Final U-Blog

Well here it is... my final U-Blog.

Sub-$100 notebook which is due in early 2009.

It's been a long time coming, but today marks the day in which a 100$ laptop finally is announced and will be released early next year.
Coby Electronics claims that their PoquetMate-7 and 9 units will be right around the $100 mark. What exactly could we expect from the hardware in the machine? We're talking about a relatively unknown company with a product and has little information available. Hopefully we will hear more about this soon.

What advantages could this bring to consumers?

Cheaper laptops like this are key in todays economy.

Distance Broadcast Preferences

The Moore School of Business, Rooms 203 and 204
This is a good location, you can fit in more students than the other locations. It is a comfortable environment to learn in, I have a class in room 203 before and really enjoyed it.

Formative or Summative?

Which is more important to the success of a training design project?

Both are important in the design.
Assessment of efforts prior to their completion is a key component to having a quality evaluation. as well as it's focus on the process. This is ongoing throughout the project and provides effective response.

It's key to provide a summative evaluation as well in which it summarizes the outcome of the project and it effectively gives you another subjective approach to having a quality project.

It's important to have evaluation overall because it points out the strengths and weaknesses of the project as well as it's cost saving benefits.

Source:Powerpoint presentation

Myspace launches new ad platform aimed at small-medium sized businesses.

Myspace and Facebook, the Coke and Pepsi of the social networking world, are going each other tooth and nail.  Myspace recently just announced it's launching of a new sweeping, advertising play.  If your familiar with Google AdWords you will understand this concept (It gives users the ability to buy keywords and serve ads to users searching for stuff).  Myspace's "MyAds" is targeted directly at the users themselves rather than "AdWords" targeting at what the users are searching for.  

Anyone can go and buy ads by going to the MyAds site and signing up.  There is a really easy tool that allows you to create a banner ad -- while you can upload your own image, graphic or corporate logo, and type out your message directly into it.  Myspace then allows you to hypertarget your ad at a market based on the many ways the social network's 76 million active users define themselves.  Age, gender, zipcode, hobbies, musical preference, etc.  Like Google, rates vary depending on the target market; MyAd advertisers only pay when a user clicks on their ad, with prices starting at 25 cents per click-through.  

Will this be a huge success or a horrible failure? The market that Myspace is targeting (small and medium sized businesses) is expected to be the hardest hit by the financial crisis in the coming months and years.  They'll have way far few dollars to spend on marketing and advertising.  

You decide...

Energy drinks = Bad (but so good..)

Yes, this is not directly related to Training and /or conept strategies, but affects the individuals...

Your daily caffeine blast from "energy" drinks might be killing you. A new study says the high-powered drinks have so much of a jolt that the government should put warning labels on them.

"The caffeine content of energy drinks varies over a 10-fold range, with some containing the equivalent of 14 cans of Coca-Cola. Yet the caffeine amounts are often unlabeled, and few include warnings about the potential health risks of caffeine intoxication," Roland Griffiths writes in The Gazette of Johns Hopkins University, where the study took place.
But he and other researchers found that some energy drinks have as much as 500 mg. of caffeine in an 8-ounce can. That compares to 330 mg. in a 16-ounce cup of Starbucks coffee, or 35 mg. in a 12-ounce can of cola.

If drinkers are unaware of just how much caffeine is in their drinks, they run the risk of overimbibing and coming down with caffeine poisoning, the study found.
The symptoms include anxiety, an upset stomach, restlessness and, more seriously, a rapid heartbeat, which could put some people with cardiac problems in life-threatening danger, the report said.

64GB Flash drive

This applies to everyone in the information technology field, as well as normal consumers. Ever since USB flash drives have been released I’ve always been thinking “what’s next”. In relation to the size of the physical unit itself, it amazes me that something can be so small and hold so much information. I find myself using flash drives more and more because of the convenience and size functionality. September 30th, 2008 posted a new turn in the capabilities of flash drives and their sizes as Corsair introduced a 64GB capacity flash drive. Its entry level price is around 250 dollars however will drop in time. It’s a convenient Keychain drive which I am really in favor of.
I’m looking forward to seeing what’s going to happen next with these flash drives. 100 GB, 200GB, 1 TB? It sounds crazy to think about it now, but it’s right around the corner. In relation to technology there is so much that is getting smaller and more portable, and it’s making our lives just that much easier.

Virtual Worlds / 2020

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/08/07/virtual.living/

Undoubtedly, facebook is the internet's top social networking realm. With over 30 million users worldwide, it has become a very popular online networking site. But can you imagine what's next for social networking? Avatars and virtual worlds have been around for a few years (as I've been apart of some in the past), but according to cnn.com's Linnie Rawlison Virtual Worlds are going to become the next facebook.

Imagine getting home, and logging into a virtual world where you can hang out with your friends online in a next-to-real experience. You can build virtual houses, meet friends at local virtual restaurants and throw virtual tailgating parties. "Second Life" is a good example of this.Instead of uploaded pictures and text to websites such as facebook and myspace, imagine creating your own 3d image of yourself, to interact with others in a virtual world.

This can benefit you in a business perspective as well, while enabling you to collaborate in new virtual ways.2020, do you see this becoming something that is more popular than facebook?

Hadron Collider Down for 2 months

The 10$ billion Hadron Collider is down for 2 months due to faulty electrical connection between 2 magnets that stopped conducting.  It's going to take 2 months for the repairs to be completed because of the complexity of issue.  They have the warm an entire sector to go inside to repair it.  

The Hadron Collider is a machine that essentially is going to find out the reasoning behind the "Big Bang Theory" and how mass is created.  This processes could take 5 years depending on if the machine continues to operate properly.  

I know this doesn't have anything to do with training management/concepts but I find this a very interesting experiment and I thought that you guys would find it interesting.  

Blogging...

I personally think it's a very good idea that we are all getting the opportunity to use Blogger within a class environment. It's functionality and ease of use is very appealing and I find myself joining other blog environments on a daily basis. For years now i've been part of online forums such as audizine and Jmayer. It's a great way to meet new enthusiasts/ fans/ whathaveyou and interact in an innovative and easy way through the internet. I'm looking forward to using blogs for years to come for my personal interest as well as for business use.

The Fedora Project

I'm very interested in seeing our first guest speaker.  I've never been exposed to a linux based environment, and i've been looking to install a copy on my machine for a while.  Perhaps this will give me more of an incentive to install it and learn about it's functionality.  Having guest speakers come to our class and talk about new/existing technologies is a good feature of this class.  That is one component that I think a lot of my classes have been missing over the years.  It gives you a better representation of whatever the person is speaking for.  When i've been exposed to guest speakers in the past, i've learned a lot, and I gained a valuable resource directly with the speaker.

What is training systems?

There are 5 components to a training system;

Analyze: You should analyze the need of the assessment. For example, what would you want the employers to get the most out of the program? This phase is where training program objectives begin to take shape. If an organization performs the assessment phase without rigorous attention to details, money and time is wasted.

Design: This is where you link the needs assessment to the actual creation of the new cirriculm. This is also the phase where we begin to think about the operational considerations of the program. Ask the question: How is the delivery of the program going to influence my business operations?

Develop Materials: This includes items like, references, case studies, movies, games, and other visual aids. Remember to keep the information organized and easy to use by both the facilitator and the attendees…confusing programs will sabotage your program. This is also a great time to ensure that feedback from previous sessions is included.

Implimentation: This is when the actual training begins; Some steps of implimentation are practicing, providing feedback, management and observation feedback, interaction and facilities management.

Evaluate: All system outputs are a direct reflection of inputs, processes, and adjustments. The training process is no different. If the outputs of the program are less than desired, then changes to the program may be necessary. Companies should establish a systematic evaluation process to enhance the effectiveness of the training

Training is an important part of a companies growth and development. It is a lengthy processes, and for it to be effective it must be a process.

Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/training-articles