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Why 2013 is a bumper year to become a Soft Skills Trainer

Posted on March 26, 2013 | 6 comments

So why is 2013 going to be a different type of bumper year for training organisations or consultant who can help the unemployed individuals upgrade into a new skill that will help them generate their own income?

article by Diane Shawe M.Ed

Well usher in the new breed of Virtual Teachers! If your not up to speck with the new direction and growth in the market then you could really find yourself on the old fashion self by 2016! Make no mistake, becoming a trainer is all about running a business. Being up to date with the latest techniques, developments, trends and needs is just as essential if you decided to set up a coffee shop.Institutions of higher learning increasingly embrace on-line education, with 65.5 percent of chief academic officers now calling on-line education ‘critical’ to their institutions! long-term strategy, an opinion that’s risen more than 15% over eight years.

Like any business you still have to source new customers, gain glowing appraisals and testimonials, get your pricing right, court the right type of publicity and sustain credibility. Oh! and let’s not forget making a profit.

AVPTGLOBAL almost 400 courses all globally accredited

AVPTGLOBAL almost 400 courses all globally accredited

We all know it takes a certain kind of self belief and courage to set up any type of business in today’s climate. You could even make a claim based on sheer desperation, the need to do something to generate an income.

But it even takes more courage to leave your destiny in the hands of many of the businesses today, no matter what their global or brand status might be. Most people are now being spurred into self employment due to the levels of redundancies, job insecurities and the need to meet ongoing expenses.

Participants are more interested in the qualifications and or skills they will gain in the subject at hand, and the experience you have in doing jobs similar to theirs and your track record in ‘doing’ rather than ‘talking about’ the topic.

What is really important is your ability to engage with participants around this experience and help them to translate that into action. That is where the true value often lies for them. Of course we know that there are academic trainers and teacher courses which award accredited or private certificates.

Choosing the entrepreneurial route can bring great benefits, but there are also challenges.

What are some of the considerations before you decide to set up, invest or replicate another successful business model? To find out more about the various considerations, visit http://www.academy-of-vocational-and-professional-training.com/index.php…

AVPT-Logo-ALL-INFO

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The Academy Of Vocational And Professional Training look forward to the year ahead after a year of success and achievements

Posted on March 22, 2013 | 9 comments
Lord Ahmed congraulate students and AVPT on achievements

Lord Ahmed congratulates students and AVPT on achievements

The Academy of Vocational and Professional Training (AVPT) have had an exceptional year, with a huge list of positive achievements. A year in which AVPT launched globally was marked the first cohort of students being presented with their certificates by  Baroness Uddin followed by congratulations from Lord Ahmed, in the impressive setting of the House of Lords.

“This was a huge achievement for us,” explains Diane Shawe, the CEO, “Our 395 courses are all globally accredited by the International Accreditation Organisation, meaning that they are accepted anywhere around the world. We’ve achieved so much this year and we felt very excited for the future when watching the first generation of our students receive their beautiful and meaningful certificates.”

The globally accredited status given to AVPT by the International Accreditation Organisation in June 2012 means that the courses available hold a big draw to students that want to travel. Diane sees this as recognition of the significant rise in e-learning.  This has also meant that AVPT’s launch of its Scholarship Den initiative hasStudent pitching to judges at ASVPT Scholarship DenStudent pitching to judges for scholarship happened at just the right time; young people, with a desire to better themselves or start a business are awarded with £2,000 of AVPT training. This has led to the continued and dynamic success of the academy’s offering.

In October 2012, AVPT was the main sponsor of the education section of the Youth Enterprise Live Show 2012 at Earl’s Court in PA9C1793London and had the Mayor of Hammersmith and Fulham as the guest of honour to officially open the AVPT stand where they attracted over 350 enquiries for the short courses.

To finish off an already exceptional year, AVPT won a contract with a Middle-Eastern Government to provide crisis management and leadership training to the government heads of departments.  After a highly successful training programme, AVPT was also added to the official procurement list for the UK’s Ministry of Justice and Department for Work and Pensions and so is able to provide training for these two large departments.

Rachel Fanshawe receives her certificate from Baroness Uddin

Rachel Fanshawe receives her certificate from Baroness Uddin at the House of Lords

This remarkable success story has continued into 2013 and the AVPT team are already setting their sights on the next target. The company has begun work towards striking up a partnership with The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills to carry on its successes with departments of the UK government.

Diane explains, “We have built solid relationships with all that we work with, and over the course of 2013 we want to be able to offer students from across the world a larger platform of study. We believe by building foundations with The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, we can do this efficiently.”

AVPT is dedicated to helping students in reaching their full potential and have launched the first UK voucher code website offering customers the chance to find special offers and deals on short courses. The website, expresscoursevouchers.com, allows the general public to take advantage of new education and training deals everyday.

Tim Dingle, the Chief Development Officer at AVPT says, “We’ve been extremely busy this year and have created a paradigm shift for online adult education.  Our Social Enterprise division, known as ACEE, will also begin to deliver training courses to the wider community, by awarding bursaries to people who are disadvantaged or cannot afford to up-skill. We are totally committed to life-long learning  and to helping students better themselves. We are passionate is this goal and believe we have a unique and powerful product that people are connecting with very quickly.”  The National Lottery has view our proposition in a positive light has it helps the wider community.

Next generation of mobile learning

Next generation of mobile learning

The Social Enterprise division of AVPT  ‘ACEE’ will launch a project in July 2013 called ‘Switch Momentum’.  ‘Switch Momentum’ is targeting the areas where knife crime and gang problems pose a real threat for teenagers who do not want to get involved but are locked into their homes in order to be safe.

Diane says, “Switch Momentum will provide teenagers with a way out of challenging and pressurised situations. We believe everybody can fulfill their potential given the right opportunities and we believe we can offer this positive environment.”

Diane Shawe finishes by saying, “This is targeting young people in the summer vacation who may not be going on holiday, a projects like ‘Switch Momentum’  can offer that inclusive learning experience in a calm environment to them”.

As a natural progression of their growth, AVPT is also looking to inspire and train  a new workforce of Virtual Tutor Facilitators (VTFs). AVPT  has already trained several individuals and have found that they help create a seamless bond between the student and their studies. By May 2013, AVPT will have created 300 jobs.

Tim Dingle explains, “The VTF is a revolutionary new idea. Teaching is changing, and we are creating dynamic change. We have created a jobs and helped people to work creatively and passionately in adult life-long learning. We’re extremely pleased with this.”

AVPTGLOBAL almost 400 courses all globally accredited

AVPTGLOBAL almost 400 courses all globally accredited

AVPT will be present at three major exhibitions throughout 2013.

The Scottish Beauty Show 2013, which takes place in the heart of Edinburgh  and the Wales Hair and Beauty Show 2013 which is in Cardiff. Finally in this busy year, AVPT will be presenting at the Business Start Up Show 2013, at the Excel centre, London.

Visit www.avptglobal.com to view our range of courses and services and see if we can help you upskill yourself or team.

 

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Revision? Forget it

Posted on February 11, 2013 | Leave a comment

How to Massively Improve Your Chance of Success, Now!

Become a VTF with AVPTGlobal

Become a VTF with AVPTGlobal

article by Tim T Dingle BSc (Hons) MIBiol PGCE MBA, Chief Development Officer at the Academy of Vocational and Professional Training (AVPTglobal)

I sometimes wonder what an alien might think if they were monitoring our schools, downloading training course and looking at how students try to learn.  They would be forgiven for thinking that they have been artfully designed to train students in the art of forgetting. Throughout the time you take most conventional courses (excepting, of course, the cutting edge ones at AVPT  www.avptglobal.com) it may seem that you spend your time ‘learning’ and ‘revising’ for tests. What then follows is extraordinary; we forget that information within weeks.

This pattern seems continue throughout schools, professional training cycles and college courses. This heroic shuffling in and out of knowledge from our cerebral hemispheres seems to be a constant cycle. Then students are tasked, days before a crucial exam, with relearning everything that they have managed to forget over the course of the year. This is the classic ‘summative assessment’ situation with a history of failure in so many cultures.  This often takes almost as much time as if we were doing it from scratch. It seems that the UK Education Minister, Michael Gove is known to be an admirer of this system.

The reason that forgetting is so common in traditional learning cycles is that the way we are taught to encode and recall memories, causes fading over time. Those memories that can be recalled are the one that get repeated and are strengthened. They are prepared for the long term and placed within the Long Term Memory System (LTM). This is important because (from an evolutionary point of view) repetition correlates with importance. Meaningful or important things tend to happen again; random things tend not to.

One of the problems with most learning systems lies in a distinction between two ways to go about this repetition.  It can be separated into ‘spaced learning’ (SL) and ‘massed learning’ (ML). Massed leaning is sometimes called cramming. You may remember those long sessions; students love them and believe the longer they stare at their notes /books, the more it is effective. The spaced repetition method is where the repetitions are spaced out over a period of time. The best analogy is to think of memories as plants in the garden of your memory; then think of repetition as watering with your watering can.

The ML system is like watering a plant by emptying the whole watering can all at once; then failing to do so for months.  The mechanism for SL Learning is to imagine watering the plant once a week in measured amounts from the can, over a period of months. This regularity, combined with a systematic  approach and by using a ‘chunked up’ seems to be crucial to success; an approach that, we believe at AVPT, is how all online learning must develop. The long term effect of these totally different techniques of watering (but the same total volume of water) results in two very different plants (one is probably dead).

Now imagine something else that can radically improve memory and success. Incredible as it seems the greatest advances in improving our chances of success can be had for free, right now. I’m talking about improving your brain from the outside in. If you take it seriously it can and will lead to faster and more accurate decision-making. It will yield greater productivity and inspire innovation. If you want to be mercenary about it, it’s the kind of smart that starts making money.

All you need to ‘invest’ is approximately 30 minutes a day.  And maybe a decent pair of trainers. Over the last 30 years I have seen many articles describing how aerobic exercise is beneficial to health. There is no doubt there is a lot of truth in what has been written.  Improving oxygen distribution in the body… reducing the chances of heart disease… losing extra pounds… exercise has many benefits. But cardiovascular exercise goes way beyond reducing blood pressure and cholesterol.  Current research shows that exercise can alter the very structure of the nerve cells in the brain. You could read the evidence in (fairly dull) scientific papers, of which over 1000 have been produced in the last 12 months.

There are many people like me who recognise the impact that cardiovascular exercise has had on their career and every aspect of their life. It may surprise you that there is a growing cohort of business people and entrepreneurs who credit exercise not as just a component of their successful lives, but as the biological catalyst in all of their achievements.

In very basic terms, our brains function due to groups of chemicals ‘jumping’ between the neurons (nerves) within.  My research indicates that BDNF – Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor – is one of the most significant of these chemicals. BDNF is a protein that is controlled by the BDNF gene in our DNA.  BDNF acts on brain cells by encouraging the growth and differentiation (dividing and deciding what they want to be) of new neurons and synapses.  The neurons start growing new connections on their branch- like ends (called dendrites). The more dendrites that grow, the more connections are made.  The more connections you have in your brain, the greater your capacity to think: using another plant analogy, BDNF is a ‘miracle grow’ for your brain cells.

It works in the areas of the brain vital to learning, memory, and higher thinking.  BDNF itself is important for long-term memory.  Which is why it makes you smarter. So, exercise increases BDNF – great!  But… when you are stressed, you release the hormone corticosterone.  This has been shown to decrease the amount of BDNF!

In other words, being stressed makes you less smart and less able to make good decisions.If your exposure to stress is persistent, this can cause an area of the brain called the hippocampus to actively shrink.  This has been shown to take place in humans suffering from chronic depression. The secret of creating change within the brain that can boost your intelligence, memory and decision making qualities (as well as relieving depression) is

The optimal amount seems to be 30 minutes of aerobic activity a day.  Running, swimming, active walking – they’re all good as long as you do them regularly. I’m always interested in finding new ways to learn better and faster. I am a busy and driven individual.  I try to read one book every day on top of a full time business career.  The amount of time I have available to spend learning new things is limited.  It’s important to get as much educational value out of my time as possible, so retention, recall and transfer are critical.

I need to be able to accurately remember the information I learn, recall it at a later time and utilise it effectively in a wide variety of situations. One sure-fire way to become a more effective learner is to learn new things and keep practicing them. The Science backs this up.  A 2004 article in the journal Nature[1] reported that people who learned how to juggle increased the amount of grey matter in their occipital lobes, the area of the brain associated with visual memory.When these individuals stopped practicing their new skill, this grey matter vanished.

So if you’re learning a new language, it is important to keep practicing the language in order to maintain the gains you have achieved. This ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ phenomenon involves a brain process known as pruning. Certain pathways in the brain are maintained, whilst others are eliminated.  If you want the new information you have just learned to stay put, keep practicing and rehearsing it.

One of the key secrets of memory is how brain cells connect without actually touching.  The gaps are called synapses – remember those chemicals that ‘jump’ across the gaps?  Circuits are formed that retain memory, but they disappear if they are not used over and over again.

So go juggle right now!

http://www.avptglobal.com

[1] Draganski, B., Gaser, C., Busch, V., & Schuierer, G. (2004). Neuroplasticity: Changes in grey matter induced by training. Nature, 427(22), 311-312.

 

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10 Ways that Education will change in the next 10 years

Posted on July 9, 2012 | Leave a comment

Get qualified in days not years

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By Tim T Dingle BSc (Hons) PGCE MBA  CDO  Academy of Vocational and Professional Training Ltd

One of my true heroes is Peter Drucker and I love his quotation:

The best way to predict the future is to create it.

Having been in education, training and leaning for the last 28 years (and now as Chief Development Officer for The Academy Of Vocational and Professional Training ) I am involved in creating that future. I came across this morning   poll from Edutopia that asked:  What will online learning look like in 20 years?  And the results were:

Universal. Some type of virtual learning will be mandatory in all schools, and virtual schooling, with no in-person teaching at all, will be widespread.

33% (171 votes)

Prevalent. Online learning will continue to grow, though not every school will have it. Online-only schooling will enjoy greater popularity.

51% (264 votes)

Atypical. The challenges of online courses will restrict their usage; classroom learning will remain the primary place for education.

13% (66 votes)

None of the above.

3% (16 votes)

When I voted, I considered lots of possibilities and my answer was that it would be prevalent and thus continuing to grow, and will be growing in popularity.  This seemed to be the most popular answer.  As I considered this more, I asked myself what education would look like in 20 years.  I started teaching in 1981 and by 1985 we had word processors (the joy of early green screen Amstrads) and presentations were still done with colourful posters that were painstakingly made.  Teachers and students remember ‘Bandas’ (the smell, oh the smell) and Roneo ‘mass production’ via stencils. I used state of the art learning aides: video’s  (Betamax) of David Attenborough’s  Life on Earth were the highlight of the 80’s Biology teaching. I can’t remember when I got my first email address, but I can remember my first home computer in 1991!

So when I ask myself what education will be like in the next 20 years, I imagine it to be a little more advanced with some more bells and whistles with some early adopter teachers that embrace it, some that go with the flow and try to keep up, and some that are “old school”.  I do know a few things:  education is slow to change….slow is fast in education…and innovation & technology are useless unless the teachers are supported and encouraged to try it and use it.

This year proved to be one of great debate surrounding the future and necessity of the Learning Management System. Much of it boils down to whether employee learning should be controlled and tracked, particularly when much of workplace learning occurs through informal channels. Learning Management Systems can enable collaboration, knowledge sharing, and social networking.

So here goes: my top ten predictions for change in the next 10 years:

NO MORE OLD DESKS, BENCHES AND CHAIRS

  1. The 21st century does not fit neatly into rows because we all need to be facing the same way!  I do a lot of stand up comedy and being on the stage is frightening for many. Allow the network-based concepts of flow, collaboration, and dynamism help rearrange education for authentic 21st century learning.

NO MORE LANGUAGE LABS

  1. It is true that foreign language acquisition is only a smartphone away or Google translate away on your iPad. See www.expresstrainingcourses.com . Time to get rid of those clunky headphones,desktops and monitors and do something fun and funky with that room. Make it a space for interaction and global connection.

 NO MORE COMPUTERS

  1. Hmm…how does this work? More precisely this one should read, let’s change our view and concept of what a computer is and does. Because computing is going mobile and over the next decade we’re going to see the full fury of individualised computing via hand helds come to the fore. See Diane Shawe’s blog’s on this! Due to improved infrastructure, slick mobile operating systems and smartphone market penetration, we seemed to hit a tipping point of readiness for mobile content this year. From mini-courses to collaboration to performance support, mobile learning could go mainstream in the near future. In terms of converting legacy courses, it will mean streamlining everything—paring down over-sized multimedia elements as well as implementing a ‘less is more’ philosophy. In terms of new development, designers will have to manage the limitations of a smaller screen and decreased memory capacity. When mobile learning hits critical mass, people of all ages and occupations will reap the benefits.

 NO MORE HOMEWORK

  1. There is no doubt that the 21st century is a 24/7 environment. And the next decade is going to see the traditional temporal boundaries between home and school vanish. Mobile Learning, anytime, anywhere, anyplace…The new Martini generation!

TRUE DIFFERENTIATED LEARNING

The 21st century is absolutely customisable. In ten years, the teacher who hasn’t yet figured out how to use tech to personalise learning will be the teacher out of a job. Differentiation won’t make you ‘distinguished’; it’ll just be a natural part of your work. Most learning will be done via tablets and phones and will happen everywhere.

 LETTING GO OF THE FEAR OF WIKIPEDIA

  1. So many people have a fear of Wiki but in many ways Wikipedia is the greatest democratising force in the world right now. I know it can be wrong. It also challenges the Teacher as the expert.  If you are afraid of letting your students peruse it, it’s time you get over yourself.

NO MORE TEXT BOOKS

  1. Books were nice. In ten years’ time, all reading will be via digital means. Maybe you like the ‘feel’ of paper. Well, in ten years’ time you’ll hardly tell the difference as ‘paper’ itself becomes digitized and a generation od Children will have better posture for not lugging around a ton of text books.

    THE JOURNEY TO AUGMENTED REALITY

Gary Woodill, Ed.D., a Senior Research Analyst at Brandon Hall Research and author of The Mobile Learning Edge, was kind enough to contribute his perspective on the trends affecting Augmented Reality related to mobile learning.

According to Dr. Woodlill, “Augmented Reality (AR) is one of the most disruptive applications for mobile learners. It is an example of location-based services, where information is provided to you based on your location, and even the direction that your phone camera is facing. With that information, your smartphone can supply additional textual information about what you are looking at, or can blend computer generated objects with the video or still image on your screen.

THE END OF  I.T. DEPARTMENTS

  1. I.T. Departments as we currently know them will disappear… Cloud computing and a decade’s worth of increased wifi and satellite access will make some of the traditional roles of IT — software, security, and connectivity — a thing of the past. So the question is what will all those IT professionals do? Simple:  Innovate. Look to I.T. departments to instigate real change in the function of schools over the next twenty years. Dream, design and deliver!

 NEW BLENDED LEARNING  

Blended or hybrid learning came about because one eLearning course is often not the solution to an organisation’s or an individual’s learning needs. Until recently, blended referred to a learning experience that included both instructor-led and online self-paced components. But that was a long time ago in Internet Time.

Now that live synchronous instruction frequently occurs online and that opportunities for individualized learning abound, the definition of blended learning is expanding to include any number of strategies, from learning through a community of practice to mobile performance support. For example, someone might attend a workplace webinar on how people learn, then participate in a video-based Google+ hangout with a cognitive psychologist, and join a LinkedIn community of instructional designers to discuss the application of these ideas.

So  (in my humble opinion) it will be a very different in School in 10 years time and hugely different for learners. We will become genuine Life Long Learners served by technology and we will see fundamental changes for employers, employees and systems. Technology enhanced learning (TEL) has the goal to provide socio-technical innovations (also improving efficiency and cost effectiveness) for e-learning practices, regarding individuals and organisations, independent of time, place and pace.

Can’t wait.

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The rise of the Andriod Smartphones

Posted on May 29, 2011 | 1 comment
Smartphone are here to stay!  Whilst most people will bow down to the supreme way iPhone has dominated the market, lets take a look at the top 10 android smartphones.

After doing a little research on what’s happening in the market, i-send came across some info set up by  Street.com.

Street.com claims that Apple’s iPhone had a good run atop the smartphone league, but 10 Google Androids aim to bury the tuckered-out leader this year.

Motorola Mobility, Samsung, HTC and LG have promised to deliver supercharged, ultra-thin, 4G Android devices in the coming weeks and months.  (It’s interesting that they don’t mention any Nokia phones but let’s watch this space)

But not always. Before the mobile phone industry got all busy with design makeovers and tummy tucks, there were — and still are — some delightfully hideous phones that represented the other side of the beauty trend. The Street has gone back through the past decade to dig up some of the best examples of designs that make you wince and stare in disbelief. The clueless stylings, the flights of fancy into odd shapes, the obsession with square versus rounded — it is a wonderfully colorful history.

The giant Android attack features bigger screens, better cameras, faster processors and speedier 4G connections than the upcoming iPhone.

The Android’s phone screens, for example, start at 4 inches and go to 4.5 inches, advancing the size standard for this generation of touchscreens. By comparison, Apple’s next iPhone is expected to have a 3.5-inch screen.

The new Androids are 4G phones either on AT&T HSDPA-Plus network or Verizon’s LTE network, and four of the 10 will come with dual core processors.

Apple, on the other hand, is expected to upgrade to a dual-core processor this year, but the 4G LTE iPhone has been delayed to 2012, as first reported.

The presumed delay of the next iPhone from June to September, and the decision to wait a year on 4G LTE upgrade highlight just a few of the areas where Apple has been lagging behind the leaders in the Android pack.

“The processor and display quality improvement in the Android camp is proceeding at such a clip that Apple will be under a lot of pressure to deliver a substantial jump in iPhone specs next autumn,” MKM Partners’ analyst Tero Kuittinen.

“It’s not clear how Apple can battle the rapid Android evolution,” says Kuittinen, “unless it picks up the pace of its iPhone launches.”

Here’s a look at the top 10 Androids that could dwarf the iPhone:

More from
TheStreet.com : The Ugliest Phones of the Mobile Era 17 Products That Were Invented by Accident

10 Cities Unaffected by a Bad Economy
Nokia 3620
Samsung Nexus S

Samsung Nexus S, Sprint

This is Google’s second run at making its own phone, only this time Samsung is manufacturing the device and Sprint is selling it. Two years ago, the Nexus One was made by HTC and sold online by Google. It was an experiment in retailing that was far less revolutionary than Google hoped.

The Nexus S runs on Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system and works on Sprint’s WiMax 4G service. Because it is a phone built to Google’s specifications, it includes some of Google’s favorite projects including NFC or near field communications that may one day allow phones to make purchases with a swipe at a sales counter.

The Nexus phones are big among Android fans who see them as more purely Android than other versions in the market. The Gingerbread system has been a little hard to find and the Nexus S will continue to be among the most advanced Androids until Ice Cream Sandwich arrives as early as year-end.

Samsung Cleo
LG Optimus

LG Optimus

The LG Optimus is one of the sleeker members of the new Android class. Even though it has a 4-inch screen, the phone is nearly a third of an inch thick, and at 3.8 ounces, it is a full ounce lighter than the iPhone.

The LG Optimus runs on Android 2.2 or Froyo and is powered by a 1-gigahertz OMAP processor from Texas Instruments, one of the key wins for TI in the most recent round of Androids.

The LG Optimus is expected to debut in Europe this month and arrive in the U.S. later this year. AT&T and possibly T-Mobile will likely get the phone since it is configured for the HSDPA network.

Research In Motion BlackBerry 8700
Samsung Droid Charge

Samsung Droid Charge, Verizon

After a little delay, No. 2 phone maker Samsung finally gets into Verizon’s Droid franchise and continues the robotic theme for another year.

The Droid Charge runs on Android 2.2, has a 4.3-inch LED screen and is powered by a 1-gigahertz Samsung Cortex A8 processor. According to analysts, Samsung has built the phone to consume about half as much battery power than its 4G LTE predecessor the HTC Thunderbolt.

Another area where it exceeds the Thunderbolt is on price. Verizon has a $300 price tag on the phone with a two-year contract.

Nokia 3620
Samsung Function, Verizon

Samsung Function, Verizon

Samsung is pushing hard to get on the 4G LTE bandwagon where Verizon has a speedy lead over the rest of the telco field. The Function is a member of the Samsung Galaxy family and a follow up to the 3G Fascinate, which debuted last year at Verizon.

The Function is a truly muscular phone. It runs on Android Gingerbread, it is powered by a dual-core 1.2-gigahertz processor, with 1-gigabyte of memory and another 32-gigabytes of built-in storage. And the 8-megapixel camera shoots 1080p HD video.

The Function is due later this year, and depending on the timing, may be one of the more formidable opponents to the iPhone next iPhone.

Sony Ericsson t61z
Motorola Mobility Targa, Verizon

Motorola Mobility Targa, Verizon

Speaking of formidable, Motorola Mobility apparently wasn’t happy with how the Bionic was coming together and reworked the phone under the code name Targa. Bionic was expected to be the blockbuster 4G LTE phone for Verizon from Motorola, and aimed not just at the iPhone but at the Android superphones from Samsung and HTC.

There’s not much information about what powers the Targa, but the specs are likely to be similar to the Bionic. That list would include a dual-core processor, and an 8-megapixel camera.

Verizon and Motorola were expected to have the Bionic available by the end of June, but a revamped Targa will likely be a pre-holiday fall arrival. This would also pit it squarely against the next iPhone.

Motorola Nextel i500
HTC Sensation, AT&T

HTC Sensation

When and if it arrives at T-Mobile, the HTC Sensation promises to be a big step up from the HTC Thunderbolt. And that’s no small feat. The Sensation is expected to have one of the first dual-core 1.2-gigahertz Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, which holds big promise for Qualcomm.

The Sensation has a 4.3-inch display, a 8-megapixel camera and it runs on Android’s Gingerbread operating system. The phone has an aluminum unibody structure, a trend Apple started with its laptops.

The Sensation runs on the HSDPA network that AT&T and T-Mobile call 4G. The phone is expected to arrive as early as next month.

Motorola Flipout
LG Revolution, Verizon

LG Revolution, Verizon

LG’s focus on feature phones made it a weak player in the smartphone game, but the Korean electronics giant now wants to make up for lost ground in the super-phone category.

The LG Revolution is the heaviest of the five Androids, weighing 6 ounces. But it carries the weight well in a sleek half-inch-thick form with a large 4.3-inch display screen.

The phone runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 1-gigahertz processor and has a whopping 16 gigabytes of storage. It has two cameras, one front-facing for video chats and the rear a less-than-robust 5-megapixel shooter.

The Revolution is a 4G LTE phone that was expected to start selling at Verizon in the first quarter.

LG VX9800
Samsung Infuse, AT&T

Samsung Infuse, AT&T

Samsung seems to be trying extra hard to be the iPhone replacement for AT&T. By appearances, the Samsung Infuse looks very much like a large version of the iPhone 4, at least from the front.

Samsung had reasonable success with Android phones in its Galaxy series; with the Infuse, it hopes to take that one more step higher. The phone has a massive 4.5-inch super-AMOLED-plus screen that is designed to provide better resolution and easier daylight viewing.

The Infuse runs on a speedy 1.2-gigahertz Hummingbird single-core processor. Its front-facing camera is a wimpy 1.3-megapixels, but the rear camera captures 8-megapixels. The Infuse runs on the HSDPA-Plus wireless technology, which AT&T started calling 4G.

The Infuse, sort of like the 5-inch Dell Streak, attempts to push the limits of super-phone sizes in an effort to skirt the fringes of the larger tablet market.

AT&T starts selling the Infuse this spring.

HTC Apache
HTC Thunderbolt, Verizon

HTC Thunderbolt, Verizon

We got our hands on the HTC Thunderbolt when it arrived in March. Its speed is astonishing, but its battery life is terrible.

The Thunderbolt has the best name of the new crop of 4G devices that Verizon has introduced so far. The Thunderbolt looks very much like HTC’s popular EVO at Sprint, with the same convex back and kickstand.

The Thunderbolt runs on Qualcomm’s 1-gigahertz Snapdragon processor, has a 4.3-inch screen and a front-facing camera as well as an 8-megapixel rear camera. All those specs, by the way, are identical to its 4G WiMax brother, the EVO at Sprint.

The difference with the Thunderbolt is that it runs on Verizon’s 4G LTE network. The Thunderbolt arrived in March quarter and was hailed as the first Verizon 4G LTE phone.

LG VX9800
Motorola Atrix, AT&T

Motorola Atrix, AT&T

If there was one phone that caught the most attention at CES, it was the Motorola Atrix, which AT&T had been promoting like crazy.

This Atrix uses a dual-core Nvidia processor like its sister phone the Bionic, and has similar specs. But it also features 1-gigabyte of RAM, the same deployed by small laptops. And curiously, that’s how Motorola is pitching this device — as a pocket computer.

During the Motorola demonstration, the Atrix was docked in an empty laptop shell, which, powered by a keyboard and big screen, made the Atrix the core of a notebook computer. The Atrix is designed to serve as both your super-phone and through a docking system, your PC.

With processing power and memory comparable to a netbook, the Atrix may help push Motorola devices further into the workplace, bumping up against Research In Motion and Hewlett-Packard’s Palm business.

Well they all look very good, but I am a Nokia fan and I am looking forward to purchasing my N7.  It works so well for business users.
In the mean time, as we see the rise of the smart phone, every business needs to look at how they can cost effectively advertise within proximity.  Click here to learn more.
Research In Motion BlackBerry 8700
Samsung Droid Char

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Allowing comments on your website can aid SEO

Posted on May 18, 2011 | 1 comment

When I have reviewed some of the comments placed on youtube, I cringe. It certainly does not encourage you to  allow any type of comments to be randomly placed on your own websites or blogs.  But if you’ve been wondering whether or not you should allow comments on your business or personal blog, allow me to add some fodder for your decision making analysis.

Comments on your blog help you optimize your website and make it easier to be found for more key phrases and for the key phrases you are already targeting.    How is that?  well….

search engines love content.  I know most of us think content is dead, and that video and social media are the optimum SEO’s. But the more the content, search engines are drawn to it like bee to honey.   In other words, that 300-word blog post you wrote yesterday will get more search engine traction when it has 20 comments on it.

There are three ways blog comments help you:

a) Blog commentators will use the same key phrases in their comments that you used in your blog post. That will mean more instances of the keyword on the page and therefore you are more likely to be found for that key phrase.

b) Blog commentators will also use related key phrases that you didn’t use in your blog post. That will result in your blog post being found for key phrases that you didn’t target.

c) Thirdly, some blog posts, like forum posts, appear as separate pages in the search engines. Note that I said “some”. In order for your blog posts to appear as separate pages they’ll have to be threaded and coded just so.

Blog comments help you optimize your business website, it is particularly useful if you are trying to brand or generate interest. I strongly encourage you to allow at least permission based comments on your business blog to increase your search engine optimisation.  If someone writes something or wants to link an inappropriate website to your you can terminate or trash the link before it goes live.

With lots of websites offering back links, text links and link exchange, this is one of the quickest ways to generate the same think without it costing you anything or taking up too much of your time.

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British Leisure Show launch apps to connect exhibitors & visitors

Posted on March 5, 2011 | 1 comment

Welcome to the British Leisure Show who have launched there first apps to help promote their event and will be using Bluetooth location based broadcasting throughout the event to drive visitors to exhibitors stands.

By Diane Shawe

Click on the image below to Download the British Leisure Show Apps and find out more about the event.

This exciting, three day family friendly festival, provides entertainment and interaction for visitors of all ages. It’s packed with an exciting variety of things to SEE, TRY AND BUY, with the latest product models and accessories, competitions and demonstrations to watch and activities to try.

i-send will be holding a meeting designed to help business learn about apps and how it could help improve mobile marketing.

On of many events will be held throughout the year with the first one on the 10th March 2011 in London. Click to register

For a growing number of UK shoppers, the difference between off-line and on-line shopping will be no line at all.

What does this mean for retailers, sole traders, enterprise business and the retail sector?

Come join us at this free event when you will be able to listen, learn and ask.

With an inundation of new smart phone apps these hand held shopping tools are redefining the shopping experience and blurring the distinction between the in-store experience and the virtual world of information now available in the palm of your hand.

Advances in location-based technology, price-comparison apps, bar-code scanning apps and social-networking tools have turned the mobile device into a real-time third channel of commerce, empowering consumers while challenging retailers to rethink the way they do business.

The appetite for new apps seems voracious. A recent survey by comparison-shopping site PriceGrabber revealed that 36 percent of consumers plan to use their mobile phones for shopping-related activities this holiday season.

Around 4.2m of us in the UK are already using our mobiles to access the internet and browse retailer’s eCommerce sites.

This event will look at the pros of cons about introducing a apps into your business and all the pointers one should consider.  Specialist speaks will be available to give you golden nugget advise.

Introducing our Panellist Speakers

Andrew Lamont

Cllr Andrew Lamont ‘Access Champion for the Royal Borough of Kenisigton & Chelsea’

Topic:  Why Access & Apps go together

Partially sighted as a result of optic atrophy, Cllr Lamont is a seasoned campaigner on behalf of the blind and partially sighted. As a trustee of the charity BlindArt he has worked to remove barriers to the visual arts for all, inclusive of visually impaired people.

Andrew is currently the Access Consultant for i-send proximity and plays an important role in advising local authorities and Town Centre’s on managing the implimentation of Access.

Andrew is concerned about the new technolgy and feels that Apps and the new type of Smartphones should take into consideration access for over 2 million people throughout the UK

Diane Shawe

Diane Shawe Author of ‘How to Cyber kiss your business to Success’

Topic: Discovering the Pros & Cons for implementing Apps into your business

Project Director for i-send proximity, Diane has over 16 years experience in the Telecoms Fibre Optic and Microwave technology. Smartcard and internet audience measurement solutions.

Diane is often a guest speaker and training in business development and is currently working on several City and Town Centre Projects who want to build a PWAN Bluetooth Broadcasting Network.

The world of promoting your business has pivoted in a way that could leave a lot of  businesses behind if they don’t implement a structured apps program.

Jason Cobine

Jason Cobine Founder of  Beyond Networking runs a series of revolutionary, unique, branded workshop.

Topic: Apps & Profit and protecting infringed intellectual property rights.

Jason Cobine for the last 20 years have helped organisations around London with business insurance, indemnity insurance and reputation protection.

Jason has also helped businesses reduce the time and money spent finding new opportunities through business networking.

Jason is often a speaker and trainer at business related events and is going to shed some light on the protection of Intellectual property rights when using apps to promote your business.

Jason come’s highly recommended and will help you navigate yourself through this complex arena.

Abel Hussain Author Speaker

Abul Hussain Author of Grow your business with Internet Marketing

Topic:  Why SEO don’t work so for some businesses

A Managing Partner at the Middle Man Marketing Group,  Abul is an experienced marketing consultant, who consults with the marketing departments of many FTSE 100 companies.

His specialities include SEO, Pay Per Click Marketing, Social Media Marketing, amongst other marketing areas.

He often is a guest speaker at business association events and a guest author around the marketing blogosphere.

Abul will discuss the importance of implementing certain strategies to insure that localised and regionalised businesses can make better use of the SEO online strategy.

Jonathan Greensted

Jonathan Greensted Founder and CEO  of Sentient

Topic:Apps defining the shopping experience

Sentient has help many large organisations such as AstraZeneca, Virgin Holidays, Pfizer, Commerzbank, Microsoft, MCI and Centrica leverage IT to increase profits, optimise costs or increase their business agility.

Sentient’s innovation incubator has pioneered retail energy management (1995), web content management (1997), teleco billing (1999), social networking (2002), mobile software (2004), GPS tracking (2006) and Software + Services (2008).

He often is a guest speaker at business events.

Jonathan wil discuss the changing face of the retail business as the inundation of new smart phone apps enter the market.

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US Wireless Data Market Grows 23 Per Cent Year-on-year

Posted on March 2, 2011 | Leave a comment

All I can say is WAKE-UP SME’s and start smelling the COFFEE!

by Diane Shawe

I-send was sent a recent post from the the analyst, Chetan Sharma, who released its US Mobile Data Market Update for Q4 2010 and 2011.

The report reveals that the US wireless data market grew 5 per cent quarter-on-quarter, and 23 per cent year-on-year, to reach $14.8bn (£9.1bn) in mobile data service revenues in Q4 2010. The final tally for the 2010 year was $55bn, which the analyst expects to increase by 22 per cent to $67bn in 2011.

US mobile subscriptions officially crossed the 100 per cent penetration mark in Q4 2010. The connected device category (including tablets, M2M, telematics, eReaders, etc.), registered the highest growth at 55 per cent, while postpaid subscriptions grew by only 3 per cent for the calendar year. Connected devices now account for 7 per cent of the installed base.

Smartphone shipments overtake computers
The report notes that 2010 marked the milestone of the start of a new computing and communications era. For the first time in the US, smartphone shipments exceeded the traditional computer segments (desktops, notebooks and netbooks). In 2011, the smartphone segment, along with connected devices will not only exceed the computer segment in unit shipment but more importantly, in overall revenues as well.

While connected devices ARPU is low, Chetan Sharma believes this segment will prove to be the most profitable in the coming years, due to higher margins. By the end of 2011, connected devices will be commanding double digit market share.

However, not all sub-segments are going to be successful in the operator channel, until multi-device data pricing plans are introduced. Most of the tablets and eReaders can work well with only wi-fi most of the time. Monthly data plans make sense for enterprise users but not for consumers who might use these devices occasionally. As such, the report says, tablets will be more successful in direct and traditional retail channels. Operators who start to bundle multiple devices by single data plans and data buckets are going to see a better yield in this category. Similarly, OEMs who rely on operators for sell-through of tablets/eReaders will see low volumes compared to players who have more diverse distribution channels, such as Apple and HP.

As previously noted by Chetan Sharma, the iPad and other tablets are making Netbooks irrelevant. In fact, tablets are starting to eat into the laptop category as well. As expected, the device has been a hit with many enterprises with mobile workers. Many enterprises are giving out iPads to their workforce instead of laptops or Netbooks. The analyst expects iPad to dominate the space in 2011 as competitors will find it hard to compete across all dimensions – price, performance, ecosystem, distribution, and brand power.

Data traffic more than doubles
Mobile data consumption continued to grow across all networks, increasing by 2-5 times on major US networks. While average data consumption in the US at the end of 2010 was 350 MB/month, many of the superphones introduced in the second half of 2010 are clocking 1-1.5GB/month on average. Thus, while data revenues for the year increased by 23 per cent, mobile data traffic grew by 132 per cent.

The significant rise in smartphone sales and usage in the US market – over 50 per cent of devices sold in the US in 2010 were smartphones, almost twice the global average – means that by the end of 2011, in the US, the smartphones will consume more data than data cards for the first time. Chetan Sharma also expects the US to become the number 1 nation in mobile data consumption this year, edging out Sweden.

The report notes also that the center of gravity of the mobile market has shifted back to the US, which is also the most dominant market in terms of revenue generation for the industry. While the US represents less than 6 per cent of the subscription base, it accounts for over 21 per cent of data revenues, with Verizon Wireless becoming the number one mobile data operator in 2010, edging past the decade-long leader, NTT DoCoMo. AT&T also went past China Mobile to gain its current number three ranking. By the end of 2013, the US market will account for 25 per cent of global mobile data services revenues.

Wake-up call
Chetan Sharma calls the Nokia-Microsoft announcement “a wake-up call to many in the industry who were in denial”, and praises Nokia for decisiveness, and for moving quickly under pressure. But it concludes that the impact on Nokia remains uncertain, saying: “While there were risks with Android, going with Win7 is not an assured path to resurrection either. It all comes down to execution…Nokia has significant talent and it’s a proud company, but jumping into the shark-infested cold waters miles away from the shore will require all the stamina, good weather, and skill it can muster to make landfall before thanksgiving”.

Looking ahead, the report notes that Android and iOS are completely dominating the developer and ecosystem mindshare, and says the race to become a viable third option is on, with operators keen to see another competitive force emerge in the market. Chetan Sharma will be discussing how the  industry is going to evolve in the next decade at its mobile thought leadership summit – Mobile Future Forward, in September.

I-send proximity is launching a series of workshop/expert forums to discuss the implementation and road mapping of apps into any type of business, visit http://www.i-send.co events page for more information.

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Invitation to our forthcoming Apps Network Event

Posted on February 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

Come along and join us at our informal networking meeting on Thursday 10th March 2011 in London to take a closer look at apps and how they could impact on your future business.

For a growing number of UK shoppers, the difference between off-line and on-line shopping will be no line at all.

What does this mean for retailers, sole traders, enterprise business and the retail sector?

Come join us at this free event when you will be able to listen, learn and ask.

With an inundation of new smart phone apps these hand held shopping tools are redefining the shopping experience and blurring the distinction between the in-store experience and the virtual world of information now available in the palm of your hand.

Advances in location-based technology, price-comparison apps, bar-code scanning apps and social-networking tools have turned the mobile device into a real-time third channel of commerce, empowering consumers while challenging retailers to rethink the way they do business.

The appetite for new apps seems voracious. A recent survey by comparison-shopping site PriceGrabber revealed that 36 percent of consumers plan to use their mobile phones for shopping-related activities this holiday season.

Around 4.2m of us in the UK are already using our mobiles to access the internet and browse retailer’s eCommerce sites.

This event will look at the pros of cons about introducing a apps into your business and all the pointers one should consider.  Specialist speaks will be available to give you golden nugget advise.

Introducing our Panellist Speakers

Andrew Lamont

Andrew Lamont ‘Access Champion for the Royal Borough of Kenisigton & Chelsea’

Topic:  Why Access & Apps go together

Partially sighted as a result of optic atrophy, Cllr Lamont is a seasoned campaigner on behalf of the blind and partially sighted. As a trustee of the charity BlindArt he has worked to remove barriers to the visual arts for all, inclusive of visually impaired people.

Andrew is currently the Access Consultant for i-send proximity and plays an important role in advising local authorities and Town Centre’s on managing the implimentation of Access.

Andrew is concerned about the new technolgy and feels that Apps and the new type of Smartphones should take into consideration access for over 2 million people throughout the UK

 

Diane Shawe

Diane Shawe Author of ‘How to Cyber kiss your business to Success’

Topic: Discovering the Pros & Cons for implementing Apps into your business

Project Director for i-send proximity, Diane has over 16 years experience in the Telecoms Fibre Optic and Microwave technology. Smartcard and internet audience measurement solutions.

Diane is often a guest speaker and training in business development and is currently working on several City and Town Centre Projects who want to build a PWAN Bluetooth Broadcasting Network.

The world of promoting your business has pivoted in a way that could leave a lot of  businesses behind if they don’t implement a structured apps program.

 

Abel Hussain Author Speaker

Abul Hussain Author of Grow your business with Internet Marketing

Topic:  Why SEO don’t work so for some businesses

A Managing Partner at the Middle Man Marketing Group,  Abul is an experienced marketing consultant, who consults with the marketing departments of many FTSE 100 companies.

His specialities include SEO, Pay Per Click Marketing, Social Media Marketing, amongst other marketing areas.

He often is a guest speaker at business association events and a guest author around the marketing blogosphere.

Abul will discuss the importance of implementing certain strategies to insure that localised and regionalised businesses can make better use of the SEO online strategy.

 



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Why Smartphones May Be the Best Business Opportunity in Healthcare | Dark Daily

Posted on February 13, 2011 | Leave a comment

Meet “mHealth!” That’s the new term to describe how mobile devices are used in the delivery of healthcare to patients. Many clinical laboratories and pathology groups already have laboratory informatics solutions that support how their client physicians use mHealth solutions in patient care.

Experts predict that Smartphones will dominate mobile healthcare (mHealth) in just a few short years. The enabling tools will be mobile applications (apps) that monitor such conditions as diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease and asthma. Smart phones will also be used to order medical laboratory tests and access clinical laboratory test data.

Mobile health monitoring apps can track patients’ vitals signs, such as heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature and breathe rate and share that information with their physicians. (Photo by Natasha Lomas/silicon.com. Sourced from ZDNet.com.)

Why Smartphones May Be the Best Business Opportunity in Healthcare | Dark Daily.

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Posted in assisted technology, Coupons and vouchers, discount vouchers, ipad, isend, location-based technology, mobile phone broadcasting, mobile phone communications