Calendar

I learned how handy Google Calendar can be for tracking different schedules. It's very informative and a good way to stay organized. I like how I can integrate it into my iGoogle. I didn't like how some of the labs were limited. The flares didn't have much variety so I didn't use them. I wanted to add some spice to each calendar with the Background gadget, but I really couldn't figure out how to work that one. I don't use other calendars, but I do rely on the sticky notes feature on my laptop. I think I may stick to them (no pun intended) because they're more visually distinctive and grab my attention, but we'll see what the future holds.

Google Doodles

Whenever you see someone on facebook telling you to check out google, they're probably referring to the latest google doodle. Doodles are when the google logo changes for special occasions, such as a holiday or a famous artist or inventor's birthday. The idea started before the company itself did when the founders played around with an idea for a stick person behind the second O to signify to users that they were out of office. After they asked an intern to make a doodle for Bastille Day, the idea took off and more and more doodles started sprouting up. The Doodle 4 Google competition asks students from around the United States to submit artistic depictions of a certain theme to appear on the google page.

My iGoogle

iGoogle is a one-stop page for various multimedia needs. Its your own personal homepage where you can include your email and several other "gadgets" such as news, entertainment, a calendar, and etc. Gadgets are somewhat like apps on an iPod or iPhone (hence the name iGoogle), and you can even create your own, so iGoogle is a custom experience for everyone. Among the gadgets necessary for the course, I've added a hamster on my page so I have a furry companion while working, and I tried adding a Pandora gadget but it didn't work. So far I really like how much tinkering can be done with iGoogle, but it seems like the gadgets may slow down the page a bit. It will be useful for me because you can integrate your gmail account, which was an irreplaceable tool in my last computer class.

My Gmail

I've learned that gmail offers several useful resources besides email. I was able to complete my entire graphics course through it by using the documents feature. It also offers the poor man's word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, and etc. My main email is MSN. It offers your standard mailing features but also brings you news and other entertainment. I think I prefer gmail, but that may be because my MSN mailbox is cluttered with thousands of unread emails!

Cloud Computing Introduction

• At first I took this course because I was scrambling to find the last three credit hours I needed to graduate, but now that I've been working with it I think I'm going to learn a lot. 
• I found out about it through Dr. Stevens. I didn't know I was going to be taking a course about Cloud Computing when I sought her our for an independent study, but this was the option I was given and I accepted it undoubtedly. 
• So far I've learned of iGoogle's existence and how it's a streamlined approach to various media sources across the internet. 
• The main advantage of cloud computing is being able to save data without it being lost. 
• As far as disadvantages, I haven't discovered any yet.
•  My final thoughts are that I'm pretty excited about this course honestly, and it's already blown the other two online classes I'm taking out of the water.