Google voice is cool!

Cut down on your international call bill, and get a number that rings all your phone. These are all free! Get google voice today.

Accessibility issues with new emerging technology

When the iPad first came out, I am interested to see how this tool can be introduced to seniors who have sight- impairment and are intimated by technologyies.  Thus, I ecnourage my seventy-five-year-old dad to play with it.

The first thing I noticed that was working is how the font size can be 'stretched' out to allow better readability on the screen.  Although it's almost a 'take-for granted' feature for current users of iPhone, iTouch, and iPad, it is something that I see can impact further for many other user sectors.

Senior citizens, like my dad, can absolutely benefit from this application capability to continue his daily interest in pharmaceutical and healthcare.

Here's an article I dawn on: [Campus Technology, dated July 7]http://campustechnology.com/articles/2010/06/29/department-of-ed-lays-down-law-on-kindle-e-reader-usage.aspx

Controversial indeed.  iPad's arrival sets the trends for future e-Readers, at the same time, also urging Kindle and similar products to get better at the competition. In academia, I believe that all technologies would be improved and be equally accessible by all students in the long run.  We will see...

Project Natal - the Technology in 10 years? or sooner?

Have you thought of what technology will become in the next 5 years, or next 10 years? Guess! Some human brains are amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYYonyqHIoc&feature=related

Google Docs is cool!

Demo on Google Docs
 

I am creating this document using Google Docs, which is an online freeware from Google.

 

You can create documents that can be downloaded as .doc, pdf, rtf, html and other formats. You can use this for word processing, slideshows, spreadsheets and online forms, and share with your friends through a link, web page or as an attachment to an email. Also, you can also roll-back to any previous versions of the document as needed. I can publish this document on the web as a link, and have set up to post it to my technology blog automatically from Google Docs. 怡

Watch 'Google Docs in Plain English' video

 

How to Add a Share button on your blog or web page

I dawn on Sharethis.com and find an easy solution to add various social networking logos on your web page or blog in order to quickly share your content with your friends.  This is how it works:

1. Simply login to Sharethis.com
2. Register as a new user and enter your information.
3. Click the 'Get the button for this site' link and follow the wizard.
4. After you have customized the ordering of your buttons, click the 'Get the code' button.
5. Copy and paste the code into the template for your website. Make sure you paste between the tags within your code.

 Try now and click on the below ShareThis button.

Flip Videos -Fun and Affordable Video Camcorder

Flip Video is a hip, sleek, light-weight, pocket-size digital video camera with built-in mic and a 2x zoom. It makes video capturing so easy that a third-grader can probably use it without much instruction. All you need to do is to push a button to start/stop recording, plug it into your computer via a USB port and download or upload your movie to the web on the fly. It's great for youTube fans or students who simply need to videotape a lecture. The videos are of good quality and can be shared as email or online. Using their Flip software, you can capture photos from your video and add music to your movie.

Flip has come down in price. You can get a second-generation Flip Ultra Camcorder 120 minutes for a 4GB storage is as low as $149.00, a designable 60 minutes 2 GB Flip Mino is only $179.00. A Flip Ultra HD with a 8GB 120 mins is $199.00 and a designable Mino HD 4GB 60 mins is $229.00.

Other Reviews:
Amazing TechProducts review on Flip Ultra
Computerworld Review on Flip Video

New Embedded Streaming Videos

Here is a streaming video - Mills High School Dragon team in the neighbourhood parade during Chinese New Year 2009(.mov format)

Free Screen Capture Software for Cross-platform

Jing is a TechSmith Corporation's screen capture project for use on cross-platform, taking screenshots and making videos with sounds, which could be easily converted into png images for posting or as swf files for video playback. Jing is a free initiative, which intends to help people communciate more clearly and create engaging presentations for different audiences.

Jing allows users to save the recorded files to their desktops, and also for those who want to share their images or videos on Flickr or FTP to other servers, Jing can certainly accomplish that with a simple click.

A two-minute sample screencast of Jing can be viewed here: http://video.techsmith.com/jing/latest/demo/introvideo/index.html.

For download, please visit http://www.techsmith.com/download/default.asp

Animoto Makes Video Creation Easy

Animoto is a freeware which allows you to create your video with Hollywood video effect, accompanied with a music library for you to choose from. All you need to do is to upload your images. For movies longer than 30 seconds, you will need to buy a $30 All- Access Pass good for a year.

Take a look at this:

How to embed a Talking Picture - Powered by Snapvine.com

Instructions:

Snapvine Publisher API allows users to add voice and tell a story behind their photos. All you need is to get a free account on Snapvine and then add the auto-created JavaScript code to your site. Vistors to your site will see your image with a playbar below it to play the voice over. They can also click the Share button where they will copy the auto-generated code and paste them in their own social network like MySpace. All shared images have backlinks that can take users back to your site.

Beautiful

See more Talking Photos

How To Embed a Map to Your Blog?

View Larger Map

Isn't this cool? Just want to share with you that this is as easy as embedding a video from YouTube.

Instructions:

1. Simple login to Google.com and click Maps.


2. Search for directions or an address.


3. Click the 'Link to this page' on the right above the map.


4. You will then see the HTML to copy.


5. Then simply Paste into your blog using the HTML editor.

Happy Blogging!

How To Embed Quicktime Streaming Video to Your Blog?

It's been a nightmare for me trying to figure this out, but thanks to Helen Burgess's post I dawned on, which help relieve my lonely struggle. I am sure I am not the only one out there who's going through this same process. I hope this example will pass on as a reference for those who need it.

Here is an example of how to embed a Quicktime movie. My sample movie is on a Quicktime server, hinted using Sorenson Squueze at 320 x 256. (Remember to add 16 more pixels to the height for the controller if you want it to appear.)

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Instructions for code:

How To Embed Google Streaming Video to your blog

Source: Naruto Episode 155 (Japan. Japanese. English Sub)

Instructions finding the code shown above:

1. Login to Google Video
   
2. Click on the selected video (thumbnail view) to open video
3. Click the blue 'Email this video' button on the right column
   
4. Then click on the Embed HTML link
   
5. Copy and paste the HTML shown in the expanded text box to your blog
   

Embed YouTube Video to your webpage

Isn't she amazing?

Instructions finding the code shown above:

1. Login to YouTube
   


2. Click on the selected video (thumbnail view) to open video
   


3. Copy and paste the HTML shown in the EMBED text box on the right top column to your blog
   

Tips: If you Preview your blog, and you see some HTML code hanging around, return to the Edit HTML tab, and click once just before the code line below the video, and click Backspace on your keyboard.

How To Embed WMV Streaming Video to Your Blog

Blogger's help group has been a great resource for me while I am searching for answers to put streaming videos of different formats to my blog. Thanks to a blog member's (display name as panther) suggested sample code for embedding a wmv file, shown as below.

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Instructions for code:

Add MP3 Audio File to your Blog

Embedding a MP3 audio file to your blog is pretty straight forward. Here's an example of a sheer MP3 audio file.

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Instructions:

Create good web sites and make them more findable!

The goals of creating business web sites is to make profits or create awareness. In order to achieve any of these objectives, you need to think about how you can make your site more findable? Here are a few tips for you.

• Encourage your business counterparts to link to your web site to increase inbound links.
• Analyse the search languages often used by your customers in their search. Use those words and phrases in your content as frequently as you can.
• Choose good link text for your links so that your page is more relevant to the searches.
  Update your content frequently to increase spiders' visits.
• Incorporate a weblog and add RSS feeds.
• Submit your site to search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, Alta Vista, About.com, DMOZ, and more.

In addition to the above, a good site should be simple, fun, and attractive with effective navigation links. It should be built around contents, not sheer design. It should be able to communciate clearly your business, products and services. Shy away from plug-ins, fancy design, excessive animations, and complexity. Pages should load quickly, and each page should have a meaningful page title. Lastly, do not send customers away from your site!

How photographers help to better this world...

I just read about the non-profit organization called 'Now I lay me down to sleep', founded by Sandy Puc' and Dave Junion, with the mission of creating a lifetime memories for all parents who are experiencing death of a baby. Currently, they have gotten about 700 volunteer photographers from many different countries, who have signed up to volunteer their time to help.

It is just amazing and wonderful to see how, by using photography, people come together, charged with a healing mission and show compassion towards each other in times of unimaginable grief and pain.

If you are a professional photographer and is interested in helping, please visit the NILMDTS website at www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org. They are also looking for photoshop artists who can do images retouching.

Reflection: How can we, in the fast track of technology, synergize our talents and knowledge to help those in need? Instead of delving ourselves in the making of new technologies every day, or racing to catch up in the game, can we divert some of our time and energy to support good courses, perhaps, even remotely-related to what we are doing?

Tips on taking shots for your Movie

I was reading a book on creating an iMovie, and it talked about a few things that beginners should take heed of when shooting their footage. Being an amateur myself, I found the tips to be quite useful and would like to share them with you. Here you go...

1. A few jargons - panning is shooting from side to side; tilting is shooting up and down, somewhat like scanning an image from top to bottom or vice versa; tracking is keeping the subject in the center of the frame while panning.
2. Different kinds of shots - A wide shot (WS) reveals where the scene is taking place. A medium shot (MS) shows half-body of your subject. Two shot put two subjects in the same frame (variation: over-the-shoulder shot has one subject's back closer to the camera than the other subject facing the camera. A close-up shot (CU) is a head shot. (If you get in closer, so that the actor's head fills most of the frame, you have a tight close-up. Going in even tighter, to a person's eyes or mouth, gives you an extreme close-up.)
3. Always take multiple shots when you are shooting, say 2-3 shots.
4. With your camcorder cap on, start roll your film for 10-15 seconds before you actually start.
5. Try not to zoom in and out while you are shooting. Think of the zoom feature on your camcoder as a chain of multiple lenses where you pick one to do multiple shots from a wide angle, then use another lens perhaps for medium close-up, then another for real close-up.
6. Try to find one unique detail of your shot as the focal point when zooming in.
7. Don't jump around to take your shots. Start from one location, take 2-3 shots; then move to another position and take additional shots.
8. Remember to take a focus shot, meaning a shot of the storefront logo or the shop entrance so that you can put it into your movie as an intro or outro.
9. Use tripods to shoot your movie. There are more expensive ones that have a fluid head that you can use to pan smoothly and steadily.
10. Practice to stablize your hand while holding on to the camera. To create tracking effect, try using a swiveling chair and have somebody push you.
11. Apply the 'Rule of Thirds' - one of the most popular rule in photography to create pleasing and balanced compositions. Place the subject about one third of the way into the frame from the left or right and about one third of the way into the frame from the top or bottom.
12. The light should always behind your back, not behind the subject's. In case your subject is lighted from the back and you want to see details, use flash to fill in the shadows.
13. Angles- you don't have to always take pictures from the eye level. Try to shoot lying down on your stomach (low angle), from an elevated plane looking down (high angle), or simply position your subject in an informal manner.

Well, so much for that....

Smart Boards Replacing Chalks

I used to sneak into the classroom during recess to get my hands on the pink, green, blue, white and yellow chalks by the chalkboard and start painting my 'Picasso' on it ... (Of course, back then we didn't have much to spare for watercolors or pastels to paint on nice drawing paper.) And, I just love to volunteer and wipe clean the chalkboard for my teachers with that dirty old rag they gave me!

Time has turned around last decade to offer artists like me with 'markers' that I could doodle on what they call the 'Whiteboard'. When whiteboards took over, I was quite sad to say goodbye to my chalks...

In recent years, chalkboards has been replaced by a higher 'breed' called 'Smartboard'. And, I am telling you, they are really smart, not only that they can let you write without any chalks or markers, they let you project on them, and save and print from them.

Let's take a look at what kids are doing with Smartboards at Columbia University's elementary school ...
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By David Cohn| Also by this reporter 02:00 AM Jun, 09, 2005

"It is a must-have technology," said Shawn Mishler, director of communications technology at Columbia's privately run elementary school. "My dream school would have 7-foot-diagonal, in-wall units in every classroom. That, however, requires a lot of in-wall space, which is not practical in Manhattan."

During a recent visit to the school, students in a third-grade class used the board to demonstrate solutions to math problems. The children drew on the board with their fingertips and explained to the class how they came up with their answers.

As each child sketched their answers, the solutions were saved as separate files on the teacher's computer. The 8-year-old students were eager to use the board and show the class what they had learned.

"It really helps with motivation," said Eliza Bang, the class teacher. "As a platform for encouraging group work, it's amazing."

Bang uses the board to display a wide range of learning materials on her computer, from web pages to video clips. It is also used as a lunch-time reward for students: The children watched Black Beautyon the same screen that was used earlier for geography.