Thursday, August 26, 2010

Been living in the darkages...

Lord! I see the light. What a revelation it has been!

Recently, I pampered myself to a little bit of technology. I got myself an HTC Legend. I must have flipped for the last 2 weeks or so. At least my wife seems to be very much irked by new a new competition on the block :). I must admit, I have been totally engrossed by its little 3.2 inch AMOLED screen, not to mention a host of downloaded apps that I have just begun to immerse myself in.

Now that technology is more affordable, in the form of Android mobile phones, I think that the lives of those who embrace technology will be turned topsy turvy, yet again. To me, this is at least as big as email was in the 90s.

As an academic, I see that a whole new mindset is needed to make full use of this technology in the classroom. Not unlike how podcasting of lectures changed the lecture theatre landscapes of yesteryears (what am I saying...). I mean, people are going to have to get used to the invasion of smart phones into their lives. Soon all school kids will carry one. And teachers will have to adapt their syllabus to make full use of this device. Right off the top of my head, I'd say that programming skills for smart phones will be a must for future computer science students. Engineering students would have take Linux more seriously to be able to access the hardware inside these phones. Make a bridge or building and embed these phones into the structure to monitor for seismic activities etc. It suddenly opens up a whole new learning and living experience.

Well, I am not going to let the smart phone bandwagon pass me by and not doing anything about it this time. I hereby pronounce myself an amateur Android App developer. Proud of the fact that I posted my first, and not by any fat chance my last, forum reply here too).

Amen.