S2W3 Monday: Trends 2011, Augmented Reality and Professor Teaches

1. Sixteen Technology-Driven Trends for 2011

The first link for today is an article that plots out some of the trends set to shape technology in 2011. Please have a read:

http://www.flashforesight.com/trends-for-2011/

What are the implications of the trend towards mobile computing and Internet? Please leave a comment outlining your thoughts on the matters discussed in the article. Consider the levelling affect of mobile computers in the developing world where the threshold for computing is being lowered so more individuals are empowered. Imagine how countries like China, Indonesia and India might change as so-called smart phones with extensive Internet capabilities becomes more widespread. The political ramifications of communication through the likes of Twitter has been seen across Northern Africa in recent weeks. What might the future hold?

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2. Augmented Reality

 

That's right, the future has arrived. We are currently seeing an explosion in application that use this technology. Please watch the video below for a brief introduction to this topic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-A1l4Jn6EY&feature=player_embedded#

Here is a look at how it might look when integrated into glasses:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_u34kV9go0&feature=fvw

And here a more prosaic application:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fZk0HaIs4s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztoWLgv0Dow&feature=related

We will revisit this topic later in the term and perhaps try our hand at it ourselves.

Check out these links too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_reality 

http://www.wikitude.org/en

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3. Professor Teaches HTML

 

Use the rest of the lesson time today to continue with the Professor Teachs HTML fundamentals. I will give you some time on Wednesday to complete Chapters 2 and 3 and then we will do a quiz. You will also receive your quiz back on Wednesday.

S2W2 Friday: Zuckerberg hacked, Qwiki unveiled, Lady Gaga and Shakira songs leaked

1. Facebook Hack

Right, the first link for today proves that even if you are a billionare and the owner of Facebook, your account is not safe:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/sns-cnn-zuckerberg-facebook-page-hacked,0,4370718.story

Please provide your thoughts on online privacy and social networking in the comments. 

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2. Qwiki

 

And from Zuckerberg's erstwhile business partner comes a new website Kwiki which looks interesting and purports to offer "information experiences":

Qwiki.com

Here are videos about it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g6xXjdMGSE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Sdf_VcSNp8

What do you think of the "information experience" - write a comment to relate your views.

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3. Pop Star Songs Leaked

 Meanwhile, it is not just Mr. Zuckerberg who is being hacked. Here is an article about a recording company who lost a few songs by stars Lady Gaga, Shakira and others:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,741667,00.html#ref=nlint

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4. Web Page Project

 Use the rest of your time today to work on your website project in pairs.

S2W1 Friday: Webpage project, Facebook customisation and xtranormal

1. Hosted Webpage Project

We will use simple and free online webpage creation and hosting companies to create a project webpage this term. We will do this for two main purposes: to evaluate each of these free providers (you will receive an assessment form) and to develop our familiarity with webpage creation without the need to code. You need to:

* Get into pairs

* Decide on an interesting topic for your project website

* Brainstorm the pages your site will need and begin gathering content.

We will continue this project next week Wednesday. You can have a gander at the free webpage hosting companies we will be using:

 www.yola.com
www.weebly.com
www.webs.com
www.wix.com

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2. Firefox Plugins and Facebook redux

 The Facebook interface is cleaned up, but it is also very limited. Consider  the following options for sprucing up your page:

Facebook Customisation 

Facebook is now full of advertisements like every other site on the ne. Use Greasemonkey to block them:

How to use Grease Monkey

In case you have never heard of it, an excellent tool to block ads while browsing in general (assuming you are using Firfox) is AdBlock Plus. If you use Firefox, get it, period:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-plus/

The other most useful Firefox plugin is the VideoDownload Helper; great for downloading and automatically converting, e.g., youtube videos to mp3 files, or simply downloading a streamed video. Check it:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/video-downloadhelper/

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3. Be normal with Xtranormal

 Get xtranormal and create your own text-to-video exchange at  xtranormal.com. Be careful not to exceed the 300 point limit for free videos.Have fun. You'll need some headphones.

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S2W1 Wednesday: Future Trends, Facebook and First Look at O'Reilly's Head First

Welcome to the first post proper to complement our first class of the year. We are looking at three topics today:

1. Future Trends

2. Facebook

3. O'Reilly's Head First HTML

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1. Future Trends

First off, because a new year has just begun, we will dare to gaze into the indefinite fog of the future with a gentleman called Richard Watson who authors a blog called Top Trends who has found a nifty way to visualise future trends. Click here to view his 2010 pdf file

Now, have a look at the article 20 predictions for the next 25 years from the Guardian Online. Numbers 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16 and 20 pertain directly to technology. I will reserve judgement on the likelihood of these predictions coming about, but suffice to say the that arguably the most extreme one of the above predictions, Number 6, is both feasible and desired by many. Number 9 pertains directly to our second topic today.

Finally, peruse these articles on Web Design and Development.  

http://mashable.com/2010/12/30/web-design-predictions/ 

http://mashable.com/2010/12/27/web-development-predictions/

Leave a comment below this site post indicating your thoughts on these future trends. Comments can be left anonymously, but please use a first name, moniker/handle or initials to indicate who you are so others know who you are and can respond to your ideas.

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 2. Facebook

 There are few in our class who do not have a Facebook account. Facebook is virtually the antithesis of privacy, however, with some clearful mouse clicks one's profile can be secured.

Please read the HowTo below on Facebook security so you know what you are revealing to who and how to better secure you're account (assuming you want to).

MakeUseOF Facebook Privacy PDF 

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3.O'Reilly's Head First HTML with CSS and XHTML

We have a new textbook entitled O'Reilly's Head First HTML with CSS and XHTML which we will be using in class throughout the semester. It will help guide us through the thicket of web code nad the forest of technical rhetoric. It can found on the Secondary drive under 2011>Computing>WebDesign>Resources

You task for today is to read up on the first two chapters. Go ahead and copy it to your USB drive or alternatively, send it to yourself by email. You will then have this book available to you as a reference and you can study at home.

Depending on how far everyone gets, we'll do a brief quiz on these chapters either on Friday or, if not, on Monday.

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 In other news

We will also be using a new program called "Professor Teaches" which is a self-paced instructional program. It will help you review what you have learnt to far and deepen your knowledge. The software can be found on the server under 2011>Computing>Professor Teaches>Resources. Go ahead and install the Web Design Fundamentals found under CD1.

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Welcome to the Web Design Class Page

Purpose of this Site

I will ask you to refer to this page in class in order to give you information such as links and materials that will be dealt with in class. When the time comes, it will also serve as a useful tool for revision. The other important points worth making is that you can communicate with eachother via the comments. An example of naming convention used for the posts is as follows: S2W1 = Semester 2 Week.

Course Outline 

Welcome back to school. I hope you are looking forward to 2011 and Semester 2 as much as I am. For those of you that are unaware or have forgotten, the basic weekly structure for this course is as follows:

Mondays Period 6 - Computing Theory

Wednesdays Periods 1 & 2 - Web Design - HTML, CSS, etc

Fridays Periods 5 & 6 - Multimedia

Homework will usually only be given to those who are unable to complete class work to an appropriate standard within the given time.

If you have any questions about the course or need help with a computing problem, please see me during lunch on Wednesdays when the computer lab is generally open to students.

Here's to a successful Semester and 2011!