Online Tools For Teachers

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I recently came across two sites: Chalksite & Engrade. Engrade is an online tool for teachers. All together, it's a free online gradebook, attendance checker, and calendar for teachers. Also, it automatically posts grades online in real-time for students and parents to see. Chalksite tried harder to be a toolset for teachers, allowing them to keep detailed schedules, field trips, grades, etc. Chalksite seems more powerful but also seems more complicated to use, whereas Engrade seems to have fewer features but seems easier.

Over the years i've thought of alot of cool web sites that could dramatically improve the teaching experience but, of course, done none of it. It's cool to the Web 2.0 world being served up to America's educators.

If anyone has used either of these sites – can you let me know (either through email or commenting here)?

More Netvibes & Browser Desktops

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Following up on last week’s post about Netvibes, i just noticed that they have added a few very SWEET features:

1. They now have tabs so you can set up different views of feeds. I personally have a work related tab (internety blog feeds), a sports tab (deadspin, sports guy, others), and a personal tab (moose, mowery, barbero, flickr photos, best week ever blog)

2. They have a module you can put in there from box.net which allows you to put up to a gig of files. It just a hosted storage area as an rss feed. It’s totally sweet.

What does this all mean? Basically, we’re approaching a world where the desktop is replaced with a browser. Instead of applications like Word, Excel, Outlook, iTunes, and Windows it will be a world of Writely, NumSum, Gmail, mp3tunes, and things like Netvibes. All you need is a browser and you can get all your docs, music, email, etc. All signs point to this: Google’s acquisition of Writely, Windows browser replacements like Goowy and Netvibes, more and more bandwidth being available to users, the growth of server processors (AMD Dual-Core). It’s coming…i’m telling you.

Treadputer

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I usually try not to simply repost items that are already on the internet, but every now and again something comes around that is so awesome, it deserves a major shoutout.  Today, this is the treadputer – that is: a computer and treadmill mashed together.  A guytreadputer_small.jpg who's training for a bunch of marathons has put 3 screens above his treadmill to have 3 different options to read from, a large trackball for a mouse, and a kickass voice recognition system so he can just speak to create emails and documents.  This baby is pretty sweet. Considering how much i have to read and write during the day and how often i miss getting my run in – it'd be pretty awesome to just get on a treadputer for 30 minutes of it.  Check out the link to it here: Treadputer

Duck Hunt

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I recently went hunting in Maryland to take down some quail and pheasants,2005_03_20_MPL3.jpg which is actually much more fun than it sounds. They give you a shotgun, a guide and a dog. The dog runs out in front of you and points out a bird. You mosey up and kick the bush, the bird flies up and then the 3 of us would fire away. You're about 10 feet away and with a huge frickin' shotgun. Sounds easy doesn't it – well it's embarrassing how many got away. We just flat out suck.

Although it's exactly the same, it's not as easy as the old Duck Hunt game.
DuckHuntWhich makes me wonder, as i always have, how the hell did that game work. How does the game know where you're pointing the gun at the screen? Is it a reflection from the screen? That doesn't seem to make sense. Honestly, that was almost 20 years ago and it was AMAZING technology.

Seriously if anyone knows how that works – let me know.

Netvibes Rolls On

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How do you read blogs? If you're like most, you use an RSS aggregator. My favorite aggregator is Netvibes – a browser based aggregator built in France. It was announced last week that they got an additional round of funding from the founders of FON and Ning.

I like Netvibes alot and use it regularly. Many people have posted that it's just an incremental technology and essentially the same as MyYahoo. In my opinion, it's the same in that all email clients (AOL, Yahoo, and Gmail) are the same, but are vastly different in functionality. Netvibes is easier to add feeds, configure modules, and overall use. If you get a chance, check it out..

Updated: for those of you who aren't up to speed on RSS aggregators, check out the definition at Wikipedia here. The first paragraph begins…

Aggregators reduce the time and effort needed to regularly check websites of interest for updates, creating a unique information space or "personal newspaper." An aggregator is able to subscribe to a feed, check for new content at user-determined intervals, and retrieve the content. The content is sometimes described as being "pulled" to the subscriber, as opposed to "pushed" with email or IM. Unlike recipients of some "pushed" information, the aggregator user can easily unsubscribe from a feed.

Some of the blogs in my reader today are:

  1. Technology / News / Internet blogs
    1. News: O'Reilly, Yahoo Blog, Web 2.0 Show (podcast),
    2. People: Om Malik, Fred Wilson, danah boyd, Marc Canter, Graeme Thickens, Lawrence Lessig, Bradley Horwitz, Caterina, Marry Hodder, Charteuse, and Malcolm Gladwell
  2. Pop Culture Blogs
    1. Sports: The Sports Guy, Deadspin, Timberwolves Blog
    2. Movies: Aint It Cool News, IMDB StudioBrief, Cinematical, Ebert,
    3. Random: Moose's Blog, VH1 Best Week Ever! Blog, Drew Mowery's Subject to Blackout Blog

Skype is Great

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Ever since i started working with a development team outside of the US, i’ve been using skype to communicate. Back in 2005 when Ebay bought Skype for $3 billion, i did not appreciate the power of the application. But now that i’ve become a regular user, let me just say – it is GREAT! Here’s why:

  1. Ease of use. Installing is a snap. Getting a microphone and device working is easy to do and easy to verify wiht the “test call”
  2. Voice-specific features. There are many IM clients that do voice chat, but Skype really packs the features in. For instance, you can do conference calls, you can mute, hold, add more users, all the things you’d want to do when talking to people. AIM doesn’t have any of these.
  3. Skype In & Skype Out. You can get a regular phone number and either make calls from your PC out to other users or receive calls in. These calls are only 2 cents a minute. Fantastic!

An interesting trend i’m seeing is that apps are adding regular IM chat capabilities to other applications that are popular. Gmail added chat into their mail program as users will logged into mail all day. Skype has IM built in as people keep their voice program running all day. It just makes senes. I can see a day where you have many, many options of how you can instantly send a note to someone you’re talking to or working with.

Snubster

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There’s a great need new social network called Snubster. Unlike other social networks, you put people on snubster that you have beef with, people who are dead to you. It’s great. I have plenty of places to categorize my friends, not my enemies have a home too. Love it.

Best Juggling Ever

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I was forward this juggling act performed by Chris Bliss today. I must say its amazing. Check it out.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z965UUEmdB8&search=chris%20bliss]

Chris dropped out after his third year of college (dean’s list at Northwestern) to become a professional juggler. After becoming the best damn juggler ever, he became a standup comic – and is actually pretty funny.

Eye Popping Footage

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In college basketball last night, Villinova senion Allan Ray was giong for a loose ball and got poked by a player on the opposing team. When he did, his eye literally popped out of his head. This is some crazy footage,

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=L-xsUYEnFSc]Apparently Ray is going to be fine. It is being called a “soft tissue” injury and there was no damage to the cornea, required no stitches, and he can still see. No harm no fout.

Grizzly Man Comments

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grizzlyman.jpgI recently watched the documentary Grizzly Man, which was great. At first i wasn’t sure how pysched i’d be to watch an entire movie that’s all about a guy hanging out in a National Park with bears. But from the moment it began i was mesmerized. This guy is a total nut-job and the movie goes on trying to make him a hero. The bear scenes are amazing too. I have yet to see a National Geographic special that has as good footage as this does. The bear scenes are incredible. But lets focus on the guy being completely insane.

The Sports Guy has some good comments too:

It’s the first documentary since “American Movie” that ranks a perfect 100 on the Unintentional Comedy Scale. First of all, it’s directed by Werner Herzog, who (incredibly) decided to narrate the movie even though he sounds like he’s auditioning for a Hans & Frans sketch. Second, the Grizzly Man guy is an absolute maniac and can’t be described even remotely. You just have to see him in action. He’s surpassed Mark Byars (from “Paradise Lost”) and Mark Borchardt for me, and I never thought I would say that. Third, there are so many ridiculously funny moments (likegrizzlyman2.jpg when Grizzly Man claims that he lost out to Woody Harrelson as Coach’s replacement on “Cheers,” or when he’s playing with the bear poop) that you can’t even believe it’s happening as it’s happening. I kept thinking that this was like the “Blair Witch Project,” some sort of elaborate hoax by the creators of “Mr. Show.” But it’s not. And fourth, this is the first movie that I can remember that glorifies someone who’s completely insane. I mean, COMPLETELY. Utterly and totally.

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