Michael Moore-Jones, a student at Scots College, nails it: “I’m a massive fan of the Khan Academy. I use it daily to learn content for a large number of my subjects. And I completely buy into the Khan Academy goal of “flipping the classroom” – ie. letting people learn the content of the subject from …
Continue reading “It’s time to flip education – who will be first?”
A nice primer on creative commons copyright by, who else, CreativeCommons.org.nz http://www.vimeo.com/25684782
About this time last year I stood for the Council for Internet NZ. The field was large – 12 candidates from memory, and all members had to go on were the candidates personal statements – and what we could find on Google. This year, so far, we have 6 candidates. Four of them are current …
Here’s my take on the top 10 things I learned from the excellent last three days at NetHui. Your take may be quite different, so please comment. 1: There is general alignment on the important issues While the participants at NetHui from diverse backgrounds, and had diverse agendas, the basic and strong alignment was compelling. …
TrueNet is a New Zealand company that measures actual internet speeds from the premise to both local and international addresses. Pacific Fibre asked them to pull together from their data a chart showing the difference between local and international traffic speeds at peak times. (If there is an Australian company offering this service then please …
Continue reading “We are using the wrong broadband statistics”
I’m facilitating a discussion at NetHui today on Media and Innovation. Here’s the blurb: Content is king but someone has to pay for it. In the days of media convergence traditional content distribution is challenged. Copyright law has stepped in to protect these legacy distribution models but is this an enduring solution what alternative models …
Continue reading “Starter notes for NetHui Session on Media and Innovation”
More Broadband, originally uploaded by LanceWiggs.
The March edition of the excellent New Zealand Energy Quarterly is out. Here are the top 3 findings from my perspective. 1: NZ electricity was 79% from renewable sources last quarter. While this share will drop as winter kicks in and the more expensive forms of power increase in use to deliver the demand, it’s …
Continue reading “NZ’s 79% renewable electricity generation”
Powershop just upgraded their terms and conditions. Here’s a change that stuck out: We will use our best endeavours to answer calls within one minute and to respond to online help enquiries within 2 business days. If for some reason we don’t comply with these timeframes you can contact us again or lodge a complaint. …
Continue reading “A few more reasons to use Powershop – the fine print”
I wrote about Whisky and More earlier, as their online store was a wonderful shopping experience. Purely in the interests of retail research, and perhaps also because the store and products were so wonderful, I decided to purchase a few products for testing purposes. The email arrived at 8:48am on the day after the order, …
Whiskey and More, which I just discovered today, does a nice line in online retail experience. The site is simple, the checkout smooth and the prices low. So low that, purely in the interests of online retail experience research, I was forced to stock up a little. The confirmation email was inspiring: I hope the stuff …
Natalie writes on Simple and Loveable about the excellent zero road fatality result last weekend, and says credit should go to the Police for a good campaign. I agree – and here’s what I wrote in reply: I covered about 4000 Km over the weekend and before (for the Brass Monkey). I noticed a lot …
Ben Kepes stirs the pot over at Diversity, questioning why we need fibre the home. It seems he’s happy with 1 Mbit/s. He questions the benefits of broadband, and references the MOTU report, without referencing the considerable body of work done by the NZ Institute. Both studies are flawed. The MOTU report tries to find …
I just got the heads up that Vodafone NZ has a new website. On first glance it looks better, and I like the front and center placing of the signature product – the iPhone. I don’t understand why the iPhone does not feature in the middle phone selector section though, especially on the business page. …
A remarkably insightful quote from the Agenda for American Education Reform paper. “In fact, there is reason to believe that the problem with the American teaching force is not that it has long been of low quality and must now be raised, but rather that the United States greatly benefitted for the better part of …
Continue reading “Are we seeing lower numbers of great teachers?”
Lance Wiggs 