I purchased a Chromebook Pixel. It was kind of an impulse buy. I have been waiting for the newest Samsung chromebook and I saw that the Pixel was available. I couldn’t resist.
The Pixel is significantly more expensive than the earlier chromebooks. Some pundits have labeled it a vanity machine. I do not think of myself as someone who likes to show off. I am a fan of the browser and cloud based approach. Google claims that chrome will “grow into” the capabilities of this hardware. I think it will be interesting to see where this all goes. If it stays where it is now, I will have the coolest machine at the coffee shop.
I just wrote a blog post describing the new WordPress education vertical targeting K-12. Among my comments was the concern that others writing about this service proposed uses that seemed to ignore the Automattic expectation that the users of WordPress be at least 13.
Any, after finishing that post, I came across the recent piece from the “Cool Cat Teacher” offering examples of parent permission forms related to the use of online technology. It just seemed like these two posts should go together.
You may have watched CEO Marissa Mayer on the Today Show. Mayer was there to promote an upgrade to the Yahoo! web site. After watching the piece and taking a look at Yahoo, I have a suggestion. Google has offered Yahoo an opportunity in abandoning the personal home page iGoogle (ending Nov. 1). This Google decision makes no sense to me and I am still looking for an ideal alternative. Move Yahoo! even more strongly toward this personalized model. Do not be protective of the content sources that can be embedded.
If you are a Symbaloo user (check it out if you are looking for a personal web launch page) and an elementary educator or parent, you might find this collection of “talking books” from National Geographic useful. This what Symbaloo calls a web collection. You can create a collection for personal use or to share.
Like many I take digital photos and not all turn out looking great. Sometimes the white balance needs to be adjusted, sometimes I want to crop out the highline pole ruining a great nature shot.
I have a go to image editor and I must admit that purchasing through the Apple app store has allowed me to load this tool on most of my computers. However, I also make use of online image editing tools and recommend such tools for classroom use. The cost is often free and learning to use a tool you can also use at home is helpful to students.
Picnik used to be my online tool of choice. It was weird, Picnik was the tool linked from Flickr, but Flickr is owned by Yahoo!. Picnik went away. Now it is back (you can see the similarity) as Ribbet. As always, the future of a service concerns me when it seems the primary tool is free. One strategy seems to be creating a valuable product that a company purchases (e.g., Google) and then integrates (I guess this is what happened to Picnik). There is a premium version of Ribbit coming (actually, available now until the price is established) but what I am looking for is a tool for those situations in which I decide not to use the commercial tool I already own. Hence, what I would pay for a premium option must be quite reasonable. In the meantime, I am pleased to see the return of a valuable service.
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