MusTech.Net!

What makes WordPress truly remarkable is the seeming endless creation of useful plug-ins and awesome themes -the vast majority of these FREE!   All of us WordPressers know about the site, Weblogtoolscollection.com found here:

http://weblogtoolscollection.com/. 

It shows up in our dashboards and every few days shows us the latest and greatest collections of WordPress Plug-ins and Themes.  It’s a great service to all of us.

What you may not know is that you don’t have to wait for their collection to be published.   If you are like me and don’t want to wait for their collection to be accumulated in a post, you can check out their news tab and will display a rundown of their latest plug-ins, themes, and other useful information listed by “Freshness”…that is, when they were posted. 

Check it out directly here:
http://weblogtoolscollection.com/news/

Sure, some of you already know this, but I’ll bet a number of you had no clue about the updated  listing!  I didn’t find it until 3 months after my first visit, as I was always going there from the dashboard.

Good Hunting! 

Check out my latest two WordPress plug-ins lists here:

 A Dozen WordPress Plugins My New List

Top 10 Wordpress Plugins And Where You May Find Them

Note: If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed for the latest news and information. Not Sure What RSS is or how to Subscribe? Click Here!

One of the technology shifts (change of paradigms) I am championing is the emergence into a web 2.0 world from a web 1.0 world (I know some of you techies loathe this concept: web 2.0… sorry, but it really is descriptive and useful).  That is, taking information from a single point of view and/or stale state, into an interactive, collaborative, and exciting state. 

In the old days… (say … pre-2001), the webmaster was the almighty “gate keeper” of knowledge.  They had to post something for people to know about and if it wasn’t posted…we’ll you never knew about it.  Now with informational bursting tools like RSS, blogs, wikis, and self-tagged informational items, users of web 2.0 technologies (whether they know they are using them or not) are finding themselves immersed in a matrix of connectivity, usability, and explorability (coining a new word here!).  Much of this new matrix is self-directed, self-expandable, community-directed, community-expandable, global in resources and scope,  and continually in a state of change.   That is, the end-user can literally change (for better or worse) the very information that is on the web and customize their queries so much that they only find exactly what they are looking for -provided it’s available.  If what you are looking for is not abailable, you can add it to the informational blob yourself by any one of the limitless avenues availble to you.

Three months ago I browsed right smack into the mother-lode of all web 2.0 directories.  AND… it’s a Web 2.0 directory of Web 2.0 Sites!  This site is truly amazing and full of incredibly useful, odd, wacky, and USELESS web 2.0 programs and sites.  But, it is addictive to search and gives you a great idea as to how much Web 2.0 “stuff” is “out there”. 

The name of the directory is Go2web20.net  and you’ll have to go to it to have any clue as to just how many and massive the web 2.0 software regime has become.   You can find direct here:

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Sure you can promote your event though the newspaper and local TV add channel, but have you considered a Web 2.0 solution?  Enter:

• www.zvents.com
• www.eventful.com
• www.upcoming.com
• www.google.com/calendar

All of these online web sites allow you to promote your concert or event free of charge to the pubic and can create custom RSS feeds of your events (RSS FEEDS MADE EASY!) to incorporate into your websites or syndicate as you like. Google even will add your event to the Google Maps when anyone is searching the area for things to do!

Zvents:

The place to find out about local events! Zvents helps you quickly find events you care about, and gives you the tools to share event information with others. You can search for things to do (just like your favorite search engine), or browse categories if you’re not sure what you want to do.

Eventful:

Founded in 2004, Eventful is the leading events website which enables its community of users to discover, promote, share and create events. Eventful’s community of users select from nearly 4 million events taking place in local markets throughout the world, from concerts and sports to singles events and political rallies.

People use Eventful to track and share events with their friends and community in many ways:

• import iTunes and last.fm performer lists and keep track of which favorites are coming to town
• easily export events via feeds, calendar widgets, third-party calendar services, email alerts and much more
• keep track of what’s happening at favorite venues and see where favorite performers are appearing
• weekly email event guides are completely customized based on a user’s interests, with recommended events in their city
• add events to your personal watch list and see what events your friends and groups are watching (and going to)
• add events to Eventful for free and promote events to the entire community

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Camstudio has just updated their screen and audio recording software this past month.  If you are looking for software to record your computer screen and create tutorials for computer software; this software is amazing.  You can find out more about it here.

If you are looking for great free video streaming software such as this, there is no need to look any further.  CamStudio is easy to use and produces a great final product.  This software could easily be integrated into any technology curriculum.  A special thanks to Nick and the folks at CamStudio for making such a fine product available for free.

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