Thing 46: WebJunction

I've been a member of WebJunction for quite some time (since the beginning, I think) but I haven't been a very active member. 

Why not? 

I'm not using an RSS feed on it - so I don't see new topics of conversation and I forget to regularly check it for news and information.

There are so many great resources - that I just can't keep up with them all.

It was fun to go back and look through it again. I was disappointed to see that there hasn't been a huge amount of information posted there. We have the same issue with the MEMO ning. It seems that people may stop in to take a look but they don't see it as a resource or come back often to visit and gather new information or take part in the forums. 

I wonder how we can change that - so that these resources become powerful ones that media specialists view as necessary tools of their jobs. I think WebJunction has done a great job of organizing materials and offering courses - and I don't really know the usage statistics, so perhaps I'm speaking out of turn - but I'm guessing there could be more traffic to make it more successful. 

Thing 45: Cloud Computing

I must admit to not being familiar with the term "cloud computing" - but to being very aware of the services. I've been using Google docs and Zoho for a long time (as well as several other sites). I do two things in particular with these sites.

1. I use them to share documents with others - or to give them access to my documents. 

This is such a great way to collaborate on a project - but also is a super way to share pictures and video - which are often too large to send through email.

2. I use them to store or provide a backup for special projects or presentation.

It's great to know that even if my laptop AND my flash drive fail me I can always get to my presentations because I've stored them online. I don't think I've ever really had to use this backup, but I do know that I feel much more secure knowing it's there!

In my media center I use "n computing" with several monitors all connected to one PC. The processor allows all students (we use 7 on one setup and 3 on the other) to access the information and work without realizing they don't actually have a computer at all: they are sharing one cpu.

I also consider Delicious to be "cloud computing" when used by a group of teachers to create a shared list of resources. I've taught my grade level teachers how to do this and they have found it a great way to save their links and let their peers (and their students) view them. They can organize them using the tags available - and it's been a really great organizational tool.

Thing 44: Money, Money, Money!!

Although I don't find the economy to be one of my favorite topics...especially in light of today's budget shortfalls...I must admit these sites were fun to use and could be very helpful for people. I love shopping sites that give tips for saving money, or help with comparison shopping. It always makes me feel better when I know I'm getting a good deal. So I enjoyed using myrateplan.com and wisebread.com. I took another look through Craig's List. I purchased an iPod through it a year or so ago and found the service to be great - and it's always good to take another look.

I get frustrated easily by the sites that tell you how you can save so much money, like the "frugal dad" site. I guess I've always been a penny pincher, so I don't do many of the things that the "average person" does, I guess. It's always bothered me when I read an article about saving money and they give suggestions like "skip buying your morning speciality coffee" (never have done that), cancel your magazine subscriptions (don't get any now), eat at home, rather than eating out (we don't eat out very often now), and that type of thing. I've just always been a very frugal person and I've been fortunate to have a husband who feels the same way.

The gardening sites are fun - but I must admit I'm not much of a gardener, so I probably won't get into that any more than before. I'm also not big into garage sales - so although I checked them out, I didn't find too much of any interest to me.

I do have a couple of recommendations: 

1. Many of the local radio stations give special deals to their listeners. For example, Spirit 92.9 in St. Cloud has a local "Shop n' Save" website: https://www.rabmarketing.com/auction/main.cfm?mid=68 where you can purchase $10 gift cards for $6. If you know you're going out to dinner at one of these locations, you can save money right off the bat by purchasing one of these.

2. I also like the clubs that Famous Dave's, Cold Stone, Luciano's Pizza and several others have that send you emails with special savings or even free deals on your birthday or other holidays. Since I go to these places anyway (and they're kinda pricey at full price) it really helps to have a coupon along.

3. Before shopping sales at various locations around town I will often visit their websites to check out the deals. Sometimes I can find something I love at Kohl's or Herbergers - but will notice that the price is cheaper online.

4. When shopping for computers through Dell - check out the website and newspaper sales. Do your homework. Then actually call them to do the ordering. They will quote you a price. You can compare that to what you see online and often will become eligible for special savings. The last computer I bought I received an upgrade to a higher amount of RAM just because I asked about it.

My only other suggestion is to just not buy it. 

Thing 43

At last! A thing I can say I've been "using for ages"! We have one tv on the main floor of our house...and my house is filled with a man and a boy who (apparently) can't live without sports. So, needless to say, there is a game on just about 24 hours a day. 

Early on this created some conflict, but I learned to adapt and cheer for the Twins (Vikings, Gophers, Timberwolves, Wild, etc. etc.) Then, ta dah! the invention of online television - and my opportunity to actually get to watch a tv show and not have to watch a million advertisements either! I love the idea of just a few 30 second ads. It is definitely a great way to watch tv!

Now my husband and I have started watching some of our favorite shows online as opposed to live, simply because they're shorter, we can watch when we want, and we don't have to follow any timeline but our own. I do have to admit that we have TiVo (or actually we have Dish Network's version - DiVo) so we rarely watch our favorite shows when they're live. But the point is, we get to rule the television viewing instead of the television ruling us. I wouldn't have it any other way.

My daughter moved into a new apartment this school year and opted to not even get cable tv. She doesn't own a tv at all; just watches her favorite shows on her own schedule through her computer. Has she found the solution to be a perfect one? Not entirely. She said she used to enjoy sitting around with a group of people watching tv - and without one, it's pretty hard to do that. However, she enjoys what she can watch on her own, and I think a tv is on her wish list. I don't even know if she'll spring for the cable!

Thing 42

Internet radio: who would've thought??

I tried out pandora to begin with, thinking I wouldn't like it and that it wouldn't play the kind of music I wanted to hear. Wow - was I ever wrong! It was fast, great-sounding, and I could continue to work while i listened. I tried putting in some obscure music genres and artists - but it was able to find most of them, or make some pretty good guesses about something close to it. It was great fun!

Last.FM seemed to be a little clunkier to use - and it seemed more like the songs were for sale. It did, however, find some great music for me very quickly, and again, the quality was excellent.

I used these at home where I have high speed Internet access and it usually moves pretty quickly. I didn't see any lags at all in either Pandora or Last. Grooveshark seemed to take a lot longer to load.

I thought I had found something new and wonderful that I could share with my kids - but when I asked my daughter what she knew about them she said "I've been doing that for ages" so I guess I'm still behind! She uses a site called Slacker.

Thing 41

This was a perfect time for me to find out about these great services because I've been feeling frustrated trying to keep updating so many different websites - and having to log in to each one, type out my update and then maneuver to the next website. 

I'm trying out Lifestream in the hopes that I can make it work with two accounts. I'm using it on my personal accounts to update my sites, and that's working just fine. I've found that I have a need to update a bunch of accounts as well for the ISTE SIGMS - so I think this will be a great way to update all of those as well. It will be especially nice for those because the information I post will generally be the same for all of them. On my personal accounts I have different viewer: family, friends, co-workers, and professional people. I don't always want to post the same information to those groups. Consequently with this one I'm finding that updating each one individually is a better way to go. 

I would like to see a similar application where I could put different posts into each website through one URL. I see some drawbacks to doing that, however, and even to the way I'm using Lifestream. When I update my websites this way I don't get to enjoy reading the updates that others have posted - and that is one of the main reasons I use these sites. 

Thing 40

Okay - what could be more fun than the Wheel of Food? This is one that is perfect for the indecisive family - and mine fits the bill every time! Now when someone asks "where should we go for dinner?" we'll be able to actually come to a decision. What a fun little app!

Visual Headlines: I can imagine that today's visual headlines (April 27) will be all about the swine flu! It was a pretty fancy interface, but moved very slowly. I wasn't impressed - although I think it had lots of possibilities. It just had too many little quirks to make me think I would ever recommend it. 

The "walkability" score of my neighborhood was incredibly low. I guess we don't have the things around here that score high. Kinda disappointing, because I think we have a beautiful walk.

I also tried out Google's history timeline, which I think fits in with these very well. It's a great way to get an overview of what was taking place during each decade, at least according to Time Magazine!