OK, not about technology, but I was excited to see an article on CNN.com about the Mount Kumgang tour in North Korea.
I went on this tour with my wife and son last fall and it was amazing. The accommodations and food were pretty bad (mediocre at best), but the mountains and scenery more than make up for it. It is a beautiful area.
Take a look at it on Wikimapia.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Yahoo! Pipes
How has it taken me this long to use this. I've heard about it numerous times in recent months, but I didn't think much of the descriptions.
This might make your eyes roll back when you see the interface, but the possibilities are incredible and it is well worth learning if you are interested in being a couple years ahead of the game. I only tested if for filtering so far, but it could be done for so much more.
One thing that this does is to create an RSS feed (even from a group of other feeds) that is SUPER customized.
I've been thinking about using an approach like this to deliver individualize feedback and tools for learners in both the CALL class and my EFL courses. I see some real potential in this tool (which is still in Beta).
All I can say is Wow!
Dan
This might make your eyes roll back when you see the interface, but the possibilities are incredible and it is well worth learning if you are interested in being a couple years ahead of the game. I only tested if for filtering so far, but it could be done for so much more.
One thing that this does is to create an RSS feed (even from a group of other feeds) that is SUPER customized.
I've been thinking about using an approach like this to deliver individualize feedback and tools for learners in both the CALL class and my EFL courses. I see some real potential in this tool (which is still in Beta).
All I can say is Wow!
Dan
Student Books on Lulu
Great posting on a student publishing project. How cool is this? It is so modern, yet a little retro at the same time. How about some new books for your library. How about your students as the authors?
Dan
Dan
Mathematicians set Chinese test
Ok, maybe they aren't comparing like to like in this article, but come on!
The British example is simply woefully easy, not to mention really unrealistic. The Chinese example is a more authentic question for many reasons.
I've long held that requirements for mathematics and science in the U.S. are really pathetic. Obviously, many in Britain have the same concerns.
I'm not one of those peopel who contend that we should foresake the many beneficial programs in schools that are not associated with the 3 R's, but I do think that we need to evaluate what we consider acceptable in the pursuit of these subjects. When high school students are graduating with basic algebra and geometry classes, how can we expect to be competitive within our own country, much less with the rest of the world?
Dan
The British example is simply woefully easy, not to mention really unrealistic. The Chinese example is a more authentic question for many reasons.
I've long held that requirements for mathematics and science in the U.S. are really pathetic. Obviously, many in Britain have the same concerns.
I'm not one of those peopel who contend that we should foresake the many beneficial programs in schools that are not associated with the 3 R's, but I do think that we need to evaluate what we consider acceptable in the pursuit of these subjects. When high school students are graduating with basic algebra and geometry classes, how can we expect to be competitive within our own country, much less with the rest of the world?
Dan
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
BB FlashBack
This is easily the best screen capture utility I have used for recording full motion video. I have been looking for a good free product for a long time, but I have given up. I'm assuming that the developmental and licensing requirements are too great not to charge. So, I've given up and started looking for alternatives.
BB FlashBack is not a cheap software, with a price tag nearing $200, but the functionality and ease of use are amazing. In the limited time that I have used the software, I have been able to record basic screen actions, record high-quality audio, and even record high quality video of a video. I have been extremely happy with all of these, although the audio and video when recording video isn't perfectly synchronize. I have found this to be true with many conversion softwares as well.
Some of the most useful functions that are of note here are: auto-resolution adjustment, export in mutliple formats, and cursor-guided cropping. The auto-resolution adjustment feature is really cool. It will automatically change your screen resolution to a particular setting. Why is this important? This is important because people often make the mistake of recording at a higher resolution and then have to shrink the video to go onto the Web. When this happens the quality of the video decreases significantly and it makes text nearly impossible to read.
Exporting in multiple formats is important for anyone wanting to use video for multiple uses and delivered via various means. BB Flashback enables you to export to .AVI, .WMV, Flash, .EXE, and PowerPoint. While these are not extensive, they are useful export options. I find it a little frustrating that they don't offer a Quicktime format such as .MOV.
The cursor-guided cropping is probably the coolest feature that I came across. This enables you to crop the outputted file to a particular size, only seeing a set area around the cursor. This is of great importance when making videos for the Web. Not only can you reduce the filesize with this method, but you can also better format it for services like Google Video and YouTube, which resize your videos to a smaller resolution. This makes for a much higher quality video and can also focus attention on important actions better than a video of an entire screen or even window.
The price is likely going to keep me away from the full version, but I can't say that I'm not tempted to shell out the dough.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Scribd - They didn't study
As a teacher, this just cracked me up.
They have posted what seem to be real examples of students' answers on exams. If anyone was witty enough to make these up, cheers, but I think that they are real and you have to check it out
They have posted what seem to be real examples of students' answers on exams. If anyone was witty enough to make these up, cheers, but I think that they are real and you have to check it out
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Picasa2 - a new look at an old program
I first used Picasa a couple of years ago (at least I think that it was that long ago). Google had just released it and I was interested in something to help be manage my growing image collections. At the time I found it nice, but too bulky to use. I removed it and didn't give it a second thought until recently.
Until you have had your head in the sand over the last year+, you have likely noticed that Google is making bold moves in providing numerous services online. These include email, word processing, spreadsheets, and calendaring not to mention acquisitions of services such as Blogger. Googles is now moving to integrate these more into suites, which is how I noticed an updated Picasa2. Google added it to a list of services that I saw when checking out my calendar. I was interested and decided to take a look. I have been very happy with the results.
Picasa2 is not just a client side application anymore. They have moved online, providing a social networking service like Flickr (not nearly a match yet), yet with 1GB of storage. Compare this with the 200 images that you get on Flickr for the free account and you'll be quite happy with that 1000's of images that you can get up for free. The storage upgrades are quite cheap as well. I don't think that this is a Flickr killer, nor is it the best free storage option out there, but it's very good and, most importantly, is somewhat integrated with Google applications and will likely be more so in the near future.
The Client-side application works rather well itself. It's a lot less clunky than the older version. The options are convenient, including the "Hide" option with password protection, are nice additions to the program. It also makes publishing to the Picasa2 website very easy. I really love the "collage" function. It will make a number of different collages based on chosen images. Here's one example.
The drawbacks are similar ones to previous versions. My biggest complaint is the speed of scrolling in the application. It's too darn slow, given the fact that I have well over 15,000 images. That drives me crazy. I could navigate using the folders menu on the left, but that's just not how I'm used to interacting with a window.
All-in-all, this is a great application combined with a nice online storage space. I look forward to using this more in the future.
Dan
Until you have had your head in the sand over the last year+, you have likely noticed that Google is making bold moves in providing numerous services online. These include email, word processing, spreadsheets, and calendaring not to mention acquisitions of services such as Blogger. Googles is now moving to integrate these more into suites, which is how I noticed an updated Picasa2. Google added it to a list of services that I saw when checking out my calendar. I was interested and decided to take a look. I have been very happy with the results.
Picasa2 is not just a client side application anymore. They have moved online, providing a social networking service like Flickr (not nearly a match yet), yet with 1GB of storage. Compare this with the 200 images that you get on Flickr for the free account and you'll be quite happy with that 1000's of images that you can get up for free. The storage upgrades are quite cheap as well. I don't think that this is a Flickr killer, nor is it the best free storage option out there, but it's very good and, most importantly, is somewhat integrated with Google applications and will likely be more so in the near future.
The Client-side application works rather well itself. It's a lot less clunky than the older version. The options are convenient, including the "Hide" option with password protection, are nice additions to the program. It also makes publishing to the Picasa2 website very easy. I really love the "collage" function. It will make a number of different collages based on chosen images. Here's one example.
The drawbacks are similar ones to previous versions. My biggest complaint is the speed of scrolling in the application. It's too darn slow, given the fact that I have well over 15,000 images. That drives me crazy. I could navigate using the folders menu on the left, but that's just not how I'm used to interacting with a window.
All-in-all, this is a great application combined with a nice online storage space. I look forward to using this more in the future.
Dan
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