Does your class require you and your students to keep abreast of news events while they happen? Politics, sports, local news, and pop culture all change daily. A web reader can deliver these stories direct to you right after they're posted! Stay up to day with your favorite news sites and blogs. You can access/read all of them in one place with a reader. There are several brands of readers (all free) out on the web, but we recommend Google Reader for its ease of use and large menu of types of sites you can "register" to receive.
Google reader lets you subscribe to your favorite websites. Each posted story contains a link to the original content, and an email link to send the article to anyone in your address book. Signing up is easy (especially if you already have a Google account.)
We often get asked how to "borrow" youtube videos to embed into powerpoint productions. Typically, we are apt to help - but it is important to point out that technically downloading personal copies of Youtube videos is not supported by the Youtube terms of service. There are tools and sites, such as Zamzar, Meep, Vixy and others that assist in this process - but be aware that if you do this and it is in violation of youtube's terms of service, you do so at your own risk.
If internet connection allows, it's always best to link directly as opposed to downloading a video from the web.
Better yet - there are a host of media creation software out there to try. Here's an overview of what Microsoft offers:
