Skype - The whole world can talk for free.

Skype

As a committed 21st century online technology lover I have to stay true to the altruistic philosophy of weblogging and share some amazing technologies. You may have been reading about some of these, in particular Skype. This is a way of making "phone" calls to computers or even to "traditional" phone lines or mobiles. Just read the site & I'm certain that you'd be intrigued enough to give it a try. I'm going to play around with it - so if any one would like to experiment also, just drop a comment on the blog & let me know.

The other "killer application" to emerge is the phenomenon of Podcasting. If you are not aware, this is a method of listening to a wide range of "radio" programmes. Except its not radio, its a way of downloading mp3 (digital audio) files on to your computer and/or iPod - hence the term. What this means is that you can listen to any podcasting broadcaster anytime you want. Yes, this means never having to listen to Terry Wogan in the morning again! No, you can listen to him any time, day or night! Although I don't actually think Tel & the BBC are quite there with podcasting yet, although they are not far off! Why is this worth mentioning. Well, imagine being able to broadcast school news to your community, the children running there own radio station with bulletins about activities, sports, late braking news (cricket club cancelled, etc.), even performances by the school choir! Try this link to Willowcast as an example. Its a 4th & 5th Grade podcast from the US. I personally think it is very, very cool. Getting our pupils to speak to the world? Amazing! It is vey new but seems to have taken off at one heck of a rate. As with skype, if anyone wants to experiment just drop me a line.

Here are some links worth a visit:

Educational Podcast Directory

Podcasting Software