camcorder comparisons

Good to know that there are some models of cheaper camcorders out there that have a line-in for external microphone:
http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/blog/entry/side-by-side-comparison-of-kodak-zi8-sony-z5-and-flip/

Good job JISC digital media!

http://tinyurl.com/lskodakzi8 for the Kodak Zi8 recommended by JISC. Not enough suppliers clearly state that their camcorders can record ext mic input. And very few of them tell you what format the video is recorded to. The Kodak's record to .mov and software is included with the camcorder to convert to wmv or avi to edit using Windows Movie Maker on a PC.

The Flips record to mp4 and these also need conversion for editing on a Windows PC.

For those who prefer to use it, there's Super which is a free converter and works with many formats:
(http://www.erightsoft.com/S6Kg1.html, scroll to the bottom and download)

The PSP with a camera attachment records surprisingly good video and has external mic socket. I would actually recommend this over all others simply because the swivel lens allows you to easily record reflections as well as being used as a normal camcorder or camera. And it captures AVI which can be edited using Windows Movie Maker. (need to actually test this - should be fine in theory!) And as James Clay said in a comment on another post, reviewing the video on the PSPs is much better with its bigger screen compared to the Flip.

Flash quiz on PSP continued...

Well, I guess I'm going to have to get an online software written to allow people to upload a list of multiple choice questions and output a swf file that will play on the PSP. It's a gap in the market! However, along the way, I've learned a lot of interesting stuff and come across some very useful links.

In terms of putting files on the PSP, if you add them to the /COMMON folder on the PSP, this site has a nice web page that allows you to list all the files in that folder and select it.
http://psponme.com/download.asp?show=1&gname=Calc&glink=calc.swf
The site also has some useful educational Flash games (and some less useful but fun games) that will work on the PSP.

Sums Online, needless to say, are the number one for providing lots of useful Maths and Language activities for mobile devices, including the PSP:
http://www.sums.co.uk/playground.htm
You can play some free games online and you can also purchase them for offline use on the PSPs.

Adventure Maker is brilliant! There is a lot of potential - asking the learners to create own 'games' for the PSP would extend learning tremendously.
http://www.digitalarena.co.uk/game_creation/adventure_maker.htm
and http://www.cunniman.net/?tag=adventure-maker

This last one will no doubt now take up a lot of my time inventing ways of using it in FE! I'm thinking a tour of the kitchens, car workshops, etc...

While researching stuff for the PSP, I've had to install Windows (7) on my Mac using Parallels, only to find I should have tried boot camp that comes free with Snow Leopard. Ah well. And now having to fork out nearly £100 for extra RAM for the Mac. Would it have been just as cheap to just get a netbook with Windows 7, lol?

Flash quiz on PSP - myth or reality?

I think I'm hunting down the Holy Grail here: you would have thought by now, that somewhere out there, someone would have created an online site that allows you to create a multiple choice quiz for the PSP. After all, there's web sites to do almost anything these days! But no, seems I've hit on the one gap and the question is, is there a market for it?
I guess if I can get enough colleges/schools interested, then I'd get it commissioned. Not sure if the new MoLeSys tool will have the functionality to create a quiz for the PSP? Something else to ponder, but in the mean time, I'm stuck without a quiz on the PSP unless someone out there volunteers to save a damsel in distress...(ps my pc with my copy of Flash has gone to heaven, and I'm too Yorkshire to get a copy for my Mac...)