First, I guess I should say that for all of my Apple products, I kind of cheer for Google. I recently switched over to a Droid for work purposes, which is convenient, and I have my iGoogle page. Personally, I love that Google helps me organize my life, I have the calendar, I have countdowns, I have email, I have the Reader, the weather, CNN updates, it notifies me of free iTunes downloads (usually kids' songs, check it out!), and I think Google Docs are nothing short of genius . . . In short, I would find my life a LOT more difficult without Google organizing a lot of things for me.
So, I found this article and I was utterly fascinated. Yesterday, Google had their I/O, an annual conference where they announce their new services. Now, you can transfer your music and movies from iTunes onto iGoogle (20,000 songs for free, though it was hinted that they might start to charge after a test period) and stream your music from your computer or Android. You could use this as a way to back up your songs, I guess, but you could also be able to access your music from anywhere, not just from your own personal computer.
And, finally, they also have movie rental streaming, similar, I'm guessing, to Neflix. Youtube also launched this yesterday (Google owns Youtube as well). You can syncronize your computer and phone and such so you can access movies from each place. And you can watch the movie for 24 hours once you start streaming it. The movies were anywhere from $1.99 to $3.99. So, not as cheap as Redbox, but for the convenience on long flights and such, I think it might be worth it.
They're also looking at controlling your home! You could control your lights, stereos, TVs, etc. from your Android phone. Seriously, you could just quit living and let Google do it for you. Overall, though, I was thinking about how convenient this would be for assisstive technology. One kid that I work with (I have permission to share this) is 16-years-old and is a quadriplegic. He is unable to walk or talk effectively enough for people to understand him. He uses a Dynavox (talking device) both at home and at school. He has a device at home that has more academic words programmed into it, and one at home with more personal words. The frustrating part of this, for him, is that he has music and movies on his home Dynavox that he can't access at school (I'm not sure why he needs to get to his music and movies at school, but that's beside the point). However, he has the capabilities to control the lights in his house and many other things as well, including the TV. However, if he could control a wheelchair lift, or the garage door, and all of these other things that would be helpful to him for being more independent and doing more things without having to have other people around.
Really, I was thinking about how amazing this would be at school, but also really frustrating. If kids can access so much both at home and at school, then really, there are so many more possibilities. You could post a yearly schedule in Google Docs and would be able to add field trips and such to Google Calendars. You could use the Calendar and Countdown features to count down to the end of the year or whatever and show the passing of time that way. However, it could just be as simple as having all of your music on iGoogle so you could access all of it at home and at school and use your music throughout the day without having to have an iPod around or a huge book of CDs.
Overall, if Google is doing all of these incredible things, I'm looking forward to see what next year's I/O brings, and how else you could use technology that really isn't made for the classroom in a really interesting way.
Haha, it does sound like Google is taking over. It's fascinating to learn about what technology can do. It amazes me that you would be able to turn things on with a simple tap from your Android phone.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be amazing to have a Google Calendar in the classroom. Then, all parents would have a place to look and see what is happening in the classroom as well as information about any early dismissals or closings. I would like to use this calendar in my classroom so that I have the ability to update it with any new information anytime.
Also, what application do you have to get the free iTunes notifications?
Yes, Google is everywhere these days. Google has made things much simpler in my opinion. For example, my gmail account is the most user friendly account I have ever had. It does much more than email though. It can be very useful in the classroom with Google docs, Reader, and even just the search engines such as Google Scholar. I am sure that in the next ten years Google will do some even more amazing things that will benefit us as teachers.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post on Google - obviously, you have used their products and found them very useful in your life. When technology can make our life easier it seems like it should be OK! It will just be interesting to see how long everything stays basically free. They might just be able to pull it off because of their advertising and people are really using their tools. Will be an interesting tech company to watch.
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