New Year, New Theme, and Free Stuff
SunSet from Condo in seattle
Yawn…..stretch…..and slowly pulling myself back into the real world after almost three weeks of vacation that included little time on the computer and a lot of time with friends and family. The way holidays should be.
The big technology gift this year actually went to my wife. Her sister bought her the new Kindle which is perfect for her. She lugged 5 books home for vacation…now all of those will fit in this tiny little device.
So the new year is off to a great start. Flight back to Bangkok was uneventful (which is a good thing when flying) and I’m all set for the next two weeks and my reverse instruction experiment that I blogged about here. I actually have 6 teachers that I’ll be working with over the next two weeks. You’ll be seeing a lot of blog posts reflecting on how this is going.
If you haven’t actually been to the site in awhile you might want to stop by and check out the new look. The home page is my favorite pulling in the lasted Tweeted articles from the blog. Thanks to Alec and the team at Folliovision for helping to design the new site. Have a look around and see what you think. Still working on a few sidebar and menu options but for the most part, this will be the look for 2011.
Free Stuff
The real reason why you clicked on this post. 🙂
RunKeeper Pro free through January
My wife and I have been into running these past few months and I have to say that this iPhone / Android App has gone a long way in keeping us motivated. RunKeeper uses the GPS on your smartphone to plot how far, fast and the pace of your run. It then uploads the data to the RunKeeper website where you can keep track of how you’re doing. My wife loves the cute little e-mails she gets when she has hit a new goal such as “Longest Distance”, or “Best Time”, or “Best Month”. She also loves the fact she can see right away how far she ran and view the route on her phone (HTC Desire, OS Android).
Of course I like the geekier site of the app. The ability to share your run on Facebook or Twitter as soon as you finish, and with the Pro version (Free through January) you can connect to a playlist on your iPhone and have it give you verbal cues when you’ve ran a certain distance or time. On the website you can create a “Street Team” or running partners to keep you motivated…..a great social-networking feature!
I know a lot of people set new workout goals for themselves in the new year (me included) and thought I’d throw this out there as a way to make running, walking, or whatever your activity a little more fun!
Link to Android App
Link to iTunes iPhone App
In February I’ll be flying to Portland and presenting at the ISTC 2011 conference in Portland, OR. One of the best education technology conferences in the Northwest and I am always grateful for the opportunity to go back to the Pacific Northwest to talk with educators in my “homeland”.
This year the conference is giving away 5 iPads! The crazy part is you don’t even have to register for the conference to be in the running to get one. They’ve already given away two so you have a chance to win one of the final three. The game is pretty simple. Enter to win an iPad by following these directions:
- Follow @itscpdx on Twitter
- Tweet the “message of the day” each day to enter that week’s drawing
- One (1) tweet, each day, gets you one entry into that week’s contest.
- Enter up to five (5) times for each week’s drawing by tweeting each message of the day, Monday through Friday.
- Tweeting more than once a day does not increase your chances of winning.
It’s going to be a great conference so if you’re in the area join us!
OK….so not free but a discount on my favorite conference of the summer. I don’t know how Alan November and his team do it but every year they have by far the best keynote presenters of any conference I’ve gone to….and the Keynoters are just the start. I love everything about this conference. The location, the size (right around 1000 people), the passion of the participants. I’m excited that I’ve been invited back for a third year to this conference and as a token for reading this blog you can save $25 when you register. Just enter the discount code JUBLC11 and you’ll be credited the discount.
If you’re looking for one conference to go to this summer…this is the one!
Looking forward to a great 2011 and we’ll see where education takes us this year!
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Looks like we’ll miss you at the 21st Century Learning conference in Hong Kong. I was hoping you guys might be there but suspect that Portland and Hong Kong in one month might be too much (though I’m working in New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Frankfort, all within 30 days and it makes me shutter to think about it).
Couple of other things. I got a Kindle as well and I’m enjoying it far more than I would have thought. Also, you mentioned a jog tracker app. For those of us, whose knees make too much noise when we run, I’m using “Walkmeter.” It maps out my walks and delivers all sorts of statistics, including calories burned based on distance, altitude, and the weight. The more weight I lose, the further I have to walk. Frustrating.
Hi David,
Would love to go to Hong Kong but I still have a day job that won’t let me get away as much as I’d like. Looks to be a good conference though…have fun!
Thanks for sharing about Runkeeper. I couldn’t wait to download it on my droid. Since I’m trying to lose 30 lbs. this year, and walking is my favorite exercise, this should really help me!