New and not so new

Air Dropper I think I’m in love with this one. It works with DropBox to help others share files with you.  If you’re already using DropBox to store important files online,  you know how easy it is to post a file there and use a public URL to share a file with others. But what happens when YOU need a file from someone else and they’re not using DropBox or any other similar tool? Air Dropper to the rescue. You use it to send an email requesting a file. The email contains a secure link to a page where the owner of the file can upload it quickly and easily. No muss, no fuss. So simple and elegant.

via twitter: @rmbyrne

Interesting Ways Looking for some great uses for iPads in the classroom? Or how educators are using Google Earth, Prezi, QR Codes, audio, Voicethread? And more! In this series of presentations that started in 2008 (I think), Tom Barrett has crowd-sourced ideas from the educators around the world. Contributors create slides with their own ideas in the shared Google Docs presentations.  Take a gander, get some great ideas and share your own ideas!

Browserling provides an easy and free way to preview web sites in a variety of browsers. Not just a screen shot of what it will look like, but an opportunity to take your site for a real test-drive in different browsers/versions. Browserling runs all the browsers within your own browser window. If you sign up for a free account, you’ll have 5 minutes to explore before it times out. (Right now it’s very overloaded from all the publicity it’s been getting.)

via twitter: @acmorton

Edistorm -  A terrific brainstorming tool. Place notes on the virtual wall, others can join in and add their thoughts. Notes can be grouped together, colors changed to help visually sort ideas. Participants can vote on ideas and top ideas can be easily pulled together. Edistorm also suggests more keywords based on what you’ve added to the screen. Free & paid plans.  (via: gwynethjones)

What happens when you join your own join.me sesssion!

join.me – Very handy way to share your computer screen with someone else. Do you call a friend when you need help with something on your computer? Now share your screen with them at the same time.  This free and very easy to use tool lets you show your screen while you talk to them. They can’t actually take control of your desktop, but they could talk you through a problem. Or use it to get advice on something you’re working on. (more…)

Some more odds & ends!

Blackbird Pie

A new way to capture individual tweets to post on your web page or blog posts.

To make a handy image like this one, you could use a screencapture tool, crop to size and upload the image to your blog or website. Not too hard, but not as fast as with Blackbird Pie. Just grab the URL for a tweet and pop it into Blackbird Pie. Youll get a chunk of code that you just copy and paste to the place where the image should appear.

NOTE: to get the URL for a twitter post, click on the date when the tweet was posted. It’s just below the post. And I confess that I didn’t notice that for ages!

Google had a makeover!

Another update to the Google Search page. All the search options are still on the left, they’re just being displayed a bit differently. Which is a very good thing! Seems many, many people hadn’t even noticed the link to “More Options” that has been there for almost a year now. Terrific that these search refinement options are much more visible now.

E.ggTimer

Ever say things like “take have 5 minutes to work on the next exercise” I do, but I never time it. Sometimes I should and now I can. Check out this handy and easy to use egg timer. Here’s a 5 minute timer. Love it! (via: lemasney – twitter)

Throughout the week, I play with lots of different tools and resources that are either new or more likely, just new to me.  I often intend to write blog posts about them, but usually don’t get around to it! So I’m going to try to do an occasional blog post with short entries about various tools & services. That way I won’t lose track of interesting new stuff that often ends up buried in my bookmarks. Good intentions… we’ll see. If you find this useful, let me know so I’ll have incentive to keep doing it!

• embedr – This video playlist tool is about a year old. Use it to create a playlist of videos from a variety of video sites and embed the player on your website. Playlist can be created from individual videos entered one by one, or from YouTube playlists or user accounts. I came across this tool while looking for creative ways to present groups of screencasts. (via: The Distant Librarian)
• Blogger Template Designer – Blogger now has an easy to use template designer. Sign in to  your blogger account via http://draft.blogger.com/. On your Layout tab, you should find a link to the Template Designer. From there choose a template (more…)