Well,
that was quick. Right after yesterday's surprising announcement,
Sony flew its yet-to-be-released NEX-VG10 camcorder into London just in time for
today's showcase event. Naturally, we had to get our hands on this shiny baby,
and boy we were impressed. In case you missed the news, this snazzy device is
the world's first consumer HandyCam with interchangeable lens, meaning you can
share E-mount lenses with your young NEX DSLRs, or take advantage of
the abundant A-mount lenses with the help of an adapter (which will cost you
extra, mind you). Likewise, there are also hot and cold shoe mounts on the mic
shaft to cater your current camera accessories. Read on for our thoughts on the
rest of the camcorder -- we've put together a little sample clip for you at the
end as well.
There
isn't much to complain about with this $2,000 (and, sadly, possibly £2,000 for
the Brits) piece of kit in terms of appearance and ergonomics. We like being
able to hold it by either the seemingly solid body (using the strap) or the mic
shaft, and both ways provided comfortable grip without much fatigue due to the
light weight (even with the bundled lens). We were also able to quickly master
the jog-dial control next to the 3-inch screen, but for this price, we expected
a touchscreen interface as well to make life easier. As for the bundled F3.5-6.3
18-200mm lens, we found that zooming required a bit more effort than we liked,
so thankfully there's auto focus mode -- just like any ordinary camcorder -- to
save us from further wrist work with the focus ring. We must also point out that
unlike the Olympus PEN,
this Sony camcorder didn't pick up any mechanical noise from its lens auto
focussing; otherwise, this kit totally wouldn't deserve such price tag.
Of
course, what we really care about is the picture and sound quality. All is
revealed in our sample reel below (remember to enable HD playback mode), but in
brief: stunningly accurate colors, sharp 1080/60i picture, and impressive audio
sensitivity (notice how the mic was able to pick up conversations from afar; you
can also enable just the front mics to minimise background noise). You may
notice some shakiness while we were adjusting the lens -- we'll blame it on our
lack of practice from the little hands-on time we had. Regardless, the NEX-VG10
certainly lived up to our expectation, and we look forward to hear what the
filming hobbyists think of this prosumer-level camcorder when it comes out in
September.
Update: commenter
aim120 dropped us a link to Sony's own sample clip. Enjoy!
In mobile browsers, you need to be especially careful about
using timers because of the battery consumption. If you need to use many
high-frequency timers at the same time, try to manage them using
only one timer that will launch different behaviors from the same
process.
The first question we need to ask ourselves is, what happens
when our web page goes to the background because the user switches
focus to another application (in multitasking operating systems) or
opens or browses to another tab or window? Another problem is what
happens when the phone goes to sleep (because of the user’s inactivity
while the script is executing). The behavior of timers can be a little
tricky in these situations.Yet another problem is that timers execute on the same thread as
the main script. If our script is taking too much processor time (a
normal situation with large scripts on low- and mid-end devices), our
timers will be delayed until some spare execution time is
found.If we use a low frequency for the timer (for example, 10
milliseconds), the timer will generally have problems meeting the
timetable.Remember that the JavaScript execution time depends a lot on the
device hardware and the browser’s engine. Even if they’re running the
same operating system, like Android, execution times can differ: for
example, an HTC G1 will be much slower than a Nexus One with a 1-Ghz
processor.
As shown in Figure 4, the real times
are very different on different devices. On low- and mid-end devices,
if they work at all, the result is far from our 200 ms intention—some
low-end devices don’t even accept timers with a frequency of less than
1 second.
Table 11. Timers support compatibility tableBrowser/platformTimers
availableTimers in
backgroundSafariYesStopped. From iOS 4.0:
continue working while in other browser's
window.Android
browserYesStopped.Symbian/S60YesStopped. From 2.2:
continue working while in other browser's
window.Nokia Series
40No webOSYesContinue
working.BlackBerryNo NetFrontYesNo
multitasking.Internet
ExplorerYesStopped.Motorola Internet
BrowserNo Opera
MobileYesContinue
working.Opera
MiniNo Note:The Gmail for Mobile team discovered some issues with timer
behavior on mobile Safari and Android devices, and made the results
public in the team blog at http://www.mobilexweb.com/go/timers. The conclusions
are: for low-frequency timers (1 second or more), there are no
performance issues, and you can add as many as you want; for
high-frequency timers (for example, 100 ms), though, every new timer
created makes the UI more sluggish. The preferred solution is to use
only one high-frequency timer.
Exporting & Saving
One thing that SVG can’t do is save the resulting image as a bitmap. It’s easy for <canvas> because the element is already a bitmap in the first place! The canvas can export its image to a data URL (e.g., data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGg...). This data may then be rendered in the browser, which could then be saved or dragged to the desktop, used in a new canvas, and so on.
The browser must support PNG images, and it may have varying support for GIF and JPG. For our example, we’ll stick with PNG since it supports alpha transparency, and where we haven’t drawn on the canvas, it’ll be transparent.
To get the data URL, we simply call canvas.toDataURL('image/png'). Note that we’re calling toDataURL() on the <canvas> element, not on the 2D context. This is because we’re getting all the pixels in the canvas, not just the pixels in a particular context.
So taking the example we’ve put together already, we’ll make the browser redirect to a PNG version of the image when a user clicks on the <canvas> element (a contrived example, I know!):
canvas.onclick = function () { window.location = canvas.toDataURL('image/png');};
I am sharing of export images from web app specially to Eve and Sham, maybe useful for our harmonia project.
This is the workflow i was mentioning on exporting the contents of the new html5 tag canvas to an jpeg or png and it opens in a browser, which then can be save or be used for other things, we could also explore on other options of sending the image directly to other applications.
http://jsbin.com/abagi3/5/
Above url is a live prototype and you can actually view source to see how easily it is being done. :)
At Adobe’s MAX conference the other night, that message was made manifest with a live demonstration of a Flash to HTML5 conversion tool, which is currently in the works. The tool is incredibly impressive in that it can convert full Flash animation into HTML5 on the fly
Watch the demonstration video to get an idea of how users will be able to take elements from within the newly converted HTML5 code to re-insert elsewhere on a web page
Those animations or interactions will now be viewable on all kinds of devices — including the iPhone () and iPad. This is where we think that this HTML5 conversion tool has real possibilities. It’s one thing to be able to convert a movie or animation
Adobe might be serious about wanting to push Flash and Adobe Air () on mobile platforms like the BlackBerry PlayBook, HP’s webOS and Google’s () Android (), but that doesn’t mean that the company isn’t listening to its customers and providing cross-platform solutions that can work on the many different device types
BACKCHANNEL DISCUSSION TOOL
High school students can sometimes be quite introverted and shy in the classroom, but outspoken online. Additionally, some high school classes move through discussions quickly, and not all students find the opportunity to speak up in class. Both of these issues are addressed as high school classes encourage a Twitter backchannel discussion, in which quiet, shy, and unable-to-get-a-word-in-edgewise students are able to speak up in class without actually speaking up in class, sharing their comments, insights, and even relevant links through Twitter as the discussion goes on. Educators have found that Twitter backchannel discussions provide for more interaction not just in the classroom, but beyond, as students often enjoy further carrying on the conversation even after class time is over.
BACKCHANNEL DISCUSSION TOOL
High school students can sometimes be quite introverted and shy in the classroom, but outspoken online. Additionally, some high school classes move through discussions quickly, and not all students find the opportunity to speak up in class. Both of these issues are addressed as high school classes encourage a Twitter backchannel discussion, in which quiet, shy, and unable-to-get-a-word-in-edgewise students are able to speak up in class without actually speaking up in class, sharing their comments, insights, and even relevant links through Twitter as the discussion goes on. Educators have found that Twitter backchannel discussions provide for more interaction not just in the classroom, but beyond, as students often enjoy further carrying on the conversation even after class time is over.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Twitter makes the education world smaller, connecting principals, teachers, and other education professionals across the U.S. and even around the globe. Principal Sheninger at New Milford High School in New Jersey started using Twitter to keep in touch with parents, but found its real value in reaching out to other educators and collaborating with them. He is able to use the tool to find new ideas, new resources, and ideas for professional development
Find What You Actually Want to Learn About First things first, you need to figure out what you're actually interested in.
Figure Out How You Learn Best Full sizeWe all learn a little differently, and while we're fans of learning by doing, you can't always do that with everything.
Learn By Doing Whenever Possible Full sizeIn most cases you're going to learn best by doing. That means practicing programming by actually making a program or learning a new language by speaking it. If you're having trouble getting over the learning hump and sticking with it, you might simply need to provide better context for the process.
Find a Community to Learn With Full sizeIt's no secret that many of us tend to learn a little better when we're surrounded by other people who are just as interested in the subject at hand. If you're struggling to stick with a learning program because of the inherent isolation of learning on your own, Stark recommends finding a community of like-minded people:
In this brave new world of open courses and self-learning, we need to learn how to learn on our own - and one way is to learn to find other like-minded learners to learn together with.
Blog > Putting Together an Effective Portfolio
Putting Together an Effective Portfolio
most freelancers with a decent body of work nowadays will also have an online presence, used, in the main, to display their work. Take as much care with your online portfolio as you would your physical one. Strive for a uniformity and dynamism in your photography of projects, and make sure that images and pdfs saved from the computer are of sufficiently high and consistent resolution. Write concise, foolproof explanations to accompany the work and organise it all in an intuitive level-based fashion, much as you would a website. Sites like Flickr and View Creatives go some way to aiding the freelancer in this professional-feeling endeavour, but you’ll still need to pour energy and vim into the whole enterprise to create the right appearance.
Useful Top Tips
Keep things small. A portfolio any larger than A3 is really too big
Keep things clean & uncrumpled
Loose-leaf sheets are better than ring-bound sleeves
Assembling a portfolio should not be a one-off exercise, but a dynamic and continual process
Request and absorb other people’s comments and allow this information to flow back into the way you maintain your portfolio
Interleave your loose-leaf sheets with a bold and dazzling substrate, though choose something that doesn’t overpower the work contained within
If you choose to carry your portfolio on a laptop, for pity’s sake avoid using Powerpoint in your presentations!
Those I've highlighted are the articles which I've read and find useful as resources as to how we could use such social media to engage our audience and interact simultaneously with them and learn at the same time.
gust 2009
Twitter Style Guide, Sherry Main, Social Media Today, 16
August 2009
Twitter Scavenger Hunt Helps Students Learn More About
Campus,19 Au
25 Twitter projects for the college classroom,
OnlineColleges.net, 10 August 2009
Twittering in an educational setting, Elizabeth Hannan, Social
Media Today, 17 May 2009
Twitter as a Learning Tool. Really. Pat Galagan, ASTD,
March 2009
'How to use Twitter for Social Learning' is a great site to bookmark and explore. This site contains over 200 + articles and resources about using Twitter for Learning and is a great resource.
Google () announced Wednesday morning that it has begun rolling out mobile editing for Google Docs (). The update isn’t yet available for everyone, but it should be available to all over the next few days.To date, only Google Docs spreadsheets have supported mobile editing. When the the update hits, all Google Docs documents will be editable on devices running Android () 2.2 (and higher) and iOS 3.0+.We’ve not been able to test it out yet, but Google has released a little video — as seen above — showcasing the new mobile editing capabilities of Google Docs.
That means that...
- You can work on that important memo...while on the bus or train to work.
- If you're behind on a group proposal, but really want to make it to the ball game tonight, your whole team can work on it from the bleacher seats.
- You can take minute-by-minute notes at a concert so you'll always remember the setlist. And your friends can jealously follow in real-time at home.
- and the list goes on!
Client: “I don’t really like that the website has a top and bottom.”Me: “Everything has a top and bottom. That’s how it goes.”Client: “Not true. Circles don’t.” Me: “So you want a circular website?”Client: “Yup! Like a conveyer belt, or ooh! a rolodex. Every time you scroll up past the top, you get to the bottom. Every time you scroll down past the bottom, you get to the top.”Me: “Then how will we designate the—” Client: “What’s the top and bottom? Good point. If everything is continuous, then there can’t be a top or bottom.”Me: “I can’t believe I’m having this conversation.”Client: “So, what we need is a randomizer!”
Dr Ashley, I wonder what the privacy issues were. There is a fair amount of negative notes in this article that could work against our recommendation of iTunes U
In 2007, videotaped lectures from 10 courses were added to the Stanford iTunes site. The content on the site consisted solely of audio and video files until January 2012, when Apple launched the iTunes U app. This app allowed professors to upload additional materials such as homework assignments and class handouts, giving remote students more of a comprehensive course experience.
While remote students can now participate in a course by completing homework assignments and even taking exams, they are still not able to ask questions in class, receive feedback on homework and exams or collaborate with classmates. Several iTunes U courses have attempted to bridge this gap through Piazza, an online forum that allows students from around the world to ask and answer questions and discuss the course.
Remote students are able to register on Piazza to discuss the lectures and assignments with other students, although Hegarty says that iTunes U students often reach out to him for help instead.
https://piazza.com/
The (Free) Efficient Way to Manage Class Q&A
How is this better than email, newsgroups, and discussion forums?
Students actually use Piazza, they love it. This difference stems from how we built Piazza. We've personally met with and spoken to thousands of students and instructors. The result is a beautifully intuitive and simple product that students love and use.
Hi Ashley, would this article reference suffice as 'research reference' per our meeting with Director? Thanks for your input on the Emailer. I'm working on it now.
When flipping a class, besides viewing recorded lectures pre-class, there are other activities students can perform online before face-to-face sessions. Henry and other CeLebs who are interested in flipping classrooms - you might want to check these out and consider other tools and activities for flip.
A recent Department of Education study suggested that blended classes (part online and part face-to-face) had higher achievement levels than either face-to-face or totally online classes. Students felt greater community in blended classes. This session will explore the design and delivery of blended classes to provide the benefits of both on campus and virtual instruction.
What a Blended Course is NOT:
Traditional classroom activities + "let's put some stuff on the web"
Online courses with campus tests
On campus lectures with reading and tests online
This article was written 5 years ago. Now, we have the benefit of ubiqutious mobile chat platforms e.g. Whatsapp, which can create small focus groups to talk about a particular topic. Not only so, besides the usual text, Whatsapp also allows participants to share mobile videos taken on the spot, share their geolocations with one another, share audio recordings and of course, images.
A personal example of how I use Whatsapp for personal learning: I use Whatsapp regularly to practice reading and writing my Japanese with a few other friends, and when I make mistakes, they can quickly give me feedback in real-time. We also exchange photos of Japanese culture, food items and even on-the-spot videos from those who are in Japan. Some of us go for Japanese classes, some don't. But those who go for the classes share what they have learnt with those who haven't.
I'm not sure if this can be classified as a type of "flipped learning", but I realized that mobile chat makes an excellent real-time, yet highly personalized tool for e-learning in small group discussions. Perhaps this is one area we can consider next time as a way to do mobile learning that harnesses the social nature of us learners.
Teachers across the country have been incorporating Twitter into classrooms for a few years, but the site's adoption by educational institutions appears to be limited. A survey of 1,920 U.S. teachers published in April found that 2% of them use the micro-blogging site in college lectures. About half those polled said the use of Twitter and Facebook in class is harmful to the learning experience, according to the study from consulting firm Pearson Learning Solutions. Still, Legaspi is hopeful. When he explained the plan to his students at Hollenbeck Middle School in East Los Angeles, he learned that only one of them had used Twitter. But most, he said, live on their phones. So getting them started wasn't difficult.
Legaspi said shy students are benefiting the most. For "a lot of them, what it did is help find their voice," he said. "I have many students that do not participate in my classes or share what's on their mind, so Twitter became that vehicle." Several students praised the new approach. "It's a great way to get people to notice you," said Oscar Lozoria, a shy 14-year-old with long hair that other students used to tease him about. He said Twitter has changed how his peers view him. "They see me as somebody now -- as an equal," he said. Ivan Sabaria, also 14, said Twitter makes learning more fun. "I'm paying attention and doing all my work," he said.
Occasionally, the students will type in something inappropriate during class. Still, Legaspi is convinced he has discovered the future of education. "I get feedback on the spot. Not only that, all the students can see what they're sharing," he said. "This is powerful."
encourage a Twitter backchannel discussion, in which quiet, shy, and unable-to-get-a-word-in-edgewise students are able to speak up in class without actually speaking up in class, sharing their comments, insights, and even relevant links through Twitter as the discussion goes on
Educators have found that Twitter backchannel discussions provide for more interaction not just in the classroom, but beyond, as students often enjoy further carrying on the conversation even after class time is over.
This quick exercise allows students to further digest and understand the material at hand, while at the same time creating a great resource for future review.
YouTube announced a new batch of partners that were added to its Education Channel today and noted that nearly 80% of the viewership of educational content on the site came from outside the United States. Less than 70% of the site's total traffic is International, so the educational content is disproportionately viewed by global audiences.
Both YouTube and iTunes U are serving up huge quantities of educational content to a world already in the throes of a 50 year revolution in global education. In some ways they represent exactly the kind of education that a new world needs, too: learning that augments existing education and fosters life-long development of non-routine analytical and interactive skills. That's a recipe for good times.
YouTube now hosts more than 500,000 educational videos, on a wide variety of topics. The new mobile-friendly iTunes U also offers 500,000 educational resources and says that 60% of its viewership comes from outside the United States. This global consuption of US-created online educational content may be the newest chapter in a radical transformation of global education over the past 50 years. Life in this world is not like it used to be just a few decades ago, and the availability of world-class education on-demand, at almost no cost, is likely to help things change all the more as this century unfolds.
A trend began, at least in the United states, as far back as 1985: demand for "routine manual skills" has held relatively steady, demand for non-routine manual skills has plummeted. Demand for routine cognitive skills climbed through 1970, then fell. What's hot? Non-routine analytic and non-routine interactive skills.
Those are things that a good YouTube or iTunes U video about world history or global ecology can help improve, your non-routine analytic and interactive skills. More than for just economic well-being, those are skills that positively impact quality of life in many ways.
our new cel office that azhar created? - not very interesting
or some famous landmarks like Effiel tower, when the user use the marker, the tower appears in his hands? just some crazy ideas.
super super like!!!
i know of a local 3D studio that does AR.
One of their successful app is Terracotta Warriors that was exhibited at Asian Civillisation Museum. Can check out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxZyg7Tr0xk :)
Since our trainee teachers need to teach in classroom, create different scenario of classroom like noisy class, playful class, unattentive class, etc, and instructor can use these content to teach trainee teacher about classroom management.
1- Easel.ly
This is a great tool that allows users to create visually rich infographics from pre-designed themes. It is very easy to use and only drag and drop. It actually supports Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.
Create visually creative info-graphics in classrooms. Great for educators or anyone who wishes to display visually attractive information that doesn't bore the audience. There's eight to choose from. My favourite to use is Easel.ly.
posted Jul 15th 2010 8:34PM Well, that was quick. Right after yesterday's surprising announcement, Sony flew its yet-to-be-released NEX-VG10 camcorder into London just in time for today's showcase event. Naturally, we had to get our hands on this shiny baby, and boy we were impressed. In case you missed the news, this snazzy device is the world's first consumer HandyCam with interchangeable lens, meaning you can share E-mount lenses with your young NEX DSLRs, or take advantage of the abundant A-mount lenses with the help of an adapter (which will cost you extra, mind you). Likewise, there are also hot and cold shoe mounts on the mic shaft to cater your current camera accessories. Read on for our thoughts on the rest of the camcorder -- we've put together a little sample clip for you at the end as well.
Chee Ted Shing on 22 Oct 10Sony NEX-VG10 HD camcorder The system may be suitable for our needs. Its a camcorder with multiple changeable lens ( wide, zoom or tele lens)
