Blurts

With Google’s announcement that it would discontinue iGoogle in a little more than a year, I have started my quest for a new start page (personal home page, launch page, etc.). I liked iGoogle because I could take advantage of ready-made widgets and incorporate RSS feeds. This gave me both a one-page view of multiple information sources I followed and an easy way to launch sites I used frequently.

I am now trying out a free (personal) start page called Symbaloo. The “page” consists of a grid and you can insert tiles into the cells of this grid that launch services or RSS feeds. Tiles are available for my popular services and you can create tiles for the other sties you visit. This page can be set as your browser home page. Simple to create and it works well.

If you want you can also create “webmixes” to share. Imagine the matrix above made up of tiles linking to pages on a given topic (something like Pinterest).

I am presently having difficulty with the Symbaloo mobile apps and have been unable to connect using either the Android or iOS apps. Symbaloo works within the browser from my devices, but I have been unable to connect using the stand alone apps. A web browser on any system works, but not the apps.

P.S. – I found that Symbaloo makes a pitch for itself as an iGoogle replacement

The Internet at one point belonged to all of us. It works some like interstate highways. We all have equal access. It seems economic pressure is pushing against the notion that we all are equal online. The Declaration of Internet Independence is an effort to outline basic online freedoms.

The ISTE exhibits hall always gives me a way to explore new developments. Methods for creating objects from 3D digital models are very interesting. I am thinking that this is an authentic tool for the new “shop class”.

We spent some time today with a representative from StrataSys. In the discussion the rep indicated that he was a student at UND in 1997 (the year of the flood). I thought maybe he was an IT student, but he said he was in the ed program. This has happened to us several times – what are the odds?

Anyway, this company was offering 3D printers as low as $6000.

The following are examples of printed objects.

There are two ways to create 3d objects – add content or remove content. The following uses the second method (hard to see, but this method begins with a solid block and removes what is not desired).

Consider the value of offering students the opportunity to fabricate objects they can imagine.

It is nice to see the new Pad-like product from Microsoft. Most of the initial reviews (GigaOM) look promising. The cost of the device and the availability of apps are key to how this will play out. Part of what I would like to see would be a different model – more of a cross between the “chrome” and the closed “Apple” model. It is just good to see some competition in this space.