RPP #30 Beyond Blackboard, Media Player Guide and Christmas Rap

Topics covered during this 18 minute podcast:

• MP3 & Video Media Player Holiday Shopping Guide (CNET Review Scores)
  
• Microsoft Zune - JUST SAY NO: no podcast support, brown?, "welcome to the social"?, "squirt your music"? (8.0)
  
• High-Capacity Players: $250-$350
  
• Apple iPod - 2.5" Screen, no FM tuner (8.3)
  
• Creative Zen Vision:M - 2.5" Screen, FM tuner, voice recorder (8.0)
• Toshiba Gigabeat MES30VW - 2.4" Screen, Editor's Choice (8.3)
• Mid-Capacity Players: $200-$250
  
• Apple iPod Nano - 1.5" Screen, ultra thin, Editor's Choice (8.3)
  
• iRiver Clix - 2.2" Screen (8.7)
  
• Sandisk Sansa E260 - 1.8" Screen, FM tuner, voice recorder (8.0)
  
• Mini Players: $79-$130
  
• Apple iPod Shuffle - no screen, smallest, clips on clothing (6.3)
  
• Creative Zen V Plus - 1.5" Screen!, Editor's Pick (8.3)
  
• Treo 680 $200-400 If you want a cell phone and Palm organizer too.
  
• The Blackboard Beyond Initiative
• Extend The Platform: Blackboard is establishing a Global Learning Objects Catalog, where any Blackboard user can publish to or search for learning resources to enhance their instructional experience.
• Facilitate Social Networking: The first "property" will be a social bookmarking service like del.icio.us (see RPP #15), but customized for education, and integrated with all of the Blackboard's Learning System products. It will provide users with the tools to evaluate and find educationally valuable resources, and share them within the validated network of Blackboard faculty and students. Other parts of the Initiative include:
  
• Enable Lifelong Learning: Blackboard’s unique "e-Portfolios-for-life" service will allow Blackboard users to post their portfolios to a central site for long-term use.
• Create Data Benchmarking: Blackboard’s collaborative benchmarking service will allow clients to anonymously share relevant data and gain better insight into best practices.
• Podsafe Music Selection
• "The Christmas Season" by Sudden Death from the Podsafe Music Network
• Sudden Death combines hip hop beats with what Dr. Demento calls "some of the funniest hip hop lyrics I've ever heard."