XplanaZine

Here’s our take on news that matters for Monday, December 12. Today’s theme is the media future and here are some links to related news items.

• Business Week Online has come out with it’s latest next-generation technology report and there is some good stuff here (if you’re interested in thinking about the impact of future technology on education). The bottom line is that hardware and software vendors want to blur the lines between the various compartments of our lives. They want to blend our jewelry with audio devices, phones with TV, and cameras with books. Decompartmentalization doesn’t sound like such a bad thing, does it? Maybe a bit of technology across the curriculum.
• Sprint to offer full-length movie downloads: Sprint Nextel is expected to announce today that it has begun selling a service that allows users of its mobile video phones to watch full-length movies, television shows, concerts and comedy specials. Provided by vendor MSpot, the service offers unlimited shows and movies for a monthly flat fee of $6.95, on top of regular service charges. The announcement comes as Sprint and other wireless phone services are looking to video content like TV programs, music and sports to boost revenue.
• Vlogs becoming increasingly lucrative : Rocketboom is a vlog
  produced by
  Amanda Congdon and Andrew Baaron. At a cost of about $20 an episode, they reach an audience that some
  days is roughly comparable in size to that of, say, CNN’s late,
  unlamented “Crossfire” political debate show. At the rate they’re going, Amanda and Andrew could charge as much as $8,000 per interactive ad.
• BET promotes ringtones with video pop-ups.
  BET has begun embedding text-messaging codes into its music videos, encouraging viewers to order a download of each song’s ring tone directly from their mobile phone. While such cross-marketing is a common practice in Europe, this is the first time a U.S. video channel has integrated mobile messaging on air to sell ring tones.

Now, here’s a recap of our favorite posts from the edublogging community from the past 48 hours.

• From Will Richardson: Post on Wikipedia woes that poses a question about authority in the age of Internet scholarship.
• From Godfrey Parkin : Post on the the declining future of corporate trainers.
• From D’Arcy Norman : Post on the acquisition of del.icio.us by Yahoo.
• From George Siemens : Post asking if Wikis are inherently flawed.
• From Alan Levine : Post on throwing stones at the glass wiki house.
• From Doug Johnson: Post of a teacher’s technology manifesto.