Friday, February 6, 2009

What's New With Internet Explorer 8 RC1?

Interested in the latest version of Internet Explorer? Should you care - or have your users upgrade? PC World has a good article with product details.

Check it out: http://www.pcworld.com/article/158353/whats_new_with_internet_explorer_8_rc1_here_is_a_look.html

Microsoft website: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/beta/

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Can You Hear Me Now? How to Make a Podcast

Here's another course from the GMR. Download the materials for reference.

Thinking about how to promote your services and reach out to more people? Want to learn how podcasts can help and how to make your own? This hands-on class is designed to provide a fun yet informative introduction to podcasting and how you can utilize this technology in your library services, to enable your users to access the information whenever they want, wherever they want and however they want it.

Basic steps and suggestions on how to make a podcast will be covered and students will be able to enjoy hands-on practice on popular audio recording and editing software and make their first personal podcast!

Check it out: http://nnlm.gov/training/podcast/

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Geeks Bearing Gifts:unwrapping new technology trends

Came across a great course- Geeks Bearing Gifts:unwrapping new technology trends. I don't think the class is open to the public but you can download the materials.

This class is intended to provide a fun, fast-paced, and informative introduction to and update on today’s hottest technology trends. Program participants will be able to identify technology trends and they will understand how these trends will impact or can be integrated into traditional library services.

Content will be presented in with a “can-do” focus intended to encourage participants to investigate at least one technology for implementation in their institution. Course structure will include brief vignettes and demonstrations of a wide variety of technologies. Some of the topics to be covered include instant messaging, podcasting, blogs and wikis, social networking sites, collaboration software, and more.

Check it out: http://nnlm.gov/training/geekgifts/

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

e-Learning DevCon 2009

Have limited budget for training conferences this year? If I had to pick one conference, I'd go to e-Learning DevCon 2009.

Your $699 registration includes a full conference pass—and all meals are included! There are 70+ sessions on e-Learning development using a variety of software packages. Presenters for many of the sessions are end-users. Bill Horton is giving one of the keynote speeches.

Check it out: http://www.elearningdevcon.com/

Monday, February 2, 2009

Adobe eLearning Island on Second Life

Adobed launched an eLearning experience for Adobe Systems in the virtual world of Second Life. The Island highlights its eLearning Suite and Captivate 4 products, which launched last week. The island features several interactive elements meant to educate and entertain audiences about Adobe's eLearning products.

Adobe's eLearning Island can be reached in Second Life at the following location: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Adobe%20eLearning/38/38/37.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

What is the semantic web?

If you haven't heard about the semantic web (Web 3.0), get ready for it. It's basically the "web of data" - a way to understand the meaning behind the stuff on a web page. Understanding what a person, place or event is - rather than depending on just keywords and then using that data to present information.

To see this in action, compare Freebase and Wikiopedia. Wikipedia and Freebase both appeal to people who love to use and organize information, but the difference lies in the type of information covered, and the way it's organized. Wikipedia arranges information in the form of articles, while Freebase lists facts and statistics. Freebase information is good not only for people who want to research facts, but also for people who want to use those facts to build other websites and applications.

Check it out: http://www.freebase.com/

Example: http://www.freebase.com/view/royalty

Another Tool: Operator from Firefox https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4106
Operator lets you combine pieces of information on Web sites with applications in ways that are useful. For instance, Flickr + Google Maps, Upcoming + Google Calendar, Yahoo! Local + your address book, and many more possibilities and permutations. All of these scenarios are possible due to Microformats, an emerging standard for injecting semantics into HTML.