cooltools

Your Neighborhood Needs Instant Journalists

leelefever — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 12:23:07 -0500

Even though the Web makes us all feel like citizens of the world, what matters is often local. Our neighborhoods and neighbors have a huge impact. There is a brand-new platform, created by Instivate, a company run by one of our long-time friends and neighbors, that aims to give every neighborhood a site for sharing local news. It's called Instant Journalist.

Here's the scenario: You sign up for Instant Journalist - it has a monthly fee that's linked to the size of the site. Right off the shelf, the site is ready for you and your neighbors to start sharing stories, photos and videos, complete with map integration.

Instant Journalist also has a bunch of cool features that make the site easy to customize. Here's my favorite:

You can right-click on almost any text on the site and change the copy. If you don't like the tab that says "Your Neighborhood", you can change it in two clicks - no geekiness required.

You can see a demo of Instant Journalist here or a screencast on the posting process here. It's new, so if you have feedback or thoughts the folks at Instivate would love to hear it. Congrats to Scott and Instivate for getting it out the door.

Wiki Video in Multiple Languages via DotSub

leelefever — Thu, 31 May 2007 14:47:33 -0400

Just after posting our first video on RSS , I learned a few valuable lessons:

1. Video is inaccessible for the hearing impaired

2. Video is not easy to translate into other languages

3. There is a new site that addresses both of these issues called DotSub .

DotSub makes it easy for me to transcribe the spoken words into text subtitles. Then, once the subtitles exist, it enables DotSub members to voluntarily translate the text into other languages and post the video to their blogs. This makes videos international and more accessible - for free.

So far, the Wiki video has been translated into Chinese, Dutch, German and Swedish . The RSS video has been translated into 11 different languages . I'm just amazed.

Here is the Wiki video in a player that allows you to change languages. Use the Up^ and Down arrows at the bottom to see the subtitles.

Spanking New: 43 Places from the Robot Co-op

leelefever — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 15:35:50 -0400

I'll be talking a lot more about this soon, but I wanted to post a quick link to 43 Places, the latest from my homies here in Seattle, the Robot Coop, of 43 Things fame.

Update: At the time of this writing (6/26/05), 43 Places is not yet public, but should be soon.

It's all about where you've been and where you want to go. I'm digging the cool mapping features and the other 43 things-style goodness. Like 43 Things, it's a blog for people who aren't necessarily "bloggers".

Instead of the "Zeitgeist" for 43 Things, they are using "Wanderlust" (to be pronounced with your best German accent) for the same thing on 43 Places.

Big ups to the Robots for getting more of their master plan out into the world.

Tags: 43places, robotcoop, travel, travelblog

Spanking New: 43 Places from the Robot Co-op

leelefever — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 15:35:50 -0400

I'll be talking a lot more about this soon, but I wanted to post a quick link to 43 Places, the latest from my homies here in Seattle, the Robot Coop, of 43 Things fame.

Update: At the time of this writing (6/26/05), 43 Places is not yet public, but should be soon.

Instead of the "Zeitgeist" for 43 Things, they are using "Wanderlust" (to be pronounced with your best German accent) for the same thing on 43 Places.

Big ups to the Robots for getting more of their master plan out into the world.

Tags: 43places, robotcoop, travel, travelblog

Video Conferencing Reviews

leelefever — Thu, 2 Dec 2004 12:08:43 -0500

I’ve never used video conferencing other than a messing around with a camera on my PC. This being said, I think multiparty video conferencing has a bright future.

An example of “multiparty” video conferencing is a group meeting online and everyone’s live-action face appears on the screen. Robin Good, someone I consider to be very informed in such things, put together a great review of the video conferencing market right now. Robin's reviews are focused on classroom applications and were posted in response to a discussion on Nancy's White's Online Facilitation list.

Video Conferencing Reviews

leelefever — Thu, 2 Dec 2004 12:08:43 -0500

I’ve never used video conferencing other than a messing around with a camera on my PC. This being said, I think multiparty video conferencing has a bright future.

Why Did These Tools Make The Cut?

leelefever — Fri, 23 Jul 2004 17:54:52 -0400

For the past few weeks, I’ve been involved in creating prototypes for Intranet-based learning/communication tools (I know that is ambiguous). Anyway, we’ve put the prototypes in front of about 30 folks to gather feedback. This experience has given me a deeper perspective on the challenge before us. Here are some examples of what we hear:

“If I’m going to use it, it has to fit into the way I’m working. It can’t ADD something else for me to do- I have too much to do. It has to make what I’m trying to do now better or faster. If it doesn’t, I won’t use it and your work will be for nothing”

These aren’t actual quotes, but they are close. Hearing this, I began to look at the tools I use everyday and think about what allowed me to integrate them into the way I work. What was it about the tools I use that made me switch? I have two examples:

LookOut. Lookout was a free search tool for Outlook and your files (It's no longer available, see below). It indexes your information so searches are fast- and it works. I don’t look through folders anymore- LookOut allows me to get to buried emails and files more quickly than before. It saves me time- a lot of time.
NOTE: Upon visiting the LookOut web site, I see it has been acquired by Microsoft. I imagine we'll be seeing this in Outlook soon.

ieSpell. This is a simple tool that I use almost daily. Anytime I’m writing in a web based form, like through a browser, I use this tool to check spelling. Every weblog post, every Yahoo Groups post, every time I write online, I use this tool to check spelling. IE Spell makes me look better and saves me time by filling a gap in the IE browser.

Both these free tools have made it into my work life with no problem. What have you recently integrated into your work? Why did it make the cut?

Why Did These Tools Make The Cut?

leelefever — Fri, 23 Jul 2004 17:54:52 -0400

Both these free tools have made it into my work life with no problem. What have you recently integrated into your work? Why did it make the cut?

Why Did These Tools Make The Cut?

leelefever — Fri, 23 Jul 2004 17:54:52 -0400

Both these free tools have made it into my work life with no problem. What have you recently integrated into your work? Why did it make the cut?

Why Did These Tools Make The Cut?

leelefever — Fri, 23 Jul 2004 17:54:52 -0400

Both these free tools have made it into my work life with no problem. What have you recently integrated into your work? Why did it make the cut?