Why We Should All Be Concerned About the Apple FBI Controversy

The person to follow in the Apple/FBI case is Tim Sparipani. Tim has the best insights and the best background to put this into perspective. He's Founder & Principal, SPQR Strategies, PLLC and the former Director of Public Policy at Facebook.

Tim wrote a story in Forbes.com that has an important perspective we should consider:

"If the U.S. government forces this technology on Apple, it’s also giving this technology to the rest of the world. That means rogue regimes, dictatorships and oligarchs will have access to the same security busting technology as the U.S. government. One nation’s terrorist is another’s journalist, reformer, freedom fighter or human rights advocate. Limiting security on iPhones could put these people, who are often on the frontlines of fights against oppression, in grave danger."

Can Apple Products Pave the Way to Personalized Learning?

Great story on KQED's Mindshift today..."Can Apple Products Pave the Way to Personalized Learning?"

Apple has had a long history of pushing its computers into the classrooms. For many years, a child’s first exposure to a computer had been at school, and often that computer was an Apple. The company made a push back in the 1980s to get its PCs into the classroom, and even with the ascendancy of Microsoft and Windows in the personal computing market, schools have remained a stronghold for Apple.

The shift to mobile devices — first the iPods, then the iPhones, and now the iPads — has once again put Apple in the lead in the consumer market, and it’s interesting to think about how the company continues to be embraced by schools and to influence education.

Apple’s new CEO Tim Cook says  iPads are “showing up everywhere” and that in schools they are “changing the way teachers teach and kids learn, and many educators agree with us.” He added that there is an iPad deployment program in every state.

The idea of a one-to-one classroom does mean that students have their own computing devices, ones they carry with them at all times, at school and at home.

Personalization in education (and education technology) could mean a technology that knows what you “like” (arguably, of course, that’s Facebook). It could mean one that knows your academic strengths and weaknesses — what you could or should be studying.

Message to Apple...Read This

Message to apple....try putting yourself into your customer's position once in awhile. Maybe you will see a different perspective.

Just bought two..count 'em...two iPads....excited...download a movie on iTunes. Start watching it Tues night and wanted to finish it Wed night. All of a sudden the movie ends 1/2 way through. Guess what? You only have 24 hours to watch a film. It doesn't matter whether or not you've seen the entire movie, you only get 24 hours.

My advice, try Netflix instead.