NMC New Media Blogs

I just found out about this book and the synopsis at O'Reilly has me very intrigued (its out in early June). It is a book perhaps we all should take a look at as educators in the digital world of the 21st century. The title is Turning Learning Right Side Up: Putting Education Back on Track by Russell L. Ackoff and Daniel Greenberg. You can order it from O'Reilly or other book sellers. The Overview at O'Reilly gives you the details so I won't go into them here. It could be worth a read. Have a good weekend...a little more here.

The ProgrammableWeb posted a piece on May 5th that mentions they now track 3000 mashups on their website. What is interesting is they break down the numbers and it turns out that 39 percent of these mashups are mapping in nature. While the term mashup entered into popular use through the music industry, the explosion of mapping on the web, especially through Google Maps and Yahoo! Maps has been one of the driving forces of mashups and has helped bring the term to a wider audience...read on!

Microsoft has taken a lot of hits over the years. Too corporate, too much bloatware, not enough security, little innovation, on and on. BUT no one can argue that they have truly outdone themselves with yesterday's newly announced WorldWide Telescope. This application really brings the universe to life. The NYTimes posted a good review about it yesterday and it appears that Microsoft has truly put innovation into this product. And it appears that they will keep it largely free of advertisements according the the review. The really exciting thing is that WorldWide Telescope was developed largely with education in mind. Its worth a few minutes of your time to see the video (watch the Telling Stories video on the homepage). This product comes out of Microsoft's Research division.

Now that the iPhone/iTouch revolution is upon us, its clear that Apple has not just released a new device, but launched a new platform pushing computing forward into the mobile space. One of the most innovative things about the iPhone/iTouch is the way we interact with it. Using the patented touch and sensor technologies, Apple has brought about a new way to interact with our machines and our information. Apple has recently expanded their touch technology onto the MacBook Pro platform enabling traditional notebook users to use the new multi-touch features on their trackpad. I would guess this technology will eventually make its way into the entire mobile Apple computer line-up (it is still missing from Macbooks). It may even trickle into desktop systems via new displays (Apple please give us new displays!) and input devices... Now along comes Multiclutch.

This article on TechCrunch about the slew of new community aggregation and portability services that sites like Facebook, MySpace and Google are about to launch (or have launched) is very interesting and perhaps indicative of where things are headed when (or if) we ever get away from the Web 2.0 version. (Tim O'Reilly please help us move on to a new version!). The article is well written so no need to really re-state the case, but the take-aways from these new developments are summarized by quoting from Google's press release that discusses their new FriendConnect service.

And wow does it look amazing! I posted about Bee Docs Timeline last week and today they announced the availability of Timeline 3D which adds a range of new features and capabilities that blow the 2D version away. This is a very unique product that I think can find a myriad of uses in the educational world. This is something well worth taking the time to check out! Go to the developer blog to check it out. The movie in the blog shows you what it can do and where you can download it. Its $65 vs the $40 for the 2D version. The 3D version adds so much more value that I would not hesitate to upgrade or by the 3D license for your lab and/or students (or yourself).

Keene (University of Texas @ Austin)

Cellular connectivity. This is the big seller for me between the iPhone vs the iTouch and it might be something to think about if you are considering purchasing one of these devices (or a slew of them). The iTouch is great no doubt. It has a larger drive for one which is handy and it has the all important WiFi connectivity. BUT unless you are going to be around WiFi networks you can easily access, you may find your iTouch stays in your pocket more than you would like. WiFi is very common now on most campuses, however once you leave campus, WiFi can be spotty. And it frequently is password protected or you have to have a paid account to use it (like in most airports). What do you do then to get online?

If you use Safari on the Mac, you may find this utility handy. I go back and forth as to whether the system wide Exposé feature of the Mac OS is useful day to day while working. Sometimes I use it and sometimes I don't. Well, some enterprising developers took the Exposé idea and applied it to tabs in Safari. If you use Tabs for your web surfing, then TabExposé might make life a little easier for you. It installs a button in your Safari Toolbar that, when clicked, lays out all your tabbed websites for you to see at once. Click the site you want and jump right to it. For people who work better visually, this might be a good tool use with your tabs. Its not free, but its not too expensive (about $15). A preference setting allows one to turn off any animations on the page when they are laid out in expose mode. This helps if your computer is not the fastest in the world. Keep on tabbin'...

With all the talk of virtual worlds, and Second Life in particular, its easy to forget that there is a real world out there that also beckons attention beyond our monitors. Actually, it would be nice to marry both the virtual and real worlds together, because then you can really get some interesting things happening. This has not been lost (forgive the geo-pun) on the founders of Geocaching.com who have recently released a software platform called WheriGo (pronounced Where-i-Go) that enables one to overlay virtual world data onto the real world using gps technology as the bridge between the two. Currently, the software works on handheld PocketPCs running Windows CE (it will need a GPS receiver installed or attached) and on Garmin's new Colorado line of GPS receivers.

We live in a world of increasing randomness and attention deficit but every now and then, it sure helps to see things in a clear, linear fashion. Take timelines for instance. Its great to know when something happened way back when. This is particularly great for educators, and specifically educators who deal with subjects that are closely tied to history, geology and anything involving some dates. But you know, its just not easy to make a digital timeline that looks good and really conveys what you want to illustrate. Sure, you can pull out your ActionScript manuals and throw together a fancy Flash timeline animation, but who has time for that?