Sure the iPad and SXSWi have been grabbing all the headlines lately, but HTML 5 might have an even bigger impact. Okay, maybe an equal impact to the iPad. But, like many I've found myself wondering just what HTML 5 is.

For the most part it is being billed as a "Flash killer" capable of replacing Flash for embedded movies and animations on sites. Because Apple has been loath to support Flash on the iPad and iPhone versions of their Safari browser lots of sites simply wont work. For instance, Hulu. Assuming HTML 5 can do as good a job of support video, what else will it do?Read more...

We all get email newsletters. And, presumably, we all delete them (if they even make it to our inbox and don't proceed directly to junk). However, there are a couple that I actually do read and enjoy immensely. One of those is Adobe's Flash newsletter, Adobe Edge. Each month the technology evangelists and product managers at Adobe compile this newsletter which focus on developments in the Flash world along with loads of examples of cutting edge sites and tools. This month was no exception and, frankly, I was struck by just how creative some of these sites are and, in a way, how they point to some of the potential and shortcomings of technology in the classroom. Read more...

In addition to my work as the Content Manager for Clarity Innovations, I also serve on the board of a local non-profit, Springboard Innovation. The mission of Springboard is to help foster and develop the next generation of social entrepreneurs. (If you're unfamiliar with that term, I'd encourage you to look around the Springboard Web site.) Just this past week, Springboard launched our first Web-based tool, ChangeXchange, to help fill one of the most significant gaps: seed funding.Read more...

Put on your labcoats! Reading Julia's recent post about Going Google inspired me to spend a bit of time looking at some of the marginalia of Google. In particular, Google IG themes. If you've gone Google and you use Gmail, calendar, documents, etc. you've probably noticed that when you go to the Google home page (www.google.com) it redirects you to www.google.com/ig - your "individualized Google." While the subject of personal home pages is an interesting one - and I've written about it at other times - themes for Google IG is a feature I've used (swapping out different ones) but never really explored. Read more...

A handful of links and resources: Read more...

• Creative Commons Add-in for Microsoft Office
  
•  Google Knol
• Engineer Your Life

Back on the 25th of June, Rob Walker wrote an interesting article for the New York Times title, "Tinkerer's Toy"  about a novel little connected device call the Chumby. In describing the curious little device Walker writes,Read more...

The Chumby is a fairly innocent-looking object resembling a clock radio, with a small touch screen and a leather-covered, padded exterior that feels like a beanbag. It costs $180, and it turns out that "alpha geeks," ... have been the primary target audience so far. What a Chumby does, basically, is display widgets - and your reaction to that shorthand explanation will situate you on the geek continuum .. What put the Chumby on the radar of people like Carla Diana, however, is what it might be made to do. The Chumby is Internet-connected, runs on Linux software and is extremely hackable. In other words, it is a thoroughly open-source device.

A couple of very interesting links: Read more...

• Better Writing with Web 2.0
• Improve your Productivity with RSS and To-Do Lists