This was posted on the WPA-L mailing list– pretty darn funny, if you ask me.
Portable Apps and an email solution?
I just stumbled across this while trying to look for something else: PortableApps.com, which appears to be a collection of open source applications that you can run off of a USB drive or an iPod or some other similar device, and then just take the device. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot of stuff there for the Mac. Fortunately, I found in a discussion forum a link to FreeSMUG Portable Apps, which is “Free OpenSource Software Mac User Group,” and there I found a link to Thunderbird portable.
And that got me to thinking about my email.
See, I’ve got a couple of problems with my email that have been irritating me lately. First off, EMU’s email system sucks and it just seems to be getting worse. But second, I have a hard time figuring out what email is on what computer. One solution to this problem is to simply use Gmail and leave it all online. This is an increasingly attractive solution, but there is something to be said for having all of your mail in one place.
So maybe Thunderbird portable on my iPod?
If nothing else, there’s a ton of other apps here that are interesting and useful.
Apple Gives Microsoft the Smack-down
Via the Apple “Startup Page” on my Safari browser, I came across this Twin Cities Press dot com article, “Vista’s pretty, but it’s a shameless Mac OS X imitator.” I just think it’s so, I dunno, pissy that Apple decided to have this on their web site the day of the big Vista roll-out.
Of course, it has been pretty-well documented that the headline here is true– that is, that Vista is pretty much like the Mac with a few windoze features thrown in. Which leads the folks at the Twin Cities Press to make this observation:
Vista hardly rocked my world during weeks of testing. It’s a fine Windows upgrade, but it’s also a shameless rip-off (and not quite the equal) of another major operating system, Apple Computer’s Mac OS X.
That begs the question: Why not just use OS X?
Those upgrading from XP likely will have to get a new computer anyway because Vista doesn’t work properly on most older PCs. (See my recent column, “Take your time buying that new computer,” for details on this.) So, instead of purchasing a Windows PC, they could — and typically should — get an Apple Macintosh computer running OS X.
Really, I don’t care if PC users in general convert or not, but if it is true that the new Windoze/Vista is basically the same as the Apple OS, then I can imagine a future where I have students who aren’t completely stumped with the Macs in our computer labs.
I wonder if Mashup Camp is for me?
Via Anne 2.0,I learned this morning a bit about something called Mashup Camp. Truth be told, I found this rather indirectly on Anne’s blog since her entry is mostly about getting to the airport.
After being sucked into the title, I quickly have learned that Mashup Camp is not for me. Probably. This is much more of a computer programmer/software developer kind of affair, and not so much about content. It certainly doesn’t seem to be about education. Of course, maybe this is something these people could use at this conference….
Beyond all that, one thing I very much like is the use of a wiki for providing content about the conference itself. Just a little hunting around here reveals some “about” info, the layout of the conference, schedules, sponsors, etc., etc., and also some links to the mashup pieces of software that are subject of the conference. A good use of a wiki for sure.
Begin Snarky Comment Of course, the CCCCs has this awesome blog… End Snarky
Weirdest Spam Subject Line (so far)
Like everyone else, I get a lot of spam. I have admired the creativity in subject lines and such. But this one today takes the cake:
Subject: filmmaker Ken Burns
Go figure! Ken Burns becomes the subject for a stock tip email!
Neil Young Mixing Sound and Words and Pictures
Normally, I try to stay away from posting things here that are overtly political, though I have to say that I do agree with the sentiments that Neil Young is expressing in his song “Let’s Impeach the President” and his album Living With War. And I like Neil Young well enough.
But I just thought that this video for the song “Let’s Impeach the President” was really brilliant. It just does a really good job of parodying/imitating the genre, of mixing words and images and sounds, of reporting research data, etc. It’d be great to show students in FY Comp– well, except maybe the politics would stir things up too much…. Or maybe that would be a good thing.
Here it is also available via YouTube:
MacArthur Foundation and "Digital Learning"
I have no idea how cool (or not) this is going to be, but I got an email from my department head the other day about the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning web site, which looks like a new initiative for making grants and spreading the word on, well, digital media and learning. Ther’s a forum this coming week I signed up for (though next week I probably won’t have a lot of time to read it, to be honest), and there’s a bunch of other potentially interesting things on this site.
"Steps toward a successful classroom blog"
Also from jill/txt (yep, I’m behind with schoolwork and thus behind on my blog reading and my own blogging again) comes this article, “Steps toward a successful classroom blog.” This reminds me that I really REALLY need to start getting my act together in terms of both planning English 516 (“Computers and Writing, Theory and Practice”) online for the Winter 2007 term and getting a proposal together for an online version of English 444 (“Writing for the World Wide Web”…).
Google buys YouTube for $1.65 Billion
From iPod Observer (and I am sure other places), news that Google bought YouTube for $1.65 Billion (that’s a B, my friends) in stock. From the story:
Google on Monday announced the acquisition of YouTube for US$1.65 billion in stock. The company said in a press release: “Following the acquisition, YouTube will operate independently to preserve its successful brand and passionate community. YouTube will continue to be based in San Bruno, CA, and all YouTube employees will remain with the company. With Google’s technology, advertiser relationships and global reach, YouTube will continue to build on its success as one of the world’s most popular services for video entertainment. “
Dang, why can’t I come up with some crazy idea for displaying videos of people mixing mentos and coke?
"Our Story" (or, can online scrapbooking catch on?)
A former student/current friend of mine sent me a link to this article a couple weeks ago, “True Story: Online expression evolves from blogging to multimedia storytelling–and it’s not just for bedtime.” The service this article is about is called OurStory.com, which, as far as I can tell by looking at it for about 3 minutes, is a kind of web-based and interactive scrapbook, one that you can also export to a DVD.
Kinda interesting, and worth talking about in either Writing for the World Wide Web or my grad class on computers and writing. But on my computer, the concept of electronic scrapbooking is called iLife.