LeapFrog FLY Fusion Pentop Computer

I heard about this gadget last week from a fellow techie-aholic. I wasn't quite clear about what it did at the time she mentioned it, so I googled it to learn more. You can go to the site for the product and learn more http://www.flyworld.com/buyfly/index.html. I have to admit that this is an interesting little toy. I had gone to the Walmart site and tried to find the product in electronics, but it turns out that it was in the toys section. The target audience is your traditional tween kid, but adults who take notes regularly for any reason could also benefit from the pen. It looks like an adult writing object, so you wouldn't have to blush to pull it out in a meeting. It would save you from having to lug around your notebook computer to take digital meeting notes. You just hook it up to your computer with the FLY software installed, and it transfers your meeting notes in a digital format to your computer. You do have to buy special paper and ink to use with the pen which of course will not be as cheap as your standard office supplies. For kids, you can buy games and educational software for the pen. You can also put mp3s on it. You can use it to create and play & replay music (keyboard & drums) that you create using the pen. It costs a little less than $80. I would love to see one used before making the purchase, but the item definitely has caught my attention.

Localendar

I can't believe that I haven't put this free, web based calendar tool on my blog yet! I've been using it for a while. You can find it at http://www.localendar.com. It is soooo easy to use. You can post private or public entries, and you can select a category for the event which will color code the background according to the category that you have selected. You can find my professional development calendar with an abundance of free, online seminars for teachers and instructors at http://www.wvup.edu/dl/OnlineEd/seminars.htm. I am only using the basic product, but you can upgrade to get more out of the calendar tool, discussion board, upload graphics, let visitors add events, task editor, import/export, and more. If all you need is to post events for public or private events, then the basic version should be just fine. I highly recommend this tool.

Snap-Shots

In case you hadn't noticed, I have added a new element to this site. It is called Snap-Shots. You will see a little icon after text links. It means that there is a Snap Shot available of that Web page. If you run the cursor over the link, you will see a small version of the page that is linked. It can save you from having to visit the page to actually see the image or text on it. I can see where it can be handy, when the link is to an image, but when the link is to text...How are you going to read it at that tiny size? You can choose to make the box bigger, which also makes the mini-Web page larger. I didn't want it larger though, because I could see it becoming annoying when you are just trying to read the original page. I'm not sure how I feel about this element yet. I may not leave it on long, as I don't see much value in it.

Gadgets

I found a gadget that I'm not sure that I can live without. I'll hold off until it gets perfected and possibly the price will come down too, but I really like this idea...MyVu Video Goggles for 30 GB, 60 GB and 80GB iPods. You can put a movie on your iPod and watch and listen to it using these glasses that include earpods too! Can you imagine a day at the pool or beach soaking up the sun and taking in a movie at the same time? Maybe the goggles should come with sunblock too!

Go Portable with a USB

I was reading an article from an email newsletter today. The author was talking about how you can use a USB drive to do much more than just substitute for a floppy. In fact, there is a collection of portable applications that you can carry on your USB drive to use anywhere. Portable applications can be run directly from a USB drive. The software program and user data are stored on the USB drive, and you do not need to install the software to work with it. What makes it even better is that the applications are free! Go to PortableApps.com to see some portable applications available as free downloads.

Information Week Article

Have You Googled Yourself Lately?

After reading an article from the DesMoinesRegister.com sight, "Look smart with web resources; Realize who is looking for you online," I thought that it should be pretty obvious to students & job seekers that they should use at least a halfway intelligent email address for their resumes. I have seen some pretty goofy email addresses from students at the college where I work, but I figured that they were using more dignified accounts for career purposes. I guess that I was wrong.

As was suggested in the article, I decided to "Google" myself . Now I am really depressed. It seems that a woman with my same name tortured her kids and murdered two of them. Her name and information about her comprised all but one entry on the first page of the search. It was ironic that the other woman listed on the page was a nun who had converted to Roman Catholicism from being a Jew. She and her sister were eventually detained and murdered by the Nazis.

I found myself on the bottom of the second page of the search. Of course it was work related, but at least it wasn't anything that would embarrass me. Of course how bad could it have looked after reading about the abusive, murdering mother with my name?

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