Business Technology students are currently researching a "technology" from it's infancy stages to where it has evolved today and everything in between. Topics range from music players (remember 45 rpm records) to storage devices (how about 8 1/2" floppy disks) to phones (wow how they have evolved). I'm working right along side the students putting together a presentation on Web 2.0 tools.
So what's Web 2.0? you ask? It's the next generation of web applications and tools that focuses on sharing, collaborating, and social networks. It's changing how people utilize the Internet and the web. Rather than being "content consumers," anyone can be a "content producer." From blogs, to wikis, to photo sharing, to podcasts, to bookmarking, to file sharing, tagging, networking, mapping, mashups, and music and more . . . wowee!
Here's the 2007 Web 2.0 Awards in 41 categories . . . very nicely presented. Spend some time, check it out, control your own web experience, become a "content producer." This is what the new generation of the web is all about.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Have You iGoogled Today?
If you haven't checked out igoogle yet, you must. It's Google's personalized homepage that bring tons of cool stuff (and counting)--that you choose--right to your fingertips. The themes are a hoot, like the seasonal scape that features a frog and a ladybug who spend a beautiful day in the summer sun playing croquet, eating a picnic lunch, having a water battle, enjoying a slip-and-slide, a game of badminton, and roasted marshmallows over a campfire. Then the critters roll out their sleeping bags for a peaceful night under the stars but not before telling their ghost stories as the fire dims. Intrigued??? It doesn't stop there. The gadgets are endless. What are gadgets? you ask? They're small applications that bring together a lot of information that is relevent to you. Here's a sampling: things to ponder, friendship quote of the day, smiley of the moment, weather, jokes, internet slang translater, beauty tips, word of the day, news, news, and more news, how to of the day, fitness tips, brainteaster, dictionary, comics, the moon phases, games, games, and more games, world clocks, art of the day, lyrics search, recipe of the day, deep thoughts, digital alarm clock, cleaning tip of the day, body fat calculator, test your eyes . . . and this is just a small sampling. When you begin to choose your gadgets from the scads available, Google will suggest others along the same lines plus you can see how many people are currently using the gadget and read reviews. 'Nuf said for now . . . go set up your iGoogle . . . it'll keep you coming back for more.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Week One Rewind
As everyone settled into new schedules, ringing bells, and 17 additional minutes, the first week of school at MHS went off without a hitch. Much information, data, knowledge, statistics, facts, and figures were imparted within the classrooms of MHS this first week . . . which leads to this “Week One Rewind” blog post--a chance to review, reflect, and reprocess the concepts that were discussed in Room 228 during the first week. Read on to review, reflect, and reprocess . . . a quiz will follow!
The difference between the “Internet” and an “intranet” is more than just one letter. Like Interstate 80, aka I-80, which runs from Teaneck, NJ, to San Francisco, CA, and is the second-longest interstate highway after I-90, the “Internet” is an electronic network providing access to millions of resources worldwide. Intrastate 209, originally one of the most rural US highways to traverse Pennsylvania, began as an intrastate highway, running from Milford, PA (north), to Clarks Ferry, PA (south). So . . . an intranet is an inter-connected network within one organization that uses Web technologies for the sharing of information internally, not worldwide.
PDF is Portable Document Format—an electronic document that is read with Adobe Acrobat (free download). Advantages of PDF include preserving of fonts, images, and layout of the document no matter what application was used to create it and the ability to read the file on any computer without any conflict. PDF’s cannot be altered or edited which is also considered an advantage.
File management is controlling the creation, deletion, access, location, and use of files, data, and programs. A good “rule of thumb” is to create an electronic folder when you accumulate five or more files dealing with the same subject. Using appropriate filenames is also a good file management technique which can help you be more organized in saving and finding files. And . . . every month you should either purge or archive files that are no longer imminently needed.
Aaaah, the fine art of “multitasking,” a term that became a buzzword with technological inventions and the Windows “task” bar, cell phones, IMing, texting, MP3, Bluetooth . . . etc, etc, is best defined as executing many processes at the same time. Gone are the days of simply talking on the one “land line” “rotary” “short corded” phone located in the kitchen of your household or watching one of three channels on the one TV located in the family room—at different times, of course.
A template, or a pattern used to create documents, can really be a time-saver . . . and we all need more time. Use the template concept when you know you’ll be using the same pre-designed format many times.
That's week one's computer concepts . . . wow, we covered a lot of territory. Can't wait for week two ;-) Good luck on the quiz.
The difference between the “Internet” and an “intranet” is more than just one letter. Like Interstate 80, aka I-80, which runs from Teaneck, NJ, to San Francisco, CA, and is the second-longest interstate highway after I-90, the “Internet” is an electronic network providing access to millions of resources worldwide. Intrastate 209, originally one of the most rural US highways to traverse Pennsylvania, began as an intrastate highway, running from Milford, PA (north), to Clarks Ferry, PA (south). So . . . an intranet is an inter-connected network within one organization that uses Web technologies for the sharing of information internally, not worldwide.
PDF is Portable Document Format—an electronic document that is read with Adobe Acrobat (free download). Advantages of PDF include preserving of fonts, images, and layout of the document no matter what application was used to create it and the ability to read the file on any computer without any conflict. PDF’s cannot be altered or edited which is also considered an advantage.
File management is controlling the creation, deletion, access, location, and use of files, data, and programs. A good “rule of thumb” is to create an electronic folder when you accumulate five or more files dealing with the same subject. Using appropriate filenames is also a good file management technique which can help you be more organized in saving and finding files. And . . . every month you should either purge or archive files that are no longer imminently needed.
Aaaah, the fine art of “multitasking,” a term that became a buzzword with technological inventions and the Windows “task” bar, cell phones, IMing, texting, MP3, Bluetooth . . . etc, etc, is best defined as executing many processes at the same time. Gone are the days of simply talking on the one “land line” “rotary” “short corded” phone located in the kitchen of your household or watching one of three channels on the one TV located in the family room—at different times, of course.
A template, or a pattern used to create documents, can really be a time-saver . . . and we all need more time. Use the template concept when you know you’ll be using the same pre-designed format many times.
That's week one's computer concepts . . . wow, we covered a lot of territory. Can't wait for week two ;-) Good luck on the quiz.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
