Talk to Me: Meebo

I guess you could say that the Internet is all about communication. For the most part, one way communication seems to be the norm. There are many two way, real time tools out there. Many of them I like. But Meebo has caught my eye.

The main goal of Meebo is consolidate your IM accounts into one place. Sounds good - even though I really don't have any IM accounts. Well, other than Google Talk. I think the main reason for that is the fact that there are so many out there. Meebo kind of solves that dilemma. Use them all at once.

The thing that really caught my attention is the new little widget that is appearing at the side of this page - MeeboMe. I've always looked for a good program that allows you to chat with your web site visitors in real time, as they visit the page, no matter what they may or may not have installed. With tools like Skype, you can put a piece of code on your site that will let visitors see when you are on Skype, and then they can open Skype and talk to you. Which isn't that great on work computers that block Skype.

Now, I love Skype. But MeeboMe solves the "work computer" problem some of us face. MeeboMe allows any visitor to your site to start a chat with you through the site itself, not another program. And, as a Meebo user, you can see visitors on your site and send them messages. Of course, you may not know who it is - but still sounds fun. Visitors do have the option of putting in a name for you to see. Kind of slick.

I think that this would be great for professors and teachers to use, also. I think I saw a function in there that allows you to start a group chat. Great tool for office hours. And, you can have multiple widgets on multiple sites, allowing for professional chats and personal chats.

Bond is Back: Casino Royale

Okay, I will have to admit - I don't really get to see that many movies. A lot of them just don't seem that interesting to me. Even less seem interesting to my wife, and I don't like to go alone. And she really doesn't like Sci-Fi.

Luckily, we do both like a good spy/action flick. There have been so many complaints about the choices made for the new James Bond movie, that I decided I really wanted to see it. Of course, the complaints were made before anyone had actually seen the film. Now that it is out, all I can say to the naysayers: HA! The new Bond dude rocks.

I like the new direction of the Bond films. For one: less cheesy unnecessary sexual escapades and one-liners. All of Bonds, umm, "relationships" got tiring and unoriginal after the first few films. At least in this film they get more realistic. I won't spoil anything, but the first girl that Bond runs into would have turned out differently in previous films. And most of his quips got so predictable.

Also, you've got to love this: Bond can make real mistakes in this one. That just rocks.

Of course, the cool gadgets are somewhat missing - but you have to realize that these just had to go to make Bond more realistic. It's hard to believe a film were the hero just always happens to have the tools to deal specifically with the problems that he finds himself in every time. Also, the film is more violent than past Bonds. So, due to that and the fact that the sexuality is not totally gone means that this is not a film for everyone.

So, what about all the complaints that Craig doesn't look like Bond? Tsk, tsk, silly fanboys. He totally nails the Bond that this re-boot is trying to create. The new Bond is dead serious about his license to kill. The new Bond can kill you with his cool gaze. The new bond actually looks like he exercises. Brosnan was the perfection of the original movie Bond that Connery started. Craig is the perfection of a new Bond in a post-Bourne Identity movie world.

ZohoShow: Online PowerPoint Presentations

If you can't tell, I love Web2.0 applications. Some of them are pretty rough, some are really good, but all show incredible potential.

One of the interesting developments in the Web2.0 revolution has been the offering of (usually free) online versions of expensive office applications. Microsoft Word and Excel Spreadsheets have some serious competition with Tools like Writely and Google Docs. Oppsss.... Those are the same thing now.

Anyway, i have always wondered if anyone would create an online version of PowerPoint. And my questions were answered. ZohoShow is one of the first online presentation competitors to enter the market.

So, how does it work? Well, it's still new. I like some of what I see. Create and edit presentations online, anywhere. Upload existing PowerPoint presentations. Collaborate on documents. Present remotely from anywhere in the world to anywhere. Well, probably not in the wilds of the Amazon, but anywhere with Internet connection. Also, you can embed html into the presentations, opening it up to a whole range of stuff that PowerPoint can't do. Nice.

There are some downfalls, as this is an early version. The templates that you love in Microsoft probably aren't there. Backgrounds in general are a problem - it seems like you are only allowed one size (the original size), not a scalable size that resizes based on window size. Also, animations are not available. The upload function is pretty weak on graphic quality preservation. Also, when you are doing a slideshow presentation, it doesn't cover the whole screen (even though I have seen websites that do that). But it's a good start.

Below is the PowerPoint presentation that I presented at the IOL 2006 conference. Just click on it to get the frames to advance (or right click to go back). I uploaded the PowerPoint from my computer, had to fix a few buggy places, and then embedded it here. You can see the background problems below:

Google World

Yep. Google will own you someday. You will just be a piece of data in their Big Brother global database of human DNA database or whatever. But until then, I sure am enjoying everything that they have to offer.

Of course, there is Gmail, one of the coolest email functions in the world. In addition to the massive amount of storage space (you never really delete e-mail, just search through it to fins old stuff with a search program that works great), you also get threaded conversations. Replies are stored in link of messages that lets you quickly read through the history of the conversation. Except for those people that constantly like to rename every reply they give. There is also a chat function that lets you chat with another Gmail user that is signed in. It even tells you when the other person is typing a response to you. Spooky, but it still rocks.

And I'm not even going to go into how cool Google docs is (online Word doc and spreadsheet creator that you can work on projects collaboratively with people around the world). That just speaks for itself.

Oh, yeah.... this blog is created on Blogger, which is Google. Blatant plug there....

I have been loving on Google Talk and Personalized homepage recently. Google now owns my life. Hope they don't turn to the dark side soon....

Google Talk is kind of like a lite version of Skype. You can call other Google Talk users online for free. You can also send files to people using Google Talk. And there is a nice mail notice that pops up on the screen when you get a new e-mail. But the really cool function of Google talk is the Voicemail function. You can leave a voice mail on someone else's email. If the person uses Gmail, they get a nice play button that plays in in their inbox. Other email accounts have to download the mp3 and play it in something else. It's just a great tool for sending messages that might be misunderstood in text only.

Personalized homepage just flat out rocks. You can create a home page with customized content and tabs. Anywhere in the world you sign in, it shows you what you add there. But it's the content that makes it rock. The picture above is a capture of my first "tab." You can create as many tabs as you want, each with custom content. Here's what I have on my first tab:

• Google Calendar, which shows me all of my upcoming events.
• Gmail monitor - shows my inbox
• Current weather for my town
• A to-do list
• Quick search Ebay and Wikipedia
• Notepad - take notes on what I need to.

The next two tabs are my news tabs - one for general news (world, weird, CNN, aintitcool.com, Star Wars and Sci-fi), and one for Educational Technology news. The fourth tab is the cool tab - my fun stuff:

• MySpace profile alerts - see if I have new comments, messages, etc
• NASA's picture of the day
• Links to favorite comics - Dilbert, Zits, and Calvin & Hobbs
• New Urban Legends :)
• Google maps quick search
• Pac-man!

You can literally choose from hundreds of applications to add to your page. Don't you wish you had Gmail now? Everything comes with your free Gmail account.

Obscure Old Music: This Picture

I made some great techie geek discoveries over the last day or so that I really wanted to write about into today's blog. But, on the way to work, I was listening to a CD from 1994 from a band that never made it that big called This Picture. The album is called City of Sin. Since I know that 2/3 of my massive readership want to find out my thoughts on music, I thought "better not totally bore the non-techies out there." Even though they never comment....

I wish that I could find some kind of sample online to refer to here, but that's just how forgotten this album is. Apparently, This Picture had a minor hit with the song "Naked Rain" off of their debut album Violent Impression. Violent is a decent album, but City of Sin is the crowning achievement of This Picture.

So, what does it sound like? Well, imagine if Bono joined a moody, alternative band that had equal amounts piano and guitar in all songs, and started writing really ultra-poetic lyrics, and you would have it.

"Climbing the walls of doubt don't you know,
For tonight we could reach it, if you'd only show the world"

"So lay your hands on my soul,
It's there to be taken whole"

"A man will lie for his lines
In his natural crimes
To have guilt in these times
You must read between the lines"

The interesting thing is that the only place I ever read about This Picture was in a Christian music magazine review. There is nothing else to indicate what their beliefs are, so I guess I can't comment on that. But, the same magazine did a positive review of U2 at the time (which, if I remember correctly, was why I was reading that magazine), so I guess they could be trusted.

Oh, yeah - I got both of This Pictures cds from Amazon for a penny. Yep. One whole cent + shipping.

Me And My Big Ideas

I used to sit around staring at my CD cases for a long time. No, I wasn't having a nervous breakdown. And I don't do drugs, so forget bad acid trips. I used to think about how some day laptop computers would be about the size of two open CD cases put next to each other. In fact, if we could get rid of the need for a frame around a screen, they could even fold in half once you closed this screen.

But then I had the thought: what if we just put a computer in a small pen like device, and had the keyboard and screen coming out of two small projectors: one would project the keyboard on the desk in front of us, and the other would project the screen as a hologram in front of our face. Scientists are already making progress on holograms, but the idea of this computer I had is far away. Until I saw this:




To quote my Mom: "I should patented that idea when I had it!"

Second Life Does Have Educational Potential

CNN has a great article today about schools that use Second Life for educational purposes:

Growing number of educators explore 'Second Life' online

The most important quote is this one, from Rebecca Nesson, who teaches a class that is offered online through Harvard and uses Second Life:

"Students interact with each other and there's a regular sense of classroom interaction. It feels like a college campus"

So there is a growing number of people that are using Second Life for virtual online education. Think of it this way. I was in Second Life once for a conference on a product called Sloodle. I'll have to blog on Sloodle later. I was chatting with someone else in there. I could see his avatar, and could tell a lot about his personality by the way he was typing. Then he mentioned that he was actually in London at that time. So, there I was - having an online conversation, for free with someone in London. And there are companies out there that are working on audio integration tools for Second Life. I guess Holodecks are coming soon, huh?

The Impending Birth of Web 3.0

So, did you even know that Web2.0 is already here? You probably use it every day. But now, researchers are looking beyond 2.0 into the next next generation of the web: 3.0.

Web 2.0 is really a concept in web design that uses existing technology. Google and Amazon are probably the most well-known examples. In fact, Web2.0 is a term that has already been copyrighted by the O-Reilly network. Web2.0 basically means the "read/write" web. Basically, Web1.0 sites are sites that are read only. You go there, read what they have to offer, maybe do a search to get there, and then move on.

Web2.0 means that you the user can contribute to the content of the site. Or, the site keep information for you that you can come back and edit. Wikipedia and Writely are two examples of this. Well, Writely is now a part of Google. Like everything will be someday.

This is also the point to why Google and Microsoft are going head to head. Google is spearheading the movement to take applications off of the desktop and put them online, where they can be accessed by today's mobile generation, and collaborated on by multiple people simultaneously. Microsoft, of course, doesn't like this.

And now, Google is once again jumping into the ring with Web3.0, or the semantic web. The basic goal for this is smart searches that mimic artificial intelligence. Many people feel that AI won't ever exist - but that's not the point. Web3.0 will just appear to look like AI.

It goes like this. If you want to search for a vacation spot, you have to do some vague searches that gives you a long list of results to search through. The goal for Web3.0 is to let you give a very specific, long search command that would return the specific results for you. For example, you could tell a vacation search all the details that you want for your vacation - spotless rooms, first week of July, secluded beach, Caribbean, kid friendly, etc, etc - and you would get back a vacation package that matched your request exactly. Because the search engine would know the difference between spotless and really clean, for example, when it searches through customer reviews of popular vacation destinations.

This is all really far off in the future, but it's starting to be the direction that research money is being filtered. Should be interesting. This article in the New York Times has some more information on Web3.0.

And, can I say how much I LOVE the new Firefox2.0 spell checker? It makes doing blog posts soooo much easier.....

Obligatory Firefox 2.0 Post

Today, I felt particularly band-wagonish, so I decided to post about the new version of Firefox browser. You've probably read a million blogs about the new Firefox 2.0. If not, you should catch up with the rest of the cool people in the world and get it. Internet Explorer is so 2001. Come be indie snobbish cool like the rest of us. And then join us for some chai and whiney-boo-hoo band music at Star(ting-to-get-all-of-my) Bucks.

Wait, wait, wait! Before you get hacked at me and decide to go see if you have gotten any MySpace comments since your last 2 minute check-in - I am just kidding! I love Firefox, funky caffenated drinks, and Seattle's most successful missionary effort. Just feeling playful and all.

So, anyway - all I have to say about Firefox is tabs and extensions! They all get better in 2.0. But since there about 2 billion extensions to choose from, I decided to add my favorites here:

• FoxyTunes
  Control your iTunes, Media Player, etc from in browser.
  
  
• IE Tab
  Let's you switch a tab to see what a page looks like in IE
  
  
• JSView
  View the source code of external JS and CSS files
  
  
• HTMLValidator
  Quick visual clue if you are XHTML Transitional compliant. Gives you a detailed list of where the errors are.
  
  
• Web Developer
  A whole bunch of web design tools that I haven't had time to explore - but I like what I see.
  
  
• FireBug
  "FireBug lets you explore the inner workings of Web pages. All of the tools you need to debug and perfect your JavaScript, CSS, HTML, and Ajax are brought together into one seamless experience, including HTML and CSS inspectors, a debugger, error console, and command line." Wow.
  
  
• GreaseMonkey
  "Greasemonkey allows you to customize Web pages by adding “user scripts,” which are small JavaScript files, to change their style. Now you can easily control any aspect of a Web page’s design or interaction."
  
  
• FireFTP
  FireFox + FTP. Nice.
  
  
• Zotero
  Extension for research needs. Allows you to take notes in-browser and collect and store materials (PDF, images, webpages, etc).
  

Yeah - a lot of those were definitely tech-geeky. Sorry to the non-tech geeks out there. But, for the music fans - Foxy Tunes does rock.

Sitar Grunge Rock: Christopher Lee Freeman

I have been trying not to rave too much about my favorite musician, Michael Knott. Mainly because I know that he will have some new stuff out soon and there will be chances to go on and on about his musical genius later. So, I should take this chance to yabber on about other artists that I like.

Those that know me know that I have a huge interest in Middle Eastern and Indian music. What I really love is when someone mixes eastern and western music. Christopher Lee Freeman is one of those artists. Any one that has visited my MySpace page has probably had a chance to hear a Freeman song.

Mr. Freeman first came to my attention as the guitarist for a Christian Creed-clone band called G.S. Megaphone. I'm not much of a Creed fan, so I didn't pay much attention to them. One day, I read a random review somewhere about GS Megaphone going all world music on us, due to Chris's travels to India and purchase of a sitar. Luckily, I found that album on Ebay for a buck :) Gotta love Ebay. While I had to say that the world music influences on a few tracks were kind of there, it was still a Creed album. Actually, it was better than most Creed stuff, but still not my thing.

Anyway, GS Megaphone called it a day, and I started hearing rumors about Chris was doing solo albums of sitar music and loud guitars mixed together. My wife and I were already hooked on a Christian rock/worship Indian band called Aradhna that did the same sound, so I decided to check out Chris. I will have to blog about Aradhna soon, too. So, anyway, a few Google searches and two MySpace pages later and I was hooked.

Chris's music is really loud guitars and heavy Indian influenced sonic perfection on every track. The thing about most world music fusion is that it usually is mostly western music with a few ethnic beats thrown in, or eastern music with a slight jazz feel. Seldom is it a true mix of east and west. Chris's music is a really good blend of both. And all instrumental. So it just rocks.

So there.

Check out his music on his two MySpace pages:
http://www.myspace.com/christopherleefreeman
http://www.myspace.com/clfmusic

You Need To Get a (Second) Life

Okay - so there are about a ba-zillion blogs out there that start off with that title. But Second Life is an interested development in the education and business world. It's been around for a while, but after some people started making some real money in this virtual world - the real world started to take notice.

It seems like there are some that have negative opinions of it, and some that love it, and a lot that just don't care. There also seems to be many people that just complain about it being full of porn and gambling. Well, so is the web - but they don't complain about that. I've never run into anything like that in Second Life, but then again - I don't look for it. Hmmm.... interesting concept. You don't find junk if you don't go looking for it.

Any way, Second Life is an online world that looks like a lot of the 3-D immersion games that exist online. The only deal is - it's not a game. There is no point, no levels, no prizes to win. You just meet people, buy stuff, go places that interest you, learn stuff, and - well - just generally exist there.

My colleagues and partners in crime over at UT Dallas got me hooked on SL. My wife says I really smile when I am on there. Which doesn't happen that much because Matt Man needs a newer faster computer at home. Mine is already two whole years old! Geez - that's, like, ancient in the computer world! And I call myself a techie....

Anyway - i have been exploring it for educational purposes. There is neat stuff in there. I have attended in world presentations with people from around the world. There are simulations of everything from molecules to the solar system, from real life buildings to active ecosystems. Historical re-enactments, plays, concerts, art galleries, and even a Godzilla wreaking havoc all exist in world. Pretty crazy. Oh - and your in world avatar can fly and stay underwater indefinitely.

Anyway, I have been keeping a photo journal of my few in-world travels. As soon as I get a chance, I will get the Flickr feed up here in this blog.

Also, you can see one of the UTD crew's exploration of SL at her blog. Great pictures there.

Podcast Tools: Podium and Odeo

Podcasting is a tool that I love, but never have the time for. Well, that and I don't exactly have a radio-quality voice. Not even close, actually. But I guess that hasn't stopped a lot of people from doing it anyway.

There are many tools out there to help record podcasts. A new one that is coming out caught my eye: Podium. I guess it really is a mix of a sound editor and a podcast creator. Nice combination. The best part is the intro video in the link. It really just gives a basic run-down of what a podcast is. So, the next time that someone looks at me with a blank stare and asks "what is a podcast?" I think I will refer them to this link. From what I understand, Podium will have an educational focus. But I wonder how much it will cost.

The only negative that I see with Podium is the fact that it has to be installed on your Desktop to work. Probably the best online tool I have seen for creating podcasts is Odeo. You can record your podcast in your browser, or upload one from your computer. Odeo then puts together all of the feeds and tags for your audio. Pretty nice. Of course, they aren't the best for a podcast that mixes music and voice (if you want to record it online). But they do handle the hosting for you, as well as giving you a flash player that can be pasted in any web site. I wonder how long it will be before Google buys them (or a competitor).

Linux Goes Educational

I've always been a fan of open source programs (OpenOffice, Moodle, FireFox, phpBB, etc). A friend of mine at church (Andrew) started telling me about a Linux project targeted specifically for educational purposes called Edubuntu. I haven't really even ever gotten to install or play with Linux yet, but I like what I see with Edubuntu. They are dedicated to keeping their project free, and to updating it once every six months or so. It also comes out of the box with a great set of free tools for Office applications, music recording, graphics creation, and a ton of other stuff. (See the full list of features here).

Now, this version of Edubuntu is for high schoolers or younger, but they are planning on targeting this for colleges soon. Of course, I'm sure that it is not as macked out as the Windows stuff it is attempting to immitate - but it is free! And, it is designed to work great on old machines that can't do the fancy stuff of the current generation of supercomputers. Nice ideas at work.

New Music: Coriolis

If you know me and my musical tastes, you've probably heard a scary rumor: I was a hair metal freak in high school. The sad truth is - I still am one. Bang your head!

Anyway, my tastes have diversified over the years. One style of music that I love now is industrial metal. Something about guitars, samples, and synthesizers that I just love. There haven't been that many new industrial metal bands out there since Monsterus disappeared several years ago. I was listening to a sampler of new music on the way to work today and finally found one worth checking out: Coriolis. there were actually two other wanna-be industrial metal songs on the sampler, but they weren't that good. Here is what I found out about Coriolis from their site:

Coriolis, (formerly known as Thundara,) is a synth-metal project based in Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is the goal of Coriolis to redefine the way dark music is perceived, by making thought-provoking music that shatters past stereotypes.

The lyrics of two Coriolis songs are currently being published by the International Library of Poetry, who recognized these poems as "excellent."

Musical influences range widely from Rammstein and Rob Zombie, to Dream Theater, Metallica and Yanni. Industrial and ethereal keyboard sequences compliment driving rhythm guitars to produce a truly unique sound with diverse melodies.

Other releases I am looking forward to:

• U2's new greatest hits album
• Robert Randolph & the Family Band - Colorblind
• The Rough Guide to the Music of Iran
• Kula Shaker - III
• Struck Last May - 16 Flowers