Tech Tools

Tech Tools for learning, teaching, connecting, collaborating, playing and creating online. – Not in logical order quite yet and continually growing…

Twylah – These fine folks call their platform “Twitter fan pages” but I see them as the ultimate curating and sharing platform.  Here’s mine and Thotstr’s . I love the look and that you can control content.. to a degree anyway.

In some ways this is similar to Paper.li but with more control and many more ways to use. Check out what Jeff Bullas says about Power Tweets using Twylah. Free.

Paper.li - The first (I think) auto aggregating platform for Twitter and Facebook. Paper.li pulls your social media content, in some mysterious way, and creates an online newspaper for you. You can publish daily or weekly editions and they even auto post to your Twitter account.

I have to admit that since I set it up I haven’t played too much with the options around aggregating specific content using hashtags or Twitter lists. It’s just so darn easy to just let it do it’s thing I haven’t felt the pressure to mess with it. Free.

Scoop.it! - Create your topic-centric media by collecting gems among relevant streams. Publish it to your favorite social media or to your blog. I love the idea and have a few topics the go. Still not quite a seamless as it needs to be for me to get into the habit of keeping my topics fresh and worthwhile. Free.

Thoora - Have to admit I’m still trying to find the time to really dig into this platform. Their site says “create living bodies of knowledge” and I think they are kind of like Scoop-it! but with a cleaner interface. Their in public beta right now so check them out. Free.

ijourney – Offers and “interactive graphical timeline”. Lets you create diaries or biographies with a page a day. You can curate, aggregate, embed social media like your Twitter stream, keep it private or share it. This is very smooth! Free.

Sliderocket – An alternative to PowerPoint, SaaS, with free and paid versions. Does some stuff more easily that Camtasia or Powerpoint. I’m kinda in love with this platform right now because the audio recorder and the  polls/comments and analytic all seem to be working seamlessly. I’m amazed! I subscribed to the paid version within a day of trying it.

Prezi – Another alternative to PowerPoint. Free and paid versions and not includes collaboration capability. If you want a more dynamic and visual presentation this is the way to go. Be careful not to add to much movement though. I’ve had several folks say it makes them kind of queasy. Less is more when designing. Free and paid versions.

Daqri – “Mix your reality”. QR Code creator that includes augmented reality options. With Daqri your custom QR Code links to a page that you create. One the page you can include links to you website or blog, one touch access to your phone and/or email address.. really anything that you can access on a mobile phone can be added to you page. The platform is easy to use and has some great options to customize the look and feel. Big plus is the inclusion of augmented reality options. As of  this writing they are still in beta but I have invites to share Free.

QRlicious – QRlicious takes your plain Jane QR Code and pretties it up really nice.  The have a deal wit Daqri and another Code creator that I haven’t tried. You want your logo or brand colours integtrated into you QR code these folks will do it quick and right. I gave them my head-shot superimposed on a brick wall type texture just to see what they could do.. and they made it work. I was and still am impressed. Cost involved but not out of reach for most folks.

Scoville – “The best places are just under your nose”. Great way to share your fave local hang outs. This works with Foursquare and is in private beta.. But if you have 100 Foursquare of Facebook checkins you can get in right away. If not just ask nice.  The idea is that on Monday’s you go through the places your checked into during the week and then on Tuesday you broadcast your fave place using the #toptuesday tag. Ya, I know.. I just like the cow.. and it could eventually be a great platform for small businesses and their customers. Free.

Google Search Stories – Just plain fun. Here’s one I did. Also see short post on this. Free.

oneDrum – “Simple real-time collaboration for Microsoft Office”. Currently you can only collaborate on Excel and PowerPoint docs so I haven’t been able to try this our more than a couple of times. The fact that it integrates with MS is a selling point for folks who work in orgs that don’t allow other options. In beta and still a bit buggy at times but has promise. Free.

Qwiki – I love Qwiki because it presents information is a variety of ways. It take information from the web and displays it visually and with narration. It’s simply a better way to learn. They are in alpha and continually improving. Free.

Voicethread – Possibly my fave although I have yet to have a lot of success in enticing others to play with me in this beautiful space. This is a great tool for educators and those wanting multiple voices, literally, around a topic. And yes, there is a app. Free and paid versions.

Mindmeister – Mindmaps, great mindmapping tool that can be used by individuals or with groups of people. Free and paid versions.

Popplet – “See what you think together”. Collaborative and kinesthetic concept mapping tool. In Beta but works great! Free.

Quora - “A continually improving collection of questions and answers created, edited, and organized by everyone who uses it.” I fondly refer to it as  the rabbit hole. Go ahead, sign up, ask and answer a question or two.. Go ahead, I dare you.. Stick to just one or two Free.

Twitter Chat List Schedule - This Google doc holds a growing list of current Twitter chats including times, moderator handles and links. At this writing there are 458 chats listed. Free.

Twittercounter

bubbletweet & it’s sister bubblecomment offer a unique way to add video to you social media and web presence. Your short video can be created with just a web cam and added on the fly and yes, it’s in the shape of a bubble and literally “pops” open and close.

bubbletweet looks like it’s more casual and fun while bubblecomment looks like it has some serious business applications especially around customer support and service. Free and paid versions available.

Screencast

http://twist.channel4.com/words/ – Fun little beta app that lets you create sentences that are “spoken” by mash-up of UK celebs. Kinda fun.