Advantages of NetBooks

Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs or netbooks) are catching on quickly. These smaller and cheaper laptops are actually being developed for "emerging markets" (i.e., developing nations), but they are capturing the interest of many educators who particularly like their price, open-source nature, durability and physical appeal. More and more educators are looking towards netbooks as an affordable and exciting way to achieve a 1:1 ration of students to computers. Jim Dornberg just posted a good review of his new Acer Aspire 1 netbook. It's a brief but good overview of many features and potential advantages of netbooks.

Google's Chrome Browser

David Pogue recently published a great overview of Chrome, the new open-source web browser from Google. As Pogue describes, many of Chromes features are neither new nor innovative--the same features have been provided by Safari, Firefox and Opera browsers. But that doesn't detract from the value or potential of Chrome. To the contrary, Google has brought together some of the best featues of other browsers AND expanded upon them with better security, performance, and some truly innovative and exciting new features. 

One of my favorite features is forehead-slapping simple--"create application shortcuts". This creates shortcut icons on the desktop, start menu or quick-launch bar of Windows for the current site. But these shortcuts don't just open a browser window. Rather, they open in a seemingly "browserless" window that makes web-based apps and Web 2.0 services look and feel more like traditional desktop-based software. Do this for sites like Picnik and Gliffy, along with Google apps like gmail, docs, calendar, sites, reader, iGoogle, Blogger, etc., and you've basically got a fully-functional computer that, as long as you have an internet connection, requires no other software than an operating system and Chrome. 

While I suspect only early-adopters and keen web developers have begun using it so far, I predict that future releases and word of mouth will garner Chrome a marketshare that rivals or suprasses Firefox and other popular browsers. I can't wait for the Mac and Linux versions of Chrome to be released soon. 

Ustream.tv

As hurricane Gustav approaches the Louisiana coastline, including New Orleans, some folks are sharing the view from their location via Ustream.tv, a website that allows anyone to stream live video from their computer for free. At any given time, there are hundreds of live streams and thousands of archived events available. Just search for a term such as Gustav or Hurricane. Here's a live view from Slidell, Louisiana (at least, until these people lose their power or internet service).

Streaming live video by Ustream

Sites like Ustream, blipTV, Mogulus, Kyte, and Justin.tv provide a remarkable opportunity for anyone to broadcast live events with little more than their computer and webcam (which is becoming a ubiquitous integrated option with laptops). This new platform empowers individuals and organizations to broadcast their message to a global audience--for free. For example, I saw dozens of churches broadcasting their Sunday morning services live on Ustream this morning. The Obama campaign has been simulcasting live campaign events on Ustream for months, and I've seen people like Bernie Dodge share conference presentations in real time along with an integrated chat that creates a powerful backchannel to engage people both locally and at a distance. Now, Qik.com even makes it possible to stream such live video from many cell phones!

This is a truly an amazing new platform which has emerged over the past couple of years--one that many will embrace and some will find quite threatening or intimidating. Personally, I can't wait to see who starts using it next and how it transforms the way we communicate with each other.

Sarah Palin and the Tina Fey Factor

On the day they introduced their VP candidate, the McCain campaign apparently decided to change the presentation of Sarah Palin on its website. I wonder what prompted the change--was it perhaps the humorous comparisons of her to Tina Fey (here's another one, yet another one, oh, and one more) that began circulating the same day?

My Fav Free Windows Apps

Here are some of my favorite free applications for Windows XP and Vista. Happy to receive your suggestions as well. FYI, click here to view my fav free Mac apps.

Firefox web browser
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox

Safari browser (really is fast and attractive interface)
http://www.apple.com/safari

Thunderbird email client
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/products/thunderbird

iTunes (of course, especially for podcasts, free single of the week, and iTunes U)
http://www.apple.com/itunes

Free RSS Reader
http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals/FeedDemon/Default.aspx

Free alternative to MS Office
http://download.openoffice.org

Skype instant messaging and video conferencing
http://www.skype.com

Second Life virtual world
http://www.secondlife.com

Picnik (no software to download here, just a great web service for easy and capable image editing)
http://www.picnik.com

Free anti-virus security software
http://free.avg.com

Free theft recovery
http://iconico.com/locatepc

Free (& less annoying) alternative to Adobe Reader for viewing PDF files
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php

Cute PDF (free app to print almost any document to a PDF file)
http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp

Real Alternative - Free (& less annoying) alternative to Real Player
http://codecguide.com/about_real.htm

Free alternative to Zip compression and uncompression
http://www.izarc.org

Core FTP Lite (free FTP and Secure-FTP or SFTP client)
http://www.coreftp.com/download.html

Kompozer (free HTML editor with capable CSS editor built-in)
http://kompozer.sourceforge.net

MPEG Streamclip (video converter, can download YouTube videos too)
http://www.squared5.com

GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free and very functional Photoshop alternative
http://www.gimp.org