Changing Youtube to get it unblocked in the Primary Classroom

Over the next month I will be working with the Youtube team trying to implement changes that will make Youtube a safer tool to use in the Primary Classroom.  We managed to achieve a relatively safe Google Search experience through Safe search and we hope to copy that successful process over to Video.

Google TV and Primary School TV are both due early 2011 and I expect that within 5 years the majority of TV content will be consumed on demand over the Interwebs.  This means now is the time to address this issue.

I’m pretty confident that if you are reading this blog then you are aware of the issues surrounding Youtube and why children can’t use it.  So instead of talking about the issues I am going to simply propose three changes Youtube can make that will make teachers more confident to adopt the worlds largest video resource.

Allow a Very Safe Search mode

VSS is a Google Search parameter that stands for Very Safe Search.  Youtube’s Safe Search is called “Safety Mode”.  Safe Search passes this parameter to Google when doing searches and then that users session is always in strict search mode and their is no option to turn this off. Simply put it’s a way to enforce a safer search experience. What Youtube shouldn’t do is expect for a user to login prior to making the experience safer.  This defeats the point.  The current API claims to have a safeSearch mode but I’m not convinced it works (proof here— WARNING: Contains explicit material).  Youtube could easily add a fourth category.

Make Safety Mode more visible

Did you even know Youtube had a safety mode?  To find safety mode you have to scroll to the bottom of the page, you are then reminded it is not 100% accurate.  All in the experience is hard work and doesn’t fill one with confidence.   This will be a tough sales pitch as it means altering the UI for everyone.  Ideally the Safety Mode option would be under “Search options” and only visible when VSS isn’t set.

Implement a Custom Search Engine

A custom search engine would allow content from certain websites/publishers to be emphasized in the same way that Google Custom Search performs. This will allow third parties to improve the search experience and remove any undesirable content without having to contact Youtube.   Youtube would benefit from this as third parties would pro-actively flag up any inappropriate content, allowing Youtube to optionally crowd source this should improve the Youtube experience.  This will act very much in the same way as Custom Safe Search and will give Youtube the option to allow Educators to remove Ads from content.  Educators would benefit from this as content from educational publishers would show up higher in the search results.

What do you think? Are there still issues with Youtube that I haven’t addressed?  Are you scared of pupils uploading inappropriate videos?  I would love to hear your thoughts, please leave a comment!  I am going to be putting my proposal forward later this week so all feedback is greatly appreciated! 🙂

Could an Android update be the reason you replace your next TV?

Ever owned an android phone that has been late to receive an Android update crippling some functionality? It is pretty frustrating. Your TV may have same issue. In the future when a new great game is released and the only way you will be able to play it is by getting an entire new TV. Google apologize because an update for your TV is not available due to Android hardware restrictions. Sony point at Google. Sony win because you buy another TV.

Sony’s new TV potential poses this exact problem, it runs Google Android and it is speculated that it has the same processor as the Motorola Droid. I’m a big fan of Smart TV as a whole, I just hope that Google / Sony were smart enough to allow modular upgrades of the Android device.

It would be awesome if the big TV players could develop an open standard so other operating systems, not just Android could leverage the warm glowing screen in our living rooms. It will also be interesting to see if any camera functionality is build in for video conferencing and for Kinect like control.

Sony you are in charge here, make it open and the community will do the rest. Note: Please no comments about Android being O/S. I know it is, but that doesn’t mean there is choice if the TV platform is closed.

Classdroid on the iPhone


I keep getting asked if Classdroid is coming to the iPhone…

It is complex so I wanted to write a specific blog post.

Firstly, I don’t like the iPhone. I don’t like how its marketed, how it’s sold, how it’s app store works, how the community support is supposed to work, how the licensing model works and what impact it has on the tech industry as a whole. “We need substance, not glitter” is probably the best way to put it.

Now you know how much I dislike the iPhone it will be of no surprise that I love Android, but this isn’t about love/like/dislike. It’s about economics. I would need to charge $5 per device or so and sell 400 copies of Classdroid on the Appstore and still wouldn’t break even.

Classdroid must remain free and open source to encourage others to use it, if you don’t know about crowd sourcing and how that develops applications then here is a quick example of why open source is good…

Before Classdroid got to market someone had made language support for traditional/simplified Chinese. That would of taken me hours to do, but it’s now done just by some guy I don’t even know. Classdroid includes parts of the WordPress open source App so we were able to make it, test it and publish it quickly without writing too much code.

Stop ranting and tell us when it’s coming to the iphone!

It’s coming to the iphone as soon as:

a) Apple allow iphone apps to be developed on something other than Apple devices.
b) Apple reduce/drop the ridiculous 100$ annual SDK fee.

OR

c) Someone who does done apple/ios development reads our source code and makes an apple version then publishes it under their name (that is fine with me). The code must remain open source, that is the only prerequisite.

So that’s it, Basically I would need about $1100 just to start coding.. It’s not worth it for a handset that is losing market share month after month.

If you really still want Classdroid for your iPhone then ask about, see if someone you know, knows an iPhone developer who will be happy to help out. If so then get in touch or point them at the source code.

Creating your own Safe Search – A call to teachers!

Searchy Pants is a new exciting way for schools and parents to create their own safe search home page.

We focused on three main benefits:

  1. Include your family/schools branding/logo
  2. Include a message to your kids/pupils/teachers
  3. Include useful links

We kept the admin interface as simple as possible (Just 3 pages and a wizard style setup)

Please do sign up and test it, we are happy with it so far but we know that feedback over the next few months will get us to a point where we can do a formal launch to all schools.

We kept Searchy Pants as safe as possible with various bits I will talk about in the future, most of you will be aware of the Safe Search engine we have maintained for the last 4 years with great success.

SearchyPants is pronounced – Ser Chee Pants  – Like SmartyPants but that domain was gone 😛

Thanks to Matt Lovegrove for the testing so far.  If you think Searchy Pants is a good idea then please share it!

Google Games in the classroom

Google‘s recent 100$ million investment in zynga has got the dregs of the internet flapping over Google trying to muscle in on Facebook‘s market share of the social gaming portion of the internet.

Google suck at Social, and probably always will.  This is because even though the line between our work and play is often merged we have to actually pro-actively try to keep the two separate.  Google Me will suck, Google Buzz sucked, Google Wave sucked.  Why?  Because we are human.  Google can’t break/fix that.  My advice:  Launch Google Me, very quietly.

Zynga have maybe 20 games available, yes they are huge on the platforms they run on (facebook/twitter etc) but there are 1500+ educational games available that have nothing to do with Zynga that wont even be affected by Google…  Unless..

The fact is….

Google didn’t invest in Zynga for Zynga’s games.  They invested in Zynga to get the expertise of providing massive web based games to create social networks.  I can see Google going off to places like Armor games, bitbitallion etc. and trying to get them on board.   Let’s face it, Google know how to write a well documented, easy to use API so if they can persuade other vendors to monetize their content and improve their games by using Google then why not?  (See Adsense/Adwords).

I wrote an abstract piece on this and began building an open platform that is similar to Xbox Live.  I called it XPArena and it is very private closed beta.  I’m still working on it.

So how does this affect education?

The way I see it Google have enough capital available in Zynga to create an open platform for social game integration.  This platform would operate in a similar way to XPArena or XBox Live, allowing pupils to share educational games, show off their high scores, compete with friends, collaborative with friends.  Teachers could review pupils work and assess their progress.  Google could potentially also work on a recommendation engine that recommends games based on what a pupil likes to learn by playing.

How can Google make this work? Google should create a platform, not a service.  Allowing third parties to leverage their technology and keeping the Google Brand away from the learner/consumer.  PLEASE Google don’t tie this platform into Google Me or Wave etc..

Some questions/answers

Will you need a Google account to play a vast array of online games in the future? No.

Will you need a Google account to share your gaming experience on Zynga games in the future? Yes.

Are Zynga making any education games? No.  But if you look hard enough you can find SOME educational value in the odd game.

Will Google use Google Checkout for Zynga games? Yes.

Will Google remove Zynga games from Facebook when they launch Me? No.  It would damage Zynga’s revenue stream too much and would see a flurry of angry farmville players switch from Google to Bing for search.

Will Google place their own Ads on Zynga games in that annoying way they do? Yes.  Even if you are paying you will see ads.

Will it suck if Google just invest without any outward reaching goals? Yes.  If they focus purely on social networks it will be a waste of money.

Is the internet crying out for a good social gaming platform that is away from main stream social networks? Yes!

Did Google purchase Zynga to make their shareholders happy? No.  They are already happy, see the index.

Do I want a job at Google Games? Sure if they can afford me 😉