I have just finished my first day of three at the Apple Digital Bootcamp being held in Alexandra College, Milltown, Dublin. It was a long day 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. filled will hands-on practical workshops. The event was organised by the INTO with the full support of Apple Ireland. Typetec ltd supplied the Apple hardware to the PC community. Both primary and post-primary teachers are being fast-tracked by experts through podcasting, animation, digital photography, videography, music, etc. I can't wait for tomorrow - if I can get up in the morning.
WeatherPixie is under the weather - 2010-08-07 15:43:04 -
The WeatherPixie.com has been experiencing server trouble for the last 6 months and is in need of pixie dust. It was definitely down at the end of February as it was pointed out to me in some of my birthday greetings. Â I have just gone onto the site and it is empty except for a Twitter link for @weatherpixieHQ . Â Judging from the last tweet on March 7th nothing else seems to be happening. Bearing that in mind I am going to retire WeatherPixie from the sidebar until further developments have taken place on the site.
I have just heard an hour ago on Sky News that Google are pulling the plug on Google Wave. I found it great as a text based meeting place. Ideal for composing and editing group project proposals. On the other hand, I have to admit it was a hard sell to Twitter and Google Apps users as it did not seem to offer them anything over and above what they were already using. The fact that it was a stand-alone service and not integrated into Google’s other offerings sealed its fate. I channelled nearly 340 contacts to the service and having accepted the invitation many of them asked me what the concept was behind the service. That ain’t good!
Following a visit to the Sky News website ( the link is above) I followed a link the Google Official Blog. Here, Urs Holzie (senior vice president for operations) stated in his post on the offiicial Google blog yesterday that they “will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects.” Integration into other mainstream Google products while retaining its individuality should have been a cornerstone of the original product.
It was heralded as a community platform cum forum for distance learning and cultural exchange. Special Interest Groups (SIGs) were invited to embrace the technology and make it there own. The old Dublin based Bulletin Board Systems of the late 80s like StarNet, TOPPSI, DUBBS, ICON and later on FredMail had similar services to offer their users 20 years ago. The arrival of the WWW and the imposition of metered telephone charges put an end to them. Unfortunately, confusion and disinterest seems to have signed the death warrant for the Wave.
Google Wave was worth a go and the Google gods said they learned a lot. The writing was on the wall a few months ago when the Australian Team sent out an email asking – What would you do if Google Wave was no more? – or words to that effect.
Everything sounds very iffy to me. I am going to try to delete all my Waves at the end of the year – if I can!!! I don’t want to see them floating around in the ether when after I retire. Of course Wave users were never able to delete anything. The Trash could never be emptied – that was another thing that smelled funny- one year old trash.
At least we have been assured that it will not be swept away in a Google Tsunami.
My course content was supposed to arrive from Fluirse this morning. All I received was a damp burst envelope with four partially stuck pages. I say burst as it seems to have torn along the damp perforations. A padded envelope might be more in order the next time around.
I have to wait until next Friday to see if it turns up in the sorting or delivery offices. It is just as well that I am not heading off somewhere.
I seem to end up tracking down Iomega eGo Blackbelt drop test videos on my holidays. This one is interesting in as much as it shows the initial moderate drop tests and a boot-up confirmation but it then goes onto OTT (over the top) testing but no boot-up is shown afterwards. Of course, its post “excessive test” results may be in commentary. I will leave that up to my eTwinning colleagues to comment on. Enjoy!
Happy Birthday Dad! My father is 87 years old today
I removed this video from my VodPod collection on Christmas last as it was unstable and the buffering was very laboured.
However, I was discussing adaptive and inclusive technologies with a German colleague this afternoon on Skype and I mentioned useful hacks on the Wii and PlayStation sensors. The EyeWriter project sprung to mind so I googled Evan Roth and unearthed a standard and HD version of the original video posted last November.
Do you remember the post in early February last? It was primarily aboutt he bundled v.Clone software but the video actually featured the Iomega eGo BlackBelt portable harddisk in action and guy from Iomega also mentioned the fact that it could take a lot of abuse. Well, I am on my Easter holidays at present and I have trawled the internet to find the “truck versus the Iomega eGo BlackBelt” harddrive video but to no avail.
Have a look at this video and make up your own mind. The tester is quite mild and really does not put the boot in. The viewer gets a glimpse of screen showing the drive booting up at the end of its ordeal. I still have not found any crazy excessive tests as yet. Watch this space – someone will take up the challenge!
I am sitting with the creator of a new and exciting blog entitled LetsGoLoolala It promises to be an entertaining blog with an invitation to share your tales of travel,
I came across this gem on VodPod last night. I was trawling Google for local radio studio setups and up popped this video – sound bite really. Everybody probably knows about it but I was in Seville last week so I may have missed the follow-up on it.
I just noticed that VodPod is streaming it from YouTube and its file is dated 25th January. I am as bad as our Radio Kerry’s Weeshie. – I don’t even know when the concert took place.
Google Buzz was launched yesterday and shall gradually rollout to Gmail users. The icon has not appeared in my Gmail account as yet.
It is important to read the instrutions before rushing into it headlong and regretting it later on. Remember nothing is free on the internet, especially from Google. The user’s comments, clicks and searches are constantly interrogated to glean data to enable Google to refine their search capabilities, fine tune their ratings engines and subsequently target the same user with focused advertising links the next time he/she uses its services. The old FidoNet 80′s maxim still applies “You have got to give some to get some.”
Reports are already appearing on blogs referring to inadvertent Buzz posts containing material of a private and sensitive nature. The accidental posting of images seems to be the big bone of contention.
The eTwinning Conference is in full swing in Seville. Great atmosphere! The hotel is alive with 500 delegates form all over Europe. Unfortunately, many of us are trying to access the WiFi service at the same time with the result that no one can get on and those that do are crawling along. Other than that everything is rosey.
At a recent pre-conference techie eTwinning online meeting I heard about the new v.Clone backup/sharing software that Iomega will be bundling with their new stable of portable harddrives. There is no hyperlink to v.Clone at the moment, hence the lack of one. Enjoy the video. If I can track down the video of the truck driving over the harddrive I will post it just for fun. Sorry about the video advertisment at end.
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