Picks of the Week 2008

A complete listing of the Picks of the Week from 2008 WELSTech episodes

The Best and Worst of 2008 (Episode 052)

Accessibility

• Blind Cool Tech podcast – www.blindcooltech.com
• Dragon Naturally Speaking – www.nuance.com
• iGoogle gadget for YouTube political video captioning
• Text-to-Speech programs

Audio/Video

• Audacity
• Audio books and more – www.audible.com
• Capture and share images and screen videos – www.jingproject.com
  • View the WELSTech site tour created with Jing
• Online video conversion – www.vixy.net
• Pandora Internet radio – www.pandora.com
• Microsoft Photo Story
• Podcast to your wiki – www.gcast.com

Bible Resources

• BibleGateway
  • www.biblegateway.com
  • Add a BibleGateway search box to your web site – www.biblegateway.com/usage
• BiblePlaces.com photo library
• Laridian Bible software for mobile digital devices – www.laridian.com
• Online Bible collaboration – www.youversion.com
• The Bible Experience – full cast audio
• Visualizing the Bible image

Communication

• E-mail, calendar & task list solution – Thunderbird & Lightning
• Organize Outlook – www.xobni.com
• Provider for Google Calendar

Education

• 37 Interesting Ways to use Your Interactive Whiteboard by Tom Barrett – link courtesy of José Picardo at boxoftricks.net
• Academic year calendars
• Create an avatar – www.voki.com
  • Sample Voki avatars used for a Spanish assignment – Link 1 | Link 2
• Doodle 4 Google – www.google.com/doodle4google
• Edublogawards – www.edublogawards.com
• Fact Monster – www.factmonster.com
• Geocaching – www.geocaching.com
  • www.educaching.com
  • Minnesota State Park History Challenge
• Infotech with Mr. Losik – mrlosik.blogspot.com
• The Periodic Table of Videos – www.periodicvideos.com
• Scratch – scratch.mit.edu
• Teacher resources for Election 2008 – www.pbs.org/teachers/vote2008
• Teaching 21st Century Skills
• Understanding fair use in education
  • The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education
  • A Fair(y) Use Tale
• Voice Thread – www.voicethread.com
• Wacky Wonderful Web sites (WWWs) – www.stjohnsse.com/wwws

Graphics

• Kuler by Adobe – kuler.adobe.com
• NASA Image gallery – www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery
• PhotoShop Express – www.photoshop.com/express
  • Martin's sample photos – Spring in New Mexico
• Picnik – www.picnik.com
• SnagIt – www.techsmith.com

Hardware

• Belkin WiFi Phone
• HP 2133 Mini-Note PC
• Manage multiple computers with one keyboard and mouse using Synergy
• ScanSnap – Fujitsu S510
• Skype phone – Philips VOIP841
• USB-based speaker phone from ClearOne – CHAT 50
• Web Cams
  • Logitech QuickCam Pro – for notebooks
  • Logitech QuickCam Fusion – for desktops

Internet Telephone

• GOOG-411 – www.google.com/goog411
• Jott – www.jott.com
• Record Skype
  • eCamm for Mac
  • PowerGrammo for PC
• Skype – www.skype.com
• Transcribe voice mail – PhoneTag.com
• Use your phone to e-mail messages – a free Jott replacement – www.reqall.com

Networks

• OpenDNS – www.opendns.com

Office Tools

• Drop for your faxing needs – www.drop.io
• The Fifth Element – ssuite5element.webs.com/thefifthelement.htm
• Keyboard Shortcuts
  • For Windows
  • For Mac
• Microsoft Word Mail Merge – Online training for Word 2003
• Mindjet MindManager 8 upgrade – Free trial download
• Open Office 3.0 – www.openoffice.org
• Zoho Office Suite – www.zoho.com

Online Training

• Common Craft blog – www.commoncraft.com
  • RSS in Plain English
  • Social Bookmarking in Plain English
  • New Light Bulbs in Plain English
• Language lessons with a social twist – www.livemocha.com
• Lynda.com online training – www.lynda.com
• Microsoft Online Training – office.microsoft.com/en-us/training
• Software quick reference cards from Custom Guide – www.customguide.com/quick_references.htm
• TED Videos – www.ted.com
  • Johnny Lee's Wii remote interactive whiteboard

Print and PDF Tools

• CutePDF – www.cutepdf.com
• Install a new print driver for selectable printing from your desktop – PrintGreener.com
• Select parts of web page(s) for printing – PrintWhatYouLike.com

Productivity

• Delicious Library 2 for Mac – www.delicious-monster.com
• Dvorak keyboard – www.dvzine.org
• Google Calendar – calendar.google.com
• Google Desktop – desktop.google.com

RSS

• Google Reader – reader.google.com
• RSS Forward – www.rssfwd.com

Utilities

• ActiveWords – www.activewords.com
• Balsamiq Mockups
• Clipdiary – www.softvoile.com/clipdiary
• Gizmo's Support Alert Newsletter
• Gmail account storage space
  • Gspace
  • Gmail Drive
• Google Safe Search preferences
• Mail Catch – www.mailcatch.com
• Online file conversion – YouConvertIt.com
• Online timer – www.online-stopwatch.com
• Password generator – www.supergenpass.com
• Password Safe – passwordsafe.sourceforge.net
• Real-time web site analytics – www.woopra.com
• Remote desktop control – www.logmein.com
• Send large files easily – www.yousendit.com
• SyncBack – www.2brightsparks.com/syncback
• Sync notes across computers and mobile phones – www.evernote.com
• Sync Toy 2 Beta
• Sync your password management files across platforms
  • PC – Password Safe
  • Mac – Password Gorilla (reads Password Safe)
  • Sync via Live Mesh
• Windows Live SkyDrive – 25 Gb of "in the cloud" online storage
  • Learn more
  • Make SkyDrive a virtual drive on your computer with Gladinet.com
• Windows Notepad text editor – Start > All Programs > Accessories
  • Alternatives – Lifehacker.com survey
    • Notepad++
  • Text editors for the Mac
    • TextWrangler
    • TextMate

Web 2.0

• 25 Tools – from Jane Hart, creator of Jane's E-Learning Pick of the Day
• Build a personalized home page – Pageflakes.com
• Build images for your wiki menu – glogger.mobi
• Create a flash-based scrapbook for your church or school web site – ScrapBlog.com
• Delicious – del.icio.us
  • Social Bookmarking in Plain English from Common Craft
• Live Mesh – www.mesh.com
• PC application launcher with a Mac feel – RocketDock.com
• Online drawing tool – www.dabbleboard.com
• Open Source Alternatives – www.osalt.com
• Plaxo – www.plaxo.com
• SearchMe.com and SearchMe.com/lite – visual search engine
  • Check out the WELSTech Episode 043 Stack
• Stumble Upon – www.stumbleupon.com
• The Top 50 Proprietary Programs that Drive You Crazy — and Their Open Source Alternatives