Exploring the "if this then that" web app: making the Internet work for you

I discovered a neat little web app called ifttt (if this then that) that makes it easy and fun to run "if/then" statements across the internet by utilizing API's of various web apps such as twitter, google reader, instagram, and many more.  For example, I set up three if/then tasks to see how it works. The first task I set up was IF I upload a picture to Instagram THEN automatically save a copy of it in my Dropbox. The second task I set up was IF I make a blog post here on blogger, THEN automatically send a tweet out to my terenceonline twitter followers.  The third task I set up was IF I star an article in Google Reader THEN send a tweet out to my terenceonline twitter followers linking them to the starred article. There are numerous other if/then statements you can set up and I think people will find ways to get creative with it.  This is similar to what Yahoo Pipes was doing back in the day,but this is bit more simple to use. The only draw back I see right now is that you have to authorize IFTTT to access all of the accounts you set up, which isn't uncommon theses days, but may make some people nervous. If you found this article from my twitter then the IFTTT task worked. What are some neat ways that educators can take advantage of IFTTT? One more thing -- This IFTTT recipe page is pretty cool to get ideas of how people are using it http://ifttt.com/recipes

UPDATE:  The blogger to twitter task has not been working, however the Google Reader to Twitter Task worked fine.

The Perfect Tablet for Me - An Obvious Idea in Tablet Innovation that Should Have Been on the Market Last Year

Tablets are excellent tools for content consumption, yet their OS's and overall design limit their ability to produce content. The Asus Transformer and Eeepad Slider were steps in the right direction as devices geared at both consuming and producing content, yet the Honeycomb OS still hampers the content creation process, even with the keyboard. I think a really simple idea would be to use honeycomb OS when the device is being used as a Tablet, yet when you dock it to the keyboard you should be able to choose to switch over to the Chrome OS or Win 7 OS. Apple could do the same thing with an ipad that when docked to a keyboard could switch to the Lion OS for the heavy lifting. Even though Apple doesn't care about Flash, this would enable the device to get the entire internet experience through Lion OS when docked as well. A really simple idea that would enable all the Netbook users of the world to make the switch over to the Tablet Hybrids. What do you think? Is there anything on the market that does this?

The Power of Blogs: Read The Comments and Participate in the Conversation

A blog article that provokes people with differing perspectives to comment and discuss is something to be valued. For example, check out the Endgadget article and video titled, "The iPad is taking away American jobs, Jesse Jackson Junior's sanity (video)" -- The video itself is kind of funny as JJ Junior comes off sounding like a technophobe, but the content of what he is saying can make for some really good debate on the economy and the interplay of technology and society. Any prof that teaches a course on Technology and Society should ask their students to read and comment on the blog. I initially read the article because I thought it would be funny but found myself really engaged in the comments section of the blog. By looking at a complex system from multiple angles and perspectives, I become more informed in my own opinion of the topic. Educators should constantly be on the lookout for blog articles that evoke multiple perspectives and then encourage their students to comment and be a part of the conversation.

Google's ambitious world changing project winners

Here are the results of Google's ambitious world changing project, I blogged about in 2009

It was neat to see the Khan Academy as one of the "world changing" winners. It will be neat to see where these projects go!

Project 10¹⁰⁰ Winners

We are pleased to announce the winners of Google’s Project 10¹⁰⁰.

Thousands of people from more than 170 countries submitted over 150,000 ideas. From that group, we narrowed it to the final 16 ideasfor public vote.

The following five ideas received the most votes and are the winners of Project 10¹⁰⁰. Over the past 12 months, we have reviewed concrete proposals to tackle these ideas. We are pleased to give a total of $10 million to five inspiring organizations working on solutions to each of these global challenges:

Idea: Make educational content available online for free

Project funded: The Khan Academy is a non-profit educational organization that provides high-quality, free education to anyone, anywhere via an online library of more than 1,600 teaching videos. We are providing $2 million to support the creation of more courses and to enable the Khan Academy to translate their core library into the world’s most widely spoken languages.

Idea: Enhance science and engineering education

Project funded: FIRST is a non-profit organization that promotes science and math education around the world through team competition. Its mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders by giving them real world experience working with professional engineers and scientists. We are providing $3 million to develop and jump start new student-driven robotics team fundraising programs that will empower more student teams to participate in FIRST.

Idea: Make government more transparent

Project funded: Public.Resource.Org is a non-profit organization focused on enabling online access to public government documents in the United States. We are providing $2 million to Public.Resource.Org to support the Law.Gov initiative, which aims to make all primary legal materials in the United States available to all.

Idea: Drive innovation in public transport

Project funded: Shweeb is a concept for short to medium distance, urban personal transport, using human-powered vehicles on a monorail. We are providing $1 million to fund research and development to test Shweeb’s technology for an urban setting.

Idea: Provide quality education to African students

Project funded: The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) is a center for math and science education and research in Cape Town, South Africa. AIMS’ primary focus is a one-year bridge program for recent university graduates that helps build skills and knowledge prior to Masters and PhD study. We are providing $2 million to fund the opening of additional AIMS centers to promote graduate level math and science study in Africa.

Let's use video (and the internet) to reinvent education

Salman Khan talks about how and why he created the remarkable Khan Academy, a carefully structured series of educational videos offering complete curricula in math and, now, other subjects. He shows the power of interactive exercises, and calls for teachers to consider flipping the traditional classroom script -- give students video lectures to watch at home, and do "homework" in the classroom with the teacher available to help.

Jetpack for Learning” Design Challenge Winners Announced at SXSW : The Mozilla Blog

“Jetpack for Learning” Design Challenge Winners Announced at SXSW :: The Mozilla Blog

“Jetpack for Learning” Design Challenge Winners Announced at SXSW
Posted by Erica Jostedt

March 14th, 2010 · Mozilla Labs, Mozilla News

Editor’s note: On March 13, Mozilla Labs announced the Jetpack for Learning Design Challenge winners at the the Mozilla SXSW Happy Hour. For more details, check out Aza Raskin’s announcement on the Mozilla Labs blog, reposted below:

Three projects of the Jetpack for Learning Design Challenge were awarded special prizes at the Mozilla SXSW party today. Ten projects already selected as Design Challenge winners participated in a design camp in Austin, TX over the past three days. Today three of these projects were chosen for special awards: ClozeFox was selected as “best use case”; the project leader of Mupple received the prize for “sharing knowledge with others”; Expression Widgets was chosen as the “best web hack”. You can find more information about them and download all Jetpacks-based add-ons from the Design Challenge wiki.

Will the Bloom Box become the "Google" of Green Energy?

Google took the information age by storm. Could this be the black swan, the "google" if you will, of the green energy age? What do you think? Check out this video.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

original source - http://mashable.com/2010/02/21/bloom-box/

Did You Know 4.0

This is another official update to the original "Shift Happens" video. This completely new Fall 2009 version includes facts and stats focusing on the changing media landscape, including convergence and technology, and was developed in partnership with The Economist. For more information, or to join the conversation, please visit http://mediaconvergence.economist.com and http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com.

Google's New Real-Time Search Streams Breaking News and Live Twitter Updates

From lifehacker, "It's really amazing to see live updates in search results, but there's plenty of people that don't give a hoot about what the folks on Twitter or Facebook are talking about. It will also be interesting to see how Google keeps the signal-to-noise ratio down when huge news breaks and people everywhere are blogging, posting, and sometimes unintentionally spreading false information." See Video of new search in action:

How does distance learning, social networking, and other new media enrich your life?

I was recently asked the question, "How does distance learning, social networking, and other new media enrich your life … your career?" and here was my reply:

I define distance learning as any method of teaching and learning that is not dependent on a geographic location. Therefore, most of our world is falling into this category and enriching our lives in one way or another. Online banking, shopping, music, education, etc...The distance technologies enable us to prioritize our lives around the things that matter most to us, such as our families, friends, community, and organizations we are passionate about. Distance technologies facilitate a brand new form of asynchronous communication that enables us to prioritize and schedule our lives more effectively. This is a major reason why distance learning in higher education has spread like wildfire and continues to grow. It's not that online learning is easier or of lower quality (see research), it is that formal education can now revolve around a person's life rather than the other way around. It's only the next natural step. I have seen the growth and increased demand of distance education at BGSU first hand and am very excited about BGSU being chosen by the Ohio Board of Regents as a Center of Excellence for E-learning in the State of Ohio. E-learning doesn't replace face to face universities but enhances them by meeting the new needs of a new generation of students, both young and old.

Let's change gears and look at facebook and twitter as two distance technologies that are changing the world around us. Twitter allows me to get news and information from the people and organizations that interest me the most. Therefore, by subscribing to various twitter feeds, I can get the latest deals from amazon, stay on top of the latest technologies from apple, google, and other tech companies, and get words of inspiration from my pastor or other pastors I listen to online throughout the day. This is awesome. I am also able to re-tweet those to my community of followers, and they, their followers. You see how information is exploding there? With facebook, I am able to "keep in touch" with hundreds of friends at a distance. For example, this enables me to see pictures of my niece and nephews right after they were taken, which prompts me to comment on them or call them. You see how this technology interrupts our lives, but can do so in a positive way. Ever wonder what happened to your old high school buddies? With facebook, you can stay in touch with them on a surface level so that if your relationship with them ever re-surfaces when you run into them in person, you will have much to talk about and build on. The technology is not meant to replace relationships, but if used with wisdom, enhance them. RSS feeds, blogs, podcasts, Wikipedia, YouTube has greatly impacted my career in that I am able to subscribe to content all over the internet and have it directly imported to my email inbox or RSS reader. This enables me to stay on top of the latest in the field of distance learning as well as contribute to the conversation with my own blog posts or tweets.

A new kind of computer - A new generation of computing - Google Chrome OS

The power of web apps has ushered in a new generation of computing. Web apps like gmail, youtube, lala, pandora, mint, blogger, wordpress, google maps, netflix, twitter, facebook etc have us all glued to the internet. This is good news for Google. Ever wonder why google gives away almost all of their web apps for free? Because they want you online! Personally, I consider that a fair trade. I get their free apps and in exchange I tolerate Google Ads and sometimes find them helpful unlike random commercials on TV, which DVR's are killing off. Anyway, Google wants everyone to be online all the time and they want that experience to be as awesome as possible because the longer people are online, the more they will see Google Ads, which is how they make 95% of their money. To be honest, google should just start giving everyone a computer on their 16th birthday, kind of like Gillette does with razors. All that to say, Google isn't giving away computers, but they do want to make them cheap and they want them to fly on the internet. Google is working on developing a new computer that runs Google Chrome OS that is soley designed for the internet. It will be centered around SPEED and SECURITY. They are doing this because 90% of the stuff we want to do on the computer is all done on the internet and they like it that way. Google also thinks storing data on your personal computer is old-school so these computers won't do that. Your thinking "HUH?" Google thinks it should all be done in the cloud on secure servers. I know what you are thinking "what about security?!" Well, the facts are that if you are on a PC and you are connected to the internet, chances are the data on your PC is actually less secure than it would be on server protected by million dollar security systems. What's more secure, your house or Fort Knox? Think of cold hard cash vs electronic funds. Some people love to pay with cash and will only feel secure doing so. They hate the idea of online banking because what if it gets hacked? In addition, this person will also feel the need to keep all their mp3's physically located on a personal computer along with all their secure financial information. If that is you, this whole idea will not interest you (at least for several more years). Also, the Google Chrome OS is not for everyone unless technology advances so quickly that it becomes possible to do real hardcore video and graphics editing on the internet with web apps. Seems like too much processing power would be needed at this point, but in the future who knows?

I think the idea is interesting and this is what I love about Google. They are always pushing the status quo and thinking outside of the box. I'm not sure how this will go, but they are challenging people and companies to truly think different and they are doing something about it with their actions. Check out this video on Chrome OS to learn more about it. What do you think about it? Do you think this is the future of desktop computing? Matthew Murray from PC Mag has an interesting article about that topic here. How do mobile apps fit into this equation? Are traditional desktops old school? Do you trust the cloud or do you need your personal hard drive? I think I would buy one if it were $99 or less and I would use it at first just to explore the possibilities. Then I would blog about it :-)

Google's World Changing Project -- You can vote!

Google started a project last year in which they gathered ideas from all over the world on how to best change the world for the better and now people are voting on them. What idea from the list do you find most promising? Which ones should Google make happen? You tell them. Your vote for one of these ideas will help their advisory board choose up to 5 projects to fund, at which point they'll launch an RFP process to identify the organization(s) that are best suited to implementing them. Check them out and vote here -- http://www.project10tothe100.com/vote.html

Titles of Potential Projects:

1. Collect and organize the world's urban data
2. Build better banking tools for everyone
3. Encourage positive media depictions of engineers and scientists
4. Work toward socially conscious tax policies
5. Provide quality education to African students
6. Make government more transparent
7. Create real-time natural crisis tracking system
8. Help social entrepreneurs drive change
9. Make educational content available online for free
10. Drive innovation in public transport
11. Create more efficient landmine removal programs
12. Build real-time, user-reported news service
13. Create real-world issue reporting system
14. Enhance science and engineering education
15. Create genocide monitoring and alert system
16. Promote health monitoring and data analysis

A few of my distance learning principles for success

First, you have to have a passion for learning new things. You can't ever be satisfied with the status quo, especially since we live in the "Information Age." My action steps for this principle are to start subscribing to prominent bloggers in your field today. And if you want to be looked upon as an expert in your field, start contributing to the conversations in your field by starting a blog and writing about issues in your own field that you are passionate about. This will open up a whole new world to you and lead to many new connections. This is one of the reasons I eagerly developed a University-wide blogging system for BGSU (https://blogs.bgsu.edu). Every student, faculty, and staff member can create as many blogs as they want. It has been awesome to see what happens when everyone at the university has a voice on the web. They create, communicate, and collaborate in ways not possible in years past. The day of hording information is over because information is ubiquitous and we have now entered the day of sharing information. It's those that know what to do with all the good information on the internet that will make a difference in the world. If you don't believe me, ask yourself why MIT has uploaded 1900 courses to the internet as well has hundreds of other schools. They understand that information is not the commodity, it is the interaction with experts and peers from a community of learners around that information. Second, if you are an online instructor, communicate, communicate, communicate, with your learners. Many people just entering the world of distance learning may think of it as a glorified correspondence course, however they could not be further from the truth. Online learning actually facilitates many new streams of interaction and communication and the best instructors leverage those streams in their courses (i.e. social networks, blogs, twitter, youtube.) However, they must use these technologies appropriately and with much wisdom, as they may end up just generating noise instead of true learning opportunities. It is for this reason at BGSU that we have an expert staff of educational technologists in the Center for Online and Blended Learning, to work with our online faculty.

The Official White House on Flickr

A Flickr stream for the Whitehouse is a great idea. I think it gives the public a more personal, social, and connected feel to the government. If you comment on a photo you know someone in the whitehouse will see it and they may even check out your Flickr photos. Pretty cool. Check it out...http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse

10 Online Learning Tools for Students

Check out this blog for details about these 10 online learning tools for students:

The list includes:

Dynamic Periodic Table -Chemistry
Periodic Table of the Elements - Chemistry
Foldit - Biology
Mathway -Math
SpeedCrunch (Windows, Mac, Linux) - Math
LiveMocha - Languages
VerbaLearn - Languages
Bullfighter (MS Word and Powerpoint plugin) - Languages
wePapers - Literature
Zotero (Firefox extension) - Literature/Resource manager

PC Mag's list of the best free software of 2009 and the software that I use

If you have a few hours to kill, check out PC Mags list of the best free software of 2009. I can say that I have tried or used all of the software in their "Hall of Fame." If you don't have a few hours to check out everything on the list, you can at least check out the software that I have used this past year as listed below. I have designated the Apps that I use most frequently as a [TerenceOnline Power App]

Also, I would have added Jing to the list! What free software would you add?

Software from the list that I have used or currently use:

173. VLC media player
www.videolan.org/vlc
Windows | Mac OS | Linux
VideoLAN's open-source software plays back, well, just about everything. It can also serve up streaming video and music to other PCs on your network.

170. HandBrake [TerenceOnline Power App]
www.handbrake.fr
Windows | Mac OS | Linux
Want to back up all those DVDs you own before they get scratched? This
open-source tool does full DVD-to-MPEG-4 conversion, which you can play
back later on media centers, even the Apple TV.

159. Netvibes [TerenceOnline Power App]
www.netvibes.com
Web
A personalized start page with an emphasis on widgets and feed readers, Netvibes also aggregates podcasts for you.
Read our review of NetVibes.

158. Google Reader
reader.google.com
Web | Mobile
After three years, Google's RSS feed reader is tops, not only mimicking the best of what desktop readers can do but also mashing up nicely with other Google services, like the iGoogle home page.
Read our review of Google Reader.

148. Ubuntu [HALL OF FAME]
www.ubuntu.com
Linux
The easiest Linux to install, now in version 8.10 (aka "Intrepid
Ibex"), not only is suitable for (somewhat knowledgeable) consumers,
but also comes with all the software you need to be productive.
Read our review of Ubuntu 8.04 .

145. Zoho [TerenceOnline Power App]
www.zoho.com
Web | Mobile
If there's a tool in the arsenal of office suites that Zoho doesn't
include, we can't think of it. Not all the Web apps are free, but those
that are—word processor, spreadsheet tool, presentation app, mail,
wiki, and many more—all bring the goods.
Read our review of Zoho .

140. OpenOffice [HALL OF FAME] [TerenceOnline Power App]
www.openoffice.org
Windows | Mac OS | Linux | Solaris
Version 3 of the freebie office suite
ups the ante against Microsoft's hegemony, becoming fast and polished
enough to warrant serious consideration by all, especially small
businesses. It looks like MS Office 2003 (for those not in love with
the Ribbon interface in Office 2007) and has all the tools—except
e-mail—you'll ever need.
Read our Review of OpenOffice.org 3.0 .

139. Notepad++ [HALL OF FAME]
notepad-plus.sourceforge.net
Windows
Notepad++ is the standard by which all replacements for Notepad—that
weak little app that comes with Windows—are measured. It sports full
text styles, tabs, drag-and-drop, and super-speed and is suitable for
any coding or writing you can throw at it.

132. Google Docs [TerenceOnline Power App]
docs.google.com
Web | Mobile
If you're ready to move your work life to the cloud, Google's word
processor, spreadsheet, and presentation suite is ready for you,
complete with storage for all docs. It also comes with forms you can
fill out to gather data from outside.
Read our review of Google Docs, a PCMag.com Editors' Choice.

127. Adobe Buzzword
www.buzzword.com
Web
This online-only word processor
has one of the best-looking minimalist interfaces going, since it was
built entirely with Adobe Flash, and each page looks as good as any
formatted in Word.
Read our review of Adobe Buzzword .

124. Google Desktop
desktop.google.com
Windows | Mac OS | Linux
Put the power of Google's search engine to work on finding your own
files. The software indexes in the background, while in the foreground
you get to put all the Google Gadgets (widgets) you like on your desktop.
Read our review of Google Desktop 4 (beta).

123. Yahoo Widgets
widgets.yahoo.com
Windows | Mac OS
The world's biggest collection of widgets—over 5,000 of the things—is
yours through Yahoo. Some are more useful than others, but with the
right combo your desktop can be an information powerhouse.

110. Meebo [TerenceOnline Power App]
www.meebo.com
Web | Mobile
When you want to avoid installing software
but still want to chat on all the major IM networks, Meebo is your site
of choice. Sign up for a Meebo account to access multiple IM networks
all at once and log all conversations.
Read our review of Meebo.

107. AIM [HALL OF FAME] [TerenceOnline Power App]
www.aim.com
Windows | Mac OS | Linux | Web | Mobile
AOL's Instant Messenger is the most-used network in the U.S., and the
software—only the Windows version gets regular updates these days—packs
in as much as possible. You can access the AIM network with just about
any multi-protocol IM software.
Read our review of AIM 6.5 .

105. Splashup
www.splashup.com
Web
You don't even need to sign up to get instant access to this
Flash-based image editor with all the features (and more) that you'd
find in a downloadable app.

103. Picnik
www.picnik.com
Web
Picnik is the gold standard in online image editing these days: It
fixes photos without confusing users and works with a number of
photo-sharing sites, and best of all, you don't have to register to get
started using it—unless you want to save images online.
Read our review of Picnik.

102. Photosynth
www.photosynth.com
Web
Photosynth does so many unique things with photos that we gave it a Technical Excellence award.
It takes multiple photos, finds where they overlap, and creates an
almost 3D image; it can even make a 3D replica of an object from shots
at multiple angles.

99. Picasa [TerenceOnline Power App]
picasa.google.com
Windows | Linux
Few free programs come close to handling photos with the skill of
Picasa. Organize them, do quick edits (including red-eye reduction),
and share pics online or e-mail them to friends.
Read our review of Picasa 3, a PCMag.com Editors' Choice.

95. Google SketchUp
sketchup.google.com
Windows | Mac OS
If you're new to 3D but want to build worlds anyway, a free tool like
SketchUp is a great place to start; the latest version includes
"self-aware" 3D models so the app knows, for example, to resize a
virtual staircase by adding more stairs and extend a virtual fence by
adding more slats.
Read our review of Google SketchUp.

94. GIMP [HALL OF FAME]
www.gimp.org
GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) has provided Photoshop-like tools at no charge for over a decade.
Read our review of Gimp 2.4.7 .

85. Google Earth
earth.google.com
Windows | Mac OS | Linux
If you like Google Maps online, welcome to that same kind of action on
steroids. You can traverse the globe on its interlocking satellite
images, or reverse it and look skyward, even travel to the past.
Third-party add-ons continue to extend Google Earth's capabilities
beyond what our puny terrestrial minds can imagine.
Read our review of Google Earth 4.3, a PCMag.com Editors' Choice.

84. Geni.com [TerenceOnline Power App]
www.geni.com
Web
There's no easier place to plug in your family tree, and being a Web
app makes it easy to share with the rest of the family so they can fill
in the gaps.

81. Mint [TerenceOnline Power App]
www.mint.com
Web
Mint manages your money by sucking in data from all your bank, credit card, and other accounts, providing you regular reports on what you're spending and how to save.
Read our review of Mint.com, a PCMag.com Editors' Choice.

76. WinRAR
www.rarlab.com
Windows
We all know about compressing files with ZIP, but RAR is also quite popular; WinRAR will compress or decompress files in both.

71. Adobe Reader [HALL OF FAME]
www.adobe.com/reader
Windows | Mac OS | Linux | Mobile
Adobe's PDF reader is far from basic, with a number of extra features including online collaboration tools.

65. Filezilla
www.filezilla-project.org
Windows | Mac OS | Linux
Slick and simple FTP that does the job, complete with drag-and-drop from local to remote or vice versa.

64. DownThemAll
www.downthemall.net
Windows | Mac OS | Linux
Don't download just one item at a time from a Web page. As the name implies, this download manager for Firefox handles them all.

61. Skype [TerenceOnline Power App]
www.skype.com
Windows | Mac OS | Linux
Easy to use for phone calls (free between Skype users, with a minimal
charge to call other phones), Skype truly shines when paired with a
high-end webcam so you can see your friends and family.
Read our full review of Skype.

57. Yahoo Mail [TerenceOnline Power App] -- I use this as a secondary email account and to gain access to Yahoo fantasy sports and Flickr
mail.yahoo.com
Web
Our webmail Editors' Choice embeds the Yahoo Messenger IM and RSS reader, works on the Web with any browser or operating system, and has more features than anyone could hope to master.
Read our review of Yahoo Mail, a PCMag.com Editors' Choice.

55. Thunderbird [HALL OF FAME]
www.mozilla.com/thunderbird
Windows | Mac OS | Linux
The Internet's top e-mail client from Mozilla is (of course)
extensible, but even without add-ons Thunderbird is simple-to-master
software for anyone with a POP3 or IMAP e-mail account.
Read our review of Thunderbird 2.

50. Gmail [TerenceOnline Power App] -- Could not live without this one! Not to mention, your gmail account opens up all of Googles free apps to you such as picasa, docs, calendar, reader, video, blogger, etc.
www.gmail.com
Web | Mobile
The current bellwether in Web-based e-mail is still
in perennial beta, but Google continues to innovate with additions via
the Gmail Labs. The searchable and ever-increasing storage (up to 7GB
now, up from 5.5GB last year) doesn't hurt. New themes make it pretty.
And you can use it to IM or even send SMS text messages to friends' phones.

45. Remember The Milk
www.rememberthemilk.com
Web | Mobile
This power to-do list site gives you many ways to get reminders
(e-mail, SMS, IM) and even more ways to create them, from Google
widgets to phone calls to IM bots.

42. Google Calendar [TerenceOnline Power App]
www.google.com/calendar
Web | Mobile
With multiple views, simple sharing, and seamless integration with
other Google products, Google's calendar, like most of its Web apps,
stands a notch above the rest.
Read the full review of Google Calendar.

38. Safari
www.apple.com/safari
Windows | Mac OS
Fast page load times are a hallmark of this browser, the default for
Mac installations and also available for Windows. Safari offered
private browsing before it was cool.
Read our review of Safari 3.1 for Windows.

36. Opera [HALL OF FAME]
www.opera.com
Windows | Mac OS | Linux | Mobile
Opera can claim many "firsts"—tabs, speed dial, and more—and some say
the best. It remains a fast browser with a presence available on just
about any device in your digital arsenal.
Read our review of Opera 9.

35. Internet Explorer 8 Beta [HALL OF FAME]
www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer
Windows
This is a freebie you're probably already using in some form, as IE is
the most-used Web browser in the world. The latest beta adds fantastic
(if overdue) features such as a stealth mode, better performance, and
the ability to subscribe to "web slices" that are just parts of a full
Web page.

34. Google Chrome [TerenceOnline Power App] -- love to use this lightweight browser when I want to do a quick task on the internet such as email or access hulu.com
www.google.com/chrome
Windows
Everyone pays attention to what Google does, and when it made a Web
browser, the world noticed. And for good reason: This streamlined,
fast, secure software has true potential in the browser wars.

32. Firefox [HALL OF FAME] [TerenceOnline Power App] -- Like gmail, I could not live without this app. The available plugins make this app indispensible such as the scribefire plugin I am using now to write this post.
www.mozilla.com
Windows | Mac OS | Linux | Mobile
Can't wait for the free update to IE8,
which promises an enhanced address bar and upgraded privacy
protections? In the meantime use our favorite browser. Firefox is
beholden to no one and extensible to the nth degree. Upcoming versions
will offer far more security and superfast JavaScript to make the
browsing experience even better.
Read our review of Firefox 3, a PCMag Editors' Choice.

31. Flock 2
www.flock.com
Windows | Mac OS | Linux
Flock 2 stresses the social along with surfing, integrating features
like RSS reading and Twitter and media access right into the browser.
Since it's based on Firefox, it can also use many of the same
extensions.
Read our review of Flock 2.

28. WordPress.com
www.wordpress.com
Web
You could install WordPress on your servers, or go right to this commercial, hosted site and set up a professional-looking blog in no time.
Read our review of WordPress.

22. ScribeFire (note: using it right now to make this blog post) [TerenceOnline Power App]
www.scribefire.com
Windows | Mac OS | Linux
This add-on for Firefox is a perfect tool for posting entries to just about any blogging software or service in existence.

15. Winamp [HALL OF FAME]
www.winamp.com
Windows
Still a primo MP3 player, Winamp is both customizable (it heralded the age of "skins" on software) and comes in multiple versions, including one that works with CDs.

10. iTunes [HALL OF FAME] [TerenceOnline Power App] Once you get into itunes, this app is essential.
www.apple.com/itunes
Windows | Mac OS
Do we have to explain iTunes as the (so far) ultimate media player, coupled with online store
and the primary way to get media—from music to video to games to
podcasts, which plays most file formats (except, unsurprisingly,
Windows Media formats)—and puts them on your iPod or iPhone? Probably
not.

5. Audacity [HALL OF FAME] [TerenceOnline Power App]
audacity.sourceforge.net
Windows | Mac OS | Linux
On a par with any commercial audio
editor, Audacity is the free sound editor of choice. The latest beta
(1.3.6) even supports MPEG-4, Dolby Digital, and Windows Media.

Thanks to my friend, Sam Parks, for directing me to this list.

VoxOx - One service to unify them all?

I thought this service looked interesting and potentially useful. Teachers educating students in the information economy know that their are tons of different ways to communicate and engage students in the learning process, so perhaps a service that unites all communication methods into one central location might be useful. VoxOX goes after Skype and the VoIP market while attempting to connect our interconnected world of email, text messaging, social networks, etc. It seems like a helpful idea, but I don't know if people will be willing to take the time to input all of their communication networks into this service as the quality is still an unknown. Also, web 2.0 apps live and die by their community and this one is still small since it's just beginning. Will it gain momentum?

On an aside, since google just added video chat to gmail and they are spear heading the android project, I am inclined to centralize most of my communications via google, however, I know this solution leaves out social networks for the most part but that might be ok. What other reasons are there to try out a solution like VoxOx?

from the VoxOx site:
VoxOx.com | Blog

VoxOx is the first ever "Universal Communicator Service" that unifies all of today's key communication channels - voice, video, Instant Messaging (IM), text, social media, e-mail, and content sharing - into a single, intuitive interface that gives you control of your contacts, conversations and most importantly, your interconnected lifestyles, both now and in the future! It combines the benefits of VoIP solutions, interoperable IMs, Web services and social networking aggregators, and much more at no cost.

Net neutrality - crucial to saving the internet as we know it

How would you like it if our Internet Service Providers (i.e. Time Warner, Verizon, At&T, etc) chose the content we could view and charged us extra for content they choose? Do you want to save the internet as we know it?  Then you need to be informed about the importance of Net Neutrality and insist that law makers continue to uphold it and formalize it in some way. Here is an excellent article by Dr. Paul Cesarini, from Bowling Green State University, outlining why net neutrality is crucial to saving the internet as we know it.  Here is my favorite exerpt from the article: 

If we are to save the Internet as we have come to know it, we must consider formalizing network neutrality in some way. We must insist that our elected officials take an overtly pro-regulatory stance. I admit that coming to that conclusion makes me uncomfortable. Even though mandating such neutrality has been advocated by Internet pioneers such as Vint Cerf and Tim Berners-Lee, it still goes against every "less government interference" bone in my middle-aged body. Yet I know it is the right thing to do. I know that a packet is a packet; that all bits should be treated equally. I know that while my trust in government is generally quite low, and my trust in the FCC is at best conditional, my trust in Comcast, Verizon, Time Warner, and AT&T is significantly lower.

Google and the Brain

Thanks to Connie Molnar, Director of COBL at BGSU, for sharing this article with me. I've always known google to be an innovative company and I really enjoy their free tech products such as their search engine, gmail, google docs, google maps, GOOG-411, etc. Their products assist millions of people in various ways, but is it possible they are making people smarter too? Check out this intriguing article.

Study: Google does a brain good - CNN.com

Can Google make you smarter? Is the more you Yahoo, the better? A new study suggests that searching online could be beneficial for the brain.
Searching online triggers areas of the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning.

Searching online triggers areas of the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning.

A study at the University of California, Los Angeles, measured brain activity of older adults as they searched the Web.

"There's so much interest in exercising our minds as we age," said the researcher, Dr. Gary Small, a professor at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. "One result of this study is that these technologies are not all bad. They may be good in keeping our brains active."

To study what brains look like when people are searching the Internet, Small recruited two groups of people: one that had minimal computer experience and another that was Web savvy.

Members of the technologically advanced group had more than twice the neural activation than their less experienced counterparts while searching online. Activity occurred in the region of the brain that controls decision-making and complex reasoning, according to Small's study, which appears in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Cool Tools for Schools

The following wiki provides links to tons of cool web apps that can be used in education. Check it out...

http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/