Our ability to do things with technology far exceeds our ability to understand implications. Consider the brain chip: “Intel researchers in Pittsburgh told journalists today that brain implants are harnessing human brain waves to surf the Internet, manipulate documents, and much more”.
This got me thinking about how far I would go to adopt technology. Or humanity as a whole. Do you have a limit? Is there a point at which you would say “no more”. And if you (we) did, would it matter? Would it abate development? Is transhumanism our future? Will technology always lead and humanity simply follow where it goes?

Lots of reaction to Google’s Chrome OS (web operating system, in theory, a means to do away with Windows, Mac, Linux). Running Chrome OS at this stage is no easy task (see steps required here) – it’ll be a while before it will be available for most users. And, once available, it’s geared to the netbook market. Not surprisingly, since Chrome started its life as a browser, applications run as tabs. Without being able to cite any research, I think most people seem more comfortable with a browser than any other application on their computer. Google is targeting ease of use. For that matter, Google is seeking to do to the web what Microsoft did to the desktop.

Video introduction to Chrome OS (note the 7 second cold boot)

Mashup explores 5 ways in which Chrome OS is unique.

Salesforce, like many other companies, is jumping onto the enterprise social media bandwagon with the soon-to-be-released Chatter. Basically, Chatter introduces some of the functionality found in Facebook and Twitter into a secure enterprise system. Reactions vary (have a look at the comments on the article), including: “everyone’s on Facebook already – why bother with Chatter”, “this is great – just what I needed”, and “Elgg does this better already and its free”. Still, the best way to determine if a software has gained traction is to have someone develop it at an enterprise level. Sadly, it’s also the best way to kill the transformative functionality of new software.

Controversy aside, Modern Warfare 2 is an interesting “sign of the times”. In its first week of release, the game generated $550 million (in UK and North America). What other media even comes close? What’s a big weekend for a new movie release? $50-60 million? I’ve been looking for something approaching an authoritative figure on the cost of developing MW2. Figures range between $30-50 million. Again, considering block buster movies can cost in excess of $100 million to make, the movie industry is being significantly upstaged by the gaming industry. Plus, games run on a centralized device, so XBox can do things like this to prevent piracy.

After three days of 5+ hours work of presentations, we’ve (Jay Cross, Tony Karrer, and I) wrapped up our third annual LearnTrends conference. Scott Skibell of Skillcasting has completed and posted recordings of the event. Topics include: convergence, mobile learning, design, social learning, managing information, microlearning, enterprise 2.0, and many others. A great event – congrats and thanks to all involved in presenting/planning/attending! For some reason, these intensive online conferences are more exhausting than face to face events.

Clayton Wright publishes as complete a listing of educational technology conferences as you are likely to find anywhere. Tony Karrer has posted the list on his site, so I’ll just link to it…
Thanks Clayton – an outstanding resource!

I’m in Oslo. I have a total of four face-to-face presentations and three online presentations to deliver this week. We’re also running the LearnTrends conference online. So it’s a bit hectic.

I’ve posted two presentations on slideshare:

Learning in 2020
Educational Trends and Social Networks

Reminder, next week, Jay Cross, Tony Karrer, and I (with support from many others!) are running LearnTrends 2009. An outstanding list of presenters and provocative topics. Free to join.

Moving Away from Social Media to Business Focus – a confused and rambling post, but the underlying point – moving beyond the hype and buzzwords and recognizing impact of what is commonly called social media – is something most organizations are now focusing on.

Social Learning Examples – a great listing of technologies compiled by Jane Hart in response to questions about examples: “So here are over 100 ways that different social technologies (and tools) are being used by learning professionals worldwide”

Overcoming Obstacles to the Social Business: “While social media often commands favorable media attention, the less often told story is that successful initiatives are rare to come by and that there are still a number of organizational roadblocks that managers need to overcome in order to make progress.”

In a post on my connectivism site, I argue that the future of learning will be in social networking services, not in learning management systems (an assertion not everyone agrees with – see the comments in the post). Additional commentary on Jane Hart’s post as well…and Moodle – the wrong tool for the job?.