Wk 1 Blog Entry 2b - Response To A Classmate

Response to Bianca's Week 1 - Post 2

For some unexplained reason I had never got around to checking out Google Reader. Go figure - must have been a little busy and I can't on earth think why that might be! :)

Anyway, after reading Bianca's comments I realized that there are still so many ways to use the tools we have barely brushed upon on our journey so far. Just five minutes on google reader and I'm already so much more at ease than with the netvibes blog page I had cobbled together during our last class explorations into blogging.

I wonder how many other tools I might have skimmed over without realizing the time and effort they could save me?

Bianca's Post:

Week 1 - Post 2: Essential Software and Sites for Surviving Full Sail Online

Posted by Bianca at 11:15 PM

Donna Tracy did an excellent posting on Mac software bundles that got me thinking about the software and websites that helped me get through the last 10+ months and remain relatively sane in the process. In no particular order, here are some the I leaned on the most.

Dropbox

Dropbox is essentially a way to easily share files. Much like MobileMe, the files and documents are stored online, can be accessed online from any computer connected to the internet, and specific files and folders can be shared with others. Unlike MobileMe, however, are two key elements of Dropbox that I like the most. First, you get 2 gigs of storage for free (and more if you refer others to the service or choose to pay for a subscription). Second, you can install the Dropbox application on any computer (Mac, Windows, Linus... heck, I've even got it on my iPod Touch) and this app allows you to access your online Dropbox file just as though it was another portion of your harddrive. Drop a file into your app on one computer, and it ads it to ALL the computers you have the app on.

On a side note, Dropbox is where I obsessively reupload all my thesis information as I'm a bit paranoid about losing it.

PowerPoint

 

I took Garr Reynolds' Presentation Zen to heart and dove deep into creating better PowerPoint presentations and related media for my class work. Many a class project had me mucking about in PowerPoint for one reason or another, be it specifically for making a presentation, creating more complex slides for iMovie, or just planning out a lesson. While it failed me a bit last month and I had to swap over to Keynote (also a fabulous program... but as others have noted, not always perfectly compatible with PowerPoint), I did spend an enormous amount of time with it.

iLife

All of us spent a good deal of time playing with Apple's delightful iLife suite. In my case, I fell in love with making movies, so iMovie and Garageband became my best friends. I'd had iLife for some time prior to starting at Full Sail, but I'd never had any focus to explore it with, so the software sat collecting digital dust. Now it's some of the most used software on my computer and I even have a significant numebr of videos posted on YouTube.

Google Reader

I was late to the party on this one, only becoming obsessed earlier this year with reading all my blogs on Google Reader. GR is great for aggrigating blog feeds all in one place. Thanks to the speed in which I can access and read content I'm reading more blogs than ever, including ones I had given up because it was just too tedious to keep checking a large number of blogs every day. I started following a large number of graphic design and home decorating blogs as of late, and I'm definitely a better designer (both of graphic and of homes) because of it. It's also made keeping up with the class blogs this month ridiculously easy.

GR has also been fantastic for helping me to discover new blogs. The recommendations aren't always perfect, but every once and awhile the site recommends something just perfect that I likely wouldn't have found otherwise (the blog in the picture was a recommendation that I got just today!).

Lynda.com

Other than the Macbook Pro and Presentation Zen, my favorite thing I've recieved as a part of my Full Sail experience is the Lynda. com membership. I've used it to get me out of class project binds (it got used a lot when we were working with Flash), to help build up my software knowledge for my resume (and it worked!), and to just get inspired (the Nancy Duarte Creative Inspirations video set was one of my favorites). 

I'll be spending the money on continuing my membership once our Full Sail mambership is up.

Amazon.ca's Recomendations

Amazon's been on the ball with good recommendations since I started picking up books related to school. I've found a myriad of great suggestions that have helped me both in my coursework (my thesis would have some big holes if not for Amazon book suggestions) and in my new job. My knowledge base has grown every time Amazon entices me to check out another new (to me) book.

iTunes' Genuis Playlists

What better way to wind down or stay motivated than to listen to music. iTunes' Genius Playlists feature has saved me the time of putting together my own playlists from my extensive (25 gigs and counting) music collection. It also thinks of song combinations I might not have put together myself and digs up songs I haven't heard in a long time, all while creating brilliant playlists. This application hasn't directly helped me complete assignments, but indirectly it's been an essential part of my work process.