is simple and perfect for children:

Sugar was designed to be used by children with no previous access (or understanding) of computers, but rather a fresh, new focused approached designed to intelligently and easily bring advanced tools to their attention:

Sugar will have a difficult time but I believe in their work and I’m sure many agree that Sugar is an OS designed for children. Think about that.

Tags: OLPC, Sugar Labs, Walter Bender, XO, open source, globalization, trends

There are timely lessons in this book from the $100 laptop and more importantly the exodus of top American talent. No surprise that top talent from India is returning home after attending college in America as globalization brings new opportunities to India.

You may be surprised to learn how Kao documents the loss of top Americans heading overseas. That’s native-born Americans leaving our best institutions (and their home country) to work in new innovation centers with more creative, less political conditions.

The list includes Paul Saffo from Stanford, John Seely Brown from Xerox PARC, Peter Schwartz from Global Business Network and Rita Colwell, former head of the National Science Foundation and current professor of biological sciences at the University of Maryland.

This American brain drain of our TOP talent is a sign that we’ll be losing more in the near term future. Politics aside the loss of talent to companies and institutions overseas (where restrictions on science are non existent) will only damage American technology leadership in the coming years.

As Kao points out the number of talented students being denied entry to the US based upon the new war on terrorism is not going to benefit America either. Kao is not addressing anyone with terrorist links, just those already accepted to our best schools being denied passports and travel based upon tighter security. We need that talent in our country to keep our innovation deveopment moving forward with the best talent … not backward in a time of war.

Globalization is directly impacting the quick growth of Singapore as a new hub for Innovation. By pulling some of the best talent from America, Singapore has quickly established a leading role in the development of future technologies — across the board. And they are not not stopping the invitations to bring the best knowledge to their country. Singapore’s Economic Development Board has secured the following institutions to open local, global schoolhouses:

University of Chicago Graduate School of Business
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Duke School of Medicine
Culinary Institute of America
Tisch School of the Arts

We have become too familiar with the much publicized success of India and China. Friedman has pointed us to Uruguay while Brazil, Denmark, Estonia, Finland and Taiwan have also established innovation centers. Kao’s chapter, The New Geography of Innovation reinforces four key principals that used to be exclusive to America that are now everywhere:

1. Silicon Valley is now everywhere
2. Talent is now everywhere
3. Capital is now everywhere
4. Gov’t investment in military/aerospace is now everywhere

Kao’s message is clear: Innovate or Die. China is going in-house and saving billions to establish its own fleet of commercial jetliners rather than contract Boeing or Airbus.

The book is now added to my must read list for students and faculty in both K12 & Higher Education. Kao has a great book website. Take a look, download his free chapter and order the Book!

Tags: Innovation Nation, Kao, Globalization, technology, leadership, trends

But I’d like to buy a 1st Gen unit too. And I’ll config it to run Sugar.

Tags: OLPC, sugar, Negroponte, prototype, globalization, trends

Lots of press here: Slashdot, NYTimes, CNET, Gizmodo,

I’m counting on the fact that behind the scenes Microsoft is helping fund OLPC. I’m not sure Sugar has what it takes to be the interface because OLPC clearly failed to market the story behind Sugar. And that’s a shame.

Tags: OLPC, sugar, Microsoft, XP, globalization, laptop, trends

Playing catch-up
Today we find a majority of schools around the country in the educational slow lane. For some reason it does not matter if the school is remote or urban, many are connecting at just 5 Megabits/second. Its like teaching history with books that still recognize Russia as the old Soviet Union….oh how I miss Gorgachev.
Any college connecting at less than 10MB — shows a lack of understanding and vision for their students who enter higher education seeking not just a degree but an advantage to enter the global marketplace.

How can any teacher provide engaging content to today’s rich media students with the school’s 5Mb/s connection? My home cable modem runs at 6Mb/s while other providers around the country are pushing 8Mb/s for a service that is sparingly used after work.

My home computer sits idle during the school day. I’d support any solution to transfer my 6Mb/s to my local school during the day. Okay, I know this probably will not work. But do you see my desire?

Lets go a step further
With emerging (and engaging) content coming from Internet2 any school (K12 or HigherEd) needs 10Mb/s minimum…to be honest it should probably be 25Mb/s minimum because 10 will be flooded immediately by students accessing rich media content.

HD video on the internet needs 8Mb/s alone, so 10Mb/s will not permit email, web and VoIP to function on the academic side while the administrative access to ERP software like Oracle and MS Dynamics cannot be off-line during a HD video broadcast.

9/11 video history
How successful could a teacher convey history lessons with access to video footage surrounding 9/11? For my generation: think of the value a history lesson from the December 7th attack on Pearl Harbor. The resource Archive.org has raw video from ABC, CNN, NBC, CBS, and even the BBC from 9/11 available for free. Take a look for yourself here.

Why is this important? Because ultimately any historian whats to convey a real sense of the times. And what a resource this can be.

I would be interested to see the same access to raw video of Katrina. History teaches us compelling and emotional lessons but the impact on today’s students will only be powerful if you don’t have to deal with the “stop/start/stop/start” video jerkiness due to slow bandwidth.

Competition
Countries including Canada, South Korea and Japan deliver over 1GB/s to their schools and libraries empowering their students and citizens. Yes thats 1 Gigabit per second! Our students (I.E. our future) are learning in the slow lane. Lets use an automotive theme:

Bandwidth to the Home
Japan: 1 Gigabit/second or 1,000 miles per hour
USA : 5-8 Megabits/second or 5-8 miles per hour

Do you see the crisis looming?
Its only going to get worse. Is Bandwidth on the radar for our upcoming Presidential election — Maybe to no surprise? Just as those countries are supplying bandwidth to schools, we are losing our research edge as more and more talented Americans leave for greener pastures overseas. Please understand today’s fight for talent is not east coast vs. west coast…..its now global.

Its now East Asia vs. Western Europe with American somewhere in between and beginning to show its aging infrastructure. If you were unaware of this talent migration, may I suggest Innovation Nation: How America Is Losing Its Innovation Edge, Why It Matters, and What We Can Do to Get It Back I’m just half way through and have been further enlightened to the dangerous slide occurring in America.

Tags: Internet2, bandwidth, school, community, globalization, trends

To many the idea of OLPC embracing Windows is a step backward. What we will not know for some time is any “behind the scenes” negotiations between Nicholas Negroponte and Microsoft.

So whats wrong with Sugar anyway? The idea of placing an advanced computer with children who don’t even have electricity in their homes is empowering. The fact that Sugar is based on a custom design to execute one program at a time is designed for children. Lets face it, Windows is not.

Making Sugar’s User Interface makes perfect sense but goes against ‘conventional’ wisdom that you need a successful computer to be Vista driven. Okay, lets downgrade and make it XP to ensure functionality.

Tags: OLPC, sugar, Negroponte, Mary Lou Jepsen, globalization, trends

This remarkable laptop for the world’s poorest students has so many green technologies that Apple, Dell, HP and every other laptop manufacturer should be incorporated into ALL laptops:
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=G-TVca1QW-k[/youtube]

And why can’t I replace my Powerbook’s LCD strip for $1.00 similar to the replacement cost built into the OLPC? Well those same manufacturers want you to purchase another laptop…even when I search eBay for a solution.

Tags: energy, conservation, OLPC, Mary Lou Jepsen, globalization, trends

Google Apps for Education permits any school to tap free, industrial strength resources including: Gmail, GoogleTalk, Calendar, Docs, Sites & Start Page. This solution is standards based while integration is seemless.

Schools continue to face dwindling budgets, staff reductions and program cuts. Lets face facts, globalization also forces schools to implement technology refresh programs, turning over computer labs every 3 or 4 years via equipment leasing. The continued use of commercial software (inlight of Google’s offering to the education community) is a sign of simple fiscal mismanagement.
Looking for a success story to actually justify free software for schools? Click Here for the large number educational organizations (K-12 & Higher Education) that have already migrated to Google Apps for Education.

Consider Arizona State University. Serving 65,000 students, ASU moved to Google Apps for Education in 2006 and saved over $400,000 in IT related expenses. Click here to see details of Google’s offering to schools.

Google Apps is targeted right at Microsoft’s Office suite and its getting harder and harder to justify annual software licensing payments when Google and other solutions are building MS compatibility into their software.

Another incredible free resource is Opencourseware. Free class lecture notes, syllabus, tutorials, audio & video segments from some of the most prestigious institutions in our country including:

Harvard Law School, Berkman Center for Internet and Society
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Michigan State University
UMass Boston
University of California, Irvine
University of Michigan School of Information
University of Notre Dame
Utah State University
Duke University
University of California, Berkeley

MIT has even launched an opencourseware solution for K12 schools including teacher resources. Did you ever consider free educational content would help lead a much needed educational revolution? Opencoursware provides real-world solutions to established high school teachers, curriculum directors and empowers talented students to tap additional online resources to further their education….and prep them for the admissions process at these institutions.
Click here to see a video overview of MIT’s program for K-12.
–Mac users need this plugin to watch online.

Open Source living is website dedicated promoting some of the best open source solutions available to everyone worldwide.

Might be time to ask your school how they are upgrading educational resources to better serve your child’s future. Want an idea of their future? Watch this. BTW: China has the most universities in the world supporting opencouseware and is the host nation for this year’s OpenCourseWare Consortium conference.

Tags: Google Apps for Education, Opensource, Opencourseware, enterprise, school email, Web2.0, budget cuts, trends

He has also projected next year the price will drop to $100/unit, the original price tag when the project began…and should drop to just $50 in 2011.

Tags: OLPC, Negroponte, globalization, trends