Social Networking Update

I tagged onto my previous rant on Social Networking a link to a Channel 4 (UK) news item from Thursday 30th August, which is about employers beginning to ban the use of social networking sites such as FaceBook and MySpace from the workplace - I feel that this is a bit like King Canute trying to stop the tide - look out there's a big wave coming!!!!

I am gradually warming to Facebook, while self restricting my access to it ( Twitter seems to be running in the background though!).

I was reading Graham Attwell's article re the usefulness of some of the widgets available in Facebook and yes some are shall we say politely 'less than useful', but some are great and lead me to use FaceBook more and more as a 'One Stop Shop' aggregator some of the more useful add ons for me would be :

* Skype online

* My Blogs - a widget which shows the titles of new posts from friends blogs

* Del.icio.us - a great widget which allows you to switch to your Del.iciou.us page

* Twittervision - a widget which works on your own contact list

* YouTube - a widget which allows you to play YouTube vids in your space

* Friend finder - a great way to find if your e-mail list friends are also on FaceBook

and the latest which is thanks to Graham ,

* Zoho Online Office - a widget which allows you from within facebook to view shared files and upload new files to your Zoho account.

These are fab attachments which added to the constant updating of friends data makes it a must in order to keep 'in the mix'. A good example of how our kids are using FaceBook - my eldest daughter Sian came back from a few days in Paris yesterday evening and immediately downloaded all of the pictures from her mobile phone to FaceBook for all of her friends to see, they have posted theirs thus giving the group of 7 kids who went a vast library of images of their experiences..... 21st Century who needs old fashioned photographs??



As you can see from this post, my panic about constant online time in Social Networking is beginning to ease (or am I coming more under its spell?) - it was a timely thought as others such as Karyn Romeis is also looking into the use of the Social Networking Phenomenon.... I think that I am going out into the 'real world' now .............. not quite sure, as the line are a bit blurred between the two :)

facebook
karyn romeis

Blog Day 2007

Hey It's BLOG DAY 2007, a chance for us all to have alook at blogs which we would not normally read - as I spend a bit of my time getting in a tizzy about the lack of Bloggers in Wales I thought that it might be interesting to showcase some which are out there in the blogosphere, in addition there may be a few newbie bloggers who it is always good to give a shout out to.

1. First up is a blog called Not Since School - which is the Diary and thoughts of a Welsh Language Learner. I came across the blog when I actually caught some Welsh in a few Twitter Posts which was absolutely fantastic. A group of learnbers have decided to use Twitter's 140 character limit chat as a means for practicing their language work - Da iawn leiawelsh (twitter name for those interested in the Welsh Tweets).

2. Is the blog of Mike John a research student from The University of Glamorgan, who lists in his Facebook entry his main interest as - breathing :) The blog is called On a Hill with the subtitle ' Better to be on a hill thinking about God, than in a church thinking about hills - it was from Mike's blog that I picked up the figures on how many Facebook accounts there are amongst students at Welsh Universities.

3. This is yet another Welsh Blog, and is one which I should read and have only just discovered is not in my Bloglines Aggregator it is the Wales Wide Web Blog from the illustrious Graham Attwell, now this is a blog to read, invariably packed with relevant issues of the moment from the blogging and podcasting world - really a blog for your aggregator - and mine!!!! ( when I have finished this post)

4. My fourth offering is a blog from another academic Michael Webb, Head of the University of Wales Newport, IT and Media Services Department. IT and Media Services are responsible for all core IT services within the University, including myLearning Essentials and myCommunity. Michael's most recent blog post would be appreciated by any Welsh person ( as we are often called 'Taffies' - after the River Taff which flows through Cardiff ) - it is an experimental search engine from the University called Tafiti - Michael also posts about Facebook amongst many other topics ( as you would expect from the Head of IT and Media ).

Can I make it a full house of Welsh Bloggers ?????

Well almost my final blog is called 'Dancing The Polka With Miss El Cajon ' and is the blog of Chris Cope who describes himself thus - Chris Cope Cardiff, Wales Unable to give a straight answer as to whether I'm Texan or Minnesotan, I've moved to Wales. If I am anything, I am a beer drinker. I may also be a Welsh speaker, a writer, and a 31-year-old dirty old man. I dream big and achieve little... so as you can see it technically counts as a Welsh Blog even though the blogger is not from Wales - I love the journey from Barry ( Barri) to Aberthaw that Chris documents in pictures and audio....

That just about completes my task, all that remains is for me to drop a comment on each of these good people's blogs and wish you a good night ( Noswaith dda) it is now BlogDay as it is 0.40am her in glorious but dark, Wales.

BlogDay2007

Imagiverse Activities for this School Year

We were involved in the Hands Around the World experience from Imagiverse last year which was absolutely fabulous and gave us great enjoyment looking for all of the places around The World that our hands came from ( we even had one of our own do the Round Trip from Wales to California and back again !) - so as we all embark on our new school year in the
Northern Hemisphere - part way through the year in the Southern Hemisphere - I thought we might need the inspiration of some of the Imagiverse Projects to get us going so I have included the e-mail I recieved from Michelle Mock of Imagiverse ....

30 August 2007
Vol. 2 No. 2

Dear Paul,

Welcome back to another exciting school year! I hope it is an enjoyable one for you and that all your students have fun learning new things.

Imagiverse is sponsoring several projects that can add something new to your teaching and most are very easy to incorporate into your curriculum. Click on the images to learn more about the individual projects.

Postcards Around the World - There will be two exchanges (Fall and Spring) which are limited to 100 participants each. There are very few spots left in the Fall exchange. We have 95 interested and nearly 80 have completed and confirmed their registration. Nearly 50 have already expressed interest in the Spring exchange. These are very popular! If you wish to participate, don't wait.

Hands Around the World - Students from classrooms around the world will create cut out paper "handprints" which they will send to Imagiverse for distribution to other participants. You will receive as many handprints as you send (at least one per student). There will be two exchanges. The Fall exchange is themed "Holidays Around the World". We have not yet settled on a theme for the Spring Exchange. There is no participant limit! This is a very easy activity, perfect for inclement weather days when your students can't go play outside. :-)

Weather Around the World - This is an ongoing activity. You can adapt it however you want. It is a great way to learn geography and about the weather in different places. Classrooms can report on their climate and seasons and later send weather reports. Reports can be sent regularly or only when there is something significant to report. The best part of this project is that it stimulates interest in things we sometimes take for granted. Lately I have been taking photographs of clouds passing through Southern California on the heels of Hurricane Dean. They are amazing, large, fluffy white cumulus clouds which are not frequently seen in this area. Where you live, this may be an every day sight. By observing and sharing, students learn in a fun, interactive way.

To learn more, or to register for these activities, please click on the Imagiverse - Universe of Imagination logo above. You can also go to our main pages at Imagiverse.ORG and click on activities.

We hope you have a wonderful school year and that Imagiverse.ORG becomes a frequent part of your lesson planning.

Michelle Mock

I hope that like me this gives you some food for thought ..... go on give one of the projects a go - we have a school assembly song that I am reminded of - Love is better if you give it away so this is your chance to spread it around The World.

Many Thanks to Michelle Mock and her team for all of their hard work on these projects

Social Networking ( addictive??)

Is it me??? A question I have been asking myself quite a bit over the past few days..... and I am not sure of the answer. I seem to have become a Facebook person over the past month. It all began when I joined to keep in touch with people in my Hockey Club (as Chairman I need to know what is going on).... it wasn't long before I began to explore Facebook further, and found how easy it is to tie up all of your links from other places to the 'One Stop Shop' that is Facebook. It can easily aggregate my Twitter feeds, Blog feeds, Delicious links, it can also import YouTube videos and much, much more.....( I even seem to be playing Scrabble with Dean Shareski in Canada!)......... oh yes, the question am I becoming addicted to Social Networking , and is it just me???
The answer I think must be Yes, I seem to be addicted. Evidence for this I know that at this precise moment I should be doing some much needed planning for the new School Year which starts for us next week..... however I appear to be blogging about Social Networking !!!! ( I began at 9am this morning - getting on for 2 hours ago just checking e-mails and messages!!!) - very addicted. As for is it me, No I don't think it is only me judging by this piece of research by Mike at 'On a Hill' who has looked into just students using Facebook in Welsh Colleges!

"Out of curiosity I've explored Facebook this morning and looked at the regional and college statistics for Wales. These figures are correct as of today. The WALES network has 65,952 members. In hierarchical order the college networks (in Wales) have the following numbers of members.
Cardiff, 15,104
Swansea, 6,447
Aber, 5,995
Bangor, 4,145
Uni Glam, 2,243
UW Institute Cardiff, 1,653
UW Newport, 716
Swansea IHE, 481
Lampeter, 469
Trinity, 333
RW College of Music and Drama, 332
NEWI, 356
A total of 38,274 facebook memberships. (How many students are there in Wales?) (How old are these networks?) To make sense of these figures, some statistical work will be required to show the number of facebook memberships as a percentage of the student population of each of the colleges, as we are not really comparing like with like here. (I suspect that Cardiff on Facebook includes the College of Medicine.) I wonder if I can find similar figures for Bebo or MySpace?"

I haven't dared to open up Twitter this morning as I know that this could put paid to my 'Real Life' and work for the rest of the morning. Twitter, using Twitteriffic and Twittervision is brilliant. Those brief 'to the point' messages or requests which come Tweeting in also can take over the task in hand...... In answer to a question from Allanah King in Nelson NZ, I prefer Twitter to Skype messaging at the moment as the message interface is so much more pleasing on the eye. I also allows me to pick up messages from a wider group of friends/colleagues.

I have one concern if it isn't just me, is everyone else substituting some of their 'Real Lives' to these 'Virtual Meeting Places'.... In a Flat World and Classrooms without Walls I guess the answer must be again Yes!

It is interesting to see how these spaces develop, it is very much the case that some 'take off' and some don't. personally speaking the main sufferer at the moment is the Ning Social Networking site - Facebook and Twitter are so much more instant and interactive that I don't seem to have the time to go and check out my Ning Networks.........there you go Mr H getting sucked into the discussion about which Social Networking Site is better ........ where do we go from here........ will I wait for a friend on Twitter or Facebook to point the way to the next development......... ( off to the 'real world' - q. Is it still light outside ???? )
Update on story (Friday 31st August ) - It looks as if I am not the only person worrying over the use of Social Networking, Channel 4 News in the UK ran a story last night about companies putting bans on the use of Facebook at work. Their experiences ran strangely parallel to my own in that as their 'expert' stated 10 minutes can become 30 minutes, then an hour, and before you know it 2 hours may have gone by while you have been online !!!!! addiction of the 21st Century? The jury is out ..... catch up on the article at this link


Technorati Tags: facebook, twitter

Blog Day 2007

Many thanks to Sheryl over at 21st Century Learning for the post about Blog Day 2007. It looks like a cool thing that more people should be getting involved in.

CELEBRATE THE 3rd BlogDay ON AUGUST 31st

What is BlogDay?

BlogDay was created with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries and areas of interest. On that day Bloggers will recommend other blogs to their blog visitors.
With the goal in mind, on this day every blogger will post a recommendation of 5 new blogs. This way, all blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, previously unknown blogs.


What will happen on BlogDay?

one long moment on August 31st, bloggers from all over the world will post recommendations of 5 new Blogs, preferably Blogs that are different from their own culture, point of view and attitude. On this day, blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, unknown Blogs, celebrating the discovery of new people and new bloggers.


BlogDay posting instructions:

1. Find 5 new Blogs that you find interesting
2. Notify the 5 bloggers that you are recommending them as part of BlogDay 2007
3. Write a short description of the Blogs and place a link to the recommended Blogs
4. Post the BlogDay Post (on August 31st) and
5. Add the BlogDay tag using this link:
http://technorati.com/tag/BlogDay2007 and a link to the BlogDay web site at http://www.blogday.org

Celebrate!


BlogDay2007

Transglobal Flashmeeting

I have taken the liberty of going ahead and arranging the 3rd meeting of this informal group of Web 2.0 Educators for Saturday 15th September at 22hrs UK (check out the time zones).
Our meeting on Saturday 25th August was very successful, at one point there were 13 people in the Flashmeeting, in addition to those listening on the live Worldbridges Stream.
For the meeting on 15th September the capacity is up to 25 participants, the meeting time is hopefully a better time for those in the Southern Hemisphere.... it is possible that we may have input from Asia ( Hong Kong ) so long as the Time Zones are not too difficult.
To find the meeting details follow this link - as pass it on to anyone that you think should be there....

Technorati Tags: flashmeeting, open university

Transglobal Flashmeeting

Uploaded with Skitch!

At 8pm Saturday 25th August the second Flashmeeting held between Edubloggers and Podcasters was held. The first meeting a month ago had 5 attendees globally, as you can see from the Skitch Map above we reached our target of 15 attendees this time around ( maybe 25 next time)... A salient point was made by Jason Hando from Sydney Australia, we need to get Educational Bloggers and Podcasters from Africa and Asia to come online with these technologies to give us their perspective on The World - I know that now with the $100 laptop scheme, and work by groups such as MediaSnackers - who recently trained bloggers and film makers in South Africa - these barriers should begin to break down... point well made Jason :)
This ties in with Terry Freedman, another of the Flashmeeting attendees point that it appears to be the same group of people who are meeting in different forums using different methods of communication - Terry asking the question is this going anywhere?
I think that to answer the question you only know when you see what that group of teachers and educators are doing in their own area to 'evangelize' the use of technology in the classroom... If you look at the CV's of some people who were in the meeting they mostly all have some element of 'Spreading the Word'with colleagues or teachers in their local area or beyond. ( Wes Fryer recently mentioned these people as local Yoda's)
An example came in a Skype conversation I had with Kirstin Hokanson straight after the FlashMeeting, Kristin will be using FlashMeeting as part of her work with teaching colleagues at her school this week where they will be discussing how using Web 2.0 tools could transform a classroom and how they teach.... this is just one example of many in which those involved with Web 2.0 are getting out there and doing it.... so I guess we do tend to be the same people meeting, but as with tonight, there were at least 5 people who have never been involved in using this technology before and now will certainly consider it.
If you follow the link you will be able to hear and see the discussion - also take a while to look at the detailed statistics which are recorded
link to Flashmeeting
We will have another meeting within the next fortnight, probably on a Saturday evening in the UK at around 10pm, making it more manageable for those in Australia and New Zealand.
I would like to say a big thank you to Jason Hando for co-hosting ( from 8,000 miles away), Lisa Durff for pushing me into organising it and also Sharon Peters for helping with the streaming to WorldBridges, also thanks to Jeff Howson who has put in sterling work promoting Flashmeeting around the UK and Europe ( I guess now, its The World too Jeff :)... and also to all 15 people who made it in this time.

Next time why don't you come and join us - I will post a url for the next meeting soon, on this blog and will e-mail it to those who attended this time....

News from ScreenCast

A note for all of you out there who are giving the Jing Project a try out. I have had some correspondence lately with Dirk Frazier from Screencast on a number of matters, one close to the heart of bloggers is embedding video into your blog.
Up until today if you used the standard embed code from Screencast (the Tech Smith product which hosts Jing Project files)the video will play 'full size'. The reason behind this from Screencast is that it gives you full screen high quality playback. Unfortunately as bloggers know this will play havoc with any sidebars that you have on your blog, I received this e-mail from Screencast this morning

Hi Paul,
With yesterday's update, the MediaRoll is now resizable -
and can be put into the left or right hand navigation areas of most
blogging software. As a user you can switch between "thumbnail"
view and "list" view. Here's an example of the new MediaRoll
in use: http://allthingsfittopost.blogspot.com  Let me know if
you like the new (narrower) design.

Best regards,
Dirk Frazier
Product Manager
Screencast.com

Yay, I still haven't got to the preparation work for school in a fortnight !!! :( but, I have learned how to create a MediaRoll for my Screencasts :)The MediaRoll widget is on the right side bar! - in true Web 2.0 and Jing/Screencast fashion I have recorded a quick 'How To' to help you with embedding your own widget ( making the most of things until the trial period comes to an end on the 1st October ). To view the file names if you click on the icon top right of the MediaRoll it will give you a list view of the videos... have fun and do give feedback to TechSmith as I have found them very helpful, as they obviously continue to develop this product.

The Last Word on File Converting ???

I say that tongue in cheek, as it seems that another day and another site emerges - this time the file converter, takes your YouTube/TeacherTube video and will convert them to .wmv (Windows) .mov (Mac) .mp4(iPod) .mp3 (audio_ .3gp (mobile) and .flv (flash). Great for showing Teachertube or Blip.tv videos off line in the classroom.
This great online gizmo comes courtesy of Wes Fryer's Moving At The Speed of Creativity blog, in an article written by Guest Bob Sprankle.
I, like Wes and Bob gave it a try and it efficiently converted my video, then prompting me to download it directly to the laptop - by passing the Zamzar e-mail route, which is definitely a step in the right direction - give it a try and then why not leave Wes or Bob a thank you.

Using Google Earth + Hurricane and Cloud overlay to track Hurricane Dean 07

Hurricane Dean 07 has today become the most dangerous Hurricane - a Category 5 with winds of up to 160mph.
I began tracking Dean, while actually looking at the track of Hurricane Erin over San Antonio, Texas. At that time having little thought of Dean becoming so dangerous. It began in the Southern Atlantic on 13th August as a depression with winds of 25mph.
I began following it on 18th August as it moved towards the Caribbean...

Uploaded with Skitch!

As I said already I was actually tracking Erin but took some Skitch screenshots as we went along... an ideal way to use Google earth in the classroom particularly with my new Year Group in September when we will be studying Extreme Weather from around the globe. It will be so easy to take these shots and build them into a blog or wiki on extreme weather...
This is the postion of Hurricane Dean 07 ( Cat 5) at 9.00 gmt Tuesday 21st August...

Uploaded with Skitch!

I guess everyone in the path of Dean 07 ( which sadly includes some small poorly developed villages on the Belize/Mexico border) has had plenty of warning, though having said that to date 11 people have been tragically killed by Dean 07... monitoring will continue.
Update on Wednesday 22nd August as Dean 07 crosses the Yucatan Peninsula it is downgraded to a Cat 1 Hurricane as you can see from the Skitch view below.

Below is a spectacular photograph of Hurricane Dean as it skirted around Jamaica, it was taken by the crew of the Space Shuttle on 19th August. The shuttle crew ( including a Welshman, and a teacher ) were bgought home early because of threats of high winds around Houston, Texas.

Uploaded with Skitch!

Flashmeeting meets Webcast Academy

In a first as far as we are aware Jason Hando (Sydney Australia) and Lisa Durff (Maryland, USA) carried out a Webcast using the UK Open University's Flashmeeting site recently, you can link to the webcast or view a video screencast that Jason took of part of the meeting using another great piece of Web 2.0 gadgetry called Jing - screencast here.
Following this successful trial and in conjunction with Jason and Durff, it has been decided that a further trial of Flashmeeting scheduled for Saturday 25th August at 8-10pm (UK time!) will be streamed live through the Worldbridges site!!!
You can access the Flashmeeting at the alloted time with this link.
For other information and a tutorial on using Flashmeeting look at my post of 15th August which includes Screencast Tutorials on using the site..... other than that we will see those who want to be there from around the globe on 25th August.

Is this a good Thing?

84%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Mingle² - Dating Site

Thanks to Jeff Utecht at Thinking Stick for this - you take the test it's scary, but true :(

Flikzor - Gone ( anyone with a good review?)

I gave Flikzor a try out - it seemed to offer much, the chance to put live video and audio comments onto a blog is an interesting concept..... I tried it out a few times ( I know it's in beta) and failed to get it to register any audio or video ( yes I did e-mail the flikzor people - no reply yet!). Oh, and yes I did try fiddling with my settings - nooo reaction!

So basically as I said in the original post if it couldn't make the grade it would be OUT. It can't and subsequently is removed.... if there is anyone out there who has had a good experience with Flikzor, do let me know, I hate to condemn a product out of hand with no external feedback.... I have to say so far it is not looking good Flikzor people!

Google Earth Add-ons

I read Ollie Bray's post yesterday on Google Earth add-ons. They are really cool there is :
* a cloud overlay
* an earthquake overlay
* a hurricane/typhoon overlay ( including tracking data updated every 10 mins real time)
* multiple satellite weather overlays ( chiefly for US)

These look absolutely fabulous for Geography in Elementary (Primary)and High School, it works even better if you have a link in an affected area, I happened to be Tweeting about the GE tools when I was contacted by Stephanie Sandifer who was telling me about weather conditions in Houston, Texas, and how they were watching anxiously the track of the next Hurricane....
Further to that the Earthquake overlay sadly showed the rash of quakes south of Lima, Peru where so many have lost their lives....

Update Saturday 18th August I am grateful to Joe for the comment this morning and for pointing me towards this TeacherTube video on Google Lit Trips and Google Earth Communities - thanks Joe :)

Go to the Google Earth blog

Uploaded with Skitch!

A SlideSharing Site with a twist

Thanks to Ewan McIntosh that terrier of the internet for spotting the release a few days ago of Animoto a Slidesharing site with a difference! A difference you ask? Yes, a difference - produced by people involved in the film world (US of course!).... It allows you to upload your photos and then the site creates the cuts and gizmos ( you can re-master ) you then choose from their cool tracks and add to the video and hey presto it's done!( you can add your own audio which is where a podcast audio may fit ??) - a 30 second film show is free ( full length video $3 or $30 a year for unlimited space).
Original embedded video removed because the music starting up autmatically irritated me, I don't know about you - hence to view the video you will have to follow the link below :)
Fun to try out .... mine is of a cool Sunday afternoon spent recently with the grandchildren in the pool !!!- paddling pool really :)

Skype Woes

Uploaded with Skitch!

Message from Skype Friday 17th August 2007

Is Nothing Sacred!!!

So much for thousands of years of history..... now even the Cerne Abbas Giant gets Simpsonized!

Cerne Abbas Giant gets a new best friend!

Dooohhhh !!!! ;-)

Calling all interested Web 2.0 users, following a recent Flashmeeting
held across 3 continents, followed by a Twitter discussion with Durff
on the use of Flashmeeting as a form of 'back-channel' I have booked
another meeting for Saturday 25th August at 8pm UK, you had best use
the world time widget to find out the time where you are ( if you visit the
meeting link, it will also tell you the time to the meeting). The meeting is
booked for 2 hours and for up to 15 participants.
I am hoping that it will be a mix of those who have used Flashmeeting
before in addition to welcoming in 'newbies', I plan to act as guide and
facilitator.
Some information for anyone thinking of taking part :
* you can enter the meeting as a Guest ( no need to be a member)
you will have slightly limited access to certain aspects of Flashmeeting
* all you need do is click on the meeting url at the alloted time and follow
the instructions into the meeting.
If you would like to sign up for Flashmeeting as a user could I suggest that
you e-mail E.Tomadaki@open.ac.uk, you will need to give your own e-mail
details.

A booking has been made for 25-Aug-07 at 20:00 (GMT +0100) and
lasting 119 minutes.
This booking is for 15 people to use the application
FlashMeeting

Go to the following address for full details and to access the
event:
http://flashmeeting.open.ac.uk/fm/3568b1-9578

A .ics calendar file can be downloaded prior to the
meeting from the above address.

Although guest entry is available into the meeting, attendees
who do not already have an account may wish to create one
prior to the meeting so that they can Sign In to the meeting
and have access to all the meetings features etc. A link
to create a Sign In account is available via the
meeting web page.

----------------------------------------------------------------

THIS MEETING IS SET TO BE RECORDED

Once the meeting has been completed the replay and minutes
of the meeting can be accessed using the address above
i.e the  url used to access the  live meeting.

Please note: The replay of this meeting will be publically
available and will, for instance, be listed on the public
replays web page
 http://flashmeeting.open.ac.uk/public/all/

----------------------------------------------------------------

For more details regarding FlashMeeting and terms of use
visit the project website at:
http://flashmeeting.open.ac.uk

Following attendance at recent skype conferences and speed geeking events I think
it might be advisable to have some form of agenda :
1) Introduction to aspects of Flashmeeting look at these links first to give you some background.

Lesson 1 - Research and About Flashmeeting.

Lesson 2 - Troubleshooting in Flashmeeting.

Lesson 3 - Public Replays and Statistics in Flashmeeting.

Lesson 4 - Flashmeeting Demonstration.

I am grateful to Jason Hando in Australia for doing development work
on the use of Flashmeeting in his recently produced Jing Presentation

2) Discussion on 'Best Web 2.0 tools for Education'
3) Ways of building 'Global Educational Collaboration' in a more inclusive way.
If there is any further information that you require don't hesitate to contact me
either by Skype, Twitter or e-mail.

Further Update on File Converters

As you may know dear reader I have been roadtesting file converters over the past week or so, mainly to try to get YouTube, TeacherTube and Blip.Tv videos onto the recently acquired 30GB iPod.
I am grateful to firstly Ewan McIntosh for tweeting about something ( no Ewan I haven't forgotten - honest!) which linked to Allan Ogg's tech-logg blog, I had a look around Allan's blog (like you do - nosy lot these Web 2.0 people he he!), and came across Movavi, a file converter very similar in design to Zamzar, which I had previously recommended.
I gave Movavi a try out today with file transfers of videos to convert for iPod, and I must say my experience was better than recent experiences with Zamzar (does tend to produce pop-up advertising!) - so the new (to me) kid on the block which is the winner ...so far is..... Movavi, give it a try :)
As they say - "It does what it says on the tin"

8 Random Facts Meme - Produced with Style

I know that there have been some creative responses to the recent 'attack of the memes' around the world I would like to draw attention to 2 from the UK.
An example from Scotland by David Noble who some may know better as 'Booruch' , David responded to being tagged by producing a creative Voicethread.



The other example is from the opposite end of the UK from Joe Dale on the Isle of Wight in England. Joe wanted to produce a thoughtful piece which broke from the norm and posted his meme here on blip.tv ( for those with a Mac I would warn you that this is a .wmv file and you will need a plug-in to play it)

Update
** Check out Adam Sutcliffe's blog post on Digital Students vs Analogue Schools - food for thought **