Month: January 2009

Tool #32: Google Reader

Google Reader organizes your RSS feeds and podcasts
Google Reader organizes your RSS feeds and podcasts

Google Reader is a way to collect and read all those RSS feeds. You can see in my reader a few of the categories I have created to put all those feeds into groups according to topic. The great thing about the reader is that I can click on a “star” in the corner to save it, or one click on a “share” button to automatically send it to my “fans” or students. It’s just a great way to collect information and organize it. Much better than surfing the web.

Check out my earlier psots on RSS and Google Desktop for more information on this topic.

Tool #31: iTunes audio software manager

There are a lot of free podcasts as well as expensive music
There are a lot of free podcasts as well as expensive music

iTunes is a great piece of free software. It is designed to work with iPods, but you can use it to organize your music or other audio files.

You can also use it to access thousands of audio files that are free. Podcasts of all types and qualities are available, and they even have a section for educational podcasts.

Tool #30: iPod

Check out the iTouch for even better hardware
Check out the iTouch for even better hardware

Apple makes great computers, and Steve Jobs is started three technological revolutions. The fist was to make a desktop personal computer. The second was to make a portable digital music player, and the third was to make a portable computer that fits in your hand (iPhone). Each revolution has changed its respecitive industry (computers, music, phones).

The iPod is a great tool for education. You can load audio, and even video on to an iPod and it becomes a portable media machine. It works better than a CD, cassette or MD player. You can bookmark places in your sound files to go back to the exact place each time. Get the AV cable to connect to speakers and digital projectors.

Tool #29: GoToWeb2.0 Directory

Thousands of web 2.0 sites
Thousands of web 2.0 sites

I really like this directory of web 2.0 sites for the variety of names and logos that have proliferated (spread) in the last few years. It is much easier to make a web 2.0 site, it only costs, on average, about $100,000, where in the year 200 Internet bubble the average cost for a site was about $1,000,000. These sites all have a few things in common: they are simple, they do one thing and do it well, and they are almost all free. Explore, enjoy, spend some time. Or look of a specific kind of site, as well. Go2web2.0.

Tool #28: YouSendIt: big file transfer

Replaces FTP
Replaces FTP

With Gmail, or Yahoo Mail, you can send files up to 10 MB, which is pretty large (a 10-minute mp3 file, for example).

But sometimes, you need to send someone a file that is larger. My favorite service is YouSendIt. I send files to Boston and get them back fine with this service. Normally, a geek like me would use FTP, but that requires owning a web site and using specialized software. With YouSendIt, it is all done on the web, and is very similar to sending an email.