Rodd Lucier :: Blog

http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/a-great-picture/

This image was posted on Twitter tonight as Tim Lauer’s new favourite picture.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lydiamaria/3075298475/
I checked it out immediately.  What a great picture.  If you’re into pricing, that’s a pair of expensive computers those youngsters are holding.  It’s interesting to see them so engaged with their technology.
I just hope, in the best sense of the word, that [...]

http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/links-for-2008-11-30/

TiddlyDu2 - - a free personal organizer from http://www.giffmex.org
Welcome to TiddlyDu2! TiddlyDu2 is a free personal organizer in TiddlyWiki format. It allows you to easily organize your goals, projects, tasks, dated tasks, important information, and contacts.
(tags: web2.0 tiddlywiki wiki productivity howto organizer tutorial writing web organize)


pocketmanila.com
Welcome to the newest flick in the blogging world, online [...]

http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2008/11/30/december-2008-gec-computers-

This past week, my wife and I watched the Gemini Awards on television. The Geminis recognize the very best in Canadian broadcast television. My son works in production for the Survivorman series and they were nominated for three awards.
The show was well produced with a great deal of interesting personalities on and off the stage, [...]

http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2008/11/30/christmas-cards-for-geeks/

I know that I’m a little under the weather.
But, I don’t care who you are.  These are funny.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/3531904/Christmas-and-
Of them all, three really tickled my fancy.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/3531904/Christmas-and-
Powered by ScribeFire.
Posted in Uncategorized      

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Portablepdca/~3/470355342/

This animation was very easy to make.  Honest.  Try it out yourself at goanimate.com.

I don’t plan on setting my grade 5 students loose on the site for the time being. There are too many bikini-clad characters, bars (of the drinking establishment kind), weapons and the like.  Most entertaining, which, of course, is a tad risky for our ultra-conservative sensibilities.

There is mention on the site, of creating a teacher-friendly version.  I’m hopeful that will happen.

Still, it’s a fun way to hook people, young or old, and the results are pretty professional. I can see it being used at the start of a presentation or lesson.

Another con: Edublogs and Wordpress don’t allow the movies to be embedded properly.  The Firefox browser almost seems to work - but doesn’t.  Internet Explorer just creates an empy box. This issue is discussed in goanimate.com’s forums:

Blogs based on Wordpress do not allow embedding videos. The code that

you pasted got trimmed when you saved your post. Only embedding from

certain sites (like YouTube) can work as a result on EduBlogs. We are

working on our side to contact Wordpress and see if there is a way to

enable that in the future, but for now nothing much we can do. We will

keep you posted if we find any way around this.

So, I faked it.  I took a screenshot of the opening frame, cropped it with Fireworks (similar to PhotoShop) and uploaded it to Edublogs as a picture.  I then made the picture link to the goanimate.com site.

Authored by Nathan Toft. Hosted by Edublogs.

http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2008/11/30/links-for-2008-11-29/

Mindjet: Brainstorming, Free Form Thinking, and Visual Aid Mind Mapping Software Program
MindManager 8 uses mind-mapping technology to let you capture, organize, and communicate information using an intuitive visual canvas. You'll be able to work smarter and transform your ideas into action more quickly.
(tags: web2.0 windows visualization utilities tools tool software research)


ChristmasDialer.com - Get a Free [...]

http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2008/11/29/mr-tweet/

Twitter has had just an enormous impact on folks who would grow their Personal Learning Network.  It’s a conversation; it’s a collaboration; it’s chatter; it’s making new contacts; it’s all of this and none of this depending upon how you handle it.
It’s also an area with a very friendly and open API that inspires all [...]

http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2008/11/29/links-for-2008-11-28/

Notify me when it's up!
let you know when a particular service goes up
(tags: website utilities troubleshooting tracking notify internet web2.0)


Create text-to-speech podcast from RSS feed with Odiogo for iPod, MP3 player and mobile phone
Odiogo's media-shifting technology expands the reach of your content: It transforms news sites and blog posts into high fidelity, near human quality [...]

http://dougpete.wordpress.com/2008/11/28/a-sight-gag/

…for a Friday night.
Thanks to my friend pcornqueen for the lead.
The manufacturer name doesn’t appear on the package and I don’t recognize the design. 
However, it does appear to be an amazing product.  It is definitely invisible. 
Plus, as an additional value, the holder appears to be invisible as well.
The whole thing looks like a [...]

http://joanvinallcox.wordpress.com/2008/11/28/webtools-for-teachers-112820

The $100 Laptop
A story about being green and being ethical - “By trying to do the right thing and by designing for the poorest people in the world, we’ve made the greenest laptop in the world. And that’s not just the color!” Great video. via Stephen Downes
tags: laptop, netbooks, $100laptop, digitaldivide

Thanksgiving: Free Software We’re Most [...]