Category Archives: google

Google Street View now in the UK

Today Google launched their infamous Street View here in the UK, covering 25 UK cities including Bristol (but not Gloucester or Cheltenham).

Google Street View now in the UK

Google today announced the launch of Street View for 25 cities in the UK, allowing users to view and navigate 360 degree street-level imagery for places including Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Manchester, Oxford and many more (full list below).

Street View was first launched in May 2007 and is hugely popular worldwide with imagery available in the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, France, Spain, Italy and from today the UK and Netherlands. It is also available in Google Earth and on Google Maps for Mobile.

In areas where Street View is available, you can access street-level imagery by zooming into the lowest level on Google Maps, or by dragging the orange “Pegman” icon on the left-hand side of the map onto a blue highlighted street. You can check out a restaurant before arriving, make travel plans, arrange meeting points, get a helping hand with geography homework, or just explore and get to know your town better.

So if you are ever going to a conference or an event, Google Street View allows you to see what the place looks like from the street (hence street view).

Still thinking about the possible learning activites which could use this function of Google. If you have any ideas, please post a comment (or two).

Where am I?

On Friday the 27th February I gave a few online presentations (conferences) for the MoLeNET programme.

One was on GPS and location based learning.

Presentation on on GPS and location based learning using mobile devices, it covered some of the GPS devices out there and how location based learning can be used.

G2 Google Phone

Vodafone and Google at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona have announced the G2 HTC Magic, the second Google phone.

G2 Google Phone

The BBC reports

A new phone based on Google’s operating system Android has been unveiled by Vodafone at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The touchscreen HTC Magic will feature a 3.2 Megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, and GPS, but no slide-out keyboard.

The G2 phone does not have a keyboard like the G1, but does feature improvements to the Android operating system which have come from user comments who use the G1.

Actually it’s not called the G2, but the HTC Magic!

Google Android on the Asus EeePC

2008 saw the release of the Google G1 phone using the Android operating system.

Though the battery life was slammed by many the operating system was praised as very innovative.

It would appear that Android was not just developed for mobile phones according to Venture Beat, who have installed Android on an Asus EeePC.

Google Android on the Asus EeePC

The image above shows a netbook Asus EEEPC 1000H running on Google’s mobile operating system Android. Huh? You thought Android was for mobile phones, right? Well, as we’ve written before, Google is planning to use Android for any device — not just the mobile phones.

The article shows how the development team installed and could run Android on the EeePC and speculate that we will see Google Netbooks running Android in 2010!

Top Ten Web Tools of 2008

This is a list of web tools which I have used extensively over the last twelve months. The reason for the list was partly down to the lists Steve Wheeler has been posting on his blog, and a prompt from him on Twitter. This is not an exact copy of Steve’s format I have also been working on a list of devices as well, which hopefully will be a second post later. I do quite like this format which gives an opportunity to review and share the tools which have made a difference to the way I work and have enhanced what I do.

Here are my top ten web tools in reverse order.

10.    Google Docs

I had kind of forgotten how useful Google Docs is for working on documents (as well as presentations and spreadsheets) and have now started to use it much more than before. The downside is that you need to be connected (though I believe Google Gears will allow offline working). The main way I use Google Docs is to write a document that I know I will be working from on multiple computers. Now I know I could use a USB stick, but it assumes I have the same application on all machines, which is not always the case. For example my work machines have Office 2003, fine, but my Mac has Office 2008 (the newer version), my home Mac only has Pages, my Samsung Q1 only has Open Office as does the Asus EeePC. Sometimes the PC is runing Office 2007. Using Google Docs allows me to have a single copy of a document, share that document and export or print in variety of formats. For example I can download my document as a PDF. In planning for the e-Learning Stuff podcasts we have been using a Google Spreadsheet to plan topics and times. For collaboration and working together, nothing really beats Google Docs, in many ways I think it is better than Sharepoint based on what I have seen on Sharepoint.

9.    Crowdvine

For me a conference is much more than the sum of its parts. It is much more than the keynotes, the presentations and the workshops. It’s the discussion, the coffee breaks, the small group working, the conference dinner and following up afterwards. What I like about Crowdvine is that it allows you to supplement a conference in a similar way to the coffee but doing it online. Though I used Crowdfine at the JISC Conference 2008, it really came of age at the ALT Conference in Leeds.

8    Remember the Milk

If you are like me you have a lot of different tracks happening all at once, college events, projects, conference submissions, workshops to prepare for, training; then keeping on top of all the things you need to do and deadline can be challenging. I had tried Outlook Tasks but the webmail version didn’t work as I needed to, so I tried Remember the Milk. As well as the web based interface (which means I can use any computer) I can also use it on my iPod touch as it is also available as an iPhone app (if you have the pro account). Very easy to add tasks and deadlines and as a result overviews are easy to see. Main result has been, I am meeting more of my deadlines.

7.    Evernote

You could ask what does Evernote have that Google Docs doesn’t? There are some features of Evernote that I really like which for note taking beats Google Docs. It has Tablet PC support and I really like the Tablet PC format and the ability to scribble notes. It also has an iPhone app which means I can make notes on the move. There are apps for both Macs and Windows which along with the web app means it doesn’t matter which computer I am on, I can access, edit and print my notes.

6.    Flickr

This year, having had a Pro account for a year, renewed my subscription for another two years. I have nearly 1500 photographs on Flickr covering a range of topics and events. From an events perspective I think Flickr adds so much more to an event. It can capture the event in ways that can’t be caught in any other way. Flickr is not only a great way of storing photographs, also a great place to find photographs, and many images on this blog are from photos from Flickr which are creative commons licensed to allow me to use them on the blog.

5.    Shozu

This was nearly my number one web tool. What Shozu does for me is when I ever take a photograph using my Nokia N95 I can immediately upload the image to Flickr. With a little preparation I can add relevant tags (or edit tags on the fly) and it will also add the geo-data using the GPS on the N95. What this means is that when I am at an event I can take lots of photographs and people who want to see what is going on can easily see from my photographs. It also allows me to capture my day in a kind of lifestream giving me a record of what I have done, who I have met and where I have been. I also Shozu to upload photographs to Facebook, video to Seesmic, and I have also used it to upload content to my blog.

4.    Wordpress

Though a blog is seen as a one to many form of communication, I do enjoy writing mine and over 50,000 views later, I get the feeling quite a few people enjoy reading it as well. I use a WordPress.com blog for many reasons, the main is convenience. As it is web based all I need is a browser to write a blog entry, though there are other tools such as Shozu and the WordPress app on the iPod touch which also allow me to write. I paid $20 for the space upgrade which as well as letting me upload audio and video files, also does a very good job of converting my films into Flash Video. The quality is certainly much better than YouTube, and I can embed the video on other sites as well. The stats are useful in finding out how people are finding the blog, likewise comments allow feedback.

3.    Qik

“This is James Clay, live on the internet” those were the immortal words uttered by me at the MoLeNET Dissemination Conference and broadcast live over the internet using Qik. At the time of writing nearly five hundred people have viewed that video which when you know only three hundred were at the conference, shows the power and potential of tools such as Qik. Basically Qik is a service which allows you to stream live video from your phone to the internet.

2.    Twitter

Though I joined Twitter nearly two years ago, this year (with lots of other people joining) it has really come of age to me. I use Twitter in various ways, as well as informing my community that I am drinking a coffee, I also let them know about various (what I think are) interesting things I am doing.  I tweet about blog posts I have made. I also use Twitter as a back channel at events and conferences, finding out what is going on and what I find interesting. However telling people is only half the story, maybe even as  little as 20% of the  story. The other key thing about Twitter is about communication, responding to other tweets, having a conversation. Responding to what others have written, or acting on what others have written.

1.    Jaiku

Though I like Twitter, I still much prefer Jaiku for functionality and the conversation. Jaiku is everything that Twitter is but with threaded conversations. Want to respond to a message of mine you can as a comment and all comments for that one message can be found in one place. You can also add RSS feeds to Jaiku which allows for responses to your blog posts, flickr photographs, news feeds, music, whatever RSS feeds you have. Jaiku also has channels which work like hashtags on Twitter, but channels are separate to your main feeds, so a conference backchannel won’t clutter up your Jaiku feed. I also think you need to “do” Jaiku for a fair amount of time (and commitment) to get some real value from it. There is value from incidental chat, what is incidental for me, may be new and innovative for you and vice versa.

So Jaiku is my number one web tool of 2008, what’s yours?

Top Ten Web Tools of 2008

e-Learning Stuff Podcast #010: Let’s take a note

So what is it about Google Docs and Evernote and other online office type applications? Why are they useful for learning? What can we use them for.

This is the tenth e-Learning Stuff Podcast, Let’s take a note.

[audio:http://elearningstuff.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/elearningstuff010.mp3]

Download the podcast in mp3 format: Let’s take a note

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

In this show, James is joined by Dave Foord and Nick Jeans.

Shownotes

Let's take a note

Flash Player for the Google G1

Flash Player for the Google G1

Okay so it is possible for Flash to run on a Google G1, previously in the blog I mentioned the lack of a Flash Player on the Google G1. According to Engadget:

At Adobe’s MAX event this morning, none other than Andy Rubin himself helped to demo Flash running on a G1, proving that it’s possible.

It would seem that Adobe and Google are working together.

Adobe and Google are pooling their collective noggins to make it happen

Good news.

Wonder if we’ll see Flash on the iPhone.

e-Learning Stuff Podcast #006 – You say Asus and I say Asus…

This is the sixth e-Learning Stuff Podcast, You say Asus and I say Asus…

[audio:http://elearningstuff.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/elearningstuff006.mp3]

Download the podcast in mp3 format: You say Asus and I say Asus…

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

In this show, James is joined by Nick Jeans, Kev Hickey, Dave Foord, David Sugden and Lisa Valentine.

The discussion starts off looking at the role of the Asus EeePC and other netbooks on e-learning on colleges across the UK. The discussion also looks at the variety of presentation software now available from PowerPoint to Keynote, Open Office to Google Docs. Then there is other stuff as well…

e-Learning Stuff Podcast #006 - You say Asus and I say Asus...

Shownotes

  • The Asus EeePC is one year old.
  • Case Study: Using Mobile Technology to Encourage Independent Study (John Leggott College).
  • The ZoomStorm FizzBook which has a handle like the OLPC.
  • ZuiPrezi is a zooming presentation editor which allows you to easily create stunning presentations. With the help of ZuiPrezi you can create dynamic and visually structured zooming maps of texts, images, videos, PDFs, drawings. ZuiPrezi has a very intuitive interface and support for online sharing.
  • Create professional video for the classroom with the click of a button! Animoto combines your images and music to produce video with the visual impact of a music video.
  • Using Flowgram you can create interactive guided presentations by combining web pages, photos, Power Point and more with your voice, notes and highlights.  Viewers can control the pages, scroll, click on links, view videos and more. An example Flowgram that was made by James.
  • Wikipedia definition of a mind map.
  • Mindomo is a versatile Web-based mind mapping tool, delivering the capabilities of desktop mind mapping software in a Web browser – with no complex software to install or maintain.
  • Pecha Kucha is a presentation format that allows just twenty slides and twenty seconds for each slide. The presentation from James he delivered at the Pecha Kucha session at Handheld Learning 2008.
  • Dave Foord’s excellent cameraphone!
  • Nice article on how to use web based office tools offline.

Photo source.

No Flash player on the Google G1

After posting my video of my first experience of touching the Google G1, I went back and looked at it again.

This time I got to have a go on the keyboard and it worked quite well, a little small for me and I did hit the wrong key now and again and all I was doing was entering search terms into Google.

According to the rep I spoke to there is no Flash player on the Google G1.

This surprised me, however the problem arose due to the cost of providing a player on the phone.

I decided then to try out YouTube and see what happens, and what you get is a similar experience to the iPhone in that the phone downloads the video and plays it outside the browser in the media player. The quality was similar to the experience on the iPhone (well the iPod touch).

I also got a photo of the Google G1 next to the iPod touch.

No Flash player on the Google G1

One of the quotes that I like about the differences between the iPhone and the Nokia N95 came from quoted by Josie Fraser. EDIT: original blog post from which the quote came and Ian’s blog posting which references it.

You use the iPhone to consume content whilst you use the Nokia N95 if you want to create content.

This I agree with owning both an iPod touch and the Nokia N95.

If I want to watch video, listen to audio, see photographs or browse the web, the iPod touch wins out every time. There is no camera and no microphone so almost impossible to create original content – though the iPhone does have a (still) camera and a microphone.

Whereas on the Nokia N95, the browsing experience is painful unless you are using mobile sites. Video works as does audio, but as it doesn’t interface with iPhoto, images have to be organised manually on the phone. However in creating content, the N95 wins out, great camera for both stills and video. Third party applications allow you to get those images and films out onto the web, I use Shozu, Qik and Seesmic to do this.

So what has this got to do with the Google G1?

Well I am wondering if the Google G1 could be the first phone which is good at both creating content and consuming content.

Experiences so far show that content consumption works well on the G1, certainly viewing video and browsing the web was pretty nice and easy to do.

I did use the camera, but did not have a chance to create some content, but as the platform is relatively open I suspect we will see third party applications such as Shozu and Qik very soon.

Looking forward to getting one (if possible).

Overall I am still impressed with the phone.

Feeling and touching the Google G1

I have felt, touched and used the Google G1.

Here’s the proof…

First impressions? Well I am impressed.

The web browsing experience is very nice, same kind of touch interface as the iPhone, but with the addition of a scroll wheel which means you don’t need to use your finger unless you want to.

The keyboard is quite small, but looks quite usable and certainly more usable than the numeric keypad of phones like the Nokia N95.

The camera works as would be expected from a cameraphone, I did think that the quality could have been better, but the iPhone and N95 are just as “bad” so it’s not really a disadvanatage.

It was only a quick hands on, so didn’t have a chance to try other features or applications.

It will be in the shops in the UK on the 1st November, and for new customers will be free on £40 per month contracts, on cheaper contracts you will need to pay for the phone.

For existing customers (ie me) a different story depending on your contract, where you are in that contract and how much you pay per month.

It is different to the iPhone, but I am seriously considering getting one now.