Tom's Two Cents

I just set up a newly purchased Windows PC, and I decided to keep track of the programs I consider important to getting up an running. Here is what I have so far, and I am open to suggestions:

1. Firefox: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/products/download.html
2. VLC Video Player (this baby will play anything) http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
3. Uninstall Norton Antivirus – even if it’s free. Same with McAffee Antivirus. Stay away from these bloated apps! If you want virus protection, I suggest AVG Anti-virus Free Edition: http://free.avg.com/us-en/download
4. Flash Player: http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player.exe
5. Open Office: http://download.openoffice.org/ (you’ll need this unless you have MS Office)
6. iTunes (includes Quicktime): http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
7. Primo PDF lets you print/save to a PDF: http://www.primopdf.com
8. Skype: http://download.skype.com/SkypeSetup.exe)
9. Pidgin multiple IM client: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pidgin/
10. I usually install the following 10 Firefox add-ons. Not all will be useful to you, but the first 5-6 might be: Read more…

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I first got interested in barcodes and mobile phones when I discovered I could scan UPC at the store and look up prices and reviews from my G1 Google phone. ShopSavvy and Compare Everywhere are still two of the most popular Android apps on the Android Market. But a recent post to the UNESCO OER list led me to think about applying 2D barcodes to mobile learning.

At a very basic level, I can imagine a lecture where the last powerpoint slide is a 2D barcode which includes the presenter’s contact info or a link to the presentation on slideshare. and a URL. 2D barcodes are quite common in Japan, in magazines and on billboards. For those with a camera-enabled cell phone, there’s no need to write down the URL or contact info.

I am part of a graduate class that is designing a location-based game for a local museum. We are putting a lot of time designing a game that will work on PCs and a limited number of GPS-enbled, PocketPC and Garmin devices using an application called WhereIGo. But what if the same game could be designed using 2D barcodes, so that anyone with a web-enabled camera phone could play? More and more cell phones now come with built-in 2D barcode readers, not just smart phones. Does anyone know of a game engine that uses 2D barcode readers? Just curious.

So how do you make these fancy barcodes, you ask? One of the easiest ways is on a site called Kaywa. Anyone can create a 2D barcode that represents a web link, a vCard, a phone number, or some hidden text (like a clue or something). Another option is called Snappr.net. But unfortunately, Snappr.net insists on linking back to itself, even for basic contact info. So don’t use it if you want an independent 2D barcode that doesn’t require web access. Still, Snappr.net has some neat functionality like the barcodes survey below. Instead of banning cell phones from our public schools, why don’t we start using them to engage students and other learners?

Here is a 2D barcode that will load a survey. You can take it from almost any mobile phone with a camera and web access. (If you don’t already have barcode scanner for your phone, visit http://code.google.com/p/zxing/wiki/GetTheReader.)

If you want to read more here’s an interesting post on mobile learning with 2D barcodes: http://www.cellphonesinlearning.com/2008/07/qr-codesintegration-into-learning.html. It looks like a company called BrightCookie is already working on making this technology work in Moodle. I would like to see it implemented as a mobile game.

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I recently came across a couple of Android apps with huge potential. Here is a quick review:

Parallel Kingdom

Parallel Kingdom is a location-based Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Game (MMORPG) developed for Android. Parallel Kingdom uses real world prompts as its basis for the virtual world, giving users the ability to attack, dance, hug or team up with anyone around them.

Parallel Kingdom allows you to mine resources, build buildings, craft items, trade goods, meet new people, found kingdoms, lead wars, and explore the real virtual world around you. Here is a video review done by AndroidApps.com:

http://www.parallelkingdom.com/

City Audioguides

This one looks very interesting, but it appears that the project was dropped. If anyone has information about this project, please let me know. Here is some information on it:

By using the Android framework positioning tools and other technologies the developers City Audioguides are aiming to improve your travel experiences by delivering relevant audio content information for historical venues, museum, and any other location of interest.

“Turning streets into museums and creating an environment where it’s easy to learn and share and to get the most out of our travels. This project is based on the belief that access to culture should be freely available to everyone.”

“Bringing museum-like audioguides to a larger scope.”

http://sourceforge.net/projects/pounamu/

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My name is Tom and I am an Android app addict. I currently have over 150 apps installed on my G1 phone. So here are my top 20. I haven’t included any games in my list, since that is more a matter of personal preference. I also find that the more games I install on my G1, the less I end up using my own phone. My kids use it the rest of the time. So here are my top 20 apps in no particular order. Sorry I don’t have links. You’ll can search for them in the Android Market.

• Picasa (a great tool for uploading and viewing Picasa photos)
• JET CET PDF (the only PDF viewer currently available)
• iSkoot (Skype client. Check the fine print though — it does uses you cell phone’s minutes)
• GPS Tracker (post your current position to hidden or public URL — even has a Facebook plugin)
• fBook (Facebook app)
• Android File Manager (good app to have)
• Twidroid (currently the best twitter client for the G1)
• Orienteer (displays compass and GPS coordinates — a must for geocaching)
• Power Manager (shows battery life — must have)
• Yellowbook V2 (search for a business and it presents you with Google maps and phone numbers)
• Video Player (best video player, IMHO)
• ShopSavvy (barcode scanner app that allows you to compare prices and read reviews)
• Compare Everywhere (other barcode scanner app)
• DoggCatcher (Podcast app — still very beta, but very cool in that it allows you to update podcasts over wifi. So iPod Touch, why can’t you do this?)
• TunesRemote (controls your iTunes via your wifi network)
• textonphone (access 1000′s of free books — search and download books to your phone’s local library)
• Shazam (analyzes and (somehow) recognizes songs being played on radio, TV, anywhere you can get a 10 second sample)
• Ringdroid (make your own ringtone by clipping out a snippet from any MP3)
• Voxofon Call Router (VOIP client)
• Toggle Settings (a great app for dimming the screen and turning off the ringer, etc). Keeping the screen brightness down is a great way to save your battery.

If you have other favorite Android apps, I would like to hear about them.

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This is in response to my brother’s post, My $.02 on Apple’s Response to Microsoft’s Response.
Even though I use a MacBook Pro these days, I consider myself as much of an Apple critic as a Microsoft critic. The fact that I have used macs a lot lately has actually led to even more mac criticisms, but part of that is just because I’m hard on whatever I use. The other part is that I think Apple is following in Microsoft’s footsteps — but somehow is in denial about it all. While it makes for a funny ad, Apple has no room to talk about Microsoft’s advertising budget when Apple is even more concerned about image. I’m talking about everything from Apple’s highly theatrical upgrade announcements to the black turtlenecks worn by Steve Jobs and all his faithful followers — I mean employees. It’s downright creepy. Maybe you have to be this obsessed to have really good hardware design… I don’t know. But the real question we should ask is simple: who is really delivering what the customer wants? Let’s see…

• Vista license servers… because entering that 25-character Windows XP product key wasn’t fun enough
• iTunes’ proprietary .aac (and coincidentally incompatible with anything else) music file format
• The new and “improved” (and coincidentally incompatible with anything else) .docx document file format

No, thanks. None of that helps me. In a lot of ways it feels like a race to the bottom. And, just like the presidential race, I find myself trying to pick the platform I feel will be less awful… but not really what I want. In this regard Apple is giving Microsoft a real run for its money. And while everyone has been asking Apple for a cheaper mac laptop, when Steve Jobs unveiled the new lineup of new MacBooks this month, the closest Apple came to that request was lowering the price of the old white MacBooks to $999… until those run out of stock. Beyond that the price of the next cheapest MacBook jumps to about $1300. Um… did I mention that it has a fancy new metal case? *sigh*

So don’t let the cute “I’m a mac” ads fool you. Microsoft and Apple are both spending plenty of money on advertising (and fancy new metal cases, if you’re Apple.) They even run ads about the other guy’s ads. Does this sound familiar? In some ways I wish the networks would suspend Microsoft and Apple ad campaigns — at least until the presidential election is over. I can’t deal with both software and political ad campaigns at the same time. Too much of the same useless stuff. And if there is anyone else out there that thinks they can build a reliable computer AND listen to customers at the same time, I’m ready to hear from you.

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