Key West Kitty

On out last trip to Key West Florida I spotted this cute kitty in the Blue Heaven gift shop. I wonder did it have 6 toes?! <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimJKoLPSRUu6qoLg8zMFhjeMoOb7YHLufncm0pCpQCpcYO8i1gRQTbAGlP2nhc3y5TmDvb6b7wxgIj04FrJ_n6Cbif8k_tj5RINvsgmS0cRFJgmCABmeClUlHCYmWIi7bjhvgpDYzmZMYA/s640/blogger-image-1037209361.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimJKoLPSRUu6qoLg8zMFhjeMoOb7YHLufncm0pCpQCpcYO8i1gRQTbAGlP2nhc3y5TmDvb6b7wxgIj04FrJ_n6Cbif8k_tj5RINvsgmS0cRFJgmCABmeClUlHCYmWIi7bjhvgpDYzmZMYA/s640/blogger-image-1037209361.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggunJLUfA3rWVcFLNza9Cx4zInKToPF7C4d0pYomwy27BFq4IUcLSNyhUaGmO9GxAFiqwoyC4o1FZ2wG6drJ47vnuKJ0owmUpb8us_Ptbuo1obPeNH_mmBBz6QLgTM3yEx8GbrRBCshpYG/s640/blogger-image-554156353.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggunJLUfA3rWVcFLNza9Cx4zInKToPF7C4d0pYomwy27BFq4IUcLSNyhUaGmO9GxAFiqwoyC4o1FZ2wG6drJ47vnuKJ0owmUpb8us_Ptbuo1obPeNH_mmBBz6QLgTM3yEx8GbrRBCshpYG/s640/blogger-image-554156353.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCcSaRkBP7TaAzU21T_RIaY0rawJ8CNGaatS4eIOhmp16SZpReMJRZHpSD7Rlzz7ZNCPbKw3GvossTe_bKOWiO74ijTwz17MVyY1kSRNB91OUuA7hJ5hnPSUW2xTDAQcdX0t651d0YVHW1/s640/blogger-image--1641046788.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCcSaRkBP7TaAzU21T_RIaY0rawJ8CNGaatS4eIOhmp16SZpReMJRZHpSD7Rlzz7ZNCPbKw3GvossTe_bKOWiO74ijTwz17MVyY1kSRNB91OUuA7hJ5hnPSUW2xTDAQcdX0t651d0YVHW1/s640/blogger-image--1641046788.jpg" /></a></div> For great rentals in Key West have a look on www.historichideaways.com

Key West Kitty

On out last trip to Key West Florida I spotted this cute kitty in the Blue Heaven gift shop. I wonder did it have 6 toes?! For great ren...

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Google Reader Fans: Transition to Feedly Now (and 4 reasons why Google is making a mistake)

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="zemanta-img"><a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/product/feedly" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Image representing feedly as depicted in Crunc..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="94" src="http://www.crunchbase.com/assets/images/resized/0002/5000/25000v2-max-450x450.png" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="191" /></a></div></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 191px;">Image via <a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/" target="_blank">CrunchBase</a></td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="zemanta-img"><a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/product/google-reader" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Image representing Google Reader as depicted i..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="61" src="http://www.crunchbase.com/assets/images/resized/0001/2818/12818v1-max-450x450.png" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="159" /></a></div></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 159px;">Image via <a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/" target="_blank">CrunchBase</a></td></tr></tbody></table>Feedly has been highly recommended by many of the tech experts I listen to (like <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.sarahlane.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Sarah Lane">Sarah Lane</a> from <a class="zem_slink" href="http://twit.tv/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="TWiT">TWIT</a> TV) for some time. So, the choice for me is simple (although I'm still not happy about it.)<br /><br />Due to <a class="zem_slink" href="http://google.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Google">Google's</a> shortsighted removal of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.google.com/reader" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Google Reader">Google Reader</a> service <i>(showing that the bloggers and content producers of the world don't really matter to them)</i> we all have choices to make.<br /><br /><b>Transition to feedly NOW.</b><br /><br />As outlined in <a href="http://blog.feedly.com/2013/03/14/google-reader/" target="_blank">this article by Feedly</a> <i>(after they wisely upgraded their servers yesterday)</i>, if you set up your Feedly account NOW, and link your Google Reader, it will automatically transition when Google pulls the plug.<br /><br /><h2>Why is Google Reader a mistake for Google?</h2>Now, for those who are wondering why this is unwise, let me tell you why.<br /><br /><h3>1 - They are breeding distrust upon the content producers on the web by constantly pulling key products like iGoogle and now, Google Reader</h3>They are pulling things that are "unprofitable," however, if they would read <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Gladwell" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Malcolm Gladwell">Malcolm Gladwell</a>'s book "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0316017922%3FSubscriptionId%3D0G81C5DAZ03ZR9WH9X82%26tag%3Dhttpwwwbrighc-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0316017922" rel="amazon" target="_blank" title="Outliers: The Story of Success">Outliers</a>," they will see that a tiny fraction of people produce a whole lot of the content out there. That tiny fraction is a  group that I'm part of as well.<br /><br />When they canned <a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2008/11/google-lively-incident-should-be-caveat.html" target="_blank">Google Lively</a>, OK, I understood, I really did but even then, it caused me to wonder about <a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2008/11/google-lively-incident-should-be-caveat.html" target="_blank">what would be next</a>? And although my students protested, it was OK. <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.google.com/buzz" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Google Buzz">Google Buzz</a>, well that was a fiasco from the beginning but ok, as well.<br /><br /><h3>2 - I predict many will refuse to move to Google Currents out of anger at a company pulling something so important to the livelihood of content producers.</h3>I guess they want us to go to <a href="https://www.google.com/producer/currents" target="_blank">Google Currents </a>- their new news service du jour (mobile only, however), but I'm not biting. Why am I going to use and invest all this time in another Google service just to have the rug pulled out?<br /><br /><h3>3 - When you disrespect the investment of time and trust of continuity, it will eventually have an impact</h3> I used <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.google.com/ig" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="iGoogle">iGoogle</a> and taught my students and teachers how to use it as well. I spent a lot of time tweaking things. Then, we had to move to <a href="http://www.netvibes.com/" target="_blank">Netvibes</a>. Google Reader - I've spent days tweaking and linking and setting things up. It is my PLN and there are a lot of fine tuned things that it does as well including <a href="http://ifttt.com/">ifttt.com</a> automation and links to other services like Mr. Reader on my iPad. (My post about using Google reader or losing it from January now rings ominous when I wrote about <a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2013/01/make-google-reader-your-powerhouse.html" target="_blank">making Google Reader your powerhouse sharing system</a>.)<br /><br /><h4>Thinking I'll move from blogger this summer</h4>But now, I no longer trust Google to have my back. I've toyed with going to wordpress for some time and already own and have sites at <a href="http://coolcatteacher.com/">coolcatteacher.com</a> and my Tumblr is at <a href="http://vickidavis.me/">VickiDavis.me</a> with almost 20,000 followers over there. I didn't want to take the hit on the traffic and the headaches with the move. But, for me, what happens when they decide to pull the plug on Blogger? I'm not waiting around. I'm doing it on my timeframe, not the busiest time of year for me. (Notice that they do this every March?)<br /><br /><h4>Wondering what is next</h4>What happens when they don't like how <a href="http://www.gmail.com/" target="_blank">Gmail</a> is working? What happens if <a href="http://drive.google.com/" target="_blank">Google Drive</a> is no longer making money or they want to charge for it? God forbid that <a href="http://calendar.google.com/" target="_blank">Google Calendar</a> disappear. But really, is this something I want to have in the back of my mind as I increasingly depend on these services?<br /><br /><h3>4 - Does this cast doubt on the advertising model upon which Google is built?</h3>While Google needs to make money, I understand that, now that we depend upon the cloud, we might be willing to pay for services that we trust. I pay for <a href="http://www.evernote.com/" target="_blank">Evernote </a>and <a href="http://dropbox.com/" target="_blank">Dropbox </a>Premium services. It is worth it to me.<br /><br />Honestly, <b>I'd probably pay for Google Reader.</b> But as long as Google has a business model depending upon advertising, they are prone to make shifts in this way. They will make decisions based upon VOLUME instead of focusing on providing exceptional service to just a few customers.<br /><br />The fact is, I can't trust an advertising-driven company to provide ongoing needs for me. I bellied up and paid for an <a href="http://app.net/">app.net</a> subscription - the pay version of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://twitter.com/twitter" rel="twitter" target="_blank" title="Twitter">Twitter</a>, although I'm admittedly not on there a lot (not many educators there yet) but I really wonder about this model upon which we've built our webs, lives, and livelihoods. Is it sustainable? Is it prudent? Someone ALWAYS pays.<br /><h4>If you're a great website/ blogger/ developer - look me up</h4>So, I'm planning to see if I can assemble a "pit crew" (as <a href="http://www.michaelhyatt.com/" target="_blank">Michael Hyatt</a> calls them) to try to move this blog as seamlessly as possible to my own wordpress. I've already got one configured and tweaked, but I know there are some things I need to do to look more professional and polish things up here.<br /><h2>In Conclusion</h2>For now, move to <a href="http://www.feedly.com/" target="_blank">Feedly</a>. They've got cred and a beautiful service to boot. Don't wait around hoping that Google will change their mind. They don't and they won't.<br /><br />Meanwhile, I wonder if there is a robust RSS service I can PAY FOR and depend to be there. But then again, the only thing sure in this world is death and taxes and April 15 is around the corner.<br /><br /><b>Goodbye Google Reader.</b> You are a GREAT, FANTASTIC, LIFE CHANGING service. You are a product that my mastery of has built my PLN and completely CHANGED MY LIFE and is helping me pay for college for my children. I'm a stark raving fanatic fan of your service.  I adore Google Reader and it is one of the few services I'd probably never ever cancel. I'm that dependent on it.<br /><br />Too bad that Google doesn't realize that sort of loyalty, even from a small group of people, is worth something, especially if those people are content producers and willing to pay to keep it around.<br /><br />But, dare I say it? <b>We get what we pay for.</b> As my Dad used to say on vacation,<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"If you don't pay, you have no say." </blockquote>We don't really have a right to complain, because we got it all this time for free. And that, my friends, is the problem. <b>If it is worth it to us, perhaps we should belly up and pay for it ourselves so we don't have to depend upon the fickleness of advertising dollars and the ebb and flow of the economy.</b><br /><br />I've learned a lot from Google Reader over the years, and perhaps more from losing it than from anything else.<br /><br /><div class="zemanta-related" style="clear: both; margin-top: 20px; overflow: hidden;"><h4 class="zemanta-related-title">Related articles</h4><ul class="zemanta-article-ul zemanta-article-ul-image" style="margin: 0; overflow: hidden; padding: 0;"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2013/01/make-google-reader-your-powerhouse.html" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/138786355_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2013/01/make-google-reader-your-powerhouse.html" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Make Google Reader your Powerhouse sharing system</a></li><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://vickidavis.me/post/41790336062/5-good-mathematics-feeds-for-teachers" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/141542380_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://vickidavis.me/post/41790336062/5-good-mathematics-feeds-for-teachers" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">5 Good Mathematics Feeds for Teachers</a></li></ul></div><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_c.png?x-id=4a7d925f-8c67-4bc1-8f24-7c71bd90d2e8" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>

Google Reader Fans: Transition to Feedly Now (and 4 reasons why Google is making a mistake)

Image via CrunchBase Image via CrunchBase Feedly has been highly recommended by many of the tech experts I listen to (like Sarah Lane from ...

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Part-Time Reference Librarian - Public Library of New London

<strong>Part-Time Reference Librarian - </strong><strong><span style="color: #48286d;">Public Library of New London</span></strong>. The position of reference librarian is now open at the Public Library of New London. This is a part-time position of 19 hours a week, with a variable schedule that includes daytime and evening hours and Saturdays in rotation. The person holding this position oversees collection development, is responsible for the Non Profit Resource Center and serves as the library webmaster. Other responsibilities include staffing a busy reference desk, promoting community outreach and programming. MLS/MLIS degree, public library experience, and a thorough knowledge of Word Press website software or other similar website maintenance programs are required for this position. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills are necessary. Salary range is $20-$22 an hour, depending on experience. There are no benefits with this position. If interested, please submit a cover letter and resume to <a _fcksavedurl="mailto:smaryeski@plnl.org" href="mailto:smaryeski@plnl.org">smaryeski@plnl.org</a> or mail to Suzanne Maryeski, Public Library of New London, 63 Huntington Street, New London, CT 06320 by <span style="color: red;">April 3, 2013</span>.

Part-Time Reference Librarian - Public Library of New London

Part-Time Reference Librarian - Public Library of New London . The position of reference librarian is now open at the Public Library of Ne...

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Tamar Braxton pregnant with her first child

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Tamar Braxton pregnant" src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-51411b5a/turbine/la-et-mg-tamar-braxton-pregnant-20130313-001/600" /><br /><span class="toolSet" style="background-color: white; display: inline-block; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-right: -50px; margin-top: 6px; width: 335px;"></span><br /><div class="byline" style="color: #292727; float: left; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;"><span class="byline" style="display: block;">By Christie D'Zurilla</span><div class="date" style="color: #930000; font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; margin-top: 3px; padding: 0px;"><span class="dateString" style="display: inline;">March 13, 2013</span><span class="dateTimeSeparator" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: white; display: inline; font-size: 10px; letter-spacing: -1px; margin-left: 6px;">, </span><span class="timeString" style="display: inline; text-transform: lowercase;">6:55 p.m.</span></div></div><div class="clear" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px;"></span><div id="story-body-text" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.43; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">Tamar Braxton is not only pregnant, she's "almost there," the reality-TV star and singer revealed Wednesday on <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/television/good-morning-america-%28tv-program%29-ENTTV00000990.topic" id="ENTTV00000990" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Good Morning America (tv program)">"Good Morning America."</a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">("Almost" translating to a few months left, actually, so nobody start boiling water just yet.)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">"I have a love on top," she said, referencing the Beyoncé tune "Love on Top." "I'm pregnant."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">Appearing with her sisters and "Braxton Family Values" costars Toni, Trina, Traci and Towanda, plus mom Evelyn, Tamar showed off her <a href="http://instagram.com/p/WzLEDXgsc8/" style="color: #2262cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">growing baby bump</a> — and her smashing Alexander McQueen dress choice with Jimmy Choo heels. She also showed off the very same via Instagram.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/gossip/la-et-pregnancy-and-parenthood-hollywood-pictures,0,1170697.photogallery" style="color: #2262cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><strong>PHOTOS: The Hollywood baby boom</strong></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">"I feel great and greedy at the same time....," Tamar said on "GMA." "This is the most I've eaten ever." She and her mom are eating partners now, they said.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">It'll be a first baby for 35-year-old Tamar and her music-exec husband, Vince Herbert, 43. The couple married in 2008.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">And when is she due? "I don't have that many months to go," Tamar said. "Almost there."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">The new season of "Braxton Family Values" premieres Thursday night on We TV. The spinoff "Tamar and Vince," which wrapped up its first season in December, has 12 episodes on the way as well, Braxton said on Twitter last fall.</div></div></div>

Tamar Braxton Tamar Braxton pregnant with her first child

By Christie D'Zurilla March 13, 2013 ,  6:55 p.m. Tamar Braxton is not only pregnant, she's "almost there," the reality-TV...

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Four alternatives to Google Reader

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="asset-metabar-wrap" style="clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin: 20px 0px 23px 70px;"><div class="asset-metabar" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(230, 230, 230); display: table-cell; margin: 20px 0px 0px; width: 888px;"><span class="asset-metabar-author asset-metabar-item" itemprop="name" style="float: left; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;">Brett Molina, USA TODAY</span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;">10:57a.m. EDT March 14, 2013</span></div></div><div class="asset-double-wide double-wide" itemprop="articleBody" role="main" style="color: #222222; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative; width: 600px;"><div class="article-metadata-wrap" style="float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px 30px 0px 60px; position: relative;"><aside class="single-photo expandable-collapsed" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 20px; position: relative; width: 180px; z-index: 100;"><div class="image-wrap" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; box-shadow: rgb(200, 200, 200) 1px 1px 5px; cursor: pointer; padding: 3px; position: relative;"><img alt="flipboard" class="expand-img-horiz" itemprop="url" src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2013/03/14/xxx-flipboard25-4_3_r536_c534.jpg?1b79b3da202957124496e3768cfb7b67cdb10c81" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 131px; vertical-align: middle;" /><span class="toggle" style="background-image: url(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/static/images/sprites/asset-sprite.png?1359747063); background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; bottom: 0px; height: 21px; position: absolute; right: 0px; width: 21px; z-index: 200;"></span></div><div class="image-credit-wrap" style="color: #646464; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 6px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px;"><span class="credit" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: 400;">(Photo: Flipboard)</span></div></aside><div class="article-metadata" style="position: relative;"></div></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">On Wednesday, <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/personal/2013/03/13/google-reader-shutdown/1986337/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/personal/2013/03/13/google-reader-shutdown/1986337/">Google announced it was shutting down several services</a>, including its popular Reader application. <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/personal/2013/03/13/google-reader-shutdown/1986337/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/personal/2013/03/13/google-reader-shutdown/1986337/">The company cites</a> declining usage and a shift toward a smaller selection of Google services.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Naturally, Reader's impending shutdown has sparked discussion on whether this marks the end of Really Simple Syndication (RSS), content feeds users can follow on readers such as Google's software.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">But social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have played a big role in how we consume content. Now that users can follow websites through social outlets, RSS is becoming less popular.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">That's no consolation for the many users who love Google Reader, which is a great way to follow multiple websites within one destination. Fortunately, there are alternatives. Here's a look at four of them:</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b><a href="http://www.feedly.com/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.feedly.com/">Feedly.</a></b> This free RSS reader combines the organizational qualities of Google's software with a magazine-style design. Feeds are easy to add and organize, while a Today tab makes it simple to scroll through the latest news of the day. Feedly is available as extensions on the Chrome, Firefox and Safari browsers, and there are mobile apps for Android and iOS. If you prefer the traditional list view of headlines in Google Reader, Feedly allows you to adjust. Although the service relies on Google Reader's API, developers say they are creating their own version that will take its place when Reader shuts down July 1.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b><a href="http://www.pulse.me/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.pulse.me/">Pulse.</a></b> Another visually friendly reader with complimentary Android and iOS apps, Pulse delivers content in a tile format, with stories appearing in a series of photo tiles. Click on a link with image and read the fuller story. Once in the full read mode, users can tap the left or right arrows to move to the next story. Twitter and Facebook buttons sit on top for quick sharing. The process for adding feeds is similar to Google, although Pulse does not appear to have an option for importing Google Reader feeds. When logging in for the first time, users can also opt to follow specific subjects, such as sports, technology or politics.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b><a href="http://flipboard.com/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://flipboard.com/">Flipboard.</a></b> The "social magazine" for iOS and Android boasts a gorgeous design similar to a digital magazine. Users swipe left to right to navigate as if they're turning the pages of a magazine. Along with adding RSS feeds, users can add their Facebook and Twitter feeds to give them a more dynamic, visually appealing experience. The only drawback is the service is mobile only, so look elsewhere if you want a Web-based option.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b><a href="http://twitter.com/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://twitter.com/">Twitter.</a></b> Yes, this isn't a RSS reader, but the social network is a solid "outside the box" alternative for users wanting to keep up with the news. My approach is creating Lists based on topic and adding accounts I follow. So, I may have one List for tech news and another for business news. It's a great way to separate them from your standard feed, especially if you follow a lot of accounts. Another advantage: users can choose Twitter's primary site and mobile apps, or choose from several Twitter clients for the browser, smartphone or tablet. While users lose the ability to read cleaner versions of articles without visiting the source website, it's a solid option if you're already comfortable with Twitter.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b>Update at 10:57 a.m.:</b> Among some other options to consider: <a href="http://www.netvibes.com/en" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.netvibes.com/en">NetVibes</a>, <a href="http://www.newsblur.com/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.newsblur.com/">NewsBlur</a>and <a href="http://www.skimr.co/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.skimr.co/">Skimr</a>. Thanks to readers for weighing in.</div></div></div>

Google Reader Four alternatives to Google Reader

Brett Molina, USA TODAY 10:57a.m. EDT March 14, 2013 (Photo: Flipboard) On Wednesday,  Google announced it was shutting down several service...

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‘Veronica Mars’ Movie Meets $2 Million Fundraising Goal in One Day

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Kristen Bell on " src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/03/14/arts/veronica/veronica-blog480.jpg" /><br /><br /><div class="w480" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 480px;"><span class="caption" style="color: #666666; display: block; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.2727em; margin: 3px 2px;">Kristen Bell on “Veronica Mars” in 2007.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">In its three seasons on the air <a href="http://www.thewb.com/shows/veronica-mars" style="color: #666699;">“Veronica Mars”</a> was never even one of television’s Top 100 most-watched series, but in its afterlife it has broken new ground. On Wednesday night fans and supporters of that show about a wisecracking young sleuth (played by Kristen Bell) pledged more than $2 million to produce a “Veronica Mars” movie, less than 12 hours <a href="http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/seeking-funds-for-movie-creator-of-veronica-mars-turns-to-kickstarter/" style="color: #666699;">after the fundraising drive was announced</a> on Kickstarter.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Rob Thomas, the “Veronica Mars” creator and producer, <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/559914737/the-veronica-mars-movie-project" style="color: #666699;">announced</a> on Wednesday morning that he and Ms. Bell had got the blessing of Warner Brothers (which owns the “Veronica Mars” property) to seek donations for a possible movie project. Mr. Thomas told fans they had 30 days to raise $2 million for “our shot” at producing a film, adding, “I believe it’s the only one we’ve got.” And by about 9 p.m. that goal was met, with pledges continuing to come in on Day 2. (As of 9:30 a.m. Thursday the project had been promised more than $2.5 million from more than 42,000 backers.)</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Mr. Thomas wrote in his Kickstarter announcement that he would put any additional money to good use. At $3 million, he said, “We can afford a full-on brawl. Ten million? Who knows… For some reason the Neptune High class reunion takes place on a nuclear submarine! A Hobbit shows up! There’s a Bollywood end-credit dance number! I’ve always wanted to direct Bill Murray. We’ll figure out something cool. Hey, if that total goes high enough, I’ll bet the good folks at Warner Bros. will agree a sequel is a good idea.”</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em;">In a post on his Twitter account, <a href="https://twitter.com/RobThomas/status/312004036696092674" style="color: #666699;">Mr. Thomas wrote</a>: “Hallelujah! It’s a green light my friends. I love you all, but particularly the donors among you.” Production for the “Veronica Mars” movie is planned to begin this summer for an early 2014 release.</div></div>

‘Veronica Mars’ ‘Veronica Mars’ Movie Meets $2 Million Fundraising Goal in One Day

Kristen Bell on “Veronica Mars” in 2007. In its three seasons on the air  “Veronica Mars”  was never even one of television’s Top 100 most-w...

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Disguised Jeff Gordon test drives car with a salesman

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Q5mHPo2yDG8?feature=player_embedded" width="640"></iframe><br /><br /><div style="background-color: #fefefe; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">(CBS News) While it might like a perfect fit for you and the price may be right, <i>everyone</i> needs a test drive before they purchase a new car. But what happens when that test drive is being done by NASCAR superstar <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffGordonWeb" style="border: 0px; color: #024382; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Jeff Gordon</a> in disguise? The ride of one salesman's life, that's what.</div><div style="background-color: #fefefe; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="background-color: #fefefe; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"You are liable for any damages, sir, so please stop the car!" Priceless. The hilarious, thrill ride was posted by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/Pepsi" style="border: 0px; color: #024382; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Pepsi </a>who write about the hidden-camera prank:</div><div style="background-color: #fefefe; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><blockquote style="background-color: #fefefe; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 30px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">Jeff Gordon and Pepsi MAX go to a car dealership where a disguised Jeff Gordon takes an unsuspecting car salesman on the test drive of his life.</blockquote><div style="background-color: #fefefe; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><span style="background-color: #fefefe; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Sure, it's a marketing gimmick, but it's the kind I can get behind. I mean, did you see the look on that poor salesman's face? I honestly felt bad for him, but was still laughing hard. How about all of you? As always, feel free to leave me some comment love below with your thoughts. </span></div>

Jeff Gordon Disguised Jeff Gordon test drives car with a salesman

(CBS News) While it might like a perfect fit for you and the price may be right,  everyone  needs a test drive before they purchase a new ca...

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On Pi Day, finding strength in numbers

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="234" id="ep_496" width="416"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="movie" value="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_embed_2x_container.swf?site=cnn&profile=desktop&context=embed&videoId=us/2013/03/14/dnt-piece-of-pi-314.cnn&contentId=us/2013/03/14/dnt-piece-of-pi-314.cnn" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000" /><embed src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_embed_2x_container.swf?site=cnn&profile=desktop&context=embed&videoId=us/2013/03/14/dnt-piece-of-pi-314.cnn&contentId=us/2013/03/14/dnt-piece-of-pi-314.cnn" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="416" wmode="transparent" height="234"></embed></object><br /><br /><div class="cnnEditorialNote" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Editor's note:</strong> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/DanielTammetAuthor" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Daniel Tammet is on Facebook</a> and his personal website is <a href="http://www.danieltammet.net/" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">danieltammet.net</a>. <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_tammet_different_ways_of_knowing.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Watch his TED talk here.</a></em></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(CNN)</strong> -- In Daniel Tammet's mind, three is a dotted green crescent moon shape, one is a sort of white sunburst and four is a blue boomerang. Every number has a distinct color and shape, making the number pi, which begins with 3.14, unfold like a beautiful poem.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">For math enthusiasts around the world, March 14 (3-14) is <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/03/12/pi.day.math/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Pi Day</a>, honoring the number pi, which is the ratio of circumference to diameter of a circle. On Thursday, Tammet is promoting France's first Pi Day celebration at the Palace of Discovery science museum in Paris.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tammet's relationship to this number is special: At age 25, he recited 22,514 digits of pi from memory in 2004, scoring the European record. For an audience at the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford, he said these numbers aloud for 5 hours and 9 minutes. Some people cried -- not out of boredom, but from sheer emotion from his passionate delivery.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"What my brain was doing was inventing a meaning, like a story," Tammet said. "What I did was make a poem or a novel out of pi, and took those colors and those emotions and used them to perceive patterns, or at least to perceive patterns in my mind that were memorable, that were meaningful to me."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Many people around the world -- including me -- have been interested enough in this number, or in memorization itself, to see how many digits they can bank. Pi has infinitely many digits with no discernible pattern, yet it mathematically explains the shape of all circles. This makes memorizing it a difficult, yet somehow meaningful, challenge.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Serious pi memorizers such as Tammet have become fascinating subjects of study for scientists, too. They bring up fundamental questions about innate ability vs. learned skills. Are the brains of people with superior memory somehow different? Or can anyone learn thousands of random digits?</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/13/pi-day-how-3-14-helps-find-other-planets-and-more/" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How pi is used in real science</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Making meaning out of number</strong><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">s</strong></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Superior memorizers, according to the research of K. Anders Ericsson, professor of psychology at Florida State University, have three special skills. They use knowledge and patterns that they already know to encode information in their long-term memory. They associate that information with retrieval cues, so that they can trigger the information again. They also get faster at all this by becoming better at encoding and retrieval through intense practice and effort.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">This theory appears to explain Chao Lu, who set the current world record for pi recitation at 67,890 digits in 2005, at age 23. Creating associated meanings in numbers played a big part of that. He used mnemonics relating to the sounds of numbers as well as the shapes or meanings of particular digits and images, according to a 2009 study by Ericsson and colleagues.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Strangely, if presented with one number at a time, at one digit per second, Lu's recall is no better than the average person's, Ercisson and colleagues found. With that rate of presentation of numbers, he is forced to rehearse numbers in his head just like everyone else, Ericsson said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2012/03/14/national-pie-day/" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Sweet recipes for national pi(e) day</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">But with large blocks of numbers, it's a different story. Lu and a previous pi-memorizing record holder, Hideaki Tomoyori, who recited 40,000 digits of pi, have said they linked words or images to groups of two, three or four numbers. Then they created stories connecting them. Tomoyori practiced daily, spending between 9,000 and 10,000 hours total memorizing before his recitation.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">A rare case was Rajan Mahadevan, who set a record at 31,811 digits of pi and did not report using any mnemonics. When tested by researchers, it appeared he sequentially memorized numbers in blocks of 10. While some argued that Mahadevan may have an innate ability to memorize, Ericsson and colleagues found in their experiments with Mahadevan that he learned his unusual methods for memorizing numerical patterns after a thousand hours of practice.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Amateurs have their own methods and perceptions. Lulis Leal, 47, of New York, is also getting in on the pi memorization action. Inspired by a CNN iReport assignment, she is up to 314 digits and<a href="http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-940885" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">recorded herself reciting them</a>.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph16" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"It's a visual thing," she said of pi. "It's just a picture that I see -- a line going up and down."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Listening to Leal's recitation is jarring for me because I hear it in a different rhythm, as though it were a song with the down-beat on every other digit. When I was a teenager I saw a website suggesting pi could be a song, with one as middle C, two as D, three as E, etc. This helped me get up to 178 digits in college, winning me a T-shirt.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph18" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2009/03/13/pi-day-and-american-pi/" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A Pi Day song: 'American Pi'</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph19" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The neuroscience of expert memor</strong><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">y</strong></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph20" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">There's no straightforward control over what we remember and what we forget; we all wish we could remember some things and forget others. But it is possible to train as a mental athlete, and there are entire competitions around that, said Joshua Foer, author of "Moonwalking With Einstein" and memory championship winner.</div><a href="" name="em1" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></span><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt cnn_strylftcexpbx" id="expand121" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 27px 0px 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="clickToPlay" id="clickToPlayvideoContainerexpand121" style="background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/video/416_player_Click_to_play_off.png); border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 42px; left: 45px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 27px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 136px; zoom: 1;"></div><img alt="" border="0" class="box-image" height="120" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120608035513-ideas-josh-foer-story-body.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="214" /><cite class="expCaption" style="background-color: black; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; bottom: 0px; height: 20px; left: 10px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0.85; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 214px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: white; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; left: 4px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Memory myths since Socrates' time</span></cite></div><a href="" name="em2" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></span><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt cnn_strylftcexpbx" id="expand221" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 27px 0px 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="clickToPlay" id="clickToPlayvideoContainerexpand221" style="background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/video/416_player_Click_to_play_off.png); border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 42px; left: 45px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 27px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 136px; zoom: 1;"></div><img alt="" border="0" class="box-image" height="120" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120608053352-ted-joshua-foer-feats-of-memory-00180815-story-body.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="214" /><cite class="expCaption" style="background-color: black; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; bottom: 0px; height: 20px; left: 10px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0.85; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 214px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: white; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; left: 4px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Feats of memory anyone can do</span></cite></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph21" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Why do people memorize pi? Why do people climb Mount Everest? You don't need to do it," Foer said. "There's something about wanting to see how far you can go and how much you can push yourself."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph22" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/10/opinion/foer-ted-memory" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Foer: How to train your mind to remember anything</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph23" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">For memorization, it helps to find meaning in the information and tie it to multiple senses, such as auditory and visual, said Dara Manoach, associate professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph24" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">An area of the brain called the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex gets activated when you're holding information online -- for instance, keeping a phone number in your head until you can write it down or call it. Associating a number with sensations, and integrating it with existing knowledge, engages more neural systems and helps you store the information.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph25" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Studies of people with exceptional memory have not found any structural differences between their brains and those of people with average memory, Ericsson said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph26" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">But researchers have found differences in the activation of certain brain areas in exceptional memorizers. The patterns reveal at the neurological level how people with "good memory performance" are associating new information with things they already know, such as familiar numbers like area codes or other semantic information.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph27" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ericsson's take on becoming an expert at something, such as memorizing pi, is deliberate practice. His research basis for the idea, popularized by Malcolm Gladwell, is that it takes 10,000 hours to achieve expertise. But Ericsson pointed out that this was based on studies of musicians in top groups who spent an average of 10,000 hours at practice. That means some spent more time and some spent less.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph28" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"To win an international piano competition, I calculated that you need about 25,000 hours of piano training," Ericsson said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph29" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">That doesn't mean there aren't people who can just memorize numbers without connecting them with anything else -- but, said Ericsson, "so far I've yet to see anybody who is willing to be tested."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph30" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/03/14/pi.tau.math/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On Pi Day, is 'pi' under attack?</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph31" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">A coincidence of sense</strong><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">s</strong></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph32" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">There are, however, ways in which Tammet may inherently have a different approach to numbers than most pi memorizers.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph33" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tammet has high-functioning autism, a developmental condition associated with impaired social communication and repetitive behaviors or fixated interests. On top of that, he has <a href="http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/17/on-the-brain-when-numbers-have-color-synesthesia/" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">synesthesia</a>, meaning he experiences a mixing of senses and perceptions -- specifically, he sees words and numbers as colors and shapes.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph34" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/01/health/mental-health/autism-asperger-diagnoses-profile" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">With autism, no longer invisible</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph35" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">In an analysis of Tammet's case, published by Simon Baron-Cohen and colleagues in the <a href="http://docs.autismresearchcentre.com/papers/2007_BC_Savant_J%20Consc%20St.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Journal of Consciousness Studies in 2007</a>, researchers wrote that both autism and synesthesia, while different, are associated with an excess of neural connections; it's possible they have a "common neural abnormality." They also proposed the idea that autism and synesthesia together may have increased the likelihood of Tammet's savant memory. More research is needed to support both these ideas.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph36" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Foer's book questions whether Tammet has used mnemonic methods to memorize digits of pi and other information, just like everyone else without synesthesia. But Julian Asher at the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge, who studied Tammet, said synesthesia is "fundamental to his feats of memory." Recalling pi for Tammet is like "walking through a synaesthetic landscape in which different numbers are represented by geographical features, and 'reading' them off as he goes," Asher said in an e-mail.</div><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr cnn_strylccimg300" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px 22px 20px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px;"><div class="cnn_strylccimg300cntr" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 169px; margin: 0px 0px 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px;"><img alt="Daniel Tammet, 34, recited more than 22,000 digits of pi in 2004. He has high-functioning autism." border="0" class="box-image" height="169" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130313104452-daniel-tammet-story-body.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Daniel Tammet, 34, recited more than 22,000 digits of pi in 2004. He has high-functioning autism.</div></div></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph37" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tammet grew up as the oldest of nine children. The stimulation he received from his large family probably helped him develop social skills, he said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph38" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"If I hadn't had that love and that patience and that support from an early age, I might not be where I am today, certainly," he said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph39" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">As a child, he was called "private," "shy" and "timid." He also had epileptic seizures, and took medication until he grew out of them.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph40" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"When he sat on the carpet during story time, with his eyes tight shut and his fingers in his ears, picturing numbers in his mind and their shapes and colors, whilst the other children looked at each other or at the teacher and listened to the story, (Tammet) was in some sense in a world of his own," Baron-Cohen and colleagues wrote.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph41" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://geekout.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/23/geekiness-and-autism-is-there-a-connection/" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Geekiness and autism: Is there a connection?</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph42" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">In high school, Tammet learned about pi and thought it was beautiful. But when he talked about it with his classmates, they didn't understand. For them, pi was just a number. It didn't have any color or beauty or emotion.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph43" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"That's when I had a perception of the world, of words, of numbers, that was different," he said. Secretly, he started memorizing digits of pi.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph44" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2013/03/14/pi-day-25-years-in-san-francisco/" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">San Francisco museum celebrates 25 years of Pi Day</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph45" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Finding life throug</strong><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">h</strong><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> pi</strong></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph46" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">At age 25, Tammet finally felt confident enough to "share all those years of loneliness, all those years of battling with this condition, with my autism, all the years of also experiencing this tremendous beauty, this emotion."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph47" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">He spent about three months learning thousands of digits of pi, which he saw as an emotional experience, being transported into another world.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph48" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tammet's achievement of the European record for pi recitation wasn't about showing off, he said. First and foremost, he wanted to accomplish something that meant something to him personally. He was able to reach out to people without autism, without synesthesia, and communicate to them in a new way. The event also benefited an epilepsy charity.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph49" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"When the digits darken in my mouth — heavy eights and nines packed together — the tense distant faces grow tenser still. When a sudden three emerges from a series of zeroes and sevens, I hear something like a faint collective pant. Silent nods greet my accelerations; warm smiles welcome my slowdowns," he wrote in his book "Thinking in Numbers," which comes out in the United States in July.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph50" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">At the pi recitation, Tammet realized he had a gift of communicating, and that set him on the path to becoming a full-time writer.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph51" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The pi memorization event also led Tammet to Baron-Cohen and colleagues, who made the diagnosis of high-functioning autism. It explained the difficulties he had with communication and social skills as a child.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph52" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">He has not recited pi since the 2004 event, but still appreciates the beauty and wonder of the number enough to promote Pi Day in France.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph53" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"You can find a lover's telephone number. Your date of birth. Your Social Security code. You can find everything in pi," he said. "It's big enough to have all of life inside of it."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph54" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Want to memorize pi? <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/03/12/pi.digits/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Here are 10,000 digits</a>.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph55" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/space" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">More space and science news from CNN Light Years</a></div></div>

Pi On Pi Day, finding strength in numbers

Editor's note:   Daniel Tammet is on Facebook  and his personal website is  danieltammet.net .  Watch his TED talk here. (CNN)  -- In Da...

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Petstop

I'm very lucky to work near to a great pet shop.<br /><br />While popping in to pick up food for Bones I saw this.....,<br /><br />Yes! They are Easter Eggs for dogs!!! <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhyOjUhVZBtVAsDwfKVzlHIGrhEpuOw_bv2GCqCbI_y3VLoH-IOmBmyg8nvIuK6gyYYhNsXLyqYkhXnloaelQ3CQ2QxJHlPd1zmYedk2q3GMmb71u6dYWThYNCP5xjGCl2nc29UKgwq4fs/s640/blogger-image-1877817455.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhyOjUhVZBtVAsDwfKVzlHIGrhEpuOw_bv2GCqCbI_y3VLoH-IOmBmyg8nvIuK6gyYYhNsXLyqYkhXnloaelQ3CQ2QxJHlPd1zmYedk2q3GMmb71u6dYWThYNCP5xjGCl2nc29UKgwq4fs/s640/blogger-image-1877817455.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUvyZLntkBEK9oVvZzgxTjXaCZrUqcPz-isngMz5HnKwI4HpRNuDRl4ujFcVJkBHkPu2BTtLoDpVtq7zAxzh5rbyNq5jYBdl6femL6WPS2bnnKTSL9j01Y-5yr_qLAKFj7RU9RWGpUYDpI/s640/blogger-image-1261808098.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUvyZLntkBEK9oVvZzgxTjXaCZrUqcPz-isngMz5HnKwI4HpRNuDRl4ujFcVJkBHkPu2BTtLoDpVtq7zAxzh5rbyNq5jYBdl6femL6WPS2bnnKTSL9j01Y-5yr_qLAKFj7RU9RWGpUYDpI/s640/blogger-image-1261808098.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7fM-pBZ_DHyx5Rw2Vmy0bjqgR2nE3JyLojYA2FlL7iYDAdOreoCFZObcPjlM9GNaHQLAi-4EjTLbB13vFXr1McuszO9z-si-zaTrXKU8Id5ExKd5n6YzfSapcfpfW0APOBS-raU9e3mJI/s640/blogger-image--570358772.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7fM-pBZ_DHyx5Rw2Vmy0bjqgR2nE3JyLojYA2FlL7iYDAdOreoCFZObcPjlM9GNaHQLAi-4EjTLbB13vFXr1McuszO9z-si-zaTrXKU8Id5ExKd5n6YzfSapcfpfW0APOBS-raU9e3mJI/s640/blogger-image--570358772.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8wi7TVyQQrso4CAk36m-F9G09mJEq0hEJj8iDZIHpGC3DacpgCBquAg-nymx2gt4I4ZyuorB3CdBMDRjpAXTZQ2R90MC9IIqLsqG3KqWED99x2gMHBVbmcWc5iBI8V_VqLfKiREkPMDHM/s640/blogger-image-255769346.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8wi7TVyQQrso4CAk36m-F9G09mJEq0hEJj8iDZIHpGC3DacpgCBquAg-nymx2gt4I4ZyuorB3CdBMDRjpAXTZQ2R90MC9IIqLsqG3KqWED99x2gMHBVbmcWc5iBI8V_VqLfKiREkPMDHM/s640/blogger-image-255769346.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYJGpN1lfafhN6ND5LDLedCr2qAbH36uhWVWtGFKspAKti4eOVVNQfBpyHrLbqd-uiQMtZOAkXMa7z33OIs3kvWnMNlcY_WAcgr9fmR0pZ5Q2er8irJFvtwr5jdfX3EINqE24eRwsw7xeU/s640/blogger-image-49224574.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYJGpN1lfafhN6ND5LDLedCr2qAbH36uhWVWtGFKspAKti4eOVVNQfBpyHrLbqd-uiQMtZOAkXMa7z33OIs3kvWnMNlcY_WAcgr9fmR0pZ5Q2er8irJFvtwr5jdfX3EINqE24eRwsw7xeU/s640/blogger-image-49224574.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkwQdECayicII_x7nDYzN-hyvzYleIWSfGGmEd-yLMhTyXPVX8sNuKwMJuQFMiJukjGtm7KVQU83MNutaCauUZCK5VCkN21IWiB1mKiI3KSRyB77JyMpIEV74whDldfJFsbxCExPCDF2C4/s640/blogger-image-1588617697.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkwQdECayicII_x7nDYzN-hyvzYleIWSfGGmEd-yLMhTyXPVX8sNuKwMJuQFMiJukjGtm7KVQU83MNutaCauUZCK5VCkN21IWiB1mKiI3KSRyB77JyMpIEV74whDldfJFsbxCExPCDF2C4/s640/blogger-image-1588617697.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3aT2oN3VH_pRGKKkqQNgF9VaoQZhNBxd7__nOm7uLYKC9CiDyTi-DkZSXzP4Qc3PWurrqbCqYbEzzdZEofoFEJstndIAfjgKH-diw9kCTkR-97h6klcPB4nLDwXzl-3S_SRUSPiGk7WFx/s640/blogger-image-1577227528.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3aT2oN3VH_pRGKKkqQNgF9VaoQZhNBxd7__nOm7uLYKC9CiDyTi-DkZSXzP4Qc3PWurrqbCqYbEzzdZEofoFEJstndIAfjgKH-diw9kCTkR-97h6klcPB4nLDwXzl-3S_SRUSPiGk7WFx/s640/blogger-image-1577227528.jpg" /></a></div>

Petstop

I'm very lucky to work near to a great pet shop. While popping in to pick up food for Bones I saw this....., Yes! They are Easter Eggs f...

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Join the Partners in Learning Network at www.pil_network.com

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_4ebN-LGBaqmQM6SlvJ3a3KlgTg2oQ9Md4ClzD02TjspQyYtQOYRCt88LqYFzxohKtUo_jvb4-PRXHvCWe-W-m0rxHi1SbalP9lwYBxxnfxsKCLxgmVTz-icEkNAZq2atw9ywIU-ptcY/s1600-h/image%25255B19%25255D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="86" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlA9wkpFMA0oBY-qu8S19PDcdsYHAp6IOAuPRiH-W5RIfDHpUCMYTUV4xM2f9wRpTBkZTJUfiLCT0DXTyEc9-HAob5oZZ9McJVe9nsvR7dBtsGv89PenItFKDHmil9AMONVE_Yk9CrPzc/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="240" /></a></span></div><i><br /></i><i>Submitted by Megan Rademeyer of Schoolnet</i><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Microsoft Partners in Learning Network has been re-launched and is well worth visiting to access the Microsoft Learning Suite tools and lesson plans; to get support from tutorials and online professional development and to connect with other teachers to share resources and to discuss hot topics. The Partners in Learning Network is also the place where teachers who are entering the 2013 South Africa and Lesotho Microsoft Partners in Learning Forum will need to go to upload their Learning Activities.<u></u><u></u> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u></u><u></u> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To find out more about what is available at <a href="http://www.pil-network.com/">www.pil-network.com</a> click here…<u></u><u></u> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u></u><u></u> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To join the Partners in Learning Network, go to <a href="http://www.pil-network.com/">www.pil-network.com</a><u></u><u></u> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once you are there you can register using your Windows Live ID, Office 365, Facebook, Yahoo, or Gmail account. If you don’t have any of these, you can create a Windows Live ID. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">  </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6g70xlgAL1TW5LxfrKDwIGulvDmqmjnoNkTAT5UYm4h3tFqNMaLjx2IUbfBJR9hGaixje5BYzOiI6m_tD9bMr74Qs-h2DmMUZk5QXNo41ixRexBKRwrZh3nuIFgLzibnYpFwy269ShcA/s1600-h/image%25255B5%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvCgWSe_EtM6PGp_wFaWbx33RpdPSqtHN9ojpynZEThYcyS5hkt_GzfYmzM7AjjwFSuMs-mI1duQfawrh84IAjnIFlLzYlv63iCg0RRMyhs9yBFCUlfPlxUunDdWJ5vDTm8PPlK2mOVec/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u></u><u></u></b> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">  </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u></u><u></u> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The homepage gives a sense of what is available. See what new tutorials there are, join a popular discussion, stay connected, see what the focused teacher has been up to or access the free tools. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY62IZ2rjYNF7f4OZewvNAN8TOZQu6VU3AJ23xIPBAth37lTWHcBl3VfylomJDBgCwhQgGvzJ-_6mLDomFhN2j4_HymNeifiB_gNCGU5vzS05kUHdiDxXzlQsuf_Hh2Ul60AS_SKQxgvo/s1600-h/image%25255B8%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmMZaVoza1V-bZWddIq21QiHypib0IiQV7TbCgAo2QCp8HjgJqQYc6SFjrmdASZqQLfr39P3QZUfwtAmzgZL8bsDgfTiFq5fZlTbcD34xqODlgyYWspLHq6gz3FjBbeOdJxPTXF6bchlU/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u></u><u></u> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is definitely worth completing your profile so that others can find you and see what common interests you share. This may lead to a collaborative project or other teachers finding you to discuss one of your resources.<u></u><u></u> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u></u><u></u> </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAehZFMpQ1OqY1rvlaOfrlV_AM8yTdqBBVbwq9FsTZ0AUnLJBmCnnjIyMANWOeqHJHgRxaqQ8kQuOdStgfF-PXqAMxlDJyEEXw-rwHVgR0_mQKRk3v7o2cCM6jJPwtnI7ieND3YCC1PbI/s1600-h/image%25255B11%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEMV2lJGbBYtFJx4xmPwbQnQFIP72yWZX8uTIieMP5U8ojtG6KkMI0iSNcyLqf1lS1xW44EsMtMHApyNycNky2n6dGc22sKO6ZeajLBiGg8Q37Lij93ZsElFm-lhFo_AUNEfZIApqCj7g/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u></u><u></u> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can join community discussions that interest you – or you can start your own discussion on a new topic.<u></u><u></u> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u></u><u></u> </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVLFfKhKoqck5Yuj7T77h0kMiadd7shgBiYU1fWSenPANSrefaqFA-1Yn4OdKyrtR_x8RripyxbDDsUcqM8NfvqyAAJTRTEGA_G4SZsGwxgXvCapiumjkW0NfSCfwJnMWqnHnKCJm83zs/s1600-h/image%25255B14%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_gQIdFy34GO5QSV2J5A-zZyeJVWWoW4o7vtwfrRAG6h29ighrK8aT486e1g9bKiIlmZbj46uA5BAVijBB-EVE6FsDN6MmSh8Y20ry3UzPiGn7SqhOPqG15e3Z9HYzMLDS9ZHaRFPlNd0/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u></u><u></u> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, let me encourage you to please join and take a good look around; and stay in touch with new developments on the Partners in Learning Network </span><br /> <br /></div>

Microsoft Join the Partners in Learning Network at www.pil_network.com

Submitted by Megan Rademeyer of Schoolnet The Microsoft Partners in Learning Network has been re-launched and is well worth visiting to acce...

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The Benefits of Mobile Health, On Hold - NYTimes.com

The world now has 5 billion mobile phones – one for every person over 15. Africa has a billion people and 750 million phones, and mobile is growing so fast there that in a few years there will be more phones than people. In some countries this is already true — South Africa has 47 million people, but 52 million SIM cards.<br /><br><br /><br>The mobile phone is doing more than revolutionizing communication. It has the potential to improve many aspects of life in poor countries: commerce, health, agriculture, education. As we say repeatedly in Fixes, there are a lot of great new products that poor people can use to improve their lives. The problem is that it's very difficult to get those out to people who need them. The same is true with information. It's there, but people can't get it, because they lack Internet service and electricity and the electronics that require these things. Delivery is the problem. It's almost always the problem.<br /><br><br /><br>Until now. Now we have the mobile phone, a pipeline that can be used to bring information to everyone in the world – not just information, but any product that can be chopped up into electronic bits.<br /><br><br /><br>Most people, of course, use basic handsets, not smartphones. But such phones are plenty useful. Money can be chopped up into electronic bits, and with mobile banking services like Safaricom's M-PESA in Kenya, millions of people who had no access to banking services now send and receive payments through their mobile phones. (Kenya, with 10 million households, has about 15 million active users of M-PESA.) Because mobile phone banking is instant, safe and trusted, it has also opened the door to other services — for example, it is persuading small farmers to adopt crop insurance.<br /><br><br /><br>Since a lot of health revolves around information, public health experts had high expectations for the mobile phone. Hundreds of projects throughout Africa and South Asia are testing the various ways phones might make people healthier: by texting advice or sending voice messages to pregnant women, texting reminders to AIDS patients to take their meds, tracking the spread of diseases, allowing community health workers to keep records electronically and variations on all these themes. "We had this techno-utopian optimism," said Gustav Praekelt, a South African software developer who runs a foundation aimed at making technology to solve the problems of the poor. "The moment someone's got a mobile phone we can make all this information available and we will just magically see all the behavior change we want to see."<br /><br><br /><br>But roughly a decade after the start of mHealth, as the mobile health field has come to be known, these expectations are far from being met. The delivery system is there. But we don't yet know what to deliver.<br /><br><br /><br>In the vast majority of cases, if mHealth projects have been evaluated at all, they've been evaluated for feasibility – does this system work? will people use it? – rather than impact on health. Sometimes it turns out that people won't use it. Living Goods, which sells health products in Uganda, tried to get its franchisees to track client interactions on mobile phones. "What we saw as an enormous opportunity to improve impact and sustainability, the agents saw as more work," Living Goods president Chuck Slaughter wrote on a Skoll World Forum Web site debate on scaling up mHealth. The saleswomen had to share their phones with family members, so they didn't always have them. And most didn't know how to use their phones for anything but making and receiving calls. (Living Goods has solved these problems, but is still short of its goal of universal adoption.)<br /><br><br /><br>When programs have tested health outcomes, the results have usually been dismal. Several recent meta-studies combed through published literature to find studies testing whether mobile phones could improve the health caredelivery process or help patients manage their diseases better. Success was extremely rare. A third study concluded: "We found some, albeit very limited, indications that in certain cases mobile phone messaging interventions may provide benefit in supporting the self-management of long-term illnesses."<br /><br><br /><br>Even the successful programs, moreover, tend to be tiny islands. The pilot is successful in a small group of clinics – but the project can't grow. The reason could be that it uses an operating system that doesn't mesh with the nationwide system. Or it requires a platform that can handle a few users, but not a whole lot at once. Or it would be too costly. For example, it might rely on donated phones or worse, on smartphones. The cost of sending text messages alone may make a small project impossible to scale up.<br /><br><br /><br>The proliferation of pilots has gotten so chaotic that at least two countries, Uganda and South Africa, took the extraordinary step of banning further mHealth pilots, at least until each government can set its health strategy and technical specifications and make sure that the projects fit. (Here's amap of pilots in Uganda that eloquently explains why.)<br /><br><br /><br>Mobile phones deliver more than information, of course. Suddenly everyone has a device with a camera, computer and connectivity – and the potential to become a piece of portable, cheap health care equipment. In 2009, scientists had already made a microscope capable of diagnosing malaria and tuberculosis from a mobile phone fitted with an inexpensive eyepiece and lenses. A new version made from an iPhone 4 with an $8 lens attached with double-sided tape has just been tested in Tanzania and was not great, but pretty good, at diagnosing hookworm – a first step.<br /><br><br /><br>Aydogan Ozcan, who runs an electrical engineering lab at U.C.L.A., has developed small attachments to cellphones that can serve as a sophisticated microscope, diagnose common diseases, detect pathogens such as E. coli and sniff out allergens. The phone can also send reports to a Google Map server to plot the spread of disease (it's only meaningful, of course, if enough people use the system). Perhaps most intriguing, his lab has developed an online game in which players undergo a brief training, then examine slides of cells to guess if they are infected with malaria. Dr. Ozcan found that a group of nonexperts came within 1.25 percent of the accuracy of an expert, opening the possibility that a crowd of amateurs could perform remote diagnoses when experts are scarce.<br /><br><br /><br>This technology will no doubt sell in the rich world – the United States Army, Dr. Ozcan says, is particularly interested in portable rapid diagnostics. But these products – although far cheaper than laboratory models – are likely to still be too expensive for widespread adoption where they are most needed.<br /><br><br /><br>It is too early to write off mHealth, a field that is still young. Studies move slowly but the pace is picking up; Patricia Mechael, executive director of the mHealth Alliance, says that a lot of new research should be finished in the next year.<br /><br><br /><br>And important lessons are emerging from the evidence already in. Success should mean better health outcomes – so that is what programs need to measure. Virtually every project that has been able to grow has included lots of different partners, including the government and the private sector – mobile phone providers, for example.<br /><br><br /><br>One of the few projects that has been successful on a large scale is Mwana, which now covers virtually all of Zambia and Malawi. Many babies are born to H.I.V.-positive women, and testing whether these babies are H.I.V.-positive and getting the results back to their caregivers used to take weeks. The Mwana program trains health workers to send the information by text message – cutting the total time by more than half. In addition, fewer results are lost.<br /><br><br /><br>What makes Mwana work? "Incredible simplicity," said Erica Kochi, the co-leader of tech innovation for Unicef, which is one of the partners in the project. "It's not trying to replace the health information system. For its users, it makes things easier rather than adding more complexity to an already difficult, challenging health system."<br /><br><br /><br>Mwana, like the other programs that have been able to grow, was also designed from the beginning to be able to work on a large scale. The program employs community health workers' own mobile phones and an open-source SMS platform.<br /><br><br /><br>It was also developed with its users – Mwana's designers moved for a month to the town of Mansa, Zambia, near the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and built the system alongside local community health workers. This co-creation may be even more important when an mHealth project works with patients instead of health workers. "We spend tons of time under the mango tree in Ghana working on refining the messages," said Tim Wood, the director of mobile health innovation at the Grameen Foundation. One of its programs, Mobile Midwife, (see the program'slessons learned), uses text and voice messages to provide health advice to pregnant women in Ghana. "It took many, many rounds of going back – even now we're looking at how people are using messages and refining them."<br /><br><br /><br>The moral of this story is perhaps the single most important lesson in mHealth: the technology is the easy part. An mHealth project is just as complicated as any other health project, just with a phone attached. "The tech is only as good as the people it is connecting or system it's connected to," Mechael said. "We can get excited about the shiny new object, but the real impact comes from thinking about the cultural and professional context in which it's being implemented."<br /><br><br /><br><a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/the-benefits-of-mobile-health-on-hold/">http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/the-benefits-of-mobile-health-on-hold/</a>

The Benefits of Mobile Health, On Hold - NYTimes.com

The world now has 5 billion mobile phones – one for every person over 15. Africa has a billion people and 750 million phones, and mobile is...

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Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 03/14/2013

<ul class="diigo-linkroll"> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-57574201-233/google-reader-is-dying-but-we-have-five-worthy-alternatives/">Google Reader is dying, but we have five worthy alternatives | iPhone Atlas - CNET Reviews</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">Alternatives to Google reader. I just need to find one that has the features to integrate with Mr. Reader and Diigo and do all that I do with it. Oh dear. Very frustrated.</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/apps">apps</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/google">google</a></p> </li> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3006993/most-innovative-companies-2013/say-farewell-google-reader?utm_source=twitter">Say Farewell To Google Reader | Fast Company</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">This is horrible news to most bloggers I know as many of us use Google reader and the apps that go with it like Mr. Reader and Feedly to pull information out of the web. RSS is one of the most useful features of Web 2 and I'm really unhappy w/ Google. iGoogle was a mistake, this a travesty. Google needs to read outliers and the mavens who use tools. I'll be researching new rss tools. This is ridiculous. ""While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader," Urs Hölzle, SVP Technical Infrastructure wrote. "Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four months.""</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/apps">apps</a> <a href="https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/google">google</a></p> </li> </ul><p class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href='https://www.diigo.com'>Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher'>here</a>.</p>

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 03/14/2013

Google Reader is dying, but we have five worthy alternatives | iPhone Atlas - CNET Reviews Alternati...

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Web Tools #30: Add speech bubbles to a photo online and then download the photo

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKSslAbAfX36gre4ursOB9zaLFkfKFLo-G2Br-QsIrPJhYlW-pCA4mUgFFvHiMZbgDfu5ZADpSixaRGBUwNvPetIajfuL4RyA7Xq5IHeqskTx7GZ3Y_aMxJG2JpZRcJSl78QPO86nnyrw/s1600/phraseit.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="60" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKSslAbAfX36gre4ursOB9zaLFkfKFLo-G2Br-QsIrPJhYlW-pCA4mUgFFvHiMZbgDfu5ZADpSixaRGBUwNvPetIajfuL4RyA7Xq5IHeqskTx7GZ3Y_aMxJG2JpZRcJSl78QPO86nnyrw/s320/phraseit.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Submitted by Fiona Beal. </i></span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the last in my series of 30 Days of Web Tools series - but of course I continue adding many web tool posts in the days to come</i><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I came across the coolest website today called Phrase.it (<a href="http://phrase.it/">http://phrase.it.</a>)  It is a very easy to use tool where you simply upload your photo (or select it from Facebook), add your bubble and text and then save it.  Let’s go through it.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>1. Open Phrase.it</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu-uq8myMbPAl9t_WIpLxWK9Ub43lQ7-aW1Hgjm2etsday3_LKB58OTAITmCCi4ijcN3s2A6suD3QuhxE-8wuu9nm1GmwabOkTqE7q-puA5Ejz26WnVG_JoTgT-UVhwBZq0kRsy95_gwI/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>2. Add your photo</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can import from Facebook, upload one or use a random stock photo. I added one from the TeachMeet in East London on Tuesday. I notice that the image must be over 400kb. Phrase.it gives you little messages as it uploads – it goes very quickly. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am using a photo from the TeachMeet at East London on Tuesday.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYrK_wg0puoaQ7GdXYYeOm7VImGhNKm0y0OGjnDzZ0KzFLyhm6I5_RSx9MGbBgE-QytSb9C1on8f6L6nqXTIWkFbdsNXYqm5x3aoulmUJb14auEF2v4etDcuwNnw1Gd9DiIrkBkRWdC8U/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></span></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>3. Add your speech bubbles</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiES3C7hLjKjuakabFxMPDCHn5zN5BH6d8evLP4DSlrLnFVJgzqnIcL4VZ6NEr9qV0WtzWi9xUARnzC11EYWT69oQ_ahZiDAG0UCjXAtDI-JROn90kTG2gxT0OfWdNuBTJA0gKz3MWSJq8/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></span></div><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>4. Preview what you have done</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnYMcVS3RFsfFC0eozlfypmqnbj3M3DN-17Gr2uuL75p1xHAbbRRNKtzxaQAQr6u2IWP5KKKby6dl67QScieIyoHo1vGkgbB9-McLq8Z8EjaGDV45hZxlVRQzeekSi-_XbLefLesS8Nzo/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></span></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>5. Save and download</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You have various options. One is to email it. I chose download. A little box comes up as you download to see if you want to display it on any social media.  There is also an option to make an optional monetary donation. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA0NKmfycLieTsSei6vZ7Wo6SNjCGCpJCG6LhP3JYhigSUaQYZAaUPNT4_U2H8GLTPUWzE-rdhtMy-pVXNZKkvM1uI3IIAromZloBfvSaOsj12GENI4f1FnMl3UJ_T5pu2ELF2RiYexEM/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="77" /></span></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>6. View the final result</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="qvc9fq" border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiKtQDvluGaICh9jOwtysy82nvIL5FmBay02i7tDcITPiCN_6-o0g7uFj30wASoFzVvB1Qk1DuP_RT7uUL4l5Gz5OtrbPtoYyY0aaTbV5NQ1qo-V0Z0wYFtkwSSjmdkb3qyPKiG4Ma13A/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="qvc9fq" width="400" /></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I must confess, I need to play around with it a bit. I couldn’t get the speech bubbles to go any smaller, for example. I also couldn’t raise them so that the end bit didn’t overlap with a person’s face. But I love this idea of adding speech bubbles to photos quickly. Phase.it is quick and easy. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Classroom use</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Use this in the classroom for a board display. <br />2. Let your students upload a photo of themselves and add something that says something about themselves, their charactger, their opinion etc. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Just have fun with it.</span></div>

Phrase.it Web tools Web Tools #30: Add speech bubbles to a photo online and then download the photo

Submitted by Fiona Beal.  This is the last in my series of 30 Days of Web Tools series - but of course I continue adding many web tool posts...

Read more »