Helium – Discover Something New

I am constantly trying to learn something new. At Helium, I found a plethora of writers who share their expertise on topics daily.

At their website you can learn about everything from cooking to how to fix your car. The site has topics specifically on auto, business, creative writing, entertainment, food, health, jobs, parenting, personal finance, politics, sports and much more. If you are a talented writer, this website is also a great way to share your passion and make some extra coins.

http://www.helium.com/

PBWiki – Online Collaboration Tool

A friend of mine just told me about a great writing collaboration tool called PBWiki. She was using this free online web application to work on a group research paper project and had great success. Google Docs has been pioneering the concept of group document collaboration, so this really isn’t a new idea, but PBWiki has just made it easier.

What can you do with PBWiki?

• Collaborate as a group on the same document(s)
• See changes made by others
• Rollback to prior versions

Try PBWiki
http://pbwiki.com

Babbel: Learn a New Language

Babbel is a social networking vocabulary building website. This is one of the best websites I have seen to increase your vocabulary. Why not learn a new language from people who are passionate about it? Learn German, French, Italian or Spanish by connecting to others online who want to learn with you.

The best part of the website are the interactive multimedia vocabulary building exercises. Watch these exercises at your own pace and before you know it, you’ll be speaking the language of love.

Make friends and learn a new language.
http://www.babbel.com

P.S. Added Babbel to Social Networking List

Are You Dating Yourself?

The latest Beloit College Mindset List was just released. If you haven’t heard of it, the goal of this annual list is to help professors/teachers update their references. This year’s college freshmen were generally born in 1990 and many things have surprisingly changed. Time passes by quickly and sometimes we can date ourselves.

To incoming college freshmen:

• Soft drink refills have always been free.
• GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.
• Films have never been X rated, only NC-17.
• IBM has never made typewriters.
• Caller ID has always been available on phones.
• There has always been Pearl Jam.

Do you have any to add?

http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2012.php

Skype to the Rescue

With Skype I am able to call anywhere in the USA for $3 a month (even less if I pay for a year at one time). But does it work? Find out the skinny on this great free web communication tool.

Explore the world of Skype.
Read Article

What is a Tag Cloud?

If you are like most web surfers, you feel your way around websites by just clicking everywhere. You may have interacted with a tag cloud, but you never knew it. Wikipedia defines a tag cloud or word cloud as, “Weighted list in visual design is a visual depiction of user-generated tags, or simply the word content of a site, used typically to describe the content of web sites.” Above is a picture of a Tag Cloud and ours is located in the lower right hand side of the website.

Characteristics of Tag Clouds:

• Single words listed alphabetically
• Most popular terms
• List of clickable links
• Lead you to a list of entries with those terms mentioned
• Easy way to discover other content
• Larger links than another mean that term is more popular

Now do you see the analogy to a cloud? The larger clouds generally hold more precipitation. Do you find tag clouds valuable?

How Patriotic Are You?

Happy 4th of July! If you were on the road to becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen, would you pass the test? Take this 20 question quiz courtesy of MSNBC and see how well you do.

How many did you get right? I was at 80%.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13442226/

Digital photos for learning?

I stumbled upon an article by HP that suggests using digital photography to enhance your child’s learning. Scientific studies show that starting your kids at an early age taking pictures excels their learning because they are engaged. Exploring the world around them through pictures is hands on.

http://tinyurl.com/4ox8f9

Don’t Click!

OK. So you are in love with your iPod? The click wheel on the classic iPod revolutionized the way you interact with your everyday electronics. The iPhone then took that interaction to the next level by creating a first of it’s kind touch screen telephone. Now try a website that won’t let you click.

The Don’t Click project is a website based on training you to use mouse movements to navigate a website instead of clicking your mouse. Can you change the way you interact with web?

http://www.dontclick.it/

Payless for College

I recently heard a quick conversation with Reecy Aresty, College Admissions/Financial Aid Expert & Author, on WTAM. He had some good advice on how you can avoid the “College Loan Crisis”. Whether you are just starting a family or you are sending a child to college, Reecy has a plan for you. Check out the following website for more information.

http://www.paylessforcollege.com/