Tim Wang's eLearning Blog

Actually, the title isn't really accurate, this is not 2.5D any more, it's really 2.8D in my opinion. One of the current project my team is working on is to use Papervision 3D (an amazing Flash Actionscript based 3D engine) to create online simulation environment for the Residential School project. Along the way, we came across with Andy Zupko's "Dynamic 3D Rendering Effect".

This is a truly interesting application where 2D video clips are re-rendered per frame into m x n pixels and then using pixel brightness level and color scales to determine the z (height/depth) value. It's a truly smart implementation, check it out yourself! Make sure you click and hold on the re-rendered pixel image to the left and move your mouse!

Turning this:

to this, frame by frame:

For a while now, my World of Warcraft friends have been nagging me on one thing: Get ready for Warhammer, a new MMORG which is expected to be the new leader in the market of MMORGs. I had the chance to play with the beta version over the past weekend, at a friend's place. I have to say, this game is even more addictive than WOW, due to a couple of aspects. First of all, the graphics, are less of a cartoon style, but more realistic thanks to the advanced 3D engine of course. (Mind you WOW has been out for over 4 years now, it's about time for some graphical upgrades...) The other factors I find really attractive is that the game play focuses more on PVP (Player Vs. Player) while WOW was first made as a PVE (Player Vs. Environment) experience. For a player (moi) whom enjoyed all the FPS games and participated in many arena clans, Warhammer is certainly attractive enough.

The open beta test for the players whom pre-ordered the game started September 7th and ended mid night last night. According to to official game web site, there are 897,894 players participated in the beta test through last 7 days. The official launch of the game started today, to the people registered for the "collector's Edition" only. Then on Tuesday, the game is open for the Pre-ordered players, for real this time. Then on Thursday, you may find the shrink wrapped copies in the local electronic stores.

My biggest question now is of course how much sleeping time can I afford to lose in the coming months?

I have just surprisingly learned that the Chinese online education service provider – Cerbibo, has recently announced to sell 53% of their shares for the total of 10.3 million Yuan, which is only equivalent to 1.51 million US dollars. It seems the other 47% shares will also be given to the buyer for the completion of the transaction. Cerbibo is co-founded by Blackboard (the leading provider of e-Education enterprise software applications and services in America and Europe) and CERNET (China Education and Research Network, the largest Education network service provider in China). It was seen as the “dream marriage” in the Chinese e-Learning industry when the company was first formed back in October 2003. However they seems have tumbled upon some serious marketing difficulties in China.

According to the information published on the China Beijing Equity Exchange website, the total asset value of Cerbibo is 12.4 million Yuan (US $1.82 million), company debt exceed 8.8 million Yuan (US $1.29 million), the appraised value of the company is only 1.88 million Yuan (US $275,660). The annual income of Cerbibo in 2007 was 16.67 million Yuan (US $2.65 million), but the total profit was in the negatives: -1.75 million Yuan (US -$0.28 million), which means the company was operating at a loss.

I think Cerbibo’s down fall is the result of the philosophical and structural differences in the e-Learning industry between east and the west. For example, through the past exchanges with the Chinese institutions, I have observed that the Chinese online education industry focuses strongly on:
- synchronous teaching/learning methods
- heavy media components in all online courses
- mobile technology being used in eLearning
- learners appreciates flexible learning with a low cost operational infrastructure

However, the core software provider of Cerbibo, Blackboard in this case, has always focused on enterprise level solutions, self-study aspects and completely neglected the area in media and mobile technologies. Their synchronous teaching tools stay put with text chat! On the other hand, the back bone service provider CERNET is too big of a giant to provide the right marketing directions for Cerbibo. This also raise an alert to the mother company of Cerbibo - Blackboard Inc. Ever since they acquired WebCT, the company has grown so big and so fast. Can they keep their finger on the pulse of the global e-Learning marketplace? We shall wait and see...

PS. Neither Blackboard nor CERNET has publicly announced anything in regard to the share transfer, all information were collected through the China Beijing Equity Exchange office. The original source of this news is in Chinese which can be found here:
http://it.sohu.com/20080818/n258963630.shtml