Connections, not only the name of one of my favorite PBS TV shows and industry conferences, but it is hopefully something the Viodi View and ViodiTV helps facilitate for its readers and viewers. And just like the TV show from so long ago, it is neat to look back and see how the path from A to B isn’t often a result of chance meetings and interruptions to a grand plan. My introduction to Roger, thanks to the FCC, is recounted in this issue’s korner – meeting him helped me realize dreams I never even knew I had.
A good dream is that every child receives an education that maximizes their potential. For the last couple of months, we have been gathering video interviews with various experts on youth and the latest in technology called “blended learning”. The following link provides a listing of these videos:
http://www.viodi.tv/category/youth-2/
“The Japanese do American better than we do,” so says Kathleen Gasperini, senior vice president and founding partner of Label Networks. She talks about the global youth and how they are different, yet related and how they influence each other. She suggests the Japanese youth take American culture and reinterpret it in new ways. China is feeling the impact of its one-child policy in ways that might not be obvious; think strong women. With 300 million youth – almost as much as the entire population of the U.S. – today’s youth of China will have world-wide influence for years to come. Click here to watch this exclusive video interview with Ms. Gasperini to hear her insight on this important topic.
Better Learning Through Better Content and Better Communications
Every day, 6,000 kids drop out of school, according to Lisa Gillis of Integrated Educational Strategies. 88% of those kids who drop out of school actually had passing grades. She explains how blended learning and digital tools are part of the solution. Gillis points out that communications can erase geographic barriers and leverage highly qualified teachers; this can have a major impact on children from rural areas. In this same panel, Eric Simon talks about helping teachers discover, organize, collaborate and share content. Click here to view the video.
Borderless Lifestyle and the Connected Home
A theme from Verizon at CES 2011, at least if the banner in the press is an indicator, is the borderless lifestyle. The borderless lifestyle is what Ann Shaub of Verizon talks about in this interview filmed at the Media Innovations Summit. That is, the connected nature of broadband coupled with home networking allows people to blur the lines between work and home life; chores and play; efficiency and abundance. Making the user interface simple to use and one that transcends devices is key to customer adoption of this so-called borderless lifestyle. In this interview, Shaub discusses the challenge of selling Verizon’s home control product, their TV Everywhere offering and the trust factor involved when customers put their data in the cloud.
The Connected Home and Broadband Service Providers
The future is now, at least when it comes to the technology associated with the connected home. With the proliferation of broadband, home networks, low-cost devices and easy-to-use input/output devices (e.g smart phones and tablets), all the pieces are in place to make the connected home a reality. The question, posed in an article in yesterday’s San Jose Mercury News, is when will this sort of activity become mainstream. The video found at this link provides a glimpse of the connected home technology described in the Mercury News article.
The Drive Behind An App for Saving Lives
“Saving lives is more important than money,” so said Alon Atsmon, CEO of iOnRoad, a subsidiary of Picitup , a company with a core technology of creating three-dimensional, computer vision solutions for online retailers, such as ebay. iOnRoad is starting to disrupt an entirely different and still nascent market segment known as Advanced Driver Assisted Systems (ADAS). As Atsmon pointed out in a pre-CES briefing today, the beneficiary of this disruption could be the mobile carrier. Click here to read more.
Some Tweets and Short Thoughts
- Photos from CES 2012 of products, services or just something interesting that caught my eye (this will be updated).
- Sezmi now SezKit – Kit Digital acquired certain assets & liabilities of this innovative hybrid broadcast/OTT company – http://www.sezmi.com/
- 10 year old creates WordPress Plug-in – applies what he learns at a free Wordcamp – this is the future of learning – wptavern.com/plugin-created
The Korner – Reflections from Roger By Roger Bindl

The end of 2011 started with scanning as I began scanning old slides and looking at old video footage. The memories made me realized what a wonderful life I’ve had, and the great people I’ve enjoyed it with. Plus, I didn’t have to jump off a bridge to realize it.
The scanning gave me with warm feelings and another realization that I’ve had wonderful opportunities to participate in a history many only viewed. My wife has always been a part of this, and the old photo’s reminded me of that in a warm feeling I’ve enjoyed for days. I am fortunate that we had bought a good 35mm SLR camera back in the days. The quality of the scanned slides has been amazing so especially enjoyable. We’ve documented many events in our lives which include my art works and involvement in leading edge technologies so I’ve got lots of material to “broadband enable”.
Looking back I also realized this month had other significance. I had been lucky to work with leading edge technologies most of my career but 10 years ago something happened the would change how I participate in broadband trends. I was working with the most advanced TV over DSL technology in the world and traveling the country talking about it. Unknowingly I was participating in history being made while some of those communications turned up in a report. That resulted in a meeting that eventually became an unusual yet best business relationship I’ve had in my career……Click here to read the rest of Roger’s heartfelt post [thanks, Roger!]
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