This is a public service announcement. I have a Facebook account for friends and family networking. I love seeing comments and updates - but I gotta tell you that I don’t care if you harvested goat milk in Farmville or shot down 500 Mafia bad guys. If you feel like me, here’s an easy way to update your news feed so these items don’t show up.When an unwanted update appears in your News Feed, simply mouse over the update and click the Hide button that appears to the right of the update. Instead of hiding your friend, click the name of the application or game you want to hide - like Farmville. The beautiful thing is, not only does it hide the Farmville update from your friend, it also hides the Farmville updates for anyone else who plays Farmville.

Admongo was created by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to teach kids ages 8-12 about advertising and provide them with the skills they need to make informed decisions about ads and the things they buy. Kids learn by playing a game - in either multimedia or HTML format.Admongo shows kids: How to recognize different types of advertisementsHow to read, question and understand advertisementsWhy it is important to be a smart consumerCheck it out:  http://www.admongo.gov/

June 10 &11 - $395 for eLearning Guild Members.  This is Part 1 of a two-part Rapid Tools Intensive. Part 2 happens on June 24-25th. Note: there are separate fees for each forum.This Online Forum will guide you through practical exercises in which you will learn to effectively use different Rapid e-Learning development tools. You will see basic-to-intermediate concepts and skills, and see step-by-step techniques that you can apply to your work.Check it out:  http://www.elearningguild.com/online-forums/content/1568/june-10--11

(From the YouTube Blog)YouTube Play is a collaboration between YouTube and the Guggenheim Museum to unearth and showcase the very best creative video from around the world. They are looking for animation, motion graphics, narrative, non-narrative, or documentary work, music videos and entirely new art forms—creations that really challenge the world’s perceptions of what’s possible with video. To have your work considered, simply post it on YouTube, and then submit it at youtube.com/play. A jury of experts will decide which works presented at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York on October 21, 2010 with simultaneous presentations at the Guggenheim museums in Berlin, Bilbao, and Venice. The videos will be on view to the public from October 22 through 24 in New York and on the YouTube Play channel.Check it out:  http://www.youtube.com/play  http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2010/06/youtube-play-searching-with-guggenheim.html

The EPA has a special website dedicated to the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  The EPA deployed the ASPECT, a twin engine aircraft designed to assist in the collection of air sampling data as well as photo documentation of environmental incidents.  You can view the ASPECT data in Google Earth - there are links to the data on the site, adownload for the Google Earth program and a document explaining how to use ASPECT Google Earth data to find oil locations.Check it out:  http://www.epa.gov/bpspill/

Avoiding PowerPoint Poison: Instructionally Effective Use of PowerPoint Conversion for eLearning Wed, Jun 23, 2010 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM CDTCheck it out:  http://www.rapidintake.com/webinar-registration-779996611/

This books targets the person taking online courses BUT has lots of good tips to consider when developing courseware. It’s also available through Amazon."This broad-reaching collection of essays on e-learning examines accomplishments, new directions, and challenges from many perspectives. The essays are arranged in categories, which include e-learning and e-learners, teaching and instruction, student en-gagement, learning communities, outcomes assessment and institu-tional leadership, all of which relate to learners and programs from college, K-12, career, to corporate training. Of special interest is a focus on successful outcomes for students and programs, and essays on often-overlooked niches of learners, including genera-tional differences (Gamers, Boomers, Gen X, and Gen Y), stay-at-home mothers, working mother e-learners, homeschoolers, bilingual online education and training."Check it out:  http://zenzebra.net/elearner-survival-guide.pdf

This report is based on usability studies with real users, reporting how they actually used a broad variety of iPad apps as well as websites accessed on the iPad. If you are thinking of developing or deploying training to the iPad, this report would be useful.Check it out:  http://www.nngroup.com/reports/mobile/ipad/ ( 93 page report)http://www.useit.com/alertbox/ipad.html (summary)

Interesting information about the Supreme Court - you can take a virtual tour of the building, view interviews with current justices, and view a timeline in 3 different formats (great idea!).Check it out:  http://supremecourt.c-span.org/Default.aspxI also found an interesting chart that shows how long the process took for each of the previous 14 nominees.Check it out:  http://innovation.cqpolitics.com/media/scnom/And - here are some interactive games and quizzes related to the Supreme Court.  I like Supreme Court Concentration.Check it out:  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/educators/interactives.html

"A website full of animated movies, interactive tutorials and instructional videos, all free for you to view and to embed in your website. Simply select an animated explanation and follow the instructions to integrate it in your site."Check it out:  http://www.animatedexplanations.com/Animation.aspx?animation=391

Check it out:  http://blogs.adobe.com/rjacquez/2010/07/the_wait_is_over_adobe_captiva.html

July 6th — 15th, 2010"It's time for Summer School! Take a seat at your desk with a pencil and notebook as industry leaders share innovative best practices and techniques on a variety of enterprise learning and talent management topics during 45-minute webinars.Each day will have three webinars at 11 a.m. CT, 1 p.m. CT, and 3 p.m. CT. Register once to attend all of the webinars. The registration is free of charge."Check it out:  http://www.clomedia.com/events/summerschool/2010/June/366/index.php

Article by Brandon Hall:  these LMS applications include social media functionality.Check it out:  http://www.clomedia.com/columnists/2010/July/2986/index.php

With Windows Live SkyDrive, you can:Store and share documents from virtually anywhereView and edit documents using Microsoft Office Web AppsTake advantage of up to 25GB storageCheck it out:  http://workspace.officelive.com/en-us/

Want to add some fun to your courses?  Download the free Micro eLearning Games.  Change the logo, test questions and passing score in the external text file.Check it out:  http://www.trainingmagnetwork.com./microgames

Friday, July 23, 2010 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM EDTIf you’re thinking about developing media-rich, trackable and secure mlearning, mobile surveys, polls, or mobile performance support, attend this Webinar to learn about the features and capabilities of OutStart's Hot Lava Mobile. All registrants will receive a free Mobile download (Hot Lava Mobile Desktop Authoring Component). Check it out:  https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/678912658

Check it out:  http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/489/

7/21/2010 - 11:30AM-12:30 PM US Eastern TimeThis one hour session hosted by Dr. Allen Partridge, Adobe eLearning Evangelist, is intended for Trainers, eLearning Professionals and members of the Academic community who want to learn how to migrate their legacy slide decks to more engaging interactive online content. http://bit.ly/9SJs1h

Passwords are essential to using the Web and criminals have become very good at guessing them. This video teaches the risks and how to create a secure password and keep it secret.Check it out:  http://www.commoncraft.com/secure-passwords-video

SitePoint is offering a two-week HTML5 course and three-week CSS3 course for only $19.90.  You can also take each class for a separate price.  Check it out: http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2010/07/20/new-courses-html5-and-css3-without-the-hype-just-the-stuff-that-matters/ HTML5 Live with John Allsopp:  $9.95Starts: 26th JulySessions: 10 x 1 hourhttp://www.sitepoint.com/courses/html5-live/ CSS3 Live with John Allsopp:  $14.95Starts: 26th JulySessions: 15 x 1 hourhttp://courses.sitepoint.com/css3-live

I am presentiong at the BYOL eLearning Conference which will be held November 10-12, 2010 at The Conference Center at Montclair State University, Montclair New Jersey.  My topic is "HTML5 - What You Need to Know and Why You Should Care".HTML5, the new web markup language is supposed to eliminate the need for the Adobe Flash plugin. What does this mean for e-learning developers? Even though HTML5 is not fully supported in major browsers, there are those that are pushing forward and experimenting with its new features. In this session, we will create HTML5 pages and CSS3 styles. We’ll explore key features along with reasons for learning/using HTML 5 instead of Flash. Don’t be scared away from this session if you don’t know basic HTML and CSS - I’ll show you enough to be dangerous!This is a great conference with lots of hands-on experience.  You get a lot of value for your time and money.  Hope to see you there.Check it out:  http://elearning.byol.com/index.php

Trying to change the colors in the Articulate Articulate Quizmaker Color Scheme Editor and not sure which element is what?  Here's a reference guide to the screen layout.Check it out:  http://www.articulate.com/forums/67688-post7.html

View the video documentary of "The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power".  "In the style of the acclaimed CIVIL WAR series, THE PRIZE tells the epic history of oil - how it has dominated global politics, shaken the world economy, and transformed our century. Shot on location in Azerbaijan, Egypt, England, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Russia, Scotland, Turkey, and the United States, the series features fascinating characters, never-before-seen archival footage, newly filmed segments, and interviews with the people who shaped the oil industry."Check it out:   http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3602293093015423860#

Dr. Allen Partridge, Adobe eLearning Evangelist, will focus on the differences and similarities between Adobe Captivate 4 and Adobe Captivate 5 during this one hour session intended for people with experience using prior versions of Adobe Captivate. August 4, 2010 - 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM US/EasternCheck it out:  http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=1673710&loc=en_us