E-Business - no limits...

Hey! Let's go shopping...
     Well, do you know what you want? Yes, ok - great...

From Google Images

               Oh, you want to know if it's in stock first?
                                  - no problem                
                            Let's check some web sites.

Who would have thought that we'd have this capability even 20 years ago?

Now - no web site - very often - no sale...

The fact is the Web is transforming business in ways we still trying to grasp. And leading the way. Today, if your company doesn't have a web-presence, you lose credibility.

And with B2B - business to  business, C2C (consumer to consumer - think eBay), C2B and B2C, so much information is online, in real time. With virtual shopping carts, instant inventorying, shipment tracking, businesses need to be Internet connected in order to be competitive.

And this virtual market place has literally provided stores without walls. Someone with a product in outer Mongolia can sell to someone in South America. This is redefining markets - stepping outside constrictions of time, space and geographic location.

Note - eBay - probably one of the biggest e-businesses with no inventory, no shipping, no warehouses, no orders to fill - HUGELY profitable - Who could ask for more?

Little did banks know in the 1960's that the simple ability to transfer funds electronically (EFT) would be a foundational pillar of our current online marketing structure. Paychecks, bill paying, and withdrawing money from an ATM all use EFT technology.

So get social, pull up a cloud, or do cyber business - it's all there - just a click away.

For your clicking pleasure -

Facebook                   Google Docs                Blogger

Any Store!                  Any Bank!                Any Hobby!

                              ANY    WHERE  ! ! !

Connects, Networks & Stuff

Well I think we've all heard various terms and acronyms such as LAN, ISP, TCP and IP ....
    The bottom line is that they are all involved in computer connections.

Local Area Networks (LANs), as well as MANs (metropolitan area networks), and WANs (wide area networks) all come together to bring us into a global community

Within an organization, networks can be layout in a variety, and often mixture of ways. A bus topology is one main cable from which each computer branches off from. Ring and star configurations are rather self explanatory.

The actual physical connection has transformed over the years as well. What used to be available only through twisted-pair cable is now transmitted mostly through fiber-optic cable, infrared and radio frequencies. And even satellite use is employees.

Who would have thought years ago, that with the click of a button, you would be able to not only hear but SEE whom you're talking with as well? Hello FaceTime!! Hello technology!!

I found that our computers all have the ability to trace the internet "path" or "hops" from our computer to our destination computer. This can give us a tiny view into how our information gets to us. From networks through networks to networks...

And I think we've all heard the term domain names. And thank God for them! I can;t imagine memorizing or even writing the digital address of each website I visit - can you?

Much gratitude is felt for LBS (location-based services) - they are the trip savers for many a direction challenged person via GPSs (Global Positioning Systems) Yeah for GPS!!!

Portals, P2Ps, and a Plethora of other stuff

Remember the days when you'd ask your mom how to spell something? (Like "plethora")

      And the response was ….

                   “Look it up in the dictionary” ? ! ? ! ?                          

Of course our response - “How can I do that if I don't know how to spell it?!?”

But, that is no longer an issue with today's technology.

Today – spell check and just about ANY other information is at our –

and our children's – finger tips.

Portals are our gateway to this information.

Horizontal ones provide our “instant” (and instantly changeable) weather, how the Sabres are doing, access to your e-mail, and the latest YouTube sensation...

Google, Yahoo!, and other web browsers are examples of broad, horizontal portals.

Vertical portals are more specific either by industry (just about any store...) or by area of interest– such as ones devoted to things from antiques to health to UFOs.

http://www.verticalportals.com/

One area of particular interest is the online training and professional development which is exploding. Many universities are offering, not only courses and certificate programs but full bachelor and masters level online degrees.

Online access has reduced the cost and stress of completing ongoing continuing education for many professions. And K – 12 resources are flourishing.

And, as we've been exploring, the evolution of technology and its partner, the Internet, has given birth to many other possibilities....

Gaming is actually becoming a hot industry in education. What better way to learn than by involving the whole person – and having FUN to boot!

P2P (Peer 2 Peer) file sharing is expediting the merging of businesses and worldwide communities. Google Docs and Cloud computing are facilitators of such sharing. 

Here are just a few of the plethora of delicacies available for the clicking:

TED Ed: Lessons Worth Sharing                            Rocketship Education

Full Sail University                        Games in Education                     Peer 2 Peer Tutors

Wikis in Education                        Game Show Presenter                        YouTube            

Prezi Praise & Pains...

Alas - I am again having difficulties embedding videos in my blog.

So the best I can do is to offer a link to my Prezi Presentation:
PLNs Where Creativity Collides with Collaboration

It was a lot of fun to do and I'm actually trying to think up reasons for creating more Prezis!

Feel free to take a look too - www.prezi.com

 

Here's just one of the free templates that www.prezzip.com offers to add in creating Prezi presentations.

This one was free - as are many more. Some cost $1.99 or $2.99...

But they're ALL fun! :)

Now if I can only figure out how to imbed mine! Someone I shared it with said the overall view looked like a sandollar!

              Loved that!

PLN Evolution - Stream of Conscientiousness

From Google Images

 From Google Images

Personal   -   Learning   -  Network

Hmmmm - Personal? Network?      Juxtaposed?

Conversation - Sharing becomes community....  

Everyone grows - LOTS of information!!!

From Google Images     

                            Ideas spark MORE ideas......

                                                   New becomes change -

So where does one end and another begin? When growing ideas - does it matter? What is the real goal?

When it comes to learning, technology and growth, don't we ALL want something better, more fruitful, more effective? AND HOW DO WE GET THERE?

Just some random, wandering ponderings....

Prezi LOVE!

Ah - trying a new application - it's called Prezi....

From Wikipedia via Google Images

Click and add and turn and size - LOTS of fun.


Now, kinda wish I could use some of those on the blog -
      some of the tools may may your head spin though

So off to do more with zooming, shrinking, expanding, panning
       "painting" -  just all around playing!

Oh what fun kids would have if they used this for their book reports!

Well off to the races....

SoundCloud - New Waves in the Cyber Sea

From Google Images

Well - I've been searching, listening and playing around with SoundCloud. I found a clip of an old favorite. Here it is:
Big Dee Irwin Swinging On A Star by Camille Styles Events

And to try to record something on my own, my daughter volunteered to play a bit on the piano. So here that is:
MB Intro
And here's the sweet sound of one of our kittens:
Soundcloud.com Indianna Meows

I guess you can use it as an audio instead of a YouTube clip. You could put a clip of soothing music on a blog or website to inspire or soothe your viewers.

I can definitely see how musicians can become self published. The new access to publishing sounds puts the marketing into the hands of the artist. (Just found SoundRain for that exact purpose...) As in the media publishing world, this will be revolutionizing the industry.

As a visual person, I can't seem to grasp why you would want to embed just a sound if you are trying to teach something - wouldn't a video be more useful?

Here are the two fellows that started SoundCloud -

Alexander Ljung & Eric Wahlforss:

Although, after listening to this:
Alex-Eric SoundCloud

perhaps.... Soundcloud could be like an "audio tweet" - this could actually be a bit of a solution to those who wish to text on the go....

Want more info?   http://developers.soundcloud.com/docs