What is the purpose of this blog?

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur C. Clarke

Thursday, October 29, 2009

World Science Festival!









This stuff struck me as interesting as the TED talks. Lots of videos with philosophers, musicians, authors, scientists (of course!), environmentalists, etc... They cover a wide range of very interesting topics you can watch from the comfort of your laptop... Go here: worldsciencefestival.com

Open Yale Courses












OK, this isn't just any site. This has open courses covering tons of subjects and includes transcripts, audio and video. It's not to be sneezed at. Become a renaissance man or woman and watch them all! Click here to visit Yale's extensive online video lectures and courses.

Body Smart Flash Videos of Anatomy, sweet...












Very well done Anatomy site with lots of flash animations. Check it out at http://www.getbodysmart.com

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Find any sound you want online!







Who would have imagined that someone would put together the Google of sound file sources, but they did. Click here to search for any sound you need...

Makezine.com - You have to see it to believe it...















Website devoted to instructional videos, blogs and more on how to "make" just about anything. Simply fabulous videos on making all kinds of technological things both big and small and electric and not. You have to see it to get it. Go to makezine.com to get it...

Richard Feynman lectures in video!

You may have to install an updated video player but it is well worth the trouble. Richard Feynman speaks at Cornell University in 1964. Awesome! Physicists rock!
Click here!

Why Wikipedia when you can Wikimedia?!

This site has links to all the Wikipedia, Wikiquote, Wikiversity, Wikispecies and any other Wiki(insert name here) you could imagine... Check it out here.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Welcome to the beginnings of virtual immersion now...

The future of virtual immersion exists now! The VirtuSphere allows you to go into the virtual world by strapping on a headset and stepping into a large rotating ball that allows you to move around your virtual environment.






















See Discovery Channel's video about it here.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Virtual Morality

Link to a very interesting article in Adbusters that explores the place morality has in the virtual world. Thought provoking... Go to Adbusters article here.

There is no stopping social networking, it's in our DNA

My favorite quote: "Don't try to shut down the two-way flow of information, because you can't stop it, Transparency is in."

Read about how we're hard wired for social networking and how businesses (and schools) will have to give it up for social networking... Click here...

Friday, October 23, 2009

Harvard Lectures Free!
















Harvard@Home is a collection of courses given by Harvard professors that cover a wide range of topics including:
and much much more! Check it out here...

Fantastic 100 Free Tools to Tutor Yourself in Almost Everything!





Bonnie Morris (bless her soul) brought to my attention this great site that literally has 100 sites to tutor yourself in everything from general topics to music to language to life skills etc... Check it out here!

Amazing Molecular Expressions Science Video!

View the Milky Way at 10 million light years from the Earth. Then move through space towards the Earth in successive orders of magnitude until you reach a tall oak tree just outside the buildings of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida. After that, begin to move from the actual size of a leaf into a microscopic world that reveals leaf cell walls, the cell nucleus, chromatin, DNA and finally, into the subatomic universe of electrons and protons. All this by clicking on THIS LINK! Contains many more movie tutorials...

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Excellent Dante Resource!














Click here to check out Dante Worlds.
It's "an integrated multimedia journey--combining artistic images, textual commentary, and audio recordings--through the three realms of the afterlife (Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise) presented in Dante's Divine Comedy." Very well done!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Future of Creating?

8 minute video you should go full screen on. It took 2 years to render this video... Wow!

World Builder from BranitVFX on Vimeo.

Robotic Prosthetic Hand that can feel!

I couldn't contain myself when I saw this site called "Maps of War!"

Excellent history resource. I've never seen anything like it. "Maps-of-War is a multimedia site dedicated to producing diverse, creative visuals that enhance our understanding of war and its history."













Waste no time historians! Go here now! http://www.mapsofwar.com

So you want Google Reader and RSS to follow my blog, I get it...

Well watch this video and then subscribe to my blog and then you'll get all the updates and not be left out of the loop (the ever important tech-ed loop)

Excellent Poe Site

















Check out the Knowing Poe website here!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Google Wave: A Whole New Email Concept

Click on full screen to see the video better...

The WikiReader in your Pocket!
















OK, I don't know how you feel about Wikipedia and citing it in reports but it is undeniably one of the best resources for information around. Move over Encyclopedia Britannica set and make way for the pocket WikiReader. According to their site:

"WikiReader delivers the joy of information by offering three million Wikipedia articles in a simple $99 handheld device. It turns on instantly, and works for months before replacement of its two AAA batteries is necessary. The large monochrome screen uses a touch interface. Articles are scrolled with a stroke of the finger and hyperlinks selected with a simple tap. Three buttons, Search, History and Random, offer the convenience of reading specific topics or the serendipitous pleasure of discovering something by chance within Wikipedia's rich array of articles ranging from Freud to Final Fantasy.

Updates for the WikiReader are provided quarterly and available for free download. A yearly subscription plan for updated microSD cards is also available for $29."

LEARN MORE HERE

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Montessori and Technology discussion









“Good tools do not make a good teacher, but a good teacher makes good use of tools.” or so states the author in an interesting article on the "Philosophy of Instructional Technology" Check it out here.

Bonnie and Jo Anne suggested this cool bible site






Excellent bible resource. Jo Anne says "For you Bible geeks out there, the big advantage to this website is that it gives the "Strong's Number" for each word in the Bible. This makes cross-referencing really easy, and also shows the original Greek or Hebrew for a given text. Just click the box for "Show Strong's" when you select a text. The number appears above/next to the word in the English text as a blue link (hence "Blue Letter Bible") and clicking on that link takes you to a page that shows the original language lexicon, plus all the occurrences of that particular word in the entire Bible. Very cool stuff!

http://www.blueletterbible.org

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Robots now sing!

OK, she's no Brittany Spears but maybe that's a good thing...

Excellent Resource for 21st Century Learning

















At first when I came across "Ten Ideas for Getting Started with 21st Century Teaching and Learning" I was intrigued, but as I read more I realized all the incredible resources this short article contained. Their "10 Ideas to Begin Educating Innovatively" include topics such as equipment, standards, curriculum, professional development, blogs, wikis and internet safety. But you also find within these 10 ideas links to ISTE's Educational Technology Standards, Action Plan Templates for innovation, grant writing, 8 ways to use a school wiki to increase communication, collaboration and enrich instruction and much much more. I would definitely take a few minutes to click the link below and check it out! CLICK HERE

Mandatory Computer Competency Tests?



















Just came across an interesting article proposing computer literacy tests be required for anyone in the workplace before they can start their job. This article deals mainly with PC users but the gist is the same for anyone using a computer. The author sums it up thus "Think of it as a 'computer driving test' that could reduce malware threats and cyberscams by making users smarter — or at least, not so stupid." Read the article here and draw your own conclusions.