Group items tagged

"In Japan, the word otaku refers to people who have obsessive, minute interests-especially stuff like anime or videogames. It comes from a term for "someone else's house"-otaku live in their own, enclosed worlds. Or, at least, their lives follow patterns that are well outside the norm. Looking back, we were American otakus. "

Interesting to think about how Geek culture has changed over the past three decades.

"Translate words and phrases between more than 50 languages using Google Translate for iOS. For most languages, you can speak your phrases and hear the corresponding translations."

Awesome new App from Google for translating languages, almost the Universal Translator used in Star Trek!

An alternative word cloud generator, allowing sign in by Twitter, Facebook ... or not at all.

Share This MTV clip from 1995 is excellent. It shows reporters and celebrities telling us all about this wonderful new thing called the "internet" - all of a sudden it's everywhere and it's so popular! (Thanks, Sandra Bullock.) While a lot has changed, the issues of the internet as of 1995 weren't all that different from what they are nowadays, actually. Then as now, the web was mostly being used for chatting to like-minded people. But there was a lot more fear around it, with much concern about hackers and debates about protecting children from porn. Not that you could really look at pictures, porn or otherwise, back then, with dial-up being the connection of the day. Remember those crackly modems? We don't miss those. The word "cyber", on the other hand, that looks due for a revival. Who's with me?

Transform your doc, pdf, word, movie in an interactive flipbook. It's very easy: upload your file and you will receive an email with the url to your creation. You can share this with your friend, family... by email, on your blog, on facebook or twitter

The most dreaded word in school reading for students: book reports. Teachers assign them, viewing them as a necessary component of assessing reading co

Microsoft Corp. on Monday made the latest edition of its Office software suite available for testing and plans to make key applications such as Word and Excel available over the Web -- acknowledging burgeoning competition from Internet giant Google Inc. and others.

A new blogging platform for educators from the creators of ninehub.com based on Word Press. Might be worth a look.

"I remixed this awesome scavenger hunt originally created by Joyce Valenza and added a QR Code Twist! I re-worked some of the questions for a lesson with my adorable ESOL kids (we have 35 right now in our ESOL program & one cute be-freckled girl just came yesterday & speaks no English at all but she LOVED scanning the codes when I handed her my Droid Fascinate!) The rest of the kids have varying degrees of English proficiency but still will benefit from a few visual clues. So the scavenger hunt questions are intentionally simply & clearly worded combined with pics I created as QR Code Hints. You can also use this lesson for special needs classes, Library Media orientation, or even re-mix the questions, QR Codes, & hints for just about ANY subject area! To create the hints I used a combination of Photoshop, Flickr, bit.ly and my favourite QR Code generator, Kaywa."

Explore words visually

"How Microtask's Digitalkoot game helps weed mistakes out of the Finnish National Library's e-archives One more step, and a tiny creature will cross the bridge and get to safety. Just one more step - but letters do not match, the fragile structure blows up and the brown mole falls into a digital abyss. But as Juha Valtamo, a 21-year-old Finnish student, correctly types the next word that appears on the screen of his laptop, another mole happily reaches the destination. Digitalkoot may sound like a typical online game - but there is more to it than just building bridges and saving moles."

" It seems as though the minute the iPad was announced, innumerable light bulbs went off as developers and entrepreneurs everywhere came to the same realization: "We could totally use this device as a digital whiteboard!" Indeed, a search for the word "whiteboard" in the App Store returns a whopping 170 iPad apps. Although the device's 10-inch screen may not compare to a full-sized, physical whiteboard, it can be quite handy to use a virtual whiteboard with team members remotely, and the iPad's form factor suits itself quite well to exactly that. "

Easy to use password generator, creates passwords based on a name, favourite word and date

"From basements and bedrooms to classrooms and cloistered locations, hundreds of students hit the "record" button on a smartphone and delivered up novel interpretations of Shakespeare's words."

"Rather than taking Kang's words as a warning against wanting your brain cake and eating it too, I took them as a reminder that our children are entering a time when traversing context has never been as complex as it is now. When it's time to drop a verse, can they demonstrate eloquence and elaborateness? And then, in times when we need to speak a language which eliminates ambiguity in favour of transferable clarity and concision, will our kids be able to write a masterclass algorithm?" Reminded me of the discussion brought up during the interview with Ian Guest where Daryl and Tony mused about teaching code.

Grammarly makes you a better writer by finding and correcting up to 10 times more mistakes than your word processor.

"Some of the things you can do with these web tools include: creating different types of diagrams (e.g flowcharts and organizational charts), solve math problems using Symbolab calculator, design print-friendly Bingo cards to use in class, build and share word searches online, convert/compress and share video files"