Apple Launches Blog and Podcast Server (Micro Persuasion)

Apple has quietly launched a blog and podcasting server for the education market. The server dishes out course content and supplemental materials for students (as well as professional development offerings for educators) for automatic delivery to iPods.

In addition, Apple has also started up a new podcast (ITMS link), called The Apple Digital Campus Podcast. It features conversations with leading thought leaders and practitioners on technology's impact on higher education. Last, but not least, they have published this guide to creating a podcast (PDF).

Apple, education, podcasts, podcasting

The Web Will Read You a Story (Wired News)

By Cyrus Farivar
02:00 AM Dec. 16, 2005 PT

This summer, Hugh McGuire was searching for free audio books online from his home in Montreal. He didn't find very much.

So McGuire launched LibriVox by recruiting amateur readers to create audio files of works of literature. The project now includes almost two dozen complete works, including Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent, Jack London's The Call of the Wild and other classic novels and poems.

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Google Zeitgeist of 2005

It turns out that looking at the aggregation of billions of search queries people type into Google reveals something about our curiosity, our thirst for news, and perhaps even our desires. Considering all that has occurred in 2005, we thought it would be interesting to study just a few of the significant events, and names that make this a memorable year. (We’ll leave it to the historians to determine which ones are lasting and which ephemeral.) We hope you enjoy this selective view of our collective year.

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A look back at 2005 wouldn't be complete without some lists. Here are three from us to you, representing some of the most popular searches this year on Google.

Google.com - Top Gainers of 2005
1. Myspace
2. Ares
3. Baidu
4. wikipedia
5. orkut
6. iTunes
7. Sky News
8. World of Warcraft
9. Green Day
10. Leonardo da Vinci

Google News - Top Searches in 2005
1. Janet Jackson
2. Hurricane Katrina
3. tsunami4. xbox 360
5. Brad Pitt
6. Michael Jackson
7. American Idol
8. Britney Spears
9. Angelina Jolie
10. Harry Potter

Froogle - Top Searches in 2005
1. ipod
2. digital camera
3. mp3 player
4. ipod mini
5. psp
6. laptop
7. xbox
8. ipod shuffle
9. computer desk
10. ipod nano

[via Slashdot]

google, search, zeitgeist

Google Launches Mobile-Friendly Gmail (TechNewsWorld)

By Keith Regan

Telecom analyst Jeff Kagan said that all Web companies want to extend their reach to the mobile phone as the device evolves from a communications tool to a "third screen" for customers, after the TV and PC. "Companies like Google and Yahoo are entering the wireless space because they know the future of wireless is much more than phone calls," he added.


Search leader Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has launched a mobile-friendly version of its popular Web-based e-mail service, Gmail, offering a streamlined interface meant to be more compatible with small screens.

Anyone with a Gmail account and a Web-enabled phone can access Gmail remotely. Google said the service detects the type of device being used to access the mail account and returns message listings and e-mails in an appropriate format based on the size of the screen and other factors.

The service will also automatically synchronize Gmail accounts, showing messages viewed remotely as read the next time a user logs on from a PC, and will enable mobile users to open certain attachments, including text files in Office or in PDF format.

Gmail mobile also offers a "call to reply" feature that works this way: If a user has stored the phone number of an e-mail sender in his or her contacts list, an opened message can be replied to either by a return text message or by calling that person's number.

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Google, handheld, mobile

10 Great Programs for you PDA

From the December Issue of Medical Economics...


"The 10 software programs we present won't break the bank. Many are free, and you can buy the remaining programs together for under $1,300 (prices are per year unless stated otherwise). Add a powerful PDA for between $200 and $400, and all of a sudden you're a digital doctor."


Epocrates Rx
Source: Epocrates (www2.epocrates.com)
Price: Free
Works with: Palm or Pocket PC (Windows) OS

Shots 2005
Source: The Group on Immunization Education of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (www.immunizationed.org
Price: Free
Works with: Palm or Pocket PC (Windows) OS

Griffith's 5-Minute Clinical Consult
Source: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (www.lww.com).
Also available through other PDA software providers like Epocrates, Lexi-Comp (www.lexi.com), and Skyscape (www.skyscape.com)
Price: $59.99 to $139.99, depending on the vendor and software package
Works with: Palm or Pocket PC (Windows) OS

InfoRetriever
Source: InfoPOEMs (www.infopoems.com)
Price: $249
Works with: Palm or Pocket PC (Windows) OS

Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy
Source: Antimicrobial Therapy (www.sanfordguide.com)
Price: $27.50
Works with: Palm or Pocket PC (Windows) OS

PatientKeeper Clinical Results
Source: PatientKeeper (www.patientkeeper.com)
Price: Vendor would not disclose
Works with: Palm or Pocket PC (Windows) OS

MedCalc
Source: Mathias Tschopp, MD (www.med-ia.ch/medcalc)
Price: Free
Works with: Palm OS only

STAT Cholesterol
Source: StatCoder.com (www.statcoder.com)
Price: Free
Works with: Palm or Pocket PC (Windows) OS

STAT E&M Coder
Source: StatCoder.com (www.statcoder.com)
Price: $75 for two years
Works with: Palm or Pocket PC (Windows) OS

TouchScript
Source: Allscripts (www.allscripts.com)
Price: $69 per month
Works with: Palm (Pocket PC in future)

Handhelds Go to School (Wired News)

Associated Press

OLATHE, Kansas -- Aesop's fables came beaming across the classroom and landed in Eva Hernandez's Palm handheld. On the bottom floor of Ridgeview Elementary School, she sat scrolling, using her stylus to navigate through "The Flies and the Honeypot."

"Hmmm," said the 12-year-old. "I think I can animate the flies."

Eva, a sixth grader, is part of a new generation of kids using handhelds to read, write, do math, take pictures of the human eye or research Egyptian hieroglyphics -- all as a regular part of their curriculum.

As school districts scout ways to engage students already accustomed to instant messaging and interactive video games, they're buying up the kind of tech tools once reserved for jet-setting corporate executives.

Educational sales of personal digital assistants, laptop computers and handheld remote controls called "clickers" are ballooning nationwide. Last year, a survey by Quality Education Data found that 28 percent of U.S. school districts offered handhelds for student and teacher use. One of every four computers purchased by schools was a laptop.

One of the frontrunners was Yankton High School in South Dakota, which adopted Palm handhelds in 2001 and found they improved students' grades.

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education, handheld, pda, Palm, Treo

LibraryULive! Presents Day of the Digital Audio Book

Library U + OPAL = LibraryU Live!

LibraryU (http://www.libraryu.org) and OPAL - Online Programming for All Libraries (http://www.opal-online.org) are pleased to announce expanded online learning opportunities for librarians and the general public featuring web-based instruction combined with live online presentations.

These live events will be held in online rooms where participants can interact via voice-over-IP, text chatting, and synchronized browsing featuring instructional material from LibraryU.

The first combined initiative – “The Day of the Digital Audio Book” – is scheduled for February 16, 2006 and will include an online self-paced LibraryU module and a live event in the OPAL online auditorium. “The Day of the Digital Audio Book” will feature three separate sessions on the exciting and innovative activities going on in libraries in the area of digital audio books, and an additional “brown bag lunch” with a panel of experts discussing their practical experience in digital audio programming.

Session I will contain an introduction to and overview of digital audio books; Session II will provide libraries interested in offering digital audio books with important considerations and questions to ask vendors; and Session III will discuss the vendors and products available to libraries interested in offering these services. As an added bonus, a panel of experts will present an overview of current digital audio programs during a brown bag lunch session.

Participants may attend any or all of the sessions. After the session is completed, learners may supplement their knowledge or review what they have learned in the live sessions through the corresponding LibraryU tutorials on digital audio books. Registration for “The Day of the Digital Audio Book” is free. Please go to http://www.libraryu.org and register to take advantage of this exciting and timely opportunity.

LibraryU provides free web based training to Illinois librarians and their patrons 24/7, and was initially developed by the Illinois State Library and a number of Illinois regional library systems through a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant. In recent years, an initiative to enhance and widen the impact of the original LibraryU web site and make it a statewide training model was funded by a grant awarded to Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White and the Illinois State Library from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. There are currently 45 modules available on the LibraryU site, and more than 2500 registered users. Under the leadership of the Illinois State Library, Lisa Barnhart and Dawne Tortorella coordinate LibraryU.

OPAL (Online Programming for All Libraries) is an international collaborative effort by libraries of all types to provide web-based programs and training for library users and library staff members. These live events are held in online rooms where participants can interact via voice-over-IP, text chatting, and synchronized browsing. There are approximately 25 library members of OPAL from all over the world. Events are free to librarians and the public from anywhere in the world. Programs are also archived and podcast for those who cannot attend live events. Tom Peters of TAP Information Services coordinates OPAL. The Alliance Library System/Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center and the Illinois State Library Talking Book and Braille Service administer OPAL.

For more information on these programs or to join, please contact Lisa Barnhart at barnhart@gridcom.net or Tom Peters at tapinformation@yahoo.com

PSP gets podcasts in new 2.60 upgrade (PalmAddicts)

Sony have released another new firmware upgrade for the PlayStation Portable today, bringing with it support for Microsoft's WMA format and a new RSS Channel tool opening up the world of Podcasts to the PSP.

The addition of Windows Media Audio to the existing audio formats is a huge boost to owners who wanted to have more flexibility with the music files that could be played on the PSP, which was previously limited to MP3 and AAC, and ignored Microsoft's widespread WMA format, requiring files to be converted first - much like Apple's iPod.

Perhaps more important though is the new RSS Channel which has been added to the Network menu, and gives the PSP full blogcast (or podcasting as it's become known) support. When you first run the RSS Channel you'll be directed to an FAQ on Sony's site giving detailed information about how the service works and how to subscribe to the RSS channels, along with specifications of RSS feeds for webmasters wanting to check that their feeds are correct.

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Baby Boomer Librarian: Gorman insulting Bloggers again

Baby Boomer Librarian: Gorman insulting Bloggers again

Computers in Libraries 2006 Preliminary Program available

The Computers in Libraries 2006 Conference is now available. Megan Fox, one of the Handheld Librarians, is a keynote speaker discussing the topic of "Planning for a Handheld Mobile Future." The conference will be held March 22-24 in Washington D. C. at the Washington Hilton.