Save any type of Streaming Media with Media Sniffer

Media Sniffer is free software that lets you download and save streaming media from the internet. It is available for Windows (you also need WinPcap installed ). Both are free.

It is not super simple and you need a little bit of tech knowledge, but it can be useful for saving streaming media to a computer for later/offline viewing. Just remember to follow any pertinent copyright laws and rights of the media owner.

You can read more about it here: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/capture-save-any-type-of-streaming-content-using-media-sniffer-windows/

Vid.ly - make your videos playable anywhere, on any device

Vid.ly is a site that will take a video and convert it so it can be viewed on any device. You It gives you a unique Vid.ly URL and embed code for the video that you can share via email, web site, social network or you can embed the video on a site or mobile app. The video conversions are stored on their site and when someone clicks on the video/link, it detects their device and operating system and then delivers the correct video to them.

It's easy to use - create a URL (name it something that matches your video), enter the URL for the video you want to convert, and off you go.

The free version lets you create and share one Vid.ly URL at a time, but you can create as many URLs as you like, for free.

This is a great resource for education, allowing students and teachers to use any device or operating system to view videos. With so many different systems out there, sharing a video with your students or colleagues is much easier using this system.

Clipgenerator - easily create free videos from pictures,music, and text

Clipgenerator is a site that allows you to quickly, easily, and for free, create online videos. You can use photos, text and musics to create video clips. The site has automated animations and film clips that you can use. It only takes three steps to make the videos.

You select the pictures from your computer, Flickr, Picasa, smugmug or photobucket. You then select music from the music pool on Clipgenerator. Then add text and captions and you are done. You can then view and share your video. You can share the videos directly to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Bebo, as well as send the video by email as a link. There is also an embedding code so that you can embed the video directly on your blog or website.

It's a great resource for creating videos. Teachers can use it to create learning resources for students and students can use it for class projects.

There is a quick tour that will show you how to use it.

TED Launches TED-Ed "education lessons worth sharing"

TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) talks are a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading."  TED Talks are a collection of conversations and speeches by a variety of people, on a variety of topics. These topics range from education to humor to politics to science and much more. They are very informative and educational.
They have now launched TED-Ed, a new lesson-based YouTube channel. Aimed primarily at high-school students, it is meant for teachers to submit their best lessons, in a 10 minute or less video. TED will send a portable recording booth out to the teacher whose lessons where chosen. The lesson recordings are then animated and posted on TED-Ed.


Here's a video about TED-Ed


UPDATED 4-25-2012:


TEDed has a new url: ed.ted, and the new site allows teachers to create interactive quizzes about the videos. Teachers can track their students' performance on the quizzes also.


TED-Ed YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/TEDEducation 
TED-Ed Homepage: http://education.ted.com


Related:

Official TED App for Android now Available

Go! Animate - create animated videos for free

Go! Animate is a site that allows you to create animated videos, for free. There is also a school account that is private and secure, has school safe content, content moderation and group management, starting at $8 per month.

The free account lets you create videos easily and quickly. You can also add your own recorded voice to the videos and it is easy to share the videos to YouTube, Facebook, and more.

The free account is limited to 2 minutes per animation. You can create your own characters or use the pre-made ones, including some from Star Trek and It's Happy Bunny.

This could be a fun way for students to create a project that demonstrates their understanding of a concept or for digital storytelling.

Animoto - create awesome video slideshows

Animoto is one of those sites that I have heard about and used for a while, but never wrote about. So here goes.

Animoto is a very cool site that allows you to create video slideshows. The free version does have a limit of 30 second videos but the Plus plan is only $5 per month and has full length videos. There are more expensive plans that include more functionality also.

You select images and musics and video clips and then Animoto organizes them into a video slideshow. You can also share your slideshows through a variety of social media sites and there are some nice design backgrounds to choose from.

UPDATE: there is a free Animoto Plus account for educators. It removes the 30 second limit you get on a normal free account and allows you to create student accounts. See it at http://animoto.com/education 

Encyclomedia - free online collection of videos

Encyclomedia is a free site that contains a huge variety of videos on history, science, nature, people, travel, entertainment and much more. 

They have designed it as an online video encyclopedia with descriptions and information about each video. You can browse by category or search for different videos. 

There are a bunch of popup/linked ads, but they have to keep the site running somehow. 

Take a look and see if there are any videos you can use in your classroom.

Video Tutorials from Stump the Teacher - great resource for getting started with tech

I recently found out about Stump the Teacher, a blog by Josh Stumpenhorst, and the excellent collection of tutorial videos he has on the blog.

The videos are well done and easy to follow and understand. Topics include: Google Docs, Blogger, Greenscreen, Twitter, Evernote, and more.

These are great for people who want to get started with any of these tools, or even learn a few new things.

Definitely a resource to add to your list of great, on-demand, tech professional development sites.

Free Video Format Conversion Software (3 of them)

Earlier today I posted about VLC Media Player, which can play, and convert, most video and audio formats. Sometimes you just want a simple video conversion software to convert video formats so that you can play the video on different devices and systems (Windows, Mac, Linux, mobile deviceHere are three:

FLV Converter - converts Flash FLV video files to other formats (including Windows Media, .avi, and mpeg-4. Videos on many websites, including YouTube (for now) are in the FLV format. This format doesn't play well all the time and many video players can play it. If you download videos from YouTube or other sites, you may have to convert them to be usable.




WM Converter - another easy to use video converter. Converts from almost any format to almost any other format. You can also convert multiple files in the same session, so you can "set it and forget it" (sorry Ronco).



Any Video Converter - simple, easy to use, powerful video conversion.This one can also clip, sort, and merge video clips to create a new movie and can also crop the frame. This has saved me a few times when other converters just wouldn't convert a file. It also can convert with better quality many times.


All of these are great options if you need to convert video files.

VLC - Awesome free video and audio player (and converter)

Video is an important part of life and education. We use videos in class for a variety of reasons. Videos come in many different formats too. It's no fun to need to have 3 or 4 different video players (Windows Media Player, Real, Quicktime) to play them all. While most of them can play formats that others can, I've run into problems with all of them. Some videos won't play on them at all, and others are lower quality. Solution: VLC Multimedia Player.







VLC Multimedia Player is a free, open-source, video and audio player that plays most multimedia files as well as DVD, Audio CD, VCD, and various streaming protocols. 


VLC Multimedia Player is easy to use and starts up quickly.  It can play video and audio files, DVD, CD and VCD and can play streaming video. It rarely needs any additional downloads to play most videos. 


You can also use it to convert video and audio files to other formats (especially handy for converting certain formats to be able to upload them to a website or use on a mobile device).


VLC Multimedia Player is free, easy to use, and very powerful.  It is available for Windows, 10 different versions of Linux, Mac, iOS,  and Unix. 


Screenshot on my system.

You can see more screenshots here.

WatchKnow - collection of educational videos from around the web

(Updated. Originally posted 11/2009)

WatchKnow is a site set up by the creator of Wikipedia. The site collects all the best free educational videos for students and indexes them for easy searching and you can watch them on the site.

The videos are links and are actually hosted on their home sites, so some of the videos will be blocked by internet blocking software.

The categories include: math, science, social studies, history, language arts, and much, much more. There are even some of the School House Rock videos on there. 

The best part about WatchKnow is that it has done the work of sorting through the millions of videos on the web to find the ones that are good for education. Do a search and see how easy it is to use and find great videos for your classroom.

WatchKnow - educational video search

WatchKnow is a new site set up by the creator of Wikipedia. The site collects all the best free educational videos for students and indexes them for easy searching and you can watch them on the site.

The videos are links and are actually hosted on their home sites, so some of the videos will be blocked by internet blocking software.

The best part about WatchKnow is that it has done the work of sorting through the millions of videos on the web to find the ones that are good for education. Do a search and see how easy it is to use and find great videos for your classroom.

Open Culture - 50 Intelligent Video Sites

Open Culture is a great web site that discusses cultural and educational resources on the internet. I have found some great resources on the site and today they posted a list of 50 Intelligent Video Sites.

The article has some sites that I already know about, but some were pleasant surprises.

My favorites were "Academic Earth", "Learner.org", "Pop!Tech Pop!Cast Videos", and "TED Talks."

All of the sites they list have some great material and Open Culture does a nice job describing each site.