Search for text in a podcast

Dale

Let’s say you heard a great podcast about a museum opening in Milwaukee called “Discovery World”. However, you can’t remember which podcast talked about it.

Try Podzinger.

PODZINGER is a podcast search engine that lets you search the full audio of both audio and video podcasts just like you search for any other information on the web.

PODZINGER creates a text index of the audio data from audio and video files, using the industry’s leading speech-to-text technology from BBN Technologies, to enable search within a podcast, not just within the metadata.

Give it a try.

UPDATE: Podzinger.com is now EveryZing.com

Mix your video with the community

Dale

eyespotIn a hurry to edit your video clips? Try EyeSpot. Similar to the online video sharing services that I reviewed a few weeks back, EyeSpot has the following unique features:

  • editing— trim and mix clips; add titles, transitions and effects
  • use other people’s clips in your video
  • download your final video

The service was a little slow. It took a while to upload files and trim clips. However, the ability to use other people’s clips is really neat. For example, I don’t have any clips of an explosion but the EyeSpot community had several.

EyeSpot is a fun tool and worth a look.

Net Neutrality: who’s for it, who’s against it

Dale

On June 28th the Senate rejected the Net Neutrality provision.

Who’s for Net Neutrality?

  • Tim Berners-Lee writes, “When I invented the Web, I didn’t have to ask anyone’s permission. Now, hundreds of millions of people are using it freely. I am worried that that is going end in the USA.” [full story]
  • Watch a quick video from Rocketboom.
  • Craig Newmark, from Craigslist.com, speaks on NPR (listen now)
  • Listen to Senator Barak Obama’s podcast
  • me (hence the lopsided comparison)

Who’s against Net Neutrality?

  • Telecom representative Scott Cleland speaks on NPR (listen now)
  • Hear Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) talk against net neutrality

Without Net Neutrality could access to services like United Streaming and Cosmeo be restricted in the future? As educators, many of us understand how access affects the digital divide.

Create a website in minutes

Dale

Looking for an easy way to create a website? Checkout some of the new portal sites that are emerging. Many allow you to drag and drop content onto the page with ease. This might be the perfect place to set up a quick webpage for you and your students.

All of the sites have similar features such as rss readers, email checkers, to-do lists, photo albums, and etc. It’s really a matter of finding one that works best for you.

Here are two that I have used in the past:

Pageflakes
pageflakes

Protopage
protopage

Of course, there are several others– give one a try.

State your name with ClaimID

Dale

Have you heard the story about the student who created a fake MySpace page of one of his teachers? How could you miss it? It seems like it is happening everywhere.

Maybe the folks at ClaimID can help. Their website states, “ClaimID is about letting you have some say in what search engines say about you.”

claimID

ClaimID lets you take credit for the information that search engines associate with your name. It also lets you state what things are not about you. (learn more)

See an example.

Which video service is best for you?

Dale 1 Comment

Flash based video has been popping up everywhere in the past few months. With popular sites like YouTube and Google Video giving this format lots of exposure, I’ve decide to do a mini roundup of what is out there.

First things first—what is it? Flash based video uses Macromedia Flash to play video clips. Several websites have created services that allow you to upload, view, and share your clips. None of these sites will display great video quality but because of the Flash format, your videos can be easily embedded in blogs and other websites.

I’ve uploaded the same clip to each of the following websites:

Take a look at the results.

Google Video: Despite Google’s new web-based uploader, the process was slower than I expected. Also, there is something just ugly about the whole Google Video experience. However, Google’s popularity may give your video clip more exposure.

VideoEgg: You’ll need to download and install the VideoEgg Publisher before you use VideoEgg. Once installed, uploading the video was a fast process. The publisher does give you a few extra features. You can trim your video’s start and end times. VideoEgg will also capture video directly from a camcorder, webcam or mobile device. These are nice features but anyone who is serious about video is going to have their own tools to do this and much more.
YouTube: Again another popular site— perhaps too popular. Uploading video to YouTube took the longest. Like Google, YouTube will give your clip more opportunities for exposure. However, YouTube has had a history of hosting copywrited material. Others claim that YouTube it running out of money due to huge bandwidth bills. I question how long YouTube will be able to stay in business.
Vimeo: This is my top pick. Vimeo was the easiest experience of them all. The upload time with Vimeo went quickly and the whole process was a snap. I also think Vimeo displays their clips the best.