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Showing posts from December, 2010

Why I Need a Kindle AND an iPad

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With the caveat IF you're a dedicated reader The Kindle has changed my life as a reader. After turning [cough] 40 I couldn't read regular books comfortably with or without my new (cute) reading glasses (& forget paperback books!) and I stopped reading as much as I used to. [sad face] During a Bethany Beach VaCa or summer break I used to read at least a book a day! Heck, I read the last Harry Potter in like one (long) sitting! (ok, it was 5am! but still) Thus, the Kindle, with it's comfy E-Ink better than paper display which allows for reading in extreme lighting situations and minimizes eye-strain, and it's ability to change font size has changed all that. I am back to reading again and it feels SO RIGHT! iPad-Licious! I've been thinking about this for a long time - holding out to buy an iPad for gen 2 -(and if you follow me on Twitter you know that I happily lost that fight) I even got a smaller NEW graphite Kindle for Christmas for travel! (see above

QR Code AT-A-Glance Comic Tutorial

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(Click above for more sizes & to download or to embed! ) As promised! Please feel free to Take, Use, Share! Creative Commons - Share Alike! Like these Comic Tutorials? I have a whole slew of 'em! From Blabberize, Customizing Blogger & blog design, downloading YouTube videos to your HD to a Two part Twitter Primer - I seem addicted to creating these bright fun direction sheets! Enjoy! What Techie Topic or subject would you like to see me do next? Leave a comment with your suggestions! (ps. Dear Howard Rheingold...don't worry I'm still working on yours for the book! Hush hush) UPDATE! My Mini Moo QR Cards Arrived! -- and they WORK! They scan beautifully & auto launch to this blog...woohoo! AND I got my Zazzle QR Code Square Buttons! and they work, too! BUT...the shiny surface seems to take a little longer so maybe wearing them will be easier to scan than under my stove lights! LOL Will this end my geeky QR Code Obsession? Should I splurge for a QR Code Hoodie?

QR Code Custom Jewelry, Swag,
& Social Media Hipster Bling!

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Geek Chic: I am addicted to a few things. OK... I have guilty pleasures. Fine Coach handbags, & Fine (and/or funky/steampunk/freaky/unique) Jewelry - basically Self-Indulgent Fripperies and geeky tools & swag. (Oh and Bravo TV reality shows) Get the hippest geekiest social media hipster bling from Zazzle. Use my favorite QR Code Generator , grab your QR Code PNG, & start designing! Wear your QR around your neck for a coy geeky promo of your blog, wiki, or site. Go to Zazzle : Click on CREATE & go to the custom create page Look for Necklaces-NEW ! Go to the bottom Right & Click Choose your style - choose Square Upload your QR Code pic - adjust size Add text under the QR code if you like - you can change the font & size. Voila! ( see cool examples from my friends Diane Cordell, Shannon Miller, & Joquetta Johnson at the bottom !) Buttoned Down: Proudly pin your QR Code to your chest at conferences and in addition to handing out your MooCards like candy y

HOT QR Codes in the Classroom & Library

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QR Codes are popping up everywhere! On the back of my Sephora catalog, windows of shops, and in my library! They're already big in Japan - and now in New York & LA. Calvin Klein Jeans recently put up three billboards - 2 in NYC and 1 in LA - to promote the brand’s upcoming campaign for Winter 2010. Rather than a racy montage of scantily clad models, but with a bright red QR code - all the rage in Japan - under the words “Get It Uncensored.” The code allows you to use your smartphone to scan the image, being lead to an exclusive 40-second sexy commercial - "It’s often difficult to measure engagement with billboards, and QR codes help advertisers better measure their impact." The commercial might be sexy but I think the QR code is even HOTTER! -Mashable Source: Lauren Indvik They look cool, matrixy, and very graphic... but what heck ARE they? A Quick Response (QR) code is a two-dimensional or 2D bar code which can be interpreted by any mobile phone with camera ca

Edublog Awards Voting is Open:
Celebrating & Paying it Forward

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photo © 2007 Darren Stone | more info (via: Wylio ) A Year in Review What an amazing & astonishing year it has been for our PLN (that's you, too dear reader!), Geek Tribe, & Librarians! So many of our tribe have been recognized by the Edublog Award Nominations for our achievements in the last year - it's astonishing! This posting is an unashamed and repentant thank you & celebration of what we ALL have done in the last year. Fakey false-modesty is NOT how I roll. I'm flippin psyched! WARNING: I use !!!'s & say YAY & AWEsome a LOT To all those who are looking at this blog because it was nominated - Hi! How you doin? I use these !!!!!'s and AWEsome a lot....or as Bob Edwards of NPR recently said of me after an interview that I " speak almost entirely in exclamation points ." Heh heh heh Like Elaine Bennis in Seinfeld - yeah...I own it. " There’s an 'embarrassment of riches' in the education blogosphere !" - Larry Fe

Celebrating Diversity- A Capella & Viral Style!

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or... It's a Maccabeats Chanuka! Our middle school kids really got into the Maccabeats Candlelight ( lyrics ) video this morning on MHTV- our live TV news broadcast. In fact, people were singing it all over the school! I just had to share the Maccabeats because they are a bucket full of AWEsome! This music video re-mix mash-up teaches diversity, history, and pure potato latkes love! A great video to show your school to celebrate Haunnukah & teach multiculturalism Oh and FUN! YAY! Our Lead Story Intro Script: In our continuing celebration of Chanuka , the festival of lights, we bring you a special music video created by the Maccabeats , an a capella group from Yeshiva University. Strongly committed to the "integration of traditional and non-traditional wisdom, the Maccabeats perform remixes of an array of Jewish, American, and Israeli songs." Here is their Chanuka mixup titled Candlelight. - (show video) We couldn't help filming our TV studio kids as they spon