7:31 PM
ari sari
Upon further investigation I see that it IS computer animation. OK. Fine. But, it's still very ingenious, don't you think?...
Monday, July 30, 2007
FantasticMachine - AWESOME!
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xprak_fantasticmachineThis one won't raise test scores, either, but it WILL amaze you. I kept watching to see if I could tell if it was computer animation but I couldn't be sure. My GUT says it is, but then... people are very ingenious, so it COULD be for real.Send this to your friends who like music - or machines.Powered by ScribeFi...
An Inside Look at MindManager 7 Mac
I had the opportunity to be a guest speaker for this webinar, An Inside Look at MindManager 7 Mac, and to share how I am using Mindjet MindManager in the classes that I teach at the graduate level in assistive technology. If you are not familiar with MindManager you can preview the recorded webinar and find out about all of its new features on the Macintosh which I really enjoy. You will be able to view some of the mind maps that I have created and find out how I use it when I teach. You can also download the mind maps that were used on the webinar and if you don't own Mindjet MindManager you can download a trial version form the Mindjet website....
MindMeister Adds New Features
The MindMeister Team shared this update with me which I thought you would find interesting. MindMeister is an online application that allows you to do mindmapping right within your browser With each update the program adds more and more functionality. One of the really powerful features is the ability to share your mind maps and collaborate with other people over the web. Check it out and tell me what you think.What's New in MindMeister * Links on ideas Support for internal (between maps, or also to individual nodes) and external (websites, email addresses) links on ideas* Automatic layouter No more overlapping ideas and branches with...
IT Consulting and an Introduction to the Sweet Spot
If you are going to work in the sweet spot of IT consulting, you need to have more skills than if you decide to work with micro businesses. Sweet spot IT consulting clients will have between 10 and 50 computers and are the ideal spot to focus your efforts and attention.Sweet spot businesses typically will use Microsoft Windows-based systems and have between 10 and 100 employees. In U.S. Dollars, the annual revenue for these businesses will be from $1 million to $10 million. All sweet spot businesses have at least one dedicated server (instead of P2P networks).The Sweet Spot and Your Hardware SkillsTo work with sweet spot clients, you will need IT consulting skills required for the micro small business world, but also 8-10 other skills. You need to know server hardware such as multi-processor...
Posted in: IT consulting
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Mindjet’s Project Management Jetpack
If you are using Mindjet MindManager for project management then you will want to take a look at their current release of the Project Management Jetpack. The Project Management Jetpack consists of a White Paper on how to use MindManager Pro to get the most out of jumpstarting your projects with MindManager. Additionally, Mindjet’s Project Management Jetpack includes 19 templates that will help you: * Prepare a business case * Gather project requirements * Collaborate on scope * Identify project risks and issues * Present project status * Develop project checklistsProject Management Jetpack is available directly from Mindjet, I...
Saturday, July 28, 2007
[TIPS] free podcasting unconference at Drexel
MANY thanks to Leann Cox for sharing this one with me in email today. http://podcampphilly.pbwiki.com/ This free unconference will be held at Drexel University on September 7, 8 and 9. Why should YOU attend? Check out their top ten reasons: http://podcampphilly.pbwiki.com/Top-Ten-Reasons-to-Attend-PodCamp-Philly Here are the sessions so far: http://podcampphilly.pbwiki.com/Sessions Who is planning to attend? Check out this list: http://podcampphilly.pbwiki.com/Registration Wow! Now add YOUR name and GET THERE! &nb...
[TIPS] world clock
Thanks to Barry Sullivan for sharing this one with me. http://www.poodwaddle.com/worldclock.swf We've seen world population clocks before that tick away (presumably) as the population of the planet increases. This one goes a step - several steps - further. It also counts things such as the earth's temperature, the number of species that have gone extinct, the number of deaths (broken down by causes), and many more items - even how many bicycles have been produced. You can view the clock by the yearly stats, monthly, weekly, daily, or even one that will reset the counter to NOW. Have this running up on the screen when the students enter the classroom and let them decide for themselves which statistic is the most.. interesting?.. alarming?.. to them. A writing prompt? A...
Friday, July 27, 2007
Do You Have an IT Consultant Personality?
You certainly need technical skills to be an IT consultant. But you will also have to have a variety of specific personality traits – such as the ability to really work with people regularly – in order to be good at your job.Be AssertiveIn order to succeed as an IT consultant, you need to be assertive without being too pushy. You have to make sure people don’t take advantage of you and you need to be able to really stand up for yourself without being overbearing. Being too assertive, as an IT consultant, can repel prospects and clients.Do You Focus on Business? You have to have clear business goals and put them before the idea of everyone thinking of you as a “nice” guy/gal. You need to do what is right for your business as an IT consultant. This means you have to be able to put your...
Posted in: IT consultant
TouchGraph Visual Search Engine
Being able to visually see the links between ideas and information is a very powerful tool as we search the Internet. Using a very familiar mind mapping metaphor, TouchGraph has developed a visual search engine that can display the network of connectivity between websites as reported by Google's database. I tried it out by typing "web 2.0" into the search field and what resulted was a set of web sites that were interconnected and laid out very much like mind maps. Clicking on any one of the website brings up additional information in the left pane. You can use TouchGraph with Facebook, Google, and Amazon to do a search. Check it out and let me...
Browser 3D
Microsoft call this browser as the simple browser. Most of 3D browser, like was launched by ActiveWorlds and Blaxxun Interactive, become number one for avatar program to chat. SpaceTime didn't interest with this field. They use 3D just to make more beautiful their visual navigation.Open YouTube with SpaceTime more impress than direct from YouTube. So try this innovati...
Posted in: Technology
Reactor Never Dark watches glow for ten years
Watches with tritium illumination elements have been around for a while, and while they glow for a long time, they're much dimmer than traditional phosphorescence solutions, which are extremely bright but tend to fade quickly. Reactor's new Never Dark line goes for the best of both worlds, with an extremely bright phosphorescent compound called Superluminova backed up by tritium illumination. According to Reactor, the Superluminova can recharge instantly with even the smallest exposure to light and the tritium remains illuminated for up to ten years. You probably have bigger problems than punctuality if you've been in the dark for ten years,...
Posted in: Wearables
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Mindsystems ThemeReader Business is Released
I just received this email from Mindsystems that I thought you would be interested in. I did post a review of Mindsystems ThemeReader earlier this month which you can find on my blog. Mindsystems ThemeReader used in conjuction with MindManager is a very exciting piece of technology that can scan your documents and then output them as a MindManager map. As you have already evaluated some of Cirilab's technology, we thought you may like to know that the latest version of the popular MindManager® / KnowledgeLink® addon, Mindsystems ThemeReader Business has just been released! This breakthrough new technology will take your planning capabilities...
[TIPS] schoolcomputing - Wikis from Wikia
http://www.wikia.com/wiki/Wikia http://schoolcomputing.wikia.com/wiki/School_Computing_Home_Page - sample Once again I don’t recall who sent this to me or where I found it so I apologize to whoever it was who first pointed this out to me to share. Wikia.com is a wiki site where you can create a free wiki. That’s not the real news here. I just wanted to point out that second link – the school computing wiki. There are three tons of links on here to some excellent sites and information. And you may contribute to it, if you wish. That’s what a wiki is all about. But there are a couple of things I want to point out here. First, this is written, it appears to me, on mediawiki, the one that Wikipedia was built on. But, it’s skinable, as that second link shows. Up in...
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Teacher's Guide to Mind Mapping
Gideon King, the developer of NovaMind Mind Mapping application has released a wonderful resource for educators who are using mind mapping in the classroom. The book is visually very appealing and the content will certainly help teachers to think about how they can use mind mapping effectively in the classroom across the curriculum. A Teacher's Guide to Mind Mapping is generously packed with beautifully printed mind maps in full color and clearly shows the power of this tool for students. As someone who is a specialist in working with students with disabilities, I have been a real advocate of the power of these tools with students with a range...
Don't Panic!
Everywhere you look nowadays the leading conference presenters and the education bloggers (myself Included) and various companies have been warning us that we have to change the way we teach or we rob the kids of their future. Why? Because we're not teaching them by using the tools that they use at home (presumably). There are some EXCELLENT videos that do an excellent job of putting today's students into perspective with the global economy and the flat world in which they find themselves. (Sorry, I had to say it. Everyone can fill in that block on their buzzword Bingo cards, now.)The argument goes something like this: Kids are different. Kids THINK differently. Kids are digital natives. (Oops. Everyone can fill in that block, too.) Kid's BRAINS are different. They're going to be entering...
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Podcast People
Thanks to Kevin Conner who shared this with me via the for:jgates513 tag at del.icio.us. He says he read about it in Wes Fryer's blog.http://podcastpeople.com/"Publish text, audio, and video to a customized show."Looks very interesting, but I didn't try it. I do have one question however. If it is so great, why didn't they use it to make the tour/demo of the site?Powered by ScribeFi...
Slideshare - now with audio!!
http://www.crucialthought.com/2007/07/24/slideshare-adds-audio-files-calls-it-slidecasting/I can't WAIT to get over there and try it. Slideshare has LONG been very cool from the start, but this makes it a killer app. Go here for an audio demo: http://www.slideshare.net/faqs/slidecast Let the fun begin!!!Powered by ScribeFi...
The Fantastic Voyage - Ted video
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/147Not quite, but these animations show life inside the cell. Send this to your favorite Biology teacher(s)."Medical animator David Bolinsky presents 3 minutes of stunninganimation that show the bustling life inside a cell. Built by hiscompany, XVIVO, to teach Harvard medical students, the clip featuressweeping cinematic values and even a little drama. It communicates notonly the facts of life, but life's truth and beauty."Are you SURE that none of you can send me to Ted?Powered by ScribeFi...
Mindmanager 7 for Macintosh Webinar
Today I was a participant in a Mindjet webinar "Get the Inside Look at MindManager 7 Mac and Walk Away with your Own Copy." looking at how I use Mindjet MindManager in the courses that I teach at the College of St. Elizabeth. I had the opportunity to share my ideas about how I use MindManager 7 for the Mac as well as MindManager Pro 7 for Windows in the work that I do. Mindjet, Inc. has recorded the session and once it is available you can download it and listen to it. I find that having the ability to visually manipulate my ideas works really well when designing my courses. Having the ability to move ideas around the mind map makes it easy for...
Anti-bullying video worth seeing
I've been waiting for this one to appear on TeacherTube but I don't see it there yet. It's from The Spirit Desk, and it's one I think you're going to like.Click the "View Anti-Bullying Video" link under the picture here: http://www.thespiritdesk.com/heroaward.aspxOr... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtFtbaKIYygAnyone here ever been bullied? I was beaten up once because the report card I was carrying home had all A's and B's. ???Powered by ScribeFi...
Monday, July 23, 2007
How's this for MAJOR reform?
Thanks to Kevin Sandridge for pointing me to this page. Kevin is about to start his own blog and I'm anxious to become a reader. He's got the fire! He started here: http://www.classroom20.com/profiles/blog/show?id=649749%3ABlogPost%3A35004 but he's going to be moving to a new home soon. :-)This post: http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2007/05/rebuilding_a_sc.html talks about how one school in Norway went from being one that people fled to one that is turning people away because the school is full. What made the difference? Uh-uh. I won't tell. You have to read it for yourself. But, I'll tell you some things to look for. First, look at how they restructured TIME. Second, look at what they did with the physical space."Teaching had to now focus on the individual, on the pupil, usingcomputer technology...
[TIPS] Calling the Network
Ken Pruitt is doing something I like over here: http://kpruitt.edublogs.org/2007/07/21/call-for-data/ He’s calling his network for help. His network are those people with whom he communicates via his blog or their blog or skype or in Classroom20.ning.com, etc. He has learned the power of a network of friends and fellow educators to aid in his learning, and he’s asking those kind folks to share some ideas with him regarding how he might takle a project at his school. He’s being charged with helping to provide professional development to the teachers in his elementary and middle schools, and he’s looking for input on the most effective ways that it can be done. I like it for a couple of reasons. First, the appeal shows that he’s feeling truly connected to his online community of friends...
[TIPS] Digg - A two minute history of Middle East Oil
http://digg.com/videos/educational/A_two_minute_history_of_Middle_East_Oil Perhaps THIS one is a better fit for a writing prompt. A two minue video that details the pursuit of oil. It’s not pretty. Can anyone refute anything in this video? ...
[TIPS] Digg - A 45-minute history of Middle East Oil
http://digg.com/videos/educational/A_45_minute_history_of_Middle_East_Oil Look what I just dugg – this entertaining and informative video about the history of Middle East oil. Robert Newman is the brains behind this very clever performance. While I do get a bit lost in the accent at times, overall I follow him perfectly well. Maybe THIS is another writing prompt for your seniors, eh?...
[TIPS] Google Earth for educators
http://drapestakes.blogspot.com/2007/06/hall-davidson-pro-at-google-earth-pro.html Darren Draper, author of Drapes Takes, has this post about two things. First, the article mentions how great the presentation by Hal Davidson was at NECC when he presented on Google Earth Pro. Second, he points to how educators can get a free copy of Google Earth Pro. Check it out! (P.S. I sent this before with the word free in the subject line and our spam filter wouldn’t let it out. @#$% spammers!!)...
IT Sales: Stress Benefits to Build Relationships
IT sales take time and effort. You need to show your clients clear benefits attached to working with you and start developing a relationship in order to get more IT sales. What’s Your Benefit?If you come across an IT problem you can’t solve during an IT sales call, you should focus on problems you can solve to get their attention and get them thinking about what benefits you can offer. The IT Sales PitchYou should be able to talk about projects you’ve done with other customers and the benefits these customers have enjoyed as a result of your solutions if you want to get your IT sales pitch to ring true. The Relationship Will Take TimeIt may take a few weeks or even months to get a solid commitment from a prospect. Patience and persistence, along with e-mails, faxes, postcards and phone calls...
Posted in: IT sales
Saturday, July 21, 2007
How Does Partnering Help Your Computer Consulting Business?
Partnering is a way to help small business computer consulting firms do their best with virtual IT services. Three benefits give partnering a real edge. Advantage #1: Broadening Your Skills When you use partnering, you can increase the skills you can offer to prospects and existing clients and offer a much more complete solution than without it. When selling to non-technical small business owners, you need partnering in order to simplify virtual IT. Small businesses don’t want to work with six different firms to get what they need. They want one contact point and one person to be accountable. When you use partnering, you know you can handle clients’ issues yourself or rely on external resources from non-competing tech providers. Advantage #2: Increase Your Sales Force...
Posted in: partnering
Friday, July 20, 2007
FastTrack Schedule 9.2
As I use MindManager Pro 7 from Mindjet Inc., more and more, in the work that I do, I have found it to be an excellent tool to help me organize and keep information that I use in one spot. The power in the tool from my perspective is that it allows me to quickly see my ideas and to organize them the way I see fit. Having the freedom to move my ideas around frees me up to allow my ideas to flow without the need to know exactly where the idea fits in. After looking at one of my mind maps I can always go back and change things without being concerned about the structure. As I use use MindManager Pro 7, I am always looking for new ways to extend...
PersonalBrain 4 for Macintosh
I have had a chance to use the PersonalBrain 4 on the Macintosh and have really enjoyed playing around with it. The PersonalBrain 4 is a wonderful visual repository for ideas, attachments, web links, spreadsheets, and calendar events. Its forte is really the ability to link or associate the various "thoughts" that you have into one single repository. Additionally, the PersonalBrain 4 has unique indexing capability that allows you to find information almost instantaneously. The PersonalBrain 4 indexes all of your information in addition to your attachments (ie. Word, PDF, Excel) , which makes it easy to go to one place to find what you are looking...
[TIPS] What are the Differences Between Message Boards and Weblogs?
http://www.commoncraft.com/archives/000768.html The question, “What’s the difference between a blog and a Discussion forum?” gets asked a lot of times by lots of different people. The answer is not easily explained when you’ not right in front of a computer. NOW it IS! Just point them to this page that does an excellent job of explaining the difference. There’s even a nice table there that compares blogs and forums side by side in a number of categories. So, if you’re not sure what the difference is, THIS page just may clear it up for you. From the maker (Lee Lefever) of RSS in Plain English, and Wikis in Plain English....
[TIPS] chime.tv - a video aggregator
http://chime.tv I found this one from the programmableweb.com blog. You’ll not get this one at school, but I do suggest you try it out at home. In the search field under the initial (lame) video, type the word education, or math, or science and hit enter. That will search MANY different sites for videos tagged with that keyword and put the search results in a list underneath the video. You can cycle through the found videos by clicking the right arrow that appears when you hover over the video, or you can scroll through the list at the bottom. Or… well… you’re smart enough to figure it out. Don’t forget that there are several firefox plugins that allow you to save the movie you’re watching so that you can take it to school for your classes. Check it out. Remember, as with any public...
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Life is a Picnik!
Last week I attended the DigitalLife Press Preview and had a chance to watch and speak to the representatives from Picnik.com. By using your browser and going to Picnik.com you are provided with a full set of editing tools that are very easy to use. With so many people using digital cameras the developers of Picnik realized that they need and easy way to edit them. Once you upload your photograph you will find it easy to crop, remove red eye, sharpen, rotate, or auto-fix your photo. You can upload your photographs from your computer or from the following services: Flickr, Picassa, FaceBook. Take a look at Picknik I'm sure you will find it to...
[TIPS] OH NO!!! This just in... The Internet Crashed!
http://educationaltechnology.ca/couros/640 Am I too geeky, or is this really funny? I mean, I GET all the little references – like the hardest hit nation is Nigeria since “…94% of its gross national product comes from ‘Internet ventures’.” ROFL!! Get it? “Coming up.. one man’s effort to rebuild his Flickr albums.” TOO FUNNY!!! OK… so maybe I should shut this down and go outside and play for a while....
Japan gets the PSP lite in three additional colors
Filed under: Gaming Showing a little love for the home crowd, Sony announced today that in addition to the three "basic" colors of black, silver, and white, Japanese PSP fans will also be getting the PSP lite in three metallic pastel shades: Rose Pink, Lavender Purple, and, um, Blue. No word on if we'll ever see these officially make it Stateside, but seeing as the original PSP was unlocked, you can bet some eager graymarketer is getting ready to cash in.PS. You know Sony should've given the new model an official name when even PSP Fanboy is calling it the "PSP lite."[Via PSP Fanb...
Posted in: Technology
Fujitsu LifeBook U1010: The smallest UMPC
Fujitsu LifeBook U1010 was claim by Fujitsu as the smallest Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC) in the world. This gadget use Intel Core 2 Duo T7500. This gadget has size 71mm (long) x 133mm (width) x 26,5 - 32,0 (high) and weight just 0,61 kg.Specification of Fujitsu LifeBook U1010 are memory 1GB, hard disk 40 GB, bluetooth, wireless, slot card CF dan SD, fingerprint sensor, screen 5,6 inchi 1024x600 pixel and operating system by Windows Vista Home Premi...
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
[TIPS] Missed the NECC closing Keynote?
http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/item.php?itemID=11842 It's 45 minutes long, but (IMHO) well worth the time invested to watch it. You'll see examples of student-produced videos on some heavy duty subjects - made by MIDDLE SCHOOL students. A couple things to think about. First, could you get YOUR teachers to accept this kind of project instead of a final exam? Second, given the quality of these videos, are we underestimating our high school students and accepting material that truly is beneath their ability? Oh, and when he interviews the kids, make sure you watch the first girl. I LOVED the expression on her face at one point. You'll know it. :-) Don't have 45 minutes to watch this? Turn it on and let it run in the background then switch over to it when he shows the movies....
MIT Demonstrates "Wireless Electricity"
The ability to direct and transmit electrical power through the air, without wires, took a further step from the theoretical to the practical in June when a group of MIT researchers demonstrated their "WiTricity" concept. The technology works by transmitting electricity as a magnetic field oscillating at a specific frequency. Through "magnetically coupled resonance," the "receiver" can capture the electricity, making for an efficient and safe method of over-the-air transfer.Wireless transmission of electricity has been understood in theory since the work of Nikolai Tesla in the 19th Century. Safe, efficient and cost-effective wireless electricity could hold countless beenfits, from eliminating the need to install costly copper wiring to lowered reliance on batteries for small devices. However,...
NovaMind 4 for Mac Released
Gideon King recently emailed me about the release of NovaMind 4 for the Macintosh, one of the premier mind mapping applications on the Macintosh platform . Sporting a whole new interface users should find it easier to format and work with NovaMind 4. There are two new versions that were released NovaMind 4 Pro and NovaMind Express. Here is a screen shot of a mind map. A new Windows version is in the works as we...
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
How to Stop -- Or Live With -- Global Warming
According to research at Princeton, current technologies are capable of stopping (or at least slowing) the rate of global warming by 2050 if properly applied. Using a mix-and-match approach, students who participated in a game-like experiment found that the current portfolio of energy-saving policies and technologies (flourescent bulbs, nuclear power, wind turbines, reducing deforestation, etc.) could indeed keep global greenhouse gases constant over the next 50 years. The trick is to apply these solutions to developing countries, where rapid industrial growth will put them on track to overtake the developed world in greenhouse gas output within the next several decades.Meanwhile, Live Science has a top-10 list of side effects of global warming, such as more severe allergies, more sinkholes...
Got Jing?
I had the opportunity to get a preview of new application called Jing, from the makers of Camtasia Studio and it is really awesome. Think about all of the times that you want to grab a picture of something on your screen and send it to someone that you may be IMing. Or say you want to quickly show someone how to use a feature in a software application and want to do a quick screencast. If you have ever been in this situation then you need to take a look at Jing. Jing is a software and sharing tool that is available for Mac and Windows which lets you share pictures and videos very quickly. The Jing application is always available and with a user defined hot key you can get it started. Once you have grabbed a screen image or recorded a video you are immediately given a URL that is copied to...
Monday, July 16, 2007
The PersonalBrain 4 Released
TheBrain Technologies LP, released The PersonalBrain 4.0 for Macintosh, Windows, and Linux today. The PersonalBrain 4.0 is a visual management software application that allows you to relate information precisely as you want to. It works by allowing you to capture your thoughts and then associating them in a web structure. The program uses the construct "thoughts" which are ideas that you type into the PersonalBrain. Once you type your "thought" you can add a "parent," "child," "sibling" or jump thought to your idea. This in effect lets you categorize your ideas and move about your map.The major difference between this application and mind mapping...
[TIPS] Thinking system and method invention
http://www.freshpatents.com/Thinking-system-and-method-dt20070705ptan20070156623.php This one was on Rocketboom today. Someone has filed a patent application for…. Drum roll… a THINKING MACHINE! (cymbal crash!) Here’s what the site says about this machine: “A thinking system and method is provided by the present invention. In the present invention, the “thinking” system is capable of accepting information from outside environment, analyzing the information, requesting additional information, and then resulting the problem. More particularly, the system can make new rules according to the information within the system and the new information received and requested. The rule making process is not controlled by outside command, but by an internal controlling mechanism that can be modified...
[TIPS] What do YOU know about Aids? -another Ted video
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/143 Ask your high school students to write about what they know about the Aids virus in Africa. What do they know about the spread in Africa? What do they think is the cause? How do they think it might be prevented? NOW, show them this video and ask, “How do you think and feel about this problem NOW?” This is a WONDERFUL perspective of the epidemic framed in economic issues and sociological issues. You know, this is one of the world’s problems that they will have to solve....
[TIPS] A Moment On Earth Mosaic - see it NOW!
http://www.momentonearth.com/mosaic/ How’s THIS for a VERY cool idea? On a given day at a given time(s) you get photographers from around the world to document what was going on where they were. Then, you collect all this data and put it into an amazing mosaic. Trace your mouse over the mosaic to see popups of the photos below. Click a photo to read the story associated with it. Make sure you watch the trailers, too. Breathtaking! (The link to the second one is a tiny link under the first trailer.) The world at work, at play, at war, at rest. Outstanding. And to think that the film’s producers had to sell shave ice to raise money to make the film. I especially liked the one man’s comment about there being so many creative people in the world. Indeed there are.This site is chuck FULL of writing...
