Author archives

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• SnapTell: Instant Product Lookup From The iPhone. You Want This.
  This looks very neat–take a photo with your iPhone and instantly get product reviews and other useful information. I'll have to install it myself this evening.
  (tags: iphone)

I’m preparing for a presentation this Friday, and just pulled up these statistics on Depot and the Learning Labs:

Depot:

• 2,740 accounts
• 86 groups
• 1,400 shared Content Enhancement examples
• 4,100 visits since January 2008
• 54,000 page views since January 2008

Learning Labs:

• 562 accounts
• 32 groups
• 4,800 visits since January 2008
• 42,000 page views since January 2008

These numbers were compiled using a combination of tracking built into each application, and Google Analytics. I know they aren’t staggering when compared to the likes of big media, search, or social networking sites, but for a couple of little sites served from little computers in my office, catering to a relatively niche audience, I don’t think they’re too bad.

• YouTube - Twitter for Business
  An hour-long video about using micromessaging for business–how does it apply to professional development and education?
  (tags: twitter)
• HOW NOT TO: Build Your Twitter Community
  A lot of great tips for newcomers and Twitter vets alike. We need to all agree to start using the # mechanism when tweeting about conferences, meetings, etc.
  (tags: twitter)

• 10 Easy Steps for Twitter Beginners
  Ready to get started with Twitter? This blog post has some simple steps to ease you into microblogging.
  (tags: twitter)
• Microblogging and Relevancy
  Journal article on how professors are using Twitter to engage with students.
  (tags: twitter)

We love to talk up the dearly-departed VisualHub and its new, open source progeny Transcoder Redux around here. I’ve never seen a way to convert video from one format to another more quickly or easily–whenever you see a video clip anywhere on a Stratepedia-hosted site (or the handful of kucrl.org sites we handle), there’s a good chance VisualHub or Transcoder has touched it at some point.

One thing that’s not a problem for us, but may be a problem for you, is that these applications are Mac-only. Over the weekend I learned about a Windows program with similar features to VisualHub, called FormatFactory. I know absolutely nothing about this software other than that it exists and that it’s free. If you’re a Windows person and need to convert video, check out FormatFactory and let us know what you think by leaving a comment on this post.

• Notifications: Notify.me Delivers RSS Items to Your Inbox, Cellphone, or IM Client
  Neat-looking alternative to receiving RSS feeds through a feed reader.
  (tags: rss)
• Twingr: Create Your Own Twitter
  (tags: twitter)

• Soundsnap.com: Find and Share Free Sound Effects and Loops
  Need a sound effect for your next presentation? Lots of free, downloadable files here.
  (tags: audio free soundeffects)

Per request I’ve added a field to Coaching Calendar to let teachers specify the room in which they’d like to meet for coaching. Teachers can also edit previously-scheduled appointments to add this information. Let me know if you see any problems.

Speaking of Coaching Calendar–I know I owe you all a couple more updates. Those will be coming soon.

Several blogs are reporting today that Google is rolling out video and voice chat in Gmail, its free web-based mail service. I don’t use Gmail myself but know lots of other people around here do–has this feature shown up in your account yet? Have you had a chance to give it a try?

My understanding is it works on both Windows and Macs, and just requires a Firefox plugin.

Google Launches Video and Voice Chat for Gmail–ReadWriteWeb