Google Maps: Great Barrier Reef

You guys. This is so cool.

You can now explore the Great Barrier Reef via Google Maps Street View!

Check out this little video to get a glimpse




I am not much of a creative person, so the fact that someone said, "Hey, let's use Street View to go underwater and explore and post it to the internet so other people can enjoy it" absolutely blows my mind.

To read more about it and try it out, check out this blog post from the Google Blog.

Thanks, Google. You da best.

iPhone 5!

I am neither a die-hard Apple fan (more a creature of habit), nor a real technophile (though I do like a new toy), but I successfully preordered my new iPhone 5 last week, and I'm quite excited about it!

iPhone 5 features I'm most looking forward to:

• Siri. I've had the iPhone 4 for two years, so I've yet to discover the wonder that is Siri. Or maybe it's just a fun novelty. We'll see if I use it for things other than asking silly questions.
• Panorama photo taking! And a better camera, in general, since I use my iPhone as my main camera.
• Maps. Have you seen the flyover thing! Really neat! EDIT: After checking out this blog, I'm not so sure anymore... 
• iOS6. Mostly Facebook integration. It's about dang time.
• EarPods. So fancy.

Features I'm not so sure about:

• Passbook. I've used something similar to this before, and never really found it useful. We'll see.
• Extra Length. I'm a little worried it will feel like holding a baseball bat. Or like this:

Are you getting the new iPhone? What are you most excited about?

iPad as Academic Tool

When the Tax Return Fairy graced my bank account with her presence a couple weeks ago, I knew exactly what I was going to do with her gift (and by gift I mean money-I'd-worked-for-but-the-federal-government-was-holding-for-me). I went straight to the Apple Store and picked up a shiny new iPad 2. And let me tell you: My academic life will never be the same!

I'll probably do separate posts on some of the awesome apps I love, but I just have to sing the praises of this tablet. I'm able to do so much, and it's totally boosted my productivity.

The main reason I felt like I "needed" this tool/toy was for the ability to manipulate PDFs. It's amazing! I can search databases and download full-text articles straight to the device. Then open them in Adobe Reader or iAnnotate or GoodNotes (my fave), read them much more comfortably than on a computer screen, and mark them all up--highlighting, writing, adding pages for notes... I'm actually able to read and engage with the text, which is something I've been lacking the past couple quarters.

I also bought a stylus--the BoxWave, if you're curious--which I love, and which makes note-taking easy. I can write by hand! I actually wrote the rough draft of this blog post by hand on "ruled paper" in GoodNotes--I have a Notebook for blog planning.

I'm really pleased with the iPad as an academic tool, and certainly recommend it for students--grad and undergrad alike.

Are you a student with a tablet PC or iPad? Has it made any difference in the way you do school? Do share!

P.S. I got my super cute iPad sleeve from Pink Oasis. Notice a trend? ;)

Marcia J. Bates and the Google Bookcase

In this week's reading we have an article written by Marcia J. Bates in 1989, in which she talks about better ways to facilitate online browsing--making it more like real-life browsing, or what people are familiar with.

One thing she says is, “If the interface can produce a picture on the screen that looks like the books on a shelf, the searcher can transfer a familiar experience to the automated system. If then, a mouse or similar device makes it possible to, in effect, move among the books, a familiar physical experience is reproduced and the searcher can take advantage of well-developed browsing skills.”

So. Have you SEEN the video for the Google Chrome Bookcase?



We live in the future!

Technology amazes me.