Thing 47.... Eval

I really like doing this kind of assignment. However, I take so long to explore many of the otions that what should be a 20 min assignment has taken me 4 hours. Grrrrr.

Additionally, I get totally pulled towards assignments that I find relavent to me and so spend a bunch of time on them and learn a lot playing with them....

Then there are those sites that I find just plain, well, ummm... lets say "useless fun".

Its not that they aren't worth mentioning, but adding a bubble to a photo is not really learning a lot about web 2.0 features that are out there. Fun? yes. Useful? questionable. Good to know they exist? yes.

All and all good, but not as good as the first 23.

Thing 46..... WJMN... not for me

Ummm.... SKIP Please. Not truly relevant.

Thing 45....Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has a lot of advantages:

• Far more secure
• Always have access
• Wont loose data
• Cost is free or nominal

However, until the technology catches up (and it is... but not yet). The power is not there yet. Google docs is great for a basic paper or other documents, but for doing a lot of editing and playing with margins, it is a pain in the butt. Most notably would be the comparision of Google to PPT. PPT just plain kicks Google into the trashcan... at least for now.

I was weary to use at first and more and more I am using cloud computing for all kinds of tasks. What I am most interested in is to see where cloud computing will be in 2 years vs Microsoft Office. What more can Office offer that Google can't? That is the question and I think the question that has Microsoft shivering in their boots.

Thing 44... The Econonmy

I hate to say this, but I have been to almost every site listed. I teach Government and used to teach economics. Many of the videos and web sites are not new to me. However, I think many of them are wonderful and use them in my own classroom all the time.

here are few recommendations from Claude:

Public Agenda: This is a non-partisan/bi-partisan web site with more information about the hot 20 topics than you could hope to know. Not only is the information beyond fantastic but is is fully sited and backed up my multiple sources thus giving the data credence.

for a great exploration of the top 20 issues in our country click on "issues Guide". This will give you a drop down menue of many issues that will have you scowering the site of months to come.

Sound Money: This to me is a no brainer. It is good solid info on the economy and on personal finance. It is readily available and has tools for all educators and citizens of America to use. this is a must follow web site.

Thing 44... Hulu or bust

Ironically, I was one of the original 1000 subscribers to Hulu. I only know this because I received an e-mail telling me this little tid-bit.

Anyway. I love Hulu but there are numerous weaknesses to this style of broadcasting that Hulu has adapted to and is learning (as all rule breaking and future ideas do).

One of the issues I have noticed about Hulu is that they will have the current season of a show but not seasons 1-3. Why? Those seasons are for sale on DVD.

Or the converse is true... you can watch seasons 1-2 but none of the subsequent seasons.

what system they use is dependent on how old the television show is

example:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is part of the second method. You can watch seasons 1 and 2 but need to buy the DVD's for the other seaons. However is you are stuck on a currently aired show like "The Burn Notice", then you can't go back in seasons. You have to buy or rent the previous shows.

There are a few more obscure shows that you get the whole show.

There is a different system for what film are on Hulu. No huge block busters, and other films are related to release date and/or popularity. I'm not sure of the formula yet, but I haven't really explored it. However there are some patterns.

Like the T.V. shows, there are certain producers or directors that are more willing to sign off their products to Hulu than others. Thus Joss Weaton is every where and Stanley Kubric is know-where.

Already there has been a shift in television show writing. In the last three or so years the number-one show writers/producers has been HBO and Showtime. Why? They are no limited by the trite and trivial rules of the FCC. They can be truly creative and since the station is not dependent on advertising for survival is it a more pure market of how successful the show is. Hulu will have a direct impact on this as the Big Three networks figure out how to bring talent and creativity back to their channels and away from reality tripe.

Thring 43.... Music Baby... Give me the Music

Perhaps you don't know this about me, but I am sort of a music junkie. According to iTunes, my library consists of 141Gig of songs that would take 70.2 days to play from beginning to end. The great thing about my library is that it is growing.

Now one needs to be consious about sound quality, especially when compressing to mp3 which is a far inirior sound quality to "old technology". but it is easy and transportable. So I too listen when on the road. This, however, is not the place to go down the diatribe of sound quality. It is the place to talk about where I get my inspiration for music.

I am an avid MPR listener. Mostly the news, but then, The current. I love music that pushes the boundries, is inventive and honest. I dispise with absolute totality 99.9% of those things that are country (there is always the exception). However, I love the challenge. Being pushed to a new level is so intreging. So I think Pandora is the best thing since.. since... well after the direct application internet ap... its next.

I currently have 9 different "stations" on Pandora. What I like most is that my stations are really divirese:

Robyn Hitchcock

Talking Heads

Nick Cave

Louie XIV

etc.

But each station not only links to bands that I am familar with, but with new bands that I then begin to explore.

So, although I see the value in this "Thing". It is not a new place for me to explore, it was more like a familiar place for me to relax in.

Go Pandora!

Thing 41..... Arkan.. how to make order from disorder

Arktan enables you to segment your aggregate digital activity by topics, mix, curate, share and re-publish it and discover your friends’ activity.

There are lots of content aggregators as listed by "More things", but very few offer ways to easily segment your content into interest groups or channels. Arktan is designed to make it possible to aggregate not just your existing social media data and profiles (like bookmarking lists, photos and Twitter feeds), but to easily add that information from your friends into specific channels too.

What I really liked about Arkan is that I am able to add in my friends without forcing them to sign up for an account. If I want to follow some of my family’s Flickr accounts, Twitter updates and maybe some blog posts, I don’t want to have to rely on them to sign up for the service. That doesn’t mean they might not get added value from Arktan but it is nice that that isn’t a requirement.

Arktan is still evolving — there are some user interface inconsistencies and I had a difficult time adding some types of accounts — but I like where this is headed. There are so many services focused on content creation and aggregation, it’s nice to see a service designed for better organization and segmentation.

Thing 40.... Mashups

I always thought of Mashups as taking two unrelated issues and putting them together. For example, Actor/Singer/Writer Miles Fisher has created a pitch-perfect American Psycho themed video for his own take on the fantastic Talking Heads’ tune “This Must Be the Place”: In other words, a Mashup of Talking Heads and the film American Psycho.

Then the embedded vid on More things talked about linking of any two issues. It made me start asking, how is this different then linking a Google map with any form of plottable data?

I'm not sure how sites like "Timetube" are Mashups. It is cool, and I will use it as a resource, but not really a mashup, as far as I can tell.

YouTube: Talking Heads on Dipity.

Again, not really sure how adding "bubbles" to photos Or putting your flickr photos on a map is a mashup. I found the exercises to be a bit off and not really bringing two separate and often disparate groups together. Isn't this really a repeat of Thing 32?

Thing 39....Digital Storytelling.. or not.

The directions are to play with photos gain and put them in an album... which I did for a previous blog.

but then it has you connect this with VoiceThreads. Although I would love to play more with voice threads. I am going to play with Moonfruit.

Moonfruit is a "design your webpage" app. It is free and far more indepth than any of its competitors.

I am just beginning and don't really have a page developed... but over the next few weeks, as I play and learn, please feel free to take a peek and see what I have accomplished.

see my page here :)

Anyway.. I decided to go this way because Erik Lowe (my teaching partner) want to do some differentiation with an assignment and instead of having kids make a video documentary, they could build an interactive webpage that documents their service.

So, I am learning how to use the program.

Thing 38... JING! $$$$

I love Jing. I just never had the time to really utalize Jing. Now, I have all the incentive I need. With a new year of Moodle I need some instruction vids. Here is the first of four.

Thing 37..... Photos and whatnot

I see no need to use Flickr when I can use Picasa. So here is what I set up using Picasa.

I was in Oaxaca for the 6th time. When I arrived it was a few days after 100,000 protesters where physically removed from the streets and then the protesters came back into town with a vengence. It was quite a different experence than my other visits to Oaxaca.

I hope you enjoy.

Thing 36... cartoons and other play things

I was having a really good time playing with this one. It took me forever because I was playing.

But here is a few samples of my pla... many I hope to use in the classroom:

Made this on Strip Generator. Was Playing with ToonDoo but didn't have the time to make all the toons. A great site but too much to learn in this limited amount of time.

I had a great time with these and see a lot of class opportunities to use this, but don't have the time to play :(

Thing 35... Internet v reading material... or is it vs?

I often hear the angry grumblings of people saying the internet is the death of reading. However there has been more published and more books/magazines read than ever.

I found this exersize to be terribly fun and addicting.

I knew about and often give reference to resources like Shelfari.

This kind of post also had me thinking about the virtual books, books on your ireader or for portablility you Kindle or even your iphone. Perhaps I'm old fashioned, but I like a paper book. That doesn't mean that e-books are bad, I just don't enjoy them.

Then the site had me explore some great websites like Booklamp! Wow! what a great web site! I also really liked, what should I read next. These two sites are exactly what the book world needs the internet to do. They are creative and use the power of mass databasing and easy accsess to their advantage.

Unfortunatly I now have 8 more books on my to read list. But thats not so bad, we have a library very close :)

Thing 34.... on-line answer sites

I found this exercise to be a bit tedious. The sites listed are all sites that you hit when you do a general google search for:

How to fix a broken pipe?

or

How do planes fly?

or

Whats the difference between an encephalopod, an insect and an arachnid?

All good questions, all can be answered on the Internet with ease.

however, there are many questions that really need the help of another human.

Such as:

Needing to find diaries and city planner notes of Minneapolis in the 1880's

looking for information when doing family histories/lineages

etc.

The Internet is fantastic, but unless:

A. The form was originally created electronically and then willing to be released

or

B. Someone took the time to scan or translate the paper copy to the Internet

the Internet is not always the best place to find all documents.

Lastly and most importantly... there are some subjects that one does not have the vocabulary, enough understanding or the subject is far too complicated for the Internet. The help of a reference librarian is a must at those time.

Thing 33... Travel

Ah travel,

There really is nothing more glorious then stepping off an airplane... looking around and the air just smells different, the look of the architecture, clothing, people, language are all different. I find this to be one of the greatest feelings. If you are one of these people and "jet set" regularly there are great resources for you.

However, one can not just jettison off to some foreign local at a moments notice. Perhaps you need a little help planing that trip, or perhaps you can't afford a vaccation and so you live vicariously through others. Either way the web is here to help.

There are a number of travel web sites to help plan your trip. Things like:

Trip Advisor

Travel Post

I am a much, much bigger fan of Travel Post. It not only has slightly better information, but it is a lot less advertizment filled and "quick hit the buy button" mentality. Besides, Lonely Planet links to Kayak (the owner of Travel Post). That has to account for something. And why was Lonely Planet not listed? Hmmm

As for the Blogs, I think a few of them really stand out as fun and/or entertaining.

MyKugelhopf This is an extrememly well travled and well written individual. Not sure where their funding comes from to keep blog like this going, but that is quite a lifestyle choice. Great links to different types of travel opportunities like cooking classes, hiking, climbing, museums etc.

The Cranky Flyer is really more about a ranting traveler who has a lot of insite on the travel industry and can give you some insite, but really its more about three issues:

• Raw entertainment
• Core travel industry news (like busniness article news)
• hints and tips thrown in here and there.

I liked some of the other Blogs, but not that useful or intersting to me.

A site I am surprised was not listed was WIKI TRAVEL. I would think they would have people log in and add to the site. Thus not only learn about travel, but also contribute and become part of the web 2.0 system.

Thing 32.... Google Maps and Mashables

Although I haven't made my own google map for publishing, if you go to "my maps" in google maps there are two that I follow and one that I have added info on.

Bike Thefts in the Twin Citites

View Bike Thefts in Twin Cities in a larger map

Although highly incomplete, it does give a nice look at clustering and keeps you on top of what is happening and what to look out for.

Greenway assaults map

View Greenway Assaults Map in a larger map

I'm not sure what I would make my google map about... origionally I would use google maps, but now there is

http://cyclopath.org/

Which is like googlemaps but exclusivly for biking. With road ratings for bikablility etc. Once you log in, you can customize the maps for your own needs as well. Very cool.

Thing 31.... More Twitter

What I have learned about Twitter.

1. IT is quite addicting.

2. It requires a precision in communication. @rick_Bayless is a master. He gives full recipies in 140 characters.

3. Twitter is really easy to find like minded people... do a search for a term like "Bikes". Then find a post that looks interesting. Then click on their name to get a list of their most recent posts. If they look interesting.... Click "Follow"

4. Once you find people that are interesting, look at who they are following and in no time flat you have quite a network going.

5. Twitter seems to be a great way for me to rapidly connect with people, get articles and current events on:

A. Biking

B. Cooking

C. Education

6. You have to watch what you say because other people are searching Twittersphere with key words just like you are. For example: I wrote a post about my having a panic attack because we just moved and I couldn't find my school keys. I received a series of twitter messages and some started following me and giving advice on how to deal with panic attacks.

7. There are some webpages that you can sign up for and they automatically set you up to follow 10 or 20 twitter names. Well, the sex industry has locked on to this one with a vengence. I got 12 SPAM tweets in one day...Blech!

8. I never thought I would like twitter the way I do like twitter, but now it is part of my daily life. for example, I just tweeted a guy at comcast for help... got help in 2 min rather than waiting on that insipid help line on the phone.

Thing 30.... RSS and Delicious

I love RSSing (amazing that is now a word). However, I'm not sure I need Delicious. Its not that I don't like Delicious, because I do. Its just that I can use a google app that does the core of what Delicious does.... make a list of URL's accessible from any computer.

I have an organized list of RSS feeds that I follow using Google Reader and I list of Blogs I follow far more closely by making a new tab on my iGoogle home page with my Blogs.

Note the upper left corner is where my bookmarks are.

On the far left (the grey/black) is where my tab for special Blogs I RSS

Bottom left (below my twitter) is my RSS reader.

Although I can't do some of the social features of Delicious I can do most. And, If I have "friends" on iGoogle and can share them that way just as you can with Google Docs.

So, I have explored Delicious, but I think I'll stick with convenience rather than one more window, one more password and one more application to learn.

Thing 29... Google Tools

Having been a google tool user for many years and each year I take on one or more Google aps. I am kind of a Google junkie. I don't jump into these sorts of programs lightly or willingly. It has taken a long time and I am now about to admit that I have drunk the Google Koolaid.

So, this is a bit of a numbing "Thing" to accomplish.

However, I did jump to GoogleHealth. I have been noting a series of stories about keeping track of your own medical records above and beyond your health care providor.

Note the articles:

Health Care Blog

NY Times

ABC News

etc. etc.

So GoogleHealth seemed like a logical place to look. It is totally therough and I did put in some cursery information.

I have to admit, the site was super detailed. It loged everything from symptoms, then you could date and time the symptoms, medications (again with date, time and pharmacy) it even lists side effects and what the meds are for.

You an upload images of EKG's, CATscans etc. Very impressive.

Then I got to thinking about this info is on another server? The big consperacy part of my brain became super active. Here is my debate:

1. I'll guarantee you that the Google server is 1000x more dificult to get into and get info off of the machine than mine at home.

2. Do I trust all the people at Google that have access to their servers?

Then I started to freak about the great conspiracy of Government involvemnt, or Synciates selling and/or using your health info in insidious ways every time you log in.

Then I calmed down and now I'm pretty sure that its a good idea... but I haven't swallowed the Koolaid on this one as hard as I thought.

Thing 28 custom home pages.

This seems strange to be on "More things". This, I would have thought, would have been on the original.

Although there are a lot of customizable homepages I (as are over 200 million others) are using iGoogle.

In fact, how did I get to this glorious blog of mine? A direct link though iGoogle.

You can set up your home page to do what ever you want and link to your most popular Blogs, web pages and even add widgets to help make your day go smoother.

Here is an example of my iGoogle page: (click to enlarge)

Note that on the left hand side I have two tabs. One for "Home" that has my daily tools and the other tab is for "Blogs" all of which I have RSS feed set up.

On my Home page I have my twitter widget, my Google Calendar that has multiple sub calendars (Claude, Claude and Sara [both Sara and I have full access] my game calendar my school calendar that syncs with my school outlook and Sara's calendar (that I can see but not change)

I also have a second category of Calendars for school, for checking out computer labs etc.

You will also note a task bar, weather, news and of course an IM chat window so you and your friends and colleagues can stay in touch.

I love custom home pages, but this is not very new. Perhaps the use of different widgets, but he concept has been around for 8 plus years.

Thing 27. Twitter, I have been twitterfied @heldring

If I were to post about Twitter a year ago, I would rant and rant about the stupidity of this medium. It had a ton of use for a few specific situations and/or people, but the common person? Come on.... What a stupid program. A waste. (see Thing 20 and Thing 21 )

However, in March Julie Magie (a teacher a Valley View) sent me an email wondering what my Twitter page was. I figured if Julie was Twittering than I need a page.

Well now its 5 months later 214 updates later, 37 followers later and being followed by 57 others.

Twitter can totally destroy your time, but because I have been very diligent about who I follow, I have been getting great info about cooking, teaching and technology. Finding out who other people follow is a great way to follow quality tweets.

Often tweets are basic updates to peoples lives. Public posts for the world to hear. Sort of like hearing a person talking on their cell phone when they are standing next to you... but if you also followed the person they are talking to on twitter it would be like a three way call.

I have recieved more quality links to news, technology and teaching pages than I ever thought possable. They key is to remember that Twitter is not a contest as to how many people can I get to follow or how many can I follow but choose wisly and you will not be disapointed.

Remember, if you follow someone and they turn out to be a dud (give them about 40 or so tweets) then "unfollow".

If you start Tweeting, and you want to know how to get more followers and to be more successful using twitter. Here is the ultimate guidbook for twitter: http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/

(ps, you can also follow mashable on twitter)

So, start tweeting and follow me @heldring

Thing 26... Ning is dingy

If I remember properly(and successfully reminded from reading Thing 26 instructions) . We played with Ning in the first 23 things on a stick and quite frankly I hate Ning. How is Ning different than any other Social network? The difference being:

1. You can't access it from our school (ding)

2. It has a terrible user interface (ding)

3. It is meant to be exclusive to people with shared ideas... hello, that's why social networking started inthe first place (ding)

4. How many social networks do you need to be a part of? I use Twitter, Linked in, instant message etc. Add in the facebook users/Myspace users ect. and what is the purpose of Ning? One more time suck.

I disliked Ning so much I Unregistered myself from Ning

so, no Ning for me. (ding)

Thing 25 tool kits....

The widgets are really getting me down. They used to work so well and now its like trying to push a washing machine through a mail slot to get the widget to stay and not error on you.

Additionally, I was playing with Google tools and there is an option that when you write in Google Docs that what you write will automatically update your Blog on Blogger. So I started playing with that. It worked great, if I wanted to update the wrong blog. I have multiple blogs on Blogger and even though I tell Docs to update "Sigmunds 23 Things" it doesn't :(

However, it does work well for my default blog and thus I can't complain too much. Makes things much easier that way.

I was able to imbed the google calendar into on of my other blogs.

Before I get off my rant... my one of my other pet peeves with Blogger is that that when you go to insert a vid or pic it always defaults to the top of the blog and not contained within the blog. So you have to manually drag the image to where you want it.

My immage to the left is case and point.

Anyway. My frustration has led me to playing with a website called. http://www.moonfruit.com/

got a heads up from Kathy Schrock on Twitter. So far I like it a lot, but I need to redo the page. I was waffling between a professional page or a personal page and the page looks just goofy. But soon, soon I will have a personal web page up. :)

Thing 24

still playing around. My guess is that it will take a while for me to be happy. Getting some of the widgets to hold has been a bit annoying.

I am also playing around with HTML to manipulate the margins etc. Man, HTML is not intuative to thickheaded people like me. Maybe because I'm really bad at language HTML doesn't come naturally.

On another Blogger page I have, I link to a Google Calendar so my friends can see the schedule of when we are getting together. That works really well but it was a pain in the keaster to get up and running.

I'll keep modifying but I think I'm going on to step 25 at the same time. This "thing" looks like an on-going project.

not thing 23 just news... or is is it?

The microcosim that is my world is finally slowing down. With birthdays, family events, housing sales and the end of school this is the first time I've had to just sit. Wow. Summer really does start at the solstace. :)

Anyway. I'm getting back into this blog for the new 23 and thought I would share some nerdy news.

Not sure if your a Face book or a My space fan. If you do Myspace then look out... Major cuts and thinning of the ologopoly that is social blogging/journaling/networking.

My space is going to have some trouble....

Last week, MySpace trimmed 30 percent of its staff in the US as the social network looks to become a more “efficient and nimble team-oriented company.” Apparently that goal also includes massive cutbacks abroad, as the company announced this morning that it is trimming a whopping 2/3rds of its international staff.

MySpace will eliminate 300 of its 450 staff members outside the US, as well as close “at least 4” of its international offices. Although the social network remains a big player overseas, today’s news comes as no surprise, as much like in the US, MySpace has fallen behind Facebook in most other countries.

For its part, MySpace blames the cut backs on the organization having become too bloated under its past leadership. CEO Owen Van Natta said in a statement:

“With roughly half of MySpace’s total user base coming from outside the U.S., maintaining productive and efficient operations in our international markets is important to users worldwide and our immediate financial strength.”

“As we conducted our review of the company, it was clear that internationally, just as in the U.S., MySpace’s staffing had become too big and cumbersome to be sustainable in current market conditions. Today’s proposed changes are designed to transform and refine our international growth strategy.”

While that sounds like the typical reasoning for a layoff, as anyone who follows the numbers knows, the truth of the matter is that the staff only became too large because the social network started shrinking. Layoffs will help get costs more in line with reduced revenue, but for the site to save itself, it needs to define what exactly is going to “transform” it back into a winner. And that remains far from clear.