Lingoes - Free Portable Translation & More

MyApps and PortableApps have been the topics of previous posts to this blog. To review, "apps" are short for "applications".

In the context of this and the two former blog posts, I'm addressing a suite (collection) of applications residing on and running from within a flash drive. They can be taken from computer to computer and require no installation other than onto the flash drive upon which they are stored.

The latest I've tried and found to be exceptionally powerful and versatile is Lingoes. This portable app features dictionaries, translators, speech, the ability to download and install multitudes of free dictionaries.

One of the most powerful dictionaries with which I've experimented is the bidirectional Chinese>English dictionary. If you interact with ELLs (English Language Learners) in any capacity, check out this free program. Click on the links above or below to learn more. You'll be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to navigate this program.

Marion County educators: As always - If I can be of service in helping you or your students, please contact me.

Links:

• Download Lingoes: http://tinyurl.com/lbvp3a
  
• Lingoes dictionaries: http://tinyurl.com/l593al
  

MyApps - Create your Own Suite of Portable Software

From Scotland comes "MyApps", which consists of a set of free and open source applications ("apps") broken down into three categories:

1. EduApps
2. AccessApps
3. LearnApps

Each of these programs run from a flash drive, making setup a breeze! A quote from the website:

"Tired of grabbing application suites in which you only end up using five percent of the listed programs? Think you can do better than your average suite developer when it comes to picking and choosing the top apps that should go in a bundle? Alright, tough person. Hit up the Regional Support Centre Scotland North & East's official Web site and create your own customized MyApps listing. Pick the programs you want to have on your key, and the site will automatically create the single install file for you. It's as easy as that (or, if you're stubborn, grab one of the three pre-built packages: AccessApps, LearnApps, or TeachApps)

You have three options:

1. http://www.rsc-ne-scotland.ac.uk/eduapps/download.php
   This link takes you to the Access, Learn, and Teach packages (both "full" and "core" versions, and the informs you of the differences between them.
   
2. http://www.rsc-ne-scotland.ac.uk/eduapps/compare.php: The page to download the core and full versions of the Access, Learn, and Teach versions of the portable applications.
   
3. http://www.rsc-ne-scotland.ac.uk/eduapps/selection.php?ID=OTMyNQ==&suite=EduApps&clientID=1: The page where you can go to "mix and match" your own customized, zipped package of downloadable applications.

Looking through the list of available applications, you'll be pleased to find some assistive software for those who may be visually or hearing challenged. I customized my suite to include these programs as well as concept mapping, word processing, antivirus, browsing, and touch typing software.

Highly suggested: Secure a dedicated 2 GB flash drive for these portable applications. The make and model I'd recommend is the Sandisk Cruzer. The first thing I'd do after unpacking it is to uninstall the U3 system from the flash drive using the U3 uninstall utility located at http://u3uninstall.s3.amazonaws.com/U3Uninstall.exe

eSchool News - OUTSTANDING!

Not often does a publication cross my path that grabs my attention quite like this one: eSchool News. There's an online version, a paper version sent via mail, and an e-newsletter. Information covers the entire K-20 spectrum. There's news for parents, teachers, administrators, and higher education.

What really caught my attention was eSchool News TV! There were several engaging videos to view, all professionally rendered. The segment reviewing the NECC 2009 conference in Washington D.C. was especially enjoyable. If you've not yet experienced a technology conference of this scale and calibre, watch the video. You'll get a sense of the scale of this event. This year's conference attracted a crowd of 18,500+ attendees from all over the globe!

While visiting eSchool News, I also visited the Resources section. It was there that I found a link to royalty-free stock footage, sound effects, and motion background collections for $8.41 per DVD! Basically the disc collections are free. The charge is for shipping and handling per disc.

I could go on and on about what I found at eSchool News. Why not visit it for yourself and see the wealth of useful, practical, relevant information that awaits you? Set the egg timer, though, because you might forget to eat supper!

Enjoy!

LPs & Cassettes to MP3s

At this summer's NECC conference, I was reminded of devices that convert the old vinyl LP records (remember those?) and cassette tapes into digital MP3 files - great for using with PowerPoint or incorporating into digital storytelling projects.

I found a company called FirstStreet that sells both devices, and at reasonable prices, too!

Check out their USB turntable and USB cassette player, then download Audacity, CoolEdit96, PhotoStory, MovieMaker, or use Animoto and have a BLAST making your digital creations!

Animoto - Digital Storytelling Made Simple!

A gem of a tip from the SREB conference in Atlanta I want to share with you:

Animoto

This web-based application makes digital storytelling as about easy as easy as can be! A basic account is free. All you'll need is a computer, Internet access, an email account, and a digital camera.

Apply for an account at http://www.anomoto.com. Upload your pictures from your digital camera, sort them, then choose from the royalty-free music listed in their library OR upload your own music. This application even integrates with FaceBook if you have an account. It draws upon the pictures listed among those found in your FaceBook albums.

Once the photos are uploaded and sorted in the manner/sequence you desire, let the application do the rest. If you don't like the manner in which it "mixes" your photos and applies the effects and transitions, you simply press the "remix" button to generate a different set of transitions. No two renderings are the same.

Children will have this program figured out within on class period, if not less. You'll be extremely pleased with the results.

If you really want to "take it up a notch", use the FireFox web browser with the "NetVideoHunter" Add-In to download your flash video file for downloading and playback on your local computer.

Have fun experimenting. Request an educator account with extended features. They'll review your request. Here's the link to apply:
http://animoto.com/education/signup

In the meantime, sign up for a guaranteed free account that offers you a "30 second spot" capability to explore the features and the simplicity of this engaging application that your students are certain to learn from and enjoy!

SimSchool

Computer program aims to prepare teachers for the classroom

Click the link above to read the article about SimSchool. It's extremely informative! When you're finished, why not browse on over to http://www.simschool.org/ and register for a free account to see how it works?

This resource looks like it might be a way to:

• refresh skills
• assist a student teacher or intern
• prepare a new substitute teacher
• orient a high school student who's thinking of going into the education profession!

CRSTE to be at the WV Technology Conference

CRSTE (The Capital Region Society for Technology in Education) will be present at the West Virginia Statewide Technology Conference on August 3-7, 2009 at the Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, West Virginia. See http://www.wvnet.edu/conference/ for more details.

What is CRSTE? From the website:

"A 21st Century Organization
CRSTE is a different kind of professional organization. Designed to meet the needs of 21st century educators, CRSTE promotes collaboration among existing professional education and educational technology organizations. Free of traditional geographic and political boundaries, CRSTE reaches out to educators across the national capital region and around the world. We promote the global sharing of ideas, energies and resources, modeling the collaborative skills necessary in the Information Age.

Reflecting the values of Generation Y, CRSTE is truly a 21st century organization. CRSTE does not maintain a large overhead or incur ongoing expenses. We do not require individual memberships or host annual events. Rather, we earn the interest and support of educators by providing timely, flexible, high-interest initiatives that meet their ever-changing professional needs. CRSTE embraces administrators, technical staff, teachers, pre-service teachers, higher education and business. CRSTE also promotes green computing; we strive to be a paperless organization, conducting all correspondence and posting all announcements and resources online, and promoting virtual meetings and professional development events."

The cost to become a member? None. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Looking for an opportunity to become involved? Now's your chance!

Executive Director Walter McKenzie will be the presenter. If you've not had the opportunity to meet him, you're in for a special treat! He's a knowledgeable, passionate, and humorous man whose energy and enthusiasm knows no bounds that I've been able to discern over the 10+ years we've been friends. Click here to see a summary of his conference presentation.

Visit Walter's Surfaquarium website at http://surfaquarium.com/

See you at the state conference in August!

Download Online Videos the Easy Way

I used to have a separate application to download those flash-based videos embedded within web pages such as news websites, YouTube, and the like. No longer!

Ever since making the move from Internet Explorer to FireFox, I've made use of the Add-on called NetVideoHunter. This little gem makes downloading embedded videos a snap! The free FLV or GOM player renders them beautifully.

Give these applications a try. You won't be sorry. The "learning curve"? There's no curve at all!