After reading OpenLearn Unit Content Feeds via OPML and Click On Series 2 by Tony Hirst (both of which use Grazr: “Easy feed grazing and sharing”), I was today inspired to create a del.icio.us bookmarks and RSS feed aggregator for one of my courses which starts in a week and a half. Here’s a report on my experiences! First-off I should say that Grazr is a web tool that takes either an RSS feed or an OPML file and, through the magic of Javascript, creates a dynamic feed viewer that can be embedded into any web page.

And Common Craft tells you why it matters! On on Tuesday 18th September, Google [announced](http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/our-feature-presentation.html) the arrival of a new collaborative presentation tool which they call simply *presentation *. Annew member of the [Google Docs suite](http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/our-feature-presentation.html) (which already includes a collaborative Word Processor and a Spreadsheet application), *presentation* provides a web-based tool for creating and developing presentations. It’s not as capable as PowerPoint, but probably passes the 80-20 rule. Plus it’s collaborative (you can share presentation development duties with others) and web publishable.

I have just created my first [DokuWiki](http://wiki.splitbrain.org/wiki:dokuwiki) plugin (in fact it’s my first PHP program!). It provides a way to mark-up Command Line Interface (CLI) transcripts, such as UNIX shell sessions, etc for user documentation. I’m using it to format a [UNIX tutorial](http://eehope.swan.ac.uk/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=eg-253:unixtut) for my students, but it could be used for other things. For some examples see: [test:cli](http://eehope.swan.ac.uk/dokuwiki/test:cli). For the plugin itself see [plugin:cli](http://wiki.splitbrain.org/plugin:cli) at the DokuWiki [plugins repository](http://wiki.splitbrain.org/wiki:plugins).

Just a quick blog to note a couple of articles on effective note taking for students from [lifehack.org](http://lifehack.org): - [Taking notes that work](http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/advice-for-students-taking-notes-that-work.html) - [Using a wiki for note taking.](http://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/advice-for-students-use-a-wiki-for-better-note-taking.html) Link from Wendy Boswell on [lifehacker](http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/156848762/how-to-take-killer-notes-299928.php). Powered by [ScribeFire](http://scribefire.com/).

I was at a “lunch and learn” session on Monday talking about Personalized Learning Environments and someone asked a question about custom searches for research and RSS feeds. I just found this [article](http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2007/09/06/creating-google-custom-search-engines.html) cited in [Lifehacker](http://lifehacker.com/software/google/step-by-step-guide-to-making-a-custom-search-engine-297785.php) which may answer those questions. Powered by [ScribeFire](http://scribefire.com/).

Renate and I watched the Red Arrows from Swansea Beach today. The display was part of a two day Air Display put on by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Swansea City and County Council. I took a little bit of footage on my little Canon IXUS 50 and I edited the footage into a little movie which I uploaded to YouTube. I’ve also uploaded a few photos to Flickr. Enjoy!

Howard Lewis-Ship has blogged about the [recommendation of Java as a First Language](http://tapestryjava.blogspot.com/2007/08/blindness-of-james-gosling-java-as.html). This is a topic that has been exercising me for a couple of years (although I no longer teach an introductory programming course). Howard is right when he states that: > Java is extremely monolithic: in order to understand how to run a simple Hello World program, you’ll be exposed to: > > > - Classes > - Java packages > - Static vs.

Discovered yesterday in my massive “first-day back” trawl of my RSS feeds was this interesting visualization of the most important web destinations shown as an underground or metro map (actually based on Tokyo’s I believe). One version is a clickable image (with pop-up snap shots of the sites themselves) that you can use as a browser start page which should provide hours of fun. You can also get PDFs that print the map in A3 size as well as the possibilty to buy A2 posters, use it as a desktop image or a screen saver (Mac OSX only!

It’s been a while but I’m sort of back in harness after my vacation (even if actually at home in my pyjamas). One of the issues that always occurs after a period away is dealing with the email after a period away. To this end, this video by Merlin Mann of 43folders may help. It provides some useful tips about how to deal with after-vacation email as well as the ongoing problem of dealing with email on a daily basis.

At yesterday’s School of Engineering Graduation Reception, Multimedia Technology graduate Andrew Robinson was awarded the Arthur Austin Prize. Andrew is accompanied by Professor Nigel Weatherill (Head of School), Jim Lindley, Honorary Treasurer of the Wales South West Local Branch of the Insitution of Engineering Technology, and me. Arthur Austin was a long serving member of the South West Wales Branch of the IEE and was a pioneer in cinema. The award is named in his honour and is a gift of the Wales South West Branch of the IET.

Like any proud father I was happy to have helped my Institution deliver another batch of ICCT graduates. Yesterday, it was gradutaion day and some of the “class of 2007” are pictured here. Good luck chaps and don’t forget me, particulary when you’re rich.

An interesting article “Why TV on demand insists you use its chosen browser” by Kate Bevan in today’s TechnologyGuardian indicates that it is not only the BBC that has wedded itself to a Microsoft Windows XP/IE/Media Player solution to its Video on Demand (VOD) service. Apparently Channel 4’s 40D service has the same limitations, and I can report first hand that SKY Anytime doesn’t work on Vista either. Apparently it’s all a question of reaching the most users while satisfying the distribution restrictions of the rights holders.