Friday, December 29, 2006

Google For Educators

You'll find a teacher's guide to Google products, including basic information about each tool, examples of how educators are using them, and lesson ideas. You'll also find lesson plans and videos from Discovery Education focusing on two of the most popular teaching tools: Google Earth and Google SketchUp.

Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft join forces on sitemaps

That sound you hear? It's the sound of a million webmasters shouting for joy. I certainly didn't see it coming, but Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Google have entered an agreement to support a single, unified sitemap protocol, which webmasters can use to give all three companies' search engines a complete listing of their site's pages. Microsoft's Live Search Blog, the Yahoo! Search Blog, and Google's Webmaster Central Blog all have announcements about the unified effort, and the companies have launched sitemaps.org to promote the protocol. The protocol itself has been released under the Creative Commons license and other search engines have been invited to use it as well.

From Download Squad

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Combat Spam Mail!

We all know that spam mail is a big problem and an annoying one. One way to combat is is to look at how you have your email addresses posted on your web site(s). If you have them as normal mailto: links, you are opening your users up to spam, spam, and more spam.

Once you are on those spam mailing lists, it is very difficult to be removed from them!

One way to help combat the problem is to change the way your email addresses are listed on your sites. Ours are obfuscated or done in javascripts. If you check out our staff page and view the source, you will see that I have obfuscated not only the email address in the mailto: link, but also the text part of that link. It's been that way for a few years now.

This article will give you some great information on how to hide your email addresses on your sites.

Your email administrator is working very hard to combat the spam problem, but he also needs the help of the users and web admins.

Never click "Unsubscribe Here" in a spam email. Now they KNOW you exist! Also, don't register for anything using your email address. Get a Google or Yahoo email address that is disposable. I have 3 that I use just for this purpose. If I start getting too much spam at one, I just close it up and open a new one.

Just a few hints ... but make sure you change the way your email addresses are posted on your web site. You can always contact me for help with this too.

Tale of an iPod and a High School

Merritt Secondary School is going high tech. When MSS vice principal Darren Coates received an I-pod for Christmas last year he didn’t know it would eventually change the way his students learned. Now, what started as a bit of an experiment by one teacher, is spreading across the school. “It’s a way to hijack a technology they use and put educational material on it,” he explains. “It’s a great way to get students interested.” Using the I-pod in class started out small but soon grew in popularity. He started with pod casts of Quirks and Quarks to grab the students’ attention. As interest grew he saw there was a lot of potential in using the technology in class.

2006

The Year in Review....done in photos and sound. Some will make you laugh, some will make you smile...and some will devastate you.

Earth Facts

101 Amazing Facts about the Earth! While you are at this site, check out some of the other pages.

Database Design

Nice article about basic database design. Remember Jeff will be demo'ing databases on web sites at our April meeting.

future Computer Interaction

I've seen this video before but it is just phenomenal

Friday, December 22, 2006

Happy Holidays!


Just a wish for a very Happy and Healthy Holiday Season to all of you. I will be on vacation next week but still posting here. Have a peaceful and safe holiday time with your families.

Regards,
Pat

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Annual Holiday Reunion @ DPI

Annual Holiday Reunion - Tiger Butter

Ok, so it's not web design or even software....but it looks luscious!

Friday, December 15, 2006

Photoshop CS3 Beta!!!

A Quick Look at the New Features in Photoshop CS3, Public Beta Preview "Anytime Adobe (or anybody for that matter) messes with the interface for a product, it sends chills down the spine of many users. However, in CS3 the changes can be as minor or major as you want because this is probably the most customizable interface for Photoshop yet."

mon.itor.us

mon.itor.us - FREE website monitoring

Just came across this site and it looks interesting. Free reports and monitoring of your site sent to your email address....Need to look into it a bit more.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Known issues - Internet Explorer 7

Internet Explorer 7

You may want to check this site out. I, for one, am NOT upgrading to IE7. I have it on a test machine but not on a production one. Too many complaints about it at this point...

Photo-Realistic at SixThings

Rapid Fire #1: Photo-Realistic at SixThings: "A demonstration of realism"

A Fireworks blog..this is great stuff!

Monday, December 11, 2006

CSSORT

CSSORT - A Method for Sorting your CSS files

This site claims to clean up your CSS. Just copy and paste, select how you want it to be sorted for you...and it does it. Uses Ajax to sort your code.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Friday, December 08, 2006

Question?

I am looking for a program that will convert MPEG2 files to any other format suitable for using in iMovie or importing in to Quicktime.

Any ideas? Thanks!

Patina's Treasures - Screen Savers

Patina's Treasures - Screen Savers:
Free Screensavers for the PC. I don't know the quality so, if you use any, PLEASE let us know! Sometimes the real gems have been found in freeware.


AppDelete: Mac

AppDelete
Even though it is unbelieveably easy to delete a program you installed on a Mac, this utility makes it even easier! Just drag the application to the icon and all traces are gone. Sorry, Windows users, you still have to contend with registries and all that other stuff!

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Project Integration Management Processes

Anticlue: Project Integration Management Processes

CSS Beauty | CSS Design, News, Jobs, Community, Web Standards

CSS Beauty | CSS Design, News, Jobs, Community, Web Standards

Not sure if I posted this one before but it's a definite site to check out. Lots and lots of info about CSS here and great links too.

PortableApps.com

PortableApps.com - Portable software for USB drives | Your Digital Life, Anywhere™
I have been using these apps since they first came out and they are fantastic. I now have 3 USB keys. These new suite includes a lot of free, no spyware, no ads, no trials versions of great usable software. Then you can add more apps to the suite, including a virus scanner, zip program, etc. A great addition to your software library.

finetune

finetune

Nice site for listening to music and more. I didn't register yet; just listening to others' stations.

I came across the site on another blog. This person had the player embedded right into his blog which is really nice. I wonder if the directions are posted after you register.

kuler

kuler

Launched in Adobe Labs on Nov 21 is Kuler, a very cool application that let you manipulate the Color Wheel on the fly. A extremely useful tool when you are seeking for color themes for a new design. Thumbs up for the creativity!

This looks like one to really check out. You should have an Adobe User ID to fully experience the site.

Xml Driven Slideshow

Xml Driven Slideshow

Looks very interesting. It's done in Flash and Difficulty Level is Intermediate. Explore the rest of the site while you are there. If you find anything interesting, let us know!

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Business Applications - Microsoft Turns Off Office System Users

Microsoft Watch - Office 2007 and Vista Licensing Validation Changes

Not sure how this will affect software in labs that are reimaged.










"

Search Engine Marketing 101

CNET Online Courses: Search Engine Marketing 101 - At Work Tips, Tricks, and How-tos at CNET.: "Search Engine MarketingYou’ve created a great Web site–now it needs traffic. In this course, you’ll learn a variety of ways to get people to visit your Web site, and how to keep them coming back, whether your site is a business or a hobby."

FREE Course starts Nov. 27. I am registered.

Monday, November 20, 2006

iQuip

iQuip:
iQuip will let you easily add notes or quotes to your login window. It’s mostly written to give you a little quote or fortune, but you can also use it for something more important. It might be a great idea to put your contact information on the login screen. Prior to a training or if you lose it, your contact information will be right there for all to see.

What a great FREEBIE!!! Sorry, PC folks...this one is for Mac OS X only.

Skypecasts Academic Potential

Skypecasts Academic Potential

Yes, Skype can be a dangerous tool but this article lists how you can use it successfully in education as a FREE conferencing tool. There are an estimated 8 million Skypers online and yes, there are some pitfalls.

EdTech Posse Podcast 2.1 - Open source in education » blog » Blog Archive

EdTech Posse Podcast 2.1 - Open source in education

This is a podcast but they list links to the free software mentioned in the podcast. Some interesting freebies here, for sure.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Pimp My Safari

Pimp My Safari:

Just found this site that contans extensions for Safari. I've been using Safari on my macbook as well as Firefox. Now to look at these extensions in depth!

iPods on Airlines!!!

Apple Teams Up With Air France, Continental, Delta, Emirates, KLM & United to Deliver iPod Integration: "CUPERTINO, California—November 14, 2006—Apple® today announced it is teaming up with Air France, Continental, Delta, Emirates, KLM and United to deliver the first seamless integration between iPod® and in-flight entertainment systems. These six airlines will begin offering their passengers iPod seat connections which power and charge their iPods during flight and allow the video content on their iPods to be viewed on the their seat back displays."

This might actually prompt me into flying....maybe...

Sunday, November 12, 2006

CSS-Based Forms: Modern Solutions

CSS-Based Forms: Modern Solutions
All kinds of forms are here! If you have taken my Dreasmweaver Forms class, you will really appreciate this site...

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

School Safety Webcast

Webcast Access Page: "LIVE VIDEO WEBCAST

Wednesday, November 15, 2006, Live broadcast from 1:00-2:00pm EASTERN TIME


School Safety

In the wake of recent school shootings and the subsequent White House Conference on School Safety, the U.S. Department of Education will present a one-hour Web cast to provide parents, educators, school administrators and local safety personnel with an opportunity to review their emergency management plans. The Department's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools will share successful strategies so that all who share the responsibility of protecting our children can learn more about how schools can help mitigate, prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from a crisis. Join the broadcast to learn how to take positive steps to prevent school violence and respond quickly and effectively if an incident does occur. The Web cast will offer many opportunities for viewers to ask questions via email and get answers from the presenters.

Zamzar - Free online file conversion

Zamzar - Free online file conversion

Zamzar, a free online file conversion tool, launched last week. Like a similar tool, Media Convert, Zamzar allows users to upload a file and have it converted into a number of formats. Common uses for Zamzar include converting PDF documents to Word, iTunes AAC files to MP3, and Flash (flv) files to MP4 for iPod use. Up to five files can be converted simultaneously.

The process takes a few minutes - Zamzar emails a link to the converted file when it is done. Note, however, that Zamzar is not able to convert DRM’d files. The maximum file size is 100 MB, but there are no limits on the number of files converted.

Minimizing windows in OS X

» Minimizing windows in OS X »
Great and fun tips here for the us Mac users....

CSS Photo Shuffler

CSS Photo Shuffler by Carl Camera

Nice photo show with fades... not for the novice to CSS.

Applying a background image

Applying a background image

And another way to add a shadow ..

:: CSS Drop Shadow Tests

CSS Drop Shadow
If you know CSS, you may want to try this. It creates a drop shadow for your graphics using pure CSS.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Yreux Software : iChartwork

Yreux Software : iChartwork

iChartwork is a fun little thing (and I’m surprised it isn’t built into iChat.) This app “will sync your avatar on iChat and/or Adium and the artwork of the song playing in iTunes.” So, if you have Will Smith blaring from your iTunes collection, his album cover will be your icon in iChat.

For the Mac only of course!

Widget Manager

Widget Manager:

"Widget Manager is the original, free preference pane that lets you manage Widgets under Mac OSX 10.4. With Widget Manager you can inspect, remove and disable any Dashboard Widgets, including the default Apple Widgets."

Aptana: The Web IDE

Aptana: The Web IDE: "The Web IDE"
Aptana is an open source Web IDE, an application for creating web sites — like Dreamweaver. It includes support for HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, and XML. If you forget a Javascript command, use Aptana’s built-in reference manual. Other features include tabs, a debugger, syntax highlighting, and multiple panes. Aptana is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux, and as an Eclipse plugin. If you design or develop web sites, give Aptana a try.

I may just do that! It looks clean and neat.

Klondike Forever

Klondike Forever

How about a great game for the Mac?

AppDelete

AppDelete: For the MAC only

AppDelete is a way to delete an application and all of it’s associated items. Just drag and drop an app and off you go.

I like that it puts all of the items into a folder and puts it in your Trash. That way, you can still take a look to be sure that it didn’t take anything it wasn’t supposed to take.

Friday, October 27, 2006

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Switcher Tip: Print Screen - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

Print Screen - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

Great tips here on Print Screen for the Mac user...

Album Shaper — FreeSMUG

Album Shaper — FreeSMUG

This is a great site for you Mac people. Album shaper also comes in a Windows version (so it says). Looks like a nice little program but I need to read more about it before I download it.

Got another convert to the Mac platform. My nephew, who is a Navy pilot, just bought a new MacBook Pro. I configured it for him on the Apple web site. The next day, Apple had come out with a new pricing structure so he was able to save several hundred dollars AND get almost double the hard drive space. After he ordered it, the email confirming the purchase told him he was saving another $50!!!

He also has a Nikon D200 Digital SLR and takes some fantastic photos. He has had a few published as well. He is going to LOVE his new MacBook!!

Recycke Those Plastic Bags

The Plastic Bag Pages
things you can do with those plastic bags you get at the grocery store. Some very interesting ideas here....Recycling is definitely the name of the game. We recycle at home. Do you??

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Halloween Photo Tips

Photojojo » Halloween Photo Tips — Our Ghoulish Guide to Scary Snaps: "Jack-o-lanterns make for a unique and beautiful Halloween subject, but capturing their inner glow can be tricky. This is a case where it’s crucial you turn off your camera’s flash so it doesn’t overwhelm your candlelight. Your jack-o-lanterns are not going to move, so your best bet is to use a long shutter speed and set your camera on a steady surface or a tripod."

Free Halloween music

Bloglines | My Blogs: "Free Halloween Music - Download Free Scarey Songs and Sounds"

Copy Writing Tips

Copy Writing Tips for Search Engines Optimization (SEO)

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Miles Per Dollar

Off Topic (OT):

These folks put together a site that allows you to enter your gas price, distance and your miles per gallon. Once entered, you hit calculate and it will show you how much that drive costs you. Eye-opening!

Dewang Mehta Award

Dewang Mehta Award for Innovation in IT for NIIT Chief Scientist Sugata Mitra: "In villages located in remote areas from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, researchers reported hundreds of children teaching each other to use computers through NIIT’s “Minimally Invasive Education Kiosks.”"

In 1999, in an experiment conducted by Sugata, a computer connected to the Internet was embedded in a slum wall and left for unsupervised use by children. The findings of the experiment suggested that groups of children could learn to use computers and the Internet on their own, irrespective of who or where they were. Dr Mitra and his team subsequently verified this unique discovery in intensive testing through a large-scale experiment, across India and Cambodia.

School 2.0

School 2.0 - Join the Conversation
The US Dept. of Education site that explains it’s vision for “School 2.0″ is now officially up and running. As the site says, the vision is “a sketch and a work in progress” and “is designed to facilitate community discussions and preparations for short and long term educational and management goals.”

Blacboard Patent Lawsuit

U.S. patent claim against Waterloo firm concerns researchers

Google For Educators

Google For Educators: "Google recognizes the central role that teachers play in breaking down the barriers between people and information, and we support educators who work each day to empower their students and expand the frontiers of human knowledge. This website is one of the ways we're working to bolster that support and explore how Google and educators can work together."

Podcasting 101 -- How Educators Can Use This New Technology

Podcasting 101 -- How Educators Can Use This New Technology

Five Things You Didn't Know About Apple's iPod

Five Things You Didn't Know About Apple's iPod: "Popular Science has put together similar instructions in written form."

Haulin’ ‘Net 2006-2007

Associate Supt. of Innovation: From the Haulin'Net blog:
Recently, a guidance counselor correctly advised a group of aspiring collegians that a good percentage of future jobs have not yet been created. Yet many schools and school systems

Halloween Photography Tips

Halloween Photography Tips: Halloween

Teachers are reaching out to students

The Seattle Times: Education: Teachers are reaching out to students with a new class of blogs: "When students read each other's blogs and make comments, 'the work becomes a conversation instead of a one-way delivery of information,' said Warlick, a former teacher who wrote 'Classroom Blogging: A Teacher's Guide to the Blogosphere.'"

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Home cures you can make with what's in your kitchen

Home cures you can make with what's in your kitchen

Off topic for sure...but very very interesting. Has anyone ever used any of these remedies?

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Mean Vegetables

Mean Vegetables - New York Times
Research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published last spring suggests that overweight people live longer, etc.

YouTube - MIT sketching

YouTube - MIT sketching: Hopefully you can get to this YouTube site. A bit more advanced than the normal SmartBoard technology! Leave it to MIT. Think of the uses in your HS physics classes...etc.



Santa Clarita Valley, California

News for Santa Clarita Valley, California: "The classes were announced Sept. 27 during the city's annual Teen Scene Unplugged event, where Internet safety experts informed Santa Clarita residents of potential harms accessible to children via the Web and ways to protect children from such hazards."

Interesting concept of TEACHING MySpace instead of telling parents to just block it!

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Panic Button

Panic Button
"Panic Button is intended to help people that support end-users, either sysadmins/helpdesks, or those that simply help friends and family. I got the idea after getting frustrated by reports like “I had this error message on my computer. It said that the whatsit had caused a thingy operation”. No-one ever wrote down error messages, and could never remember what they said. I tried to teach people how to take screen shots, so that they could send screen shots of error messages, but that didn’t work."

Very interesting!

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Apple's Mac OS Market Share Rises 26 Percent Year Over Year

Apple's Mac OS Market Share Rises 26 Percent Year Over Year:

Key Percent Increases:

* Up 38.4 percent since January 2005
* Up 34.0 percent since April 2005 (Mac OS X Tiger launched April 29, 2005)
* Up 12.1 percent January to September 2006 - despite Intel transition
* Up 9.0 percent since August 2006 - just one month

I am learning the Mac OS and I am totally impressed! Almost 3 months and no crashes. Things are where they should be; extremely intuitive.

Get a Free Exhibit Hall Pass to Macworld San Francisco 2007

Switch To A Mac: Get a Free Exhibit Hall Pass to Macworld San Francisco 2007: "You can register here."

PC to Mac Tip

One button mouse!: "I was provoked to post this article after a friend wanted to 'test drive' my old Power Mac G5 (has a wireless one button mouse) as he's been thinking about making the switch. He kept complaining about the lack of a right button.
"

Friday, October 06, 2006

Joomla!

Joomla! - What is Joomla! ?: "Joomla! is an award-winning Content Management System (CMS) that will help you build websites and other powerful online applications. Best of all, Joomla! is an open source solution that is freely available to everybody."

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Kansas State University Launches World's Largest Course Podcasting Initiative - USA

Kansas State University Launches World's Largest Course Podcasting Initiative - USA

KSU will podcast over 6000 of its classes over the coming year. It is following suit with so many of the other universities. This will make it the largest podcasting implementation in the world.

So, how does the rest of the education world measure up to this?

Monday, October 02, 2006

Ottobib

Ottobib:

If your book has an ISBN (they all do), you can auto-generate a citation with Ottobib.

Whether you need MLA, APA, AMA, or Chicago, Ottobib's got you covered. All you need to do is enter in the ISBN and hit "enter" - and there's the citation you need. Quite the timesaver;

How to recycle your PC

How to recycle your PC


In most cases, it ends up in a landfill. Only about 10 percent of all discarded computers are recycled in the U.S., meaning millions of computers could be leaking harmful chemicals into groundwater."

How to use your PC and Webcam as a motion-detecting and recording security camera - Simplehelp

How to use your PC and Webcam as a motion-detecting and recording security camera - Simplehelp: "This tutorial will take you step-by-step through setting up your PC and Webcam to act as a motion-detecting and recording security camera system. And the software required to do this is open source (free). "

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Skype 2.0 beta Mac

Skype 2.0 beta Mac users can now video-call PCs -

I am not sure if I will install the beta software. How about being able to have a phone call conference with up to 100 people with the regular skpe? And FREE!!!!! If you get Skype, let me know so I can call you....

"Can I delete a MySpace comment I left for someone else?"

"Can I delete a MySpace comment I left for someone else?" from the Ask Dave Taylor! Tech Support Blog

iTunes

"How can I get iTunes to skip certain songs in shuffle mode?" from the Ask Dave Taylor! Tech Support Blog

iTunes also has a new version out.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Windows Run Commands

Windows Run Commands

I guess someone would want this cheat sheet of Windows Run Commands. Here they are all in one place!

Friday, September 15, 2006

How To Get Your Dream Gadget

How To Get Your Dream Gadget - Forbes.com
Some great information here, including new sites for price comparison. I had never heard of fatwallet.com but I am going to check it out now!

MacsimumNews

MacsimumNews

This section has lots of links to software for those migrating from Windows to the Mac. Some of it is free, some is paid. This page is worth a look-see by anyone interested, or using, the Mac.

Chemistry software for the Mac

Macsimum News - Macsimum Migration Kit: chemistry software for the Mac, part III:

More on Mac software! Most of this is free stuff. Check it out.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Grandview News

Grandview News -
From Will Richardson: "So here is another example of what elementary kids can do in terms of publishing text and audio to the Web. This is the Top of the Fold online newspaper that Grandview Elementary in Monsey, NY uses to publish student artwork, podcasts and more. The teachers have a lot to do with posting the work, but the idea is pretty simple: give kids the opportunity to share their work with wide audiences and have them teach to others what they themselves have learned."

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Educational Freeware

Educational Freeware: "Welcome to www.educational-freeware.com! This site is dedicated to listings, descriptions and reviews of the best free educational software for kids and adults.

Some of the software is web based , and some is Windows software that you can download."

MacWireless

MacWireless - Widget for finding FREE wireless networks

Airport Radar is a really useful widget that will help you find available wireless networks. It’s created by the people at MacWireless.com

It's only for those using OS X Tiger!!!

Lab Tick

Lab Tick

Since I got the Macbook Pro, I have become a MacAddict for sure! I will also be posting items here of interest for my Mac friends.

Lab Tick will help you with the backlit keyboard. It looks like it will allow you to adjust the brightness. Yes, it's free.

If you are a Mac person and have other freebies that we can use, please feel free to add them here or email them to me.

Handouts for The WikiLearning Project

7th Grade Social Studies GPS / Handouts for The WikiLearning Project: "PlagiarismHandout

Just starting out with wikis and want to learn more about them? Chuck Bennet has a number of resources available on his wiki that would be useful. Check them out.

Welcome to YouOS.

Welcome to YouOS.

YouOS is an experiment in a new kind of computing platform. Access from anywhere. Create a document at an office computer, drive home, continue right from where you left off. Built-in sharing. Instantly share music, documents and more with your friends and associates. An application community. Everyone from professional software engineers to high school age programmers can participate at no cost.

I have been playing around with the demo version and it is very interesting!

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Windows Vista RC 1, in screenshots - Lifehacker

Windows Vista RC 1, in screenshots

Nice screenshots and explanations of the new Windows Vista operating system.

Top Ten No Sympathy Lines

Top Ten No Sympathy Lines:

This is great for your whining college student...Oh? Yours doesn't whine? Well, maybe for your whining students in class then. It's a classic!

TV on the web

Technophilia: Forget the TV and watch the web - Lifehacker

Cookies in Firefox

Mungo says bah.: How to delete all cookies in Firefox on closing, EXCEPT for those from selected domains!

Airport Wireless Internet Access

Airport Wireless Internet Access Guide: Just in case you are travelling with your wireless laptop or other device...

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

"How do I make my Google Calendar shareable?" from the Ask Dave Taylor! Tech Support Blog

"How do I make my Google Calendar shareable?"

This looks very interesting for web sites. I have a gmail account so I may just try this and see what happens...

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Great Resources!

Essential bookmarks for web-designers and webdevelopers | CSS, Color Tools, Royalty free photos, Usability etc.

This is another site top bookmark as it is updated frequently. Some great resources are listed here that you may want to check out.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Twenty Tips to New Principals...

Dr. Jan's Blog: Twenty Tips to New Principals...
Dr. Jan is a principal in Oklahoma. Her 10 tips to new Principals are thought-provoking.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Color!

Color Codes Matching Chart HTML (Pantone, CMYK, RGB Hex)
Great site if you are looking for some color codes. Gret site if you are just looking for that just-perfect color that you can't find anyplace.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

The NeverEnding Search

“You’d better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone, For the times they are a changin’”

The past, present, and the future of school libraries...all charted out. We need to change...technologies are changing...Web 2.0 is hot right now..the Read-Write Web, Collaboration, Participation.

Not just libraries, but perhaps other courses need revisions....

Time to rethink and retool or get left behind!

Weblogg-ed » Learning Economics Through Snowboarding

Weblogg-ed » Learning Economics Through Snowboarding:

More on student blogging: Pat Aroune who is a high school teacher in upstate New York and a new edblogger (after 16 years in the business) sent along a link to some student Weblogs from his summer class on economics.

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Leopard Sneak Peek

Apple - Apple - Mac OS X - Leopard Sneak Peek
Apple has come up with some really neat new features. I bet there are a lot more under the hood there but we won't see them til Leopard is released.

I am turning into a MacAddict! I recently got a MacBook Pro and we will be using it for podcasting. The first one is complete but we want to have a few more out there before we post them. The Mac platform and software makes it much easier to engage in this new technology that has really taken off.

Websites that changed the world

The Observer | Review | Websites that changed the world
Pretty interesting stuff...

Monday, July 31, 2006

Firefox extension is a minor threat

Trojanized Firefox extension is a minor threat

"Antivirus vendor McAfee has rated the Downloader-AXM Trojan horse as a low threat to users. First discovered on July 25, 2006, the Downloader-AXM Trojan was spammed via e-mail across the Internet. The e-mail regards an order placed at Wal-Mart. By opening the attached file, the Downloader-AXM Trojan attempts to install and download FormSpy, which is presented to the end user as a Web form extension for the Firefox browser. In reality, FormSpy will forward data to a third party. Despite the increased media attention, this a very low threat."

"How do I convert MP3 audio files to WMA?"

"How do I convert MP3 audio files to WMA?" from the Ask Dave Taylor! Tech Support Blog
This might be free software to get while it's available. You can also use it to convert that music you bought from the Apple Store.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

20 pro tips - .net magazine

20 pro tips
These are some of the best tips I have read on web design...and all in one place. Take the time to read these..They are great.

Friday, July 21, 2006

NECC 2006 Webcasts

NECC 2006 Webcasts
If you missed NECC, webcasts of the sessions have been posted here.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Disjecta Membra

Disjecta Membra
What a great blog entry this one is! It's a BASIC tutorial on designing web pages. straight forward and to the point. Rather than showing how to do the basics in a do-it all program like Dreamweaver, they start you right off with the basics. Definitely worth a read. Now to check through the rest of the entries....

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Highway Image

Highway Image
Dress up that boring white EZPass! I want one of these!! But which one....???

Thursday, July 06, 2006

11 "Don't-Tell-the-Wife" Secrets All Men Keep - MSN Lifestyle - Relationships

11 "Don't-Tell-the-Wife" Secrets All Men Keep
Ok, so it's way off topic but I found this article this morning and thought it was very amusing. Good food for thought .. do you men REALLY think this way?

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Bullet Madness - free bullets project at Stylegala

Bullet Madness - free bullets project at Stylegala

How about some free bullets for your design projects? Some very nice ones here...

An Inside View From a Google Employee

An Inside View From a Google Employee

Some interesting stuff here on what it's like to be on the "inside track" at Google!

Saturday, June 17, 2006

One Minute Tip - Podcasts

One Minute Tip » Tip List - No time to read tips? Download them to your iPod and listen away. They are mp3 files that you can also just listen to on your computer.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Designers’ Egos

Web designers have egos? What a novel concept! Great article and some interesting comments on being a web designer, your ego, criticism, and being a critic.

I like this blog so much I subscribed to it!

Monday, June 05, 2006

TechCrunch

TechCrunch is weblog dedicated to obsessively profiling and reviewing new web 2.0 products and companies. It also reviews old ones that are making an impact in the Web 2.0 space.

Primary School Podcasting!

Airfare is the new weblog/podcast produced by primary school children in Scotland. They've done a great job!

Friday, May 19, 2006

"Copyrights and the Web" Webcast - a MUST WATCH

This is an excellent webcast on Jacqueline Craig on 'Copyrights and the Web' from Berkeley. It is up-to-date, having been webcast this spring. It takes about 50 minutes to watch and you will need Real Player for it. Definitely well-worth the time. She discusses copyright issues from an educator's view point as well.

Webcast Lecture | IDS 110 Introduction to Computers | Spring 2006

Interesting webcasts and podcasts

Just like taking a course!

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Why Kids Blog

Great post from David Warlick of 2 Cents Worth about why kids blog. This is a blog I read daily as David has great insight, wonderful humor, outrageous satire, fabulous postings, etc.

Monday, May 08, 2006

Free RSS Feed Writer

Want to put an RSS feed on your site but haven't a clue how to write XML? Just put the information in at LinkAssure's site and it will create your feed for you.

then, I suggest, you study the code so you can edit it yourself.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

2006 Presidential Scholars Announced

2006 Presidential Scholars Announced: "FOR RELEASE: May 4, 2006"

Congratulations to all 141 seniors and to all those graduating this June. They have all worked very hard!

The Presidential Scholars have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement, artistic excellence, leadership, citizenship, service, and contribution to school and community.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Office 2.0 Database

Having trouble keeping track of all the companies that are building the current crop of web-based office apps? The Office 2.0 Database is a handy directory of all of 'em, broken down into categories. Need a web-based word processor? You've got eight to choose from. PowerPoint replacement? Five of 'em, and so on.
Office 2.0 Database: "Development Tool"

ThinkFree

Web 2.0 has some great new things. Think Free is an online office, complete with 1 GB space and collaboration available. Check out the way applications will be in the future.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

sabifoo

sabifoo
Sabifoo is a service that lets you create and add items to an RSS feed simply by sending IMs. It's a delightfully minimal service. There's no registration or sign-on, and in fact you can get started without even visiting the Sabifoo web site. Just send a message to sabifoo on your IM service of choice (or sabifoo@sabifoo.com for MSN or Jabber) and it'll be added to your RSS feed. You can type !help to get a link to the help page as well as your RSS feed. One thing that's missing (at least when using AIM) is text formatting, but hopefully they'll get around to that. I can think of a number of uses for this, in particular linkblogs and sending yourself notes from your mobile phone.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Odeo: Record and Share Audio

Odeo: Record and Share Audio

Odeo is a creative way to record and share audio—and it’s free. You can record audio and then share it with your Odeo contacts, by email, or by placing it in a Channel for all the world to hear. Audio from Odeo can be downloaded to desktops, iPods, and mp3 players.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Mayang's Free Texture Library

Mayang's Free Texture Library

Over 3000 free to download but there is a limit of 20 per day.

Accessible Web Development Resources

Accessible Web Development Resources
Lots of links here to various resource for web accessibility, making text legible, scripting accessibility, accessibile multimedia, etc. Definitely a resource you should check out.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

WebsiteTips.com

WebsiteTips.com : "WebsiteTips.com is an educational Web site design and development resource especially for Web site owners, Web designers, Web professionals, webmasters, teachers and educators, and students."

This site is jam packed with articles, tutorials, tips, links, book recommendations, and more. I found it from a link to a link to a link...

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Podcasting!

How to use podcasts at your school from Will Richardson.

Read about my next project! From what I have been reading, all that you need is your computer, a microphone, and some free software. I hear it is quite addicting and people wind up buying better equipment and software. I have lots of ideas for podcasts for our site. Now, to enlist the folks to make them...

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

The cost of spam

Did you know that spam’s going to cost us $198 billion next year?

* That’s a laptop computer, xBox 360, the yet to be released PlayStation 3, a PSP, broadband Internet for a year, and cell phone and PDA — for every public school child in the United States. (Video Game Consoles Reviews)
* It’s almost four million more teachers. (Digest of Education Statistics)
* Six Category five withstanding levees and floodgates around New Orleans. (All Things Considered)
* That’s four times would it would cost to end chronic hunger in the world (Allen).

We need to make clear to children that spam, virus, and hacking are not a game, that they cost us all a lot.
From: davidwarlick.com/2cents

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Improving the Accessibility of Your Web Site

Excellent, easy-to-read articles from the W3C on The Web Accesibility Initiative. This is the WAI home site.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Web Standards Link Bonanza

Web Standards Link Bonanza
This is a phenomenal list of web standards: close to 400 links, I believe. It will keep you busy reading for quite a while.

Saturday, March 25, 2006

EduLounge.com

EduLounge.com: "

What: A couple of new things going on. This is his first podcast. The production values are low but that is okay. He also created a new site for teachers called EduLounge.com.

Key Objectives

  • To provide a place for everyday teachers to work collaboratively on the use of technology in the classroom.
  • To provide a place for teachers to find out about technology and how it can be used in their classes.
  • To meet other teachers and engage them through technology.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Great Blog!

Notes from the Superintendent
This blog is maintanied by the Superintendent of Schools in a Virginia District. If only more could find the time to do this....

TimesDispatch.com | Reading, writing and blogging

TimesDispatch.com

When Chelsea Pleasants wants to know what her daughter is doing in school, she heads to the Internet.

With a few clicks of a mouse, Pleasants can navigate the Web site for Goochland County's Byrd Elementary School and access the Web log kept by her daughter's third-grade teacher, Ellen Robinson.

As all Goochland teachers have been required to do this year, Robinson keeps a school district-sponsored Web log, or blog -- a kind of diary of her class's activities.

Check them out:

Elementary School www.glnd.k12.va.us/gateway/go/bes/teachers/

Goochland Elementary School and the Specialty and Gifted Center www.glnd.k12.va.us/gateway/go/ges/teachers/

Randolph Elementary School www.glnd.k12.va.us/gateway/go/res/teachers

Goochland Middle School www.glnd.k12.va.us/gateway/go/gms/teachers/

Goochland High School www.glnd.k12.va.us/gateway/go/ghs/teachers/

Superintendent Frank Morgan's blog www.glnd.k12.va.us/weblog/fmorgan

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Transferring songs from your iPod

"How do I get songs off my iPod?"

When you get a new computer, you can't transfer your iPod music. AskDave has an article (and found a program) for you to do just this!

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Learning about nature through photography

TrekNature

The underlying theme of TrekNature is learning more about the world through nature photography. TrekNature fosters this by allowing photographers to display their work grouped by regions in a supportive and orderly environment.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Tech-Recipes.com - Computer help Windows Solaris Linux Cisco MySQL Programming

Tech-Recipes.com - Lots of tech tutorials here (over a thousand) and forums where you can ask for help. Very interesting "stuff"!

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Pandora

Like music? I always like to have it playing but to avoid disrupting others in my office, I wear a headset. I like the SONY ones the best.

Pandora is a fantastic site where you can create up to 100 of your own radio stations...FREE! Make sure you read how it works and what you have to do to create your stations. Yes, you have to register. No, you don't get any junk mail from them.

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Freebies

Triangle Area ColdFusion User Group Blog

Listings of some interesting free software, nicely categorized.

Freebies

Triangle Area ColdFusion User Group Blog

Listings of some interesting free software, nicely categorized.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

WiredSafety

WiredSafety is the world's largest online safety and help group

This is a site parents and teachers should thoroughly investigate. There are some fantastic articles here about Internet Safety. Parry Aftab has done a fantastic job with her choice of articles and topics. This is one to bookmark.

Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace

Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace

Very interesting take on MySpace.com

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Dell Support Call

Ok..so it's off-topic, but what a great article from the New York Times on How to Survive a Tech Support Call.

We've all had to do it at one time or another. David Pogue gives you some wonderful advice!

Monday, February 27, 2006

MHRIC RSS Feed


Finally! The MHRIC web site has its own RSS feed. The link is on the home page. Scroll down and look for the familiar orange XML button.

I had some problems validating it but finally figured it out. I was not putting in some of the code, such as so it was running items together.

I will try to keep it updated, as long as I get the information from people here.

If you don't understand what these RSS feeds are, you can always google them. Basically, it's a way of putting all the news or other items from a web site in one place for subscription. I don't have to read the twenty-some web sites anymore. I just subscribe to their RSS feeds and I can read all their updates in one place - in my RSS reader. I happen to use Bloglines so I can read them no matter where I am.

If you need help with RSS readers or the whole concept, contact me. I was teaching it combined with the Blog Class but it was too much information in a 3 hour course.


Saturday, February 25, 2006

Friday, February 17, 2006

WDUG - April 7, 2006

Don't forget to register soon for the Spring Web Developer User Group Meeting on Friday, April 7 here in New Paltz at the Ulster BOCES Conference Center. Registration, coffee, and tea will be available from 8:30 on and presentations will begin at 9.

We have two informative presentations slated for the morning. Please invite others in your district if you think they may have an interest in the software that will be showcased.

Agenda:
- 8:30 - 9:00 - Coffee, Tea, and Sign-in
- 9 - 9:10 - Welcome and Opening Remarks
- 9:15 - 10:15 - Rose Malpica, Orange-Ulster BOCES Webmaster - Photoshop Elements
- 10:15 - 10:30 - Break
- 10: 30 - 11:45 - Jim Tracy, New Paltz High School - Webcasting
- 11:50 - Noon - Closing Remarks and Comments from Participants

Photoshop Elements is a wonderful graphic program from Adobe. It is similar to Photoshop but has a much shorter learning curve and is a lot less expensive to buy. From what I understand, it has some wizards that can help you as well.

I will also give you a preview of what we may showcase in August. It is really exciting and something you all have been asking about for a long time.

If you have any questions about the April meeting, please feel free to contact me. This is definitely one workshop you won't want to miss.

BBC - My Web My Way - Homepage

My Web My Way

From the BBC, this is a fantastic site on accessibility, not just for web sites but how to change your hardware to help make web sites more accessible. Well worth taking the time to read some of the articles here!

KeePass - The Open-Source Password Safe

KeePass - The Open-Source Password Safe

I have so many passwords to remember that they are getting muddled im my mind. I found this program (free of course) and have been using it. It works great for what I need but, don't forget your main password to open it! There is nothing you can do if you can't remember it....

Experts to students: Watch what you post

Information on sites such as MySpace.com could come back to haunt

From eSchool News staff and wire service reports

With the rise in social networking sites such as MySpace.com, experts are warning that students need to exercise more discretion in what they post about themselves online. Besides the obvious danger of posting personally identifying information, they say, the potential exists for embarrassing information to come back to bite students later in life when they apply for college or a job.

February 10, 2006—Much has been made of the danger of posting too much personal information on web sites such as MySpace.com, where millions of people--including online child predators--can, in seconds, find out where site users go to school, learn their interests, download their pictures, and instantly send them messages.

But there is another, less widely reported danger as well: that the information students post online could come back to haunt them later in life.

In recent weeks, a Dover, Del., newspaper reporter was fired from his job after someone alerted his editor to racially offensive comments he had posted to his personal blog on MySpace.com--and seven Lincoln, Neb., high school students were suspended for two weeks when a school staff member found a MySpace.com posting that mentioned the students drinking alcohol.

"This is a new arena for us," said Wendy Henrichs, athletic director for Lincoln East High School, where the seven suspended students were all varsity and junior varsity basketball players. "In the '70s or '80s ... people would say those things. Today, they write them."

She added, "The difference is putting it in print, basically documented proof of what's been said. I don't know if kids understand that."

MySpace, one of several popular social networking sites, is a free service that allows users to create web site profiles of themselves that can be personalized with information, pictures, and movies. MySpace reportedly boasts more than 180,000 new members per day and, according to web site traffic ranking service Alexa, was the seventh most popular destination for English--speaking internet users as of press time.

While today's students are undeniably savvy in their knowledge and adoption of technology, they aren't always as savvy in how they choose to deploy it--and often they are only vaguely aware of the digital "footprint" they leave behind when they post personal information.

And this footprint could play an increasingly important role in whether students land their dream job or even get into the college of their choice, experts say.

A recent Harris Interactive poll showed that 23 percent of people search the names of business associates or colleagues on the internet before meeting them--which probably means many employers are doing the same with job applicants, said Andrea Kay, a career consultant and author of "Interview Strategies That Will Get You the Job You Want."

"It's a wake--up call: You better be careful what you say and do, because it is your reputation. You're developing it early on," Kay said.

Many employers hire companies to conduct background checks, but "Googling" job applicants serves as an additional tool. It makes sense, especially when young applicants have few references or the job involves responsibility for people's health or finances, said Charles Fleischer, an employment lawyer and author of "The Complete Hiring and Firing Handbook."

Given the relative ease of investigating someone online and the rate of technology's penetration into the college admissions process, it's conceivable that college admissions officers, too, could soon be Googling prospective students.

College admissions officers who spoke with eSchool News said it wasn't part of their typical practice yet--but if the trend of employers Googling applicants spreads to education, that could change.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=6106

Sunday, February 12, 2006

HallDavidson.net

I have been getting a lot of questions about copyright and web sites again. I always caution people in my web design classes about this important issue but it also holds true for using graphics in Word, PowerPoint, etc.

I have a lot of resources listed at www.mhric.org/pat on the Webmaster Resource Page.

I also came across this link this morning. Hall Davidson writes for several magazines and presents at conferences. His site is plain, simple, and has a lot of links to his handouts and presentations. This is a must site for you to check out.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

The Blog of Music for All

The Blog of Music for All

Interesting blog about Music and Arts in Education...

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

WP

I finally installed WordPress for 2 private blogs. It really isn't all that difficult. It hooks into a MySQL database and that's where all the data goes....You can change your templates and the data knows where to go! Not bad for a beginner....

Current style in web design

Current style in web design

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Interactive CSS Box Model Demo

Interactive CSS Box Model Demo

HTML Dog

There is enough information at thsi site to keep you reading and learning new things for a very very long time: HTML Dog

From basic html to css to more advanced topics, you will learn quite a bit here

Thursday, January 26, 2006

The Super's Blog

The Super's Blog: Interesting blog from an Indiana Public School Superintendent

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Handcoding?? Why????

Three reasons you should learn to hand code your web pages: Killersites.com

Yahoo!! Someone else who shares my views....You NEED to learn hand coding...We offer 2 HTML classes if you haven't taken them!

Also, check out the rest of Stefan's site...he has some great information and sign up for his newsletter. I recommend it highly...

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Techlearning > > Right to Copy?

Techlearning > > Right to Copy?

Copyright infringement can spell disaster for a school district. Check out three programs that are taking an active approach to nipping this problem in the bud.

You may have to create an account but TechLEARNING has great articles.

Monday, January 16, 2006

timbl's blog

Decentralized Information Group (DIG) Breadcrumbs

That's Tim Berners Lee to you! If you don't know who he is, you need to take an Introduction to the Internet course.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Today's Weather

January 12 and the temperature is supposed to go up to the mid-50's today. Each day that is nice brings us further out of the winter and closer to Spring. Open the windows and enjoy the great weather. You just KNOW the cold weather and snow will be back before long! Posted by Picasa

Picasa 2 Update to 2.1

Picasa 2

Picasa has an update that you might want to get. It has some really nice new things in the software, such as making a CD cover from a photo, better RAW support, better image posting to your blogs without the need for the Hello software, etc.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Designing for the Web

Digital Web Magazine - Designing for the Web:

This article looks at resolution, designing for browser, Web-safe color, graphics compression, and text.

Even after all this time, designers still ask and wonder what screen resolution to design for. Think it’s time we moved beyond 800x600? According to the article, now only 28% use that resolution and have moved on up. I still recommend that you check your sites in this resolution.

Always remember there are NO definitive answers. Read and learn as much as you can. Think logically and reasonably. Ask questions. Use this blog as a forum for your questions. Attend the Web Developer User Group Workshops (next one is April 7). Call or email me with your questions. You have lots of resources. use them!


Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Changes in Dreamweaver 8 Templates

Changes in Dreamweaver 8 Templates

If you are using Dreamweaver 8 and Templates, you need to be aware that there you may have some problems when converting from earlier versions of Dreamweaver. This site explains it all.

Note: There is now an upgrade that purports to fix these problems.

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Backing Up Site Definitions in Dreamweaver

Backing Up Site Definitions in Adobe Dreamweaver @ MX DEVELOPER'S JOURNAL

This is very important and worth your few minutes of time to do. Back these up to a separate location with the rest of your backups (you DO backup regularly, don't you???) If your computer crashes, you should be able to reinstall your site definitions, download your sites from the web server, and be balc in business.

Now, are you backing up your data?? If you are on a school or work network and saving to the network drive, you should be protected. Hopefully, the higher-ups are backup up the networks daily and removing those backups OFFSITE!! When I back up my home computer, I make another copy and bring it to work. That way, I always have a copy away from my home, just in case.

Something to think about....I back my system up to a portable hard drive that is very inexpensive. I use free software that only backs up the new data. Then, every so often I back it all up to DVD and make an extra copy. That copy goes to work with me. Don't forget to back up your desktop, your bookmarks, and other files that might not be in My Documents.

WDUG - April 7, 2006


Our agenda for the Second WDUG meeting is coming together. Tentative presentors are Rose Malpica, OU BOCES Webmaster, and Jim Tracy, teacher at New Paltz High School. They are promising presentations you don't want to miss. You need to register for the meeting through MicroNews, MLP, or on our web site, whichever you normally use.

WDUG starts at 8:30 with coffee, tea, and sign in. Sorry, no breakfast this time! This will give you an opportunity to network with your colleagues before the meeting begins at 9. It should be over about noon.

Don't forget to register!

Color Schemer

Color Schemer - Online Color Scheme Generator

A big problem for designers is dtermining which colors go well with other colors. There are many sites to help you with this but this one is very very simple to use. Click on a color on the palette and it will give you 16 colors that will blend nicely. You can only use the web-safe pallette colors.

Friday, January 06, 2006

The GIF Pronunciation Page

The GIF Pronunciation Page: Convinced yet? Here is the definitive way to prounounce it...is it jif or gif??? Read the article for the surprising answer!

Thursday, January 05, 2006

BookCrossing - Home - FREE YOUR BOOKS!

BookCrossing - Home - FREE YOUR BOOKS!: "Welcome to BookCrossing!"

You've come to a friendly place, and we welcome you to our book-lovers' community. Our members love books enough to let them go—into the wild—to be found by others. Book sharing has never been more exciting, more serendipitous, than with BookCrossing. Our goal, simply, is to make the whole world a library. BookCrossing is a book exchange of infinite proportion, the first and only of its kind.

The site is a bit slow. A suggestion was to have your students participate in a BookCrossing.

Blogboard

Blogboard: Teacher Magazine's look at what's new and noteworthy in educator blogs.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Developing sites for users with Cognitive disabilities and learning difficulties

Juicy Studio: Developing sites for users with Cognitive disabilities and learning difficulties

NSF Current - December 2005

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is proud to launch NSF Current, an e-newsletter highlighting research and education efforts supported by NSF.

WDUG in April!!!!

Don't forget to register for the April 7, 2006, Web Developer User Group Meeting. Details will be published at www.mhric.org/wdug

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Word of the Year!!!!

Podcast' Takes Word Of The Year Honors -
And we have been teaching it as part of our Blog class here at the MHRIC!!!

'Podcast,' one of the hottest terms in technology, is 2005's Word Of The Year, according to the editors of the New Oxford American Dictionary. Defined as 'a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player,' 'podcast' will be added to the next online update of the dictionary in early 2006.

'Podcast was considered for inclusion last year, but we found that not enough people were using it, or were even familiar with the concept,' said Erin McKean, the dictionary's editor-in-chief said in a statement. 'This year it's a completely different story. The word has finally caught up with the rest of the iPod phenomenon.'"

And you heard it here...:)

OT: Internet Safety and Our Children

Half of all teenagers are talking to strangers on the Internet - a risky business that exposes them to sexual predators, a new survey indicates.