Reading in a digital world

Evernote

https://www.evernote.com/

Access anywhere. Evernote works with nearly every computer, phone and mobile device out there. Evernote makes it easy to remember things big and small from your notable life using your computer, phone, and the web. Get started today with a free account.

1. Capture anything-text, audio, video, screen shot, web page, etc.

2. Organize it, tag it, organize into notebooks, and have it searchable.

3. Search by keywords, titles, tags, and handwritten text.

ISSUU: you publish (Allows you to easily put your files onto the web for retrievals later)

http://issuu.com/#whatIsIssuu

This is a way to put your publications on the cloud digitally to be retrieved from any computer.

And example on a website: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/09/eight-good-resources-for-space-science.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+freetech4teachers%2FcGEY+%28Free+Technology+for+Teachers%29

Take Control - ePubs for technological assistance and knowledge www.tidbits.com

MacLife magazine now has an app for the iPad (iTunes)

Zinio www.zinio.com Zinio transforms your favorite print magazines into digital format.

Same content . Same design. Delivered over the Internet. Straight to your desktop.

This app also saves paper clutter around the home or office.

Interactive books for the iPad (Alice in Wonderland)

Goodreads www.goodreads.com

This is a good place to keep track of what you have read and share the good reads with friends. You can also take advantage of various interest groups that are formed. Authors are also available for chats periodically.

The future of the book [video] - Holy Kaw!

http://holykaw.alltop.com/the-future-of-the-book-video

The Future of the Book. from IDEO on Vimeo.

Sources for free eBooks

Biblomania http://www.bibliomania.com/0/0/frameset.html

Book Gluton http://www.bookglutton.com/

Children’s ebook libraries http://drscavanaugh.org/ebooks/libraries/childrens_collections.htm

Digital ebooks http://www.digitalbookindex.com/_search/search011t-rev.asp

Ebooks & text archive http://www.archive.org/details/texts

eBooks directory http://www.e-booksdirectory.com/

Fictionwise ebooks http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/freeBooks.htm?cache

Freebooks http://www.free-ebooks.net/

Google books http://www.e-booksdirectory.com/

Just free books http://www.justfreebooks.info/

iTunesU http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/whats-on.html#itb-topten

Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

Searchebooks http://www.searchebooks.com/

Shakespeare Opensource http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/

TED: Ideas worth spreading http://www.ted.com/

Wikibooks http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page

Univ of Penn online books http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/

US Government books http://www.america.gov/publications/books.html

History of the Internet (YouTube)

"History of the internet" is an animated documentary explaining the inventions from time-sharing to filesharing, from Arpanet to Internet.
The history is told using the PICOL icons on picol.org , which are available for download soon. On blog.picol.org you can get news about this project.

Voice-over by Steve Taylor http://voice-pool.com
You can get more information on this movie on my website
http://www.lonja.de/motion/mo_history...
or on the PICOL-Project site where you can download a pre-release of the icons.
http://blog.picol.org/

If you are interested in more Internet history you can also read/watch:
- ISOC: History of the internet: http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_...
- Geschichte des Internet (german & link to Amazon): http://tinyurl.com/4kzlwq
- Computer Networks: The Heralds Of Resource Sharing http://tinyurl.com/apocod

Credits for subtitles:
(The correctness of the subtiles depends on the people listed down here)
English: Stefan Badragan | youtube.com/StevXtreme
Italian: Stefan Badragan
German: me
Turkish: Zeynep Can
French: Arnaud 'dehy' DE MOUHY
Bulgarian: Andrian Georgiev
Chinese: Terry Lee
Portuguese (Brazilian): Guilherme Euler
Spanish: Mauricio Diaz Orlich
Polish: Agnieszka Marciniak
Greek: Pantelis Bouboulis

Also thanks to: Frederico Goncalves Guimaraes

Use geography to send a greeting

http://www.geogreeting.com/main.html
The surface of the earth holds a message for you. You just need to look a little closer... Investigating the Earth from the sky will find some surprising tools for classroom teachers. This is a great way to develop geographical skills.

Search Creative Commons

http://search.creativecommons.org/
This site will help you find photos, music, text, books, educational material, and more that is free to share or build upon utilizing Creative Commons enabled search services at Google, Yahoo!, blip.tv, Owl music search, and Flickr. You can also access this tool via the Firefox web browser.
" Why is this important?

Copyright applies fully and automatically to any work -- a photograph, a song, a web page, an article, pretty much any form of expression -- the moment it is created. This means that if you want to copy and re-use a creative work you find online, you usually have to ask the author's permission.

This "all rights reserved" protection is a good thing for many authors and artists. But what about those who want you to use their work freely without permission -- but on certain conditions?

This search service helps you quickly find those authors and the work they have marked as free to use with only "some rights reserved." If you respect the rights they have reserved (which will be clearly marked, as you'll see) then you can use the work without having to contact them and ask. In some cases, you may even find work in the public domain -- that is, free for any use with "no rights reserved." "

Animoto is now for educators!!!!!

What fun it will now be to teach web2.0 learning video mashups.
Earlier in this blog you can fins an explanation of Animoto.
It ius addictive and very useful when you are feeling creative.

Here is where you can find out about it:
http://biz.animoto.com/education/faq.html

“THE OVERVIEW -

Since launching our site in August, we've heard countless stories about how useful Animoto has been as a tool for educators to use with students. While we never originally thought Animoto would be something that could be used in the classroom, we've been both surprised and inspired by hearing how effective Animoto has been. We feel like this is one area we can do our duty to "give back" a little.

If you are interested, we'd like to give you a "Classroom Code" that'll give each of your students a free All-Access pass (unlimited full-length videos for a whole year) upon signing up with this code. And you can use Animoto with your students however you wish. Keep in mind that videos can be viewed full-screen for classroom presentations.

Students' Animoto videos can now also be downloaded to your desktop--we've heard this is often more conducive for class presentations because you can view videos without being dependent on an internet connection and without the "Distractions" of the website.

The only thing we ask is that you keep us posted with the creative ways you find to use Animoto in the classroom. Our goal is to put together a collection that becomes a hub of sorts for teachers who use web 2.0 technology in a clever, innovative & fun way.”
Check what’s said: http://biz.animoto.com/education/buzz.html

Conversion tools for educators

Zamzar http://www.zamzar.com/ is one of my favorites. A great converter, it is fast, free, educationally friendly. It converts almost anything to anything else you want it to be. The list is endless, so for one stop conversions, this is my pick. The other item, like Zamzar, is a converter. ConvertTube will allow you to convert online video like YouTube to more popular formats like wmv, mov, mp4,mp3, 3gp. http://converttube.com/ Having this tool in your teacher toolbox will make it easier to get around those firewalls.

Animoto.com _ Amazing videos on the fly.

If you don’t think you are a creative person. Or if you just can’t figure out those pesky details when it comes to technology. Then you are in luck, because this application, Animoto, will create some amazing artistic videos for you with little or no technical knowledge.

The amazing thing about this application is the unique approach it takes to every creation. I used different songs with the same slides to see what would result. I was totally amazed at the uniqueness of each movie. The application analysis each photograph and song so that it can appropriately massages them into a visually appealing movie that can be emailed, downloaded, and embedded into web pages. I can just imagine some of the finished products when you introduce creative people to such an application. I personally wasted (not really) several hours when I should have been doing something else. But, then I think of the enjoyment I got from putting my pictures and music together with some professional help.

Animoto Productions is a bunch of techies and film/tv producers who decided to lock themselves in a room together and nerd out. Their first release is Animoto, a web application that automatically generates professionally produced videos using their own patent-pending Cinematic Artificial Intelligence technology and high-end motion design. Each video is a fully customized orchestration of user-selected images and music. Produced in wide-screen format, Animoto videos have the visual energy of a music video and the emotional impact of a movie trailer. They are a welcome end to slideshows.

The heart of Animoto is its newly developed Cinematic A.I. technology that thinks like an actual director and editor. It analyzes and combines user-selected images and music with the same sophisticated post-production skills & techniques that are used in television and film. The technology takes into account every nuance of a song - the genre, song structure, energy, rhythm, instrumentation, and vocals. Whether it's punk, pop, hip-hop or a classical Mozart piece, every Animoto video is totally customized. Even videos generated with an identical set of images and music will each have a completely distinct set of motion design. No two videos are the same. They can be emailed, downloaded, and embedded in pages on websites including social network sites like Facebook and MySpace.

Animoto is also dedicated to supporting new artists and music. So while users can upload their own music, the guys at Animoto also proudly feature a regularly updated selection of fresh music that they truly dig. No stock music, no cover bands, no elevator music, and no wannabe bands.

Animoto is inspired by the digital camera revolution where taking dozens, even hundreds of pictures at a time gives people the ability to think more like a video producer capturing an entire experience, not just individual moments. As users are discovering the limits of traditional photo services, the guys at Animoto are innovating new ways for people to share their stories and express themselves through media.

While based in New York City, they also have an office in San Francisco, the founders are veterans of the entertainment industry and have produced shows for MTV, Comedy Central, & ABC, studied music in London, and played in indie rock bands. They share a passion for helping people better share their stories and express themselves through online media by innovating technologies in the field of video production.

Don’t linger………. Rush to: http://animoto.com/
Try out one of my creations: http://animoto.com/play/bbd3c52e591fc0e9bf1411c6af1d9cf3