Today, we'll discuss the latest developments in Egypt's ongoing revolution. We'll also consider the value of a degree earned off campus, talk about the sick day in the age of telecommunication, and check in on the launch of the latest Blackberry model. Later, we'll examine Netflix, Hulu, and iTunes as the future of direct distribution. All that and more, on AirTalk.
Is Egypt on the verge of collapse again?
Clashes between protesters and riot police in cities along the Suez Canal have turned deadly in recent days, as groups opposed to President Mohamed Morsi defy protests and demand his ouster. Military leaders have warned the nation could be near collapse, and high-profile leaders are calling for a political reconciliation.
Morsi has dismissed the violence as a referendum on him, telling reporters, “What is happening now in Egypt is natural in nations experiencing a shift to democracy,” but as the bodies pile up and the calls for his ouster grow louder, we wonder what could be done to shift the course in Egypt? What would happen if violent uprisings grow out of control of the military? Is this a new dawn for Egypt, or the beginning of another nightmare?
Guests:
Sherine Tadros, Al Jazeera English correspondent in Cairo
Heba Morayef, Egypt Director, Human Rights Watch
Getting an online degree just got easier
Starting next fall, the University of Wisconsin system is offering the first competency-based online degree program in the nation. This program, called the “UW Flexible Option,” will allow adult students to earn a bachelor’s by passing a series of assessments that determine competency in a field of study.
The UW Flexible Option targets working adults who never completed a bachelor’s degree for various reasons and want to increase their job opportunities and salaries with an advanced degree. Also, for those who received on-the-job training but no formal education in that career, UW Flexible Option’s assessments hope to determine if those acquired skills are equivalent to a bachelor’s degree. Those who enroll in this program will have access to the UW resources and graduate with a traditional degree, but be able to take classes whenever they want without ever stepping foot onto the university.
But does a degree earned “off campus” have the same caché - and value - as a traditional degree? Does offering this option devalue the University of Wisconsin brand? With universities facing increasing costs and decreasing resources, could “flexible” learning be the direction of higher education? Is it possible to have the university experience without being physically present at the university?
Guests:
Aaron Brower, provost, University of Wisconsin Extension
Barmak Nassirian, independent higher education policy consultant, formerly Associate Executive Director, American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO)
Join AirTalk for a live taping about "The Future of Public Higher Education in California" on Thursday, January 31st, from 6:30 P.M. to 8 P.M. at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy. Click here for more information and to RSVP.
How do you handle your sick days?
In the pre-digital days it was okay to just stay home, eat chicken soup, curl up in bed and watch Andy Griffith reruns. Nobody expected you to do anything. But nowadays with our digital interconnection, we feel compelled to keep up with email, participate in conference calls, and work remotely.
Pretty soon that sick day slips by and you realize you've done pretty much a full day's work. The California Work and Family Coalition reported in 2011 that 40% of California workers cannot take a sick day when they or someone in their family is ill because they cannot lose a day’s pay. In 2012 the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics discovered that 77% percent of private industry workers received paid sick leave, especially among management, professional, and high-wage positions.
But do these positions require employees to keep up with work at home? Is there something more than wages at stake? No matter the position, are workers not taking time to rest? What’s your company policy? Do you only claim a half-day? How do you handle your sick days?
Guest:
David Couper, Career Coach and Consultant on Human Resources, author of "Outsiders on the Inside: How to Create a Winning Career...Even When You Don't Fit In!" (Career Press, 2010)
Blackberry’s last stand
Start cracking those thumbs, because the Blackberry is back. Research in Motion, the Canadian company behind Blackberry, unveiled its new operating system today. In an effort to compete directly with Apple and other smartphone manufacturers, it rolled out two phone models, the Z10 and the Q10.
The Z10 is more in the vein of an iPhone, with a fully functional touch screen and no physical keys. It also possesses software which learns the way users type, and thus their mistakes, as a means to anticipate and fix them later. The Q10 may be the choice for Blackberry purists, as it retains the cherished keyboard so many preferred to typing clumsily onto a screen. But are there even any Blackberry purists left? The smartphone industry has been charging ahead for years, and Research in Motion has stood completely still. In an effort to consolidate the brand, Research in Motion changed its name to Blackberry.
But is all of this too little too late? Is it possible for the once king of cell phones to work its way back up from fifth place? Where does your loyalty stand at this point? Will you shirk your iPhone for the longer battery life of a Blackberry? Have you kissed the keyboard goodbye, or are you aching for another round of Blackberry thumb? How are the reviews of the new phones thus far? Are rumors of Blackberry’s death greatly exaggerated?
Guest:
Andrea Chang, technology reporter for the Los Angeles Times covering the new Blackberry
Will services like Netflix and Hulu be the Blockbuster of the future?
Last week, Dish Network Corp., the parent company of Blockbuster - the once dominant force in the home movie business - announced that it will be closing 300 brick and mortar Blockbuster stores this year and eliminate 3,000 jobs. Blockbuster’s decline is undoubtedly related to the growing popularity of digital entertainment providers such as Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and Hulu. Why trek to the video store when you can just stream a movie instantly on your computer? But does the ubiquity of these streaming services mean physical copies of movies on DVD and blu-ray disc will go the way of the vinyl record?
Even Coinstar, the parent company behind the RedBox DVD vending machines, is jumping into the digital streaming game by partnering with Verizon to offer ‘Redbox Instant by Verizon.’ Redbox’s new streaming video service is currently undergoing consumer testing, but Coinstar and Verizon expect RedBox Instant to be available to the public by the end of March.
Are DVDs and blu-ray discs already obsolete? What will the future of digital home entertainment look like? Will blu-ray discs live on as a niche high-end product for videophiles?
Guests:
Ryan Lawler, digital media reporter for TechCrunch
Amy Jo Smith, Executive Director, DEG: Digital Entertainment Group, a nonprofit corporation that advocates and promotes physical and digital media and helps provide information and perspective about the home entertainment industry
Are human beings headed for extinction?
The common perception is that as time marches on, the human population will continue to rise. Advances in technology and health will lead to longer lives, and thus the Earth will be burdened by billions upon billions of hungry mouths to feed, both young and old. And not just food, but oil, land, water and other resources will be gobbled up until there isn’t enough to go around.
But recently, some studies have found that birth rates seem to be leveling off across the globe. This has long been the case in developed countries, but now it looks like developing countries are slowing down as well. Typically, it was these nations which kept the total reproductive rate for the human race at a satisfactory point to replenish the numbers every generation. It looks like by the end of this century, that may no longer be the case.
While differing accounts show population shrinkage or just a plateau, many demographers are convinced that the population boom, which has been going on since humanity began, is finally over. Not everyone agrees with this assessment, however, and stress that the damage has already been done. We have grown so much that no amount of dwindling could counteract the impact we’ve already made on our planet.
So what does this mean for humanity? Are we headed out? Or are we going to continue to explode in numbers? Which science fiction future are you more looking forward to?
Guests:
Warren Sanderson, Professor of Economics, Stony Brook University and researcher with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Phil Cafaro, Professor of Philosophy at Colorado State University, works with CSU’s College of Global Environmental Sustainability