Mobile Mouse : "App"-solutely Fabulous!

Apps are changing the nature of how we interact with technology. In this blog series, we will highlight some great apps that are guaranteed to make your life a little easier. Consider downloading these apps onto your personal smart phone or tablet device, or come to see them in action in the MS/US library.

Mobile Mouse

For our first App of the Month, we are highlighting Mobile Mouse.  This simple, but robust app can really change how you use your Smarboard in the classroom.

Mobile Mouse allows you to turn your smart phone or iPad into a virtual mouse for another computer.  This is ideal for when you want to interact with your computer on the Smartboard, without being stuck to the front of the room, or to your desk.

With this app there's no more "Sage on the Stage;" you're free to walk about the classroom, while still using your projector to display important information.

Remember, the Tech department does have wireless keyboards to be used with Smartboard as well. This is another option if you don't have a personal iPad or iPhone.

Websites of the Week - Create a Dynamic Homepage

For this week's Websites of the Week, we are focusing on Dynamic Homepages!

What's your Internet Browser Homepage?  Do you use the NCS Website?  Yahoo?  Google?

Consider making one of these dynamic websites your homepage: Symbaloo, iGoogle, Netvibes, or Pageflakes.

These websites were created specifically with the thought of being a personal homepage.  Many offer the ability to add your own websites and widgets.  Getting access to your important websites might become a whole lot easier!

Symbaloo

Symbaloo is a great site that allows you to organize your favorite websites by topic, using iPhone-like icons, which the site calls "tiles" to access links.  You can easily customize tiles by dragging and dropping them around your page, creating new tiles from your favorite bookmarks, color-coordinating tiles by subject, and more. 

Create a free account to set up your own Symbaloo page.  You can easily make this your homepage on home and school computers.

iGoogle

iGoogle allows you to create your own customized "skin" over the Google search page we've all come to know and love.  Instead of just a simple Google search, you can add your own widgets to get more use out of the page.

Choose a background theme, add customized widgets, like the NYT news feed, Gmail and Google Reader feeds.  Or follow your favorite blogs and websites directly on this page. (Subscribe to the NCS Library blog and get all these great tips directly on your Internet Browser Homepage!)

Netvibes

Netvibes lets you create a personal dashboard by choosing varied widgets and content-channels from dropdown menus. You can easily add news feeds that interest you, and even pre-created feeds regarding certain topics.  Netvibes also allows you to add multiple homepages through tabs, and keep track of other user-created sites.

Pageflakes

Pageflakes is very similar to Netvibes.  It allows you to easily create portals of varied content by selecting modules from drop-down menus. You can easily add widgets, and even pre-created feeds regarding certain topics.  Pageflakes also allows you to add multiple homepages through tabs, and keep track of other user-created Pageflakes.

Website of the Month: Readability

The Library’s web site of the month is READABILITY
http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/

Brought to you by Kathy Menz and Chip Chase who learned about it at the Computers in Libraries Conference, this site is guaranteed to remove the clutter that you have to wade through when trying to read an article. It’s simplicity will please you too. Here’s all you have to do.

1. Click on the site
2. Select the style, size and margin of the print that you wish to read.
3. Right click on the READABILITY badge and drag it to your favorites.
4. When visiting a busy web site that’s cluttered with adds and assorted bells and whistles, simply click on your booklet (bookmark) and voila! all of it disappears.

Trust me, you’ll  love the results. It’s great for showing students via a smartboard, etc. just what you want them to read

Love from you librarians

The Quest for the Best - Guide to the Internet

Do you want to become an Internet power-user?

Then take a look at this list of recommended web sites and services, and learn about the hottest Web sites:

The Quest for the Best

Web site of the Week—New Yorker Fiction Podcast

Are you having trouble finding the time to read for pleasure? Well why not try the next best thing, with fiction podcasts! It's easy to subscribe to a podcast using iTunes services and upload them to an iPod. Or, you can download audio files and burn them to a CD to listen in the car.

• New Yorker Fiction Podcast

We highly recommend the New Yorker Fiction podcast. In this free podcast, famous authors read their favorite stories from the back catalog of the New Yorker magazine. Afterwards, they discuss the significance of these stories with the New Yorker's fiction editor.

Listen to Joyce Carol Oates read Eudora Welty’s “Where Is the Voice Coming From?” or Mary Gaitskill read Vladimir Nabokov’s “Symbols and Signs.”

These short stories and discussions are the perfect length for a commute!

• NPR Books Podcast

This podcast includes NPR book reviews, news and author interviews -- for people who love to read.

For other podcasts, check out these podcast repositories online.

• Librivox —This collection focuses on books from the public domain, including many classics. Many of these podcasts are user-created, so the quality may vary.
  
• Audible — If you are looking for contemporary authors, nad are not worried about paying for your content, this is the place to go.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/podcasts/fiction
http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=89697155
http://librivox.org/
http://www.audible.com/

Web site of the Week—Frontline

Many of you might be familiar with the PBS documentary program Frontline, but did you know that you can watch full episodes online, download transcripts, take part in discussions, and access additional materials pertaining to episodes, on Frontline's web site?

Also make sure to check out the Frontline Teacher Center to search videos by subject, and access teaching guides on specific episodes.

For those of you more technology-minded, make sure to check out Frontline's Digital Nationa, a fascinating look at the way we live now. As Frontline's web site describes this program:

Digital Nation a multiplatform project that includes this interactive Web site and a one-hour FRONTLINE documentary to air Winter 2010. The project aims to capture life on the digital frontier and explore how the Web and digital media are changing the way we think, work, learn and interact.

Some sample broadcasts include:

Inside the Meltdown
A fascinating exploration of the causes of the financial meltdown. Watch the full episode, view interviews, access an online timeline, and read what others have to say in the Discussion page.



The Old Man and the Storm
From Frontline's description of the episode "In The Old Man and the Storm, FRONTLINE correspondent and filmmaker June Cross journeys with the Gettridge family of New Orleans for 18 months as they endure devastation, political turmoil and a painstakingly slow bureaucratic process to rebuild their homes and their lives." The site Includes updates on the Gettridge clan, official's views of the recovery process, and a timeline of the recovery process.

Web site of the Week—Academic Earth

Academic Earth is a great resource for videos of scholarly lectures. The videos cover a variety of topics, from Chemistry to Political Science. Renowned professors from major universities give these lectures; some agreed to have an entire class filmed and uploaded to this web site, available for all to enjoy.

As the web site states: "Academic Earth is an organization founded with the goal of giving everyone on earth access to a world class education."

Great for:

• Video Resources
• Professional Development
  

Below are some sample videos:

Politics/Global Ethics:
Thomas Friedman—"The World is Flat 3.0"

Physics:
Walter Lewin—"Measurements of Space and Time"

English:
Amy Hungerford—"Vladamir Nabokov, Lolita"

Mathematics:
Gilbert Strang—"The Geometry of Linear Equations"

Web site of the Week—The Big Picture

Find great image galleries of current events at the Boston Globe's online source, The Big Picture.

Shown here: "A protester faces a line of police in Threadneedle Street in London's financial district on April 2, 2009 in London, England."(Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

As the creators of this photo blog describe it:

The Big Picture is a photo blog for the Boston Globe/boston.com, entries are posted every Monday, Wednesday and Friday by Alan Taylor. Inspired by publications like Life Magazine (of old), National Geographic, and online experiences like MSNBC.com's Picture Stories galleries and Brian Storm's MediaStorm, The Big Picture is intended to highlight high-quality, amazing imagery - with a focus on current events, lesser-known stories and, well, just about anything that comes across the wire that looks really interesting.

Whether you are interested in a topic or not, these images are sure to engage you. If you find this site interesting, you may want to check out Life Magazine's newly designed web site, as well as the aforementioned Pictures Stories and MediaStorm sites.

Great For:

• Current Events
• Photography

The Big Picture (Boston.com)
Life.com
Media Storm
This Week In Pictures (msnbc.com)

Word of Mouse: Yapta

Here’s how to stretch your travel dollars. I wanted to try this site out before I recommended it to you. It’s Yapta.com.
Book your flight with Yapta and they will monitor the fares and alert you if and when they drop. They also arrange for your refund with either an airline credit or voucher. I tried it for a nonstop flight that I needed to book early and within a week I received a $108.00 refund because the fare had dropped. Your refund is in the form of an airline voucher or travel credit. I advise taking the travel credit. The entire $108.00 credit can be applied to a future flight whereas travel vouchers typically don't retain any residual value. For example, if you have an $80 voucher and only use $50 of it, you will lose the remaining $30.

http://yapta.com