Thursday, April 27, 2006

Senator's Subway

Freedom Statue

Still on the Senator's Path



I took way too many pictures to blog...

Taking the Senators Elevator

We had the opportunity to follow the Senator's path from the Dirkson Building to the Capitol.

In DC? Go to the Feinstein Breakfast

Senator Diane Feinstein was wonderful with the crowd. I recommend making reservations and attending her Thursday morning breakfast.

Related Site:
Senator Diane Feinstein's Site

Senator Feinstein Visits the Pepperdine Table.

Senator Feinstein was a gracious hostess and she took the time to explain her views and various practices of the Senate such as the two types of filibuster.

Seize the Day!

Jman preps us for the day. On our way to visit with Senator Feinstein and then to Capital Hill.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Washinton Monument from a Cab

Driveby shot of the Washington Monument. We'll tour the monuments tomorrow. Keep an eye out for our first Hipcast on this blog.

Gordon Peterson Gets J Eric Chocolate

Mom I gave Gordon Peterson from ABC News your chocolate.

Jake & Billy

Go Waves!

Gordon Peterson Shares Stories

Gordon Peterson, a friend of Jman Sir, was FANTASTIC. He shared some wonderful stories. Thanks Jack and Gordon for a lovely evening.

Sites to check out per Gordon's discussion:
First Amendment
Pullitzer Prize Site
Pew Project: Newswatch.org

Senator Boxer

We catch Senator Boxer on the run.

Giant Mountains & Clouds Sculpture Description

Sculpture description.

Dangling 7,000 lb Mountains & Clouds Sculpture

Yet another view and its supposedly 7000 lbs. Jman Sir says it used to spin but folks got a wee mite bit worried about that.

Mountains & Clouds - View from the back

Another view

Mountains & Clouds - View from the front

Mountains and Clouds Sculpture by Alexander Calder

Church by the Hart Center Office Center

I almost tripped trying to get this pic. Note to self, remind friends to watch your step when moblogging on the run.

Go Waves!

Thanks so much to Carolyn Breedlove and Barbara Stein at NEA.

Related Site:
NEA

Kim Anderson, NEA Lobbyist

Kim Anderson gave us great booklets called NEA Legislative Program for the 109th Congress. Kim is a fab lobbyist for NEA.

Fellow Gadget Lover

Fellow gadget loving tech user at the end there is Barbara Stein at NEA. Just for Barbara, and of course anyone who likes fun lanyards for your gadgets, check out Bead Wizardry Designs.

Gorgeous!

A picture perfect moment. Took time to smell the tulips.

Go Waves!

Keith receives his Peppy shirt.

Keith Krueger of CoSN

Visiting with Keith Krueger, the CEO of CoSN. Keith discussed the needs of K12 Chief Technology Officers, the resources available from CoSN, and the Major trends in the CTO arena including:

  • the importance of vision and leadership and

  • the importance of community support.



    He brought up an interesting new term for us of the "Digital Leadership Divide" where we looked at some statistics regarding district technology budgets.

    Related Sites:
    CoSN
    CoSN's 12th Annual K-12 School Networking Conference in San Francisco Next Spring
  • Bella, Julz, & Tim Magner

    Thanks to Tom I had a photo opp. Tim Magner was great fun. Thanks Tim for sharing your insight and taking the time to discuss educational technology from your perspective.

    Tina Interviews Tim Magner

    Bella interviews Tim for our new article about laptops and PDAs.

    Go Waves!

    I think he likes his new Pepperdine sweatshirt.

    Living the Dream

    Michelle asked a great question. She asked Tim Magner, that if resources were not a barrier, what would his dream educational technology project be? He said that he hoped he was living that dream with his new position as the head of the federal Office of Educational Technology. For more on Tim Magner, check out the article, New ed-tech chief touts 'systemic' approach.

    James, Julz, & Bella

    eVinci in DC at DOE.

    More Suits

    More CadreX...the beige summer suit contingent here

    CadreX in Suits, You Saw It Here First!

    CadreX on the move.

    Tuesday, April 25, 2006

    Capital View at Night

    View of the Capital from my room at night.

    Paul arrives safely

    Dr. Paul Sparks aka Sparky made it safely. Jman has lots on the agenda with a busy day tomorrow. Meet Tim Magner, CoSN, NEA, Capital, Gordon Peterson...

    Reconnect Class

    Reconnect class with Jman Sir.

    Inside Union Station

    Union Station

    Godiva Chocolate Shop in Union Station

    I didn't buy any mom. Honest.

    Vicki talks aligned assessment

    Vicki had some excellent ideas about asessment and higher ed.

    Tina discusses adjunct faculty issues...

    More pics...

    A National Dialogue

    We met Deputy Directors Vicki Schray and Eleanor Schiff at the DOE. Topic - A National Dialogue: The Secretary of Educations Commission on the Future of Higher Education.

    At DOE

    Ali, Mirwais, and Jman Sir aka Dr. Jack McManus our Pepperdine professor.

    Front of DOE

    Dept. Of Education NCLB

    Capital View

    View of US Capital from my hotel window. OK can I tell you though that we are on the 12th floor and thats a serious climb...

    This hotel is like the one we were at in Boston last year

    The Residence Inn. Our next hotel.

    Heading back to hotel from Pentagon

    Aviation building

    Learn to love the metro cause cabs are EXPENSIVE!

    Pentagon Metro Station after our tour of Pentagon. Sending postcards cause not allowed to take pics there.

    Had to take a cab cause we had too much luggage to go on the metro

    View from our cab of Jefferson Memorial.

    Monday, April 24, 2006

    Dallas Airport

    Hi Mom! Its about 2:30 your time and I am sitting in a familiar spot, Gate D34 at the Dallas airport.

    Saturday, April 22, 2006

    Division of Sound Rocks!

    Shawn's band, Division of Sound rocking at Kruxfest.

    Check em out at http://myspace.com/divisionofsound.

    Thursday, April 20, 2006

    Frankie :)

    Frankie is such a pain but we love him and he is now my second cell phone multimedia posting, well actually third cause I did that hipcast...

    My First Successful Cell Phone Multimedia Blog Post!

    Home sweet home...

    Wednesday, February 15, 2006

    This is my mobile tech blog, go to...

    ...my podcasting blog for podcasting specific thoughts. It's out of date, but since I know I'll have visitors, I'm adding a cool resource - 10 Steps to Podcasting and much much more!

    http://julzpodcasting.blogspot.com/

    NMSU Podcasters Unite!

    Happy Casting,
    :)
    ~julz

    Wednesday, January 11, 2006

    Elliot Masie talks "videoification"

    Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - Jan 9, 2006.
    #375- Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
    51,985 Readers - http://www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
    LMS 2006 - April 6-7 - Las Vegas, NV - www.lms2006.com .
    Learning 2006 - Nov 5-8 - Orlando - www.learning2006.com .

    TV via Internet - Learning Implications: CES Report from The MASIE Center.

    The primary discussion at the just ended Consumer Electronics Show in Las
    Vegas was Television over the Internet. Announcements from Google,
    Microsoft, Apple, Cisco, Verizon, Yahoo and others all focused on the
    expanding capability (and market) for delivering television content over
    the internet. Terms like IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) are being
    used to describe a rapidly expanding capacity to deliver video content to
    your desktop, mobile phone or other devices, via broadband internet
    connections, on-demand and to your specifications.

    The MASIE Center is exploring how these trends and market investments may
    impact organizational learning approaches. Here are some Learning TRENDS
    and emerging examples for our readers to ponder:

    * "Videoification" of the Web: Apple has cut the way with the release of
    their video iPod and the sale of TV shows for $1.99 a piece. New services
    from Microsoft, Yahoo and others are rapidly expanding this marketplace.
    Video PodCasting is starting to emerge as an additional vehicle for
    content distribution. We believe that this may be an early "tipping point"
    for the "Videoification" of the web.

    Currently, most internet usage is text based with a mild level of graphics
    and a sprinkling of audio/video. If the growth of video content continues,
    the user may increasingly come to accept and expect video content from
    their web experience. This raises serious development hurdles for content
    producers and also requires new models for tagging and search processes.
    However, we believe that there will be a steady increase in the demand for
    video for learning activities.

    * Personalized Control Rooms: Check out the recent announcement from CNN
    of their CNN Pipeline product. The user is given a video control room that
    contains four live feeds from CNN sources as well as access to a huge
    level of stored images. They can switch the "feeds" the same way the
    control room at CNN is doing, selecting images, stories and perspectives
    as desired. Imagine providing this same offering to learners. Rather than
    a single storyline or instructional path, they are given multiple sources,
    including some live peer interaction and they can choose which one to
    select. Imagine being in a webcast with 5 windows, including a live feed
    from the instructor, application sharing, remedial content and the ability
    to search archives. The learner may increase their expectation of
    switching and choosing the scene or shot or perspective of their choice.
    For example, there may be a "nay sayer" feed from someone who disagrees
    with the perspective of the presenter. Check out the CNN Pipeline and get
    a glimpse of the future. http://www.cnn.pipeline/ Their video quality is
    amazing and a sense of how far streaming over the internet has advanced.

    * Video to Devices: On my belt is a new cell phone, the Viper from
    Motorola with service from Verizon. There is a new service called V Cast,
    which brings broadcast quality video to my phone from a variety of
    sources. Right now, I can access news and entertainment highlights. But,
    in a short while, there will be access to a broad range of content,
    including corporate specific or learning focused content. The ability to
    distribute just in time video content to the hands of our workforce is
    intriguing. Imagine retailers, banks or other customer facing
    organizations using this technology to provide short blasts of content to
    the entire workforce or on-demand access.

    There is an interesting story by a USA Reporter who used this service to
    "kill time" while waiting for a flight as they were leaving CES this week:
    http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/edwardbaig/2005-01-12-baig_x.htm

    * Digital Cameras at Work: Learning organizations should take a fresh look
    at the use of digital cameras (video and still) as tools for corporate
    learning. I could not find a single company that is currently teaching
    their employees to utilize digital cameras as knowledge/learning tools.
    While we whip out these cameras, along with our cell phone cameras, at any
    family event or outing, they are not really recognized as assets for
    organizational knowledge capture. It is time to take a fresh look. When
    someone comes back from an event, why not do a short video interview with
    them, rapidly edit and tag it and share it back out? Think of other times
    where we might be able to leverage "citizen capture" as part of our
    learning efforts. Many will point to the "poor quality" or "lack of
    editing" as a reason to avoid their use. Let's see how we might use these
    tools as part of the knowledge feed of our organizations.

    Upcoming MASIE Center Events and Services:
    * Learning Management Systems 2006 - Las Vegas - April 6 and 7.
    * Extreme Learning LAB & Seminar - Saratoga Springs - Jan 25-27.
    * Learning 2006 - Orlando - Nov 5 - 8.
    * Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM.
    Information at http://www.masie.com

    Monday, December 05, 2005

    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/

    Sunday, November 27, 2005

    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

    Thursday, October 27, 2005

    Podner

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

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

    ~julz

    Wednesday, October 26, 2005

    Of course podcast lectures are a hit!

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

    Wednesday, October 19, 2005

    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

    Tuesday, October 18, 2005

    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!

    Friday, October 14, 2005

    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.

    Tuesday, August 09, 2005

    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