Open Atrium

Download the intranet package and there you go… you now have a blog, wiki, calendar, dashboard, to-do list, and shoutbox. You can read the how to on building customizable features for your Open Atrium.  Create groups and add users to share your private content- blog or calendar. You can join forces on a document as well as send quick messages within your group.

Zotera

This firefox add-on is about helping you collect and cite your research. By using its interface you can see your collections, access collection items, and make edits to them.  An interesting feature includes Zotera’s advance search tools that can search for key words found in a pdf itself. Other features include access to over a thousand bibliographic styles, creating a library that you have access to using any computer, a word processor plugin that allows you to cite using Word or OpenOffice (in which Zotera inserts the reference).

Launchy (Windows and Linux)

Launchy is a utility that improves opening your files, programs, folders, and bookmarks. It changes the way the start menu functions by searching from one place and launching after hitting enter. You can also index music, images, documents, and custom commands!

Google Wave Notifier

For you lucky people that have Google Wave accounts, this firefox add-on notifies you of new wavelets sent to your inbox. Those who are unfamiliar with Google Wave, it is an online tool for communicating and collaborating in real-time. The add-on icon is conveniently placed in the lower part of your browser.

Wisestamp

Click here to view the embedded video.

Signature Tweaks

This is an extension that adjusts the placement of your digital signature. If you would prefer your signature to appear after your reply and before the quoted text, this is the extension for you. This can be enabled by signing into your Gmail account and by going to Settings (top-right corner) > Labs > Signature Tweaks. Make sure you save your changes.

Google Voice

Google Voice is a another service in beta in which you need an invite like the Google Wave service. Its purpose is to help better manage your voicemail and all of your phones. There are a lot of features such as using your existing number to make your voicemail more like email. Choose to receive a google number that will connect to all of your phones. Then, you can have more features like sending certain calls to your voicemail or screening calls before answering. Learn more about Google Voice features…

Google Voice player in mail

For those with Google Voice accounts, listen to your voicemail while you’re in Gmail by enabling the Google Voice player in mail. You click the icon to play your messages in your inbox. You enable this add-on by signing into your Gmail then go to Settings (top-right corner) > Labs > Google Voice player in mail. Again, make sure you save.

Feel free to comment on this list of tools? Are there any new tools that you would like to share?

In Barb Dybwad’s post Facebook Cracks Down on Deceptive Ads, she explains these “opt-out” offers. She briefly shares the perspective of a social gaming company, Zynga. The following is an excerpt:

“In a social game like virtual farming sim Farmville, for example, users can either spend real money to buy virtual goods, or complete offers and surveys from partner companies in exchange for virtual credits. The trouble is, some of those offers include ‘opt-out’ riders that enroll the user in some sort of paid service or subscription, and require action on the user’s part to avoid misleading charges.

MySpace CEO Own Van Natta earlier characterized these ‘opt-out’ type of offers as misleading, and announced a change to the Terms of Use to clarify what’s acceptable to both developers and users. Popular social gaming company Zynga also posted a statement stating a commitment to weed out bad and deceptive ads, while stressing that the offers industry is still nascent along with a belief that non-scammy offer ads still hold the promise of value to both user and advertiser.”

Read the full article…

Have you experienced any offers from these scamming ads?

In a Facebook blog post, Nick Gianos explains these types of third party advertisements are an issue across the Web and that they will work to make improvements. They have banned scamming ads in the past and continue to do so now. Facebook explains how they will enforce their policies and discontinue networks that break the rules. They mention their interest in having high quality advertising and the trust of users:

Continued Action Against Deceptive Ads

By Nice Gianos

“As part of an ongoing effort we’ve had underway to address the quality of third-party ads running inside applications, we wanted to offer some clarifications, reminders, and information on our actions.

First, deceptive ads are a widespread issue on the Web and one we fight aggressively. This battle is not new and it’s far from over. We faced stimulus scam ads on our own system earlier this year and pushed them off the site with rigorous enforcement. We did the same months later when deceptive ads from third-party ad networks appeared in applications. We’re doing that again now as we see them appear in the form of offers.

Since introducing updated policies for third-party ads on Facebook Platform in July, we have disabled two entire ad networks and suspended or brought into compliance over 100 applications for ad-related violations in regions around the world, over half of which had more than one million monthly active users.”

Read the rest of the article…

What do you think of this issue?

Extend the time between charges.

This section is a list of things you can do to increase battery life.

Go to Settings> …

Notifications
Unless you have an app where Notifications are needed, turn this off.

Sounds
Turn off as many alert sounds as you can.

Brightness
I keep my brightness at about a third. If I need more light, I adjust as needed. The backlight is a big energy hog, and less than full Brightness is perfectly usable.
Enable Auto-Brightness. It adjusts the light level a little to compensate for changes in ambient light.

General
If you don’t use Bluetooth regularly (daily), turn it off.
Set Auto-Lock to 5 minutes (default). If you’ve set your iPhone to never Auto-Lock, you’re wasting a lot of juice while you’re not using the device.

General> Network
Unless you absolutely need it, turn 3G off. 3G is much faster than Edge for Internet activity, but it drains the battery Q-U-I-C-K! Most people don’t do enough intensive browsing and downloading to warrant the speed boost. If I need it (or want it) for something, I turn it on and off at my discretion.

What applications should I get?

This section is a list of free and paid applications (apps) I (and others) recommend–complete with clickable links that go directly to the app store so you can learn more. There’s a lot of text below. Weed through it and I think you’ll be rewarded with at least one app you’ll love.

First, if you’re at WVU, you should grab iWVU and WVU Mobile Web. iWVU is an actual iDevice app, whereas WVU Mobile Web is a webpage.

To create an icon on your iPhone for WVU Mobile Web that acts like an app, follow these instructions:

1. Use the Safari app to open m.wvu.edu


Go to m.wvu.edu in Safari

2. Click on the plus symbol.


The m.wvu.edu mobile interface.

3. Choose Add to Home Screen.


Add to Home Screen option.

4. I leave the name alone, but you can name the link whatever you want =)


Rename m.wvu.edu if you want.

5. Now the link shows up as an ‘app’ on your iDevice. Click it to open, move it wherever you want–just like a regular app.


Icon is now on you iDevice.

For other useful apps, try these:

• Free
• Paid
• My games

Free

Pandora: If you don’t already listen to pandora.com, and you love music, get to the page and sign up for a free account–now! You enter songs or artists, and Pandora creates stations for you based on the qualities of the entries. It accesses the Music Genome Project, and makes connections between songs you would probably never make on your own. It’s done more for broadening my musical interests than any other thing in my life.

Facebook, MySpace, and TweetDeck: I think these are self-explanatory, and Tweetdeck has a standalone version for Mac, PC, and Linux =)

FiatLux: A free flashlight app with different colors. Hint: red is great for not disturbing sleeping partners in bed.

WhitePages Mobile: Find people and places with relative ease.

Inquisitor and Google: The only two search apps you really need. I find myself using Google less, and Inquisitor more. Google has a neat voice recognition feature.

Wikiamo: A great Wikipedia-specific search tool. I use this less since I started using Inquisitor.

AroundMe: Find everything from Bars to Zoos, based on your current location (GPS enabled).

Evernote and Dropbox: evernote.com is offsite memory storage for your mind. See something worth remembering? Evernote it! dropbox.com is offsite file storage, accessible on your computer or iDevice wherever you have an Internet connection.

iCraig: Craigslist app.

Dictionary: Everyone needs to look up a word now and again.

Mint: mint.com is a finance tracking site. You might find it useful to keep tabs on your bills and bank accounts.

Now Playing: The best app for finding movies and schedules.

eBay Mobile: eBay search and management app.

BigOven: Recipes!

Google Earth: Great fun with maps. Fancier and slower than the built-in Maps app.

PhoneFlicks: Manage your Netflix account and queue.

Kindle: amazon.com’s book reader, in iPhone form. FREE!

Skype: Chat/VoIP app.

WootOn!: A woot.com watcher. One day, one deal… except when there’s a wootoff! That’s where they put an item up til it sells, then another, and another, until their stock is manageable again.

WebMD: Good tool for basic medical info.

Urbanspoon: Get restaurant reviews and let the app choose a restaurant for you.

Shazam: Hear a song? Don’t know what it is? Let Shazam find out what it is for you. It’s like magic- really.

Paid

Recorder Pro: Feature-rich recording app. I like it better than the built in memo recorder.

Photogene: Think of it as more Photoshop for the iPhone than Photoshop for the iPhone is. Follow that? It’s my go-to app for adjusting images. Worth every penny.

Camera Genius: Great app with built in anti-shake, digital zoom (digital zooms look like crap, but I take what I can get), timers, and other features in a nice replacement for the built-in camera app.

TiltShift Generator: Apply the in vogue Tilt Shift blur to your images. Fun.

ColorSplash: Bleed color from your images to make striking, if not slightly cliched, images.

AutoStitch: Arranges photos in to panoramas. Very cool.

QuickOffice Mobile: Office lite clone on the go.

WeatherBug Elite: My choice over the paid version of The Weather Channel and the built-in weather app.

Convertbot: A diverse measurement conversion app. Not the best interface in the world, but I like it.

RemoteKu: Turns the iDevice in to another remote for your Roku (a Netflix streaming box).

RedLaser: Wonder if the deal you found at Target or Sam’s is the best around? Use this app to scan the barcode and see if there are better deals online.

1Password: Companion app to the standalone Mac program. Helps keep my passwords/logins together and safe.

MotionX GPS Drive: Awesome, low-cost, GPS app for driving.

QuickRoll and MachDice: For my fellow rpg’ers. Customizable dice rolling apps.

BrainHack and AmbiSci BP: Brainwave apps. Tone generators for inducing different modes of consciousness. I like the tones for relaxation and concentration =)

iStumble, ICHC, FML, Flickr, Cooliris: These are fun apps. Time wasters, if you like… well… Flickr is actually a productive app if you have an account and store your images there. There are pay and free versions of most of these.

Air Mouse Pro: Turn your iPod/iPhone in to a multi-touch remote trackpad/keyboard to control your computer.

VLC Remote: App to specifically control VLC on a Mac/PC remotely. VLC is, for those who don’t know, one of the best video file playback apps available–and it’s free.

My games

I’m not listing all the games I recommend. I’ll just throw up screenshots of my game pages, and you can decide if anything strikes your fancy.

iphone games graphic

Millennials find sharing and connecting through social networking services a big communication priority. Students trust other students immensely because there are obvious parallels. Social media can potentially be an important tool for a campus community. Although WVU currently uses popular social media, I wanted to share with you an article that follows along these lines. It states how prospective students actively research for potential colleges through social media sites rather than the limited printed information found in review books. Future students desire this information from enrolled and experienced students. In addition to tuition cost and college enrollment, potential students can read to find blogs, news, and tips. They can find ratings and reviews on professors, best and worst parts about the college or campus, campus crime, diversity, food, parking, etc. This is the information that’s missing; the information that gains their trust. Colleges should be aware of this confirming the information posted as true. A particular site mentioned, Communiversity, is a wiki that encourages participation to add or edit the information.

WVU students participate in most of the sites mentioned in the following article:

10 Ways to Use Social Media to Pick a College

by Josh Catone

When I started looking at colleges back at the turn of the century (the middle ages in web time), really the only resources available to me were traditional college guidebooks like The Princeton Review. While those books offered some great general information, they really only scratched the surface of what each college was actually like for students. Even if I sent away to the school for more info, it was still vetted and edited by the school’s communications department.  Read the rest of the article and don’t forget the comments…

So how can the university participate using social media? An example would be Zinch’s strategy.  Zinch is a social media website mentioned in the comments of this article. Zinch reduces the stress of the admission process for the student and for the college. Zinch believes that students are “more than a test score.” Many colleges are changing their recruiting methods looking outside the box of test scores. For the benefit of the college, Zinch is a tool used to recruit students based on who they are, including their passions and background. So it’s a great opportunity to “showcase your college.” What better way to showcase than encouraging interaction among students?

What do you think? We would like to hear from you, opinionated readers.

References: http://trustedadvisor.com/trustmatters/521/Building-Trust-with-Millennials

Anyway, he brings up some excellent food for thought on how universities should to revisit how we think about openness.  Not only in the types of systems and software we employ, but in our academic materials.  He reminds us that the fundamental reason we are in higher education is to educate and share knowledge.  What difference does it make, really, if people can download our course materials?  Why shouldn’t they?  Because they haven’t yet paid for them?  Why is that important?  To get any kind of degree the will actually need to enroll, so I fail to see how that would affect the school’s bottom line.

MIT has for a number of years now offered most if not all of their course materials online for free.  Think of the savings to students in not needing to purchase books every semester.  What if the students did have access to all of the course work ahead of time, wouldn’t that just make it easier for them to complete the work and do better?  Perhaps they would get more out of the course if they were prepared and could be ready when the semester “clock is ticking?”

Here is the video clip of his presentation.  I’d love to hear what the university community thinks about this.

Cultural Agoraphobia: What Universities Need to Know About Our Bias Against Openness
In this presentation, Professor James Boyle will argue that we have a cognitive bias–he calls it cultural agoraphobia–that leads us to underestimate the potential of open networks, open culture and open productive processes. What is the evidence for such a bias?  What should a university do about it–from the library to the classroom to the archive? Using examples ranging from the development of the World Wide Web to Wikipedia and open source software, this talk will try and answer those questions.

Watch the webcast

Most people who use Twitter, or “tweeples,” become active in their community by posting their thoughts and activities, links of interest, inspirational quotes, direct messages, responses to other tweets, recent news or blog posts, and event planning.  As you begin to connect to others on Twitter, you might find that people in your network regularly posts things apply to your life and job, interests, geographic location, etc.

Want to push the envelope a little farther? Twitter’s framework makes it possible for developers to come up with more and more ways to use it in new and interesting ways.  Here are some other ways Twitter can be used the way you want to use it.

Schedule Your Tweets

If you find yourself traveling a lot or attending a full day of meetings, Tweetlater is a Twitter tool for scheduling your posts.  Also you may find that scheduling your posts will be less distracting during a demanding project or training session.  You can schedule to publish a blog post accompanied by a scheduled Twitter post.  (Warning WordPress users: Tweetlater advises not to use the Tweetlater blog feeds with the WordPress Twitter Tools plugin.)

Enhance your Tweets with images

Twitter is a quick way to share images that may be job-related or for personal reasons. Upload images of the food you’re eating, the nice weather you’re experiencing, or “here’s what I’m seeing but can’t describe” to TwitPic. You can also upload from your mobile or use their API (application programming interface).  A link will be posted in your status for others to look at and comment.

Survey Your Tweeps

What to know what your co-workers think of an idea, theory, application, or if they like the new Facebook interface?  Twtpoll lets you create a survey among your Facebook, Twitter, or email community.  You give your Twitter user name, a question, and multiple choice answers.  The results will be measured by a pie chart.  One may also leave a comment about the poll.

Twitter Search

You may be interested in reading what others are sharing about a particular topic such as higher education, the economy, or even quantum mechanics.  Use the Twitter Search to be exposed to new resources, tips, links, other professionals, and emotional responses on that topic.  These tweets are reasonably listed from most recent to the oldest.  Here’s how Twitter describes Twitter Search:

Searching over Twitter messages is like a filter for what is happening right now—it’s an interesting look into the real-time thoughts of people and organizations around the world. Whether you’re curious about something specific or you just want to browse the trending topics, we’ve found that Twitter Search adds a new layer of relevance.

If you find yourself actively following Twitter searches, you might be interested in using a third-party Twitter application such as TweetDeck or Seesmic Desktop.  Both will let you create saved searches that automatically update as new tweets appear.  You can also create groups to better follow your tweeps.

Mobile Twitter

If you like to update your account while out and about, waiting for a meeting, or an appointment, look into a mobile app for your Twitter use.  Blackberry users might like Twitterberry.  This tool also makes it possible to upload images to TwitPic! Twitterberry can be downloaded from your Blackberry.  In your Blackberry’s media browser, upload the image and select to “Send to Twitterberry” in the menu.  The image will be given a link for others to click and view.  You will then be able to send your tweet in Twitterberry.  (View more Twitterberry screenshots.)

If you are an iPhone/iPod Touch user, you have numerous options, such as Twitter for iPhone or Twitterific.  Refer to Macworld’s review of iPhone clients for more apps.

Share Files

For sharing files, use TweetCube to upload files including images, videos, and music.  You can upload .zip, .rar, .pdf, .jpg, .png, .gif, .txt, and .mp3 files.  Your files will be posted on Twitter so be aware of your account settings.

Get Affirmation!

On top of the tools already mentioned, here are more Twitter tools and applications that may help you use Twitter how you want: Unsure if your tweets are any good?  Allow others to rate your tweets as useful, funny, or lousy.  Use Tweeterate to rate posted tutorials, linked articles, or jokes by those you are following.

Get your Tweeple Together

A nice way to organize an event or meeting is the application twtvite.  Easily type in the what, where, and when keeping it private or public.  My favorite part is having the ability to re-tweet it, post it to Facebook and/or FriendFeed, and posting it to your calendar (iCal, Google Calendar, Outlook, and Yahoo).

More More More

What else would you like to know about Twitter? There is a colossal selection of Twitter applications for anything from travel organizer, twtTRIP, to gift registry, twtwlist, to timers, to Google Calendar integration and more.

If you are looking for more ideas about using Twitter read Mashable: HOW TO: Live Inside Twitter and Still Stay Productive by Elliott Kosmicki

WARNING: Facebook Scam On the Loose, Steals Passwords

Facebook is falling prey to a widespread phishing attack today that tries to steal your login and spam your friends.

I’ve got a number of messages in my Facebook inbox with links to “FBAction.net”, a site that displays a fake Facebook login. Enter your details there, and it will spam all your friends with the same message and link. More worrying: you might get locked out of your account for a time until Facebook sorts out this mess.

There is no malicious payload with the attack, it seems: no virus is downloaded or any other nasties: it’s simply a huge nuisance for Facebook users.

As always, don’t enter your Facebook password if the URL is not Facebook.com, and contact Facebook if you’re no longer able to access your account.

1. Cramster
2. InternshipRatings.com
3. Zimride
4. Box.net
5. Twitter
6. Remember the Milk
7. Gradefund
8. Evernote
9. Zumeo
10. CampusBooks

Read the rest of the article on Mashable to see what they say about each one of these sites.

I’m often asked what the differences between MySpace and Facebook are and I finally found a post that explains it rather well.  I never could really put my finger on what it was about MySpace that didn’t appeal to me and now I understand.  MySpace was always intended to be a place to meet people whereas Facebook is about connecting with people you already know.  This article also discusses the strategies MySpace is using to bring users back.  Interesting read MySpace in a  MySpace Welcomes Me Back; What Is MySpace?

There is much ado about a recent study making a tenuos connection between Facebook usage and lower grades.  Media have latched on to the story, according to ReadWriteWeb, but that, as it turns out is a rather simplistic interpretation of the study. The reseracher admits that those students who admitted to using Facebook probably would have found another way to distract themselves even if Facebook hadn’t been a factor. Read about this here: Fox News Says Facebook Will Ruin Your Grades (ReadWriteWeb) and here: Does Facebook Lower Academic Performance? It’s Still Too Soon to Say (The Chronicle Wired Campus Blog)

Last week TechCrunch posted FriendFeed Is In Danger Of Becoming The Coolest App No One Uses drawing our attention back to a service we mentioned a few months ago, but, yes, just simply isn’t as popular as Facebook or Twitter.  TechCrunch posted this past weekend that You Will Be Using FriendFeed In The Future — But It May Be Called Facebook.

PDFvia is a free online service that allows anyone to upload and share PDFs without using email.  Just share the link where not only the PDF is uploaded but also GZ and ZIP files.

If you’re interested in creating flowcharts, sitemaps, organization charts, and wireframes you may want to sample Lovely Charts (in beta and preparing to launch).  You give the content and the free application will map it.  Talk out your ideas on the screen without determining colors, lines, shapes, or any of the drawing.  All you have to do is drag and drop.

Text2iPod makes certain one can read text files on an iPod without controlling the size.  When the text is converted, you will be able to read it in one file not bits in multiple files.

MiniTask (free application for Windows, Mac OS and Linux) was designed to include only what is needed to make managing tasks faster and convenient.  Features include:

• drag ‘n’ drop reorder
• alarm timers
• printing task sheets
• copying tasks from and to other applications
• quick editing

Voxli is a free (in beta) service that could be useful for online meetings.  Chat online with others by sending the given URL through email, blogs, or IMs.

ImageDropr is a Flickr web application (works on Windows, Macs, Linux) for transporting your images .  Drag images from your files, drop them onto  ImageDropr, then upload to your Flickr account.