Rock Tech Talk

And The Web Cries Chrome

2008-09-03T06:16:00.003-05:00

Google has released its much-touted new browser, Chrome, and the Web is awash with blogs and reactions and speculation about its impact. Some predict the browser can capture more market share than Firefox in as little as 2 years. Yet others are speculating about the reasons for Google's move into the browser arena, most seeing the move as aimed directly at Microsoft. If you're interested in what Chrome can do, you can read about it here in both video and comic book form. I've not yet had a chance to check it out, but you can read about its features, complete with screen shots, at Lifehacker.

It's Still Del.icio.us by Any Other Name

2008-07-31T18:55:00.003-05:00

The social bookmarking site has finally launched its first major overhaul since it was acquired by Yahoo! a few years ago. So far, I've not found the update to be significantly better than the del.icio.us I've always loved--except, of course, I no longer need to remember where to to put those darn periods! Check out the new look and supposedly faster search results at http://delicious.com.

Here's a Little Gift for You

2008-07-06T22:21:00.004-05:00

I know I haven't been by in a bit, but wanted to drop off this little package -- 100 free "keynote objects" (icons) to incorporate into your presentations and productions.

So Googlicious

2008-06-06T07:22:00.004-05:00

Gmail keeps getting better--this time with 13 new features. To check them out, click on the "Labs" tab in Gmail settings and enable the ones you want. While not all are "must-haves" (I decided not to enable the Old Snakey game, for example), the signature tweaks and custom keyboard shortcuts scripts are definitely keepers.

A.nnotate.com

2008-05-23T07:49:00.003-05:00

For those of you who have made the shift to web-based writing, editing, and responding, you can now annotate pdf files at A.nnotate.com. You can share your file notes with others, invite them to annotate the files, reply to existing notes, and create a searchable index of all notes.

Now, That's Smart Printing!

2008-05-21T07:59:00.002-05:00

If web-based information retrieval has been lacking in a specific area, it's got to be in printing. Often, I really want a print version of information I'm gathering--usually information that spans several web pages. While the old cut-n-paste into Word has its rainy-day pleasures (who am I kidding?), I've always thought there's got to be a better way. HP has answered my prayers with a free app that allows you to grab info from multiple pages and sites, concatenate them to a single page, and then print it out. Check it out at the link below:

HP Smart Web Printing enables simple, predictable web page printing.

Chatmaker

2008-05-16T09:06:00.004-05:00

I've been thinking a lot on Web 2.0 tools lately & here's one I've come across that looks like a winner to me. It's a free service called Chatmaker and it allows you to create instant free chat rooms. Just copy the url or code and send it to someone you want to chat with. You are initially logged in as a guest but can change your name. You can also timestamp the conversation, embed links, and use html coding.

Using a service like Chatmaker eliminates the need to sign on/off from a chat program.It looks like a nice alternative for those who don't want to be signed on in another chat program or need a quick tool for conversation. When my advisees are studying abroad this tool would be handy as we work out schedules. I'm sure there are other possibilities I haven't even considered!

Zoho Heaven

2008-05-15T06:27:00.004-05:00

While the days of open ID are still far off, Zoho has taken a giant step in that direction with Google and Yahoo!: you can now log into your Zoho account with your Google or Yahoo ID.

On Your Not-To-Do List

2008-05-06T08:56:00.006-05:00

Things Not to Install: WinZip and Codec Pack Files top the list. (Funny graphic from the article) Lifehacker adds any software by AOL, Adobe Reader, and camera-specific programs. Recommended instead: 7-Zip, Pidgin, Foxit Reader, and Picasa.

Crappy Apps to Avoid and Their Alternatives: Browser Toolbars, Internet Explorer 6 and 7, iTunes, Java Runtime Environment (no alternative), Limewire, MSN Messenger, Nero Suite, McAfee/Norton/Symantec, QuickTime, Real Player, Windows Media Player, and the forementioned AOL Messaging, Adobe Reader and WinZip.

p class=”MsoNormal”

2008-05-04T22:22:00.006-05:00

Speaking of Microsoft, if you have ever foolishly tried to paste a Microsoft Word document into an html file or even save a document as a web page, you have probably encountered those sticky, extraneous tags that Word generates. The odd spacing and weird formatting that results is no fun.

I've seen various html scrubbers, but here are some new tricks:
1) Send the document as an attachment in Gmail and then view as html
2) Upload your document to Textism, a free site
3) Save as Microsoft Web Page, Filtered

Monkey See, Monkey Do

2008-05-04T22:17:00.003-05:00

I just read about a new screencasting tool (free) from Microsoft, called Community Clips. The Lifehacker post mentions recording PowerPoint presentations. Sounds like it is brand-specific, but still... cool.

Mashed Video

2008-04-18T13:55:00.004-05:00

Check it out.... mashup youtube videos with an online video editor called Omnisio. As a premium feature you can show slides and video simultaneously. Here's an example. Nothing to download, nothing up my sleeve. Works with youtube, bliptv, and google video.

Button Up

2008-04-18T13:40:00.004-05:00

One of my co-workers collects buttons... but not the kind you can make yourself.

Flickr Video Mania

2008-04-09T06:52:00.003-05:00

They say that all good things will come some day, and our favorite photo-sharing site, Flickr, has added video to the list of uploadable files. The capability is currently limited to "pro" members and 90-second files while in beta.

Free Photoshop for Everyone!

2008-03-27T14:43:00.002-05:00

Kind of... Adobe introduced its free, web-based version of Photoshop Express today.

Sync Heaven

2008-03-06T04:15:00.004-05:00

As is true for many, most of my mail, calendar, and writing activities live in cloud these days. And for the most part, I'm a happy camper. It's just every once in a while I miss the bells and whistles that come with Microsoft Outlook. But screen layout and colors aren't worth the hassle of maintaining separate calendars and todo lists on my desktop and in the cloud. As usual, the great and powerful G has heard me and come up with an GCal/Outlook sync app. You can choose to sync one-way or both ways, as well as the frequency for the sync. Although it only works with your primary GCal calendar, that's a big enough slice of heaven enough for me!

*Photograph from the Nasher Sculpture Museum in Dallas

Superficial

2008-02-15T14:24:00.004-05:00

You know how people have those cool-looking vector photos in their online profiles? Here's a site that does it for you, Vector Magic. Check out a vectored Ernest Hemingway here.

Need some cheery new desktop wallpaper? Lots of great images at Social Wallpaper and you can rate them if you choose.

Take the Technology Quiz

2008-02-13T20:57:00.003-05:00

What kind of technology user are you? Take this quiz from the folks at Pew Internet and American Life to find out.

What a Tangled Web We Weave

2008-02-04T18:15:00.000-05:00

A list of useful web design resources blogged by a redesign veteran.

I Spy

2008-01-22T19:12:00.000-05:00

I fear I have been neglecting you! Here, have a handful of image resources....

Everystockphoto
Creative Commons
Wikimedia
Cool high-resolution images
The Library of Congress on flickr

And finally, a lovely image worth contemplating... gloves with a map of London drawn on them. Is this some early manifestation of handheld GPS?

Lose weight web 2.0 style!

2008-01-13T00:04:00.000-05:00

One of the most popular resolutions each new year goes something like this... "I'm going to eat healthier and lose weight." For some folks, like me, the resolution falls to the wayside when the new semester starts. This year, however, you can find assistance in staying strong and keeping up your healthy habits using an online calorie counter program. It's called The Daily Plate and it's free! You can look up and log thousands of different foods in your personal journal each day! It includes a nutritional breakdown for each item you log so that you track not only calories but grams of fat, carbs, protein, etc. In addition, you can log in your fitness activities to see how many calories you've burned. The service includes several discussion boards and is a very active community.

I've been using the service since August & have found it to be easy to use. My favorite part is my ability to enter my height & weight and have it calculate for me how many calories I need in order to lose, gain, or maintain (so far I've lost over 30 pounds). It graphs my weight and calculates my BMI. I keep thinking that there must be some application for this service in courses on campus though I'm not sure where. So, I'll share it with all of you & hope that it's helpful to someone out there :)

Going The Other Way?

2008-01-09T09:26:00.000-05:00

PDF (Portable Document Format) was developed to allow files to be viewed on any computer system, regardless of platform or program. Moreover, distribution in this format provided the means to protect the original file--it could not be easily nor cheaply altered by the user. While I recognize the format's virtues, I'm annoyed at the restrictions more often than not, particularly when I wish to print out only part of a .pdf file or save only a snippet from the file. Finally, help has arrived in the form of several .pdf to .doc converters. This one, aptly named "Free .pdf to .doc Converter," allows you to convert the whole file or simply extract selected images or text and edit the results in Word or Open Office.

Don't Forget to Remember The Milk!

2007-12-20T09:37:00.000-05:00

Online todo list, Remember the Milk has created a Firefox extension that allows you to create, edit, and manage tasks in Gmail, as well as integrate those tasks with Google Calendar. For those of you who are GTD freaks, this added functionality will rock your socks. Firefox users can grab the extension here.

A Christmas Wish List

2007-12-13T12:24:00.001-05:00

Here are some fabulous stocking stuffer selections from Lifehacker's Gift Guide 2007. Feel free to gift us in the manner you deem appropriate -- we've been providing you with free stuff for a couple of years now!

The cable yo-yo -- clean up your workspace.

In-flight recharger -- no more watching boring airline movies.

Little spotlights that charge in your car lighter -- light up the darkness.

USB snowman from USB Geek! Many more fun holiday thingies available.

What girl doesn't want her own USB rocket launcher?

You might be a redneck geek -- how about a beer opener/flash drive?

The Eyes Have It

2007-12-10T07:00:00.001-05:00

I am a strong advocate of the importance of visuals in web pages, believe images are very important to millennials' comprehension, and am a recent convert to the visual shorthand good graphic novels provide. A recent link from the Librarian in Black (there are two of us?) provides the following excellent locations for locating that perfect picture.

Flickr.com
Bigfoto.com
Fotogenika.net
FreeDigitalPhotos.net
FreePhotosBank.com
FreeMediaGoo.com
MorgueFile.com
PhotoRogue.com
SXC.hu
Picsearch.com

The original post from Search Engine Journal also mentions images from government agencies, a rich resource. I would add one more -- Microsoft Clip Art has moved beyond the weird little stick people and now contains good quality photographs that are easily searchable here or directly through the Office 2007 suite.

Do You Believe in Magic?

2007-12-02T17:28:00.001-05:00

This sounds unbelievable to me but I can't wait to try it. Printer Anywhere claims you can send print jobs over the web to any shared printer, even if it's not on. Freaky.

Hooking Up

2007-12-02T17:21:00.000-05:00

(Not that kind of hooking up)

Six Person Video Conferencing with Meebo/Tokbox

Holiday Tips

2007-12-02T17:01:00.000-05:00

An inexpensive stocking stuffer--The Delete Key eraser

You probably spend a good part of your holiday visit home doing this -- a good step-by-step for "Fixing Mom and Dad's Computer"

Free Flash Buttons

2007-11-27T00:21:00.001-05:00

The TLTR Graduate Assistant, Jocelyn Kramarik, has created a Webquest on Newton's Laws of Motion. As part of her Webquest, she wanted to use "interesting" buttons. When she came to me with the request we stumbled upon a site called FlashVortex.com & have been making all kinds of buttons & menus...all for free! (I do love the word free!) In the spirit of the upcoming season, we're sharing. (When we've officially posted the Webquest we'll share that as well.

The site also allows you to create flash text, a really cool digital clock, and a variety of buttons. Check it out. Click here for a free menu maker !

Better Than A Duct Tape Wallet

2007-11-07T06:13:00.000-05:00

In case you are still concerned about RFID tags, here's a solution: RFID Firewall from Boing Boing (RFID Guardian and a more technical explanation of the concept here)

Aggregation without Aggravation

2007-11-07T06:04:00.000-05:00

I am a big fan of bloglines and RSS aggregation but sometimes no RSS feed is available. The horror! To overcome this gap in online etiquette, you can now create an RSS feed where there isn't one with Page2RSS. It can easily be added to your toolbar. No one will escape your information clutches now, my pretty.

Photo from Library Thing

Fun for the Whole Family

2007-11-07T05:47:00.000-05:00

A new online image editor, Splashup.
Batch process images with Phatch or Faststone Photo Resizer.
Animate with Lunapic.
Have some big fun with Image Generators: Do the Dylan thing (too cool); make a personalized Rocket image with Rocket Generator; or create your own street sign with Easy Street.

Explore A What? Why, Exploratree!

2007-10-29T08:02:00.000-05:00

Getting students to plan out projects, think clearly and critically, and to make connections among seemingly disparate ideas are among our profession's greatest challenges. For me, that task is even more daunting due to the conflict between my own text-based, linear thought processes and my students' more graphical, associative mindsets. A new site,
Exploratree, an outgrowth of the British Enquiring Minds project, appears to be an excellent resource to bridge these two modalities. The site provides 23 "interactive thinking guides" that can be downloaded and printed to "support the thinking or working through of an issue, topic or question and help to shape, define and focus an idea and also support the planning required to investigate it further." I haven't had a chance to test out the guides (you can also create your own and sequence them), but I plan to more seriously explore the site over break for inclusion in my College Writing II class next spring. If you've used these kinds of guides in your own classes, let us know in the comments!

Lost, But Waiting To Be Found

2007-10-20T07:44:00.000-05:00

It's gone--trashed, stashed, or gone in a crash. That one Word document you must do something with today is gone. Before you commit computercide, head on over to HackCollege for a list of 10 ways to find that lost document. If all else fails, check out free programs, Restoration or Recuva.

Kompoze Yourself...

2007-10-18T07:43:00.000-05:00

Looking for a good WYSIWYG web editor? I recently downloaded and have experimented a little with Kompozer. Looks like a winner, able to handle css, and free!

Capture This!

2007-09-28T07:30:00.000-05:00

In today's climate of share-it-all, a good screen capture program is a must-have. I just checked out this newest one, Screenshotcaptor, from DonationCoder. While not as easy or intuitive as some others, it is very powerful, allowing you to capture full screens, regions, windows, you name it, and to save them in a variety of file formats. After a 30-day trial, the program requires you to make a donation to get a license key, my favorite kind of pricing structure.

Burn Baby Burn

2007-09-27T21:47:00.000-05:00

CD Burner XP is a free program that burns CDs, DVDs, Blu-Ray, etc.

Analyze This

2007-09-16T20:22:00.000-05:00

<-- Freud's couch Here's a very detailed report comparing web analytics packages, including Google Analytics. I've used Google Analytics but became rather lost in its extensive business schema. If you can afford it, Google Search has a terrific program that lets you see what users are typing in your search box and where they are taken within your site. Using that method, you can begin to see where people want to go on your site and how to map the proper pages to their requests, resulting in a happier search experience for everyone! (Are you listening, Slippery Rock University?)

For those desiring a simple count and amount, I would like to recommend StatCounter -- free and actually very informative, even providing a little map of your last 100 users, visitor paths, search engines, etc.

Wellcome to Free Images

2007-09-16T20:17:00.001-05:00

Wellcome Images provides a wide variety of historical and contemporary images under a Creative Commons license, including images for wellness, war, witchcraft (?) and other high quality images from "2000 years of human culture."

Does This Look Like Your Desk?

2007-09-06T06:35:00.000-05:00

It doesn't take long for your desk to look like this, I know. A few short weeks of classes or a paper due inevitably disrupt the cleaning routines of the most dedicated. Yet there is hope in the form of the many free online tools to organize your intellectual life. Check out this list of the "top 10 back-to-school tools" from Lifehacker to help save you time and keep your "stuff" organized on your computer and off your desk!

"I Want to Give Bill Gates a Big Hug"

2007-09-05T14:35:00.001-05:00

There's something you don't hear everyday, but that's what one of our students said yesterday after a Microsoft Office 2007 workshop with Brian Danielson. Here's what inspired that expression of affection:

In the new Word 2007, you can insert citations into your documents smoothly and painlessly under the References tab. And then.... you click on Bibliography and Word creates it for you in the style of your choice! Microsoft must be paying attention to all of those little applications and hacks and competitors and has made life easier for students everywhere. Office 2007 has been installed on student workstations all over the library. Feel the love!

TransferBigFiles

2007-08-31T07:04:00.000-05:00

I came across the
TransferBigFiles site in my never-ending quest for ways to e-mail those large Microsoft Office files from my home computer to our department secretary for printing. The TransferBigFiles site allows you to upload any file or number of files under 2 gigabytes for free. The site will send an e-mail notification to the recipients you designate with a link to download the files.

So Foxy!

2007-08-30T06:35:00.000-05:00

My favorite browser has now been issued in a back-to-school campus edition. This version of Firefox comes preloaded with some terrific "must-haves."

Foxy Tunes. This firefox extension opens up and allows you to control your music player of choice right from the browser window. No more waiting for iTunes or Media Player to load. You can control the volume, track selection, and music info without ever leaving your browser.

Zotero.I'm sure I've blogged about Zotero before, but this Firefox extension is a real winner for marking, annotating, storing, and retrieving web sites related to a research project. You can export your Zotero library into any Word Processing application (plug-ins required for Word and Open Office) or even into RefWorks.

StumbleUpon. One of my all-time favorite sites for buttressing my store of useless information, this Firefox extension can take you to places you've never been before.

On a related note, check out this nifty trick from CyberNet News for displaying web sites in your Firefox sidebar!

PowerPoint and YouTube...Mm Mm Good

2007-08-23T08:52:00.001-05:00

This excellent video details how you can embed a YouTube video into an offline PowerPoint presentation. I'm thinking my students are going to enjoy my lectures just a little bit more!

Social Bookmarking in Plain English

2007-08-23T08:28:00.001-05:00

Phat PDFs

2007-08-20T22:22:00.001-05:00

I'll bet if they did a study, it would be discovered that you spend at least 1.2 years of your life waiting for Adobe Acrobat Reader to open. Sumatra PDF Viewer is reported to be fast-acting, along the lines of the lithe and responsive Firefox FoxIt Reader.

A Dash of Design

2007-08-20T22:11:00.000-05:00

Free, high quality stock photos from Free Range and images collected from other photo sites from EveryStockPhoto.com.

Also from Lifehacker: Top 10 Free Wallpaper, Fonts, and Icon Sites.

Back in a Flash!

2007-08-20T22:06:00.000-05:00

An extensive list of portable freeware, applications that will run from the ubiquitous flash drive. Also searchable--

TeacherTube

2007-08-13T19:04:00.000-05:00

With the new semester right around the corner, I've been hard at work figuring out how to include new technologies into my course. I really wanted to include some audio & video to help my students learn how to use tools like the SmartBoard, Videoconferencing, Audacity & Podcasting. So, I was searching the Internet & came across TeacherTube. What a wonderful resource that I can use. It works just like YouTube but has a focus on education so it's easier to find the videos I want.

In searching for an Audacity tutorial, I found not only several tutorials but examples of how Audacity is used in lessons to meet the needs of diverse learners! I'm so excited...I hope to find additional content to add to most of the units we cover in the course (Production & Utilization of Instructional Technology). I'm hoping to embed the videos in a blog that we'll be using throughout the course.

I'll have to keep you posted on our progress!

Tired of Win-Doze?

2007-08-12T17:57:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite sites, Lifehacker, just published 10 excellent substitutions for standard Windows utilities. If you often find yourself napping while using Windows' search utility, Lifehacker suggests the lickety-split Launchy; for Explorer, they suggest Xplorer2. I've tried most of their suggested replacements and they are truly faster and better. All suggested replacements are free and easily installed. So head on over to Lifehacker and check out the rest of the replacements!

Color Your World

2007-07-30T11:49:00.000-05:00

For all you web designers, there's a new free color picker, named--you guessed it--ColorPicker. I've been playing around with it and can recommend several of its features, particularly the "magnifying glass" that lets you accurately "grab" a color from a web page or open application. Once you grab a color, the program saves it as a color chip and gives you the hex and rgb values for the color. I have a feeling this one's going to be one of my favored apps for creating web-safe customized color palettes.

File Copy/Move Blues Turn Green

2007-07-24T08:13:00.000-05:00

I'm lazy where it comes to computer file management; if a file gets saved to the wrong location, "I'll take care of it later" is my favorite mantra. But now, with the help of our How to Geek friends, these file actions can be accomplished easily. This small package will install a "Copy To" and "Move To" capability to the standard right-click menu. This tweak works fine on both Windows Vista and Windows XP.

Work Together 2.0

2007-07-23T08:20:00.000-05:00

This great article at Mashable.com lists 60 web sites, organized by type, devoted to working collaboratively. If these don't wag your tail, check out the "See Also" lists below the article for even more tips and sites that make working online a breeze.

It's Still A Free World

2007-07-18T08:11:00.000-05:00

As we all know, keeping up with all the latest and greatest programs can be lethal to your pocketbook. For the vast majority of programs, however, there are open-source alternatives available, often better and faster than the commercial versions. Check out the list at 100 Open Source Downloads: very comprehensive, and all listings, very free.

Pimp My Toolbar...

2007-07-11T07:12:00.000-05:00

Conduit offers a simple interface for creating a customized browser toolbar that is helpful and good for branding. I may have mentioned this previously, but I finally got around to using it. You can download the Bailey Library toolbar here and avail yourself of a Google search (my only criticism, you are locked into Google and nothing else but Google -- surely they are not that insecure, how much of the world do you need to dominate?) a quick link to our catalog, WorldCat, amazon, etc., journal searches, interlibrary loan -- in fact, almost the entire library home page in a single toolbar. I am liking it for those times I am reading something and think, "I wonder if our library has that?"

I could also see how I might want to customize a personal toolbar for home use. Fun, free, and another one of those things that makes you look skillful but requires little effort -- my favorites! I forgot to mention it has a sort of forum component -- we can push messages out to everyone who downloads the toolbar and they can reply. Very cool.

Who Says "You Can't Take It With You"?

2007-07-07T08:10:00.000-05:00

I know I've blogged about Portable Apps before, but they keep getting better and better. In addition to Firefox and Thunderbird Mail, you can now load up fantastic Open Office, the free, open source alternative to Microsoft's Office on your flash stick to bring with you wherever you go. Just take a trip to OpenOffice.org Portable and download your portable office suite. How suite it is, indeed!

Wikis in Plain English

2007-06-28T07:43:00.000-05:00

Not long ago, Melba blogged about a neat video on RSS; here's a new video that deals with Wikis.

I Know Its Here--Somewhere

2007-06-21T07:51:00.000-05:00

If you're anything like me, you have a ton of files on your hard drive, some going back some 8-10 years. I've tried to be organized about it--putting older files in a folder named "Archive" or "1998" or "Old Stuff"--but darned if that has helped much beyond keeping my current course files more visible. Finding those files in Windows Explorer resembles the old needle-in-a-haystack routine and usually gives rise to numerous Advil moments, not to mention the inevitable loss of hair. One of my mainstays against the inevitable flood is, of course, Google Desktop. A new app, tag2find is bringing file management into the 21st century, allowing you to apply tags to your files, similar to del.icio.us, ma.gnolia, and other social bookmarking sites. While still in a Technical Preview version (not even a Beta yet), its time has come. So if you're still lost in the Great Sea of Too Many Files, "tag it, don't file it!"

In Plain English

2007-06-20T08:07:00.001-05:00

Got to love these youtube videos:

Wikis in Plain English
RSS in Plain English

Itchy?

2007-06-20T07:56:00.000-05:00

Scratch is a new programming tool that lets users create video games, animated stories and interactive artwork by layering blocks of actions -- this was actually designed for children, so I think I may be able to figure it out, and it seems like this would be adaptable for some classroom applications. Download it for free here or view shared projects in the gallery.

PDF = Pretty Darn Fine

2007-06-04T20:14:00.000-05:00

I seem to have collected a number of PDF resources, to wit:

PDF-Xchange Viewer lets you type on any pdf in typewriter mode even if it wasn't designed for that. Sweet.
Koolwire lets you convert docs, ppts, xls, jpgs, gifs, rtf and txt into pdfs. Kool.
DocMorph (those National Library of Medicine people are a stitch!) lets you convert just about anything to just about anything else, including pdfs. Handy.
Scribd is kind of an anti-pdf site that lets you upload documents to a special flash viewer so anyone can view them online; also building the world's largest open library of documents. An interesting assortment, including "4 Reasons Why Good Girls Cheat." Hmmm.

Blogging in my classroom

2007-06-01T09:24:00.000-05:00

Thanks to my experience with the Rock Tech Talk Blog, I've begun introducing blogging to my classes. They really seem to enjoy the blogging & some are considering using it in their classrooms. Here's a link to the blog from my summer presession class. Based on this blog, I'm planning to do a class blog for the entire fall semester. I'll have to let you know how it goes. I just wanted to say thanks for launching me into the blogosphere.

BTW...I have changed my screen name to reflect an alias. It's a concept I introduced my students to recently. Alias names help to protect the identity of our K-12 children. We discussed strategies for safe use of blogs in the classroom & they really enjoyed creating the alias names.

Winner is....

2007-06-01T07:38:00.000-05:00

Winners of the Web 2.0 Awards

Worth at Least 1,000 Words

2007-06-01T07:22:00.001-05:00

Need some help with your vacation pix? Find first aid for photos at Phixr, Fauxto, Creating Online, and Wiredness.

Generate images with Image Chef, Image Generator, or Custom Sign Generator. Fun stuff -- but watch out for the annoying wizard from the last one.

Also, cool Photoshop tutorials from Melissa Clifton, including how to turn photos into Warholian art.

"Jump" (Your) Knowledge

2007-05-16T08:04:00.000-05:00

You may think this is "just one more of those web page annotation thingies," but you'd be wrong. This newest annotation application, "Jump" Knowledge saves your jottings online, so you can e-mail your comments to anyone. Even if the web page you annotated changes, your comments are preserved on the new page so they're never lost. Not only can you e-mail your web-commented pages, you can blog them as well. I'm already planning some critical reading assignments using this tool!

Citation Madness

2007-05-16T07:19:00.000-05:00

Classes are over and papers finally graded. My head has finally stopped pounding from pouring over their badly formed citations--if they even remembered to include their "Works Cited" pages. Once again, I question the Sisyphean effort of teaching proper documentation of sources and citation format, the weeks spent examining MLA or APA styles, the endless drills about the information to be included, the where's and why's and when's of periods and commas and colons, underscores or italicization. Yet relief is on its way, and no, it's not Advil, but two new web sites, designed to create downloadable and Word-compatible bibliographies: BibMe and EasyBib. Both sites include the ability to save and categorize your entries, so you can have a separate list for each paper you are writing, and both sites provide general documentation information for each system. While I'll stick with Zotero (it sits in my favorite browser, Firefox, and adds things with a simple click of a button), these two sites should prove helpful to students in all disciplines.

Maybe Not So Useless

2007-05-15T14:42:00.000-05:00

and maybe not so funny, considering Slippery Rock is planning on rolling out those new RFID cards in the fall, but here is a link to purchase an RFID-blocking wallet. Or those of you who are craft-minded can make your own! (This involves duct tape.)

Useless, Ridiculous, and Fun, Pt. 2

2007-05-01T23:59:00.000-05:00

You know you want one. It's a USB circus cannon and you can fire little people across the office. This gadget and more can be found at usbgeek.com.

Useless, Ridiculous, and Fun

2007-05-01T12:19:00.000-05:00

It's the end of the semester and my brain is fried. Therefore, a new category of technology information: Useless, Ridiculous, and Fun!

A little too late for the Easter parade, but still fashionable! And think how nice it would look with your duct tape wallet!

Wide Load

2007-04-24T12:51:00.000-05:00

Do you get the text chopped off on the side when you try to print a web page?

This is caused mostly by the author of the web page. But some of it could be your page setup margins. Up to now, your only solution was to print the page in Landscape mode. But now, there is a neat little tool that will solve your problem.

It is called "fitted-width print". You can download the program here. Go to the section marked
Internet Explorer Fitted-Width Printing and click on the underlined text. Accept the option to run the active X program. When you restart your browser, you should have a small printer icon with the letter W next to it in your toolbar. Click on that icon to automatically resize the page to fit your printer. Hold the control key and click on the that icon and you get a print preview.

Thanks to Librarian Jessica Marshall for passing along this tip.

Webmaster Tools

2007-04-22T22:50:00.000-05:00

At one of the recent conference sessions I attended, the presenters showed a long list of interesting open source tools for web workers. Here are a few:
Yahoo Design Pattern Library
Google Webmaster Tools
Firefox plugins like Linkify, Firebug, Link Checker
Open Source Web Design-- style sheets and design templates
MyBlogLog--analytics
Crazy Egg--get statistics, analytics, heat maps
gvisit--a visitor map based on statistics
Trailfire--create web tours

ManyEyes--creates data visualization, comparisons and correlations, cloud tags

Tonight's bonus round: What's My IP?

Bargains Galore!

2007-04-20T22:02:00.000-05:00

I recently attended the Computers in Libraries conference and have about 10 pages of notes to share. (Jane and Leigh, I will send those along as soon as they are legible.) Among the many amazing free and open source resources discussed were the following three FREE versions of very expensive multimedia applications:

Wink: Create screencasts, tutorials, add text boxes and voiceovers. Wink is perfect for creating a little software demo to place online, to clarify and illustrate a procedure.
CamStudio: Create streaming desktop video with audio, text boxes, etc.
Audacity: Audacity is a free sound editor and recorder, perfect for podcasts, can manipulate multiple tracks.

Hell, I'm feeling generous--here's a fourth, PodOMatic, which creates audio and video podcasts, uploads and stores on their server, and creates an RSS feed. Don't say I never bring you anything!

And the Apps March On...

2007-04-18T07:54:00.000-05:00

Great news from Google Operating System--the ability to create charts in their spreadsheet application, "Google Docs and Spreadsheets," has finally arrived. Moreover, they have announced that they will be adding a presentation application soon.

Even better from my perspective is their recently added ToDo List feature in Google calendar. While not as glitzy and polished as other web-based ToDo list options, it's integration with the calendar makes it work for me.

If after all this you still see a need to use MS Office let us know in the comments section.

Fresh as a Daisy

2007-04-10T22:12:00.000-05:00

Want to keep your web site fresh and full of relevant, timely content? I was lately investigating how to get a blog to automatically feed into a web site and found this list of resources extremely helpful. My favorite was the RSS to Javascript converter, because it brought in the images and it was e-a-s-y.

Keep Those Fonts Coming!

2007-04-09T08:21:00.000-05:00

I don't know about you, but I'm a real sucker for these free, downloadable fonts. It's not that there aren't enough choices bundled with MS Word, it's just that there aren't enough choices I like and can use.

Book Burro

2007-04-07T07:46:00.000-05:00

Yet another reason to make the switch to Firefox! Book Burro is a greasemonkey script that recognizes when you are looking at book information on a web page. It will then search other sites to locate less expensive prices and display them in a small box. It will also indicate whether the book is available in libraries close by! Additionally, you can add sites for Book Burro to search fairly easily. I can see my students and I really using this add-on frequently.

Zoho Gets Zestier

2007-04-06T08:48:00.000-05:00

Zoho's developers have been busy and have created a host of useful apps in addition to their basic word processor, presentation, and spreadsheet applications. The company has rolled out wiki, notebook, and todo list apps for personal users, and project management, database creation, chat, and even web-based conferencing capabilities for group users. I'm thinking Google ought to start looking over its shoulder; I just keep getting more and more satisfied with the range and functionality of Zoho!

Peepel for Busy People

2007-04-06T08:19:00.000-05:00

It seems there's a boom these days in online office suites. The newest, Peepel, takes the next logical step--a suite that allows multiple applications to be opened in a single browser window. You can resize the application windows within the browser and it has the look and feel of your standard desktop. While still new, developers plan to provide tight integration among the applications. While I have not tried this one out yet, it seems well worth keeping an eye on!

Convince Me, Convince Me Not

2007-04-05T10:20:00.001-05:00

Yes, there's actually a new web 2.0 site up, running, and gaining ground called Convince Me. This site allows users to do exactly what you'd think from the name--post, respond to, and vote on claims made by others in the community. A convenient tag cloud allows users to find interactions dealing with almost any topic you can imagine, from politics and "hot topics" to the "best decade" and the perennial "legalize marijuana" debates.

This semester, I used the Convince Me website in lieu of assigned essays early in the semester with a greater degree of success in teaching active, critical reading. For this exercise, I chose a competitive debate on the legalization of marijuana, hoping that students would start the activity with a strong interest in the topic.

As you can see from the screen shot, competitive debates take place between 2 people only. After the initial post, each debater adds new arguments or arguments in response to the previous post in generally short posts. This format slows down the reading/responding process in a way that students often fail to do when reading extended prose. To open the activity, I had students "tell me about tggdan" and "drummie." That is, they were to write a short character description of the two, telling me also which one they "liked" better and why. We discussed their responses as a whole group, thus allowing them to see how tggdan's credibility and authority were established by his stating his claim and reasons openly at the start. We then looked closely at drummie's first argument--the role of government--and dan's subsequent response. Students worked in groups for this part of the activity, discussing the merits and logic of drummie's argument, both on its own and in relation to tggdan's original claim. As we read on, students could see how and where the exchange succeeded and, in some ways more importantly, where it disintegrated and why. I then had students write a short response of their own, stating their own position and reasons.

The exercise and site worked for them; thus it worked for me--I'm convinced!

Enough Already with the Image Editing

2007-04-05T00:04:00.000-05:00

I know the list seems endless, but here is another new online image editor, that is almost Photoshop-like in its abilities. Also very forgiving in the sense that you can apply and remove effects easily. Take a peek at pixer.us.

Top Ten

2007-04-04T23:44:00.000-05:00

Lifehacker's Top 10 Free Windows downloads -- promising to make your machine faster, better, stronger. Read about the Top 10 Emerging Technologies 2007 from Technology Review. And take a look at the Top 10 Free Downloads from PC World. Also, the CNET Top 10 downloads of the last 10 years (no surprises here) which led me to this fun technology quiz: The 10 Year Technology IQ test. I scored a "You Lived It, Man." How about you?

TuCows Better Than One

2007-03-26T19:40:00.000-05:00

From ResourceShelf: Tucows, the popular download site, now offers web 2.0 tools.
It's full of the types of programs we like here -- free and useful!

Out of The Box But Not Lost in Cyberspace

2007-03-22T08:43:00.000-05:00

These days, 90% of my writing takes place in web-based text boxes. You know, those small, cramped boxes on Blackboard, comment boxes on blogs, text-input fields on forms, the ones that students are loathe to type a character more than can fit in that 25-word field. (I'm not sure which is the chicken or the egg, but I notice my students have the same mindset when it comes to answering printed exam questions--the space I leave between the questions is the space to which they confine their answers.) These textboxes cramp my style and brain. Moreover, twice now I have lost my hard-typed words due to browser crashes or server "hiccups." (Not a bad record actually, given the amount of work I do online.) Nonetheless, infinite text horizons and virtual peace of mind have arrived with two new greasemonkey scripts-- Textarea Backup and Textarea Resize. Both scripts require Greasemonkey, of course, and work on all versions of Firefox.

What I Learned at School Today

2007-03-19T17:56:00.000-05:00

I started this online workshop today, learning to incorporate web 2.0 and library 2.0 tools into your web sites. Today's lesson included building your own custom search engine, which is crazy easy with Google. Basically, you go here and you list the specific websites you want to search, paste in some code, and there you go! Tonight before dinner, I built this lesson plan search engine. Check it out, type in any subject, and you should receive some solid k-12 lesson plans. My logo image is broken, but pretty cool, I think.

MIStupid? Not with this handy tool!

2007-03-15T18:49:00.000-05:00

Recently our department secretary needed some help with mail merge. Since we're on break I wasn't on campus to help her. So, I looked for an online tutorial that she could follow. I really wanted something that included screen shots. I found one that's easy to follow, even for the techno-phobic, and it includes some great short video tutorials.

The site is called MIStupid.com. The mail merge tutorial was just perfect! Check it out, there are tutorials for MS Office products, the Palm, and how to sell on eBay :)

This is cool, unless it achieves consciousness and kills us all

2007-03-09T09:03:00.001-05:00

Freebase is a new open database designed to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Talk about a "Wow"! Think Wikipedia for computers. Rather than my trying to explain it, here's a link to Michael Arrington's description on TechCrunch.

GTD Heaven

2007-03-09T09:03:00.000-05:00

What would we do these days without Microsoft Outlook or Palm Desktop to keep ourselves organized and on time? One of things I did was switch to using Google Calendar so that I could access my calendar and todo list from any computer with an internet connection. Still, I missed my Outlook--its snazzy interface that integrated my calendar, contacts, and todo list. Now I can have it all with gSyncit! This Outlook add-on will synchronize your Outlook calendar with one or more Google calendars, either manually or automatically at intervals you specify. Life just got one click faster and easier.

LibriVox

2007-03-06T20:27:00.000-05:00

LibriVox is a fairly new organization (start-up in August, 2005) to harness the power of the multimedia web. As its name implies, the site provides access to public domain works that have been recorded as podcasts and audio files by community members, a kind of audio Project Gutenberg. In these days of rising print costs, I know my students appreciate being able to download public domain texts from various sites; now they can listen to and read many of those texts.

Geek Alert!

2007-03-05T09:58:00.000-05:00

I've been contemplating starting a new Internet meme--"You Know You're A Geek When...", and this site definitely set my geek strings buzzing: TaskList.org. The site is a fairly comprehensive list of all the processes you might see running on your computer at startup. For example, if you open up Windows Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Delete) and choose the "Processes" tab, you will see a list of running processes. Many of these processes are necessary for Windows to run; many others are the results of worms, trojans, or viruses. If you see one you're not sure about, you can look it up at TaskList to see what it is.

Barnaby the Scribbler

2007-03-02T00:11:00.000-05:00

Try this fun whiteboard. According to Lifehacker, you can create an instant online whiteboard with Skrbl. You don't even have to register unless you want to upload files. You send your collaborators a url and you are in business!

Poll Dancing

2007-02-22T08:22:00.000-05:00

I attended a very informative Professional Development Day session with resident blogger Leigh Forbes and learned a lot about electronic surveys. Leigh also tipped me to a site that will create those cool little polls and I couldn't rest until I tried it. (I always want to do what the cool kids are doing!) See the results of the Wikipedia poll on the library blog here.

I had a few hanging chads, but found some great advice from ChurchCommunicationsPro in a review of embedded poll services. I ended up using a site called Poll Daddy, which was very easy to follow.

Other programs included:

Will the Craziness Ever End?*

2007-02-15T16:16:00.000-05:00

Instructional Technology Specialist Brian Danielson offers up Gizmo Call, a site that lets you make free calls anywhere! You can make "call me" links, too.

*I stole this title from Brian's email.

Tales from the Web 2.0 Zone: So What’s All the Blah(g) About Anyway?

2007-02-14T12:05:00.000-05:00

Blogs. You can’t go online these days without being bombarded by a host of sites that deliver information using a Blog platform.Coupled with the latest technology for information delivery (RSS—Really Simple Syndication), we can barely get through our email or feed readers in a day.What are these proliferating web creatures that threaten to devour all our time, and what can we and our students gain from either reading or producing them?Tough questions both, worthy of some serious academic attention.

A “blog” (an abbreviated form of “web log”) is most generally defined as a frequently updated, online journal presented in reverse chronological order that provides links to other websites or blogs and allows (usually) readers to submit feedback in the form of comments.(For those interested in the history of blogs, Wikipedia has an excellent entry on the topic.)

When blogs first became popular (and popularized), I was at a loss to explain their proliferation; that is, my sense was that they were not much different from the already established venues—e-mail lists and threaded discussion boards—for communication and information exchange.As far as I can tell, the differences lie primarily in access, availability, and, for want of a more descriptive term, aesthetics far more than content.Don’t get me wrong—these areas can have a tremendous impact on student engagement, but it’s a difference of degree rather than kind.And for students and school systems unable to purchase course management software such as Blackboard™ or WebCT™, blogs can perform many of the same functions at no cost.So what are the advantages of incorporating blogging into/out of the classroom?

First and foremost, blogs encourage and facilitate student writing.Without knowing a snippet of html or the difference between a web site, discussion board, or text message, students can write and publish their ideas to an audience that extends far beyond their teachers, classmates, family, and Facebook™ friends.Moreover, blogs can help students make a stronger connection between the things they do with writing for “fun” and the things they do with writing for “work.”While a majority of first- and second-year students proudly <sigh> proclaim that they don’t read or write outside the classroom unless forced to, these same students will admit to spending hours instant messaging or surfing the web.

What follows is a kind of “top 10” reasons to use blogs as part of our teaching strategies, aggregated in a “Why Weblogs” post on weblogg-ed.

[Blogs] create what Pat Delaney calls a blank piece of digital paper for writing upon (and throwing away if need arises)

Blogs are an easy way to create a web site quickly

Blogs are a place to collaborate

[Blogs] prepare pupils to participate in a rapidly changing world in which work and other activities are increasingly transformed by access to varied and developing technology

[Blogs allow for] an increase in shared meaning and understandings

Ideas are presented as the starting point for dialogue, rather than an ending point

Weblogs offer a way to initially cloister, organize, assess and criticize, and then re-distribute knowledge and information for the purpose of convening a community that will then function to amass knowledge, each member sharing, collaborating, redistributing and redefining themselves in the act of knowledge production

Weblogs can become digital portfolios of students’ assignments and achievements

Bubblelicious!

2007-02-10T23:26:00.000-05:00

Bubbl.us is a free mind mapping site that could have lots of useful applications. In my experiment above, I was doing a rudimentary reading map of the Freshman Read choice for next fall. I could use it for some web design, mapping out the architecture of the site. I think it's a cool way to brainstorm and a teaching tool I have seen used in k-12 classrooms.

Move Your Big Fat Files

2007-02-10T23:12:00.000-05:00

Senduit is a site that allows you to upload and share large files by providing a url for anywhere access. The urls can be set to expire within time frames from 30 minutes to 1 week.

It's a Picnic

2007-02-10T22:58:00.000-05:00

Another offering for free, online image editing -- Picnik.com. It not only resizes and adds some fun special effects, it also has some Photoshop-like abilities for correcting images. Requires a painless Adobe Flash Player install and plays nicely with Flickr.

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

2007-02-07T08:33:00.000-05:00

This extremely well-done video suggests some of the more theoretical implications of new media. While his discussion of early html is oversimplistic, his later statements about xml are right on. Curiously, Wesch leaves out the political implications of new media: if he is correct that we are creating a database-driven web (and I think he is), the issue of who owns or controls those databases is paramount.

One of things that most ~~struck~~ scared (?) me was that I use (or have recently used) all of the web 2.0 apps shown in the video in my classes or for personal use. Now I know I'm a webbie! How would you complete "You know you're a webbie when..."?

Solve Your Burning Woes

2007-02-02T11:03:00.000-05:00

ImgBurn is a new CD/DVD burning program that allows you to choose multiple formats for your DVDs. I'm one of the few (no doubt) who are still kicking and screaming against replacing my CD drive with a DVD drive. ImgBurn just might help ease that transition enough for me to go spend my hard-earned techbux on a new drive, since it allows for both CD and DVD ROM burning in an intuitive and easy-to-use user interface.

Yet Another Google Timesaver

2007-01-29T08:36:00.000-05:00

At long last Google has integrated Google Docs, their web-based word processor, with Gmail, their web-based mail client. Now, when my students send me their Word documents as an attachment, I can choose to open them directly in Google Docs, comment on them, and return them to directly to students without leaving my browser. While it may not seem like a big deal, I know that the time it takes me to open/comment/close documents, switch to my email program, write a message, attach the document and send for all 120 students adds up to a healthy chunk of time by the end of a week.

Cashing in my Nigerian Investments to Stock Up on Viagra and Date Sexy Russian Women

2007-01-26T19:10:00.000-05:00

Not to mention certain "enhancements" I am offered on a regular basis. I have been puzzling over how to stop the avalanche of spam (ew, bad visual) I receive at home and work. At home, I am under assault from unwanted emails that come from an ever changing cast, so it is useless to blacklist them. I found the following free spam killers:

Spamato
Mailwasher
xTerminator
POPfile

I have been using Mailwasher--the main value of this free version seems to be the ability to check your mail before it is downloaded to your computer, useful for viral mail, but a waste of time in my situation. The University does a good job of filtering spam, I think, but displaying all of our email addresses on the web directory is an open invitation to unwanted solicitations. I know I need to check my home internet provider and see if they can offer any assistance. Any other suggestions?