Lynda.com has just released their much-awaited native iPhone application. Huzzah! Fresh snow outside, the sun is shining, and I now have Lynda.com (natively, with no browser finger gymnastics required) on my iPhone – it’s like Christmas morning.

Read more about it on the Lynda.com blog or just hit iTunes and grab the free app.

The age of anywhere, anytime (literally in your pocket) learning is an exciting time indeed.

My love (and tough love) for Lynda.com online training runs deep, but I’ve always longed for easier, more convenient access. Wouldn’t it be cool if, say, I were able to view Lynda.com training on my iPhone? Why, yes it would. And now, yes it is!

Lynda.com courses are now (finally!) viewable on the iPhone (via Wi-Fi or 3G), providing a new way to turn unproductive time into self-development time. Sure, it’s fun to while away the hours in the doctor’s or DMV’s waiting room playing Fieldrunners, but wouldn’t you rather be learning Photoshop CS4?

It’s disconcerting that we’re already two-plus years into the iPhone Age and this is just now happening, but I’ll take it. It would be nice to see online training stay a little (lot) more cutting edge. Sadly, we’re back to the cumbersome browser-based navigation I griped about in my original review, but it appears help is on the horizon: a native Lynda.com iPhone app due “early 2010.” I swooned! Here’s hoping “early” means, well, early and not August (software developers often appear to use a different English dictionary than I).

In related news, Lynda.com is also rolling out parallel Flash-based content, so you’ll be able to view the training material using either QuickTime or Flash on your desktop machine.

If you haven’t checked out Lynda.com, you really should. I consider their training content required curriculum for anyone in the eLearning and/or presentation design field. At $250/year for all-you-can-eat access ($375/year if you want the exercise files), it could be the best money you spend (aside from, ahem, an iPhone of course).

Lynda.com holds a place very near my heart as a superb training resource, but Lynda.com also has the dubious honor of an eQuixotic first (and possibly last): a dual 2008 nomination for both eQuixotic Hall of Fame (Lynda.com: Saving Grace – The Content) and Hall of Shame (Lynda.com and Navigational Pain (Or “Please Don’t Punish the Learner”)). How did they accomplish this seemingly impossible contradictory feat? By pairing stellar training content with a learner-punishing delivery system.

I’m happy to report that Lynda.com has heard my anguished cries (well, our collective anguished cries as Lynda.com users) and responded by improving the learner experience tremendously. The new course player allows you to play an entire chapter at once (yes!) and also allows you to jump to the next or previous movie within the player window itself (yes!!!). Hallelujah! Gone are the aggravating mouse gymnastics required to move from one topic, or chapter, to the next. Thank you Lynda.com!

The new intro animations are very slick, and the welcome segments with the course author are very nicely done:

Sadly, there seems to be no keyboard control of the player. Restoring this (I swear it was there before, unless my memory fails) would be a welcome improvement.

But hey keyboard control, get off of our cloud! For now we celebrate the vast improvement to the Lynda.com learner experience. With this change I hereby retract Lynda.com’s nomination to the eQuixotic Hall of Shame. Their nomination to the Hall of Fame, however, remains secure. And deservedly so.

If you are an eLearning developer or presentation designer, a yearly subscription to the Lynda.com training library will probably be the best self-development money you’ll spend. And now more than ever.

Adobe unveiled its new Adobe TV site today, offering a variety of video-based instructional sessions (with real talking heads!) focused on using its vast arsenal of creative development tools.

I’ve made the obvious argument several times in the past (An Educated Customer Is a Happy (and Loyal) Customer, Adobe Video Workshop: Adobe Teaches You Adobe, eLearning Is Selling, Hold on, Kawasaki! (And Tippie Too!)) that a significant future trend in eLearning involves companies teaching current (and potential) customers how to use their products. Adobe continues to illustrate (pun?) this trend with the new Adobe TV site.

The line between marketing and education truly is becoming blissfully blurred.

If you use Adobe products (and as an eLearning developer, you almost certainly do), have a look at the new Adobe TV site.

As an appetizer, I highly recommend Caffe Fibonacci – Rufus and Tim’s Digital Kitchen, produced in a classic cooking show format. Educational and entertaining – it hits the eLearning sweet spot! Mmmmm!

Might I even be so bold as to give it an eLearning Hall of Fame nomination? Perhaps I might.

Bon appetit!

Sidenote: hey Adobe, how about ponying up some extra bandwidth and giving us the option of high-definition video? I like the full-screen viewing option, but the available resolution hardly does it justice.

The Online Education Database offers a list of 100 eLearning resources for the iPod. Included on the list are several university sites in the ever-expanding iTunes U, which I also referenced in this post. And if iPod-based eLearning is already taking off, wait until the touchscreen-based models (iPod Touch and iPhone) become ubiquitous. Those big, beautiful screens and full touch controls…the possibilities are going to be huge. True mobile anytime anywhere learning is upon us.

PBS has just added a collection of free educational videos, lectures, interviews, teacher guides, and other materials to the vast wealth of content already available on iTunes U.

As an educator, if you haven’t checked out iTunes U yet, you really should.

Is this an exciting time to be in the training/education field or what?