Internet2 - for you?

Recently, I got a sneak preview of Internet 2.

The initiative is "a consortium by 207 universities working in partnership with industry and government to develop and deploy advanced network applications and technologies, accelerating the creation of tomorrow's Internet. Internet2 is recreating the partnership among academia, industry and government that fostered today´s Internet in its infancy." ((more info).

It's more than just really fast networking - it's focusing on building new applications for research and learning and enabling the spread of those applications to other quickly.

To maintain the speed- the network will never be available for the public. Instead, public groups may subscribe or tap information spawned by the network. The 10GB transfer speed is lighting fast, but we'll probably only see it through special partnerships with Higher Ed. institutions.

Well... we can dream?!

Sniffing for Wi-Fi

When I'm careening from one place to another across Silicon Valley, my Powerbook is often hard at work. Using an application called iStumbler (free and Open Source), the Powerbook 'senses' Wi-Fi networks (and Bluetooth, and more) and reports findings such as signal strength and whether the network is secure or open.

Recently, I stopped at a traffic light in front of one of the area's largest high schools and iStumbler stumbled across a HUGE number of open networks. I didn't have the time, nor the inclination, to snoop and find what was on those networks or how much bandwidth could be stolen, but it certainly raised a lot of questions about what students and teachers know about securing wireless networks.

I contacted the school's tech coordinator and we talked about bunches of ways to lessen the security risk. She's working now to let every staff member know how to log into their encrypted network and not inadvertantly broadcast free bandwidth - unless they mean to, of course.

Lesson for the day... grab a Powerbook and sniff your campus. You might be surprised what you find.

Can I Really Use a Treo?

A month ago I snagged a Treo 600. I was a nay-sayer who believed that the Treo was too large to be a good phone and too small to be a good handheld.

I know when to admit I'm wrong.

The Treo has become as comfortable as my old handheld (all the program from my Tungsten C transferred effortlessly) and even more useful than my GSM Ericsson cell phone. The 320x320 pixel screen is incredible, as are the photos I can shoot with the tweaked on-board camera. It synchronizes just like my old handheld, but with a new twist. Now I synchronize via Bluetooth®! I just walk in, put my handheld down on the desk and then tap HotSync. BAM! DONE!

If it's time to get a new phone (isn't it always time to get a new phone?) and you've got Cingular/ATT, Verizon or T-Mobile - GET a smartphone.

You won't regret it.

SPIT and SPIM: Spam grows more heads

Move over SPAM, here comes SPIM and SPIT.

Like we need more acronyms? SPIM - spam by instant messenger, and SPIT - spam over internet telephony, are not only new acronyms - these two new spaminals are growing.

In the last week, I logged three different VoIP SPIT messages and one SPIM (on my Treo).

As you probably know, Internet telephony (voice-over IP (VoIP)) involves making phone calls using the internet instead of traditional phone lines. VoIP uses internet protocols to send information, meaning one message can easily be sent to thousands of recipients.

What do you do? Where there's SPAM, SPIM and SPIT, there's a software solution. GOOGLE these acronyms to find them.

Discover RSS

OK. I finally discovered RSS. It's patently obvious that it's obviously useful to educator, student and random consumer.

My top 5 discoveries:
* it's built into Firefox (display RSS feeds)
* the acronym means "Really Simple Syndication" or one of a bunch of other similar things
* the feed is driven by XML
* it works with blogger.com
* it's the BEST way to get your news

I discovered that not only does Firefox on my Mac read RSS feeds, but so does a WIDGET for an amazing desktop tool called Konfabulator, or a dandy reader called NewsFire.

Right now, I've got a feed from:
* BBC
* MacNN
* Apple HotNews
* CNN
* Wired magazine
* and this blog!

Adding the feed to my WIDGET was as easy as copying and pasting a URL.

For more info.. Check out this site.

Crystal Ball

What's next in tech trends? Will wireless access mean no need for wires in homes and schools? What happens to training and staff development?

Check out "We're Getting Wired, We're Going Mobile. What's Next? Fresh Ideas for Educational Technology Planning
ISBN: 1-56484-182.0
"Technology planning is tough," states author Bard Williams, Ed.D. "Building a good tech plan can have a huge positive impact on how technology is used in the educational environment. But we must make informed choices.” ISTE's new book We're Getting Wired, We're Going Mobile, What's Next? provides K–12 and higher ed decision makers with a measured and inspiring guide for exploring and evaluating new directions in educational technology.

More info here.

It's not a brick, it's a Mac?

At Macworld SF, Apple announced the Mac
mini. The 6.5in wide and 2" tall square is truly amazing. When
you'll see it in person, you'll really get a sense of just how small,
and feature-packed, this thing really is.

Top 10 cool things about the Mac mini
1. it's SMALL (almost non-existant footprint for crowded desks, student
work areas, or server farms)
2. it's powerful (1.42GHz PPC G4
3. it's SMALL
4. built in Firewire, USB2, 10/100BASE-T Ethernet, 56K modem
5. iLive '05 comes with it for free
6. it's SMALL
7. expandable to 1GB of RAM
8. Slot-loading DVD/CD-RW drive
9. It's SMALL
10. it's CHEAP (<$499 starting price)

Nicely done, Apple.

palmOne hydra

What has more heads than a flock of seagulls and plugs into a palmOne handheld?

It's a multi-unit charging station from TriBeam Technologies. If you're an educator and go crazy with charging and sync issues, this is a WINNER.

It really works!

There are PEOPLE in my handheld!

Grab your palmOne handheld.

Launch the Giraffe game.

Hold your stylus in the lower right corner, then press the page up button.

See what I mean?

Going Crazy Remembering Passwords?

I have an awful memory and WAY too many passwords. While I've used a lot of secure programs to store things, I finally found one good enough, and secure enough, to recommend to my friends.

It's a Palm OS handheld program called SplashID. More info about SplashID

It's got a desktop component that makes entering the passwords easy. You can make categories (student records, personal, network logins, etc.)

Nice.

Make an eBook yet?

eBooks are a great way to introduce handheld technology into your school. You can take virtually any document (Word, text or whatever) and convert it to an eBook - complete with images and links.

Schools have created eBooks for their student handbook, school board policy manual, and distributed eBooks of all the literature books they use in Language classes. Students create eBooks summarizing research for projects, too.

To READ and eBook on your Palm OS (palmOne) handheld, you need eReader (free at ereader.com).

To MAKE an eBook, the easiest way is to purchase a commercial program called eBook Studio (also from ereader. com). School licenses are available and well worth the bucks.

A Better Sync for your Handheld

I'm a big fan of using my palmOne handheld. It's become indespensible as I do training and conferences, and remembering birthdays.

I'm primarily a Mac user (my legacy from my 10 years working at Apple) and really aren't a big fan of palmOne's HotSync manager. It hasn't been tuned in years and doesn't have lots of features I'd like.

Then I found a cool application called "The Missing Sync". Not only have the folks at Mark Space created a beautifully executed Mac OS X application, this one really works well.

So what does this thing do that the palmOne product doesn't? There are a bunch of featurs that make this great for the classroom (and your own productivity).

Here's a beginning list:
* Sync via WiFi
* Mount handheld memory cards on the Mac desktop
* Drag-and-drop installation of compressed files (.sit, .zip, .gz, etc.) with automatic file handling
* iTunes and iPhoto integration
* Share the Mac's Internet connection, via USB or Bluetooth, for email and web access on the handheld

It's rock solid and well supported. Check it out.

Podcasting?

A new word for your vocabulary, and a new concept for your classroom blog!

Excerpted from Wikipedia.

The term podcasting plays upon the terms broadcasting and webcasting and is derived from the name of the iPod portable music player, the playback device of choice of many early podcast listeners. While not directly associated with Apple's iPod device or iTunes jukebox software, the company did contribute both the desire and the technology for this capability. Podcasting is similar to time-shifted video software and devices like TiVo, which let you watch what you want when you want by recording and storing video, except that podcasting is used for audio and is currently free of charge. Note, however, that this technology can be used to pull any kind of file, including software updates, pictures, and videos.

Podcasting is different from broadcasting and webcasting in that it "casts" audio not by a mechanism of centrally pushing audio out to listeners, but by the mechanism of the (distributed) listeners pulling (downloading) the audio files automatically. Podcasters publish (or "podcast") audio files, even in the likeness of radio shows, but it is the individual listener who initiates the "cast" through their subscription and automatic download of the audio program.