Thing 23 – Feedback

I thought the 23 thing program was a little easy going for a dual diploma course, I looked at most of the mentioned technologies as they came out in my personal time as they were more for personal use, I expected the diploma course would be aimed more on understanding how they work under the hood not on the surface.  I did however see quite a few links i would probably stay away from now if pointed to them in the future and also quite a few that i would defiantly use.  I think this would be a great task for the cert 4 students or maybe even Cert 2. It was a stress free task that i had no trouble completing.

Thing 22 – Post about my Home Server.

A technology i use now at home and hardly think of is a derived version of Windows Server 2003 small business edition, it has the name Windows Home Server and as the name suggests it is aimed at the home.  The job of this small 10 client NOS is to handle Network Storage, IIS (web) server, Backup imaging server.  I heard about this through the MSDN junk emails they send out and thought id sign up for the beta almost 2 years ago now, it comes with a free domain name with some restrictions. The main job WHS performs for me on a daily basis is described below.  During the day Network storage provides access to Photos, Music, Downloads, Documents, Movies and Software this is available on any PC connected to the network in the house, It also attaches these folders to a password protected web site so not only are all your files only a few mouse clicks away but it is also a great way to share Photos,Videos and files with family members interstate and oversees. I have found a program that also allows for a shared folder on the server to be the main source for a dynamic Photo gallery site, this means family members as mentioned before can drop photos into a folder and have then displayed on a central private gallery webpage. Then over night the WHS connects to all computers on the home network and takes a backup image of the files each night if a problem ever arises on a network machine the server can produce a boot-DVD to restore the pc over the network.  I have not lost any data in a long time now thanks to this server.  It also performs a technology called file duplication, it does this when it has more then one physical HDD installed when turned on in a folder it will take a copy of files on one HDD and place them on the other drive, while this takes up some space it means if a HDD fails or is removed for any reason all duplicated files are still available. The list of the plusses on this NOS are endless but it really does allow for a smooth home network in a house of 99% computer novices. For information on WHS check out Introducing Windows Home Server

Don't forget the OS is available with out any hardware so you can run it on any good spec PC/boot-camp Mac.

Thing 20 – Read about Web 2.0

Web 2.0 in my understanding is what the web has morphed into over the years it has been in use by the general public. Static pages have turned to dynamic pages drawn on the fly, the main languages changed from html to html and JavaScript up to now when you can be looking at any number of server side php, ASP type languages running above a mysql, oracle database.  Web 2.0 to me means the sites became more end user friendly, more blog and video sharing sites came about as people that had never really taken an interest in the internet started trying there hand.  Over all if the first inventors of web 2.0 wanted to bring the internet to the masses i think they achieved that, I think some of the sites are a great demonstration of computing power but not a great social tool when a lot of the time is spent at home on the computer.  Web 2.0 is blogs, RSS, lots of server side code and logic and generally a more entertaining feel for the internet in my opinion.

Thing 19 – Twitter

I currently use twitter not for the described use of notifying family, friends and basically any one online that you have taken another breath, step. I use a twitter account for a notification service from a windows server located in my house so if i am out or away from home and the server has an error apart from loss of internet access of course alerts come through in real time to an application on my mobile phone notifying me to a problem with the server and service.  I can of course see great uses for this type resource when it comes to travel, letting others know when you are on the way or held up.  I also feel that as it is now quite a popular service a lot of sites are creating tweets for updates to the site content, I currently monitor one website i regularly visit.  I feel the use for this in the classroom could be great not only to let students know in real-time when classes are cancelled or running late but also vice versa when students are running late or not coming in, with twitter client type applications it can cut down on the time it takes to send information out over the net. Over all i think this is a useful web 2.0 technology.

Thing 18 – Image generators

I have used an image generator before just to add a Simpsons flash based character creation to a blog site.  I would normally edit any normal pictures for use in banners with local editors such as Sony Vegas for moving banners or Adobe Photoshop for still images.  I will embed the Simpsons flash generator below for people to play with. I found the resources similar to http://www.comicstripgenerator.com/ are the ones i would normally handle myself as I'm not sure on the TOS agreement with each of these sites.  I can see the advantage in site such as these for the people that don’t have the applications installed i have mentioned above or don’t have the skill sets to use the above programs.  I really enjoyed the tool below for an hour or so.

Thing 17 – iGoogle

I think iGoogle is a great idea once i started to use Google as my homepage because it opened nice and fast, i soon got tired of nothing of interest opening up so i soon found iGoogle and realised it was an area to combine some of the great services Google offer, such as RSS, YouTube and much more.  I have customised my iGoogle area with the pages i visit most at this point in time. The way the page is divided up is by applying different “widgets” which handle displaying information from the different Google Services.  Below is a picture of my Homepage with iGoogle I regularly find new interesting information through this format as shown below.

Thing 16 – Google Docs

I have used Google Docs this year from one of my Teachers handing out assignment sheets through Google Docs, i came across Google Documents when MS office started to offer a similar service but only at a fraction of the size unless paid for.  This made me look around and i came across Google Documents I haven't really had a great use for it since apart from getting work for one of my classes. Today i went online and posted a spreadsheet for this part of my class work it is located here in a webpage format. Eddies Google Document  I think this will be a great utility if i am ever away from my computer and don't have access to any formal Word Processing, Spreadsheet or general office applications then not only will Google documents solve that problem but it will also allow for easy group collaboration.

Thing 15 – Google Maps

I use Google maps quite regularly not only for directions but also the new street view is an excellent way to get a picture of a location you may have never visited before.  The phone i use also has Google maps located in its software it keeps a static cache of the maps last looked at which can help when there's no network coverage. It also uses a GPS chip in the phone to locate you on Google maps making directions even more accurate. 

Another feature of Google maps that i have recently found is a way to make your own information maps which can consist of not only driving directions but also information points along the way, i tested it out on a map of Frankston Chisholm campus as shown here. I'm not sure if i was accurate in the building locations so please don't anyone use it.
View Chisholm Tafe Frankston in a larger map

I think the other apps Google has released in there web suite are also great i use one of the less well known applications called Google talk which is an application similar to MSN messenger but runs on the Google chat and email service normally accessed online within the web browser.  I have also used and installed Google Earth.  I think Google has changed the face of the internet and the way we use it today.

Thing 14 – Podcasts & Vodcasts

I regularly download and listen , watch podcast’s and video podcasts. I do this on my computer but also on my Iphone which has all the software of a iPod.  I have found many useful feeds some are just plain funny but some are very useful. One of the funny and sometimes interesting feeds i regularly download is called Best of YouTube Video Podcast it is updated regularly and has loads of the videos deemed viral (because of amount of hits or viewings) from YouTube.  I also listen to podcasts on JavaScript development, Web2.0 technologies, Windows Server 2003, Apple server management and for a laugh Comedy Central Videos.  The software i use to listen to and watch these feeds is ITunes it also copies these or selected feeds to my iPhone and takes off watched feeds at the same time.  I have also listened to quite a few embedded podcasts on websites, and occasionally downloaded them as well.

Thing 13 – Edit a Wiki

Today I edited the Chisholm Tafe wiki It was just as easy as most wiki’s i have added to. I posted a link to this blog on the favourite blogs page.  I think that wiki’s are a great user friendly  web technology.  I had no difficulty adding to the class wiki it was not open to the public so i needed to sign up for a wetpaint wiki account.

Thing 12 – Read about Wikis

Wiki’s were the next great net invention I discovered behind Google. I soon realised that whilst not all wiki information can be relied upon with a little careful cross checking on Google i could take learning almost anything i wanted from the old classroom or library and start to learn in the comfort of my own home or even better my favourite arm chair in my room.  I think that the demo video I watched about a group of people planning a camping trip was an excellent example of another great use for wiki’s.  The uses for wiki’s is endless when it comes to group collaboration and of course Wikipedia has made the information sharing role of wikis common place.  I think that these open style blogs are a great web2.0 development. I know i will be looking into how they run on a web server.

Thing 11 – Discover Del.icio.us

The idea of a bookmark sharing site is great, the amount of times I have forgotten my bookmark backup file and been un able to remember the exact search that allowed me to find the bookmarks or websites i find useful.  I also feel that delicious offers a ranking of others public bookmarks which is a better way of searching then a web crawled automated search that will have some useful links nested in a mass of related links, this system allows you to search for links on subjects you are interested in and then view the user comments on those sites or bookmarks to see if they found them useful and or easy to use.   With the search capabilities of this site combined with a great meta tagging system allows for detailed searches on specific areas.  I will be keeping this site as a bookmark for future searches on hard to find information.