skrbl: easy to share online whiteboard

You all can usually tell when I'm sifting through my blogs and listservs as I tend to post a lot more here.

This is one of the coolest tools that I've run across all year (and I don't just mean the last 2 months).

skrbl (or Scribble) is an online whiteboard application. I've used these in the past and they have always disappointed me. They were either slow to update, required the installation of software, or were simply poorly designed. skrbl is none of these. It is an easy design, easy to use (don't even need to register, but I'd recommend doing so if you like it), easy to invite others to use, and most importantly, NO SOFTWARE to install.

I used it briefly with my wife. There was a small delay (about a second or so), but we were also a very long distance from one another. Though we are next to each other in the office, I'm am technically on a server in Indianapolis, so my signal has to go to Indy and back.

I was really amazed and I would be happy to try this out with anyone if you'd like.

Wikimapia - Let's describe the whole Earth!

This one was just too cool for me not to pass on to you all. This is an extension of Google Earth. Wikimapia allows you to make notes on areas (and even individual buildings). All of this in a Wiki-type format that allows editing from the masses.

Just imagine what you could do with this in your classroom. Those boring "My Hometown" reports really could be juiced up. I suppose you'd want to guard against them adding their homes in there (I was tempted to do so for a minute), but otherwise, how neat would that be!

Check out my brief entry on Festa Plaza in Ilsan. Unfortunately, Google doesn't zoom in that far in this area. I'm assuming that its proximity to North Korea (about 25km north) might be a reason. However, you can see what's possible. It would be nice to get someone to modify it with a Korean entry. I'll have to wait and see.