Some Fave iPod Sites

My son has made his own movies and school and has them on DVD, so I found a site that helps you get your own DVD materials onto your new Gen 5 Video Capable iPod? Try this site for the downlow:
http://howto.diveintomark.org/ipod-dvd-ripping-guide/

Important iPod stuff like hardcore cases and cool scratch-removing cleaner:
More Cool iPod Accessories and Cases…

Then if you have iPod repair needs, here's the place I've decided to try:
iPODMODS

Then for sweet covers and laptop bags, these sites would provide some dream shopping time:
http://www.acmemade.com/ipod.html
http://www.melissabethdesigns.com/pocketfullofputer.html#
http://www.ginabinternational.com/collection.html
http://www.boutiquetoyou.com/catalog/catalog/index.html
http://www.thebaglady.tv/laptop_bags/

Future iPod

So I LOVE my video iPod, am complete Desperate Housewives addict. But I do envision more coolness for the iPod. I would like to see a still image and camcorder attachment. Also, it needs to go wifi sometime. Even before it goes wifi, couldn't there be a Widgets category? I think it's gonna happen...
;)
~julz

Podner

Prep your video for your new ipod with somethin like Podner...

http://www.splasm.com/products/productpodner.html

~julz

Of course podcast lectures are a hit!

http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/10/24/435c758bc4a56

Another shout out to the new video iPod...

...though according to the NY Times article, An iPod Worth Keeping an Eye On, "there’s no such thing as a Video iPod. The new model is simply called the iPod; its thicker, videoless predecessors have gone off to the great eBay in the sky." I only have a mini and I'll keep my mini, but honestly, ask my friends, I KNEW they were going to do it. How could any self-respecting techie working for Apple not be promoting this concept and working hard to get it just right? I just couldn't fathom the concept. So I've made do with my mini, and held out. Admittedly, I was starting to think about the iPhoto, but fortunately, I didn't have to break.

The article is funny, you should read it, I was LOL at the steel support girder comment...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/18/technology/circuits/19web-pogue.html

~julz
Really verklempt until I get a new video iPod, I've already bought 3 videos and think I might get the entire first season of Desparate Housewives, can you imagine, portable, no commercials...I'm berra berra excited!

Palm Inc. and Blackberry Makin' a Deal

From the NY Times Article Palm Inc. and Blackberry Maker Will Sign a Licensing Agreement:

Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Jupiter Media, said, "It's a good idea for them to let the market decide" what software and hardware combinations customers can have. "You don't want to back your customers into a corner."

Um yeah, at some point there is such a thing as carrying around too many devices. It would be nice to have it down to like two. My all in one communications device and my all in one multimedia device perhaps?

Video continuing to go mobile...

I think this is just soo cool and I really really need to get a multimedia capable phone and a video iPod...

Now Playing on a Tiny Screen
By LAURA M. HOLSON
Published: October 17, 2005

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 16 - When Eric Young directed his first episodes for the cellphone serial drama "24: Conspiracy," it was the bullet holes that vexed him most. Mr. Young, hired to create 24 one-minute mobile episodes for a spinoff of the hit series "24," learned that making video for a pocket-size screen is far different from making it for a 27-inch television set.

About 70 percent of the images he used were close-ups of actors, because panoramic shots appeared blurry. He said he used tiny speakers to hear what "the sound of a neck cracking" would be like on a cellphone after one of the episode's characters died from a snapped vertebra. But for gunshot wounds, the director was forced to make the bullet holes extra large and to double the amount of blood so they could be easily identified on the small screen.

"We are all experimenting to see what works," Mr. Young said. "Every new medium finds its own way and rules. It will be true for this one, too."

Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/17/technology/17mobisodes.html?8hpib

Skype vs. IMs w/ Voice

Today, I was asked why use Skype vs. IMs with Voice. I only have two reasons for that question:

1. Skype was the first cool voip tool w/ conferencing capabilities that my cadre found and we have some loyalty and inertia reasons to stick with it.
2. In a class I'm co-teaching, we've had more security problems with the IM we used vs. Skype.

In researching this question, I came across ZDNet's Russell Shaw's blog that was asking a similar question which led me to a cool company called Avaya ...lovin their presentations and materials...consuming now...

~julz
It's about being mobile, baby!

Video iPod

I knew they'd do it. I've been waiting to make a major iPod purchase (have a mini of course) for the video.

Thanks Apple.
~julz

From my edugames blog...

The video iPod is going to be mine!

Video of Steve Jobs showing the video ipod: http://zdnet.com.com/1606-2-5894095.html

An article: http://techrepublic.com.com/5102-1035-5893863.html

The NY Times - AP: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Apple-VideoiPod.html

(See also http://www.apple.com/

October 12, 2005

Apple Introduces Video iPod

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Apple Computer Inc. unveiled an iPod on Wednesday
that can play videos and television shows, the latest creation in its
ever-evolving and hugely popular line of portable music players.
Citing a groundbreaking deal with ABC Television Group, Apple chief
executive Steve Jobs said the online iTunes store will sell episodes of hit
shows "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" for $1.99 apiece, making them
available the day after they air on television.

About Laptops...

Email from Bonnie Bracey

Bringing laptops and wireless Internet access into classrooms was supposed
to enrich classroom discussions by, for example, allowing students to
import information from the Internet and share it with the rest of the
class. But instead some students are using their laptops to message
friends, shop online, peruse Web sites and pursue part-time jobs. The
result: There is a rising backlash against classroom computer use from
professors and schools. (Hmmm. Young people are not using technology in the
way authority figures intended them to... who coulda guessed?)
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Gary McWilliams
gary.mcwilliams@wsj.com]
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB112924976699568321.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace
(requires subscription)
From Benton Headlines


Could it be that the teachers don't know how to create learning that involves the use of laptops because of poor training? Just a thought. Was enough money used to create professional development opportunities ? Bonnie Bracey Sutton

For proper use and purposed use of laptops, see GLEF.org

Laptops On Expedition
A Maine middle school provides top-of-the-line education for all students.
1/19/2004

The Maine Event
Maine's middle school laptop program is working.
12/16/2003

Laptops for All
A commitment to projects and widespread use of laptop computers has spelled success for students at The Mott Hall School in New York City.

Tech Gadgets Challenge Educators

Tech gadgets challenge educators
From eSchool News staff and wire service reports
August 9, 2005

For a lot of kids, back-to-school shopping means checking out the latest technological gadgetry. And for educators, that means new headaches as they seek to update and enforce their policies on gadgets in the classroom.

Sure, the internet has opened a wealth of research sources to students, and a cell phone is pretty handy in an emergency. But the beep that comes from a single Tamagotchi is enough to disrupt an entire class. Click for rest of article

Upcoming Cool Resource

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstoryts.cfm?Articleid=5673

Educause Article

http://www.educause.edu/er/erm05/erm0532.asp

Link to research

The Madison Gamers provide lots of great resources, this one is for mobile tech...

http://www.elearnopedia.com/category.asp?catid=19


From elearnopedia, I found a cool site in the UK for mobile (cell and handheld) tech learning...

http://www.m-learning.org/index.shtml

HOUSSE, Standards, PD, Leadership

I know I will need this resource for this, so I will add it now before I forget:

The Regional Alliance: Publications

~julz

Blogging Cons

Students are using blogs to vent and threaten. Additionally, the aspect where students info is being put out on the web at all violates COPA/COPPA...

Schools Block Blog Sites

~julz

Mobile tech article

Using handheld remotes for quiz feedback is showing up here at NMSU. Here's an article about it in the K-12 environment:

Teachers and students click on feedback method
~julz

iPod Fever

It's catching! Drexel gives iPods to its education majors...

Students entering the School of Education at Drexel University this
fall will receive iPods as part of a program to explore and evaluate
the educational potential of the devices. Duke University launched a
similar program last fall, distributing iPods to all 1,650 of its
incoming freshmen. The program at Drexel, however, is much smaller in
scope, with about 30 students expected to enter the School of Education
in the fall. Some have criticized such programs as gimmicks that are
unlikely to produce valuable educational results, and officials
involved in the programs acknowledge the risk that students will simply
use the devices to listen to music. Drexel officials said part of the
university's program is to solicit feedback from students about how
the devices could be put to good use educationally. Students will
receive microphones to record interviews and other meetings, and the
university will request that the students use the iPods to create
"audio Web logs" during a required semester of off-campus work. Drexel
will also experiment with podcasting, a process in which iPod owners
can download audio files, such as news announcements or lectures from
professors, and listen to them at their convenience.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 2 March 2005
http://chronicle.com/free/2005/03/2005030203n.htm

Les Chappell Article

I liked Les Chappell's article today called "Technology puts pressuree on education methods". The trends indicating that 5-7 year-olds are the fastest-growing technology market and that 70% of teens say they would rather give up TV than the Internet is a clear indication, to me anyways, that at the very least, concerned parents are going to have to figure out how to supplement their children's learning. The generation and educational gaps are simply starting to widen along the lines of Moore's Law and that is scary. Teachers and parents have to take on the challenge of jumping over that gap before it becomes a chasm.
~julz

How do we get back our kids' attention?

You know, it's not that hard getting kids attention. Keeping it is harder and keeping it when you have 30 of them to contend with harder still. I contend, however, that we (educators) just don't try hard enough to get their attention in the first place. Imagine a classroom where the teacher comes in every now and then with a cool lesson to share with kids. A lesson done with some digital gadget, like a lesson based on the cell phone, or on digital cameras, or palm blogging, or podcasting, etc. I bet that teachers would be more likely to get and more importantly keep student attention. I think we gotta go where no teacher (or very few anyways) has gone before, we gotta go mobile!
~julz