dalebasler.com » tool http://www.dalebasler.com education.collaboration.design.technology Wed, 28 Apr 2010 19:09:58 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Google can’t do this http://www.dalebasler.com/2010/03/google-cant-do-this/ http://www.dalebasler.com/2010/03/google-cant-do-this/#comments Wed, 31 Mar 2010 00:36:29 +0000 Dale Basler http://www.dalebasler.com/?p=388 Like many people, I often go to Google for answers. However, when you need to do calculations or access raw data, Wolfram Alpha easily beats Google.

For example, the other day I needed to know what date is 60 days after February 11th. Sure I could get a calendar and start counting but it only takes seconds to do this:

Below are a few of my other recent inquiries:

Start your own investigation or check out their examples to get an idea of Wolfram Alpha’s power.

]]> http://www.dalebasler.com/2010/03/google-cant-do-this/feed/ 1 Image editing software in your browser http://www.dalebasler.com/2010/03/image-editing-software-in-your-browser/ http://www.dalebasler.com/2010/03/image-editing-software-in-your-browser/#comments Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:55:14 +0000 Dale Basler http://www.dalebasler.com/?p=379 Garmahis.com has posted a review of some of the Photoshop alternatives that are available for free.

What amazes me is that some of these programs can run quickly right in your browser.

Sumo Paint, Pixlr Editor and Aviary Phoenix each look like promising tools for simple (and in some cases not-so-simple) image editing.

]]> http://www.dalebasler.com/2010/03/image-editing-software-in-your-browser/feed/ 0 What to do with Wordle http://www.dalebasler.com/2009/11/what-to-do-with-wordle/ http://www.dalebasler.com/2009/11/what-to-do-with-wordle/#comments Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:33:31 +0000 Dale Basler http://www.dalebasler.com/?p=239 Have you tried Wordle?  If you provide the text, Wordle will create a word cloud that will display each word used in the source text in a font size based on the frequency that the word appears in the source. The more the word is used, the larger it appears. Take a look at Wordle’s gallery to see some examples.

Some have criticized Wordle by suggesting that Wordle’s only attribute is that it is eye-catching.

I’m okay with that. I can work with eye-catching. Below is a Wordle I made using all the text from a recent test.

Wordle the Test

Wordle the test at Wordle.net

A few days before the test, I shared this with my students. They were eager to hypothesize as to how words like “astronaut” or “gravy” would be used to access there knowledge of friction and momentum. Some student suggested possible questions that used the terms from the word cloud. A few of their questions were so good that I plan to use them next year.

While Woodle wasn’t able to teach physics, it was able to start a conversation. That’s perfect. I can take it from there.

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