"Education is not a preparation for life; education is life itself." John Dewey

Not too long ago I did a presentation about teaching in libraries. During it I recommend staying on top of tech issues by listening to podcasts. The list below is just some of the ones I listen to on a weekly basis. Not all are 100% tech but all are information.

• NYTimes Tech Podcast

This is more like tech magazine. You don’ t need to be a geek to follow along . They give great tips. Vocab and awesome interviews

• Crave

A British CNET podcast discussing current tech issues. It is fun and enjoyable and sometimes a bit insane. Occasionally I mentally tune out when they are discussing Britain only issues but this is minor.

• NPR Tech Podcast

This is a compilation of anything tech mentioned throughout NPR’s broadcast. This is ice because you end up with stuff from all over the spectrum. Also they explain it so eve the non techies will stay interested.

“Steve Jobs has always had a bit of Buzz Lightyear in him: comically self-confident, ingenuously overbearing and over endowed with charisma.” Katie Ha

Recently I have been working on a presentation about teaching to give at the RILA conference. I came across a great episode of a podcast from the Real Deal talking about Steve Jobs and his presentation style. Jobs is one of the creators of Apple and gives a really excellent and polished presentation. The episode features Carmine Gallo who wrote the Book Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs. He breaks down the style and mystique of Jobs as a presenter. Whenever I have taught PowerPoint I always mention Jobs as a good person to study. They also mention Presentation Zen in the podcast which is a favorite of mine as well. I plan on using some of the discussed techniques in both my presentation and my lessons. Check it out and see if it inspires a better speech.

“You can't be truly rude until you understand good manners.” Rita Mae Brown

Let’s say a coworker comes in and you notice a smell coming from their feet. You may feel if you say something it will embarrass the person to hear it from you. Also you may not be able to get the right words that will be sufficient without being rude. The Site NiceCritic is not meant to be mean in fact it is devoted to delivering small helpful notes to others while keeping it all nice and anonymous. To use this free service is the definition of simple. You choose from a category list, like appearance or general suggestions, of possible prewritten things to be sent. Almost all are one line long. Now don’t get the impression that they are all bad phrases. Many people feel just as uncomfortable offering praise as they do criticism. So to help with that they have a praise section that has phrases like “…great presentation” or “you handled that situation very well”. Once you choose a phrase you type in the person’s name and their email and hit send. It is all very easy and not mean spirited. So if you are looking for a nice way to say something give this a try.

“The first rule, indeed by itself virtually a sufficient condition for good style, is to have something to say” Arthur Schopenhauer

Every time I do a PowerPoint presentation I use the same old background templates. I decided it was high time I found something a bit more creative. Templateswise is a website devoted to templates for your presentations. Everyone is tagged for easy finding. They also have basic categories like business, nature, or travel. Once you find one just download it. It does need to be unzipped using a zip utility. Most of those are free. Once you extract your files you should have four files, three images and one that when clicked throws you right into PowerPoint. Now the unfortunate part is that it does not seem to add these new styles to your list of backgrounds but they are still easy to use. When the PowerPoint opens you will have three slides. All you have to do is copy and paste the slides as you go along. So if you want to make your presentation stand out give this one a try.

“Man, like Deity, creates in his own image” Elbert Hubbard

After the post about creating your own avatars I received emails telling me how much they liked the site (*cough* no comments though *cough*) and so I thought I would mention one with even more functionality. Gizmoz is an avatar site that really allows a lot of design possibilities plus a whole lot more. You can choose from a list of people or creatures that you can dress up. This stuff is the regular on almost any of this type. Some of the extras that make this worth it are the animations and the ability to add your text to its speech or, even better, your voice. If you have a microphone attached to your computer you can speak and it will be added to the avatar. This makes is perfect for adding to a website or blog. Oh did I forget to mention that you can also add your face to it as well? If you have a picture of yourself you can upload it to the site. They will animate the whole business for you. It does take several minutes to render and figure out your face from the photo. This part can be kind of creepy when it is recreating a digital you. My recommendation is use a picture of just you and not many other distractions. If you want a bit more style to your online representation give this one a try.