Learn Tech

Learning professionals are often the first to admit that when it comes to technology, they love the idea of the newest shiny product. But successfully implementing the latest toys for mobile learning, video streaming and social collaboration may be another thing altogether.

Practitioners and vendors alike say even the best thought-out rollouts can have problems, including getting employees to actually use the tools. And sometimes the latest fad can be just that — a passing fad.

Take the idea to build an entire curriculum in the online virtual world Second Life, which was all the rage a decade ago, said Rob Lauber, chief learning officer at McDonald’s Corp. “What everyone thought was going to become a cottage industry overnight actually died overnight.”

Even established technologies such as learning management systems are still not being fully used, and most of the reasons why are often out of learning leaders’ control: budget constraints, learning’s low position on information technology’s totem pole, bandwidth issues and inadequate resources to keep up with the necessary data input.

Budget constraints and integrating data from multiple systems still rank as some of learning leaders’ top technology challenges, according to the 2014 Chief Learning Officer Learning Technology Report.

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Alicia Shevetone, vice president of strategies at Clarity Consultants in Campbell, California, said less than 5 percent of her clients are making a sincere effort to develop mobile learning, partly because they are stymied by budget constraints or they do not understand what it takes to introduce a new technology.

Some get too excited and buy first before doing their homework, said Katherine Guest, co-founder and chief marketing officer of OnPoint Digital Inc., an online and mobile learning company. “We’ve heard learning professionals say that their company just bought hundreds — even thousands — of tablet devices, with no real plan as to what they would install on them, and no thought as to how they might be used to enhance existing learning programs.”

In that sort of situation learning leaders should find out first which, if any, employees are allowed to access proprietary company information on their personal devices, she said. If they have corporate-owned devices, IT may only allow apps from their corporate app store or mobile device management platform.

Some practitioners prefer to get senior leaders excited about technology-related possibilities by developing something tangible before asking for an investment. Leah Minthorn, acting director of North American operations learning at Boston-based Iron Mountain Inc., recently designed a mobile learning app, even though not all workers have company-owned devices and there are security issues with using their own devices.

“I do things backwards, because I think it makes them more apt to approve things,” she said.

Governmental entities in particular are less inclined to be early adopters because it’s a very slow process to get people comfortable. Kevin Bruny, chief learning officer for Virginia’s Chesterfield County, likened it to turning a steam ship. However, Bruny said in his situation there isn’t much need to roll out mobile learning because most county employees in the field can complete their duties without additional performance support tools.

But that brings up a relevant point. Work tasks, outcomes and infrastructure matter when it comes to technology-motivated learning decisions. For example, Laura Helliwell, senior director of technology for corporate learning at Harvard Business Publishing in Boston, said it’s challenging to develop online content for organizations that still use Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8, as the older browser doesn’t support content developed using HTML5.

Tech Expo

The fifth annual tech IT out Technology Showcase & Expo, hosted by the Southwest Missouri Chapter of the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP), kicks off at 7:30 a.m. Thursday at the Oasis Convention Center, 2546 N. Glenstone Ave. This show offers technology breakout/education sessions, 60-plus technology exhibitors, over a dozen sponsors, and houses around 800 information technology and business professionals from a five-state region.

Technology industry giants such as Microsoft, IBM, Brocade, Cisco Systems and Alcatel-Lucent are among the many high profile speakers, exhibitors and attendees at this year’s conference. It will also showcase a Small Business Education Series as well an in-depth, intimate, by-invitation-only conversation with Jeff Charlson, Vice President of Information Systems Division for Walmart stores who will be discussing “Collaboration.”

Session topics include CyberSecurity, Artificial Intelligence in Action, Event Detection, Warning and Reporting (weather), a briefing on the breach of Community Health Care, Espionage, plus social media and impacts on small businesses.

Sponsored by CenturyLink Business, this conference brings something for everyone interested in information technology, the advances being made across all industries as well as the latest and greatest technology brought to you by local, regional and national IT specialists.

Cost to attend is $40, registration is required; no cash will be accepted at the door.

Doors open at 7:30 a.m. for registration and check-in. Keynote Speaker Neal Tilley, Senior Director, Education Technology-Alcatel-Lucent presents Communication Evolution: It’s about TIME not TECHNOLOGY at 8 a.m. in the Maui Room. The event closes at 6:30 p.m.

iWatch

Apple’s embrace of wireless charging for its new Watch may be a defining moment for a technology that’s languished for years amid competing standards and consumer confusion.

Supporters of wireless charging see a future where people no longer worry about topping up their gadgets, are free from tangled power cords and low-battery warnings and where terms like “outlet” and “plugged in” will be as anachronistic as “dialling” a phone.

Users seem to like the idea too: in a recent survey by technology consultancy IHS, 83% were interested in wireless charging; in China, the figure was 91%.

But, while the technology is largely there to do this, competition to set a global standard is getting in the way of delivery. It’s reminiscent of the Betamax vs VHS videotape wars of three or four decades ago, or the more recent battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD for supremacy in high-definition optical disc format.

For now, there are three alliances, but not much to show. Last year, fewer than 20-million phones were shipped with wireless charging built in, according to IHS – less than 2% of the billion smartphones shipped around the world.

“There are a lot of bees around the hive,” said Omri Lachman, chief executive of Humavox, an Israeli start-up with its own wireless charging technology. “Up to now, we’ve not seen a mass aggregation of wireless charging in devices. There’s a good reason for that: three standards for the same form of technology.”

Own Tech

Die-hard entrepreneurs have to be prepared to turn on a dime, hedge their bets and prepare for all contingencies. These are lessons brought to the business model at Global Clean Energy Inc., a U.S. company with its headquarters in Montreal and offices in Houston, Texas, and Las Vegas, Nevada.

GCE is a “waste-to-energy conversion solutions company,” founded in 2006 by president and chief executive Earl Azimov. It had been developing technology to convert tires and plastics to diesel and gasoline and build and run pyrolysis plants, with minority partners.

But when Brian Levine came on board as chief operating officer two years ago, he realized the business had to make an abrupt shift. Despite initial success in developing its technology, to continue down that path would require at least an additional US$10-million to US$20-million and many months, if not years, to perfect.

As well, the company had been in a development stage for nearly six years and needed revenue to make it more attractive.

“The investment community is looking for no technology risk,” Mr. Levine wrote in an email. “Too many companies have tried to create … their own proprietary technologies. … Rather than waste tremendous time and money … we opted to develop and lockup top North American sites, the precious real estate and feedstock, focusing on those … with proven ‘package’ technology rather than tolerating technology risks as so many have done and failed.”

GM Connected Car

General Motors Co (GM.N) will introduce in two years its first car that can communicate with other vehicles to help avoid accidents and ease traffic congestion, Chief Executive Mary Barra said on Sunday.

In the same time frame, GM also will introduce more advanced technology allowing hands-free driving in some cases, she said.

"I’m convinced customers will embrace (vehicle-to-vehicle) and automated driving technologies for one simple reason: they are the answer to everyday problems that people want solved,"

Auto companies, academics and government agencies globally are working to develop cameras, sensors, radar and other technologies that allow vehicles and surrounding infrastructure like stoplights to alert each other about nearby driving conditions.

The industry is rolling out such features as adaptive cruise control, crash-imminent braking and semi-automated, hands-free driving like GM’s ‘Super Cruise’ feature to make roads safer.

However, GM and other automakers have emphasized that even with hands-free driving, drivers will be responsible and need to maintain attention on the road. Meanwhile, Internet search company Google Inc (GOOGL.O) is working to develop fully autonomous vehicles.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has made developing connected car technologies a high priority, a view shared in Japan and Europe. And when cars can also talk to surrounding infrastructure, the gains will be exponential, Barra said.

However, she said commercializing a fully automated vehicle may take until the next decade.

Congestion causes urban Americans to travel 5.5 billion more hours and purchase an extra 2.9 billion gallons of fuel each year, she said, citing outside data.

In 2016, GM will sell a 2017 model Cadillac CTS sedan standardly equipped with vehicle-to-vehicle technology. However, the car can only communicate with similarly equipped vehicles and it will take time for the industry to introduce the technology broadly, GM officials said before Barra’s speech.

iWatch to use NFC

Apple Inc plans to include near-field communication (NFC), a technology that can be used to make payments wirelessly, in its upcoming smartwatch, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The company is also expected to add the technology, which is used to transmit data wirelessly over short distances, to the next version of its iPhone, the paper reported.

The smartwatch will be offered in two sizes and will have sensors to track and monitor health, people familiar with the device told the paper.

However, the smartwatch is unlikely to go on sale this year, the people said.

Apple did not immediately respond to calls and emails for comment.

NFC will allow users to make payments for goods and services with credit cards stored with Apple’s iTunes digital content store, the report said.

Apple has invited media to a “special event” in its hometown of Cupertino, California, on Sept. 9, when the iPhone maker is expected to unveil the latest versions of its best-selling smartphones.

NASA 3D Experiment

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is experimenting with 3D-printing technology and has created complex rocket parts.

Additive manufacturing, more commonly known is 3D-printing technology, is getting very popular in various fields and being lauded by many as a futuristic technology. In the medical field, 3D-printing has helped surgeons reconstruct a person’s skull and scientists are also looking at bio-printing blood vessels. Disney is also experimenting with 3D-printing to create toys for children.

3D-printing is also being experimented in the aviation and space industries and the U.S. space agency has recently announced that it has successfully tested an injector of a rocket engine, which is responsible to direct propellant to the spacecraft’s engine. NASA recently revealed that to create such a complex component it had to input the design details of the part to a computer connected to a 3D-printer.

The 3D-printer was successful enough to build the component layer-by-layer using metal powder, which was put together with the help of laser. NASA explains that this process is normally called selective laser melting.

The injector has 40 different elements and NASA scientists suggest that the 3D-printing technology was able to build the component as one unit rather than being manufactured separately. The space agency indicates that the injector built with the help of 3D-printing technology is identical to the size used in small rockets and also possesses similar design aspects as found in big engines.