Thing 46 WebJunction Minnesota

Webjunction is a great resource. I was pleased with the classes offered and that they were self paced. I plan to complete the class Reaching Relunctant Readers soon. The class is appropriate for my needs and the price is right.

Thing 45 Cloud Computing

I think Cloud computer is the answer to many common data management problems. I have often had to try to retrieve lost information after computers have crashed. I encourage teachers and students to make back ups (not just save) when ever they have more data entered than what they want to reenter. In other words, stuff happens. Online back ups answers the broken, lost or stolen hardware problem.
I teach my student about googledocs. It works great for assignments that they want to work on both at home and school. So many times I have compatibility problems when the student bring in work from their home computer software.
I do have reservations about Web OS, space can be limited and what if the server decides to charge after all of your documents are online. I hate to sound paranoid but all of my family pictures could be held hostage:)

Thing 44 - The Economy

I learned quite a bit on this "thing". I was very interested to learn the explanations of why we are in this mess. I tried many tools. Several such as GasBuddy and Feed the Pig were interesting but really didn't pertain to me. I was excited to explore Graigslist. I had heard so much about it. I know people addicted to checking the lists daily. My son-in-law sold a wooden fence that he was going to have to pay to have torn down to someone through Graigslist. Very impressive. I am sure I have something to sell, perhaps men's golf clubs?

Thing 43- Online TV and Video

This is one web 2.0 tool that I am not excited about. I checked out both Hulu and Joost. I thought Hulu was easier to navigate, but I really did not find any programs that I was eager to watch.
I did watch an episode of SNL and it was funny. But, only if I had nothing else at all to do, would I bother to sit down and watch Hulu. I do not watch a lot of TV and the shows I do enjoy are on PBS or cable.
At first, I thought this would put cable out of business but I did not find many movies either. I watched Snow Walker and was not engaged in the movie. I think I need an easy chair and a bowl of popcorn to enjoy a movie.

Thing 42 - Music 2.0

I really enjoyed this web 2.0 activity. I had never tried internet radio. I found several stations on live365 and enjoyed trying out different music genres. It is an easy way to find stations and music to listen to.
I also created an account in Pandora. It was easy but I had a difficult time stopping. I kept wanting to see what was the next song and group. I found I enjoyed almost all of the music selected and actually was surprised at some of the groups I did enjoy.

Thing 41- Mashup Your Life

I have to admit I have had trouble staying connected with all of my accounts and Web 2.0 associations. I love my igoogle home page because at least several of my identities are easily accessed there.
I joined friendfeed. I am following President Obama. I invited a couple of friends to follow. I added my flickr and blog and twitter to my services.
I will try this for awhile but this stream of information is overwhelming. I think I need to retire to keep track of all of my social connections. This is why people can spend so much "screen time".

Thing 40 -Mashup the Web

It is amazing what people have thought to do with their time. I checked out the author BookTour mashup. I like to keep the families aware of opportunities to meet authors so I can see the value of the tool.
Lazy Library produced so many books for my subject that it did not seem helpful.

I created a fun concentration game with my family photos and emailed it to my daughter at Flickr Memari-Create.

I think I will use Wheel of Fun in the future, my family always has a hard time deciding where to eat. All of the above tool were very easy to use.