XplanaZine

Here’s our take on news that matters for Friday, January 20. Today’s theme is narrowcasting and here are a some links to headlines about technology that is changing the way we live and learn.

• Gaming — In case you had forgotten about Nintendo in all the verbiage thrown out between Microsoft and Sony in the console wars, we learned this week that Nintendo’s Revolution console will hit North American shores by Thanksgiving. On the MORPG front, World of Warcraft owners announced that the game now had more than 1 million users in Europe.

• Blogging, Podcasting, and Vodcasting — This week say the launch of two new podcast ad networks.
  Kiptronic and Podtrac are the first two of what’s expected to be a growing field of entrants into the space this year. These services will be selling ads on individual podcasts and introducing new audience measuring software. Where there’s money , expect even more innovation.

• Handhelds – Up next? The Rob Reynolds Sony Limited Edition NW-A1000. Just kidding. Really it’s a Franz Ferdinand special but it’s just the latest in an exploding trend of limited edition custom handheld devices. Instead of narrowcasting with content, we’re seeing narrowcasting with physical product.
• Social Networks – One of the most interesting questions to Google founder Larry Paige at CES was how the search company was dealing with Yahoo’s lead in social networking. Paige dismissed the significance of Yahoo’s position but search in general may prove to be the very best tool for linking everyone. As an example, take a look at Korea’s NHN and their “Knowledge In” initiative that bases search, in part, on information provided by users (on topics ranging from recipes for or kimchi to the composition of rocket fuel.

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

• From Doug Johnson: Post challenging teachers with an “I will” list.
• From Ben Vershbow : Post on how Google Book is reading you.
• From James Farmer : Post on the process of becoming part of a blog-based community.
• From Graham Attwell : Post on asking whether technology actually improves education.
• From Rob Wall: Post on putting his school site on a blogging platform.
• From Stephen Downes: Post on Lis Neal’s e-learning predictions for 2006.