Stratocam – the best pictures from Google Earth
Stratocam provides a random selection of some of the best images from Google earth.
Click on the left and right buttons to get a new image, or wait and let the site automatically cycle through them. Keep an eye on the URL, if you see one you like you can grab and hyperlink directly to that image. Or you could use the screen capture tools to grab an image and put it into your IWB software or PowerPoint.
This would make an excellent way to capture student interest at the start of a lesson by displaying some of these images as they enter the room. Geography teachers might also find some great images to use to support a lesson.
Take a look at www.stratocam.com
Read MoreBioDigital Human – A 3D Interactive Body
I missed the news when it came out, but it looks like Google is going to retire their Google Body Browser, which is a real shame because, as a Biologist, I really liked that site. Apparently it wil be relaunched in the future in association with a company called Zygote Media. There’s no indication when Google Body will be taken down at present.
But in preparation for its departure, here’s a similar site that is well worth bookmarking as an alternative: BioDigital Human.
BioDigital Human works in the same way as Google Body – you can choose between a male and a female body, can decide which organ systems you wish to make visible and can pan and zoom around the entire body. For teaching about the human body it’s fantastic.
Sadly there’s no “cow mode” (for now) 
Take a look now at : http://www.biodigitalhuman.com/
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Read MoreHow to carry out an online survey using Google Docs
Here’s a short guide on how to carry out an online survey using Google Docs. I’ve put a link into the Guides section of this website.
For example this would be alternative way to collect class data about variation which might be easier than having one computer in the corner that each students goes to in turn to add their information, or having lots of different spreadsheets that have to be cut and pasted into one master document. Using this method the class could each visit an online form and enter their data, filling up the spreadsheet automatically. The spreadsheet can then be downloaded and shared via the school network.
It could also be used for parental surveys, or for class projects – sending the link to the survey out via Twitter or email to partner schools and ask them to fill in the information.
The guide is up on Scribd – so you can read it there or download a copy.
How to Carry Out an Online Survey Using Google Docs
Let me know what you think in the comments below!
Google Chart/Graph Tool
This has been doing the rounds on Twitter recently, I think it’s been around for a while but I’ve missed it previously.
Google has produced an online chart editor that lets you create charts and graphs and then embed the resulting image into your blog/website etc.
There’s lots of options to play with, and you can tweak your graph to your hearts content.
Go take a look at : http://imagecharteditor.appspot.com/
New Google search by image
I was told about a neat little application last week called TinEye. With it you could upload an image and TinEye would tell you all the sites that used that particular image. I thought it could be useful for teachers to check where students got particular images for coursework – it should be possible to backtrack and find the source.
It reminded me a little of the Google Goggles app for the iPhone which would search based on a photograph. I was wondering why Google hadn’t rolled a similar feature out to their desktop search tool.
Well now it turns out they have been working on a similar idea, and this week they’ve begun to roll out a new feature for Google Image Search which lets you search from an image. Similar to the Pixolu2 tool I wrote about yesterday.
Apparently the new feature will be rolled out to users this week. You’ll know you have it when you see a camera icon on the Google Image Search page. (I now have the feature in my Firefox 4 browser and in Internet Explorer 9)
Click on the camera and it opens up to let you either enter a URL of an image or upload one of your own.
The image search tool will check for identical copies of that image, and also return similar images. Handy if you want to find lots of variations on a theme for a particular presentation or piece of work.
I uploaded a photo of a sunflower I had taken with my phone, and Google returned lots of yellow/flower pictures
It’s an interesting development, but maybe not brilliantly useful just yet. Keep an eye on it to see how it develops.
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Tracking Blogs with RSS in Google Reader
There are some excellent blogs out there with a wealth of information for teachers. The biggest problem is keeping track of them. It can be very time consuming to go from blog to blog to see if there’s any new content. A much better way is to get the blogs to come to you. And you can do that very easily using a Blog reader and RSS.
RSS stands for ‘Really Simple Syndication’. Many people describe it as a ‘news feed’ that you subscribe to. Using RSS readers you can monitor lots of blogs from one place and be informed when they have new content. For more about RSS, here’s a guide to RSS in plain english
One of the simplest ways to do this is to use Google Reader, which comes free as part of a Google account. If you have Google Mail or Google Docs, you already have access to Google Reader. If you don’t already have an account, sign up for one. It’s totally free.
Add blogs to your reader
First, visit a blog that you’d like to follow. Then all you need to do is click and copy its web address / URL. Switch to Google Reader and click the “Add a subscription” button. Then paste the URL in the box. Google Reader should automatically find the RSS feed of the blog and add it to your list of blogs.
If not- take a look on the blog for an RSS icon – usually it will link to the address of the feed for that blog. It should look something like this:
For this blog – its towards the top right of the page (it’s grey not orange). Click it to see my feed page. Then copy and paste the URL address for the feed into Google Reader as before.
List blogs
Whenever you visit your Google Reader page, it will list all the blogs that you have subscribed t0 that have unread posts. As you click on them you’ll see the latest updates and can read it right there in the feed reader. Typically it will show the titles of the blog posts. Simply click on a title to open up the post.
You are given the option to click through to the actual site or move onto the next unread item – marking the last one as ‘read’.
If you want to visit the actual blog site – to add a comment or to pass on the URL, then click on the title of the blog post and a new window should open up. Some blogs are set up so you only get a small part of the post, to read the whole thing you would then need to click on the title and go to the original site.
For more help, here’s a short guide on getting started from the Google Reader blog:
and here’s the official help page.
By using Google Reader I can follow lots of blogs, and read them all by going to just one website. It does make following blogs a lot easier.If you use an iPad you can also access Google Reader via the browser, or via many different RSS apps that will connect to your Google Reader account and display your blogs in a handy format. I use an app called Reeder which makes the blog reading experience so much nicer.
If you’ve never tried Google Reader do check it out: http://www.google.com/reader/
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How Now Google Cow
Just a quick post to point out that if you haven’t seen Google Body Browser, it now comes with added Bovine goodness. (Firefox 4 or Chrome needed to access)
In addition to the female body that was used in the beta version, you can now explore a male body and even that of a cow.
I heard initially that this may have been an April Fools prank, given the day it was released, but someone from Google tweeted me to say it was staying. Which I think is great.
[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/#!/arthurblume/status/54526493073743872"]
I’m now hoping for more animals to get added. It would be great for comparative anatomy – compare the skeletons of a human, a cow, a giraffe and a whale for example. How do they compare? Do giraffes have more bones in their neck or just the same bones, bigger? How about a bird or a fish?
To access the body : a href=”http://goo.gl/body”>http://goo.gl/body and to access the cow use a href=”http://goo.gl/cow”>http://goo.gl/cow
Nice one Google!
Read MoreSmart Notebook Search Engine
While at the Teacher 2 Teacher conference, it was a pleasure to meet up with Obe Hostetter, who runs the Smartboard Revolution Ning. Obe has created a very useful search engine for finding Smart Notebook files – this used to be featured on the Smart Website but I can’t find it anymore!
You can access the Search Engine Here
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Firefox 4 and Google Body
If you were interested in running Google Body when I wrote about it a few months back, but couldn’t get it to work in your current browser then there’s some exciting news. The new version of Firefox – version 4 – was released yesterday and this version supports OpenGL which lets the Body Browser work.
If you haven’t seen Google Body, I wrote about it here. Science and PE teachers should definitely check it out! (Update – also check out Chris Betcher’s Video here.)
Download Firefox 4 now and take a look.
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About Me
Danny Nicholson : Educator, Science teacher, ICT Consultant, PGCE lecturer, Author and Web2.0 / SMART Masters/ Interactive Whiteboard Trainer. Contact me for any training requests. 
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