Pants on the Ground guy - Dead or Not?

Internet rumors have been flying about the Pants on the Ground guy, Larry Platt, being dead. The rumor had him approaching a group of men, with low pants of course, and singing his famous song. They then beat him to death.

It does appear this is not true. But only a rumor. Though the extent of effort to propogate the rumor is amazing. Photoshopped pictures, multiple websites, and or course the human element that keeps us guessing.

What do you think? Is Pants on the Ground guy dead? What other "stories" do you hear so many times that you take them to be true?

The Mosquitto - Not Just a Rington

Howard Stapleton is the man who made The Mosquitto sound file that many high school students use as their ring tone so their parents and teachers don't know they're texting. It works because as we age, our hearing range decreases. Most people over 25 can not hear The Mosquitto. In fact, Howard can hear it. He made it with the help of his 4 year old daughter.

Now, adults are using it to shoo unruly teenagers from hanging out near their stores.

This may seem controversial, as all people have the constitutional right to assemble. But what if they are drunk, loud, and harrassing others?

Here/Read the entire interview here and tell me what you think? Should the shop owners be allowed to use it?

Hard Times calls for Saving Ink Toner

My boss sent out an email to us explaining how some fonts use less toner and asked us to set one of these as our default. I know we've fallen on hard times, but this just seemed drakonian to me.

On the one hand, it is an easy do-it-once task that does have benefits, so why not. On the other, really!! It just caught me so off guard. Maybe because the email was titled "TGIF".

Anyways, here are the most ecological fonts:

Century Gothic, a particularly light, thin font, uses about 30 percent less ink than Arial, according to a recent study by Printer.com. Other cheap fonts: Times New Roman, Calibri, and Verdana.

Sony's MOVE will take motion-control gaming to the next level

Sony will be selling it's MOVE component for the Playstation3 this fall for $100. MOVE is a motion-control system, like Wii, but with a 3D component. It is getting lots of buzz in the gaming world and has a 3D version of Killzone 3. One reviewer said, "the jet-pack wearing enemies seemed to be floating midway between our heads and the screen. We couldn't help leaning to the left of right to dodge their fire." And, before you ask, "yes" you have to wear those red/blue glasses.

So what about it, Microsoft? What are you gonna do for the XBox?

A Fun Read

Just heard about Fan-fiction, a site where anyone can be an author. Check it out and read a few!

Then if you feel adventurous, write your own story and upload it and see how many people read it. This is a fantastic way to express yourself and to see if you like writing for pleasure.

There's even a mobile version for those of you with smart phones. So the next time you're bored, but away from your computer, you can still have something fun to read.

Would you ever be willing to use something like Fan-fiction for turning in a school assignment? How would that change the amount of time and energy you put into the assignment?

May the 4th be with you - International Star Wars Day

This new "holiday" is going viral for people who like the Star Wars movies, books, etc. It's an excuse to dress up as your favorite character from the franchise and get your geek on. Here's a link to more info on how it got started. There's even a Facebook "event"

Mostly, I just liked the play on words (force v fourth).

Google Chrome Rocks!!

I just downloaded Google Chrome and I love it! It is sooooo fast. And it has wonderful options like typing searches or URLs in the same box and right clicking on address in any web site to map them. Yep, I'm a convert.

Sharing Earbugs is Gross

Is it just me, or do others find sharing earbugs to be unsanitary. I had a student who wanted me to hear something he was listening to, and he handed me his left earbud. Couldn't do it. I held it up to my ear, but I couldn't put it inside me ear. It just grosses me out.

I see pairs of students sharing earbuds all the time. In fact, there have been studies that show this creates a bond and demonstrates a level of trust between friends. Sorry, friend, I don't want to share ear wax.

Years ago, we learned not to share combs because of head lice. I wonder what you can catch from an earbud?

Visual Basic is related to District 9

In VB class today, we were studying creating menus. You name menus with "mnu." About 10 mins later, Ben shouts out, "That's from District 9!" Whaaat???

He's right, MNU is the MultiNationalUnited company that was running the show in the movie.

I guess we're running out of 3 letter acronyms. What others have more than one meaning?






Hi Brandon

This Shirt will get you Dates

Here's an actual link to the 3 Wolf Moon Shirt you can buy on Amazon.com. Scroll down to the Customer Reviews for a huge laugh. I really feel embarrased for the people who created the music video.

Thanks, Matt!

Inside Joke

If you know a little about Java and if you saw Avatar, you'll love this FoxTrot comic strip!!

Computer Engineer Barbie

Computer Engineer Barbie, complete with glasses, blue-tooth headset and lap top. I like it! I wonder if Computer Engineer Ken would look like Bill Gates or Stephen Jobs?

Olympic Cowbell App

Say you're at the Olympics and you're watching Lindsey Vonn race and you want to encourage her. You're not going to take off your mittens and clap, that would be too cold. So you ring your cowbell. But wait, you forgot your cowbell!! No worries, "there's an app for that." Cowbell2010

Seriously. This .99 cent app for iPhones will make a cowbell sound when you shake it.

Cat Face

I needed a pick-me-up today, and my students Sam and Ben suggested Cat Face. You just got to watch it to understand, I can't explain it.

http://www.weebls-stuff.com/catface/Cat+Face/

Superbowl Ads

Superbowl Ads, which is your favorite? My AP class decided the "Doritos Play Nice" one was the best.

Oh yeah, and Congrats to the Saints

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

Pet Peeves

I can't tell you how many times a student has come up to me and said, "I was absent yesterday, did we do anything important?" grrrr

I usually say something like "Well of course not, this is just school" or "We couldn't, you weren't here!"

What are other ways/phrases students can use to get caught up after missing school?

Online bullying

One way to protect yourself against online bullying, is to take a screen snapshot when it occurs. That way you have proof that someone was harrasing you. Here's how to use the PrintScreen button and Paint to do this.

Another idea is to talk about it. Tell your parents, teachers, whoever will listen. Keep talking until you find someone who will help you. If it's appropriate, talk to your friends also, so they can learn from the experience.

Online bullying is not acceptable. You don't have to take it.

Beyond Sticky Keys

I don't know how, but one of my students, Kyle, had a beeping noise everytime he moved his mouse. It was hilarious! He'd move it to save his work, it would beep all the while. He'd move it to shutdown, it would beep beep beep.

I don't know what sequence of keys does this, but it sure made me smile. Has this every happended to you? Have you had another strange phenomenon occur without notice?

BTW, a reboot fixed it.

Student Creativity - I Love it!!

I love days like today, when I gave my Web Design class and very open-ended project where they could use their creativity. Many students did wonderful things. Here are a few:

Lucus found the most fabulous background

Nick and Chris both worked with logo makers they found on the net

Justin and Emily have mad photo editing skills

I can't wait to see their final products. The winner will be posted at simplydessert.atspace.com, so check it out in about a week!!

Quote of the Day

We were studying a difficult topic in my Programming class when my student, Brian, said "This is so easy I can't do it"

Kurt Cobain is an Avatar in Guitar Hero

The widow and estate manager of Kurt Cobain (Courtney Love) approved the singer's image as an avatar for Guitar Hero. She probably thought it would be a cool way to reincarnate him (and make some more money).

But now she's mad, because the avatar is singing songs of Bon Jovi and the like. She feels this "exploits Kurt’s image in a manner anathema to the very essence of his music, spirit and essence"

I don't know what "anathema" means, but I'm guessing she doesn't have Bon Jovi on her mp3 player.

So here's my question: Who has the right to mess with a person's legacy? It's one thing for a star, say Michael Jackson, to do great and/or crazy things. And to create their own image in the public's eye. But what happens when they die, but their image lives on, and can be used in video games, animated movies, photoshopped into commercials, made to do things they would never have done in real life.

Have you seen any dead people reincarnated into entertainment venues? And did it change your impression of them?

Vint Cert, Inventor of Internet, at it again.

BBC had an interview with Vint Cert, the guy who invented the internet. It seems we're running out of unique addresses for networked devices. There's only room for 4.3 Billion computers, laptops, printers, cellphones, and those really smart refridgerators that know when they need a repairman.

So he's come up with a new version called IP6 which will allow 3.4 x 10^38 (That's 3.4 Trillion Trillion Trillion) devices to hook up. Think that'll be enough? What kinds of things will we want online in the future?

College Credit for playing Wii

Students at Univ of Houston can take a class where they play Nintendo Wii. Ok, not just any game, they have to play Wii Fitness. And they have to play twice a week for 30 mins. But still, it's for college credit.

I guess the idea is to get more people moving and to hopefully entice them to try active things. So Wii yoga may encourage someone to take "real" yoga class.

Has anyone played Wii Fitness? What is it like? Do you actually work up a sweat?

Keeping your computer Safe

Hacker have an easy time of it.



Let's share things we can do to keep our computer safe:

1. Firewalls and Virus Protection software. You should either purchase these from your internet provider or you can buy/install your own. If you do it yourself, don't forget to update the virus list regularly

2. Update your web browser. The most common way that keystroke listener programs will hack you is through following web site links. Then they can learn your passwords. So if you haven't updated to Internet Explorer 8.0 yet, do it now.

3. Keep your email password different that other important passwords. Free email services make money by showing advertisements. They want it to be easy for you to remember your passwords. So it's also easy for others to hack your email password. So use a password for your other accounts, like Progressbook, online banking, etc so that if your email is hacked, that's as far as they can go.

4. Never click the "Remember Me" box. I know it makes it easier to get in and not have to remember so many userid/passwords. But it puts a cookie on your computer with your password in it. Hackers know where to look for these things.

What am I missing? What else should we do? Have you ever gotten a virus? What was it like?

Doing Illegal Things on Internet = Jail

Here are some stories of people doing illegal things and getting trouble with the law. So be careful. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

1. The boy who hacked into Sarah Palin's email account, is looking at 2 years jail time. Yes, you can pay $100 to a Chinese company to get someone's email password. But that's like looking at someone's diary. It's just wrong.

2. There was this girl who harrassed her old boyfriend using a voice changing app for the phone, called Spoofing and got 15 months in jail. OK, it might be fun to play a prank on a friend, but this girl went overboard.

3. A college student was convicted of downloading music illegally and sentenced to 3 month jail and $5400 in fines.

Do you know of other tales-of-caution we should know about. Other things we should be careful not to do?

The World of Numbers

So it is a friday, and my class was done with their work a little early, and so they wanted to know if they could play games. Of course, I said, "No". But they could surf the net and look for interesting things to read.

Andy found this one: http://www.worldometers.info/ . It shows how numbers are increasing for things like world population, cellphones sold, gas to the end of gas, death by cancer, number of cigarettes smoked. It's mesmorizing!

What is your favorite statistic? What other quantity would you like to see monitored?

Funny Facebook Friends

I heard on the news about a pack of guerillas that has a facebook account and can be your friend. I guess the ideas is to promote understanding of these fine beasts in a fun and entertaining way. I wonder what their status updates could teach us about them.

A few months ago, I heard that Leonardo DaVince had an account. I guess "he" was posting from a daily diary that he kept in real life. What an interesting way to gain new insights into the man.

What other funny facebook friends have you heard of? Would you ever consider friending a fictional or non-human character. If so, who would you like to "converse" with?

WikiAnswers - The Rebel Wikipedia?

My students, Nick and David, were using a site called WikiAnswers that I had never seen before. It's kind of like Wikipedia, but less formal. People can ask questions and get answers. Sometimes the answers are contradictory, so be careful using them. They have not been vetted like on Wikipedia.

But I like the viral-ness of this site. It feels more like a conversation. Some questions don't have absolute answers. It depends. Like, "Which is the best cellphone to buy."

Have you ever used this site? Where did you hear about it? Are the answers usually right????

I Can Has....Money, lots of Money

The guy who brought us I Can Has Cheeseburger, a collection of cat photos with misspelled captions, is rich. Ben Huh's silly websites actually make money online. We're talking 7-figures in advertising and merchandise sales during the first six months of this year.

And he's expanding. Check out some of his other silly sites. They're called "viral blogs" because they survive on people contributing to them and talking them up to their friends. They come, they go

ROFLrazzi - Make up captions to pictures of celebrities

Totally Looks Like - Celebrity doggelgangers

There I fixed it - Botched repair jobs

Which is your favorite?

Weird Uses of Laptops

Check out this site, just for fun.

College Football Bans Technology

College football banned its fans from using technology at games. They have big contracts with ESPN who was afraid that instant tweeting, youtube videos and facebook pictures would keep others from watching the games on tv. Fans got mad, so they took it all back. Now only live streaming is banned. (Like watching some random person's hand held video, complete with all the background conversations would be preferrable to professional tv...)

Are you a fan of college football? Would you stop watching them on TV in preference of fan-based feedback?

Beyond the Mouse

Here's a really fun video of people interacting with computers other than with a mouse. They use their eyes, their arms, their speech.



Right now, it's all just for fun and for art's sake. But what kinds of things could it lead to? For example, you know how with email and text messaging and facebook, it's so hard to articulate sarcasm or excitement or disappointment? Well what if the message could express your exact feelings and not just your words? Powerful!

New Vocabulary - Jailbreak

The word "Jailbreak" is now used to refer to hackers of the Apple iPhone. It means "to hack an iPhone to install unapproved software." I gather it took only weeks to break the new iPhone 3GS, which went on sale in mid-June. Now, a hacker known as 'geohot' has release the first jailbreaking software.

So what do you do with it? OK, so you can create your own apps, you can probably "get" other apps for free, but what else? Apps are generally only a few dollars and most people only use a dozen or so. It's not like it's a big expense. What am I missing?

The thrill of the challenge....

Text a Robot

Chalkbot, is a robot project from the Lance Armstrong's Livestrong Foundation for cancer awareness. During the Tour de France, you can text the robot anything and it will write it in chalk on the road.



You simply text 'LIVESTRONG' followed by your chalk message to 36453. You will get some kind of confirmation when it's written. The idea is to honor someone who has/had cancer.

I'm sure some people will be rude, but I'm facinated with this totally open and trusting enterprise. You'll probably get some kind of advertisement about Lances charity, but we're all pretty immune to ads nowadays.

What would you have the Chalkbot write?

Microsofts new search engine, Bing

Well, it showed up on my computer today, Bing. Microsoft's new search engine that is to compete with Google. In my class, Sheehan wanted to know more about it, so we googled it. (I'll let that sink in for a moment.)

Hey, do you think they named it Bing so in the future we can say, "I don't know, why don't you bing it?!"

Bing is supposed to be a better search engine because it learns what are "good hits" from previous searchers. Have you used it? Have you noticed an improvement?

Working hard in AP class

My Advanced Placement students, particularly Adam, were working very hard today (sarcasm). Check out the Text-to-Speech abilities of Windows. Go to Control Panel->Speech -> Text-to-Speech tab.

Whatever you type, a scary robotic voice will try to say out loud for you. You can change the voice and the speed.

I think they use this technology on books for the blind. So it's fun and important!

Do you sleep with your cellphone under your pillow?

Recent study suggests many high school aged students sleep with their cellphone under their pillow on vibrate, and text all night long. Do you?

The New York Times now has an article Texting May Be Taking a Toll in their health section about this very same thing:

"The phenomenon is beginning to worry physicians and psychologists, who say it is leading to anxiety, distraction in school, falling grades, repetitive stress injury and sleep deprivation.

It's hard. You don't want to be "left-out." But you also don't want to be sick.

Our Sorting Video on YouTube

Here's a youtube video my students made after learning about sorting methods in our programming class. I think they had fun doing it, and maybe learned a little deeper. (It's better with the audio. Does anyone know how to get the track "authorized?")

When is a Tweet not a Tweet

Astronaut Mike Massimino, in the space shuttle Atlantis, is sending tweeting on Twitter from space. Or is he?

"Astro_Mike", as he is known on Twitter, wrote "As I closed my eyes to sleep last night I thought, 'These eyes have seen some beautiful sights today' ". More than 300,000 followers (growing exponentially every hour) are hooked. The media is hooked.

But others argue that he's really sending messages from the on-board computer to an assistant on earth who is posting the tweets for him.

Does this count as "Tweets from Space?" It sure is close, and fascinating, and as close as I'll ever get to experiencing space.

New Names for Windows

Here are a couple of new names for our favorite operating system, Windows:

Windoze - For when it is taking forever to do what you wanted, and you doze off

Window$ - For when they want you to pay for an application that is probably free somewhere

cna yuo raed tihs?

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too. Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch atCmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in awrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer bein the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raedit whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed erveylteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and Iawlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

iPhone Apps - Write your own!

We're trying to learn how to write applications for cellphones. Prof Max Buot of Xavier Univ came and talked to us about his fun/success in writing a statistics app for his students to use instead of a calculator. As part of that discussion, we learned about 3 very funny applications:

1. Sam new about an app called "I am rich." It's just a stupid screen saver of a red gem, but it costs $1000 to download. So if you have it, you must be rich!

2. I had heard about an app that you play like a flute. You blow across the speaker and use the keys to make different sounds

3. We wondered if anyone had made a "seizure" application yet. We do this in QBasic, where you change the background color rapidly. Be careful!! It's not called the "seizure" app for nothing.

What kind of app would you like to have?

What's the diff between JPG and JPEG files?

Nothing really. They are both called "jay-peg" files. They both can be compressed at different rates to allow a good trade-off between size and quality. It's just Windows calls them .jpg by default and Mac calls them .jpeg by default.

It's kind of like the difference between .htm and .html. Old timers are used to only 3 characters for the extention. But newer OS allow 4 now, and sometimes it's more descriptive to do so. So, your choice.

The problem is when you are typing the filename "me.jpg" or "me.jpeg" into a website or program. How do you know which? "My Computer" does not distinguish.

DO YOU KNOW???? HELP!!!

Pokemon harmful to your health?

While learning to program rollovers for a web site, my student Greg told us of a Pokemon episode that had caused about 10% of its viewers to suffer seizures. It had 6 seconds of red and blue screens flashing quickly back and forth.



This means we are responsible for the graphics we put out on the internet. If we want to be seen and heard, it doesn't make sense to hurt our followers.



Are there other examples of things you have seen on web sites that were irresponsible?

Stackular

Look what this kid does instead of video games, he stacks cups! For an hour a day!! He's the current world champion. It can even lead to acting in commercials.

Fun with Music

Here's a really addicting site where you can create 4-bar music. Try holding the mouse down like a "pen" to draw your music! This is what my heart sounds like:

http://lab.andre-michelle.com/tonematrix

Be Prepared

In class today, we used the Scout motto: Be Prepared. We couldn't remember if this was the motto of the Boy Scouts or the Girl Scouts. Turns out it's both!

And, NO, the Girl Scout motto is NOT "Buy my cookies?!" (Sorry Greg, Mitch and Bishoy)

Do the Boy Scouts have a fundraiser?

Rocking Skateboard

I saw some kids using these on Spring Break. Have you tried it?

"This product is quite different from the former usual style that has four wheels. What you have to do is just twist your body when you stand on our new product. Without kicking the ground as usual, the board will keep you moving forward. It's so flexible that it's easy for you to control the direction."

Conficker Virus

You may have heard some horror stories about the Conficker Virus that was supposed to attack on April 1 and do who-knows-what kind of damange. Well it didn't. But it was an interesting story about the mutation of hacks. Now, virus don't do random things like delete your files. They generally try to make money off you by offering bogus web purchases.

This Conficker Virus also was new in the way it started a peer-to-peer process, not a simple phone-home to a web site for instructions. That's why it's been so hard to track down the hacker. So basically, they still don't know what it is supposed to do or that it might still do it at some later date.

So just to be safe, double check that your virus scanners are updated or run a Conficker specific one.

Do you know anyone who got this?

Facebook - Don't like the new look

I've been trying to keep an open mind about the new look of Facebook, but I've decided I prefer the old. At first I liked it better, because it was easier to see everyone's status' which is what I look at the most. But now my friends are posting mass pictures and I have to scroll through them all to get to what I want to see.

Do you like the old or the new look of Facebook better?

Morbid Joke

Here's a joke from one of my students (thanks, Mitch). It made me laugh!!

Junior was talking to his father and the subject of dying came up. Junior said, "I want to go quietly in my sleep, like Grandpa. And not screaming like all the passengers in the bus he was driving"

Please explain Twitter to me!?

I don't get Twitter. I've played around with it a few times, but I always loose interest. It's like the status-only part of Facebook, but more open. So you can follow anyone you want, you don't have to ask their permission.

Rock bands have twitter feeds. So if you really like a particular band, you can follow them on Twitter and whenever a band member feels like posting, you will immediately be able to read what ever was on his/her mind.

I guess I just don't care what so-and-so had for breakfast.

I heard this about a travelling taco stand in Los Angeles that makes really tasty Korean/Mexican tacos. Where ever they decide to drive and sell from, they put out a "tweet" about their location, and hundreds of people then know where to go. It better be a good taco!

Can someone explain why I would want to use Twitter?

It's Hard to Concentrate

With the weather being so fabulous and our classes being so short (OGT testing week), I'm having a hard time concentrating. Just about the time I get immersed into a problem, the bell rings. I know it may not work for other classes, but I'd like a block schedule.

What do you think of Block Schedules?

Pros & Cons

KenKen, like Sudoku, but better!

KenKen is the next big craze. It's like Sudoku, but with a math twist. Try it here.

Motivational Posters for Techies

These are from an Oracle Programmer, Don Burleson, who just needed a way to unwind.

Internet info on the tips of your fingers, literally!

This is waaay past science fiction! You can get web information about anything just by using your fingers. And it displays on any flat surface. You'll have to Watch this video because I can't do it justice. But I'll try...

You wear a sixth sensing device that monitors your fingers and communicates with your smart cellphone. When you put your finger on a UPC code of a book, it projects Amazon.com ratings for the book. When you put your finger on a UPC code of a product, it projects pricing and nutrition info of the product. When you trace a circle, it displays the time. When you put your fingers in the universal position for taking a picture, it takes a picture. When you shake someone's hand, it googles them and displays it on their shirt.

Can you think of any other suggestions for the creators?

Phantom Vibration Syndrome (PVS)

Phantom Vibration Syndrome is when your leg vibrates even when you don't have a call coming in. People have described checking their phone, only to find there is no call. Or worse yet, they didn't even have their cellphone in their pocket.

This article tries to explain why it happens to some people. But we really don't know.

Has it ever happened to you?

Favorite Student Sayings this week

"My life is a fatal error" - No, it's not a call for help. It's a reference to an error message you get when you write a program that doesn't work

"My life is a null pointer exception" - same

"F7 is my Best Friend" - A reference to how dependent we have become to the spell checking on computers.

"Wow, I'm a hypacrit" (misspelling intended)- A blog post from a student that harassed another poster for bad spelling, but then misspelled things in his post.

Too many emails from Facebook!

Joe suggested having a separate email account just for Facebook. You can turn off the automatically generated emails, but it's very time consuming and on-going. So just create a throw-away email account that you never check.

Do you have a better solution?

I also do this with Internet purchases, cause you get so much spam when you buy things over the internet. That may not apply to you, yet, but it will.

So now I have 4 email accounts: My professional one for school, my personal one for important things, my shopping one, and my facebook one. Whew!

What I Learned from my students - Part 2

Today I had a student, Henry, who wanted to take a picture he had gotten off the internet, make some changes, and use it on his web site. He was using Paint.net. He wanted the space around the picture, you know, the white stuff, to be "clear" so the background of the web page would bleed through. You can see what I mean on the Girl Scout Cookie picture in the Yummm posting below this posting.

He asked me how to do it, and I didn't know off the top of my head. Then he said, "Let's try saving it as a .gif, instead of a .jpg" And it worked!!

Such a simple thing, but it really made his page look much better. I'll definitely remember this trick.

What I Learned from my Students - Part 1

My students have fantastic ideas! Today I gave an assignment to my Web Design class. It was an open-ended assignment, one where they could show case all the things we've been learning on a topic that was of interest to them.

I gave them a couple of ideas for their topic, but made it clear they could use their creativity. Some of the ideas they came up with were clever and touching. I love learning how creative they are! Here are two:

1. Take on a "cause". Jessica did her web site on Autism. She has a personal interest in the topic (someone close to her) and she made her web site about educating people on what it is. How mature!

2. Schools of the "future". Greg chose to do a futurist school. What would their web site look like? Think of the possibilities!

Yummmm

Girl Scouts are using Facebook to sell cookies!!

Maybe someone will write an app to "feed" you cookies like super poke.

Internet Addiction Boot Camp

Young people in China are sent to serious boot camp for being addicted to the internet. Addiction is defined in China as 6+ hours per day for 3+ months. Hmm, does that sound like your Summer Vacation?

Other symptoms many of these kids have is "afraid of people" and "gets upset easily." For that, they face months of boot camp (yes, complete with push ups) where there's no internet, no cellphones, no video games, and no ramen noodles (which seems to be a trend for fast meals while playing online games. Our version of pizza delivery).

The Curious Case of Computer Animation

So that's how they did it! If you've seen The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons, you've wanted to know how they made Brad Pitt look and act so old. Here's a guy that explains it.

Basically, they made Brad make all the faces he could think of and animated them together to fit the script. Then they pasted that on top of other actors bodies. So it is Brad, but it really isn't! Can you get a Best Actor nomination for that?

You thought you were good with computers...

A 4th grader wrote an application for the iPhone that allows his little sisters to draw things with their fingers. It's called Doodle Kids, and it's free. This nine year old has been using computers since he was 2 years old and writing programs since he was seven! And you thought you were good with computers.

Bill Gates releases mosquitoes at Conference

You don't usually think of Bill Gates having a flair for the dramatic. But it seems he is very passionate about fighting malaria in third world countries. Now that he is retired, he can try to do something about it.

So he released lots of mosquitoes at a conference. It worked. He got his story in the news!

If you're interested, you can view it here. It's at about the 5 min mark.

Hackers Hack Highway Signs

You know those signs you see on the highway? Well some hackers changed the messages to:

Daily Lane Closures due to Zombies
Raptors ahead - Caution
Zombies in Area - Run

I laughed when I first heard it. You gotta have a sense of humor. But, now it's been done, so it's probably not a good thing to keep doing. Besides, those signs are there for a reason.

Pope gets YouTube Channel

The Vatican announced its intention to launch a YouTube channel with videos featuring Pope Benedict. I can't decide if this is brilliant or just bizarre.

On one hand, he's trying. He's trying to reach out and be accessible to as many of his followers as possible. He's trying to reach the younger set, which are falling away from his faith. He's trying to understand the real world.

On the other hand, what would a Pope video look like? Would anyone watch? Would you?

Obama gets to keep is Blackberry

Obama won his most important victory this week. His security detail wanted him to give up his Blackberyy. Obama said, "They'll have to take it out of my hands"

Some of the technical issues that had to be worked out include a hack that can turn on a Blackberry remotely and listen through the microphone. I can see where that would be a concern. They are routing his services through a Whitehouse server to keep this from happening.

A second compromise is that he will only use it to stay connected to his senior staff and a small number a personal friends.

Fact: Obama is the first president to use email!!!

Apple without Jobs

So Steven Jobs is taking a leave of absence from Apple Computers. And the question is, "Can Apple survive without him?" He is a cancer survivor and he stated once that this brush with death made him see how you have to use the time you have to be productive. Many experts feel this is what made him take such a risk on the iPhone. And look how that helped the company!

Plus he has such a cool, hip-geek mannerism that strikes a cord with his audience.

Jobs IS Apple.

Whaz a Wovel

Web + Novel = Wovel

It's an online novel, where each week you read one chapter. You then vote on something that will effect the next chapter, and the author writes it according to the majority vote.

It seems no one reads books anymore because they are spending so much on online. Authors are trying to capitalize on that habit.

Here's more info

Touch Screen Devices

Recently many touch screen devices have been coming out and with their popularity rising what is your view on them? Are you for or against them? For whatever side you support give reasons on your opinion.

TV Transition to Digital Feb 17

What do you know about the nation wide TV transition to digital on Feb. 17. Why is this happening? Who is affected? What do people need to do? What questions do you have and where can you go for answers?

iPhone vs. Instinct

What’s your favorite PDA and why?

Internet Voice and Video Communications

New programs on computers with microphones and cameras allow people to communicate over the world wide web. These programs, such as Skype and many others, have the possibility of completely replacing landline phones as people can not only talk to one another, but actually see the person over a web camera. These programs are readily available, just as microphones and web cameras are. The availability and speed over the internet allow a much more enjoyable and completely free communication experience.

Have you ever used Skype or something similar? Or do you know someone who has? Do you think we will ever have Dick Tracey wrist-watch phones?