An End Provides a Beginning...

Posted by Brett Stacer | Posted in | Posted on 4:00 PM

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As yet another semester comes to a close, so too must my CS160 course. Over the course of the semester I have been exposed to many new resources that I never knew existed. Overall I think the most interesting was Google Living stories, however, all of the research assignments and sites (like passpack among many others) will play a big roll in my academic career in the years to come. Thank you so much for the great semester Professor Ryan! I am looking forward to continue using and expanding on everything that I have learned! :)

Google "Living Stories"

Posted by Brett Stacer | Posted in | Posted on 2:46 PM

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Google Living Stories is a untrodden and innovative way to receive the news in this new age of technology. As our lives become busier and more complex in this fast paced world that we live in, the news that we want to receive needs to be to the point and able to give the reader what he or she needs to know on the spot. Also, as a decline of newspaper subscriptions heightens and as online articles become more prevalent, a new way to receive the news becomes a necessity. This is exactly the challenge Google Labs took upon themselves to analyze and suggest a new form of looking at the way people receive their news. This is where Google Living Stories comes into play. Instead of reading one article at a time on a popular subject, Living Stories provides the reader with an interface that provides a plethora of articles on the same subject all at the reader's fingertips. Furthermore, through the site one can receive emails when new information arrives or through an RSS feed. The widgets of this site are remarkable and allow the user to sort information by subject within the main focus and even provide a way of sorting out the information the user has already looked at. This ability gives the reader a way to look at the information he or she needs to know at the first opportunity, instead of having to take the time to sort through all of the information and decide what he or she has already viewed. Overall, this approach to news is revolutionary and will only become more popular as it makes a name for itself. Everything is condensed and easily viewed all at once in an accelerated manner as compared to online articles having to be individually searched for.

While this makes reading the latest news and keeping up with a story much easier than ever before, the current system provides an entirely new system of bias in the news. This is one of the major issues that Living Stories most combat in its development. While Google Labs is still working out some of the problems and is still fairly in a prototype phase, the existent arrangement only provides articles from the New York Times and The Washington Post. Even more critical, though is the idea that while the information on Living Stories provides easy access, the entire story behind a major issue is being edited and controlled by Google technicians, as opposed to receiving one article at a time by an already somewhat bias newspaper company. Thus, this takes the bias to a whole new level as news is 'selected' to be shown on Living Stories.

Even though I could continue to criticize Google labs for this critical error, one must remember that this is a new innovation and will take time to develop and grow into a multifarious news haven. On the contrary, I applaud Google Labs for its extraordinary effort to revamp the news in this digital era. Furthermore I must express how much I love the interface of the system. The current interface is not overly complex, yet provides simple and sophisticated ways to let the reader expand on the story through their own progress. This is done through notifications of the latest scoop, to the graying out of information that has already been accessed. The only constructive criticism I have for Google Labs is to continue their efforts and to apply more information from a more diverse pool of news providers.

Here is a video clip of what Google Labs has to say about their new experiment.

HOBY Screencasting Fin

Posted by Brett Stacer | Posted in | Posted on 10:33 PM

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Here is my completed Screencasting project. I hope you enjoy! A special shout out to all of my HOBY peeps!

Black Friday Shopping

Posted by Brett Stacer | Posted in | Posted on 8:41 AM

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The big rush of Black Friday shopping is a hectic sale extravaganza. Most people even avoid going shopping on this day despite some of the amazing deals offered. However, what if it was possible to beat all of those lines and get some of the same great deals while sitting in your pajamas? As our society becomes more technology based, online shopping on Black Friday becomes more prevalent. While I do not think that I would ever try to fight for the best deals at four o'clock in the morning, sitting down with a cup of joe at my computer screen and saving money on gifts does not sound like such a bad idea on the day after Thanksgiving. Here is a list of some of the deals of Black Friday, both in stores and online. It's up to you which deals are worth the pain and agony of Black Friday.




  • Meijer: (Opens at 5:00 am) All Video Games Priced $19.99 or Less - 50% OffBuy Any Xbox 360 Game System or Bundle, Get Grand Theft Auto IV and Halo 3 FREE - $0.00 Buy a PS3 120GB Slim Console, Get 2 Buy-ray Movies and 2 Video Games (Exclusions Apply)Nintendo DSi Video Game System w/ FREE $30 meijer Coupon Good For Your Next Purchase - $169.99 Nintendo Wii Console w/ $50 OFF Your Next meijer Purchase. Wii fit $45 and controllers for $30.

  • Best Buy: (Opens at 5:00 am) [Available in stores Friday November 27, and online November 26] Many DVDs for under $13.

  • Kohls: (Opens at 4:00 am) Men's clothing is all on sale. $10 Kohls Cash For Every $50 Spent

After researching and completing this project, I have come to find out that the best deals are still in stores on Black Friday. While some places do offer online deals (like Kohls and Meijer) I did not find any deal as interesting as the ones in stores. As it is, I will probably spend my time snoozing rather than waiting in lines for hours. Good luck to any of you die-hard Black Friday sales ninjas, and Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so ready for the holiday season! Enjoy the vid!



This was my Halloween costume. Arggggggggh!

Cloud Computing

Posted by Brett Stacer | Posted in | Posted on 8:34 AM

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Cloud computing is a social way for businesses to collaborate information. This is done through computing information and sharing it through spreadsheet information. While the functionality may not be any different than regular spreadsheet applications, the idea of accessing the information from over the web and having current information at your finger tips is revolutionary. Also, collaborating with coworkers on a project is made much simpler when all of there contact information is provided at your finger tips, as well.

Cube Tree: This program is like facebook only for company use. This allows coworkers to share information and ideas with each other. It also allows managers to view what his or her workers are up to without leaving one's desk.

DocVerse: This program manages information from Word, Powerpoint, and Excel. Coworkers can collaborate on the project and make changes which are tracked. The edited master version is always available for the entire team to look at and work on together. Coworkers also have the ability to make comments on the changes and on the entire document as a whole.

Social Calc: This program focuses on the usage of spreadsheets to provide employees with up to date information which allows them to collaborate on projects.

Indicee: This allows companies to manage spreadsheet information and data across the company to easily compute data and get the business answers you have been searching for.

Azure: This software allows one to manage and build data to the users choice.

Rackspace: This software has a large technical support staff and allows the user to manage data online and share it with employees.

Social Bookmarking

Posted by Brett Stacer | Posted in | Posted on 8:34 AM

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Here is the information I found on social bookmarking.



  • Social bookmarking is a way to share, organize, search, and manage your bookmarks with others across the world.

  • Anyone can use social bookmarking as a way to find new and exciting information for a hobby, research and education, or just for fun.

  • To use social bookmarking, you can sign up for a free account and start tagging your own websites that you find interesting and search other people's bookmarks, as all tags are public so a wealth of information can be shared.

  • This is significant because you can share your bookmarks with others and find useful websites to help you in your field of interest, as well.

  • Social bookmarking is growing each and every day as more and more people discover the usefullness of a river of knowledge flowing from one bookmark to the next. Because all of your bookmarks are stored online, you can access your bookmarks from any computer with internet access.

  • This program is especially useful to students and teaschers who are doing research in their majors, or who are looking up information for homework assignments. It is easy to find a wealth of information when you look at bookmarks from your peers who are researching similar information.

  • Some of the downsides of social bookmarking are that it can seem overwhelming at first and that there is no standard way of setting keywords, which makes searching other people's bookmarks a daunting task at some points.

  • Benefits include the abilty to access your bookmarks from more than one computer, the ability to organize your bookmarks with keywords, and the ability to access others bookmarks, too.

  • I have visited diigo, delicious, and simpy. Of these I personally like delicious the best because I didn't like simpy's interface and found that I liked the simplicity of the delicious interface. I feel as though for the amount of time I will put into social bookmarking, delicious is perfect for me. If I wanted to get more involved, Diigo would be a better match because of the ability to have online sticky notes which would be very useful in doing research. For the amount of time, though, delicious is perfectly satisfying.

Preparing To Screencast

Posted by Brett Stacer | Posted in | Posted on 8:41 AM

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Here is a "To Do List" in order to make a screencast. Currently, I have prepared myself up to rehearsing my script for my screencast assignment, but wanted to include all of the steps to consider when making a screencast.

Things to do before Screencasting:


  • Download Jing (or some other screencasting software)

  • Decide on a topic

  • Gather information and any media needed

  • Write a script

  • Revise script to meet the audience's needs and time constraints

  • Rehearse script

  • Rehearse mouse movements or screencast actions (make a visual plan)

  • Gather any equipment necessary to screencast (i.e. microphone)

  • Find a quiet place to screencast (shut off cell phone, shut windows, etc.)

  • Rearrange desktop and close any programs that might interfere with your screencast

  • Record a short segment for practice and determine quality of the screencast you are about to make

  • Record Screencast

  • Edit screencast (visual and audio if necessary)

  • Share screencast with family, friends, and the world

Screencasting

Posted by Brett Stacer | Posted in | Posted on 8:49 AM

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The idea of screencasting was very new to me. I had never heard about it, but have quite possibly seen one and never known it through one of my many Internet and video searches. To find more information on this topic, three sites with information on screencasting and three sites that provide the service, can be found below.




Informational Websites-




Smashing Magazine: This website provides a ton of information on the subject, and was extremely helpful on introducing me to screencasting. It explains what screencasting is and why and how you can use the software. After explaining the uses, this website gives a general step by step of how to prepare and give a screencast.




Screencast: This website gives an introduction to screencasting, the pros and cons of video versus pictures, a couple tutorials on how to use two different screencasting services, as well as techniques, tips, and tricks to produce the best screencast you possibly can. This site was very useful because it gave the user ideas of positive and negative aspects of creating a screencast.




idealware: While the format of this page is less appealing and seems a bit overwhelming, it makes up for its length and general appearance with the countless ideas and reasons to use screencasting for different projects you may come across. It also provides detailed information on creating a screencast and its purpose.




Screencasting Sites-




Camtasia: This program is for both Mac and PC users and provides an all around approach to enhance the screencasts you make for $229. While this seems expensive, this program provides enhanced techniques and quality to take your screencasts up to the next level.




Camstudio: This program allows the user to create screencasts for free. One of the best features of this program is that it allows the user to use his or her webcam to put themselves in the screencast unlike other free screencasting services.

ScreenToaster: While this website does not give any background information on screencasting, it provides a useful tutorial on how to start up your own account through ScreenToast and how to publish your newly made screencast. It is very user friendly and most importantly free! Another great feature of ScreenToast is that it shows all of the screencasts other people have made to become a type of screencast social network.


~5 Alternatives to Microsoft Office

Posted by Brett Stacer | Posted in | Posted on 9:12 AM

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  • StarOffice Software: This software is almost $200 cheaper and provides the user with the same features as Microsoft Office (Word processing, Spreadsheet, and Presentation software) Staroffice also includes a graphics program which is lacking in the Microsoft Office package.


  • IBM Lotus Symphony: This package offers the same programs as Office but at a college student's favorite, 'free'. While some of the features are lacking (like an email client among others) the initial fact of price puts IBM's Lotus Symphony over the top. It's no wonder why it was awarded "office productivity software product of the year" for 2008.


  • Corel WordPerfect Office X4: While this 'suite' software is competitive in providing virtually the same programs as Microsoft office, it lacks a competitive edge in price, as it sells for virtually the same. This software would be perfect for any user who is concerned with privacy as it has password protection in a variety of ways. Corel is also fairly compatible with Office while providing enhanced PDF capabilities.


  • ZOHO Work. Online: Offers everything Microsoft does only for free. Not only does it provide the three main suite programs but also gives users online document management, online note taking, online planner, web conferencing, and much more.


  • OpenOffice: OpenOffice provides five programs for free which include a word processor, spreadsheet application, presentation maker, drawing program, and database management. It is also available in many languages and is compatible with many platforms.


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