Clif’s Notes

Notes from Clif

I’ve made some additions to the blog. Take a look and let me know what you think, please.

• You can view the newly added photo album by clicking on the corresponding link in the Blog Navigation menu.
• I’m currently developing my consulting and contact pages (HELP!).
• Several new resources are available under the Clif’s Resources menu including: a free subscription to my educational technology email newsletter, access to my Google Reader Shared Items, and my Pageflakes and Twine profiles which are likely to become quite active during EduBloggerCon, NECC, and Teaching and Learning with Web 2.0.
• A lot is happening at Clif’s Wiki, too.
• Of course, the blog’s entire theme has been under development for about 3 weeks, now.

Wimbledon starts on Monday. I’ll post my predictions before it begins.

Suggested Reading

Diigo’s Psychotic No. 1 Fan - Miguel Ghulin

The Last Professors - Inside Higher Ed

Gravatar Spices up Your ID

Several of you have inquired about using an icon/avatar with your comments on this blog. Clif’s Notes uses globally recognized avatars through Gravatar. All you need is an email address and your Gravatar will be be available at this and many other blogs on the Web. Setup takes about 60 seconds and is completely free. Get started here.

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Resources

Gravatars, Identicons, and You - Stack Overflow

Gravatar’s on AnotherGuy’s Weblog - AnotherGuy’s Weblog

Leave Audio and Video Comments

I meant to mention a few weeks back that Riffly.com is up and running again. That means that you may once again easily leave video and audio comments on Clif’s Notes. This is a free service and I welcome you to take advantage of this technology. Simply click on the corresponding links in the Comments section and follow the on-screen directions to leave your audio and video responses.

Here are examples of Riffly in action.

Firefox Is the Browser of Choice

This blog does not support Internet Explorer! Web developers have to add special coding to webpages and blogs to keep things from going wonky in Internet Explorer, although everything will look perfect in other browsers without the special code. I’m tired of fooling with it. There are several better and more secure browsers available and I don’t think anyone should be using IE anymore. Here’s the perfect opportunity to switch to Firefox (The browser I recommend using). Download today and help set a new world record.

Listen to RSS Feeds

Jott has added another useful feature to its list of services. Jott feeds makes it possible for you to “listen to your favorite news & RSS feeds, like those from your favorite blogs, Twitter, Google Calendar, or Facebook, all from your phone.” Like everything else from Jott, this service is very simple to use and it works well.

I see positive potential for this free service to be used in education and by those that have visual impairments, have difficulty reading, spend time commuting, and more. It could also be useful to learners that learn best through audio, to help students “hear” their writing during the editing process, to practice pronunciation and for public speaking as well as many other examples. While this particular service may not make its way into many classrooms it is exciting to know that the technology has arrived and consider the possibilities such tools and services bring to teaching and learning.

I set the service up for this blog. It took about 30 seconds. Would any of you be interested in using it?

Additional Resources

• Introducing Jott Feeds - Jott
• Jott Reads Feeds to Your Cell Phone - LifeHacker

New Cyber-Home

After more than 10 years of cyber-living I have finally decided to take up a permanent residence. Clif Online is now the place to go for all-things-Clif. It is a work in progress and I have BIG plans for it. Unfortunately, this project falls very low on my list of priorities and responsibilities, so there is no telling what will become of it.

Most of you that have arrived here are probably more interested in my blog, Clif’s Notes. Well, you are looking at it. Congratulations on making it here. Please make a note of this in your bookmarks, links, del.icio.us, Diggo, etc. The RSS feed and email subscriptions should continue working without any modifications on your end, so there is no reason to worry about that. Please jump in and make these an even richer community than before.

All the best,
Clif