dabbleBOARD: Collaborative Whiteboard

http://www.dabbleboard.com/

Here's another collaborative whiteboard that was suggested by a reader. If you need visuals, dabbleBOARD is a great tool for letting you collaboratively draw your ideas. This is their blurb:

Dabbleboard is a powerful online whiteboard that's actually easy and fun to use. With a revolutionary new interface, Dabbleboard gets out of your way and just lets you draw.
Draw with flexible tools. Reuse previously-made drawings. Share and collaborate in real-time. All as naturally as using a marker or a pencil.

Reader Zohair gave this review: " Looks like you're covering a bunch of collaborative whiteboard apps today. I suggest giving Dabbleboard a try as well. As a whiteboard, it's got an innovative UI that makes drawing much easier and faster than anything else.
Admittedly it's just a whiteboard app and doesn't include other conferencing features, which we believe can be handled by several other applications anyway."

Thanks for sharing, and I will work on my skills of drawing with a mouse. We do so many planning sessions here at the college, and having a tool that can be quickly accessed to draw out ideas seems to have a lot of value. I think it could save time as well by sending to others at different sites and getting their immediate input, without the cost of everyone driving to the same campus. It's all about sustainability. Saving green while going green seems to be an absolutely brilliant plan.

addendum: I just realized that the program automatically detects basic shapes, and turns my squiggly rectangles and circles into something that looks quite professional. Very cool tool.

Cool Tools: Collaborative Web 2.0 Apps

I've been going to meetings and finding new Web 2.0 apps that allow for collaboration, meetings and even sketching and drawing, using only your browser. See posts below for ideas, and the right hand column for some easy access to the sites. Very Cool Tools. Would have been nice if they were used in place of actually GOING to the meetings....

New Web 2.0 App: JOTT

Finding new 2.0 apps is pretty common, but finding ones I like ( and that fit my 'keep it simple' philosophy) is not as common. This one fills all my criteria. Jott (http://www.jott.com/) is a utility tool that you might find worthwhile. You can use your cell phone to send emails, create lists, and even add to your Blogs. It will convert your voice to text.

If you want to send an email from your cell phone, just call the Jott number and tell it who you want to contact. You need to have recipient names and email addresses or cell numbers (for text messages) already programmed from your computer, but once in, you can use them at any time, anywhere you can use your cell phone.

After initial programming, it's easy to use your phone to send a message. I have an iPhone which does everything but cook my dinner (next upgrade?) but I still find this tool useful. I've tried it several times and it sends the info quite clearly. It also adds a link so the person can hear your voice message, in case the text translation is not clear. It will do the same for leaving posts on a Blog. Say you are no where near a computer and need post a message on your Blog. Call Jott on your cell to the pre-programmed address of your Blog of choice and it will post directly to that Blog, and give the option of listening to your voice as well. Hint: if you post to more than one Blog, make sure you give them unique names.

It's also good for reminders (eg: 'dentist appt. at 4 on 6/27/08') and lists (I use it for a shopping list). Do you want to keep track of the latest news or sports scores? Add RSS feed info into your Jott account and it will send that info to your cell phone. It's quick and easy, and fun to do. Try it out!

I Want Sandy. Your Personal Assistant

Perhaps this is a little out of the realm of usual recommended Websites, but a recent workshop participant suggested a site that offers a Personal Assistant. The site is http://iwantsandy.com/
The home page touts:
Hi! I’m Sandy, your new assistant. I'll remember the details so you can focus on what's important.
-Kick off your morning knowing what's on for the day.
-Keep your day moving forward with reminders right when you need them.
-Books to read, people to call, your cousin's birthday — I'll remember it all.
-Stay organized with everyone in your life — effortlessly.
-I work with your friends (and their productivity tools) too.
-I'll help you stay organized with everyone in your life — effortlessly. Simply Cc: your friends, family, and coworkers on email you send to me (or Cc: me on email you send to them).
-Set shared reminders (the movie premiere Friday night)
-Add stuff to each other's calendars (the dentist appointment)
-Share a to-do list (get those to-dos done together)
-No more fussing with different organizing systems and calendar applications — just bring me into the conversation and I'll take care of the rest.

-All without leaving your email inbox.
It is a free service, and it can be useful for those who are overwhelmed by the details of life (which includes probably everyone). Reminders, appointments, to-do lists, contacts, bookmarks, lists and notes are all included in this service, and it is nice to have them all in one place. There is also a 'Sandy Cheat Sheet' to help you remember the key words you need to have Sandy remember the rest. It will access your mobile phone, email or SMS text message as you prefer. If you've always said 'I need a personal assistant!' then Sandy might just be the ticket.

Also added to the 'Tech Tools Recommended' list on this Blog

Review: Filamentality

http://www.kn.sbc.com/cgi-bin/fil3.pl Filamentality

I really have to learn to be less excited when I find great new tools, but I get excited at the hardware store too, so...
Filamentality is an AT&T site that lets you create your own categorized lists of URLs in a Hotlist. And yes, it is a Web site which gives you a URL site that hosts your list. And it puts them in the categories of your choice. How can anyone NOT be excited by this?? It's very easy to do, and a sample site I put together within minutes can be viewed at: http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/listadultedjs.html

However, since having all the cool tools means I can also use them, you can see the same hotlist address at:
http://tinyurl.com/2rfvhm because the Tiny URL site was able to reduce the 56 characters to 25. I may need oxygen...

Also, you can use this site to create and host Webquest for your students. As if the Hotlist was not enough.