Audible

Ok, so most of you already know what Audible is, but are you using it?  

Believe me, I love BOOKS!  I love the feel of a book in my hands, turning the pages, seeing it on the shelf, using unique book marks, etc.

I didn't think I would use something like audiobooks much, but I was WRONG!  It is so great to download that baby to your iPod and listen to it while doing mundane tasks that use your eyes, but not your full attention.  Fold laundry and listen to that history book you've been meaning to re-read.  Do dishes while listening to some escapist fiction.

I'm addicted already.  Give Audible a try!

Smilebox

One new little service I've just loved for education and plain 'ole fun is Smilebox!

What is Smilebox?
Smilebox is a fun and engaging service that connects you with family and friends using your photos and videos. It's free, easy to use, and the results are amazing.

What can I make with Smilebox?
With Smilebox, you can create animated scrapbooks, photobooks, slideshows, postcards, and ecards for any occasion, and email them to anyone.

Is it free?
Yes, you can personalize and email or blog any design for free. You can also do more by purchasing the premium version of a design or joining Club Smilebox. Click here to see what you can do!

We've done some class photos with Smilebox and I used it at Christmas. I love that when I upload pics to iPhoto it automatically opens up Smilebox to use them!

Drop in and check it out!

Weebly

Poor neglected blog!  I apologize for not getting more goodies up sooner.

Today we have Weebly!

Weebly is a great way to create a site and get free hosting online.  It's simple and easy to use, but don't let that fool you - it's also quite powerful!

Take a look!

Hulu

Hulu

Ok, I know.  You're thinking this isn't educationally related.  Just for fun, huh...  

But wait a minute!  We're talking about educating with technology.  Ever want your students to watch a great movie about history, but couldn't take class time and realize asking them all to rent it was an impossibility?  Have them watch it on Hulu!  Go to the History channel on Hulu and see what all they have available!  It's mind-boggling...

Assign your students some Hulu and see at least a few happy campers!

Viewzi

Viewzi

A new way to search.  It's not like google or yahoo, but its much more visual and customizable.  

Check out viewzi for your next search!

Blambot

Blambot

Need a unique, comic book style font, for free?  Look no further than Blambot.  They have a huge selection (note - some of them are for fee)!

Privnote

Privnote

Want to feel like you're on Mission Impossible...

Try Privnote

You send a note and self destructs after they read it.  Cool, huh?

Remember the Milk

Remember the Milk

This slick little service allows you track tasks and projects and sync them.  It works well with other apps, especially GMail.  It's still in Beta so expect occasional issues and updates.  It's a handy little app for quickly entering or retrieving a to do list.  

Some of the things you can use it for include google calendars, you can twitter a message to it, email it, voice mail, etc.

Kaltura

Kaltura

I haven't really had time to play with this much yet, but with classes getting ready to start I thought I'd go ahead and post it.

Kaltura offers collaborative video editing online for free.  I can think of a million uses for this service.  Since I haven't gotten to play with it (and work with others) I'm not sure of the ease of use, but the idea is brilliant.  

Adobe Buzzword

Adobe Buzzword

This online word processor allows you to work collaboratively with others and access your documents from any computer.  It's definitely a handy tool and free!  It allows mac and pc users to work together online without having to convert everything back and forth.  Love it...

Awesome Highlighter

Awesome Highlighter

Do ever want to have your students read an article and highlight certain parts?  Maybe its very long and you just want them to cover some of it...  Try Awesome Highlighter.  Nothing to download; you do it all online.

Twitter

Twitter

I've heard twitter called microblogging, but that's not very explanatory for some.  Twitter is one of those things that you either just get, or you don't.  Basically you make short posts (of less than 140 characters) and follow others posts and they follow you.  The best way to learn about twitter is to just sign up (Free!) and try it.  I have found that its often a faster way to get info about current events and tech support than most forums.

LibriVox

LibroVox

I stumbled across this little gem a ways back.  They have a great selection of books in the public domain (most of the 'REAL' classics are there!) available for download.  I like to subscribe to them via iTunes and listen on my iPod.  It's a quick and convenient way to review something I haven't read in awhile, but I think he may help reluctant readers.

Moodle

Moodle.org

Hard to describe, so I'll use their description:

Moodle is a course management system (CMS) - a free, Open Source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities. You can download and use it on any computer you have handy (including webhosts), yet it can scale from a single-teacher site to a University with 200,000 students. This site itself is created using Moodle, so check out the Moodle Demonstration Courses or read the latest Moodle Buzz.

Flickr

Flickr

Obviously not specifically an education app, it serves some great purposes.  You get free online (limited) storage and can upgrade at a fee for more.  Flickr has great plug ins for many other apps.

Evernote

Evernote.com

How do I explain evernote?  It's a way to keep all the data, photos, notes, phone numbers, etc. that you run across everyday but can't ever find when you need them.  It lets you organize this info with tags.  There's so much more.

Here is a link to their own description: www.evernote.com/about/what_is_en/

del.icio.us

del.icio.us

del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site.  What does that mean?  Not only can you organize your bookmarks with multiple tags, find them on anyone's computer via the internet, but also share them.  You can look up what other people are tagging similarly.  It's a great way to find new sites.

Dipity

Dipity.com

Dipity is free online timeline app.  It can bring together your online history (through other apps) or allow you to enter your own data.  The timeline can be personalized for you (with your own websites, blogs, etc) or about a historical event, a group, etc.  History teachers in particular could be THRILLED with this one!

Jott

jott.com

What a great little tool!  I love being able to give jott a call and leave a message and find my little email waiting when I get home.  This neat little free app is for reminders.  It's hard to explain how many cool uses it has, but wiki has a pretty good one.

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

Drop.io

Drop.io

What a great site for file sharing with students and fellow teachers.  You can even conduct online meetings.  Drop.io is accessible via file upload, emailing, sms, voice mail, the internet.  You can rss subscribe to the drop or have email alerts when anyone adds to it.  You can even subscribe to it via iTunes as a podcast.  

To learn more about drop.io go to: www.http://drop.io/tutorial