Winsome Wednesday: Moo Cards for YouTube Producers

Moo, an online printing service, is partnering with YouTube to help you get the word out about your videos. You can get a pack of 50 free cards. You can also have more than one image in your card set that come in your pack.

This is a wonderful idea. Moo helps you get the word out, and you also invite people to YouTube who may not know about your work.

Yes, believe it or not, there are people out in the World of Matter who don't know about YouTube. Don't you think they need to know?

Winsome Wednesday: Marsha! Marsha! Marsha!

Your regularly scheduled Winsome Wednesday will be interrupted by the overwhelming news of the day: the introduction of the long awaited Apple iPad.

While the Apple iPad's name is already generating some discussion, overall the reviews have been very positive. It appears that most Apple lovers are glad to finally see a touch screen tablet with the Apple name on it.

What struck me immediately is that it's taken over a quarter of a century to even get close to the appliance that the technology gurus predicted we would have. Yes, it's the history of the joys of the free enterprise system. We were able to put a man on the moon within 8 years of predicting it, yet it's taken all this time to get here.

Well, here we are....a nice little appliance that you can purchase, so you can purchase more stuff from the Apple store. You will need to have an iTunes account when you buy the iPad.

Don't worry about not being able to take pictures or use a webcam, because you can use your iPhone for that. Oh yes, you won't be able to use this iPad as a phone, so I guess it's really not the appliance that was predicted in the 1980's. No worries, there will be an upgrade.

Winsome Wednesday: Google Friend Connect

What blog roll web application do you use? Do you use a WordPress blog, a Blogspot format, or some other format? Does this make a difference when it comes to choosing a blog roll visual web application?

As I continue the Winsome Wednesday feature, we'll look at a utilitarian web application, Google Friend Connect. Used effectively, it can improve productivity and increase the amount of time you can spend reading blogs of people in your Professional Learning Network.

I've used several blog roll web applications in the past. Now I'm using the Google Friend Connect application that comes with my blogger application. I try to support those who follow my blog by following their blog. I also follow other blogs that I use for reference material.

New additions were added to my blog dashboard. The folks at Blogger added a place called READING LIST where you can read the blogs that you joined through Google Friend Connect, as well as Blogger Buzz and Blogs of Note.

I like the simplicity of the Google Friend Connect function for my blog. Anytime I open my blog, I can go to my dashboard and read the posts written by any of the bloggers I follow. If I want to comment or link to their blogs, I can easily do that.

I would like to recommend Google Friend Connect to my Professional Learning Network (PLN). You may want to consider using the Google Friend Connect in the place of the traditional Blog Roll. There are many advantages, besides saving space in your sidebar. People can still refer to bloggers you would list in your Blog Roll, because these same people are now displayed in your Google Friend Connect web application.

Any reader who wants to follow other bloggers in my PLN can just click on their name in my Google Friend Connect box. Do you use the Google Friend Connect box? If so, please add your name to the Google Friend Connect web application on my blog. If not, please consider adding some type of blog roll web application, like Google Friend Connect to your blog.

Winsome Wednesday

rtw - 0334 by neil banas
Attribution-NonCommercial License

Today, I am introducing Winsome Wednesdays.

I will discuss interesting, curious and joyous ideas.

These are topics of interest to me that I think are related to education.

I hope you will enjoy them.

For my first Winsome Wednesday whimsy, I am featuring, Muxicall, so other educators can learn more about this simple, yet powerful web application.

Muxicall is an interactive online web application that helps people, anywhere online, interface through music. Created by a young student, Diana Antunes, Muxicall is a superb online application that everyone should enjoy.

You don't need to know anything about music to use Muxicall. Just go to the website and play around with the interface. I was most impressed when a friend joined me there. After a few squeaks and squarks, we fell into a synchronicity of musical interactions. It was a type of communications.

I will leave it up to you to decide, but I think there are a multitude of uses for this web application, Muxicall.

Particularly, I thought it might help children with interaction issues. It has a clean, minimalist interface. Its ease of use and wonderfully vibrant results could help draw them into interactions online that might lead to more face to face interactions with music. Music Therapy and Play Therapy have always been a powerful force to help children reach out to the world.

Try Muxicall. If you need a partner, let me know. We can find a time to evaluate Muxicall for future use in the classroom and have fun.