Google calendar with weather loookout

Posted on by admin
From clker.com

From clker.com

What if? What if Google Calendar would allow to show us a lookout or weather forecast for the next 15 days?
Sometimes I find myself debating on booking a meeting, attending a sport game, going to a BBQ because I don’t know what the weather might look like. I glance at the calendar and I end up looking up the 15 days forecast from weather sources to make a decision.

Here is what I propose: a layer can be turn on to show weather condition by using colors, numbers, symbols, etc.  Google can partner up with local weather stations to provide local deals, etc. There is great potential I believe.

Soundition – a quick and powerful sound mixer

Posted on by admin

web site that lets you (quickly and easily) mix sounds from the site’s library, and it also lets you upload your own sounds.

The example below is a quick mixer I made in about 3 minutes.

Cincopa WordPress plugin

Check it out!

Twitter learning. Sort of.

Posted on by admin

from free digital photos.com

What is faster than rapid learning? Bits of Information.

We read every day, and students are no exception. Specifically, a student will pay attention to anything that comes up on their phone.  One way to add information retention is to based part of the day’s lesson on the information received students receive on their phones. The are a several creative ways teachers and instructors can achieve this.

Scenario 1. Have student sing up on an email/text list, and every morning send out a short summary of the day’s lesson(s). Some student will then recall the information (as short or brief as it may have been) and have an idea of the work/discussion.

Scenario 2. Project based. Group students and have them create a presentation of the information they will receive from you. Do not tell them what they will be working until they are organized and ready. You can create rubrics, deadlines, etc. and make them available to them. This will intrigue them and create a buzz among them as to which topic they are working on.

Etc.

Learning blocks: the visual guide to web design

Posted on by admin

I came across a neat website that offers users a way to “design” their own WordPress site/theme using the WYSIWYG format–sort of–an online app that dynamically changes the code (even though the user doesn’t see these changes) as the user changes the layout.

No Code Needed

Though with limitations, Lubith does a great job at catching the attention and getting the user to start messing with the design. As mentioned, with Lubith, there is no need to know html, css or php to design a WordPress site (theme), and it makes great use of its intuitive user interface that dictates the user’s next step in the design with knobs and dotted lines highlighting the building blocks of the theme layout.

Training the newbie

As a web and instructional designer, I realized what a great tool this can prove to be in a training session about web development. Here is my initial design flow plan:

  • Create a unit on layout design and introduce the importance of space and user experience.
  • Follow with a sample code on what the theme “Twenty-Ten” looks like in html/css/php code.
  • Present Lubith, and have users play around to understand the limitations using a tools like Lubith has, and the possibilities that hand coding allows designers.

It needs refinement and assessment, but this was my first initial thought.

Photoshop? What you need to do next..

Posted on by admin

Adobe Photoshop - Copyright Adobe Systems

Enter a contest.

There are many, many different ways to get the same result in Photoshop.  Any image effect can be achieved by utilizing effects, layer order, and image manipulation.   Professionals tend to streamline work, but that’s after they have done it the same effects over and over, and by doing so, they achieve the most effective way to recreate an effect.  They also fructify on mistakes by achieving another effect or a variation effect. Since 1990, Photoshop has challenged the creative mind of every digital artist and allowed the artist to push Adobe to keep the suite atop of the industry standards.

Every digital artist, graphic designer, and instructional designer must know his or her way around this application for it is the essence of the digital world—aside from Illustrator.   Though, as an artist, the creative direction still lies in the artist him/herself; Phosotop as a tool, medium, allows non-artist or those who are not making a living as artist to create creative art.

So, what better way to get started and measure up to others? Maybe you have it, and maybe you can achieve it sooner thank you think.   Here is a list or contest you can enter and promote yourself; and a way to get your digital portfolio started. The best way to learn is to compete with the best , and the best way to learn. Here are a few options.

  1. Photoshop Contest: Based on member voting.
  2. Worth 1000: all about effects.
  3. PHX Layers: all about collaboration
  4. Freaking News: need a challenge or idea?

 

Facebook Data for all

Posted on by admin

Today, I learned that I can download a backup copy of my Facebook data (posts, friends, photos, videos, etc) –in other words, my digital life on FB. Is this a good idea? Facebook is now allowing users to backup their “data” or history?

Privacy Issue 

Here is yet another venue, another layer FB users have to worry about.  By enabling this option, anyone who would stumble on my open FB session will have a the rare option to download a copy of my (history) data; this is just adding to my worry about my digital tracks, as innocent as they may be. The process takes about two clicks, and even though the process ends when FB sends an email containing the link to the file-chances are, a rare chance, that my email session might also be open.

The Process

Users can go to their account settings and click on the link at the bottom that says “Download a copy of your facebook data”.  Below is a snapshot of the information:

What’s in your archive?

  • Any photos or videos you’ve shared on Facebook
  • Your Wall posts, messages and chat conversations
  • Your friends’ names and some of their email addresses

(Note: We’ll only include email addresses for friends who’ve allowed this in their account settings.)

What’s not in your archive?

  • Your friends’ photos and status updates
  • Other people’s personal info
  • Comments you’ve made on other people’s posts

Caution: Protect your archive

Your Facebook archive includes sensitive info like your private Wall posts, photos and profile information. Please keep this in mind before storing, sending or uploading your archive to any other site or service.

Screen Cast tools for the people

Posted on by admin
Image of website: Screener

Screenr.com

As as instructional designer, making sure that the learners gets the idea, specially those who are more visual, is vital to the instructional design. Screen capture application choices had been few for years and expensive. There were two options, one on the Adobe side, Captivate at $749.00 which is part of the eLearning suite. TechSmith provided a more affordable suite, Camtasia at $299.00.  In addition, there were the tools provided by operating systems, (OS and WIN), but learning curve was too high for many and demanded further authoring to post online or share.

Screenr and Screen-o-Matic offer a free service to those who need to capture up to 15 minutes of time. If you want to share your recording using YouTube, 15 is more than plenty since YouTube limits you to about 8 minutes per video anyways.  You will have to see the watermark on the video, but the rights are yours. To use either one, you do not need to install anything, yes, not a thing.   You just start recording, save, and share.  Easy!  Screen-o-Matic give you a Full or HD format option. Yes, it is free.

Have you used any screen cast software? Let us know.

That is it. I am developing Google Apps.

Posted on by admin

I am a Google users, I use gmail, calendar, task, wave, docs, webmaster tools, google analytics andI am  learning to use the rest of the apps on daily basis. I believe my time logged into Google’s servers makes me an important voice when it comes to suggesting ideas. About a year ago, I submitted an idea to the Google Lab guys, and in the forums about developing an app for Gmail.  What happended?

Nothing yet–and I am done waiting.  Now, I did not major in computer science, but I will embark in the journey of becoming  a programmer. I will get started on designing my own Google Apps.  Too many creative ideas to waste or to wait for. (this will hopefully lead to a site solely dedicated to hear people and their ideas for apps).

The Idea.
To develop an application which will allow you to stick/attach visible comments–let’s say you get an email in which you want to make some personal comments for future reference. A layer over the body to write notes on and which you can turn on and off.

Since the introduction of the tablet (now Pads), wouldn’t this idea take off. What do you think?
I will upload some schematics of the idea soon.