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!!!