Zamzar Converts Powerpoint Into Easy-To-Share Images [Conversion]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/JftKqeBneKE/zamzar-converts-powerpoint-into-easy+to+share-images

Ever wanted to extract Powerpoint slides as images for embedding elsewhere? We've previously covered the convert-anything Zamzar web site, which can convert Powerpoint presentations to images.

To convert the file, simply upload the file (ignoring the obnoxious popup ads), choose PNG format, and enter your email address to receive the link for the converted files—it took a little while for the files to show up, but the conversion process worked perfectly—all ready for you to embed or email the files.

An alternative method for converting and sharing Powerpoint is to simply upload the file to Google Docs, and then use the PDF export option to download and share with friends—or you can use Google Docs to embed presentations on your web site or blog. Thanks, Nick!

Zamzar

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YouTube EDU Brings Free Education to the Masses [Learning]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/qT0knm3sU3U/youtube-edu-brings-free-education-to-the-masses

YouTube has just released a new sub-site called YouTube EDU, aggregating thousands of free lectures from over a hundred universities across the country, including MIT, Yale, Harvard, Stanford, and oh-so-many more.

On Tuesday we highlighted another similar application that we described as Hulu for academic lectures called Academic Earth, and just two days later, here comes YouTube EDU. It's incredible to see such great options for folks looking for some free education.

The two services are very similar in some ways, and while YouTube's landing page isn't quite as useful as Academic Earth's, they're both packed full of great content. Head to the Directory page to browse through all the university options, and when you pick one, you can see all of the full courses or individual lectures available. According to weblog Open Culture, YouTube EDU currently has over 200 full courses, so you're bound to find something that piques your interest—like MIT's Introductory Quantum Mechanics II.

It's really exciting to see the web embrace and distribute all this free learning, and we're eager to see both services grow.

YouTube EDU [via Open Culture]

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See the World Through Flickr's Eyes [Visualization]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/1ITjEH4_-I0/see-the-world-through-flickrs-eyes

As sad as it sounds, most of us experience the world through photographs. Now MIT software engineers are taking that idea literally and mapping Flickr photos to regional maps in The World's Eyes project.

By pulling GPS metadata from uploaded photos (and then skinning that data in a neat 3D visualization), users can see how photographers/tourists see a given area. There's overlap, yes, but that's entirely the point. It's a project more about capturing stereotypes (like the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the Statue of Liberty in NY), than giving a Google Street View objective turn by turn of an area. Add tags like "party" to the mix, and that worldview is altered in very interesting, less predictable ways.

As strange as this may sound, I could totally picture this visualizer on the PlayStation 3. The platform has focused quite a bit on a unique photo experience, and the style isn't so far from Sony's. All they'd really need to do is network it. [MIT via GearCrave]

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Sun Storing The Entire Internet In a Shipping Container [Storage]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/uB985HHkdlg/sun-storing-the-entire-internet-in-a-shipping-container

How do you store three petabytes (that's 3,145,728 GB) of web pages for the Internet Archive? You put them in a datacenter housed in a shipping container.

Each container packs in 60 of the company's Sun Fire X4500 Open Storage Systems and is constantly monitored for potential threats. It's actually a pretty elegant, modular solution to an archive that grows by nearly 100TBs every month. So rest assured folks, your precious GeoCities page from the 90's is safe and secure. [Sun via GigaOM via Slashgear]

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Microsoft Marketing Team Now Exclusively Advised By Internet Commenters (But It Works!) [Advertising]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/EhTYJmCpC0o/microsoft-marketing-team-now-exclusively-advised-by-internet-commenters-but-it-works

You've heard it before, and it's true: Macs are more expensive than PCs. There's not much more to say about that! Unless, of course, you have a vested interest in casting Apple as elitist.

In this, the most directly anti-Apple ad of Microsoft's 'I'm a PC' campaign, Microsoft sets up an experiment: a focus group of prospective computer shoppers is given a set amount of money—in this case $999—to buy a computer. Any remaining cash the members have they can keep.

Predictably, our perky protagonist, desiring a 17-inch screen, went with a $700 PC from Best Buy. And why not? The 'equivalent' (read: 17-inch) Apple product could have cost her twice as much, and $999 would have left her stuck with a last-gen product anyway. Likewise, if she had listed in her requirements 4GB of RAM, a Blu-ray drive, a built-in card reader, or anything at all that doesn't come stock in a 13-inch white MacBook, she would have had to buy a PC.

Microsoft told the WSJ that not a single focus group member chose a Mac, but even the most devout Apple fanboy could have predicted this outcome; the arbitrary terms of the ad had Apple competing in a market segment that they don't even have a product in. The 'experiment', as it were, doesn't actually prove anything, nor does it need to; this, like any good ad campaign, is about crafting an image for you or your competitors—something it manages deftly in a time when money is on everyone's mind. [BoingBoing Gadgets]

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