mscape - HP building interactive experiences

In February I looked at augmented reality and some of the new GPS devices that may be coming to a classroom near you....in the future.

Well according to HP....the future is now!

mscape: creating new user experiences

HP has a new venture called mscape that is quite a different pathway for a company that has been known for the hardware it develops. Free to sign-up and try.

It is a website where the users create and share games, tours, stories, art and other location-based experiences called mediascapes.

What is a mediascape you ask?
Mediascapes are environments you create from the actual landscape around you. "Mediascapes are mobile, location–based experiences that incorporate digital media with the sights, sounds, and textures of the world around you. A mediascape blends digital images, video, audio and interactions with the physical landscape. "

Do you want to create a school tour....create a "school mediascape."

Do you want students to relive a battle scene from a historical event....create a "history mediascape."

The possibilities are limited only to your imagination :)
HP Labs:
If you want to follow to see what projects are developing in the HP Lab give their website a peek. http://www.hpl.hp.com/

Karaoke for Classroom Musicians

Karaoke for the classroom has risen to a new level. In The Chair is "music education software that lets you practice by performing with professional musicians, bands and renowned orchestras."

Watch a demo of the software on YouTube . Whatever the skill level or instrument you are learning to play...there is jazz, orchestral and beginner favourites for all with weekly updates.

Audiograbber

It is a rainy, rainy long-weekend Monday and I am catching up on "cleaning" out my storage space on my computers. I normally reformat my computers about 2x per year as they tend to get very cluttered with left over files and trial software. Nothing like a good spring cleaning for your computers.

I was going through my freeware folder and came across Audiograbber which is truly a little gem! It is a freeware application that grabs digital audio from a CD and converts them to a .mp3 file. I have used it for a quite awhile and it never fails to perform.

Tip: If you don't want to type in your own track names, artist and album name - click on the dancing penguins and they retrieve the album information from CDDB (Compact Disc Database) which has information about almost every CD every produced.

Comic Book Creator

The Comic Book Creator software uses a simple Drag 'n Drop format that lets you import digital images from whatever discipline you are teaching, whether it be Maths, Science, History, English, ICT, Art, ESOL, any program and any age group.

The software comes with over 500 different Comic Book style layout and design page templates to choose from, which makes it easy for teacher or student with even with minimal computer skills, creativity and design skills and knowledge to create masterpieces.

I had fun with this software taking photos from a recent holiday and making a "Comic Book" that I was able to share with our friends and family back in Canada. It is very easy software to use.

Competition for iTunes????

Watching the BBC news this morning at 3 a.m. revealed a new music download site that will be up and running very soon. Universal Music, the world's largest music company, will be the music supplier in this new venture.

A free music download site that will make money not by charging the user a fee to download the file but by charging the advertisers. Experts believe this will be attractive to the teen market and in fact will help decrease pirating music downloads. It should be ready for release by the end of the year.

Time will tell.