The Web Literally Comes to Your Phone: Websignals

I recently subscribed to the CBC Websignal service on my Blackberry Pearl and have been so impressed that wanted to write about it.

What is a Websignal?

A Websignal is a free service for Blackberry smartphones that brings push email technology to the web.  The idea is that the Blackberry user subscribes to a provider’s Websignal and current news, information or other data is push directly to the user’s phone when it is published; it works like RSS feeds except that the data is pushed directly to the cell phone instead of to an RSS reader.  This is a service that RIM has made available in Oct. 2008 and as of this writing, there are 8 Websignal providers: Accuweather,  CBC,  Dada Entertainment,  FOX,  NY Times,  Reuters,  Thumbplay,  Washington Post.

Why talk about Websignals when they are only available on the Blackberry?

Let me begin by stating that I am an advocate for cross-platform services.  The most effective tools are those that are available to as many people as possible as cheaply as possible using any mobile device.  While the concept of a Websignal is currently a Blackberry thing,  this appears to me to be a new direction in mobile computing that will catch on with others and quickly.  Just as every smartphone worth their weight now has push e-mail, push web appears to be the next step in push data technology.

What are some classroom applications of websignals?

Classroom applications can very.  Websignals can be used to stay connected with current events as I am currently doing with my CBC Websignal.  However, as this technology becomes more prevalent and end-users are provided with tools to create Websignals, teachers can utilize a Websignal to keep students and/or parents up-to-date with class information including assignment reminders.  Students may at some point be able to setup their own Websignal as a way to submit work to teachers.  Obviously, this form of data transfer is very new so immediate classroom applications beyond simply subscribing to a broadcasting company for consumption content is limited.  However, here is an early look a where mobile technology is going – immediate, on-demand feedback where the content really does come directly to you whereever you happen to be.  If you are a Blackberry user, I recommend subscribing to a websignal and experience the benefits of web data that literally comes directly to you as it becomes available.

iPods in Education Part 10: Voice Playback of Digital Text

When I wrote my first blog post in this iPods in Education Series, I wrote about how an iPod can be used by teachers to differentiate instruction for students by making use of books in audio format and playing these audiobooks on a digital handheld device from anywhere at any time.  The focus of that blog post was basically using an audio version of a book and not regular pieces of texts.  Since then, I’ve come across a number of websites that will all users to upload ANY piece of text and have their text-to-speech engine automatically convert the text to voice.

One service that I’ve come across lately (thanks to Mr. Robb’s blog post) is ReadtheWords.com.  While the site requires teachers or students to create a free account, it allows users to upload a variety of text formats, such as text in MS Word format, PDF files, text in HTML format or simply by copying and pasting text, and the engine will convert the text to speech in either, English, French or Spanish.  While there are other free sites that allow text-to-speech conversion such as Odiogo, vozMe, and SpokenText, I like this site because it provides variety: variety of languages, it recognizes a variety of text formats, and allows the audio file to be in a variety of audio formats.  While I like the use of an iPod for this purpose, I know that not everyone is using an iPod so variety is important.

With regards to using these tools in the classroom, this is an ultimate tool to accommodate for student needs and differentiating instruction.  Instead of having students copying text from an overhead projector, these notes can be made available on a blog or wiki for students to download and listen to.  Playing these files from an iPod, or smartphone for that matter, allows students to listen and relisten to notes whenever they need to and rewind as many times as needs.  In addition, for students who have difficult writing, providing audio versions of text makes the content accessible to them.  Considering the fact the the services are free, the voice quality isn’t bad at all.

The above is for those, who like me, look for free solutions for personal productivity.  However, not everyone is confortable with using free web services.  For those of you that have a Mac an would prefer using software to do this task, for a reasonable fee, Ghost Reader will also accept a variety of text formats and convert it to multiple audio formats.  I don’t know of any reasonable priced tools for the PC that will do this task.  Let me know if you have any suggestions.

Using Mobi Pocket Reader on a Cell/Smart Phone

Reading longer pieces of text, like a story, on a mobile device does indeed take some getting used to.  However, being able to carry a mini-library around wherever one goes and have access to that library wherever one finds themselves is definitely something I find useful.  I used to use Wattpad to read stories on my phone and I liked it for it made reading on my phone possible.  However, I got a little frustrated with it as I really could only install text that either I could find from their website or or upload to their website in plain text format and the editing features available were quite limited.  A few months ago,  I switched to Mobi Pocket Reader on my Blackberry Pearl and have found that this app is a power tool for using text on a mobile phone.

In addition to being able to easily zoom in and zoom out of text, the app allows the user to bookmark multiple pages.  In addition to this, other editing features such as highlighting and the ability to add notes brings many of the benefits of working with paper to digital text.  The ability to search for words brings the advantages of processors to text. The most powerful feature however, is the ability to take text from many different formats, including word documents, text in .rtf format and even pdf files, and convert them to a Mobi Pocket Reader friendly format.  The conversion stays true to the formatting of the original text as far as it is possible on a small screen.

In my quest to find a piece of software that allows me to read on my phone, Mobi Pocket Reader is currently my software of choice.  There are hardware solutions, such as the Amazon Kindle, but I want to reduce the number of devices that I carry around with me.  There are other software solutions such as Wattpad or iPod notes, I find them clumsy in comparison to Mobi Pocket reader which brings of the benefits of text on paper to the digital screen and adds ease and comfort to the mobile reading experience.