Monday, December 31, 2007

[TIPS] Larry Ferlazzo's websites of the Day

I've just recently been reading his blog and I HAVE to point you to it. If you're a teacher of ELL, ESL, or EFL students then you're going to want to subscribe to his blog, as well. He always ties his sites into his mission of teaching the ESL and ELL kids. Great stuff!
 
 
 

Provide Outstanding Business IT Services with On-Going Support

How can providing outstanding business IT services through virtual IT benefit you as a consulting firm? Well, most successful small business computer consultants position their companies as virtual IT departments because it gives them stady business that benefits both them and their clients.

Virtual IT and providing business IT services is about being an outsourced IT department. Instead of selling merely PCs to customers and clients or servers, routers, Wi-Fi, cabling and other “commodities,” as a virtual IT professional you spend time selecting and designing networks and looking at real business problems. You devote time to figuring out how to use technology to solve business problems and to being a part-time IT manager – a virtual CIO.

A Definition of Business IT Services and Virtual IT

Virtual IT is a flexible and sophisticated technical services program that gives small businesses what they need and when they need it in terms of IT help without the overhead cost of full-time, salaried IT staff.

Providing Virtual IT to Clients

In order to successfully deliver business IT services in a way that will help you profit you need to figure out how to spot opportunities and what typical business solutions will resemble. Ask yourself which types of services you can sell to existing and future clients and also what other opportunities might exist for you.

Grow Relationships

In order to continue to provide excellent business IT services and add value to both your existing customers and clients and new customers and clients, you need to start building relationships. Relationships are at the heart of your business. You have to go beyond selling the initial network installation, getting it installed, walking out and hoping everything works.

You can’t wait for customers and clients to call you. You need to proactively provide business IT services on an on-going basis to avoid major emergencies. When you provide virtual IT services, your business gets more profitable and you and your customers have less worries.

Added By: Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit

[TIPS] tagcloud on your webpage

It's been tough trying to find a way to collect your favorite links for your students. You can get them all in one place, but then trying to organize them is tricky. Let's look at one way to display your organized bookmarks on your website using a tagroll on del.icio.us.

http://del.icio.us/help/tagrolls

First you set up your own del.icio.us account. Then, grab a toolbar or extension from this page: http://del.icio.us/help/ Grab the right one for your browser and drop it onto your Links toolbar. From then on, when you see a page that you want to keep, just click that button and it will guide you through adding it to your del.icio.us account.

The KEY to this whole thing is how you TAG your links. You'd like to tag them with multiple tags when applicable, but you don't want to go crazy with them, either. For example, a site about Saturn would rightfully be cross-tagged with Science, space, and perhaps planets. But, a site that lets you edit digital photos could be filed under digital, photos, photography, editing, etc etc. The result is that it's filed in TOO MANY places.

Finally, once you've gone through your favorite sites and added them to your del.icio.us account with the tags you're comfortable with, grab the code from the http://del.icio.us/help/tagrolls page and add it to your site. You will then see a tag cloud (if you so choose) that contains all your tag words, with the more popular tags being in larger sizes and/or colors. So, when your students are sent to find a site, you would just say, "On my page, click the 'planets' tag. In there you'll find my link to ...."

Oh, you can add that to your blog or to your Moodle class, as well. You could even choose to have a Linkroll (http://del.icio.us/help/linkrolls) instead.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Keyboard shortcut of the week: save and backup regularly

Your PC can crash at any time. Not a comforting thought I know, but one that should prompt us all to save our work as often as possible. So, for this end of the year post I will extol the virtues of saving regularly, and by extension, of backing up your files.

Firstly let's deal with saving your files regularly: to do so, simply hold down the Ctrl key and press S.

If you wish to use a different filename each time you save, hold down the Alt key and press F then A. This will open up the 'Save as...' dialog box.

Now the backing up your files. Since we are fast approaching a new year, now would be a good time to back up all your essential files. There are a myriad of ways of doing this such as using USB flash drives to backup your current projects, or using a DVD writer to back up many of your files in one go.

Another option is to set up a webmail account with lots of storage capacity as offered by the likes of Yahoo! and Google to which you can email the files you are working on. Or you could try other online storage facilities like box.net.

So make at least one New Years resolution: back up your files.

SmartDraw 2008- A First Look

It is becoming increasingly clear that there is a real need in today's society for students and individuals to become more adept at both understanding and creating visual graphics that depict information using graphs, mind maps,
charts, and pictographs. We are all bombarded with all kinds of information and data that is much more easily digested when put into a visual or graphic form. Many of us were first introduced to these type of graphics in the USA Today. It certainly was a point of departure from other newspapers as we learned how to decode the meaning of these artistically created graphs and charts that appeared in the paper. For many, it was a new way to digest information and make sense of an enormous amount of data in a condensed format.

But what tools are out there that can help students, educators and business people create well designed graphics without the need to be a professional graphic artist. While there are a number of applications that come to mind for creating educational and business graphics all assume some degree of artistic ability which may not be the case. One application which I was recently introduced to called SmartDraw 2008 takes a very unique approach to designing your presentation graphics. Using both templates and wizards you can produce professionally looking graphics within minutes of opening the application. SmartDraw 2008 is a Windows based application that will run on Vista, XP or Windows 2000. Before I write about SmartDraw 2008 I would like to thank Laurence Favrot, from SmartDraw for providing me with a copy of SmartDraw 2008 to review. SmartDraw 2008 is a comprehensive business and educational graphics application that supports creating the following types of graphics:

  • €Flowcharts
  • € Org Charts
  • € Project Timelines
  • € Gantt Charts
  • € Marketing Charts
  • € Bar Graphs & Pie Charts
  • € Forms
  • € Floor Plans
  • € Scheduling Calendars
  • € Mind maps
  • € Mapping applications
  • € and much more.
SmartDraw 2008 unlike other applications has you start with the end point in mind as you first select the template for the graphic that you are going to create. For the purpose of this demonstration I have decided to create a timeline. So first I select the Timeline SmartTemplate from the list of available templates. Once I have selected the a timeline template, I am presented with the template on the screen and can now use the SmartPanel to add individual
elements to my timeline. Setting the timeline's start and end times is easy to accomplish. I found the the process to be very intuitive and straightforward. If you do need assistance you can click on the Help icon and the Smarthelp panel will open to guide you through the process. One of
SmartDraw's strengths is the way it formats the graphic for you creating color styles and schemes that always produce professionally looking graphics. By simply selecting the timeline element I can apply a consistent color theme to my timeline with a click of the mouse. Because it is so easy to do you can easily test out different color themes to see what the results are
before printing out your graphic. Another strength of SmartDraw 2008 is its tight integration with Microsoft Office. With a click of the mouse I was able to transfer my timeline to Microsoft Word. For that matter I could have sent it to Excel, PowerPoint or saved it as a PDF file to share with others. SmartDraw 2008 has an extensive library of graphics to choose from which I was able to use to adorn my timeline. For someone who was new to SmartDraw 2008 I quickly became comfortable with the Smart Template and SmartPanel approach as was able to complete the timeline rather quickly.

There are hundreds of SmartTemplates to choose from when you first launch the
program, which gives you lots of starting out options. I did take a look at the mind mapping options in SmartDraw 2008, which is a new feature. While SmartDraw 2008 does give you the option to create and print mind maps it is not an ideal tool if you are planning to use your mind maps to manipulate or organize your information.

One of the new features of the latest upgrade to SmartDraw 2008 are LiveMaps
which lets you pull live map data off of the web and include it in your graphic. Using the Tele Atlas maps you can zoom in and select satellite view or hybrid views. I found it very easy to integrate the maps into my presentation graphic- and it is certainly a powerful feature that has been included in SmartDraw 2008.

Overall, I found SmartView 2008 to be an easy to use application for creating professionally designed graphics without the need to be a graphics artist. Using the system of SmartTemplates, SmartPanels, and SmartHelp moves you through the process of designing your graphic with all the right scaffolds in place. It is nice to know that the supports are in place if you need them or if you are more inclined you can manually design your graphic. If you are looking for one drawing program to help you communicate information in a professional manner then I would suggest you take a look at SmartDraw 2008. With SmartDraw's large SmartTemplate and graphics library I'm sure you will find a place for SmartDraw 2008 in your presentation toolkit- I know I have! If you are interested in trying out SmartDraw 2008 you can download a trial version from the website.

Fly Fusion Pentop Update


A lot of my readers have purchased the Fly Fusion Pentop computer from LeapFrog this holiday season and have been having some difficulties installing the software. I just received this email from LeapFrog that I wanted to pass along this information to you.


Question

What should I try? ..trouble with Fly Fusion downloads, Admin account, Flyworld and/or the Fly Store.


Answer

Thanks for being one of the first FLY Fusion Pentop Computer Users!


Due to extremely high seasonal demand for FLY Fusion, many FLY Fusion users have had difficulty accessing FLY World, our FLY World Download Store or with their Admin account set up. We are very sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. We have been working on these issues, and have made improvements that should help our users. As a special thank you for your patience, we want to offer our community of users a special gift! Please go to the FLY World PC Application, log on and click on the Download Store tab. We are offering 4 special downloads for use with your pen as a way of showing our appreciation for your patience and support for FLY.

We will be providing updates on our FLY World Support site as we continue to release improvements to our online services. Check back on www.flyworld.com/support for updates, or call our Customer Support line directly at 1-800-701-LEAP (5327).


Thank you for your support of FLY!

The FLY Fusion Team

Saturday, December 29, 2007

GPS Navigation on your Mobile Phone


I came across this article today and had been thinking of doing a post on my use of VZNavigator service on my cell phone. I have been a user of VZNavigator for nearly two years and would not be without it. VZNavigator provides turn by turn navigation on my GPS enabled cell phone and is a service of Verizon Wireless. While the screen is small, VZNavigator uses the most of the real estate and provides great visual feedback as you are driving. VZNavigator provides you with a high quality voice with full text to speech as you proceed on your route. If you make a wrong turn VZNavigator will quickly recalculate your route and get you back on track. VZNavigator provides you with the distance to your destination and how much time it will take you to get there. While there have been times when I thought about buying a standalone GPS unit I have deferred the purchase thinking about one more gadget that I need to feed. Having my cell phone on me all of the time gives me reason to continue the service. It is convenient and works. In addition to providing turn by turn directions you can search for points of interest and have VZNavigator map where you are. In the past couple of months VZNavigator has included tighter integration with the web which allows you to access your Favorites as well as add new addresses to your Favorites list via the web and have it synch with your phone. This is a powerful feature and one that makes it easier to enter new addresses to navigate to. I usually go to the VZNavigator web site at the beginning of the week and enter any new addresses via the web site and then synch it with my cell phone. While VZNavigator costs me $9.99 a month I for one feel the service is well worth the expense. It is incredible how empowering it is to have GPS on your phone and have access to it 24/7.


JANUARY 2, 2008


According to a survey conducted by Leo J. Shapiro and Associates, US mobile phone users ranked their desire for GPS navigation on their devices higher than Internet access.

In the survey, 24% of respondents wanted their next mobile phone to be GPS-capable, and only 19% wanted Internet access.

Mobile phones today occupy a small share of the GPS market.

Only 6% of GPS-device owners had a GPS-enabled phone, compared with 51% who had portable GPS devices and 39% who had GPS devices in their cars.

But global positioning systems may bypass the early-adopter stage.

"Our research is finding the purchase and use of GPS-enabled devices is not confined to segments of the population in which 'early adopters' are generally concentrated—the young, highly educated or affluent," said Owen Shapiro of Leo J. Shapiro and Associates.

"Today's GPS-enabled devices are being widely adopted among the middle-aged and elderly," Shapiro said.

[TIPS] Nettrekker has big upgrade

This one is for all teachers, students, and parents in the state of Pennsylvania. By now I DO SO HOPE that you're aware that you can have a FREE account on the Nettrekker site. You've been able to have such an account for a couple of years, but in spite of our best efforts to inform you, a great many still have not heard the news. Want an account, email your contact at your local Intermediate unit. That person will tell you how to set up your own account - or an account for your son or daughter.*

Nettrekker is a search engine that returns results that have been evaluated by teachers.W hile a google search might return 13 million hits, a Nettrekker search might return only about 1000. But, Each one is home run! Some folks think it's a watered down search engine. Not so. It's just a very focused search engine. PLEASE give it a try!

Now on to the tip. Nettrekker has just released word of their latest upgrade. Here's what the email said about the upgrade:

The new features will enable you to:
  • Effectively locate a variety of resources to support general and differentiated instruction.
  • Efficiently save only the resources that meet your search objectives.
  • Collaboratively share saved resources to others within your class, school or district.

For more details on the major product upgrade, please go to: http://crm.nettrekker.com/training/shared/training/nTdi_enhancements.pdf

 
Check it out!!
 
* Some districts are reluctant to allow students to have their own accounts. Why? Well, for one thing, they might use some inappropriate login name! For another thing, the kids could search for inappropriate things and the school would never know. <sigh> To those districts, I would respond with 1) WHO CARES?  NOBODY will know if their login name is inappropriate. Let it go! You can't control everything!! LET-IT-GO! And, 2) It doesn't MATTER what they search for. Your filter will stop them from getting to the site anyway - assuming it was a site that was rated by a teacher and found to be of value but one which your filter feels is unacceptable. Again - LET-IT-GO! For Pete's sake, give the students their own tools and teach them to use them wisely. Here's one that's a nom-brainer. They can do no harm. Let them have it!
 
 
 

IT Marketing: A Study of Postcards

Sometimes your IT marketing strategies won’t give you the results you need. There are some common mistakes you can avoid with postcards that can help you maximize your success.

IT Marketing: The Postcard Story

A consultant sent out over 300 postcards offering general troubleshooting services, automated online data backup and wireless home networks. In terms of IT marketing, this consultant purchased lists of area businesses broken down by revenue, credit rating, years in business and # of PCs. The wireless home networks went to homeowners that were over $500,000 in purchase prices and the automated online data backup went to those that had a recent new business license. The general services postcards went to accountants, lawyers and small clinics.

The consultant reported not a single phone call or response of any kind. He wonders, “Are these the wrong lists? Are postcards the wrong media?”

IT Marketing and Expectations with Postcards

First of all, 300 postcards is not a lot. You need to send enough to give you a good guess on statistics but not too much so that you use your entire IT marketing budget in one shot. However, you can’t think that you are going to spend $180 (at 60 cents per unit) sending out 300 postcards and for this investment get rich.

What Your Postcards Should Include

The truth is, if you got results like those cited by the consultant above, you are probably not using the wrong lists. But you might be using bad copy. What are you offering? Do you have a good headline? Did you hit their painful points, use a deadline and use a compelling offer to get them to respond?

The truth is, postcards are not the wrong media for your IT marketing campaign. Postcards are great because your prospects don’t have to open anything and can more easily make a decision.

Blogged By: Computer Consulting Kit

How To Change XP Log On

Question:-How I can change LOG ON WINDOW in XP?
Answer:-Change LOG ON WINDOW in XP

Well as the colours used by Windows XP are expressed as RGB values (Red Blue Green), we have to establish what Lime Green's RGB value is.

To do this:

1) Right click on the desktop and then select "Properties" from the Menu.
2) On the resulting window select the "Appearance" Tab then click the "Advanced" button.
3) On the next window select "Colour " then "Other".
4) Now on the new window select a colour you like and note its RGB as shown in the bottom right hand corner of the new window.
For example I have chosen is:
R63 G270 B76 or simply 63 270 76
5) Once you have your RGB values you can close down all the open windows.
6) Now navigate to:
HKEY USERS\ DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colours.

7) The default value should be: 0 78 152
You can change this now to your chosen RGB value.
The changes will not take place until you log off.

IMPORTANT: This procedure contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs

Friday, December 28, 2007

Happy New Year!

It has been a great year for the AssistiveTek Blog and I want to thank my readers and business sponsors for their support! I trust that 2008 will be even better with new and exciting Web 2.0 technologies. I think that this will be a pivotal year for software developers as they try to bridge the gap between their traditional software applications and software as a service model. I think that you will see many software publishers begin to build hooks into their software applications that will make it easier to publish documents, mind maps, and monitor projects on the web with true collaboration. So look for some exciting posts on the AssistiveTek Blog in the coming months. I once again plan on following new and exciting technologies that help to empower you in the work that you do. So stay tuned for more reviews in the areas of visual learning, mind mapping, project management, assistive technology, and Web 2.0 technologies. All the best to you and your families in the New Year ahead.

Mappio- New Place to Post Mind Maps

For those of you that would like to share your mind maps there is a new website that lets you do just that. You can go to Mappio.com to upload your FreeMind or MindManager mind maps. The developers of the site would like to make Mappio the "YouTube of Mind Mapping." Registration is free and it is a great way to share your ideas and mind maps. Once you upload your mind maps you can tag them and decide if you would like to make them public or private. If you find a mind map that you would like to use you can simply download the file and open it with the your mind mapping application. Mappio is certainly a great resource for those that are new to mind mapping or for those that want to get a idea of all the creative way that mind maps can be used. Take a look at it and let me know what you think.

[TIPS] Story of Stuff

Many thanks to Linda Brown who shared this with me via email.
This site discusses the "underside of our production and consumption habits" in a 20 minute video. THe video is for purchase, but there are teaser videos here: http://www.storyofstuff.com/downloads.html
This looks like it would be excellent for those who teach about our environment and the issues we face with our waste disposal, etc.
Watch the trailer!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

VozMe- Text to Speech Tool

I came across VozMe the other day and wanted to share this resource with you. VozMe lets you convert text into a mp3 file which is an easy way to create text to speech on your computer right within your browser. You simply paste text in the window and VozMe does the rest creating your mp3 file. Give it a try!

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Computer Consultants Secrets to Improved Postcard Response

There are some computer consultants secrets that can help those overcome some common mistakes people make when doing postcard mailings. The biggest mistake people make is failing to create a sense of urgency. Basically, this means they don’t create a compelling reason for their targets to hire their computer consulting firm NOW.

But a prospect gets a mailing that says a company is offering a free system analysis to the first 25 people that respond, the prospect will be more likely to respond quickly.

Computer Consultants Secrets: Limit Your Response

If you don’t want to limit the number of people that respond to an IT marketing campaign, attach a set date. Urgency and scarcity helps with any direct mail or online marketing. You want a prospect to take action with a response that is measurable and that you can track, so you need to attach a deadline.

Computer Consultants Secrets: Experts Can Help

To put together a really great marketing campaign, talk to a direct response marketing expert such as a copywriter or someone retired from advertising. You can just ask for basic business advice from a business owner, but this will not help you. You need to talk to someone that comes from a mail-order background or has experience with direct mail, online advertising or with an ad agency that can help you get some computer consultants secrets about your own campaign and get better results with a compelling message.

Added By: Joshua Feinberg

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

MindManager 7.1 Screencast


With the recent release of MindManager 7.1, I created this screencast to show you some of the new features that have been added to this release.

Here is the link

Monday, December 24, 2007

[TIPS] A GREAT tale of sportsmanship

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4751391

 

This is an old report, but one that I’ve never forgotten since I first heard it in July of 2005. Here is Frank Deford telling a wonderful story about Jack Nichlaus at a British Open Tournament years ago.

 

Save this for AFTER Christmas. It’ll keep. But, it’s a great story of sportsmanship that should be heard by players and parents alike. That Jack Nichlaus is a class act.

 

Present this story to your students in the form of a multiple choice poll, with one option being what Jack did, and the other two choices being the other possible options. See how many students would do what Jack did.

 

THERE’S a writing prompt in this, too, don’t you think?

 

[TIPS] 10th Anniversary of the Blog

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17562078

 

This link was brought to my attention in Vicki Davis’ blog (again). This is an NPR audio file about the blog. What’s very cool is that the story is being told, in part, by the bloggers themselves. It’s very well done. And, it’s just the first of a five part series on blogging. Every once in a while you’ll hear an echo in their voice which represents what would be a hyperlink. And… well, wait ‘till you hear them scroll down the page.

 

Bookmark it and follow it through the week, if you’re not sure what this blogging thing is all about.

 

What’s ironic in this whole thing is that Vicki Davis’ voice is heard in this report, yet, for SOME VERY STRANGE  reason, neither her blog nor her OUTSTANDING wiki project won the edublog award, although both were nominated in their respective categories. I thought both were shoe-ins. “Pick it up – it’s a gimme.” (*I* voted for you, Vicki!)

Happy holidays

Hopefully most of the readers will be enjoying these holidays with their families and friends, so I'd just like to send you all my votes for an Happy Christmas and a great 2008!

I have the feeling that 2008 will be a great year for all people involved with IBM Informix. 2007 was a remarkable step in the right direction, and we should see more in the next year.

I'll just leave here a few notes, but none of this is new stuff:

and I'll try to complete the second part of the PAM authentication article as soon as possible...

Sunday, December 23, 2007

[TIPS] Christmas lights tour

 
The very best (?) displays of Christmas lights from around the country, all in one place. Beneath each video is a link to enlarge the viewer, and I suggest you do that. These are amazing!
 
Then, just when you think you've seen them all - you notice that there are 14 pages of them!!
 
The HOURS and HOURS that went into these displays...
 
And my wife said, "Yes, but I'll bet if their wife asked them to take out the garbage they'd complain!" Well? But or COURSE! Taking out the garbage isn't the LEAST bit creative!
 

[TIPS] Larry Ferlazzo's Top web 2.0 picks for Education

While reading my blogroll today I came upon this post from Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach (http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com/blog/2007/12/the-best-web-20.html) in which she pointed me to THIS post on Larry Ferlazzo’s blog:

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2007/12/21/the-best-web-20-applications-for-education-2007/

 

Here, Larry tells us his top fourteen web 2.0 website picks for educators. Stop by there to check out his list. There were several on the list that I hadn’t heard of, including http://showbeyond.com , http://sketchcast.com , http://www.CircaVie.com , http://www.daftdoggy.com (yes, where DO they come up with these names?) and others.

 

Anyway, stop by there and check out his list. Be prepared to be at the computer for a while as you go to the sites to play.

 

 

Important Software Update: MindSystems ThemeReader

If you are using MindSystems ThemeReader please note that there is an important update at their website.


IMPORTANT SOFTWARE UPDATE: MINDSYSTEMS THEMEREADER

If you currently have Mindsystems ThemeReader installed (Business or Basic), and you first installed it before 23rd December 2007, it is important you download and run this software update.

How do I run the update?

After you click the download link below, select to 'Save As' to your desktop. Once the download completes, navigate to your desktop and click on the 'Update.exe' (the icon is a blue upward arrow). Follow all instructions in the update console window.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD UPDATE

What will this update do?

It will make the following improvements to the software:

- Enhancement in processing stability, resolution of minor bugs

- Update to engine expiry period

- Fix for Adobe PDF file errors

If at any stage you require help, please do not hesitate to contact us at support@mindsystems.com.au

Regards,

Mindsystems Pty Ltd

From Project Kickstart 4 to Mindmanager 7 Pro

Here is another screencast showing you how you can move your project management data from Project Kickstart 4 to MindManager 7 Pro. You will notice how easy this process is!

Click here to view the screencast

Project Planning with MindManager 7 Pro and Project Kickstart 4

In a previous post, I reviewed Project Kickstart 4, an easy to use project management software application and now wanted to share with you how this application can work seamlessly with MindManager 7 Pro. With many companies and individuals using mind mapping for all aspects of running a business it is great to know that there are other applications that can complement MindManager 7 Pro, in developing and managing projects. While MindManager Pro 7 is a wonderful tool to brainstorm and start project planning there will come a point in time when you will want to move the data to a project management piece of software. This is where Project Kickstart 4 comes in. Individuals can do their initial planning and brainstorming in MindManager Pro 7 and with a click of the mouse move the date right into Project Kickstart 4. Project Kickstart 4 adds a number of unique features for project planning and having access to a Gantt chart makes it a lot easier to track the project. I have created a short screencast showing you just how easy it is to export data from MindManger 7 Pro into Project Kickstart 4.

Click here to view the screencast

Saturday, December 22, 2007

[TIPS] Biebl's Ave Maria - Merry Christmas

 
I'm not sure if it's this version or the Turtle Creek Chorale's version (http://66.49.136.32/music/mp3/Peace/06.mp3) that I like better. Both bring me to tears by the time it's over. Such beautiful tenors. From the Sancta Maria through the Amen's... just beautiful. No video. Just music.
 
Merry Christmas.

Eye-Fi releases Software and Firmware updates

I have been using Eye-Fi for over a month now and really love the freedom of having my pictures uploaded to Phanfare automatically via my wifi home network. Eye-Fi has recently announced updates to their Eye-Fi software as well as a firmware update. I performed both updates without a hitch on my MacBook and was up and running within minutes. The new update now supports Mac Leopard (OS 10.5). Give it a try and let me know what you think.

ProjectKick Start 4-Easy to Use Project Management Software

Over the last couple of months, I have had the opportunity to take a look at several project management software applications that work seamlessly with MindManager Pro 7. With this in mind, I took a look at Project KickStart 4, which is a very user friendly project management software application that can export data directly into MindManager Pro 7 and create a complete mind map. I would like to thank Roy Nierenberg at Experience In Software for providing me a copy of Project KickStart 4. for this review. Similarly, one can begin the project planning process in MindManager Pro 7 and export it directly to Project KickStart 4, with a click of the mouse. In this first posting, I will review Project KickStart 4 and talk about its features and ease of use.

Project KickStart 4 is a very easy to use project management software application that will have you up in running within minutes. Unlike other project management software applications, Project KickStart 4 is unique with regard to its interface and guidance that it provides along the way to helping you plan your project. Project KickStart 4 divides the project management process up into 9 different steps-which are all complemented with Libraries of reusable resources which move you quickly through the project management phases. Project KickStart 4 starts the process off by having you "name" the project which is then followed by identifying the "phases" of your project. As a project manager you simply move through Project KickStart 4 wizards by clicking on the Next button. If you need some assistance you can click on the Advisor button which is located on the bottom left of the screen. You also have access to a Phases Library of items that you can simply drag to the phases window making the process go very quickly. During the "goals" phase you have the opportunity to develop and think about your goals for the project. It is easy to move through this phase by using the Goals Library to open up some goals that you can drag into the window. You next move to "Similar" tasks, and from the Library of stored projects you can simply select tasks that might be similar to the project that you are currently working on. This feature really saves you a lot of time since many projects may have similar tasks that can be quickly modified or changed. As part of any project management you will need to list the names of the people that will be working on the project. You have the option of bringing in people from the People library, typing in their name(s) or you can also import names directly from Outlook. Moving to the next phase you will need to think about what "obstacles" may get in the way to reaching your project goals. Here you can identify some tasks that will help you minimize or avoid the obstacle as you move through the planning process. Now you are ready to "assign" tasks to people which is easily done by selecting the tasks and then clicking on the name of the person or persons. You can Control click and assign several people to one tasks to create a group task. As you move to the Task phase you have the opportunity to review, print and edit your task list as well as type notes and add attachments. Your final task in Project KickStart 4 is to review your Gantt chart and make any necessary revisions or changes. It is easy to change the working and non-working days by bringing up the Calendar and selecting the working and non-working days which will automatically recalibrate the length of the project. In the Gantt chart view you can quickly get an overview of your project milestones and set the percentage of the task that has been done. I would have wanted to be able to set the task dependencies in the Gantt view but this feature is not supported in ProjectKickstart v 4. However, the Gantt chart view gives you a great snapshot to keep your projects on time and within budget. While you can enter the costs associated with a task this is one area that Project KickStart 4 is weak. However, one of the really fantastic features in Project KickStart 4 is the ability to export the data directly to other software applications which in this case is handled very well. Project KickStart 4 can directly export data to: PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel, Word, Microsoft Project, ACT!, WBS Chart, and MindManager.

For individuals like myself, who may not be full-time project managers, Project KickStart 4, is a very well thought out application to help you plan small to medium sized projects with the ease and confidence of a seasoned project manager. Having worked through several projects with Project KickStart 4, I was really impressed with how the wizards and the Advisor dialogs made me carefully think through the project management process so that the outcome was realistic and manageable. I would have to say that Project KickStart 4 is in fact a very easy to use project management software application that delivers on its promise to get you up an running within 30 minutes without the need to have an advanced degree in project management.

In a future post, I will talk about the integration of Project KickStart 4 and MindManager Pro 7, which I'm sure will be of interest to you.

Friday, December 21, 2007

An IT Marketing Case Study

Many consultants think that an IT marketing campaign has to cost a lot of money and spend $1,000 or more on glossy advertisements or brochures.

No Poor Positioning

Often consultants will spend a lot of money on an expensive ad then have a horrible IT marketing position. For example, in a headline I recently saw for an ad was “Computer Repair, I Come to You.” “I Come to You” will not set you apart from the rest. If you are doing just retail business, that is a nice benefit. But most computer services firms don’t go after retail customers these days. Come up with a unique IT marketing message in your headline to grab attention.

IT Marketing: Don’t Talk about Price

The next part of the ad stated, “Computer Repair A+ and Microsoft Certified Professional, Repairs, Upgrades, One-on-One Lessons and Tutoring.” This statement is, again, nothing unique. But half of the ad also was big letters with a color screen behind it that stated “Don’t pay $40, $60 or $80 an hour for computer repair! Call us!” And a retail coupon next to the screen bragged about “$20 an hour, in-home service.” This IT marketing message is the biggest and most classic mistake in the business.

A List of IT Marketing Mistakes

1. There is no target. This company is trying to go after the local seven million small businesses. The ad is not narrowing it down to SMALL businesses even, and the company will go out and do anything for $20 an hour, no matter how simple or complex.

2. The business is advertising price. $20 per hour is not a sustainable price. Even with a 75% utilization rate, this company will not even break even. They will make MAYBE $600 weekly.

3. This company is unoriginal. As an IT consultant, you need to think about which qualities will make your IT marketing campaign unique and narrow down your focus on specialization.

Blogged By: Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Mindmanager Pro 7 Updated

Mindjet, Inc has posted an update for MindManager Pro 7 as well as for MindManager Lite 7 which can now be downloaded from this link. You can also simply click on Tools and Updates from within MindManager to get to the link. This Service Pack 1 corrects for a number of issues and has some added features with respect to PowerPoint and the newly added Export Toolbar.


[TIPS] Blogs vs wikis debate

Thanks again to Sue Sheffer for sharing this one via email.

Now, while I WAS around to hear this debate, I don’t remember it. But I somehow doubt that THIS was their topic of conversation back then.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsFU3sAlPx4

In this fun little remix of the Kennedy/Nixon debate, listen to them discuss the notion of whether wikis or blogs are in the best interest of the country. J Just for some fun.

Remember, if youtube is blocked, either send this to your home account to see it there, or use this link: http://www.zamzar.com/url/?u=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsFU3sAlPx4 to convert it to viewable format (mov or avi, etc) and have the link to it sent to your email address where you can then download it.

Enjoy!

[TIPS] John Henry Faulk's 'Christmas Story'

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1115979

It’s that time of year again when I send out this pointer to a story that I have listened to for... several years. (How many years in a row have I sent this out?) I’ve heard tell from a few of you that you, too, enjoy listening to it each year. This is absolutely one of THE BEST stories I’ve ever heard told. It’s a wonderful tale and message in itself, but it’s also just TOLD so well.

I don’t know if this is OK to play in school or not, but if not, it’s a darned shame. I think it would a wonderful story to play for the elementary students – maybe as a writing prompt, or a study of vocabulary, or even just a study in story telling. “What does it mean when this boy says, ‘We played Christmastime..’”, or “Describe the house in which that this boy and his family lived.” Or, maybe even, “Draw a scene from this story.”

In any case, if you have never heard this one, do yourself and your family a favor and listen to it. Play it for your family, too. It’ll bring a warm smile to your face – and to your heart.

Merry Christmas!

[TIPS] monkeys vs humans in estimating game

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17344697&ft=1&f=1013

When both groups were given a test that measured their ability to estimate amounts of, in this case, dots, the monkeys were correct 75% of the time. Their rival group, some Duke University undergrads, scored correctly 90% of the time.

Now, we shouldn’t look at this as a measure of the quality of Duke undergrads. Nor should we look at it as a commentary on humans vs monkeys in general. If the rules were to change to allow the participants time to actually COUNT, then the humans would have obviously outdone the monkeys.

This harkens back to a story I heard tell a long time ago on Johnny Carson, I think. (Ah, he was the Tonight Show host before Jay Leno.) It seems that a study showed that when the monkeys start to count, they only get as high as FOUR - before they break out into a chorus of, “Last Train to Clarksville.” :-D

::ducking and running::

[TIPS] Innovative high schools report

Many thanks to Sue Smith for sharing this with me via email.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17323154

I would be willing to bet that this district is unlike anything you’ve ever seen or heard about. Within the same district you’ve got one school that functions like a private school, with dress uniforms, students sitting in rows of desks, etc. A few miles away is another school is a technical school for the computer kids. In another school, the students study one topic all year long, with ties to all disciplines. Yet another school focuses on teaching leadership skills.

What have these changes done to their test scores? “’Oh they're terrible, they're embarrassing,’ Ciancio says.”

This is definitely an article to read and/or listen to via the link at the top of the article. I think it’s interesting that the district (parents, administrators, tax payers) are willing to give this a chance to succeed. I wonder what kind of professional development they had for the teachers. Wouldn’t THAT be a story in itself?

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

[TIPS] 'Death Star' Galaxy Black Hole Fires at Neighboring Galaxy

I hope it’s ok that I merely copied that from NASA’s article headline. But, I heard the story on the way home tonight and I had to check it out. Read it here: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/news/07-139.html

Here are some cool facts: The two galaxies are 1.5 BILLION LIGHT YEARS from earth. This collision has been happening for about one million years! Scientists believe that these collisions may be both destroying AND creating life forms.

Listen to the NPR story here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17371531 (The audio will be available sometime after 7:00pm)

Send this to your favorite Earth and Space Science teacher. If kids think that the ‘60’s were ALMOST B.C., what will they think of THOSE numbers?

Monday, December 17, 2007

IT Marketing and Trusted Business Advisors

If you want to succeed at IT marketing techniques that really get your name out there, you should try going through trusted business advisors. Small businesses look to these advisors for advice and put a great deal of trust in their recommendations. A referral from these experts can be worth a lot, whether they be accountants, lawyers or bankers.

How can you use trusted business advisors as part of IT marketing campaigns? Take an accountant for example. You can see if accountants need help with technology, and if you do a good job for them, they may recommend you to those that put faith in them.

Ask Your Accountant Questions

No matter what you do, you need to talk to your accountant about his/her computer problems and the computer problems of his/her clients. Accountants will typically get the following questions from clients:

1. “I need a good retirement account. Which vendors should I choose?”

2. “I’m finding it difficult to get health insurance. Who is good?”

3. “Where can I get a reliable checking account?”

4. “Where should I put my merchant account?”

5. “Do you know where I can find a good attorney? I’m closing on my house.”

Accountants often hear about clients’ financial, legal and computer needs. People trust accountants as a place to get good information about many small business needs, so they will be good people to use as part of your IT marketing campaign to get to the heart of prospects’ and clients’ problems.

Blogged By: Computer Consulting Kit

[TIPS] digital story telling - on Atomic Learning

From time to time, Atomic Learning makes certain resources of their site available for free. Some are free ALL the time. This one arrives at just the right time. http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/digital_story/

 

Will YOU be working with students and doing some digital story telling? If so, there are some rules to follow that will make your presentation stand out far above the rest of the pack. Some may seem simple. Others are not. And there are a LOT of things to consider. Camera motion, sound, editing tricks, how to show various effects without words… many things.

 

This is an excellent resource! It’s available from now until January 15th, too, so you can sit down at the site and explore the many videos and pages of hints and tips.

 

 

 

[TIPS] a glimpse at the future

Y’ know, I *do* feel like an echo chamber at times, and this time is no exception. I’ve mentioned this guy’s blog many times before. http://educationaltechnology.ca/couros/ I look forward to reading what he has to say every time he posts.

 

In this post: http://educationaltechnology.ca/couros/729 he embeds a YouTube video (Danger, Will Robinson!) of a man who has invented a printer that prints 3-D objects. Wait ‘till you see what it does. It’s in its infancy, but here’s another one to project out 20 years. Then go out another 20 yrs or so. What will the world be like when we can build those little things that we need on the spur of the moment – when we’re ALL able to manufacture things. Those folks with the creative talents will have a field day, won’t they?

 

This reminds me of the saying, “The only sure way to predict the future is to invent it.”

 

 

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Small Business Networking and Dedicated Servers

When you are dealing with small business networking needs, you have to remember that PC-based servers and LANs are fairly new technologies. You will need to be responsible for handling configuration, customization, security and maintenance for the clients’ appropriate networking tools.

Real Servers for Real Small Business Networking

Many times you will find a new small business client that claims to be perfectly satisfied with a P2P network, even though you know it is really causing a lot of issues. The truth is, Microsoft Windows P2P small business networking is no way to run a successful small business. Maybe it would work for a two- or three-person company, but these are not going to be profitable clients for you.

Clients Need Real Small Business Networking

Clients will come to you because they need a reliable and cost-effective small business networking solution. You know the critical nature of flawless data protection, maximized uptime and security. These issues cannot be short-cut. Your job is to convince your small business networking prospects – even the skeptical ones – that they are big enough to demand a dedicated server.

No Cutting Corners

When you start talking about network upgrades, small business clients will often get caught up in the concept of money spent. They don’t think about how their current investment can save critical time and money later in the life of their businesses. They can experience lost employee productivity, downtime and support costs when a quick and cheap fix does not stand up long term.

The Main Idea about Small Business Networking

Many clients don’t know they have a networking problem until they encounter problems. You need to show prospects and clients the value of dedicated servers and help them see their investment is worth it for long-term solutions.

Added By: Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit

Friday, December 14, 2007

[TIPS] graphwise - create graphs from web data

This is the last time I’ll try to send this (the 5th time). Thanks to Sue Sheffer for sharing this with me via the for:jgates513 tag on del.icio.us

 

http://www.graphwise.com

 

This site allows you to search the web for data and then it gives you the tools to create great charts to show that data. Best of all, you can share those charts! In previous attempts to send this I gave examples of things to search for. That may be what was preventing it from going out. So, I’ll leave it to you to check out the samples on the page.

 

My only complaint was that I couldn’t find the Save button. I know it’s got to be there, but I couldn’t find it.

 

[TIPS] graphwise - GREAT tool

This is the fourth time I’ve tried to send this. No idea why it’s not going out (It must sound too much like that OTHER kind of email), but here goes again….

 

Again, many thanks to Sue Sheffer who sent this to me via the for:jgates513 tag on del.icio.us.

 

http://www.graphwise.com/

 

Imagine doing a search for, say, “Iraq civilian casualties”, or “highest paid athletes”, or maybe, “education spending” and then having the site search the web for any tables of data it might find with those numbers and finally creating a chart of that data. What if you could then share those graphs? Does that sound cool to you? Then you must check this out. You can search for, for example, graphs made from table data found on the Web, or custom graphs made by other users.

The only thing I couldn’t find was where to Save the graph. I know it can be done but I didn’t find it.

 

Thursday, December 13, 2007

[TIPS] a little quiz

OK, here’s a little Jeopardy quiz. Don’t feel bad if you get it wrong. You supply the correct QUESTION.

 

Here you go: “It was 5% in 2001. It was 70% in 2004. Today it’s over 95%.”      What is it?

 

*Playing the Jeopardy theme*

 

Time’s up. What is your answer? Ooooohhh, I think some of you got it right. The correct Question is, “What percent of all emails in those years was spam?”

 

Think about that for a moment. Some of you receive a LOT of email in a day. Lots of people do, right. Yet, GOOD emails account for less than 5% of ALL emails being sent out daily. And if the best filter can only catch 99% of them, then that leaves a TON of them that still get through.

 

I guess that’s why this post was necessary. : - ) So, don’t be too hard on your network person if a few spam emails get through, even if they DO appear to be obvious.

 

[TIPS] Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation

http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/12/learning-20-colorado-conversation.html

 

Do you think this school “gets it?” They’re going to have a one day conference for students and parents – on a Saturday. Check out their agenda: http://colearning.wikispaces.com/Schedule (It’s on a wiki so you may have to wait until you get home to see it.)

 

Listen to this description of the purpose of this day:

“Education is conversation. Conversation creates change.

The future of education does not exist in the isolated world of theory and abstract conference sessions. Instead, it exists in conversations. It exists in creating a robust learning network that is ever-expanding and just-in-time. Learning 2.0 is not the beginning of this conversation. It is merely a stopping point, a time to talk about the visible difference that we all seek. We read. We reflect. We write. We share. We learn. Come join us for a day of conversation about learning and technology.”

 

Raise your hand if you want to have one of these in YOUR district! Keep your hand raised if you wish you could work there. They “get it.”

[TIPS] ted video for the math teachers

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/199

 

Show this one to your favorite math teachers. Mathemagician Arthur Benjamin dazzles the audience with some cool math tricks. At the end he thinks out loud to reveal some of his “magic.”

 

The number he squares in his head at the end is 57,683 squared. Amazing!

 

[TIPS] Daniel Pink discusses his book - on PopCast

http://poptech.com/popcasts/popcasts.aspx?lang=&viewcastid=158

 

I thought I had posted about this before, but I couldn’t find it. I watched it today in preparation for something coming up soon – that I’ll say more about later.

 

In this PopCast video, Daniel Pink relates the right/left brain ideas to the economy – and summarizes his book.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

[TIPS] What students CAN do if given the opportunity - a rant

This is so frustrating. On the one hand, I met with some teachers today who expressed sincere frustration because their ... person in charge of making this kind of decision ... has diabled the right-click on all of the computers in the school. I can't even BEGIN to get my mind around such an outrageous plan. And I'll bet that whoever is making that decision is also bragging about the kinds of computers they have in school. "Yes, we only buy HP's with two gig of ram and we upgrade to all the latest Microsoft products the minute they hit the streets." FOR WHAT? ARRRRGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

OUTRAGEOUS!! And somehow the administration and the Curriculum Directors stand by and let it happen. Who is supporting whom? Isn't the network supposed to support the curriculum? Not there. The curriculum must be rewritten to allow for the crippled computers.

And THEN I come home and read this: http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2007/12/what-happens-when-students-take-reigns.html Just look at all the things her students are doing. Listen to her talk with such pride at how they have taken responsibility for their education and are making things happen, using the tools that are available on the web.

I'd like to ask those who disable the right clicks on the computers and who block all blogs and all wikis to read that story and tell me why it can't be done in your district. Ten to one it can't be done because it isn't convenient.

Folks... those of you who are in the way... we don't have time for this nonsense any more. Are you not paying attention to what's going on in the world? Have you not heard that today's kids must have some SERIOUSLY competetive skills to compete in this global marketplace? Do you EVER pick your head out of  the sand to look around at the world? GET OUT OF THE WAY!!! We don't have TIME for this! And Superintendents and Curriculum Directors.... we don't have time any longer for you to stand back and allow this to happen. You MUST insist that your students have the tools they'll need to compete in this world, and if that person won't make it happen, then find one who WILL! Have you not seen Shift Happens? (http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/06/did-you-know-20.html) Oh wait... sorry.. this links to a YouTube video, and while it may be possible in your district for you and the teachers to see it without giving students access, that may not be allowed either.

One more time - We don't have time for this any longer. There is too much at stake.

Once again, I guess YOUR students will just have to wait until they get OUT of school to get their education.

AAARRGGHHHHH!!!!!!

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

[TIPS] winning the oil game?

There are two sites here. First, the TED video: http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/51 (You can download his powerpoint and presentation here, too.)

Then there is the speaker’s site: http://www.oilendgame.com/

 

Send this to your sociology teachers and your current events teachers and even you business teachers. Amory Lovins takes us through his vision for how the US can get off our dependency for oil. He’ll do so AND increase the job markets and the economy AND lower the emissions – all by 2040. We’ve already got the technology. Lighter, stronger materials and better designs. As he says, SOMEBODY is going to make these cars. Will it be the US?

 

This is a fascinating talk with even more fascinating statistics. What do you think? Watch this video and you, too, may be convinced that it CAN happen.

 

Oh… and watch it to see his powerpoint, too. Do you think it’s an example of a GOOD powerpoint?

 

[TIPS] love letters - a movie to review

http://educationaltechnology.ca/couros/727

 

Once again I find another gem in my blogs. This is another from Alec Couros. He points us to a movie that tells a very moving story – with no spoken words. Just a game of scrabble.

 

Send this to your favorite digital movies teacher and your favorite Creative writing teacher. Very nice. A bit sad for this festive time of the year but well worth the time to watch it.

 
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