Must See Monday #5 - All My Faves

You are probably thinking this is going to be a list of all my favorites...but it is not.  All My Faves is actually a "search" engine of the websites that appear to be the favorites for a given week or topic.







While visiting one of the feeder middle schools as part of my job, the math teacher introduced me to the website All My Faves.  It is a search engine of the most favorite links and/or the most popular links.  What I like most about it is that you can see the most favorite by category...and then by subject, or sub-category.  When you hover your mouse over the favorite you want to visit, it gives you the title of the website as well as a brief description.

Topics can also be separated by country (Brazil, India, Australia, Unites States, United Kingdom, and Canada) as well.  The categories that you can view are Blogs, Education, Entertainment, Games, Kids, Shopping, Travel, and then Weekly Faves.

Education is the one that I will focus on for the purpose of this Blog Post.  Under the education tab you will find websites separated by Subject matter, and then board topics such as Home school, Libraries, Technology, Writing Skills, etc.  A neat way to find out what is popular in education on the web.  Below is a screenshot of the webpage.

The Weekly Faves is also another section worth examining for the purpose of seeing what are the most popular websites for the week.  It also has 2009 Favorites and provides an archive for each week as well as 2007-2009, which could make for an interesting history assignment.  Blogs is also worth looking at for finding blogs about specific topics you might be interested in outside of education.

Hope you find something you like here.

Blio eReader

Maybe the competition to the iPad and the Kindle will be Blio.  Blio is a state of the art eReader, a Bookstore, and has a superior graphic display.  Blio is software.  It will be available soon for PC's, Laptops, Netbooks, and Mobile Phones.  You can browse through more than 1 million books..as of right now.  Once you download a book, you won't need an Internet Connection to read it.

You can find out more about Blio on their About Page, which also has a nice comparison chart of other eReaders.  The bookstore will be available in February.  I know this post is on February 1st, but not this soon.  It is definitely worth bookmarking and checking back to see when the software is available.  I expect it to be an App for the iPhone as well soon after the official release.  The image below shows many of the special features.

21st Century Census

As most of us know, every 10 years the United States completes a Census to gather important data about our population, mostly for determining members of the House of Representatives...or the only reason politicians care about the Census.  In case your math is not up to par, the last census was in 2000, the beginning of the 21st Century.  When I look back 10 years I am astounded by all that has changed in the world of education and technology and their relationship to one another.

Many of the technological software and hardware that we find ourselves often "not able to live with out" were just a thought or in their early stages in 2000.  Smartphones, Facebook, Twitter, WiFi, Wireless Networking, Nintendo Wii, Netbooks, and Web 2.0 to name a few.  They have all had a great impact on our lives and education.  With a lot of these changes, our growth in technology is helping us all to be more connected.  One of Obama's goals is the creation of wireless networking for the entire country; free WiFi.

With the upcoming census, it would be to the benefit of the citizens of the United States to figure out where American families stand with technology.  So here are some simple questions that we should include in the 2020 Census, if not 2010.

1.) How many computers/laptops are located within your household?
2.) If you have Internet, what speed do you currently use to connect to the Internet (Dial-up, DSL, Cable, Satellite)?
3.) Do you use wireless Internet?
4.) Do you actively use Social Media/Social Networking Sites like Twitter and Facebook?
5.) Do you own a Smartphone such as a Blackberry or iPhone?  Do you plan on purchasing one in the near future?
6.) Does your work/school require the use of computers?
7.) Does your work require the use of a Smartphone?

What questions would you include so that we could get a better understanding of "Technology in America?"