Archive for May 2008

If you’ve ever wondered what types of mashup applications you can build using Yahoo! Pipes, you’ll want to check out The Ultimate Yahoo! Pipes Creations List from ReadWriteWeb. This best list compiles the top mashups created by mixing RSS feeds from various websites and sources. Some of their picks include:

Bestselling Books - The bestselling books at Amazon.com, updated hourly.

FriendFeed Minus Twitter - Receive updates from your Friendfeed friends without Twitter posts.

Free iTunes Downloads - Songs - This is an RSS feed of new free song downloads avaialbe from the iTunes store.

The arXiv repository from Cornell University Library which provides open access to 479,931 research manuscripts in Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Quantitative Biology and Statistics, has issued an API. It will be interesting to see what types of mashups are created with this massive amount of quality content.

“The purpose of the arXiv API is to allow programmatic access to the arXiv’s e-print content and metadata. The goal of the interface is to facilitate new use of the the vast body of material on the arXiv.”

via ProgrammableWeb

A new report by Zogby International, commissioned by Random House asks 8,218 adults 47 questions about their reading and book buying habits. The study shows that people still prefer the printed book to any other format, nearly 20% borrow their books from the library, and although time spent online and watching TV has increased for many people, over half are spending as much or more time reading books. Here are just a few of their survey questions:

Do you like to curl up with a printed book, or would you be comfortable reading books in other formats, for example online, an ebook reader, or a pda?
Printed book 82%
Other formats 11
Not sure 8

When thinking about most of the books you r read, do you borrow books from the library, or do you own them?
Own them 78
Borrow them 19%
Not sure 3

Have you increased the time you spend doing any or all of the following (choose all that apply)
Time online 65%
Time playing computer or video games 18
Time watching TV or movies 37
Other 29
Not sure 7

In the past year have you spent more time than usual, less time than usual or about the same amount of time as usual reading books?
More time 23%
Less time 30
About the same amount of time 46
Not sure 1

via Social Media

They’ve done it again! The team at Common Craft have created another entertaining and educational video, this time about social media, which they explain by using an ice cream metaphor.

I am getting ready to teach a completely online version of my course on Web 2.0 technology at San Jose State University this summer, and I’ve been thinking about how I can create engaging lectures for my students. So, my latest project has involved learning about how to use the green screen technique, also known as blue screen or chroma key, in my videos. The technique is used to remove a green or blue screen from the background of the filming area and replace it with any static image, motion background, or video clip. It can often be seen in television weather forecasts. And it will allow you to create all sorts of effects.

I’ve found a lot of very helpful resources online, and thought I would pass them along for anyone who is also interested in mastering this technique. Here’s my first video, and below are tutorials and a guide.

Tutorials

Videos
These are just a few of the hundreds of video tutorials out there, which you can access by keyword searching for the terms green screen or chroma key on video sharing websites such as YouTube and 5Min, or the Blinkx, video search engine.

How to make awesome green screen (Chroma key)!! part 1 DVD

How to use Green Screen Software for Chroma Key Video

After Effects & Green Screen Footage Tutorial

Adobe After Effects Design Center Tutorials

Websites
Digital Hotcakes Tutorials

Media College Tutorials

Message Boards

Have a particular problem you’ve run into? Take a look at these forums to see if others have solved your problem for you. If not, they are the places to go when you’re seeking advice.

Video Editing Forums at CreativeCOW.net

Digital Director Forums

Free Motion Backgrounds

Want to find professional video loops to add to the background of your videos? Check out these free footage resources, and search for others with the terms motion backgrounds, animated video backgrounds, or video loop backgrounds.

MovieTools.info

Neo’s Clip Archive

Footage Firm’s Free Stock Footage Clips

Supplies

Green screen backdrops and lights can be found at various places online including on eBay, but the cheapest I’ve seen is at TubeTape.com. However, I bought a queen-sized green bedsheet at Bed Bath and Beyond that works just great. For lighting I’m using two clamp lamps to light the green screen which were about $10 each and have actual plastic clamps that attach to anything like a chip clip. And since my first video I’ve invested another ten bucks for a third clamp lamp for additional lighting in front of the camera.

Software

There are many video-editing software products available with “keying” features. I’m using a combo of Adobe Premiere and Adobe After Effects for my projects. For Mac users, Final Cut Pro is also highly recommended. Sony Vegas, and Pinnacle Studio Plus & Ultimate allow for keying in videos, and I’m also very interested in trying out VisionLab Studio from FXhome.

Laura Milligan at CollegeDegrees.com has compiled an all-in-one guide to creating a learning space in Second Life. Her annotated guide presents 50 resources which will help you make the most of the virtual world. Her tips, tricks, and resource links are divided into the following categories:

• Training Purposes
• Blogs and Websites
• Examples of Second Life in Education
• More Tips and Ideas
• Resources
• Second Life Tools for Teaching
• Communication Tools

BusinessWeek updates their popular 2005 story “Blogs Will Change Your Business.” with Beyond Blogs in which they discuss Twitter and microblogging, social networking communities such as MySpace and LinkedIn, and wikis.

“But blogs, it turns out, are just one of the do-it-yourself tools to emerge on the Internet. Vast social networks such as Facebook and MySpace offer people new ways to meet and exchange information. Sites like LinkedIn help millions forge important work relationships and alliances. New applications pop up every week. While only a small slice of the population wants to blog, a far larger swath of humanity is eager to make friends and contacts, to exchange pictures and music, to share activities and ideas.”

The website I like sharing videos aggregates over 600 video sharing websites and video search engines along with their history, recent news, Alexa traffic ranking, and testimonials.

via Social Media

The folks at Mashable have put together a mega-list of 140+ tools for Twitter in their Twitter Toolbox 2. This guide combined with their previous Toolbox containing 60+ tools, and their 8 Awesome Firefox Plugins for Twitter gives us over 200 applications, extensions, and utilities for the popular microblogging app to experiment with! Here are ten of their top tools:

1. Brabblr
2. Autopostr
3. EmailTwitter
4. GroupTweet
5. Hashtags
6. HelloTxt
7. LinkBunch
8. LiveTwitting
9. MicroRevie
10. Mobypicture

Web Worker Daily comes up with 10 Firefox extensions to enhance your browsing privacy by choosing to control your cookies, surf through a proxy server, and other techniques. Here are their recommendations:

1. Cookie Monster
2. Cookie Whitelist
3. CookieSafe Lite
4. FoxyProxy
5. PhProxy
6. Tor-Proxy.NET Toolbar
7. TorButton
8. SquiggleSR
9. RefControl
10. BetterPrivacy

You may also want to check out Lifehacker’s Top 10 Firefox 3 Features.

Josh Catone of ReadWriteWeb lists ten ways to search Wikipedia which receives over 683 million visitors per year. Aside from the encylopedia’s official search engine, he compiles a set of intriguing alternatives including semantic search engines, a combined search of all the Wikipedia websites including Wikiquote, Wikibooks, and Wiktionary, and a search which presents results as a mindmap of related entries. His top ten picks are:

1. Powerset
2. Wikiwix
3. AskMeNow
4. Similpedia
5. Gollum
6. Qwika
7. WikiMindMap
8. Wikiwax
9. Lexisum
10. Ask.com & SearchMash

Bonus site: Wikirage

LifeClever has put together a nice list of 10 free Web-based applications which can be used for photo-editing. Be sure and check out the full post for screenshots of each:

1. Picnik
2. Splashup
3. Phoenix
4. Photoshop Express
5. Snipshot
6. flauntR
7. Pic Resize
8. Pixenate
9. FotoFlexer
10. Phixr

A new report was published from IDC titled The Hyperconnected: Here They Come!: A Global Look at the Exploding ‘Culture of Connectivity’ and Its Impact on the Enterprise which explores trends in information sharing and connectivity in people’s daily lives.

The result of a worldwide study of 2,400 working adults from various industries spanning 17 countries, the research indicates that 16% of the information workforce is already “Hyperconnected”, and may be joined by another 36% more very soon. The study’s cluster analysis identified 4 profiles of technology users.

-The Hyperconnected person uses a minimum of 7 devices for work and 9 connectivity applications. The lines between business and personal use is blurred.

-The Increasingly Connected use 4 devices and 6 applications, they tend to use applications such as blogs and wikis but are less apt to be social networking.

-The Passive Online use fewer devices but are experimenting with application such as IM.

-The Barebones Users use email, desktop access to the Web.

Some interesting findings about the Hyperconnected from the report:

• The boundary between work and personal connectivity for the hyperconnected is almost nonexistent. Two-thirds use text or instant messaging for both work and personal use. More than a third use social networking for both.
• The country with the highest percentage of hyperconnected respondents was China.
• They are found in all industries, but are above the average in banking and high tech industries
• They can be any age, although 60% are under 35, only 7% over 55
• They would take their laptop out before their wallet or even mobile phone if they had to leave their house for 24 hours
• They tend to work for companies who are also early adopters.
• 59% of hyperconnected respondents companies use online communities or social networks to reach their customers
• 36% of hyperconnected respondents companies use outbound video podcasts to reach customers
• A fourth of hyperconnected respondent companies use blogs and wikis to communicate with customers.

“It won’t be possible to ignore this new level of connectivity. Businesses can either embrace it and manage it carefully or, stand-by as it enters their enterprise, in a confusion of disconnected deployments that squander the productivity and competitive advantage Hyperconnectivity could otherwise bring.”

Web conferencing applications which enable a presenter to host a Webinar or meeting with live video and audio, text chat, whiteboards, shared files, and even desktop sharing offer countless opportunities for collaboration, online training, and remote assistance. While many of these sophisticated programs are costly, a new crop of free Web conferencing applications has emerged which offer amazing alternatives to traditional online meeting programs such as WebEx and GoToMeeting.

Librarians could use these free applications for holding office hours, reference consultations, library instruction, hosting their own Webinars, conducting live interviews, or collaborating with remote team members on projects.

VRoom by Elluminate is “three for free Web conferencing”. Elluminate lets users sign up for their own virtual meeting room (vRoom) in which they can hold Web conferences with live Webcam, two-way audio, application sharing, IM chat, whiteboard, and file transfer with up to 3 simultaneous users.

Yugma is a Web conferencing application which allows a presenter to share their desktop with conference attendees in order to demonstrate, share, or collaborate on projects. The free, personal version of Yugma enables conferencing with up to 10 people along with an IM chat interface within sessions. Professional accounts can record sessions, share files, change presenters, and share mouse and keyboard controls. The Skype edition integrates with the VOIP application and includes the users’ Skype contact list.

WiZiQ is a completely Web-based education platform which lets teachers present to up to 25 students from within a virtual classroom through live video, audio, and text chat. WiZiQ allows content sharing, provides a whiteboard and records sessions. They have a module which integrates with the Moodle LMS.

Dimdim is a free, open source live meeting software which offers audio and video conferencing and lets hosts share their desktop with attendees. This application requires no download or installation for meeting participants and can be used with up to 20 people with the free version. Dimdim offers whiteboards and both public and private chat options.

PalBee enables members to conduct video conferencing sessions complete with whiteboards, text chat interface, file sharing capabilities, and free recording of sessions. Presenters can hold unlimited sessions with up to five people for up to one hour, and also can pre-record sessions and then share them

Vyew is a fully Web-based conferencing and collaboration application which features white boards, audio and video support, and an integrated chat client. Hosts can share their desktops, take screenshots, conduct conference calls with up to 150 others, and hold conference sessions with up to 20 participants with the free version.

ReadWriteWeb presents 20+ Ways to Learn a Language Online which lists Web destinations that offer language lessons as well as those offering language exchange for practicing conversational skills. Some of their top picks include:

• Mango Languages
• Vocabulix
• eLanguageSchool.net
• SharedTalk
• xLingo