Many people have asked us what technology we used while traveling and how we used it all.
First let’s look at what we have on the Internet:
Connecticut China Connection - the blog
This blog is based on an installation of Word Press, an open source application. It is common to use Word Press at the WordPress.com site, but we chose to install it on a hosting service. This allowed us to manage several plugins and other customization our own. The blog is sponsored by the Connecticut Educators Computer Association on one of their sites.
Connecticut China Student Exchange - a picture gallery for students
We also set up a picture gallery site for students at Beecher Road School and students at our two sister schools to use. This site is only available to participating students. It is being used to share pictures from daily life in the two countries and to write comments back and forth. Mr. Crawford and I both taught lessons in China using this site.
Skype
While in Heze, I used Skype to conduct a video conference between administrators, parents, teachers, and students at Beecher Road School and Heze Primary School. This conference created much excitement in both schools.
The Hardware
We carried mobile computers, cameras, iPods, lots of cables and more.
Mr. Wood's Tech Collection
MacBooks
Each of us took our MacBook from school. About a month before the trip, we reformatted both MacBooks in order to remove any confidential data from them. We then rebuilt them with the applications that we wanted for the trip. These applications included:
iLife “08 (iPhoto, iTunes, iMovie, and GarageBand)
We used iPhoto to manage the over 3,000 photos that we took. GarageBand was used to create podcasts.
FinalCut Express
Mr. Crawford used FinalCut Express to create some of the movies we shared.
MarsEdit
This simple shareware application was used to write blog posts when we didn’t have access to the Internet and to later upload the posts.
CyberDuck
Another shareware application used to upload large quantities of photos to the site for posting in the photo gallery of the blog.
And of course we had many other applications for occasional use like MS Office, iWork ‘08, Firefox, and many others.
Cameras
I carried a Canon Powershot SX100 IS, 8.0 megapixel digital camera with 10x optical zoom. I used two 4 GB flash cards.
Mr. Crawford used a Nikon D70 Digital SLR camera with a Tamron 18-200 lens and 4 GB CF card.
He also carried along a Canon Powershot SD400 digital camera, 5 megapixal with 3x optical zoom. The Canon SD400 had a 2 GB flash card. 
He also occasionally used his Blackberry’s built-in camera for posts on the move such as our arrival in China and our departure.
Video Cameras
We both carried FlipCams. These simple-to-use all-in-one cameras were great. Each one held one hour of video and could be quickly downloaded to the MacBooks using the built-in USB connector.
These were particularly nice because they weighed in at 5 ounces each, including batteries.
iPods
We each carried an 80GB iPod Classic with a Belkin Stereo TuneTalk microphone. We were able to record street sounds, the singing stones, and our translators pronouncing names and words for us to practice.
The iPods were also loaded with an English/Chinese phrase dictionary and of course some favorite music for the plane ride and family photos to share with our hosts.
Flip Cam, iPod, Canon SX100
Data Backup
As a standard precaution against computer failure as well as a way to preserve our work should our computers be stolen, we each carried a Verbatim 320GB portable USB hard drive. I used Apple’s built in Time Machine application to automatically maintain backups throughout the trip.
Whenever I left the computer behind, the portable drive traveled with me. When the computer was with me, the drive stayed behind.
The Blackberry
Mr. Crawford carried his Blackberry everywhere. It was the Blackberry that allowed us to make posts to the blog at critical times like the arrive at the airport in Beijing.
On our last full day in China, it was the built-in GPS features of the Blackberry that led us on a successful two-mile trek across Beijing to the nearest Pizza Hut. A true life-saver. (More about food in future posts.)
The Blackberry was a BOLD: World Phone with AT&T service in the States and China Mobile in China. The Blackberry has built-in GPS, Audio and Video recording, and a digital camera. Using an International Data plan, supplied by AT&T, Mr. C. was able to send and receive emails, surf the web, and of course make and receive phone calls (though it cost two dollars a minute!). 
Technology has been a big part of my life for many years. However, I think I had the most fun of anytime in my life with the technology on this trip. I may have to do this every year!
Mr. Wood
