Will that gadget help children learn?

As the resident geek among many of my friends and family, I hold sometimes contrarian opinions about the role that technology plays -- or should play -- in our lives. One topic that we debate fairly often is the role technology plays in education. I personally think that it will help neutralize the disparity in public education resources that varies zip code by zip code, but I worry that access won't universal enough.

Turns out that Americans are fairly split in their opinions about this. A new survey of about 1,145 U.S. adults by Poll Position found that 47 percent of Americans believe that technologies such as e-readers, media tablets, smartphones and other electronic devices will have a positive impact on education. About 33 percent of respondents, though, think they will have a negative impact, and another 21 percent have no opinion. So, we have a long way to go before we will realize the potential of technology in the education climate.

By the way, the survey didn't specify whether the technology would be used in elementary schools or higher education. It simply asked about technology's role in "educational development for youth in America."

Age and gender played a role in the survey respondents. Just 35 percent of the respondents aged 65 or older, for example, thought that technology would have a positive role. Men were slightly more inclined to feel positive about technology: approximately 49 percent of the men foresaw a positive impact, while 47 percent of women thought technology would have a positive effect.

Text While Driving, Lose Your License

OK, so I haven't heard about any state taking a measure this extreme yet to punish those caught texting on their smart phone or mobile device behind the wheel. But a new survey by Poll Position suggests that at least half of Americans think that losing your license for texting is a justifiable sentence for those who just can't keep their fingers to themselves while driving.

The survey, which reflected the opinions of about 1,100 registered voters, was conducted in early January 2012.

Half of those responding agreed that people caught texting while driving should use their driver's license for some period of time.

Age was a big factor in the responses, while younger respondents far more lenient.

In fact, 52 percent of them were not in favor of the license loss measure. Among those 65 years of age and older, 67 percent said you SHOULD lose your license for a period of time.

We haven't heard the last of this issue yet, especially with the National Transportation Safety Board's proclamation in mid-December 2011 that there should be a ban on driver use of portable electronic devices.

Personally, I think I'm in favor of such a measure, although I have absolutely been guilty of this behavior while at stop signs and such. Then again, is it any different when you lean over to change the radio station or to poke an address into your global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver or when you smoke a cigarette while driving (which I have seen, I kid you not). This one will be debated a long time before anything happens. Meanwhile, all we can really do is plead for common sense.

Facebook Doesn't Cause Divorces, People Do

Much has been made this week about a revelation by U.K. divorce lawyers Divorce Online that "finds" Facebook behavior was named in about one-third of petitions filed in 2011.

"Facebook flirting causes one in three divorces," trumpets the headline in Forbes.

This sort of revelation isn't new, of course. Last March, the Guardian cited a 2010 survey by the American Academy of Matriomonial Lawyers suggesting that a majority of divorce cases use social networking posts, messages or comments as evidence.

I have even heard friends comment that Facebook is "causing" relationship problems.

To that I say, people cause divorces, not computers. We've got to stop blaming the medium for the fact that people aren't grown-up enough to work through their problems. Yes, I am sure that social networks exacerbate problems that people already have. Perhaps they even encourage emotional affairs. They certainly make it easier to prove emotional infidelity.

But if a marriage is fundamentally sound in the first place, Facebook is about as harmless as your average neighborhood cocktail party.

Good Riddance to 2011, I Am Super Excited About 2012

It is so predictable that I would neglect my writing duties here at Technophile. I have that classic Catholic guilt thing (or is that lapsed Catholic) of tending to put everyone else's to-do's ahead of my own.

My 2012 resolution will be to find my "voice" for this Technophile soap-box (does anyone under 20 understand that reference?) The quiet holiday week has been a great time to really refine the choices I make about the commentary I am writing for CBS Interactive and AllBusiness.com.

As I prepare to greet some visiting family, I am thankful for the opportunities that some really great editors have given me this year. I still pinch myself at least once a week, marveling at the fact that I get to write about the subject that drives my curiosity above all else: how technology can transform business and culture.

That, indeed, is exactly what I write about for my three daily columns. GreenTech Pastures is about the power of technology to minimize the impact of communities, countries and companies on the environment. Small Business Matters focuses on the technologies that can help smaller companies either cut their operational costs or grow their revenue. Business Brains (part of SmartPlanet) celebrates the potential of technology to transform business processes and business models. Here at Technophile, I tend to get a bit more personal. For me, one of the most fascinating subjects to consider is how the next generation will approach their careers and personal lives, especially in a culture profoundly transformed by mobile technology.

My perspective has been sharpened seriously by my newest, ongoing writing gig as a news analyst for AllBusiness.com. I am grateful to the editorial team there for providing me with the opportunity to get much more intimately acquainted with the sort of business reporting I was doing at my very first job as a Business Writer for United Press International.

If I schedule it, I will do it. That's why I'm pledging to make a visit here every Monday, even if it is to pay homage to the best technology analysis or news story that I've read that day. Hey, I may even drop by more frequently, now that I am almost 100 percent dedicated to freelance news writing and commentary.

From my keyboard to the Allmighty's in-box.

Hard to remain emotionally detached

So, I'm at the inaugural conference for SXSW Eco this week in Austin, Texas, this week. I had the privilege of seeing Philippe Cousteau Jr. speak yesterday, and will report on his talk on SmartPlanet for Monday. Need to sort through the new investment/financing program being started byEarthEcho that he announced at the end of his speech. (Cousteau Jr.'s big thing is helping get youth involved in ocean conservation efforts.)

Anyway, I was reminded of what a sap I can be, when he played a brief video clip that shows the decline of the coral reefs in the marine park off the Florida Keys. Got kind of teary-eyed.

I should mention that I am a diver. The sort of diver who becomes more and more addicted to the activity with every minute of downtime that I log. Still trying to decide whether my dive with the whale shark in Hawaii OR my dive with an entire school of reef squid off Roatan (Honduras) was my favorite.

Being teary-eyed during a conference keynote is not good when you're supposed to remain objective about what you are covering. Another reason to spend a couple of days -- rather than a couple of hours -- sorting through my notes.

Sigh. 

Goodbye to my mom's most influential boss, Steve Jobs

I have to confess: I had a different ringside seat for the career of the late Apple founder Steve Jobs than many of the journalists working themselves into a frenzy this evening over his passing. My mother worked with early sales training and marketing team at Apple, where she was present at the birth of both Lisa and Macintosh. I've even used an Apple III. Which, yes, kind of dates me but I don't care this evening.

So I know that Mr. Jobs wasn't exactly the world's kindest employer. But there was always the sense and belief that world-changing activities were happening in those buildings constructed on top of Silicon Valley's once-bountiful fruit orchards. There was purpose.

The Steve Jobs that I was, ironically, describing to someone in a bar literally minutes before I heard about his passing was the most charismatic, inspired technology executive I have ever met. I have witnessed, in person, the infamous reality distortion field. Yes, I met met others who rivaled his genius but none came close to his charisma or intuition about what worked, and didn't.

I'm also thinking a lot about another Steve this evening, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who must feel this loss acutely. They were nothing alike, but they were brothers.

My heart breaks for both of Mr. Jobs' families -- Apple employees and (first and foremost) the wife and children who were kind enough to share his genius with the rest of the world.

R.I.P., Mr. Jobs. More than any other person, you made me believe that technology had the potential to change the world and that I should help spread that gospel.

I'm with them: Children say technology should be easier to use

Article first published as <a href='http://technorati.com/technology/article/kids-technology-wish-list-make-computers/'>Kids' Technology Wish List: Make Computers More Human</a> on Technorati.

You know that saying, "Out of the mouths of babes." Well, technology designers and marketers would do well to remember that phrase as they look to the future of their computer or Internet product portfolios.

I just finished poking through the results of a study called, "Childrens' Future Requests for Computers and the Internet," which was conducted by Boston-based research firm Latitude. Those results suggest that the future of computing will require interfaces to be much more intuitive, accommodating existing human gestures.

What I love about this research project is that it didn't just rely on rote answers from the subjects, who included about 200 "kid innovators" under the age of 12. It asked the children to draw some of their responses. For example, the researchers asked them to draw something the would like the computer or the Internet to do differently. For many of them, it can down to how they interact with the screen. Touch was a common theme. Said one girl from Spain, who submitted a drawing of a person touching a computer display: "I'd like to touch the things that are in the screen — feel and move them."

In fact, close to 80 percent of the children focused on technologies that provided more intuitive interfaces between technologies and humans, including touch, verbal commands, gestures and even telepathy. The drawing above imagines a computer with a holographic, speech-driven interface.

Noted Steve Mushkin, founder and president of Latitude:

"This study is part of our larger research initiative that gives children a real voice in the broader, often very adult, discussion of future technologies. Across a variety of creative exercises, kids from all over the world have proven, time and again, that they think in extraordinarily sophisticated ways about how tech could enhance their learning, play and interactions with the people and things around them. And the ways that technology might help us solve the big global problems we all face."

The approximately 200 children who participated in the study (I know, not a big number) came from Argentina, Australia, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, India, Mexico, The Netherlands, Panama, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Aside from more intuitive interfaces, approximately 4 in 10 of the children imagined scenarios in which technology could help better bridge the gap between the "real" and virtual world.

I don't know about you, but I think these children are onto something. Think about how immensely popular the Apple iPhone became almost immediately. Love it or loathe it, the product was an absolute breakthrough in touchscreen interfaces. We will never go back, but this study hints at where we might go when we move forward.