Last Saturday at art class was kind of frustrating. It all started with my composition of what should have been a simple, basic still life consisting of a pear, lemon, and apple became three blobs of color. I’m also having a lot of trouble mixing colors. I’d pretty much given up on this one about ten minutes into it, but within the confines of my class I was kind of stuck. So I slogged my way through and this was the best I could do. I really wish I’d started with a different composition–that might have made this a touch more salvageable.
So I was given a little extra homework to do this week. In addition to the full-color painting everyone’s been assigned, I was asked to do another one color plus white (like we did the first week). So this is what I came up with. It’s better than the fruit disaster, I’ll say that much. I might try this same composition in black and white, in addition to a full color of something else later in the week.
I spent three days last week at the MACE MTI Conference in Bonner Springs, Kansas. There were some really slick presentations I hope to write more about soon, and a couple of total duds (Apple’s podcasting presentation probably did more of a disservice than anything to their wonderful suite of tools for this application). What excited me most, though, was meeting people who are really using technology in their schools. Where I work we constantly get reports that teachers are still petrified of technology. Granted, this conference was attended by the high-achievers, but overall I don’t buy it anymore. Folks at MTI represented all sizes schools, all grade levels, all ages, and all subjects. And they were extremely receptive to new ideas.
Anyway, I don’t want to keep going because it will turn into a rant–so let me just say that I’m excited about pushing an envelope or two and helping the people I met last week keep ahead of the game.
After many disappointing efforts to edit my screencasts in iMovie, only to have the software totally munge the video quality during the conversion to one of its native formats, I finally hit upon the right string of Google keywords to find what I needed to know. Simply put, you need to determine your resolution up front, specify that resolution in your screen capture software, and render the video in a codec that works well for this type of footage (I’ve read recommendations for both Apple Animation and Apple Intermediate).
Screencasts, of course, are mandatory for any online software training these days. We use this technology extensively in the Stratepedia Learning Labs to provide short-and-sweet how-tos for our own, web-based software and other apps we use. They’re also easy to incorporate into a Moodle-served course–just upload a video clip (or link to a file on a streaming server) and you’re good to go.
This tutorial provides the low-down. I use Snapz Pro as opposed to iShowU, but the same principles apply. I did a couple of tests this afternoon (one at 640 by 480 and one at 720p) and they both turned out beautifully. So now we get to redo our video clips–on the one hand kind of a bummer since much work has been put into them, but on the other a chance for us to one-up ourselves, even providing clips in high definition. These are going to look beautiful on our site, now that I’ve taken a shine to using pop-up windows in Moodle to display video clips and slide shows.
Today I finished my first oil painting. I’m enrolled in a six-week class at the Lawrence Arts Center. We were presented an angular head to sketch and then paint using only black and white paints, focusing on sharp and smooth lines.
This is what I came up with. I guess it’s OK. Honestly, I think the photo of it looks better.
Everybody knows I use Moodle quite a bit, but what they might not now is I now use Keynote exclusively for anything I’m doing that’s slide-y in nature. Hey, if it’s good enough for Steve Jobs it’s good enough for me.
One of the things I like about it is just how easy it is to export the file into multiple formats. For a presentation I’m doing later this week I’m going to use a Moodle “course” in tandem, to distribute my files and hopefully keep the conversation going after everyone’s gone home. My presentation is actually several smaller presentations. I’ve been serving them up in both PDF and Flash formats. The latter is particularly useful–here’s what I’m doing:
- Export the Keynote presentation in Flash format.
- (optional) Open the HTML generated by Keynote and change the dimensions of the Flash container to, say, 800 by 600, or another size if necessary. This does involve getting into the HTML, but the only things you need to change are the numbers–everything else can stay the same.
- Log into your Moodle course and enter the Files area (in the Administration block). Upload both the HTML and the SWF files that were generated by Keynote.
- Turn editing on in your course, then add a File resource. Point it to the HTML file. Have it open in a new window, (optionally) turn off all the resizing, menu bars, etc., and make the window size 850 by 650 (or something appropriate to what you set the dimensions to in step 2).
That’s pretty much it. Not too difficult, huh? I love it when the tools actually make life a little easier.
My favorite feature of the iPhone rotates daily. Right now it’s the built-in camera. I know, it’s not that innovative–but I have to say, it’s nice being able to take respectable photos on the spot without lugging around an SLR (or even a standalone point-and-shoot). And it’s leaps and bounds higher in quality than what was included in my old phone.
For example, today I was out walking downtown and stumbled across a Ferrari show. 20 or 30 cars from local owners were on display. While it would have been fun to practice my skills with my SLR, it wasn’t with me. My iPhone was, though. So now when I say, “hey, I think Tom Magnum was staying at the Eldridge!” I have a visual to go along with it:
Less exotically, the reason I was out and about in the first place was to look around at trucks. I plan to buy one in the fall, but on Sundays the dealerships are closed and you can wander around and look without sales pressure. The iPhone’s camera was handy for my notes on what to buy–I’ve got each truck and its data sheet stored away in iPhoto for when the time comes. This one, maybe?
Being able to e-mail photos directly from the phone is also nice, especially when sharing quick snapshots with Betsy while she’s in Paraguay. But I’m looking forward to the day when Flickr supports direct uploads.
Hey, guess what. I bought an iPhone last week.
I wasn’t really planning on it, but you know who it is–you’re in the market for a smart phone, existing smart phones (the ones Sprint offers, anyway) suck, your contract has been up for months, you’re at the Apple Store at the Galleria, one of the geniuses explains how it’s really not that hard to switch carriers–and next thing you know, you’ve bought an iPhone.
And you know what? I like it. Quite a bit. I know it’s got its shortcomings. Here are some of my favorite things so far:
- Maps: The Google Maps implementation on the iPhone is great. Unlike the Palm version, it’s easy to get directions and actually follow them. I like having a list view for easy reference on the road, and the zoom out/zoom in feature is a nice touch to keep Point A in perspective with Point B.
- Web 2.0 applications: People who complained about the lack of an API aren’t quite getting the big picture. This is the way application development in general is going. I’m excited that the door is now open for longtime web developers like me to be able to develop top-notch software for handhelds (not to mention desktops), and that others are getting in on this as well. (37signals’ iPhone implementation of Ta-da List is excellent).
- It works with my Macs! Sure, the Missing Sync is pretty dang good at providing the Mac support Palm seems to not care about. There were still hoops to jump through, though, and straightening out conflicts was a regular activity. No more–now I plug in my iPhone and it syncs. No fuss, no muss. Awesome.
And yeah, there are a few little things I find lacking–but by and large, that’s what software updates are for. The way I see it if Apple had made this thing do everything people wanted right out of the gate, there would be that many more potential bugs to squash, and that many less new features down the road for people to ooh and ahh over. So I’ll let others whine and enjoy my iPhone.