tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2145082584448496102011-12-07T10:00:05.027-05:00A place to organize & express.Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-75756442513653580872011-10-11T19:22:00.002-04:002011-10-11T19:22:00.221-04:002011-10-11T19:22:00.221-04:00

This mocking of Occupy Wall Street using picture below is a bit dishonest. The idea that people protesting corporate greed are hypocritical by using products created by corporations is ridiculous. This would leave only leave some luddites who make their own clothes - which would then draw the reclusive nutjob remarks. Claiming that OWS activists use of technology is hypocritical would be akin

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-23564449282803205812011-08-17T21:34:00.000-04:002011-08-17T21:34:38.511-04:002011-08-17T21:34:38.511-04:00

I was startled when I read Warren Buffet's Op-Ed piece in the NYT.. He basically burned down the GOP/Fox News "Job-creators can't be taxed" house of cards narrative. Buffet definitely has the cred to state how investors and businesses have been operating over the years. Investment during times with higher taxes like the 80s and 90s led to a Lot of people getting rich, people created jobs and grew

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-14138810782759358522011-07-22T00:00:00.000-04:002011-07-22T00:00:58.111-04:002011-07-22T00:00:58.111-04:00

This month's Learning Circuits Big Question should be near and dear to all instructional designers. Teaching face-to-face or  always requires engagement first. Engagement leads to better attention, and retention. Fun is a major way to engage. So... How do you make e-learning fun? Thanks to folks like Clark Quinn games are receiving more mainstream acceptance and adoption in eLearning circles

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-34048810112914014552011-07-07T18:33:00.005-04:002011-07-07T18:33:00.948-04:002011-07-07T18:33:00.948-04:00

As an owner of a Flip camera, I was disappointed to hear that Cisco has decided to sunset it's Flip camera operations.At the same time I see the same writing on the wall that motivated this move.  The handheld video market has been sandwiched in two directions. First from smartphones and their increasingly better cameras in a highly portable multi-purpose device, and second from Digital SLRs

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-7947195197942606112011-04-09T10:46:00.000-04:002011-04-09T10:46:53.088-04:002011-04-09T10:46:53.088-04:00

What is becoming a common theme amongst every traditional business that is affected by the internet. Middlemen are replaced by the open and accessible framework of the internet. The press and the business of journalism are being transformed (just watch CNN anchors read tweets on-air). A recent paper by economist Joel Waldfogel shows the results of his study around the music industry. The claims

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-42174329862215975942011-03-10T22:52:00.000-05:002011-03-10T22:52:10.440-05:002011-03-10T22:52:10.440-05:00

The Toronto District school board is looking to expand their TV screens in schools pilot project. School news and student-generated content is broadcasted to screens in the halls. Now the company which put the TVs in place would like to take it to the next level and show ads for 30% of the time. Approximately 2hrs a day. Naturally the school would receive some ad-revenue. There is a large divide

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-48095405944574161982011-03-10T22:33:00.000-05:002011-03-10T22:33:58.273-05:002011-03-10T22:33:58.273-05:00

Apple TV just updated with MLB TV and NBA League Pass. This is big news! This means big trouble for cable companies right? Not so fast. NBA League Pass is designed to compliment your cable subscription. Any games that  are broadcast nationally are not available on league pass. So if you're a fan of your local team, you're likely out of luck. So long as the NBA employs this policy home team

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-17149211854154322402010-10-11T01:00:00.000-04:002010-10-11T01:00:57.231-04:002010-10-11T01:00:57.231-04:00

At this time of year, it's natural that our sense of charity is heightened. The weather is turning colder, we spend time thinking about how fortunate we are. Many often respond to this by volunteering. It's a great way to give back, pay our good fortunes forward and generally feel good about contributing to society. The problem is that with volunteering, your options can be limited. While

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-55788143461292753222010-09-23T00:13:00.000-04:002010-09-23T00:13:22.551-04:002010-09-23T00:13:22.551-04:00

No matter what a charity a does, who leads, where it serves, nine times out of ten when it seeks assistance the question posed is: "What's your efficiency?" People often expect charities and nonprofits to to have 0 administrative costs which is impossible. This isn't a sustainable practice for any charity looking to make a large impact. There needs to be people dedicated full-time to a worthy

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-11352729223076650782010-09-13T17:08:00.001-04:002010-09-13T17:13:20.075-04:002010-09-13T17:13:20.075-04:00

In business, you get what the market believes you are worth. This is why so many website logos have reflections, and use a similar font. This is why there are so many "me-toos". They know what those solutions are worth, and they become a checklist for how to get things done. All the little things they do, we'll do. Whether it's valuable or not. This month's big question at the Learning Circuits

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-394959616532094742010-09-13T02:55:00.002-04:002010-09-13T02:55:00.369-04:002010-09-13T02:55:00.369-04:00

Some interesting insight on consolidation by lrnr. This was sparked by the acquisition of Learn.com by Taleo. It seems like a a natural progression given the rest of the market. An interesting point Ani makes is that enterprise consolidation seems diametrically opposed to the web's social software which takes a more plug and play stance (read: open social). I think this all comes down to the

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-48021433548358603242010-09-12T23:35:00.000-04:002010-09-12T23:35:25.617-04:002010-09-12T23:35:25.617-04:00

Sadly on Friday Bloglines announced that they will be shutting down the site on Friday. Why? What does this mean? Officially they cite focus, but really it's a shrinking non-profitable product. Other sites like Netvibes and Pageflakes have worked to integrate and try and monetize their users better, they've branded and added features like podcasting.  The RSS aggregator itself has been

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-9587557350597419602010-09-04T23:34:00.000-04:002010-09-04T23:34:53.065-04:002010-09-04T23:34:53.065-04:00

Tier 1 solutions are typically large robust solutions that are implementation heavy. In other words - not simple. Each Tier1 has a great deal of inertia in the form of business rules. Some make more sense than others, but all must be implemented! These pigs must fly! These are the requirements - make it happen. Apple is the icon of simple elegant design. Doing specific things very well. But will

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-66450496773841816832010-08-22T10:10:00.006-04:002010-09-12T23:43:56.234-04:002010-09-12T23:43:56.234-04:00

It's really difficult to find a non-mainstream CD at local stores. Music has been reduced to big box electronic and bookstores. The former "music" stores are now focusing on DVDs and blu-rays. You can still find your favourite artist online order a CD or download their album. More likely you'll download just the single but that's another rant. Shopping for sunglasses online i went to a large

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-20066412824488539192010-06-06T23:16:00.002-04:002010-06-07T12:18:18.772-04:002010-06-07T12:18:18.772-04:00

I recently finished reading Drive by Dan Pink. This book challenges  the current management carrot & stick ethos. His basic contention is that some incentives can suck the enjoyment and results for creative, and intrinsically rewarding tasks. He cites some very interesting research and anecdotes that back up his hypothesis. One in particular speaks of a study at the efficiency of donating

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-59692456843809759822009-05-27T23:07:00.002-04:002009-05-27T23:46:09.064-04:002009-05-27T23:46:09.064-04:00

A good post by Guy Kawasaki on Twitterhawk.In their own words, from their site TwitterHawk is a real time targeted marketing engine that will find people talking on twitter now by your chosen topic and location, allowing you to really hit your target mid conversation with ease.So twitterhawk will search tweets, based on your criteria, then send out appropriate responses to tweeters to provide

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-85904149333745959772009-02-13T23:27:00.000-05:002009-02-13T23:54:58.943-05:002009-02-13T23:54:58.943-05:00

I have been a huge proponent of NetVibes and start pages in general. RSS has such potential, I still evangelize to friends on the benefits of creating a start page and monitoring their favourite sites. The ability to aggregate great content and not have to actively find it is great. It's basically putting a filter on the web. Sure some articles will lead to others but for the most part I have a "

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-29677314146267253802009-02-13T18:56:00.000-05:002009-02-13T21:24:39.197-05:002009-02-13T21:24:39.197-05:00

Every time you repeat a task, make progress on automating it. It doesn’t have to be big… It just has to be progressI came across this from one of my favourite twitter feeds venturehacks. Pointing to this article on Emergent Properties of Continuous Automation . There are so many mundane tasks that I have great ideas towards automating and making more efficient. Typically my great ideas require a

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-10398259646045420152009-02-05T10:27:00.000-05:002009-02-05T15:59:05.412-05:002009-02-05T15:59:05.412-05:00

Keeping up-to-date with the news these days is great way to get depressed. Each day multiple companies are announcing layoffs in the Thousands. The leading indicator - the stock market appears to have settled down but it still takes hits when a few pieces of bad economic news comes out on the same day.The comparisons between now and previous downturns are relentless. There is one difference. The

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-50792306115582260852008-12-17T22:56:00.000-05:002008-12-18T00:16:58.259-05:002008-12-18T00:16:58.259-05:00

Three years ago the US Secret Service in concert with Homeland Security busted a forgery ring. DVDs, Rolexes, designer handbags? No. University Degrees. It was called a diploma mill.A fake university based out of Liberia (yes it's a real country) that provided you with a degree in a subject of your choosing for a small fee. Many people feel rightly outraged at how people have cheated the system.

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-67944745186213096772008-12-15T19:45:00.000-05:002008-12-15T20:26:43.615-05:002008-12-15T20:26:43.615-05:00

I'm a die-hard Toronto Raptors fan living in the GTA. I have the misfortune of being a Rogers subscriber. Due to what appears to be a fight over money Raptor games are not being broadcasted for a large percentage of the GTA. Despite the Raptors attempts at making themselves a national team it is still a very urban team. TSN is trying to force new subscribers to TSN2 by pushing content they

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-53201703814570996622008-12-09T18:09:00.000-05:002008-12-09T18:09:00.325-05:002008-12-09T18:09:00.325-05:00

If you pick up a paper or watch the news you might think it's economic armageddon. Each day talk of losses in the market, bailouts and handouts all over. The word recession is thrown around like candy.60-70% of GDP is consumer spending. There are some hurting sectors with people out of work. However, there are many, Many people with stable jobs who are hoarding cash waiting for the pending

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-73390411476589694002008-12-02T12:05:00.000-05:002008-12-03T00:05:49.556-05:002008-12-03T00:05:49.556-05:00

I'm proposing something different to deal with the major issues at hand. We should all turn to our children and find out if we're smarter than a 5th grader. Not the show, but the headlines highlight a huge learning opportunity. It might be good for us to revisit what we've learned and forgotten, and to address deficiencies in our education system.The economic crisis is the major story as the

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-28079182353501255642008-11-18T21:20:00.000-05:002008-11-18T22:04:28.141-05:002008-11-18T22:04:28.141-05:00

I prefer a more poetic title, but in this case the title is too accurate.Periodically I will take a look at my bills in detail to compare services to see what's available. As a Rogers Internet & TV customer I went online to see what packages Rogers has available to see if there is something better suited to our needs.I was shocked to see that Rogers Lite internet service is listed as 19.95

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214508258444849610.post-32876140685546231682008-11-18T10:11:00.000-05:002008-11-18T10:17:01.394-05:002008-11-18T10:17:01.394-05:00

I normally frown on email forwards, but this one won't bring you bad luck if you don't follow it. Although it might explain some of our current misfortunes. From a learning perspective stories can do wonders in bringing meaning to abstract concepts and helping people learn.Once upon a time, in a village, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each.The

Shaun Balahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13293609103425820146noreply@blogger.com0