Recently in news Category

There are countless ways to back-up your data these days, and many cloud-computing tools to use to access that data on your mobile device, your tablet, or your desktop computer. Dropbox is hoping that its newest campaign, the Great Dropbox Space Race, will encourage you to utilize their services—and to have a little fun while you're at it! The gist of the Space Race is that you earn points AND memory for you and the U of MN by signing up and sharing the information with your peers and students. Here is a selection of the specifics, by way of the Dropbox blog:

You must register for Space Race with an eligible school email address (if you have an existing Dropbox account you can still join)! If you've signed up for Dropbox with a non-school email, no problem! You can verify your school account on the Space Race page.
Your school gets 1 point for each person who registers for Space Race and installs Dropbox on their computer (if they haven't already). Your school gets 2 more points for each person that goes through the Get Started guide (including you!)
Just by signing up, you get 3 GB for two years.
You'll have 8 weeks to get as many people as you can from your school signed up for Space Race!

If free space doesn't light the fire in you to considering signing up for the race or Dropbox, perhaps appealing to your competitive spirit will. There is a leader board. This is a game and currently, the U of MN is 37th. Big 10 foes Northwestern, Michigan, Penn State, and Purdue are all ahead of us. If we aren't going to win on Saturdays, we might as will win in Space!

It seems everyone has Olympic fever right now. With four connections to the Summer Games in London, the School of Kinesiology is no exception. To help quench your thirst for Olympic updates while on the job, on the road, or at the beach, here are a few apps that are podium-worthy:

1. NBC Olympics (GOLD): It should be no surprise that NBC's basic app is a favorite. With a streamlined design, the app provides everything from news and scores to photos and tv schedules.

2. London 2012 Results (GOLD): The official app of the London Organizing Committee is just that—official. Easy interface? Check. Schedules and scores? Check. Military time? Check. What more do you need?

3. TEAM USA (SILVER): For fans of Team USA, this app is a must. It combines all the voyeuristic qualities of Facebook and Twitter into a Flipboard-style interface. The TEAM USA app also gets points for containing content related to the Olympics and the Paraolympics.

4. Reuters Olympics London 2012 (SILVER): Despite being focused on delivering the iconic moments of the Games via photography, this app also provides scores and schedules. The images are why you should download the app, but the extras might make you actually use it.

5. NBC Olympics Live Extra (BRONZE): This app had a lot of potential -- and then it false-started in the finals of the 400-meter medley relay. This app promises to deliver live event coverage (YAY!), but only if you login with your cable provider (BOO!).

All of these apps are not only free, but the majority of them are available on multiple platforms.

The School of Kinesiology has been on Facebook for over nine months. In that time, we've grown from zero fans to 71 fans. Not too shabby, however, we know that there are more potential KIN friends out there. We urge you to join our conversations on Facebook, to check our most recent cover photos (this week, we feature Dr. Lisa Kihl!), and to share our great research and scholarship with your peers, friends, and families.

The School of Kinesiology is also active on Twitter, Flickr, and is considering joining the fray on Pinterest.

Poll of the week: Should the School of Kinesiology join Pinterest? Vote here!

I am back from a winter hiatus from blogging about all things technology, and I am looking forward to a spring semester filled with cool tools and innovative projects. While I have a lot of ideas to share this spring, I am going to start this semester with a warning.

Tomorrow, Wikipedia, along with many other sites (Boing Boing and Reddit), will be having a black out to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate. Wikipedia avers that these initiatives, if passed, would seriously damage the free and open Internet, including Wikipedia.

Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia founder, tweeted this about the blackout yesterday:

I am not taking a position about SOPA or PIPA, at least not in this post, however, I think the implications of a Wikipedia blackout are fairly massive. I use Wikipedia multiple times a day—to confirm facts or to find free-use media files. I know Wikipedia may not be an instructor's favorite tool, but as Wales' tweet showed, it may be one of your students' beloved bookmarks. This blackout may show us how much we love to hate/use this information behemoth.