Technology Tuesday/Web Wednesday Archive

What is a blog?

How can I use blogs?

A closer look at the PSCC Blog Site

Other Alternatives

TEXTING  without a phone

If you don’t have a cell phone or don’t have a texting plan, you can still send messages to those who do with one of these services:

Web based

• TxtDrop: http://www.txtdrop.com/
• Text4Free:  http://www.text4free.net/

Email Based: Use the 10 digital phone number as the username and add the address after it for the phone provider.

Talk the Talk! Do you know all of the abbreviations?

Everybody knows , TMI,  LOL and OMG. Here are few more:

• POS  = parents over shoulder
• YMMV = your mileage may vary
• FTW = For the Win
• PROLLY = probably
• <G> = Grin
• IM = instant message
• 404 = I don’t know
• WTG = way to go
• OTW = Off to work

Need to know more txting talk?

• http://www.txtdrop.com/abbreviations.php
• http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/textmessageabbreviations.asp
• http://www.techdictionary.com/chat.html

Get Information via SMS:

• Traffic Information in Tennessee Dial 511 inside the state for up to date traffic and construction information from TDOT: http://www.tn511.com/
• Google SMS is a way to use SMS texting to Google’s short code [Google = 466453 (google)] and send a message of your question using their codes. http://www.google.com/sms/ has a demo and lists of sample searches
• On Yahoo,you can get a mobile version of their search by going here and entering your phone number. http://m.yahoo.com/search
• ChaCha is another SMS based information service. You send a question to 242242 (chacha) and it sends back an answer

Texting Tools

SMS Group Communication

• Broadtexter: this was designed for music groups but it can easily be used by organizations, clubs or businesses.  In fact, check out the ETS group: http://broadtexter.com/ets/
• txtBlaster: Another group texting service that is ad supported.

SMS Polling

• Text The Mob (free plan for up to 50 recipients and three questions)
• Poll Everywhere:  (free plan in Higher Ed allows for 32 per class for one teacher)

Stop Texting in the Car

• Textecution – Android app that uses GPS to determine speed, cannot text when going too fast) $30
• Txtblocker (Blackberry with iPhone, Droid and Palm Pre coming soon) $25 activation fee and 10/month. Uses GPS location for speed and for “no-cell zones”
• ZoomSafer (locks keys) Blackberry and Windows  25 up front  3/month
• Cell Control (uses device in car and software on phone for nonGPS phones) Works with  BlackBerry, Symbian® phones, BREW® phones, Windows Mobile® phone

Control Your Account



Lists

Next up: Privacy

Finally, check out Applications

Username (or Custom URL)

Pages and Groups

Resources

What is microblogging, anyway?

Microblogging is the practice of sending brief posts to a personal blog or a microblogging Web site. Each entry can be called a micropost. The appeal of microblogging is both its immediacy and portability.

So?

Sincemicroposts are typically very short (less than 200 characters), a microblogger can send updates often enough to keep subscribers updated as events happen, no matter if they are large or small. Even political candidates like Barack Obama and John Edwards have used microblogging to send details from their campaign activities.

How to Microblog

You can use a traditional blog, such as WordPress or LiveJournal but you can also set up a microblog using a service like Twitter or Jaiku. Facebook and MySpace have “status updates,” which are also microblogging services. Pownce is another service, from the founders of Digg. It combines microblogging with social invitations and file-sharing. What you choose to use really depends on what you want from such a service.

Twitter?http://www.twitter.com

Twitter is one of the leaders in the microblogging scene. From their site:

A global community of friends and strangers answering one simple question: What are you doing?

It is easy to get started. Create a twitter account and then you can send your posts, called tweets to your blog using a variety of methods including:

• Cell Phone – using text messages from phone
• Web Browser – via twitter site or a plug-in (Twitbin) or your own blog feed (TwitterFeed)
  • Twitbin (firefox extension): http://www.twitbin.com/
  • Twitterfeed (feed your blog to Twitter): http://twitterfeed.com/
• Instant Messaging (IM) – like GTalk or Yahoo Messenger
• Widgets in portals/personal homepages or other third party applications

Tumblr? http://www.tumblr.com

If you want to blog mostly to provide a stream of things you find on the web rather than sending a stream about what you are doing, then Tumblr might be a better fit. From their site:

Tumblelogs are the refreshingly simple new way to share anything you find, love, hate ….

Tumblr provides a very easy way to get into blogging without the major learning curve of setting up your own blog. You can easily post links to videos, text and photos, URLs, quotes, and more.

You can post to Tumblr in several ways, just like with Twitter:

• Bookmarklet: a button you can add to your browser’s Bookmarks Bar
• Cell Phone Posting: Post text and photos directly from your mobile phone. You can use the Subject line to attach a caption to photos.
• Tumblet – Mac users, install the Tumblet Dashboard Widget

You can also view Tumblr via a mobile phone that can browse the web. To browse your tumblelog on a phone or PDA, just add “/mobile” to the URL.

Our Two Sample Sites

• ETS Tumblr Site: http://pstcc-ets.tumblr.com
• ETS Twitter Site: http://twitter.com/pstcc_ets

Other Microblogging Options

• Jaiku: http://www.jaiku.com

• Pownce: http://www.pownce.com (invitation only at this point)

• Soup: http://www.soup.io/

Helpful Resources

Your Guide to Micro-blogging and Twitter: http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2007/05/for_the_uberconnectedyour_guid.html

Microblogging (Wikipedia):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro-blogging

Comparing the Top 4 Mini-blogging Options (comparing Twitter, Tumblr, Jaiku and Pownce)
http://wisdump.com/web/comparing-the-top-4-mini-blog-options/

So, why go with an alternate browser?

While Internet
Explorer (IE) does enjoy the market lead in browsers online, there are
some browsers that offer more options and customization and other tools
designed for specific users and types of activities. One of these
browsers might really fill a need for you so it is nice to know what is
out there.

One of the first reasons many left the IE boat was because of tabbed browsing. Tabbed browsing
allows the users to open multiple pages in one window on their computer
making it very easy to move between several sites without getting
confused about what window needs to be opened next.

What is out there?

There are more browsers out there than you might realize. Some of their names might sound familiar such as:
Firefox, Mozilla and Opera.
There are others that you may have never seen before, like: K-Meleon, Shiira and iCab

We will focus on two browsers for our demonstrations this month: Flock and WebRunner

Flock?

Flock is based on Firefox and has a lot of Web 2.0 functionality “baked in” with the browser.

If
you have accounts on sites like Flickr, Photobucket, del.icio.us,
YouTube or blog, you will find Flock to be very helpful for many of the
activities you do on those sites.
After downloading Flock, you can
set up the information for any of the services you use and it supports.
Then, you are integrated with those services from the browser itself.

WebRunner?

On
the “bleeding edge” of alternative web browsers there is WebRunner.
WebRunner is a build of Mozilla that is designed as a Single Site
Browser (SSB) or what is also called a Distraction Free browser.
Download the WebRunner application and then download “bundles” that are
tied to a single site. When you start one of these x.webapp files, it
will load that site in WebRunner. There are builds for applications
like GMail and Google Calendar as well as some popular productivity
sites like 30Boxes and Remember the Milk.

WebRunner
is still very much a beta product and there are some security issues to
consider if you choose to download and use individual’s webrunner
bundles. It is an interesting concept, nonetheless.

Helpful Resources

Flock: http://www.flock.com
Flock Quick Start Guide: http://www.flock.com/welcome

WebRunner: http://wiki.mozilla.org/WebRunner

Alternate Web Browser Alliance: http://www.alternativebrowseralliance.com/

Comparison of Web Browsers (Wikipedia): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_browsers

Sending large files is easy..just email, right?

Well, most email programs work okay with files of 1 MB or less. With today’s digital cameras shooting images at 3 MB or more as well as videos, PowerPoint files, large databases and more information being shared between folks, it is important to have other ways to send files to folks besides as an email attachment.

What options do I have?
If you have your own server, then FTP to that server and sharing from there is the best way to go. If you don’t have then, then there are several online sites that offer ways to share or send large files. We will cover two approaches: sending one file and online file storage. Which approach you want to use depends on your needs.

SENDING A FILE ONE TIME

If you just need to get this presentation/video/soundfile/insert file type here to someone, then an “email a link” service like might be the best option. With this kind of service, you simply go to the site:

1. Upload your file, enter an email address,
2. The service sends email to the address with a link to file.
3. Recipient downloads the file from the link.

The file stays on the service’s server until a certain criteria is met (days, number of downloads or lack of activity).

EXAMPLES

YOUSENDit: http://www.yousendit.com
Free plan: limit of 100 MB for the file size (can pay up to $9 to send a file up to 2 GB)
Pro plan: $10/month for files up to 2GB that are kept for 14 days and can be tracked.

MailBigFile: http://www.mailbigfile.com
Free plan: limit of 100 MB file size but only 3 downloads
Pro plan: $19/year for files up to 2GB in size

TransferBIGFiles: http://www.transferbigfiles.com
Free plan: limit of 2 GB file size. Files are available or a minimum of 5 days or up to 30-days if you upload through a registered DropZone account.

Digital Fastball: http://www.digitalfastball.com/
No limit to file size and requires a login to both send and receive a file. This allows you to track if/when somebody gets the file Might be a better option for more sensitive files.

SHARING LARGE FILES WITH OTHERS

Sometimes you have large files that need to be shared with others over a longer period of time. A file storage/sharing service would be a better option for this need.

EXAMPLES

DivShare: http://www.divshare.com
Free, unlimited storage supported by advertising. Automatically creates flash slideshows from uploaded photos and flash videos from uploaded video files. API so it works with Facebook, iPhone and others applications. View documents via Flash Paper. File size limit 200 MB.

DropSend: http://dropsend.com/
Free, A hybrid of the two approaches. You can send a file or upload it to online storage. You can send files up to 1 GB and can store up to 250 MB.

eSnips: http://www.esnips.com/
Free. Up to 5 GB of space to store files. You can share with friends, family, co-workers, collect files or showcase your work.

MediaMax: http://www.mediamax.com
Free Plan: 25 GB of storage. 25 GB of secure online storage, Download or share 1GB/month, Send files up to 10 MB in size
Premium Plan: $5/month. 100 GB of secure online storage, Download/share 10 GB/month, Send files up to 1 GB in size. (Also have Elite and Pro plans up to $30/month for 10000 GB storage)

CONVERTING FILES

Sometimes you just need to change a file from one format to another. There are online sites that do this as well. The most popular are:

Zamzar: http://www.zamzar.com
Convert files up to 100 MB in size. Can convert YouTube videos to another format.

Media Convert: http://media-convert.com/
Can upload and convert sound, text, movies, images. Allows for splitting audio files and capturing a web site as an image.

YouConvertIt: http://youconvertit.com
Similar to the above, you can convert documents, images, audio and video to different formats.

If you want to convert files on your own computer rather than an online service, there is a free tool that does a great job of converting files: SUPER Converter (Windows only): http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

What are these sites, anyway?

These are both sites that provide a way to share online presentations but, really they do a whole lot more than that!

Slideshare

From their site:

SlideShare is the world’s largest community for sharing presentations & slideshows.

You create presentations, tag them, embed them into your blog or website, browse others’ presentations, and comment on individual slides.

What file formats does SlideShare support?

1. PowerPoint (ppt, pps)
2. OpenOffice (odp).
3. Portable Document Format (PDF)
4. Maximum allowed file size is 30 MB.

It also allows for linking to an online MP3 file (have to have it online) and then synchronizing it to the slides. This is called slidecasting.

EXAMPLE: http://www.slideshare.net/pstcc.ets/password-keychains-153468

USES: Share presentations with others. Create slideshows with music.

SIMILAR SITES:

Zoho Presentations, Google Docs

Voice Thread

From their site:

A VoiceThread is an online media album that allows people to make comments, either audio or text, and share them with anyone they wish. A VoiceThread allows an entire group’s story to be told and collected in one place.

Supported Formats:

• JPEG
• GIF
• BMP
• PNG
• document types: PPT, PPS, PDF, DOC, XLS
• varying video formats

The process is pretty simple:

• 1. Create an account
  2. Upload files or import from Flickr or Facebook
  3. Add narration, text, scribbles
  4. Make sharing selections to allow others to see and comment on your thread.

Example: http://voicethread.com/share/9366/

USES: Storytelling, Audio/Image Presentations, Reactions to a presentation by recording in the thread, Foreign Language practice

SIMILAR SITES: Vuvox: http://www.vuvox.com/ and Flektor: http://www.flektor.com

Helpful Resources

SLIDESHARE FAQ: http://www.slideshare.net/faqs

VoiceThread FAQ: http://voicethread.com/faq/

What is Netvibes, anyway?

Netvibes is one of the leaders of the pack in webtops – a web based desktop. Another way to look at it is a personalized homepage. Webtops provide you a way to keep updated with all kinds of things inside your web browser.

From their initial launch materials, Netvibes described themselves this way:
The aim of it is to provide a place on the internet where you can set just the content you like, a super easy way of building your personalized homepage, available anywhere, anytime. No registration is needed, however if you want to access your page from another computer you’ll be able to do it by registering with your email address and a password.

So?

It is an easy way to have the same information available from any internet connected computer. You can add modules for different news feeds, Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, weather, blogs and more. Adding tabs to the page allows you to continue adding information without getting too cluttered.
It also makes it very easy to search for and listen/watch/view podcasts, videos and photos

How do I use it?

You pretty much can set up Netvibes however you like. Add widgets from the sidebar and move them around on the page or to another tab for organization. Then, when things are updated, you will see that indicated in the widget title and you can act on it accordingly.

Um, widget?

A widget, in this context, is a window or other element on the webtop that contains either content or some way to interact with site. You can generally move widgets around on the webtop to organize as you like.

Why Netvibes?

Netvibes has gotten a lot of startup funding and has well over 5 million users so it is very popular and has 200+ modules like email, webnotes, RSS feeds, Flickr photos, chat and more.
It has also really developed into a strong RSS reader that is online and available from any computer. Many other readers are installed programs so you have to be at a certain computer to read your feeds. Netvibes gives you the same environment at any computer.

Other Webtops:

Protopage: AJAX enabled homepage that allows users to customize the look and content as you like.
From their website: “Protopage = personalized news + sticky notes + photos + email + weather + bookmarks, all on one page.” http://www.protopage.com

Pageflakes: Also AJAX powered and driven by modules and tabs. http://www.pageflakes.com

NOTE: Both Protopage and Pageflakes have some public capabilities, which allow you to share your personalized pages with others. With Protopage, you do not even need to have an account to see the public pages. You can share tabs publicly in Netvibes EcoSystem.

Google Personalized Home: If you have a GMail account, you can customize a Google search page to include information you want to have on the page as well as how it is organized on the page.
http://www.google.com/ig/

30 Boxes: This one looks the most like an actual computer desktop. http://30boxes.com/webtop/

Helpful Resources

Tutorial made by a Netvibes users: http://eco.netvibes.com/help/masey/

Netvibes EcoSystem, where you can customize Netvibes and share your work: http://eco.netvibes.com/

Web Browser Tips (PDF)

We did this session with a PDF. You will need the free Adobe Reader to view and/or print.

Working with Online Groups

We all work with people all over the world, whether it is students, other faculty, family members or co-workers. More and more online tools are emerging that make collaborating on projects easier for everybody.

Online Collaborations can be both real-time, like web conferencing such as Elluminate or instant messaging/telephony such as Skype. It can also be asynchronous for collaborating on projects or reports using tools like Whiteboard, wikis, Skobee and others.

There are some major categories for collaboration online:

Communication

Of course, email is the king here but sometimes you need communication tools that allow folks to read/write and follow conversations in a different manner than email.

Discussion Boards provide for asynchronous communication that is usually threaded so the context of the discussion is kept intact, regardless of the timeline. Group discussion boards can be easily created at several locations including:

• Yahoo Groups: http://groups.yahoo.com/ (you must have a Yahoo account)
• Google Groups: http://groups.google.com (you must have a Google account)
• Voy Forums: http://www.voy.com/ (you create a Voy account when you create the forum)

Instant Messenger (IM) communication also can allow for real-time communication/collaboration via text and (in some instant messaging tools) voice. Most also now allow for file sharing which increases the collaboration possibilities

IM clients allow you to talk to others using the same client build “buddy lists” of friends, family, and coworkers and can have real-time conversations with them when they are online.

Common IM clients include:

• MSN Messenger
• Yahoo (Mac and PC)
• AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)
• iChat (Mac)

Working on Tasks/Projects

Working with a group of people often requires scheduling, so shared calendars or other task lists can be helpful. There are more and more online calendaring options appearing but here are some interesting ones:

• Spongecell: http://www.spongecell.com
• Planzo: http://www.planzo.com
• 30 boxes : http://www.30boxes.com

Skobee is a different take on planning as it works with “fuzzy logic” to make plans for social events or meetings within your group, if they all use Skobee.

Creating task lists/to do lists are also useful for groups. Options include:

• Tada Lists: http://www.tadalist.com (create multiple lists and share them with “trusted folks” or with the public)
• Tudu Lists: http://app.ess.ch/tudu/welcome.action (similar as above)

If you need to work with a group on a larger project and need discussion boards/to do lists, file sharing and other tools, you might want to look at something like Basecamp (http://www.basecamphq.com/) the free service allows for one project and no file sharing, but it might fit the bill. Pay options expand the service.

Creating Documents

If you are working on a document with a group, instead of sending around revisions via email, consider using an online collaboration space. Here are two examples:

• Writeboard: ( http://www.writeboard.com ) An online word processor which allows group editing of a document [Another option is Writely – writely.com – but they just got bought by Google and are not currently taking new memberships so time will tell on its future]

• NumSum: ( http://numsum.com/ ) An online spreadsheet application

• Thumbstacks ( http://www.thumbstacks.com ) An online presentation application, still very much in development