iPad, Really?

I don't know that much about Apple's new hot product yet, the iPad. But I just can't get past the name. MadTV did a spoof of the iPod way back in 2005 that was called the iPad. I can't post it here, because it's not quite school appropriate (search YouTube for yourself) but needless to say it had to do with "female" things.

It may be that the iPad, with its iTouch features and its netbook features and its eBook Reader features will be a huge sucess. But the name is a complete joke. You can tell there were no women on the marketing team.

Would you pay $500-$800 for the iPad? If you have one, what cool things does it do?

I leave you with this quote from Steve Jobs, "It's so much more intimate than a laptop and so much more capable than a smart phone" Oh my!

What is this: &

In Visual Basic, you use the "&" sign to put two strings together. I was calling it the "ampersand" sign and noone knew what I was talking about. The students call it the "and" sign. They call the "+" sign the "plus" sign.

So just to show I'm not loosing my marbles, check out wikipedia and see that I'm not making this up.

What do you call this: &

Avatar - iMax 3D

Finally got to see Avatar yesterday. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The iMax 3D experience was fantastic. I may never be satisfied with a regular movie again.

The special effects were special. You really felt you were there. You could feel the forest around you. It was a beautiful place. The characters and world were deeply developed. The premise, history, and interconnected-ness of all things was a message we can all use.

The story line was predictable, but aren't they all.

Avatar was a life dream of producer James Cameron, who spent 20 years and $250 million of his own money to make it. The total cost was somewhere around $500 million, but looks like they'll make their money back in no time. Viewer turn out has been, well, special.

Have you seen it? What did you think of the technology in it (cryogenics, aviation, cloning, "linking") or the technology to make it (3D movies, human animation, computing engineers)?

Which is your favorite Flash Movie

We have been learning Flash in my Web Design class. The students had a project to create a Flash movie of their own choosing. The minimum requirements were:

• Recognizable scene
• 5-10 seconds long
• At least 2 different symbols
• at least 1 guided motion twen
• Stop action and Replay button

We'll be using this link to vote for our favorite on polleverywhere.

Which was your favorite and why?

Are you new? Rookie mistakes by Veterans

I found this very funny in my class today. This is the end of first semester. So we have had class for 90+ days together. And every day we work on programs and at the end of class we save our work onto our "home" drives. This is a networked drive different from the "C" drive. It gives students privacy, so others can't see their work.

One student must have saved his work on the "C" drive by mistake. But he was not sitting at the same computer today.

Another student said, "Are you new?" It was the funniest thing I heard all day. Thanks, Mason, for making my day.

Paper Wads and other high tech stuff

Today we were using polleverywhere to review for an exam. The students had worked out their answers to a multiple-choice worksheet and we were voting for the best answer and discussing the results.

Then the network went down.

So to continue the review and to keep it fun and engaging, we wrote the letters A,B,C,D on the board and threw paper wads at our answers!

It's a good thing the network came back up 10 mins later, because we were getting tired of throwing. Thanks, Matt, for the idea. And thanks, DJ, for tossing them back and then getting them in the garbage.

Google Chrome and Netbooks

Google takes another blow at Microsoft by putting their own operating system, Chrome, on their new netbook platform. Netbooks are the future and Google is poised to rule that future. Is Microsoft asleep?

Netbooks are very light and small computers that don't have much local power (so no gaming) but can do everything on the web. So if you're comfortable with working "in the cloud" (like your word processing documents), it's all you need. And they're priced around $100

Chrome is the operating system that replaces Windows and since it only has to do internet stuff, it is configured to work really fast over the net. Independent studies have confirmed it is faster than Internet Explorer and FoxFire

I guess the only question is whether people will become comfortable working "in the cloud". What about you? Are you ok with putting all your stuff out there? Are you worried about security? About privacy? About redundancy?

Fantastic Alice Games

My Programming 1 class has been working very hard on writing a game using Alice. The creativity in the classroom has been fantastic all week. I love when we get good enough to really write a program that is unique, interesting and fun!

Today, we'll be using this link to vote for our favorite Alice Game.

After seeing them and voting, please feel free to comment here about your experiences with writing your game or about some other person's game that you admire. Even if your favorite did not win the class vote, which did you like the best?

How do you smile?

I've been using the smiley imoticon forever. But today my Senior Rep, Becca, told me that freshman seem to do it differently! Which one do you use?

A       :) is the way it's always been
B      (: is how the freshman do it
C      I don't use it at all, it's so last decade

What is your answer to the Alice Review packet

My Programming 1 class will be doing a review packet on a program we've been learning called Alice. As we do the packet, students will follow this link to record their answers to each question. That way every student will have the chance to think through the questions for themselves and to vote anonymously.

You can also do this with cellphone text messaging.

Did you enjoy this way of review for an exam? What pros/cons does it have over more traditional ways of reviewing in class?

Worlds Hardest Game

My student Cody, says this is the hardest game ever. Especially when you get to the level with crushing alternating rows.

My question is, "What does it say about someone who would play it enough to get good at it?"

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

So the new video game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, came out Tuesday night at midnight. I had a couple of student, Michael and Charlie, who spent the night playing it and then tried to come to school with no sleep. Needless to say, they were useless on Wednesday.

The game is set to have record breaking sales. So there must be a lot of people buying it and loving it. I've been told the graphics are very life like.

There's also some controversy about how violent and bloody it is. And the story line is too close to what our soilders are actually experiencing in real life (terrorism, Afghanistan, etc). The Blizzard Company is using some revenue to help our fighting men and women

Certainly it's a funny thing to talk about today, on Veterans day.

How does video gaming violence effect us in the long run?

Posting Google Docs to my Blog

I am learning about Google docs.  It is like Word, only your files are stored in the "cloud" (somewhere, up there) and you can access them from any computer, anywhere.  No more need to email yourself documents from home/school.  No more need to carry around a USB drive.

 

If you see this, then I was successful in sharing it via the "post to blog" option.
 

Bing Maps is my new favorite mapping software

Bing Maps has the usual satelight view, but it also has a birds-eye view that is much clearer and is updated everytime you refresh (I think?). You should check it out. Go ahead, type in your address, that's what I did.

Next time you're outside, be careful what you look like!!! Do you think this is a little too invasive? Or is the information worth the lose of some privacy?

Google outdoes Microsoft again

Between Google Voice and Google Wave, Google is the new monopoly to look after. They seem to have a vision way beyond Microsoft these days.

Google Voice is taking on the phone companies. Offering free phone calls. The only problem is they have to block out some numbers because they are carried on rural lines that are allowed to charge more. And advertisements can only pay for so much.

Google Wave is combinging email, instant messaging, social networking and wiki's into one massive communication tool. It's too early to tell where this technology will go, but I'm guessing it will be far!!

What other cool things does Google do that you use?

USB Drive Abuse

Kids, don't try this at home!

James found his lost USB drive in his jeans pocket after it had gone through the wash. So he decided to dry it in the microwave! He said he put it on low, "so it wouldn't arc." Then we all watched to see if it would work in our school computers. IT DID!!! Hardy little things.

Is he brave or lucky
	Brave
	Lucky
View Results

Free poll from Free Website Polls

N1H1 Flu Shots at School

Our students had the opportunity to get a flu shot at school on Oct 22. We've been relatively lucky with the virus. Certainly there have been students who got sick, but we haven't had the epidemic that some states/schools have had. I heard a school in Adams County closed for a couple of days to try to stop the spread.

It will take about 2 weeks until our students have enough antibodies to protect them. That's Nov 5.

So until then, keep washing your hands!

How often do you wash your hands?
	More than I used to
	About the same amount
	Less than usual
View Results

Free poll from Free Website Polls

Fail

Some of my students are having a lot of fun reading failblog. It is good for a laugh or two. Which one is your favorite?

Drive-through Flu Shots

Only in America!

Are you going to get the swine flu shot? Why?

We thought TEXTing and driving was dangerous!

Check out this educator who is vodcasting and driving!! (He say's because he's in Australia and the roads are less crowded it's less dangerous)

http://qik.com/video/1982598