ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY BLOG | INVENTIONS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

I have been using Jing Project on my Macintosh and PC since it has been released and have found it to be a wonderfully handy application for capturing images and screencasts. I just read on the TechSmith Blog that Jing Project has been updated and now includes the capability to upload your screen captures directly to Flickr. I downloaded the upgrade and was able to quickly configure Jing Project to upload my captures to Flickr. It was very straightforward and easy to do. TechSmith should be applauded for developing and supporting this incredible application that makes it easy to capture images and videos from your computer. What better way to tell you about the new release of Jing Project then by showing you with this screencast.

Eric Blue in his blog discussed the need for a common way for users of mindmapping applications to be able to view their maps on the web. Taking it upon himself he did a proof of concept called MindMap Viewer which allows you to use a variety of mind map formats, and display the maps inside a browser using a Java applet or Flash viewer. I for one applaud his efforts. I to would like to be able to use my mind mapping application and quickly publish my maps to the web. As Eric points out this is a proof of concept work and you may need to tread gingerly. In any case it speaks to our need to be able to publish our mindmaps quickly on the web so that we can share and collaborate.

I came across this intriguing Newsmap website that displays the news based on its relevance. It is visually appealing and you can quickly get more information about the headlines and the number of related articles by clicking on the news map. Enjoy

I had posted earlier about the release of Eye-Fi, which is a 2 Gigabyte SD card with built-in WiFi. I recently purchased the Eye-Fi Card from Amazon and had the opportunity to use it the last couple of days with my Canon Powershot SD500 digital camera. To start off the packaging of the Eye-Fi is very appealing and clever. The Eye-Fi comes in a sliding box that includes a very simple installation guide, the Eye-Fi SD Card, and a USB SD Card Reader. To install the Eye-Fi Manager on my Mac Book, I simply plugged the Eye-Fi SD Card into the USB SD Card Reader and installed the software. Once installed, I opened the Eye-Fi Manager and configured my Eye-Fi Card to recognize my home WiFi network and was able to choose Phanfare as the service which I wanted to upload my pictures to. Eye-Fi gives you a host of services that you can choose from to upload your pictures. ie. Picassa, Flickr, etc. Once this step was complete, I
unmounted the Eye-Fi SD Card and plugged it into my Canon Powershot SD500 digital camera. I needed to adjust the Power Settings so that the camera would not turn off after a specified time which might disrupt Eye-Fi from uploading my pictures. Now I started to snap some pictures and watched as the pictures were uploaded to my computer and to Phanfare. What joy watching my pictures arrive on my computer and on Phanfare without the need to use a USB cable! Eye-Fi worked as advertised and is a very cool technogadget for the holidays.

This past year I have had the opportunity to experiment with many of the Web 2.0 tools which have allowed me to share my desktop (Yuuguu.com, Gatherplace.net), do video-conferencing (Skype, OoVoo) and to collaborate with others. Using a host of these services has extended my reach shall we say, and I know that the upcoming new year will bring me opportunities to further reach out and provide a host of services that were once just not possible. With broadband access it is now possible to have a genuine presence and provide both tutoring, consulting and training with your computer. Having access to high quality video conferencing through a service like OoVoo changes the playing field and provides a level of communication and feedback that was not possible through email or instant messaging.

While many of us have participated in webinars through services like WebEx or GoToMeeting some of these services may be out of the reach of individuals and would not make much financial sense if you were going to be hosting a limited number of workshops. With a monthly subscription fee starting out at around $50 dollars it maybe just too much of an obligation to sign up for. While doing my regular trolling on the web I came across a new Web 2.0 company that was offering a free open source web meeting service. I sent Dimdim an email and they provided me with a free account and I was able to log in and start a web meeting within seconds. Dimdim is a browser-based web 2.0 service that allows anybody to share their desktop, show slides, as well as talk, listen, chat, and broadcast via webcam. dimdim´s hosted service is available for free and can be easily used for small gatherings, to seminars with hundreds of attendees.

Finding this service I had to jump in and check it out. It was hard to believe that such a service could exist for free! I logged into dimdim and entered my password and user name and was able to immediately start a session using my webcam for video and audio. Once I got to the presenters screen I was able to import my PowerPoint presentation and also had access to a virtual whiteboard to write some notes. While using my MacBook I could import PowerPoint preventions, for some reason I could not get access to sharing the desktop or sharing an application. I suspect that this feature has not been implemented yet. I was successfully able to share the desktop and share applications on the Windows platform. Moving through my PowerPoint was effortless and the audio and video really helped to have a presence as I was doing the webinar. Overall, dimdim performed well and the interface was easy to use without the need for any manuals or directions. If you are looking to provide webinars and do more of your training and consulting via the web then take a look at dimdim and let me know what you think. The price is right!

I tend to use MindManager Pro 7 daily to plan and organize information that I will need for my seminars and graduate classes, but if you are like me you tend to use only a limited number of features in any software appliction. While I was perusing the Mindjet website I came across their 30 Minute Power Training video sessions which really shows you all of the ways you can use MindManager to be more effective at what you do. The four training video modules include:

• 1. Meeting Effectiveness
• 2. Project Planning
• 3. Information Management
• 4. Collaboration & Communication

I had a chance to view each of the videos and they gave me some new ways I could think about using MindManager Pro 7 in the work I do. If you have 30 minutes to invest I would highly recommend that you preview the instructional videos. I'm sure you will find them as helpful and informative as I did.

I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a great time with friends and family! Enjoy! Brian

Amazon today released Kindle, a new book eReader gadget that allows you to download books, magazines and blogs. It uses the EVDO network to keep you connected to the Amazon website which means you do not need to be in the range of a Wifi connection to download books or to access the Amazon Store. There is no fee for being connected to the EVDO network for users. The Amazon Kindle will retail for $399 dollars and New York Times best sellers will cost you $9.95 to download. The question I have is, do we need another gadget to read books? While the demonstration looked pretty cool do we really need another electronic device to handle our books? Lets see I carry a cell phone, iPod, Palm and now a Kindle! While there are certainly advantages to digital books and magazines, I for one still enjoy holding a magazine or book when reading. I know that when I have to read long passages or documents on the web I still prefer to print them and read them at my leisure. For those with reading disabilities it would be great to have text to speech built into the Amazon Kindle-but this is not feature that is built in at this time. I would be interested in your comments and views on the Kindle.

About a year ago I read about a company that was working on a SD Memory Card which would also include WiFi support. Having a SD Card with WiFi support would allow you to upload your digital pictures from your camera as long as you were in earshot of your WiFi network. It would be as simple as configuring the SD Card and then have your digital camera upload the pictures to your favorite website through your wireless network. Well today I was reading Steve Hargodon's blog as he recounted his experience with Eye-Fi the new 2GB SD Card with built-in WiFi. Steve had a great experience with Eye-Fi out of the box and it looks like this could be a great gift for the holidays. I for one know that one of the stumbling blocks of using a digital camera is uploading my pictures to my Phanfare account. With the Eye-Fi the problem could be easily solved. I hope to get an Eye-Fi SD Card to review shortly.

We are living in very exciting times especially with regards to technology and the power that can be harnessed into very small devices. Just this past week, Google announced that they were releasing on Open Source Software Developer Kit called Android that would become new application platform for cell phones. They also announced that they were going to have a pool of $10 million dollars available to reward companies and individuals that designed innovative solutions with Android. To get a sense of the potential of Android- take a look at this YouTube video.

I want to thank Gaelen and Kymberly from Mindjet, Inc for all their help and assistance for putting together the webinar which I recently did focusing on: Innovative uses of MindManager Pro 7 Pro both in and out of the Classroom. I haven't had a chance to see it yet, but the webinar was recorded and is now available online for those of you who weren't able to see it live. To view the recorded webinar click on this link. I hope you enjoy it- I know I really enjoyed doing the webinar and look forward to working with Mindjet, Inc on some future webinars.

Chuck Frey has posted the results of a his most recent survey on web based mind mapping applications which can be viewed with this link. Chuck's survey are always informative and insightful and speak to the issues of using web based applications for mind mapping. I think that you will find both the quantitative and qualitative results very interesting. In particular, I think you will find user comments very interesting and right on the money. There are certainly lots of advantages as well as disadvantages of using web based applications which the survey highlights.

Sitting in a three day workshop on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) gave me some time to reflect on the state of software development and the power of the Internet. The focus of the three day workshop was on helping teachers to remove barriers to math instruction (Grades 5-8) in the classroom. Using the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) model we were able to look carefully at textbooks and lessons and figure out ways that we could present math lessons so that we provide students with multiple mean of representing math concepts. As our workshop leaders from CAST were presenting the information they pointed us to various sites on the Internet that offered students the opportunity to work with virtual manipulatives. I was thinking that just a couple of years ago we would have been discussing the use of commercial software to meet our objectives but now we were focused on websites that offer a rich source of math manipulatives that students could work with to help them better understand and visualize math concepts. Tings have certainly changed in such a short period of time. Take a look at some of these websites to see whats there- you will be amazed!

Mindjet, Inc the publishers of MindManager has just posted a series of customer vignettes demonstrating how a wide range of Mindjet, Inc customers are using MindManager. I found the series of customer vignettes to be interesting reading as I learned how others are using MindManager to solve their unique problems. If you have a chance you can read my vignette that was recently posted. If you are a MindManger user and would like to be featured on how you are using the program, then complete the survey and who knows you may be featured.

With just two days left there is still time to sign up for the webinar. So if your have the time it would be great for you to join us. There has been a lot of interest in the webinar and I m looking forward to showing you all of the ways that I am using MindManager in the work that I do.
Innovate using MindManager Pro 7 both in and out of the Classroom-which will be hosted by Mindjet, Inc., on Thursday, November 8, 2007, Time: 10:00 am PST / 1:00 PM EST. I hope you can join me as I share how I am using MindManager Pro 7 to create lectures, proposals, and organize the information that helps me be more productive in the work that I do. It was very exciting doing the run through and I am really looking forward to doing the webinar. So please join me. To register just click on this link. Hope to see you there- it should be fun and informative. Thank you- Gaelen and Kymberly from Mindjet, Inc. for helping me put this webinar together!

For those of you who have recently upgraded to Leopard on the Macintosh you should be aware that XMIND 2008 is Leopard Ready. XMIND is a full featured mind mapping application for both Macintosh, Windows, and Linux. XMIND 2008 is a powerful application that you will find easy to use. XMIND has an attractive and intuitive interface that should have you creating exquisite mind maps in no time. Using the Properties menu you can quickly structure and select from many different mind maps. You will find it easy to link note, URL's, and attachments to your ideas. XMIND 2008 also supports audio notes which adds a really nice touch for communicating your ideas. When it comes to sharing your mind maps you will find it easy to export your mind maps to Word, PDF, and Image files. Go to the XMIND 2008 website to download a trial version of XMIND 2008.

Mindmeister just emailed me this morning to let me know that they have now added the ability to edit your mind maps offline using Google Gears. I had a chance to check it out and it works as advertises. Once you go to you log into Mindmesiter, simply go to your My Account tab and click on the Enable Offline Mode button. Once you do this a Google Gears dialog box will displayed asking you if you would like to link this application. Now you can go to My Maps screen and click on the Online button to take your mind maps offline. Te screen below shows you Mindmesister taking my mind maps offline. There are some features that are not available offline but I have not have the time this morning to delve into them. Mindmesiter should be commended for making this application easy to use and for giving us the freedom to work with our mind maps both offline and online. If you are interested in signing up for a Premium MindMeister Membership click here.

I'm sure if you are like me that you are using several computers in your home and office, and there are many times when you would like to access your files remotely. Well there are lots of commercial software products that will give you that option like GoToMyPC, but this is the year if Web 2.0 so why not look for something on the web that help accomplish this task for us.

For the past several months I have been using a program from Microsoft which runs on Windows and Macintosh called FolderShare that lets me access my files remotely wherever I am. You can go to FolderShare and download the client and install it on all of your computers that you would like to access. Once the program is installed and you have named your computers you can log into FolderShare and see your computers and your files as if you were sitting in front of your computer. If you see a file you want to download just click on it and the download begins. I have been using FolderShare with my Mac's and Window's computers without a hitch. It is also possible to access your Windows computer from your Macintosh and vice a versa. It is fast and works well even though it is considered beta software. You can also set up folders to synch on your computers which is a nice feature. I would have to say that considering the price of admission this is one useful software product. Give it try!

While PowerPoint has become a standard in many classrooms for creating presentations and multimedia projects it is often more difficult to share these presentation over the web. Many of us who want to embed photographs, audio and transitions to our PowerPoint presentations soon learn that when we attempt to put them on the web that the files become incredibly large and cumbersome to work with. This is where Impatica 4 for PowerPoint comes in. It is an extremely handy utility that not only compresses your PowerPoint files but optimizes it for streaming over the Internet. Impatica 4 for PowerPoint often can compress your PowerPoint files by up to 95% which really impacts on the time it takes to view them on the web. Moreover, Impatica 4 for PowerPoint will convert your PowerPoint files into a small Java application so that your PowerPoint presentation can be viewed by anyone who has a Java enabled browser. This means that you don’t have to be concerned if the individual viewing your presentation has a compatible copy of PowerPoint. Right within the browser, individuals can view the presentation complete with graphics, sound, narration and transitions as it was intended to be viewed. As a faculty member at a college, I am always concerned about others reusing my intellectual property and with Impatica 4 for PowerPoint, I know that individuals will only be able view my PowerPoint presentations but that they can not edit or make changes to it.

You might be saying to yourself well how does this work? The truth be known, using Impatica 4 for PowerPoint is a very easy application to use. To use Impatica 4 for PowerPoint you simply double click on the icon and it brings up the application. You are now ready to add your PowerPoint presentation. You can accomplish this by clicking on the Add button or better yet, simply drag your file into the application to get started. Impatica 4 for PowerPoint is available for both Macintosh and Windows and works equally well on both platforms.

Some of the new features for Impatica for PowerPoint version 4 include:

* Support for the PowerPoint 2007 file format
* Support for Intel-based Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows Vista computers
* Support for Palm OS viewing and projecting with the Impatica ShowMate
* Adjustable, scalable playback window
* Full screen viewing capabilities
* Enhanced logging
* Support for PowerPoint 2007 multi-stop gradients such as rainbow
* Expanded audio support in the PowerPoint 2007 file format (any audio format supported by QuickTime)
* New graphics and color scheme for user interface
* New installer mechanism for Windows computers


Once you have added the file you can customize how your viewers will interact with your PowerPoint presentation by having Impatica add playback controls. By clicking on the Media and Animation Tab you can easily configure your video and sound that viewers will be accessing.. You may need to play around with audio compression feature in Impatica to derive the best results once your PowerPoint is streamed to the web. One of the really nice featured that is built into Impatica 4 is its integration with Blackboard. If you are a college faculty member you will really like this feature. Impatica 4 for PowerPoint is capable of creating an archived file for Blackboard that adds a significant compression factor and allows you to upload the final file compressed. When the student is ready to view the file Blackboard is able to decompress the file so the student can view it.

Once you have set all of the features you simply click on the Translate button and your PowerPoint presentation is processed. Once your PowerPoint presentation has been processed you can now connect to your server from within Impatica and upload the files. Having a built in FTP client is really a fantastic feature and makes it very fast for uploading the files. Once your have uploaded your PowerPoint presentation Impatica creates a html file and places all of the necessary files on the server so that your presentation can be viewed with any Java enabled browser. This point should not be missed. Now that you have used Impatica for PowerPoint and placed the files on the web anyone with a web browser can view your files and don’t need to have PowerPoint installed on their computer. Likewise, if you are concerned about putting your PowerPoint presentation on the web and giving others access to your intellectual property, then this is the perfect solution for you. Now users can view your PowerPoint presentations, but don’t have access to change it. I have found Impatica 4 to be an easy to use tool that has lots of uses for the work and teaching that I do. If you are using PowerPoint as part of your teaching or professional development then you will want to use Impatica 4 for PowerPoint and give your viewers access to your presentations regardless if they PowerPoint installed on their computer or not. Impatica makes PowerPoint accessible from any browser and compresses it so that they are previewed quickly through any Java enable browser. For more information about Impatica for PowerPoint go to www.impatica.com/offers/inclusiontimes/


If you are interested in supporting the work that I do on the blog, please click on the link above to get special discount pricing. To take a look at a sample PowerPoint presentation that I put on the web click on this link.

If you are looking for top quality writing templates for Kidspiration and Inspiration then you should be aware that they can be downloaded from the Inspiration Software, Inc website. The templates are derived from the Strategies for Writers 2008 textbooks which are published by Zaner Bloser. The Inspiration and Kidspiration writing templates compliment the Zaner Bloser writing program-but could certainly be used as a standalone.