Nick Floro’s Blog

Thoughts, ideas, and knowledge sharing on technology, e-learning, design and running your own business.

Great app for the iPad - Apollo News, lets you keep informed with the latest news.

If you are looking for a easy way to keep up with the news, science, technology, sports, and entertainment check out the new Apollo News app for the iPad. It automatically pulls in the latest news and you can give it a thumbs up or down on an article and it will customize the content as your provide feedback.

The app is similar in design to Pulse News which is a great way to keep on RSS feeds that you enter. I prefer the interaction on Apollo News for Quick Viewing an article and navigating from the dashboard to the article and back.



Blurry video with annoying music but still a great app for $2.99 -turn volume off first (I warned you if you didn't.


   

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Wireframing and Interface Design with MockUp for Mac/PC/Linux and SketchyPad for iPad #lrnchat

Balsamiq's Mockup
If you are looking for a easy and quick way to start designing UI's without creating your own templates, check out MockUp. We've been using it the last couple of weeks and after using several tools over the last dozen years its a refreshing way to start to design layouts and work with various elements from the built in object library.

Balsamiq's Mockup for Desktop $79 (Windows, Linux, Mac Desktop app)

SketchApp
A great little app for the iPad for reviewing ideas and wireframes or interactive sessions with the team to design interfaces and content layout. You can also export to XML for use in MockUp. Learn more at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sketchypad/id372049989?mt=8

Demo of how it works:

     

   

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Using Social Media in Learning - download a copy of the presentation #edc10

Join us for an in-depth look at Social Media and how you can take advantage of it for learning and life. We'll discuss what Social Media is, how to use it effectively, how it is changing our lives, and what it takes to get started. Topics will include Launching a Social Network, a look at the latest tools and how they are evolving for Twitter, Facebook, and social media based web sites and how you can incorporate these into your training and e-learning delivery.

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Designing Mobile eLearning Games - Download a copy of the presentation. #edc10

This session will provide you with the foundation you need to get started in mobile gaming development. We'll look at the major environments for delivery, selecting a development environment and what makes for a good mobile game. This session will focus on the Android, iPhone and Windows 7 phone environments. We'll also demonstrate and introduce you to one of the coolest gaming development platforms for the iPhone/iPad platforms.

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Taking the next step in learning: Using Games & Simulations - Download a copy of the presentation. #edc10

Need to figure out how to incorporate games into your e-learning strategy? Attend this session for a look at the latest trends and breakthroughs for using games in learning. You’ll get an introduction to games and simulations, an understanding of what works and what doesn’t, and a look at several implementations using off-the shelf products.

We’ll also discuss what you will need to know to start building your own games and simulations to offer your audience the best in learning.

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Design : Improving Design for Better eLearning Courses #edc10

The most important aspect for the user is how will they interact with the application and comprehend your content. This session will cover what's important in designing user interfaces and content so that is optimally effective in improving user comprehension as well as the challenges user's have in interacting with content today. We'll discuss the seven questions to help your designers improve their designs. You'll get a list of resources for taking your design and usability knowledge to the next level, getting inspiration and keeping up with the latest techniques. Lastly, we’ll take a look at instances of “before and after” and critique several e-learning examples as well as provide some templates to get you started on your next course development.

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First session presentation download on Video Basics: Understanding Flash, HTML 5 & MPEG4 at #edc10

View the presentation or click view in slideshare to download a copy in pdf format.

Understanding Flash, MPEG 4 & HTML 5 Video
A comprehensive introduction to video technology, compression and delivery standards. This session will provide an overview with everything you need to know about editing, preparing and delivering the highest quality video to your users. We'll discuss techniques and interactivity that can be added as well as the latest standards and how you can take advantage of open source, free tools, as well as the latest applications for getting the smallest file sizes and the highest quality. We'll also discuss the hardware and software that is needed to create your own in-house studio and for green screening speakers for under $1,500.

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Using games creatively, checkout http://www.google.com, the logo is a tribute to PacMan's 30th anniversary, and you can play (not flash).

Learn more about where the Google doodle's started at http://www.google.com/doodle4google/history.html.>

You can see I'm a little rusty. Nice job Google celebrating the holiday!

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Adding/creating a site to raise funds just got a lot easier with http://www.gofundme.com

GOfundme.com is going into a public beta and it looks to be a great way to instantly setup a site to collect and raise funds for your event, dreams and causes. Check it out at http://www.gofundme.com/. The site charges $9 per month and does not take any additional fees per donation. The site utilizes the PayPal API for transactions. Learn more at: http://www.gofundme.com

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Amazing eLearning Events coming in June #lrnchat

I'm excited about attending the Innovation's in E-Learning Symposium, June 1-3. If you are on the east coast or looking for an upcoming event you may want to check it out.

Innovation in E-learning Symposium JUNE 1-3 in Reston,VA  

This will be my first time at this event, looking forward to hearing John Romero (maker of Doom, Quake..), Dr. Alan Kay and Dr. Clark Quinn's sessions. Learn more at http://innovationsinelearning.gmu.edu/index.html

eLearning DevCon 2010 June 16-18 in Salt Lake City, Utah
I've been attending and participating in this event for the past 3 years and continues to be one of the best events for learning about the latest trends, technologies and interacting with our peers on learning development and delivery of content to users. If  you are attending, please plan to reach out and say Hi! Learn more at http://elearndevcon.com/

eLearningGuild's mLearnCon June 15-17 in San Diego, CA
This looks a great new event for anyone interested or currently working on mobile delivery of content. If the hardware continues to advance on the current pace this will be an amazing way to deliver content to users and provide new ways to reach out and learn. I won't be able to attend this one but looking forward to attending the next one and I'll be following on twitter. http://www.elearningguild.com/mLearnCon/content/1603/mlearncon---home

Lrnchat.com every Thursday at 11.30am EST or 8.30pm EST
If you haven't had a chance to join a Learnchat, this is an amazing community that meets every Thursday on Twitter. Each week focuses on different topics and questions that the audience submits and the community contributes, exchanges and debate each question. A great way to keep up and exchange information with your peers in eLearning. Learn more at http://lrnchat.com/ or Follow at http://www.twitter.com/lrnchat . Just search for the hashtag at the time and join in #lrnchat.

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