Episode 17 Notes! and Office 2008 and ICE Conference

Episode 17 is online!

During the episode, as promised, Mark Millard and myself discussed the recent MacWorld conference, focusing on iPhone and AppleTV, which were announced at the keynote.
How could these new technologies be used by classroom teachers and higher ed faculty?

(As a side note, these Steve Jobs keynotes are often emotional experiences for those watching. Check out "Why Apple Makes Me Cry" at:
http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,72473-0.html?tw=rss.index)

We also discussed various software packages that I picked up in the two exhibition halls:

• Toon Boom, Mac/Windows/Linux animation and storyboard software
• Toast 8 Titanium, Mac disc-burning software
• Slick Transitions & Effects, Mac special effect plugins for iMovie
• Civilization IV, a Mac/Windows history/politics simulation game
• Sims 2, a Mac/Windows people simulation game
• SubEthaEdit, a Mac text editor with synchronous collaboration features
• Profcast, a Mac program that allows you to convert your Powerpoint and Keynote presentations into screencasts/videocasts.

Sadly, we ran out of time to talk about a couple of products. First was Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac. Big news about it seems to be that it is compatible with the new version recently released for Windows, which has a new document format. Like the iLife programs, the new version of Word focuses on the use of templates to create documents. There is a new interface item called the "Elements Gallery" which has templates available for various parts of the page, like headers and footers. It also has a new kind of view, called "Publishing Layout" which helps with desktop publishing projects (sounds kind of like Apple's Pages). Here are some links with news about Office 2008:
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2382
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/01/17/macworld-2007-show-floor-showoff-microsoft-office-2008-for-mac/
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2007/jan07/01-09Macworld.mspx

Indiana Computer Educators Conference

I'll be presenting on the topic of Integrating Podcasts into the K-12 Curriculum at the Indiana Computer Educators conference in Indy. I'd love to see some "Teach with Tech" listeners there. Find out more at: http://www.iceindiana.org/conference.aspx

Keep on listening!
Chris