FOSS Daily With Andy Mann

Andy discussed a lot of free software, most of it not open source though, but cool stuff none the less. You can find his handouts on his website, He has links to a lot more free stuff that he didn't get a chance to talk about. Here are a few of the tools he discussed:

• ZoomIt - Zoom in, draw on the screen, countdown timer. Just pop this in the Startup folder in your Program menu and it will be available everytime you turn your computer on. (here's a short tutorial video I made on ZoomIt a year ago or so)
  
• ImageResizer - This is a Windows XP PowerToy. Download and install this and you can simply right-click on an image or group of images and you can change the resolution. Very handy if you want to put pictures you took with you 7.2 megapixel camera on the web or in a powerpoint.
• PhotoFiltre - Simple photoediting program. Not as powerful as something like PhotoShop or Gimp, but that's really a good thing for most of us.
• Picasa - Image organizer from Google. It will allow you to do some very simple picture tweaking. The newest version of Picasa (3.0) added a bunch of new features, so if you haven't used it lately you might want to check it out again.
  
• PowerPoint Photo Album - This is a download for PP2007, but is already integrated into some older versions of PowerPoint. It will create a powerpoint slide show from a large collection of pictures with just a few button clicks. Andy creatred a slideshow with 36 pictures in PowerPoint in about 2 minutes. If he had 100 picuters (or more) it would not have taken any longer to get it together.
  
• iSpring Free - Turn a PowerPoint into a flash file you can upload to the web.
• YouTube in Education (pdf) - Check out his handout, particularly if YouTube is blocked in your building.
• Format Factory - Convert virtually any type of media file into virtually any other format. Works with videos, images, audio files, DVD video files... I'll have to give this one a look.
  
• Jing - Cross platform screen capture tool (also mentioned in the Alan November Keynote). It is very easy to use, but it will only create *.swf files (which you need to open from within a web browser). 
• Ghotit - Free online service that will read text aloud to a student and offer alternate words, which it will also speak aloud. I will be using trying with my son as soon as I get home today.
• Termites - Seating Chart Generator. The cool thing is you an tell it not to seat certain students near another particular student.
• Bullzip - Is a pdf printer. This program acts like a printer that you select when you print your document.
  

MACUL - Student Technology Showcase

So, tomorrow I'll be bringing a small group of students to the Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning. They will be participating in the Student Technology Showcase. Come down and see us and all the other students between 11:00 and 1:00.

They will be showing off what they've learned about electronics and programming with the Arduino. Here's a capsule description:

Physical Computing - Electronics with Arduino

This is the beginning of an ongoing project focused on having students investigate and learn about electronics and programming in through inquiry and project based learning. Students are encouraged to push the bounds and learn what they need to solve the problems they face while they are facing them. In some cases they learn more about certain aspects of the material than I, their "instructor", know.

As students learn they share what they've learned on our class wiki, hosted through Google Sites. In this way they actually provide instructions for other students in the class or for future classes.

Arduino is an open-source platform that incorporates an Atmel micro-controller. It is programmed with the Arduino programming language (which is based upon C++). Students learn to use a variety of sensors to interact with their programs.

Our Wiki:
http://sites.google.com/a/divinechildhighschool.org/electronics/Home

More Information on Arduino:
http://www.arduino.cc