This blog is about innovation, design, development, and trends in the Learning Solutions domain.

1. Printliminator
The Printliminator is a bookmarklet with some simple tools you can use to makes websites print better. One click to activate, and then click to remove elements from the page, remove graphics, and apply better print styling.

2. Apple’s Tablet Interface
The design of interaction is often restricted by the user interface paradigms in current use. There is speculation that the Apple Tablet (if there is one) will push the envelope of UI design. This links to a post in Gizmodo – worth a read. Haptics and touch technology are already transforming the user experience, couple that with a sophisticated UI and it offers learning interaction designers new avenues to explore.

1. Kodu
“Microsoft Research released a community game cum programming environment for the Xbox 360 called Kodu. Unlike most other video games, Kodu would let players create their own video games for the Xbox without any prior knowledge of programming.

The initial version of Kodu required the Xbox 360 console but now Kodu is available as a free download for your Windows PC as well. This means you no longer need an Xbox to design games with Kodu and you can play them on just about any computer using a keyboard and mouse (or an Xbox game controller, if you have one).

1. Morgan Stanley – The Mobile Internet Report
Morgan Stanley’s analysts set out to do a deep dive into the rapidly changing mobile Internet market. The Mobile Internet Report is largely in PowerPoint and published it on the web, and they’re expecting that bits and pieces of it will be cut / pasted / redistributed and debated / dismissed / lauded. Their goal is to get thoughts and data into the conversation about what may be the biggest technology trend ever. I found the PowerPoint format a bit unfriendly, but the content itself merits not one but perhaps several reads.

1. Alternatives to Second Life
Karl Kapp puts some alternatives to Second Life on his blog. Interesting products, although some will cease to exist starting next year.

2. Windows Mobile for Gaming
Microsoft to make Windows Mobile a gaming platform. While other mobile OS developers are jockeying for position to become the game platform of choice for mobile devices, Windows mobile lagged behind.

1. Meaning Tool: Training Semantic Search With Feeds
Meaning Tool is a semantic engine that offers users a chance to extract concepts from text using specific semantic trees. You define your categories of interest by creating search parameters and training them with related websites or RSS feeds. A great tool to see how semantic trees can help search.

1. Device tag support in HTML 5
   Yesterday World Wide Web Consortium has reported that HTML 5 will support external devices, directly from your browser. Now your browser will access your webcam, microphone and other USB devices directly, no other software/plug-ins required.

1. Google Dumps Gears for HTML5
   Google will end Gears, an open-source plug-in project it launched two years ago to allow Web applications to function even when a computer isn’t connected to the Internet. Applications that used Gears include Google’s Docs and Reader.
   However, new incompatibilities with Gears have cropped up. Although it works with Microsoft’s Windows, Linux and some Apple Mac OS X versions, it doesn’t work with Mac OS X 10.6, also known as Snow Leopard. Also As much of the technology in Gears, including offline support and geo-location APIs, are being incorporated into the HTML5 spec as an open standard supported across browsers, it is natural for Google to Drop Gears in favor of HTML5. However Gears will continue to be supported for sites that already use it.

Our innovation team spends a fair bit of time trawling the web looking for interesting stuff that’s related to learning and technology that might impact learning in general. Typically, we come up with a list that’s shared with across Upside Learning.