Instant Messaging

Hello everyone! I am back again to talk about instant messaging (IM) and share some of my views on the topic. 

For years instant messaging was one of my favorite methods of communicating. I have often used it to stay in touch with friends that live far away and to chat while other gamers when I’m online. In fact, when my husband and I started dating it was one of our favorite ways to stay in touch. One of the primary advantages to IM was that we could share music, pictures, and files in real time.

However, I haven’t used it as much in the past year.  With the new functionality available for text messaging, and the ability to do Facebook status checks an comments via apps on my smartphone, IM has become an out of date technology for me. My husband still uses it from time to time when he is gaming, but that is really it.

In business, I know some people still use instant messaging to connect with associates at work. However, in my profession it is generally considered an unprofessional form of communicating. Interestingly, email and texting are both acceptable. I am not sure if this is just my particular corner of the industry, or if Aviation in general has considers IM to be taboo. 

Over the years I have tried a number of IM programs including AOL's AIM, Yahoo Messenger, and Windows Live Messenger. I have always found the interface and functionality of Live to be the most useful.  As a visual person I like the skins that can be put on the Live instant message boxes, and find the data sharing options to the most effective. If you are looking into getting an instant messing program, this is the one I recommend. 

Review - Skype

Sykpe is an interesting program that allows you to connect with people over the internet. You can use it to call people for free, send files, instant message, or – and this is my favorite part – video call people. I used this program to talk with my sister in Las Vegas. It was awesome because it allowed our children to interact with her and my nephew in real time. As a military family, we have both friends and relations scattered all over the world. While texting and phone calls are nice, they aren’t nearly as interactive as video.

The other advantage of Skype is on the business side. If you need to video conference with a colleague, this allows you to share files and share links with them as well.

Another advantage to this kind of VOIP program is cost savings. Long distance phone calls can be expensive, but with Skype all you need is your computer and an internet connection. Of course, that can also be your disadvantage as well; the equipment required. To use this successfully you’ll need a powerful enough computer, a webcam, and a strong enough internet connection. Otherwise, the data will transfer so slowly that your video will be annoyingly choppy or not work at all.

Still, these days most people have the required equipment and connections to make this a practical option for them. I recommend checking it out and seeing for yourself!

Review - LinkedIn

Today I checked out the business networking site called LinkedIn. To be honest, the last thing I really want is yet another Social Networking site – at least that is what I thought until I found LinkedIn. The site isn’t just about chatting with friends; it’s about make professional business connections. It can help you to network with your business associates and learn about connections that they have that you might not have known about before. That can be helpful because you may find job opportunities or potential business partners available that you didn’t know about before. I recommend completing a full profile so people can learn more about your experience and qualifications, then checking out the jobs section.

The first thing I checked into was the Jobs Home page. I have to say, I was a little impressed. I found several jobs that are relevant to my work experience listed automatically. The first to jobs listed where positions I was already aware of, but the convenience of the postings seems really practical. LinkedIn also allows you to save jobs and to follow companies that interest you. This can be really important in a field where key positions my only open up once every couple of year. All in all, I think this site has phenomenal potential for business networking, and I highly recommend people check it out. In fact, I’m having my husband sign up tonight! 

Check out this Video: What is LinkedIn?

Social Networking

Hello everyone, 


This week I am taking a look a Social Networking sites. Below is a comparison of the things I look for in a Social Networking site and how the three main sites, Facebook, MySpace, and Friendster compare. Honestly, I prefer the look and feel of MySpace. I love the customizable background and being able to had pictures, videos, and music to my site. Unfortunately, Facebook has become far more popular in recent years. As such, more of my social contacts use this site, which has lead to my using in almost exclusively. Friendster seems to have some interesting options including and virtual wallet and gifting set-up, but this site is still in it's infancy. This means, that like MySpace, fewer people use it, which makes it impractical for my use. It does seem to have some potential, so perhaps this will change in the next few years. 

	MySpace	friendster	facebook
Layout and Design	This interface is not customizable and tends to have a busy, crowded feel.	Many layout and design options and highly customizable.	This interface is not customizabl e.
Status Updates	Yes, with ‘Like’ option as well as comments.	Allows you to comment.	Allows you to comment and give virtual gifts.
Photo Sharing	Ability to post, share, and organize images.	Ability to post, share, and organize images.	Ability to post, share, and organize images.
Social Game Interaction	Many game options available that you can share with friends. Invites to such games can become annoying.	Not as many unique game options available.	Many game options available that you can share with friends. Invites to such games can become annoying.
Mobile Applications	Apps available for most smartphone platforms.	Apps available for most smartphone platforms.	Currently no app available on android platform.

Podcast for Web 2.0 Class

Podcast for Web 2.0 Class




Podcast Powered By Podbean

Hello everyone,
Click the link above to check out my first ever podcast!

Podcast Review - Lab Rats

Lab Rats is a video podcast that focuses on showing it’s subscribers tips and tricks on how to use the technology you are already using. For example, the latest show explains how to connect your laptop to your T.V.  I tend to be the kind of person that prefers to do things myself, so this kind of information is useful to me. The only downside to the show I found was the interruptions they have for sponsor plugs. I tend to avoid commercials almost religiously though, so this is probably just a personal peeve.  Interruptions or not, I still enjoy the videos and highly recommend them. Check it out by clicking the link above to go to the website or subscribe to the show directly using the feed link at the bottom of this page.

Podcast Review - Tech 5

The thing I like about Tech 5 is that it is fast. I try not to consume a lot of news because of all the negativity, however, I do try to keep on the most important information pertinent to my field. This podcast keeps you up to date on the latest tech news in five minutes. There are a couple of down sides to it as well. First, obviously because it is only five minutes, it is not the most detailed. The other downside to it is that the host is opinionated, but not in the funny entertaining way. Still, if you are looking for the latest tech updates on the fly, this may just be what you need. Check it out by clicking the link above to go to the website or subscribe to the show directly using the feed link at the bottom of this page. is that it is fast. 

Podcast Review - Boag World

Boag World  is my favorite website podcast. If you have any interest in learning about web design this is the podcast to subscribe to. The hosts are knowledgeable, funny, and put a hilarious British twist on every episode. 

The show has been on the air for over five years now and this year the added downloadable ebooks to accompany the podcasts for every season. Click the link above to go to the website or subscribe to the show directly using the feed link at the bottom of this page.

Wikies and Web 2.0 – In the Classroom

Hello everyone,

In keeping with the current discussions on the use of Wikis and Web 2.0 technologies to promote learning I have added a discussion to the Wikispaces site called Wikies and Web  2.0 – In the Classroom. Check it out. 

Shift Happens Discussion Reviews - Why not Wikis

This discussion delved into the idea of using Wikis in the classroom as a way to help teach students. Some people worried about student content, but others pointed out that every edit and changed can be tracked in the history section. User Eduwiki provided the following link for educators to check out different options with using a wiki for education: http://eduwikius.wikispaces.com/Wikis. I recommend checking out the Power Point presentation on this topic.

You can reach this discussion here: Why not Wikis

Shift Happens Discussion Reviews - Preparation of Students for the Future

As with the last post, this one also focused on education. However, this time I did find some suggestions for addressing student education that I felt were useful. User jdmarrs  started off with a long and detailed explanation of why he felt Power Point presentations were vitally useful tools, but while his points were valid, they did not address today’s technology. His ideas following that were more on point.

One of his key points involved funding for education. Comparing our education system with Sweden’s free university level education and health programs, he made a valid point. Sweden is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. They place a focus on the people, with an emphasis on education and health care. How can we possibly hope to prepare our children for a technologically based future if our schools can barely afford buses and textbooks? Every year educational funding is being cut because American culture is not placing enough value on our most important resource - our children!

He also had a couple of other good ideas, including adding the use of YouTube videos and podcasts as tools. His view was a little limited though. YouTube can be a fantastic tool. Yes, there is junk out there, but as a teacher you can add the good videos you find to your PowerPoint’s or presentations.  Teachers could also make their own, so they know that they are giving quality information. Plenty of teachers are already doing this. There are even some that are producing their own podcasts. There is a great British web design podcast called Boagworld that has really helped me learn the material in one of my classes. Using these tools means being discriminating, but with good dialog and screening I believe they can enrich our children’s learning and functionality on the web. 

You can reach this discussion here: Preparation of Students for the Future

Shift Happens Discussion Reviews - The Essential Shift

This discussion focuses on educators. As a mother of five and the sister of a teacher, the challenges educators face in keeping up with the current trends are of primary importance. Unfortunately, there were not many answers to the issues posted – yet. Still, I think the important thing is that we are asking the question: how do educators keep up with the rapidly changing technological culture? 

You can find this discussion here: The Essential Shift

Del.icio.us

Del.icio.us is a bookmarking site that makes it easy to organize and track your bookmarks. While being able to search by tags and organize by groups it useful, it also has the added advantage of allowing you to search other peoples bookmarks. This means that if you find someone who has simiar interests, or who has a lot of knowledge on a topic you are less familiar with, you can easily check out what they like. The delicious button makes organizing easy. While I had never used this site before, the video provided in class made the advantages of the service clear and provided great step-by-step instruction for how to use the search and adding features.

Amazon.com

Amazon on Droid X
Originally uploaded by akasha140

This photograph is of Amazon.com, accessed through a mobile device. The versatility and accessability of this service are some of its greatest strengths.

As you can see, each of the following posts has shown a different Web 2.0 application, with each application accessed through a different medium. The tags used here are Web 2.0, Amazon.com , Droid X, mobile and shopping. As before, I have the number of related tags posted below:

Web 2.0 14,260
Amazon.com 3,465
Droid X 1,300
Mobile 1,252,500
Shopping 561,766

Facebook

Facebook
Originally uploaded by akasha140

This photograph is of a Facebook profile being accessed through an X-Box 360. Gamers often use the combined functionality of X-Box profiles with their Facebook profiles to communicate with friends and share game statistics. The tags I entered for this picture are Web 2.0, Facebook, Facebook.com, X-Box, Social Networking, and profile.

Web 2.0 14,260
Facebook 373,010
Facebook.com 237
X-Box 92,842
Social Networking 10,066
Profile 126,391

This picture was a lot easier to do. From Flickr I can now select the picture and post to the Blog directly. It doesn’t allow me to edit things like font though, so I still wound up adjusting the final post through Blogger.

YouTube Guitar Lessons

YouTube Guitar Lessons
Originally uploaded by akasha140

This picture shows a common theme around our house: using the web to learn just about anything. Here my eldest is watching a You Tube video to learn the figure positions for a new song on the guitar. She has the video hard-lined from the computer to the T.V. via HDMI cable for optimum quality. For this photo I entered the tags Web2.0, guitar, guitar lessons, You Tube, and youtube.com. I then did a tag search to see how many other tags with the same categories were listed. The results were as follows:

Web 2.0 14,260
Guitar 1,199,735
Guitar Lessons 797
You Tube 983
YouTube.com 1,531

I did have a few challenges getting this posted. Getting the images onto Flickr was the easy part, mostly because I have used Flickr for similar projects in the past. Unfortunately, it seems that posting an image onto a blog isn’t as easy as cutting-and-pasting the ready-made URL link from Flickr into the Blog. It took a little digging to find out that I needed to grant permissions for Blogger and Flickr to accept each other. Once I figured out how to make that work the process was much simpler.

GIMP

I have been using Photoshop for a few years now. While I love what I can do with it, it can be extremely complex and I get tired of the extravagant prices when it comes time to upgrade. With that in mind I decided to check out the leading Open Source competitor GIMP, or GNU Image Manipulation Program.

For the most part, GIMP felt like a scaled down version of Photoshop. After spending sometime on it I decided that it would work well enough for someone who really only needed this kind of program to touch up their personal photos. However, if you are more into creating digital art this program just isn’t as robust as CS5. I would use it for anything short of high end work for the price, but in the end I think Photoshop is going to have the market on this one for a while. An article I found on Buzzle.com (Jathar, 2010) brought up another important point; technical support. There is something about being able to call Adobe if something goes wrong on a major project that is just comforting. In addition there are so many books and web tutorials available for Photoshop that it is generally easy to find answers to just about any questions you could have, providing that you have the time to research them.

References

Jathar, R. (2010). GIMP vs Photoshop. Retrieved from http://www.blogger.com/

Open Office

Unfortunately, my experience with Open Office didn't go as well as my Google Chrome adventure. I really like the idea, but for me it was just not as workable as Microsoft Office, especially the Writer feature.  The user interface felt a little clumsy, but I could probably get past that for the price. The biggest issue I had was compatibility. If everyone accepted .odt format I would use it, but many of the places I have to send documents to are still stuck on .doc files only. I would also require that the conversions from .docx into Writer always worked right, but when I opened some of my files the formatting did not transfer correctly. To be honest, I find myself rooting for Open Office and I really think that eventually they might catch up. Sadly, Microsoft Word still has my vote – for now.

Google Chrome

I chose to check out the Google Chrome browser for a couple of reasons. First, unlike Firefox, I have never tried Chrome and I have been thinking about switching browsers for a while, so I figured this was a good time to check into something new. Second, when creating your own websites, it is important to test them on multiple browsers. Installing Chrome gives me one more option to test sites on.
The first thing I noticed is that interface is really clean. I was so used to all the different toolbars and buttons on Internet Explorer, that their absence was almost shocking. The second thing noticed was the offered themes. I like pretty things and some of the themes available for the browser are very pretty. IE might have them as well, but if they do I have never seen them presented.
After a little investigating I discovered that there are a number of add-ons and plug-ins available for Chrome, plus a security feature called sandboxing that helps prevent your computer from crashing if you accidently open a dangerous website. I found a lot of other people like the these features as well; after doing tests on the five major web browsers, PCWorld stated that, “… if we had to pick only one browser, Chrome would be our top recommendation. We like Chrome for its clean and friendly interface, good performance, and strong security.” (Mediati, 2010, p. 4).

Reference

Mediati, N. (2010). Browser blowout 2010 IE vs. Firefox vs. Chrome vs. Safari vs. Opera: Our lab tests reveal which browser is the fastest, the safest, and the most powerful tool for the Web. Retrieved from http://www.pcworld.com/article/200963/browser_blowout_2010.html

Solution Watch Review

Photo by xcucax

In contrast with my last post on Read Write Web, the Solution Watch blog  is nearly its perfect opposite. While this blog seems to have once had valid articles on the latest Web 2.0 technology, it’s now wildly out of date. The last post was updated in October of 2007, which is kind of sad, because I really liked its clean interface and the lack of overwhelming advertising found on so many others.

The information provided on the old articles is detailed, visual, and easy to read – which seems to be why the editor decided to keep the site up despite choosing to no longer update it. Unfortunately, with the rapid growth of technological trends the information found there is already too far out of date to be of use, unless of course you’re still struggling along with outdated technology yourself.  If that’s the case, you might just want to check out some of the archived articles through the link above – while their still available.

Read Write Web Review.

Read Write Web - Now this is one blog that won’t waste your time!  This technology blog developed in 2003 by Richard MacManus is one of the best finds I’ve discovered for keeping up on the latest technology news as it relates the average user. The blog articles give detailed reviews of each new product, letting the consumer in on the good and not-so-good elements of each one. The articles focus on giving the information you need in and easy to read format, while not being excessively long or detailed. The blog also has quick links for  viewing the articles as they relate to specific interest groups, like mobile applications or social networking. It also has buttons to send a tweet, ‘like’ an article, or to post your own comments neatly organized around each article blurb.

The one minor downside is the promotional advertising. While I don’t mind the ads quietly flashing to the left of the main articles, I found one or two breaking up the full articles as well; not overly loud or distracting, but it was an annoying interruption, much like a spoiled child trying to grab mommy's attention while she’s on the phone.

Despite this minor flaw, the information itself seemed accurate, well researched, and well written - definitely making this site worth the time to check out. For those of us on a tight schedule, it's the perfect way to keep up on the latest apps and products all in one place.

If you'd learn a little more about Read Write Web, check out this video:

Video Provided by Simon Proud