Google’s Picasa
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Picasa 3: Free download from Google
I have been using Google’s Picasa for quite some time, but I didn’t have the newest version (nor did I access Picasaweb) before I upgraded my computer system. This new version allows me to use face recognition so that it can find all the pictures with a certain person in it. As soon as I identified my daughters in several photos I uploaded, I was able to view all the pictures of them. It was very neat to scroll through their development — it shows only a close up of their face in all the pictures. It was also interesting to see how accurate it was. Out of the thousands of pictures I have of those two, it only made a few errors. I had to look at the whole picture to make the determination which daughter is was, too! It identifies who it thinks is in the pictures and then asks you to confirm. What was amazing was that it could identify the baby pictures.
If you haven’t tried this one yet. It is a must!
Create and Share your own Knowlege Base with Knol
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Knol – a unit of knowledge: share what you know, publish your expertise. I ran across this when I was looking up something in Google Help. It sounds real interesting. Some of its uses might be: helpdesk repository, teaching repository, journal, writing a book, nuggets of knowledge… I plan on doing a little experimenting with this. Let me know if you do some, too!
Microsoft Songsmith
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I am going to download this. I think the girls will love to use it. Okay, who am I kidding — I want to play with it, too! I think it will especially be fun for Christmas tunes we make up. I haven’t found out what it exports to — maybe it will even interface with my piano!
You Convert It
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Free online media file conversion (Document, Images, Audio, Video & Archives)
I was looking for something to convert an Access ACCDB file, and stumbled upon this link. Unfortunately, it did not work for my file; but this looked interesting enough to keep a link on it to try again in the future!
C++ Compiler Error C2360
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Compiler Error C2360 I was getting this error after I added another case to a switch statement. This link proved to be helpful in rearranging those silly {}’s.
I am currently running the 2010 Beta 2 version of Visual Studio.
Attaching your Flickr Account to Email and Your Blog
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Flickr: Help: Photos – This link helps you add tags when you upload via email or phone to your special flickr email address.
Basically, whatever you type in the Subject line becomes the photo’s title. Whatever you type in the body of the message becomes the photo description. Then type tags: tag1, tag2, “really cool”, tag 4 in either your subject line or body to add your tagging to the photo.
WARNING: Be sure you send optimized — smaller-sized photos to your account. A good way to do this from your computer is to right click on the photo and send the smaller sized photo to your special email address.
Family-Friendly Christian Games
Filed Under Computer Graphics/Game Development, Parenting and Family Life, Spirituality | Leave a Comment
I probably prefer a little more “family-friendly” games than I do any of the more “mature” games. I found this site with demo games and thought it looked interesting. I have downloaded the demos — they even have some beta pre-releases on the site, but I haven’t had a change to look at them. I didn’t want to lose the link so I am blogging it here. Christian Games! Now! – The One Stop Shop for Christian Games!
Cisco Mind Share Game
Filed Under Computer Graphics/Game Development, Networking, Teaching and Learning, Technology | Leave a Comment
Cisco Mind Share Game – The Cisco Learning Network
I downloaded the demo version of this game for three purposes:
1. To see if this would be helpful in studying for the CCNA exam.
2. To evaluate it for the Game Design class.
3. To see if I might want to buy it for $49.95.
As I first opened the game (it is a very large download and install), I thought it was geared for the “younger generations.” It is a learning game — quiz game if you will. Those have a tendency to be, well, boring! As I started through the game, I thought it was a good study tool, but not sure of it’s “stickiness.” Would someone play this to learn/review instead of the more “traditional” means. Then the bugs came out…they started to eat my bonus points if I hadn’t answered that portion of the question yet. I found the game play to be very interesting, and definitely player-centric. I later was working strategy of finding questions that I wanted to answer right away — then stacking up my points on those questions.
I still am not sure how anything is scored, or what the scores mean; but it is definitely worth a try. If you’re not into networking, just look at it for the design and learning aspects of it.
Entering WOW
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It has been over a year since I first blogged about creating a game as enveloping as WOW. Well, I finally made the plunge! Recently, a student sent me a “Recruit a Friend” trial membership. I am going to attempt to blog my adventures.
First, I had to create a character. My WOW mentor, Dave, told me what Realm to create that character in. The download of the software was quick because it streams content as necessary. Each start-up does take a little bit of time, but not too objectionable. My young daughters were watching mommy do her “work” as we set up my character together — yes, I am a cow. They had fun deciding on what kind of horns I should have.
As they were doing other things, I went on my first game quest: to bring back meat and feathers from some birds. Well, I told my youngest what I needed to do — put them to sleep, and take some things from them. She is quite observant, and said, “If you are making them sleep, then why are you hitting them with a stick?” I was caught. I logged out for awhile.
I returned when the children were in bed. I got lost and ended up in some ravine with things trying to attack me. I fell down, and it looked like I was sleeping. I told a fellow player the next day, and he did not reveal to me that I had actually “died” in the game.
When I got back to the game, I was in heaven. I couldn’t figure out how to talk to the spirit — then found out I was too far away. When I met up with my mentor the next day, I asked told him that I was dead (in the game). His comment was, “Get used to it!” Such compassion!
10-day trial — have played 2-out-of-5 days. Had offers to “level me up,” but I don’t want to miss this important process in game play. My ultimate goal is to create this type of game play for a learning game or a game for social change. Boy, do I have high expectations! 
Rosy the Robot – the Roomba Robot, That is…
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I have had a recommendation from three of my friends who have a Roomba that they are well worth the money and work great. I finally broke down and bought one at our local Menards. I got a basic model — no base unit and one "wall." I charged the unit overnight, and set it up to clean the living room first thing in the morning.
First, I made sure there were no weird things on the floor — like power cords. Then, I blocked the area I wanted it to clean. At that time, I found out that the "wall" needed two "D" batteries (which I didn’t have). So I found the rechargable "D" batteries and made blockades with boxes and other large things.
I did find that the stairs were an issue. It got hung up on the steps that lead to the foyer. So I set up another blockage for the stairs. I think I will need two more "walls" for my house. What I did like, was that it fits under my buffet! The buffet is very large and heavy, and really hasn’t been cleaned under in a long while because of the difficulty in moving it. It also has little brushes that helps get it close to the wall.
I really didn’t time how long it took to clean the room. I was anxious to empty the bin to see how much dirt it picked up. Wow, was I amazed! It really did the job!
I will now recommend, along with my other friends, the Roomba — that I have affectionally named "Rosy."
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