Web Teacher » Video

Useful links: Video, Access U, WordPress widgets

vdebolt — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:07:49 +0000

Video for Everybody! “Video for Everybody is simply a chunk of HTML code that embeds a video into a website using the HTML5 element, falling back to Flash automatically without the use of JavaScript or browser-sniffing. It therefore works in RSS readers (no JavaScript), on the iPhone / iPad (don’t support Flash) and on many browsers and platforms.”

A Knowbility conference is coming up on the West Coast. It’s Access U @ CSUN, toward the end of February. Learn from accessibility experts such as Shawn Henry, Jennison Asuncion, Denis Boudreau, Molly Holzschlag, Derek Featherstone and others.

An excellent presentation from Kathy Gill on using widgets in WordPress.

Useful links: W3C news, responsive tables, responsive templates

vdebolt — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:04:49 +0000

Two announcements from the W3C relating to accessibility are important news today. The first is a couple of new notes relating to WCAG 2.0. You can find links to the relevant documents here. The other announcement is the first draft of the Media Accessibility User Requirements. The W3C description of the media requirements document: “It first provides an introduction to the needs of users with disabilties in relation to audio and video. Then it explains what alternative content technologies have been developed to help such users gain access to the content of audio and video.”

A Responsive Design Approach for Complex, Multicolumn Data Tables.

Initializr. A responsive design template from verekia.

Useful links: box-sizing, chicken feathers, YouTube Partner Program

vdebolt — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 12:52:04 +0000

Controlling width with CSS3 box-sizing at 456 Berea Street explains how to use box-sizing to lay out a small form.

Waste Chicken Feathers Make Durable Biodegradable Plastic. A science experiment from grade school days that I remember is that the aroma of burning hair or burning chicken feathers was an indicator that there was protein in whatever was burning. Don’t know why I remember that particular science experiment above all others, but this story brought it back.

Conversations With Corvida: Adria Richards Talks YouTube Partner Program. If you make video and haven’t heard of the YouTube Partner Program, this will interest you.

Useful Links: Wired on Twitter, H.264, Personal hotspots

vdebolt — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 15:04:16 +0000

Twitter’s Response to WikiLeaks Subpoena Should be Industry Standard at Wired expresses some of the thoughts I’ve been having about WikiLeaks. The thing that bothers me the most is not how tech companies are responding to government pressure about the site, but the fact that the pressure is being applied in the first place.

Google is dropping support for the H.264 video codec. There’s plenty of talk about this, including at TechCrunch, rem, Muktware on Opera’s position, and by MSDN’s Tim Sneath.

Verizon had a moment of glory yesterday when they announced personal hotspots for teathering up to 5 devices on the Verizon iPhone, but today CrunchGear says all iPhones will be getting this feature in March.

Here’s my story about iPhone comes to Verizon on BlogHer. Go on over and take the poll.

Useful Links: HTML5 Video, OAuth, geeks

vdebolt — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 12:10:11 +0000

In the if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em category, Adobe announces the HTML5 Video Player widget with this message: “Adobe has released an easy-to-use, totally CSS-customizable solution that shifts gracefully from the HTML5 tag to the Flash Player when the tag is not supported.” The widget works with or without Dreamweaver CS5.

Introduction to OAuth is by Lorna Jane Mitchell at Think Vitamin. It seems OAuth is the reason why Twitterific suddenly stopped working on my iPhone and also explains why you can sign in to one site with information from another. Here’s a quote.

As a user, the experience of enabling accounts to use OAuth is quite seamless, and is designed to help you feel more secure about where your credentials are being stored and used. When you want to allow another application to access your data, you will be forwarded to the site that holds that data, and prompted to allow access.

This means that you never need to type your credentials for one account into the website for something else. Once you have granted access, you will be redirected back to where you were, so you can continue whatever you were doing.

Did you see this infographic for What Kind of Geek are You? It seems only guys can be geeks. Gals are invisible once again. The infographic is clever and cute. And it reinforces the prevailing social paradigm that keeps the “where are the women in technology” meme afloat from year to year.

Useful Links: YouTube edu, Mac news, Privacy

vdebolt — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 15:03:13 +0000

100 Incredibly Useful YouTube Channels for Teachers may give you some helpful resources.

Apple’s “Back to the Mac” Event: All the Announcements at Mashable is a nice summary of recent announcements. No more CD slot – time to flip a switch in your brain to flash drive for everything.

Tracking the Companies that Track You Online is a podcast from NPR’s Fresh Air. It’s an interview with Julia Angwin of The Wall Street Journal that looks at how tracking companies, data brokers and advertising networks work.

Useful Links: Campus Security, accessibility, just for laughs

vdebolt — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 12:25:21 +0000

Does Your Campus Security Have a Place in Social Media? is from eduGuru. Based on yesterday’s incident at UT, we have come a long way since the shooting at Virginia Tech in terms of response and communication with students and faculty. See Thoughts on HighEdWebDev for info on the Virginia Tech story.

The web is a waste of time! Scenariogirl reports that 34% percent of a blind person’s time on the web is wasted by accessibility issues. Imagine your reaction if 1/3 of your time was spend trying in vain to make the web work.

GINK. A funny spoof of social networking on YouTube. Language warning – not safe for students.

Useful links: PLE vs LMS, moving TypePad, camera phones, Google is 12

vdebolt — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 13:11:15 +0000

Here’s an Xtranormal video by patob2000 that is a chat between Personal Learning Environment ( PLE ) and Learning Management System ( LMS ). Which character are you?

Helpful Blogging Links: How Can I Move My TypePad Blog to WordPress has resources for those who are wondering what to do now that TypePad has sold.

How to Capture Good Photos with your Camera Phone. In recent years I see more and more people at events with only the camera in a phone to record it. Here’s help for doing it well.

Google is celebrating its 12th birthday today. It started in 1997. I was watching a season 3 Buffy the Vampire Slayer from 1998 the other day, wondering how the story would change if Giles could Google all that arcane stuff he’s always looking up. By the time I get through season 7 (gotta love Netflix), it will be 2002 in Buffy’s world. Can I expect to see Google in Giles future? Can you remember how different your life was from 1998 to 2002? And from 2002 to now? Phenomenal changes.

It’s video day!

vdebolt — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 12:43:19 +0000

Well, okay, maybe three videos. Two serious, one for fun.

The first serious one is Carrie James reporting on her research showing that young people do not use ethical thinking when on the Web.

It’s via Mashable and takes 12 minutes.

Watch live streaming video from mashable at livestream.com

The second serious one is from TED Talks. Chris Anderson talking about how web video powers global innovation.

The last one, just for fun, is the Nerd Anthem sung by Marian Call. Feel free to talk nerdy while you listen.

Useful Links: Video, movies, blogging tax

vdebolt — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:20:17 +0000

Good news for HTML5 Video is about H.264.

Movies. Now YouTube is offering instant movie downloads, and there’s an app for watching movies from Netflix on your phone.

5 Myths About Philadelphia’s ‘Blogging Tax’. The Philadelphia tax came up in a discussion in the comments on this post, so I thought it bore mention here.