GrandCentral, How May I Direct Your Call?

Ever had one of those days where your phone was ringing so often that, out of frustration, you picked it up and answered "Grand Central! How may I direct your call?" The not so polite greeting is a reference to the busy Grand Central Terminal in New York City, where trains and people are constantly coming and going day and night.

Today, Grand Central and your telephone take on a whole new meaning. GrandCentral is a relatively new service, recently acquired by Google, that intends to revolutionize the way you use your phone.

How would you like to have one phone number that rings multiple phones? What if you could choose which phones rang based on who was calling? Or, how about having the ability to automatically direct certain callers straight to voicemail - or block them all together? What if you could transfer a call from your cellphone to your home phone, or vice versa, without having to hangup?

Best of all, what if you could do all of this and more - for FREE?!?!

Well, you can. All you have to do is sign up of a local phone number at GrandCentral and start using the service. The possibilities are endless!

So, visit the site and sign up for a number if you are interested. While you are there, check out the link to Project C.A.R.E. and see how GrandCentral is helping the homeless population in San Francisco.

For 50% of your blog grade this week, leave a comment here listing a way the GrandCentral service could be used to aid a group of people or organization in our local community. And, to get you more involved in the blogging process (and to force you to read your classmate's blogs like you are supposed to) 25% of your blog grade this week will be dependent upon you posting a comment on a classmate's blog.

Say Hello to Silverlight!

Silverlight is a new plug-in from Microsoft that works with the majority of today's popular web browsers. It's purpose, according to the Silverlight web site, is to deliver "the next generation of media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web." You can find more information in the Silverlight Community site as well.

You can see for yourself what Silverlight can do by visiting the online gallery of Silverlight applications. Not only can you see this new technology in action, you can also download some of the applications and modify them for your own use.

One of the many applications that have been developed (and that the source code is available for) is Vertigo's Slide.Show. You can download the source code and a quickstart guide so you can create your own slideshow.

Visit the Silverlight gallery and see what you've got to look forward to in the future. Then, once you've previewed the new technology, come back here and leave a comment about the Silverlight application that you liked the most and why you liked it? Make sure you include a link to the web site in your post so we can find your favorite application easier. And just like last week your comment on my blog will count as part of your grade (50% this time).

Also, if anyone creates a working slideshow (at least 6 images) using the Slide.Show application I mentioned above, I'll give you a "free 100" for one of your blog grades.

Beyond Google

Did you know that there is more to Google than just a search engine? If you are using Blogger for your blog account you are already using a Google product. This week, I want you to spend some time looking at some of the tools that Google offers beyond their popular search engine.

Start by visiting Google's products page. You can also get there by clicking on the More link at the top left side of their site.

I recommend that you start with the following...

• Google Maps (cool zoom and pan feature - drag the map to move around)
• Google Earth (see the world in 3D)
• Picasa (organize and share photos)
• Google Labs (see what's in the works)
• Google Code (add functionality to your sites)

Some of these require you to download software and install it on your computer. If you don't want to install it on your home machine, this would be a great opportunity for you to use the Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 software.

Feel free to try as many of the utilities on your personal computer as you'd like. However, please remember that downloading and installing software on ECC computers without permission violates the IT Security Policy. (That means don't install anything on the lab computers!) If you would like to test some of the software on a campus computer, please see me and I will provide you with a hard drive that you can use.

When you're done exploring, post a comment here and let me know which tools you used and which ones you liked best. You'll need to post your comment before 8:00 AM Tuesday, 19 February 2008 to get credit for it. And just to see who is reading my blog like you are supposed to, your comment will count as 75% of your blog grade for the week!

A Little Fun

The biggest advantage of being the instructor is that my blog doesn't always have to be about "work" like your's does. So, here are a few links to some of the fun blogs I've found over the years.

indexed - Remember Venn Diagrams from math class? This blog uses them to deliver some rather interesting commentary on various topics.

Strangers Among Us - Candid photos of unsuspecting people going about their lives. If you're a "people watcher" you'll find this one pretty interesting. Try to find a similar scene the next time you're out and about.

Being Five - Cute comic strip. If you have kids in your life that are in the five-year-old range, you'll really appreciate this one.

Enjoy!