GoogleWave

A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps and more.

The product is part email, part twitter and part instant messaging. Users can drag files from the desktop to a discussion. Wave even showed character-by-character live typing.

It is a process of sharing images and other media in real time, improving spell-checking by understanding not just an individual word, but also the context of each word.

Any participant can reply anywhere in the message edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback sets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.

But unfortunately wave has not seen the user adoption they (Google creators) would have liked. They didn’t have to continue developing wave as a standalone product.

My MixBook

http://www.mixbook.com/photo-books/family/a-year-in-review-5263296

Modern IT (Internet Technologies) in EFL teaching

Internet technologies play a vital role in people everyday life and education. While the development of the modern technology our lives have changed a lot. The high developed technology has made the learning more quickly and people have the ability to achieve more information. Different technologies serve different purposes in the classroom and therefore play different roles in a students learning. For example, word processing and e-mail promote communication skills; database and spreadsheet programs promote organizational skills; modeling software promotes the understanding of science and math concepts etc.  But what are the most important internet technologies for educators to be aware of, and informed about? This is a very important question for everyone.  So that is why, I have selected the following technologies and I think that they are very effective.

1)      Video and Podcasting - One of the most widely adopted internet technologies for use in instructional settings is video streaming. Between Youtube, TeacherTube, EduTube, and many other video hosting sites, there are an abundance of lectures and supporting materials for education. Podcasting has also been used to provide similar offerings of audio materials through popular sites like iTunes.

2)      Presentation Tools - This category is vast and rich.There are hundreds (perhaps thousands) of tools on the Internet that can be used to create and share presentations. These tools can be used to support classroom teaching or distance learning, or for student reports and presentations.

3)      Collaboration & Brainstorming Tools - This is another wide ranging category, including thought-organizing tools like mindmap and bubbl.us, and collaborative tools like web based interactive whiteboards and Google Documents. Additionally, some of the other tools in this list, such as wikis and virtual worlds, also serve as collaboration tools.

4)      Blogs & Blogging – Bloggers and many other regular Internet users are well aware of blogs and blogging. In addition to a basic familiarity with this technology, educators should be aware of sites like Blogger and WordPress, where users can quickly and easily create their own blogs for free.

5)      IM (Instant messaging) - A large percentage of students use IM regularly. It helps teachers and educators to be aware of different this, and within the classroom setting.

6)      Discrete educational Software (DES) is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions telling a computer what to do and how to do it. Nowadays exist a great variety of the educational software which are very important for modern educational process.

So, I think that these technologies are very important for education and every modern user should know about them.

My own tradition

Nowadays exist a lot of traditions which arose when St. Valentine left a farewell note for the Jailer’s daughter, signed  “From Your Valentine” and so began a new tradition of sanding a card from a secret admirer.    I think that this tradition will live forever, because those different love spoons, cards and spells are very important for us even today.  As for me I appreciate this day very much because it gives you one more rise to say “I love you!” On this day I always give a present to my sweetheart. It can be a small souvenir or a Cupid or even a toy and it is my small tradition. Maybe it is a trite one but so dear and pleasant.

Today people believe and follow different traditions and superstitions connected with St. Valentine’s Day. It is your choice to believe or not. Some people said if you found a glove on the road on St. Valentine’s Day, your future beloved will have the other missing glove, another believed the first man’s name you read in the paper or hear will be the name of the man you will marry. Sometimes it is not a real truth, but if you believe everything is possible.  For example, in some countries, a young woman may receive a gift of clothing from a young man. If she keeps the gift, it means she will marry him.  So, I hope this holiday and its traditions will survive during the centuries.