I realize I am very PC-centric here, but I do appreciate the Macintosh universe. As a matter of fact, I used to work for a grant-funded project at Montclair, and they gave me a Macintosh laptop to use, and I used it for a few years.
One of my friends has the iPhone, and he showed me a tool called "Telekinesis" - this is a tool that allows him to control his Macintosh from the iPhone. It turns out this free tool is one of a few from a group called Blacktree. They've got a few other tools as well. If you're a Macintosh users, their site is worth checking out.
If you're reading this over the break - I hope you're enjoying your time off as much as I am!
Web Link:
Showing posts with label cell phones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cell phones. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Blog Action Day 2008: Poverty
Today is Blog Action Day 2008. It's basically a coordinated effort by 10,000 blogs around the world to all discuss an issue and raise awareness of it. This year, the blogs are uniting to put a spotlight on world poverty. At first, I thought that this is a little outside of the scope of things I usually discuss.
However, I thought about it a little bit and I realize that it really is within my scope in many ways. I am blogging from the "have" side of the digital divide. The digital divide is basically the idea that the world is divided in to two groups - those who have technology and the ability to use it, and those who do not. My students and anyone reading are reading from the "have" side as well. Even if you don't have technology like computers in your home, you have access in other places - school, libraries, even while visiting friends.
We're incredibly fortunate. Many of us have cell phones (and most of my students remember to switch them off during class, so thank you all for that!). Some of us have iPods or other portable media player devices. Some of you have global positioning systems (GPS), so you don't even have to worry about getting lost when you're on the road. Even if you don't have that, we now have Google Maps or Mapquest or any of the other mapping Web sites that make this available.
I think we take these things for granted when there are places all over the world where people don't have these things.
Poverty, hunger, the digital divide...all sorts of things that most of us are on the good side of at this point. We've got roofs over our heads, food in our stomachs, and Internet available all over.
Speaking of hunger - there is a site sponsored by many different companies - if you visit the site and simply click on a button, well, at the end of the day, the number of clicks leads to food being given to the hungry and poor in the world. This site is 100% legitimate, and if you want to do more, any purchases you make through the site lead to more food being given to the hungry.
I guess the purpose of Blog Action Day was for not only the readers of the 10,000+ blogs who signed up, but also the authors.
Web Link:
However, I thought about it a little bit and I realize that it really is within my scope in many ways. I am blogging from the "have" side of the digital divide. The digital divide is basically the idea that the world is divided in to two groups - those who have technology and the ability to use it, and those who do not. My students and anyone reading are reading from the "have" side as well. Even if you don't have technology like computers in your home, you have access in other places - school, libraries, even while visiting friends.
We're incredibly fortunate. Many of us have cell phones (and most of my students remember to switch them off during class, so thank you all for that!). Some of us have iPods or other portable media player devices. Some of you have global positioning systems (GPS), so you don't even have to worry about getting lost when you're on the road. Even if you don't have that, we now have Google Maps or Mapquest or any of the other mapping Web sites that make this available.
I think we take these things for granted when there are places all over the world where people don't have these things.
Poverty, hunger, the digital divide...all sorts of things that most of us are on the good side of at this point. We've got roofs over our heads, food in our stomachs, and Internet available all over.
Speaking of hunger - there is a site sponsored by many different companies - if you visit the site and simply click on a button, well, at the end of the day, the number of clicks leads to food being given to the hungry and poor in the world. This site is 100% legitimate, and if you want to do more, any purchases you make through the site lead to more food being given to the hungry.
I guess the purpose of Blog Action Day was for not only the readers of the 10,000+ blogs who signed up, but also the authors.
Web Link:
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
You've got voicemail
There is a free service called Slydial that allows someone to connect directly to your voicemail on a cell phone without the phone ringing. That's pretty neat.
If you're listening to voicemail on one of these, it may be time to upgrade
So, let's say you want to leave a message for someone but don't want to talk to them. You can call Slydial's phone number (267-SLYDIAL, or (267-759-3425)), wait for it to connect, enter the phone number you want to leave voicemail for, and they'll connect you (after you listen to an ad).
Nice to have in your bag of tricks.
Slydial Web site
Link to article
If you're listening to voicemail on one of these, it may be time to upgrade
So, let's say you want to leave a message for someone but don't want to talk to them. You can call Slydial's phone number (267-SLYDIAL, or (267-759-3425)), wait for it to connect, enter the phone number you want to leave voicemail for, and they'll connect you (after you listen to an ad).
Nice to have in your bag of tricks.
Slydial Web site
Link to article
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Mobile Browsing
For those of you have a cell phone, you may have noticed the little microbrowser on it, or a Web browser designed for a cell phone. You may have also noticed that there is a lack of standardization, because different phones use different microbrowsers, even in the same company. It's nearly impossible to choose one that does everything well. This is where Mozilla Firefox plans to come in and TAKE OVER THE MOBILE BROWSING WORLD. Or something.
I suppose the main problem is that we currently don't have a standard, and that hurts people who are not savvy with technology and chases them away from the idea of mobile browsing. Some sort of standard is in everyone's best interests.
Link to article
Thanks to Sue for the heads up!
I suppose the main problem is that we currently don't have a standard, and that hurts people who are not savvy with technology and chases them away from the idea of mobile browsing. Some sort of standard is in everyone's best interests.
Link to article
Thanks to Sue for the heads up!
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