The Wonder Wheel, and other amazing goodies

I've just returned from the great experience of being with "my people" - yep, about 2,500+ school librarians from all over the nation. Perhaps the high point for me was the "smackdown" session during which some of the most notable tech experts in the profession (aided by plenty of input from tech experts in the audience) gave quick demos of the latest and greatest examples of Web 2.0 tool use in school libraries. Fortunately, it's all archived on the smackdown wiki, giving us a chance to go back and try to explore how we might use some of these tools in our own settings. My special job during the smackdown was to be the timekeeper. Each group of experts was given precisely 12 minutes in which to show their stuff. I was ready for the challenge, though, because I brought along assistant principal Sue Kovacs' Whistle of Power. It gave me the confidence (and the piercing shrieks) I needed.

One of the coolest things I saw was Google's new Wonder Wheel (why, WHY, did I not know about this??). I'll let Google guy Adam explain it: