"Can you hear it?" Three Freeware Audio Applications

Winamp has long been a popular mp3 player developing a large user community. Members of this community submit a plethora of skins, plug-ins and other add-ons to the Winamp website. Winamp also offers support for iPods and other mp3 players, and functions as an adequate video player.

If you have ever made an audio mix CD from mp3 files, you have probably been annoyed to find that all the tracks play at different volume levels, spoiling that overall ambiance you wished to create with your selection of top tunes. If this problem is a source of vexation for you, try mp3gain. With this program you can quickly balance the levels of a selection of mp3 files, so as to further impress that prospective partner, work colleague, or friend with your eminently good taste.

The best freeware audio editor available is Audacity. It provides support for mp3 files - as well as a number of other formats - and offers enough editing features and effects to meet most user's needs. Unfortunately, Audacity does not support proprietary formats such as wma, but there are plenty of audio file converters available like dBpoweramp.

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Posted in: Audio,Freeware

Being an IT Specialist and Finding Your Niche

If you want to be an IT specialist, you need to find and develop your niche.

The Horizontal Niche

You can choose your niche vertically as an IT specialist by choosing clients within the same industry, or you can choose them based on who THEIR contacts are – office managers, etc. Take an informational survey and ask what your clients’ largest IT problems are, what their biggest business problems are, etc. and try to become a solution to all these problems.

When you offer a total, sophisticated solution as an IT specialist, you have a better chance at retaining your clients. When you ask the right questions, you get help designing a marketing plan that will help you replicate your best clients.

What Should You Know?

You should know the answers to a specific type of questions in regards to your target prospects as an IT specialist: Who are they? What do they read? Which trade publications are available and which e-zines? Which newsletters do your targets get? Which local and regional conferences will they attend? Which trade groups have local chapters, and do they belong to them? Where do your prospects hang out? What do your prospects talk about? What are your prospects worries?

Talk to your best clients to get the answers you need as an IT specialist.

Personal Relationships and Being an IT Specialist

You’ve probably started creating personal relationships with your clients, so take them out for breakfast or lunch and tell them of your plans to be an IT specialist. Ask the right questions to find more clients just like them and grow your business.

If you want more clients in a horizontal niche as an IT specialist, find out as much as you can about their jobs, where they hang out and other important concepts.

Submitted By: Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit

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Posted in: IT specialist

Keyboard shortcut of the week: Excel

Following on from the megapost of word-processing keyboard shortcuts from earlier this month, here is a selection of keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Excel.

• You can navigate around the grid of cells by using the cursor keys.
• Hold down Ctrl and press Home to jump to the top right cell (A1).
• Hold down Ctrl and End to jump to the last cell on the spreadsheet with any information in
  
• If you wish to edit the contents of a cell press F2
  

As with word processing, you can hold down the Shift key to select: if you hold down Shift and press the right cursor key then you will select the current cell and the one to the right of it. If you continue to hold down the Shift key and press the down cursor key you will also select the two cells below the ones you already had selected. You can thus hold down the Shift key and press different cursor keys to select different rectangles of cells.

Many of the keyboard shortcuts that work for word processing also work in Excel: holding down Ctrl and pressing B selects bold text; Ctrl and C will copy text, etc.

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Posted in: Excel,Keyboard shortcut

[TIPS] epals and askherepa

I thought I would pass along a couple websites that some teachers gave to me this week at the Classrooms for the Future bootcamp.

 

The first is http://epals.com. In this day when we're trying to make global connections with our classes, here's one way to get that done.

"Our Global Community™ is the largest online community of K-12 learners, enabling more than 325,000 educators and 126,000 classrooms in over 200 countries and territories to safely connect, exchange ideas, and learn together. Our award winning SchoolBlog™ and SchoolMail™ products are widely used and trusted by schools around the world."

Did you catch that? SchoolBlog and SchoolMail. If you've been looking for a way to get safe blogs and email accounts for your students, perhaps this is a way that you'll like. But, even if you don't, this looks like an interesting site to help you make those global connections. I DO encourage you to try it. I think YOU will find it to be an invigorating experience, and one that can spark a LOT of different kinds of lessons as you study their geography, their culture, their political system, their history... ALL sorts of ideas come to mind, don't they?

 

If you DO use this service, I'd LOVE to know your experience.

 

Second is askherepa.org (http://askherepa.org)

"Ask Here PA is Pennsylvania's new statewide live chat reference service and is a free service to all residents of Pennsylvania, offering live chat reference 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

There's even one that will connect you to college librarians to help with those research projects. Is that amazing, or what? A 24/7 service where you can ask a librarian your questions and get an answer within minutes. Note that it's for PA residents only.

 

Many thanks to the ladies who shared these ideas with me over the past couple of days.

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Upcoming Webinar: Innovate using MindManager Pro 7 both in and out of the Classroom

Join me on Thursday, November 8th as I share with the MindManager Community ways that I have been using MindManager 7 Pro in and out of the classroom. There is a link below to register for this webinar which is being hosted by Mindjet, Inc. Hope to see you there. Brian

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Upcoming Webinar: “Innovate using MindManager Pro 7 both in and out of the Classroom”

Technorati Tag(s): Mindjet, MindManager, Mind Mapping, Education, Innovation, Productivity, MindManager Pro 7, Webinar — September 25, 2007 @ 11:45 am

Innovate using MindManager Pro 7 both in and out of the Classroom

Guest Speaker: Dr. Brian S. Friedlander

Date: Thursday, November 8, 2007

Time: 10:00 am PST / 1:00 pm EST

Join us for an engaging webinar with Dr. Friedlander, an author, professor and assistive technology specialist who will share the benefits of using mind mapping software in and out of the classroom. You’ll see firsthand how Dr. Friedlander uses MindManager Pro 7 to develop, organize and deliver his classroom lectures, as a presentation tool and to develop, organize and format proposals.

In the webinar, find out how using MindManager Pro 7 will make you more effective and provide your students with a more visual way to access and comprehend the information you’re presenting to them. At the end of this webinar you’ll walk away with the knowledge and power of how to use MindManager Pro 7 to engage the entire classroom.

Register Now

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Posted in: Education,Innovation,mind mapping,Mindjet,MindManager,MindManager Pro 7,Productivity,webinar

Word to the wise: webmail woes

This is an issue that has cropped up a couple of times at the university where I work.

If you send yourself a document that you are working on, to continue working on it on another PC, remember to save the attached document onto that machine before you start to make changes to it. It is easy to forget this, open the document and start making changes. If you then hit the save icon it will not always save and when you then close whatever program you are editing the document in, your changes will be lost. This is particularly the case for documents accessed via webmail. If you remember to 'Save as' rather than just 'Save' you will be OK, because it will prompt you for a name and location where you wish to save it. Nevertheless, it is better to get into the good habit of copying the document you attached to the email onto the PC before you expend effort making alterations.

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Posted in: Email,Lost document

NovaMind 4 Platinum for Mac Released

NovaMind has announced the release of NovaMind 4 Platinum for Mac. NovaMind Platinum contains all the features of NovaMind Pro, plus it has resource handling, resource allocation, resource indicators, drag and drop addition of resources and resource groups from Address book, task allocation, task settings, task and resource reporting, screenwriting capabilities, and the NovaMind Presenter and various other additional features.

The NovaMind Presenter has the capability to make smooth presentations from your Mind Maps and works with either a single screen, or two screens or a screen and projector, and also works with the Apple remote. Please see the documentation for further information about the capabilities of the Presenter.

You can download NovaMind 4 Platinum by going to our downloads page: http://www.nova-mind.com/Downloads/

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Posted in: Macintosh,mind mapping,NovaMind 4,NovaMind Platinum

Strategies for Mindmapping Software- Second Edition

If you want to find out how to get the most out of your mind mapping software then you should take a look at Chuck Frey's ebook:

Power Tools & Strategies for Mind Mapping Software-Second Edition ,which has a wealth of strategies and best practices when using mind mapping software. If you are interested in the book then you will want to take advantage of his special offer of $9.95 for one week only. The offer ends Oct 1, 2007. Click on the link below or on the side panel to get to his website.

e Mind Mapping Software Weblog: Price reduced on my new e-book for one week only

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How Do You Set Your Computer Repair Prices?

You shouldn’t have an ethical dilemma when you’re deciding on what to charge in terms of computer repair prices. If you’re working in the small business space, you can’t compete with large industry players like Best Buy and CompUSA that are offering service for a “steal.” You have to make a living!

What about Micro Small Businesses?

How do you deal with setting computer repair prices for micro small businesses? Many of them have more than 10 employees and even will go beyond P2P networking with a dedicated server. Especially when this is the case, you have to make sure to offer prices that are right for this type of sophistication.

If you really want to make it in the computer repair business – when you are not a large company like Best Buy, etc. – and still work with micro small businesses, you have to focus on those that can pay you higher computer repair prices for your outstanding service. You are going to have to choose customers based on their ability to pay.

The Client Should Decide

If you are charging the same computer repair prices to every small business with which you work, the process of choosing customers is simple; small businesses will decide whether or not they need you and can afford you. Those that really do want the impersonal, screwdriver technician can just go to Best Buy, and you can focus on those people that value you.

Sophisticated IT Needs Mean Higher Rates

When you’re dealing with real servers, sophisticated computer systems, complicated internet access and other elements, you are going to run into more complex repairs when something goes awry. This means customers have to be willing to pay premium computer repair prices.

You really should be charging everyone you encounter in small business computer consulting $100 or more per hour for services. Revisit your business model and decide what you think is best for you and your customers when it comes to computer repair prices. Your best bet is to get very profitable volume rather than a potentially unmanageable volume.

Submitted By: Joshua Feinberg

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Posted in: computer repair prices

[TIPS] English teachers, Read this post

http://21cgerlich.blogspot.com/2007/09/i-amor-not.html

When using webmail and FIrefox I can't embed hyperlinks, so this is going to be rough. Karl Fisch pointed to that blog post (http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/09/speaking-from-soul.html) and suggested that we read it ourselves. I'm glad I did.

English teachers, you're going to want to read it, too. Karen Gerlich posted her version of a poem that her students were challenged to write. THey were, "I am From" poems in which the students had to write about just that. She was impressed by their imagery and their stories, and so her team teacher, Lary, talked her into posting hers.

Read the post for three reasons. First, read it to hear about the lesson that prompted it. I think it's a wonderful idea, and I think you will, too. Second, read it to read her poem. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Finally, after you're done, try it yourself. I'll just bet that you'll recall some wonderful moments and people in YOUR life, as well.

Thank you, Karen, for sharing!

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[TIPS] MySpace vs High Stakes Testing

I just received an email from a teacher whose 8th grade students just finished two days of testing. You know.. THE tests. She first commented on how wound up they were when the tests were over and FINALLY having a chance to unwind. But then she mentioned that it was common knowledge among the 8th graders that the writing prompts were being shared all over MySpace.

 

For all the outside pressures that 'education' has seen in an effort to get it to change, we may find that History will speak of how the kids and their use of technology was what REALLY forced a drastic change from within.

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Weekend website: What is this file?

So here is the scenario: you have been sent a file attached to an email. You double click on it - after making sure that it is not a virus or some other malicious file - and you are told that it is an 'unknown file type'. You need to find out what type of file it is, and what programs will open it.

To do this you look at the last few letters after the last '.', e.g. word documents will end with '.doc' (you may not see these extensions for file types that your installation of Windows recognises - to see them: double click on 'My Computer'; select 'Options' from the 'Tools' menu; select the 'View' tab and deselect 'Hide extensions for known file types'.)

So you know what extension the file has, but still don't know how to open it. There are a number of web sites that provide lists of know file extensions. All offer a search tool, so you can just type in a file's extension and find out what programs you need to open it. So here are a few such sites:

• Wotsit.org (my personal favourite)
• FILExt
• file-extensions.org

Check out this post for details of a website that will convert files to a type that you may be able to open with your existing software.

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Posted in: File Types,Websites

Target the IT Consulting Sweet Spot

IT consulting professionals in the small business arena often market to sweet spot small businesses. These are the businesses that typically give those in the IT consulting over $100 per hour.

Focus on Their Needs

Sweet spot small businesses have usually outgrown P2P networks and need one or more dedicated servers. This can really help IT consulting professionals because the competition they had when targeting smaller firms is no longer applicable.

When clients need a dedicated server, they also need professional help. They can no longer exist with a low-budget mentality and non-existent options, which means they need to charge higher prices for more sophisticated solutions.

Sweet Spot Business Size

If you are in small business IT consulting, you need to know that sweet spot small businesses have 10 – 50 computers and 10 – 100 employees. If you want to target companies with direct mail and other types of marketing, you should remember that they have between $1 million and $10 million in revenue annually.

Added By: Joshua Feinberg

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Posted in: IT consulting

[TIPS] A whole new mind was right!!

If you’ve read “A Whole New Mind” by Daniel Pink, he talks about how right-brained folks will be in demand in the future. Well, the future is now.

Check out this job listing for NASA: http://pages.citebite.com/l2i1y6p5j8gak

And I quote, “Creativity. Ambition. Teamwork. A sense of daring. And a probing mind. That's what it takes to join NASA, one of the best places to work in the Federal Government.”

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[TIPS] last one for today - a G-R-E-A-T video about teachers

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

This 27 minute video is a series of clips from various movies about teachers. Good ones, bad ones, funny ones, powerful ones.

THIS will inspire. It will make you PROUD of being a teacher all over again.

Enjoy. Savor. Be proud.

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[TIPS] teachers are mirrors

Oh my… when I see this and think about the times when I would yell at a kid the wrong way. Oh how I wish I could take those moments back. But, one can’t un-ring a bell, right?

 

I saw this on the edubloggerworld ning. I’ve subscribed to the videos page. This was posted there by a French blogger, Gabriela Grosseck.

 

Teachers are mirrors. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RPWU30S2HA This might be a good one to play at the end of the first inservice day every year. Even the more veteran teachers could stand a little refresher on this, don’t you think?

 

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[TIPS] College Essays redux - from Anne Smith's blog

Those of you who have read my posts for a while know that I am a big fan of Anne Smith and her work with her English students. I’ve had this one on the burner to go out for a week, but I just saw the Karl Fisch has pointed to it, so I thought I’d better send it out to MY readers, as well. (There are many who only read the email posts)

 

http://learningandlaptops.blogspot.com/2007/09/twist-to-college-essays-using-gooogle.html

 

This is a post about how she and two other teachers used Google Groups to put a twist on the college essays assignment. Give it a read. This sounds like a VERY interesting approach. She talks about the how’s and why’s of this project, and she shares the rules that she gave the students. Read the comments from the other two teachers, as well. The positives and the adjustments that they plan for next year.

 

Thanks for sharing this, Anne, Lauren, and Michele.

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[TIPS] Google Calendar APIs

http://www.programmableweb.com/api/google-calendar/mashups

This came from the programmable web’s blog. Here are a bunch of mashups with the google calendar. Need a calendar to share with folks? Check out this list! If you’ve got .net 2.0 and outlook 2003 or higher then one of these even lets you sync the calendars!

Very cool stuff.

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Keyboard shortcut of the week: Firefox

This week's keyboard shortcuts are all for Firefox - some of them may work in Internet Explorer. Recently, Microsoft have started copying features previously implemented by Mozilla in Firefox, possibly including the keyboard shortcuts. Please let me know which ones work in IE.

To cycle through your tabs rightwards: hold down Ctrl and press the Tab key.

To cycle through tabs leftwards: hold down Ctrl and Shift and press the Tab key.

To open a new tab: hold down Ctrl and press T.

To close the current tab: hold down Ctrl and press W.

To jump to the address bar - where you type in a web address: Press F6 (thanks to glytch for this one).

To open and close the Bookmarks tab: hold down Ctrl and press B (Note: if you are in a rich-text editor on a webpage this will select bold text instead.)

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Posted in: Firefox,Keyboard shortcut

[TIPS] Russia discovers the North Pole!

True. OK.. they didn’t discover it, but Russian submarines planted a flag on the floor of the North Pole. Why? There are vast amounts of resources up there and now that the ice has melted to such a point, it’s now possible (or at least the countries are predicting that it will be possible) to explore that area for its resources.

 

So what? Watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bciOToY2M2E&feature=dir (or use one of the many sites that allow you to download it) and show it to your senior high students. It’s a BBC-produced video about this very thing. How do the students feel about Russia planting that flag? What do they think it means? Then read/listen to this news article: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14092469 It, too, talks of the rush to claim the arctic. What are the implications of this?

 

I won’t take sides with the global warming issue, nor, perhaps, should you with your students. But, the discussion about countries trying to claim the arctic floor is a fascinating one, I think, and a topic that their generation will have to deal with, won’t they?

 

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[TIPS] teachertube makeover contest

Wanna win $15k worth of cool classroom technology? Here’s one way you can try. TeacherTube has announced a contest in conjunction with Interwrite Learning that will have three winners receiving the prizes. Here’s how the site presents it:

 

“The complete interactive makeover is valued at approximately $15,000. In addition, winners will receive a $1,000 cash prize and a celebration party for the entire school. The contest will name one winner from the following three grade level segments: Kindergarten through fifth; sixth through eighth; and ninth through 12th.

The video will be judged on the following criteria: demonstration of effective use of technology, portrayal of teachers and students working together and the overall creativity and spirit. The video must be submitted by a teacher and the grade segment that the video will be judged in is determined by the grade level of that teacher. Interwrite must be mentioned once within the lyrics of the song. The conclusion must direct viewers to the Interwrite Learning Web site to vote. The video should be no longer than three minutes in length.”

 

Now, I KNOW that we’ve got some very creative kids out there. We’ve all seen samples of their work. Here’s a chance to produce a funny video and collect on the great prizes.

 

Spread the word! I’m anxious to see the entries.

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[TIPS] a great physics lesson

I just had the opportunity to watch a really cool physics lesson. It was all very low tech, but the final presentation might just end up being quicktime movies or splashcast videos saved in their moodle site. The teacher took some digital pictures and I took a few with my cell phone. Now I'll have to go home and read the manual to see how to pull them off the phone!

Here's the lesson. The teacher found this lesson on the web while searching for vector physics lessons. This was an AP Physics class of a dozen kids. The class was divided into three groups and each group was given some graph paper, a yardstick, a few smaller rulers, a length of string, a protractor, and a 100' tape measure. One group got a 50' tape measure. We then went outside.

He took the students to show them a spot on the curb in front of the school which would serve as an end point. Then they walked around the building to a back corner and marked that as the other end point. The task was to find out how far it was from one point to the other - in a straight line. They had to use vectors to work their way around the building.

It was interesting to see how the groups approached the task. The building wasn't your nice neat rectangle, either, so they had lots of angles to work with. Kids were down (prone) on the ground, talking through how they'd find the true angles, dealing with metal measures that wanted to kink, and having a good time.

At the end of the period they came back inside to do their calculations. As the bell rang a couple students stopped to ask what the real answer was. The teacher asked what THEY found (claiming he couldn't remember exactly), and the two that I heard were very close. One was within three meters, and the other was right on the money! Very good work.

As the one girl left she said, "I'll just go home tonight and use Google Earth to find it."

What's interesting with that is that Google Earth has not been a part of the curriculum anywhere, so she has learned that tool on her own. AND - she thought of it right away as the way to solve this problem.

It all comes back to the teacher, doesn't it? A great lesson. And if we had some student machines the kids would be making their own presentations using the images we took. I'd love to see this one in splashcast. My bet, however, is that if they made the movies they'd want to upload them to YouTube and then use the embed code to include them in the Moodle site. I hope to find out.

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[TIPS] Congress considers NCLB (from ASCD newsbrief)

This, from the ASCD newsbrief newsletter:

-          - -

-          “Congress considering the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind
Right now, Congress is considering the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind. This legislation has far-reaching implications, and your voice is critical. Education policy matters. It affects what teachers teach, what students learn, and what resources are available for schools. ASCD wants to ensure that those who know what works for students are at the table when education policy is created. ASCD Educator Advocates are engaged and working with Congress to make changes. We invite you to join ASCD Educator Advocates. With your help, we can make sure education policy will support, not hinder, student learning. Sign up to make a difference for kids with the free ASCD Educator Advocates program.”

 

 

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What to do when your PC hangs

So, your PC isn't doing anything, the screen is a mess, the hard-drive is whirring away. Is there anything you can do, rather than just reach for the reset button?

Here are my top tips for dealing with those times when Windows hangs.

Don't keep clicking things
Windows buffers (remembers) all these clicks and will implement them when it catches up, preventing you from continuing with what you want to do, and possibly causing havoc. Show a little bit of patience.

Check to see if your PC has crashed
Before you hit that reset button it is wise to check if your PC has actually crashed. To do this simply press the Caps Lock key, and check whether the Caps Lock light goes on or off; if it does then your Windows session may be recoverable. You may have to wait a few seconds to see a response.

Use the Task Manager
All recent versions of Windows have a built in application called 'Task Manager.' To run it simply hold down Ctrl and Alt, and press Delete (note: Windows 2000 users will then have to press the 'Task Manager' button on the dialog box that opens.)

As with all these tips, you will have to wait a while to see if it appears. When it does, check the 'Applications' tab to see if any of the programs you are running have a status of 'Not Responding.' If they are, click on one to highlight it then and click the 'End Task' button. Do this with any other programs that are not responding, then cross your fingers.

If Windows starts working again it is best to save all your work and restart the PC. A clean restart is always preferable to a nasty reset.

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Posted in: Windows Crash,Windows Hangs

Making Windows run faster: upgrade your PC

Mo' Memory
One of the major causes of windows running slowly is a lack of physical memory (called RAM). When this physical memory becomes full, Windows shuffles the information used by inactive programs into a file on your hard-drive called a 'page file' (or sometimes a 'swap file'). This shuffling back and forth of information takes time and slows the operation of your PC down.

Buying and installing more RAM is one way to give your PC a speed boost. There are many different types of RAM available, and you have to install the one that is correct for your PC. You can use the Crucial Memory Advisor™ tool to find out what types of memory your PC supports (Crucial are a major supplier of memory with prices often cheaper than you will find elsewhere). If you need advice about installing your new RAM, check out the How to install RAM article at lifehacker.

Veni Video Vici
Many computers these days have video controller built onto the motherboard (the motherboard is the big circuit board in your PC that all the other devices connect to). If you have such a system, the PC will allocate part of the available RAM to your video hardware, thus making it unavailable for Windows. Also, some software - especially games - relies on a sizable amount of video memory being available. So, another way to give your PC a speed boost is to upgrade the video card. Check out Ryan Pollack's article How to Upgrade and Install a Video Card?

If you have inbuilt video hardware on your motherboard you may have to switch it off in the BIOS (this controls the hardware of your PC before Windows starts), in order to do this consult your manuals. Note: if you have lost the manual you may be able to download it from your PC manufacturer's website.

Pimp my PC
Of course the best upgrade to make your PC run faster is to replace the processor (also known as CPU) with a faster one. The CPU is analogous to the engine in a car, so the powerful it is, the faster the PC will run. Replacing the CPU is not a simple task and should be avoided by computer novices. Your PC may not support all processor types and the actual task of replacing a CPU can be rather fiddly. For this, it would be best to seek the advice of an expert.

Note for laptop users
Of these three upgrades, only the first really applies to you. Changing graphics and CPUs on laptops would either be impossible or expensive. From personal experience I warn you to never take your laptop apart, the manufacturers really jam everything in there, and the whole thing becomes some sort of fiendish puzzle.

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Posted in: Faster Windows,Upgrades

[TIPS] TED | Talks | Zeresenay Alemseged: Finding the origins of humanity (video)

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/168

Wow.

“Paleoanthropologist Zeresenay Alemseged is looking for the roots of humanity in Ethiopia's badlands. Here he talks about what he has found -- including the oldest skeleton yet discovered of a hominid child -- and how Africa holds the clues to what makes us human.”

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[TIPS] fox hole radio - amazing!

I had heard that soldiers in WWII used to make radios out in the field, but I had no idea how. Now, Bre Pettis from Make Magazine shows you how to make one from a toilet paper tube, some wire, a couple safety pins, some thumb tacks, a small stub of a pencil, and a razor blade.

 

This is VERY cool, and full of lesson ideas. Why the lead pencil? Why a razor blade? What do the safety pins have to do with it?

 

Check out his video here: http://www.rocketboom.com/vlog/rb_07_sep_19

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Wanna trade places?

10:30am

I'm sitting here waiting for another call from our outside tech support, my stomach in knots, over 300 people VERY unhappy with me (I'm the contact person), and I'm watching this situation unfold with NOTHING I can do to stop it or slow down the pace of the self-destruction. My eyes don't want to focus on anything for more than a fraction of a second. My breathing is short and shallow, with the exception of a few scattered deep sighs. I keep looking around for SOMETHING that I can do , knowing that there isn't a THING I can do. The result is that I and my company are going to come out of this looking VERY bad in spite of us having done all we could to remedy the situation.

A few miles from here are over 300 people who are expecting to use a Moodle site that resides on our server. The problem is that 300 concurrent users on the server is a LOT, and when you add in all the students in our districts who are also on, the system is on overload. The site has slowed to glacial speeds, making it unusable. The train has begun to derail. Trainers are moving from plan B to Plan C and D. My phone is ringing off the hook... er.. off my belt clip.

Have you ever been in that situation? What an awful, helpless feeling it is. Nobody wants reasons or excuses. Perhaps nobody is blaming me, personally. But, I FEEL the pressure and I feel personally responsible somehow.

So, wanna trade places?

The tip? Where's the tip, you ask? Well, here's one: If you haven't already seen or heard, Google Docs now has a Presentation mode. Create them then share them online. Lots of folks are talking about it, so I won't repeat. But, if you don't READ lots of folks, log into your google docs and choose New...Presentation. Very nice.

No, if you'll excuse me, it's time I crawl out onto the ledge - along with those poor trainers. "OK, gang, we'll all jump on 3. Ready? One... Two.........

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Google Launches its Presentation Application

Google today officially launched its presentation tool that rounds out Google Docs and Spreadsheet. Now it is possible to create a slide presentation and view it on the web or have others collaborate on it. Google Present allows you to upload your PowerPoint presentations that can then be modified or viewed on the web. Pretty cool! What a great tool for classrooms and business folks who need to collaborate or publish the presentation to the web. I hope to be able to look at it more carefully from what I see it looks like Google has hit a home run with their online suite of applications.

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Posted in: Google,PowerPoint,presentation,Presenter

[TIPS] Google Docs video - from Common Craft

http://youtube.com/watch?v=eRqUE6IHTEA

 

Thanks to Sue Sheffer for telling me about this first. Another cool video from the makers of such hits as, “RSS in Plain English”, “Wikis in Plain English,” and others. Now comes, “Google Docs in Plain English.”

 

Check it out!!

 

P.S. He didn’t do the “Booo” thing again. Boooo!

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[TIPS] weather bonk

http://www.weatherbonk.com/weather/

Here is a great mashup for those who study or are just interested in the weather. This site collects weather data about a number of major cities, but you can plug in your own city, as well. Besides the weather information there are webcams, monthly weather averages, and a TON more.

This site tied last year for the best mashup. Check it out.

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Web Based Mindmapping Survey

Chuck Frey who is noted for the work he has done in the area of mind mapping emailed me today to share with me that he has launched a new survey which focuses on the use of web based mind mapping applications. If you have used any of the web based mind mapping applications please take the time to complete the survey by clicking on the link below.
---------

During the last year, web-based mind mapping applications have grown significantly in their level of functionality and popularity. To better understand how people are utilizing these tools and what their potential impact is likely to be, I've decided to conduct a brief survey on this technology. This survey covers issues such as:

- Which tool offers the best functionality?
- What features matter most to you?
- What are the biggest benefits of web-based mind mapping tools?
- What are the shortcomings of this emerging technology?
- What is the future of this cool technology?
- And more!

Please take a few minutes to complete this brief, 12-question survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=y_2f0R2yPy1JeqSRO79fDCyA_3d_3d

I look forward to your thoughts and opinions!

Chuck Frey
chuck@innovationtools.com
The Mind Mapping Software Blog
http://mindmapping.typepad.com
InnovationTools

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Posted in: Chuck Frey,comapping,mind mapping,mind mapping mindomo,mindmeister,Web 2.0

[TIPS] tank commander reunited with death train survivers

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/14/AR2007091400263.html

 

What a great story this is. And, what a testament to the Internet.

 

"The reunion has its roots in a class project launched by Matthew Rozell, a history teacher at Hudson Falls High School. In the early 1990s, he created an elective course for seniors to collect stories from local veterans and post them on a Web site."

 

You have to read the rest. What a VERY cool story.

 

This is another article I found on the ASCD brief. You don't receive it? You may want to check it out.

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MindMapper 2008 Released

MindMapper 2008 has been released and the trial version can be downloaded at their website. I hope in the next couple of days to be able to take a look at it some more. MindMapper 2008 is a significant upgrade from the previous version and they have integrated Gantt Charts into the product. For more information you can go to the MindMapper website.

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Posted in: Gantt,mind mapping,MindMapper

IT Marketing Requires Measuring Your Response

Tracking and measuring results is a very large part of your IT marketing plan. Ideally, you should be tracking your response along with how many responses turn into sales. But minimally, you should be looking at the type of inquiries that result from different marketing techniques.

Four Ways to Measure Response

1. Send targets to a URL so you can track website visits.

2. Get leads and prospects to tell you how they heard of you when you get them on the phone.

3. Set up a specific phone number for prospects to call with requests.

4. Diversify your response types to correspond with you diverse IT marketing campaigns. EXAMPLE: With postcards, offer a reduced price IT audit and with the newspaper ad offer a free seminar.

IT Marketing and Real Numbers

As an example, if you are mailing 1,000 postcards to 1,000 law offices within your area and attaching a free seminar, report or free needs analysis, you need to track how many of these postcards turned into inquiries.

You may get almost a two percent response rate on an inquiry (a great number!). You might have had a 1.7 percent response rate on inquiries and out of those 17 inquiries, one turned into a great account and one turned into a one-shot deal. Therefore, you can calculate that for the 1,000 attorney postcards, you got 17 inquiries and two business opportunities that brought $19,500 within the first year.

This would be a great return, even if you spent money on list rental or professional graphic design and when you include postage, copywriting costs, etc. A $500 or $700 investment turned into a one-shot deal that covered the cost of your mailing and you also found a huge account that went above and beyond the investment cost.

The Main Idea about IT Marketing

You need to measure response rate when it comes to IT marketing activities to track where and how you spent money and your ROI.

Added By: Joshua Feinberg

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Posted in: IT marketing

[TIPS] yugma - the internet is more amazing every day

http://www.yugma.com/

 

This is the first I’ve heard of this program, although I understand that others have been blogging about it. (I guess if a blog post it too long I don’t read it.) Anyway.. yugma (pronounced YOOgma – darn I wish they’d find better names) is an amazing, f-r-e-e app that allows you to share desktops with up to ten users at a time. And there is a skype version that is just amazing. https://www.yugma.com/yugmaskype/index.php

 

Create an account with yugma and install the software. Log in and create a session. You can then either invite people in from your skype contact list or via an email. There are cool markup tools, too. You can even switch presenters so that you can see the OTHER person’s desktop, too.

 

I’m teaching a class online and folks will occasionally comment that they don’t see a certain screen, or this button isn’t there, or that field isn’t there, etc. This will allow me to see their screens – for free.

 

Now, I also understand that Draper has been talking about this in his blog and talking about he plans to use it for professional development. My apologies, Darren, for not reading that post earlier. He also talked about Ustream.tv and that’s where I stopped reading. My fault.

 

But, this changes things. The premium version, with all the cool tools, for up to 10 users at a time is $99.50/yr. For 100 users it’s $699.50/yr. If you’re a tech department looking to get a VERY easy to use solution for delivering short professional development sessions, this should be looked at long and hard.

 

Oh, and if anyone downloads it and wants to try it out with me, I’m jimkathy808. (Was that a stupid thing to post, just now?)

 

 

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Attention Blogger - Remove the Next Blog tag!

OK. Done. One word from me is all it should take, right?

The issue: the "Next Blog" link at the top of the blogs in Blogger are the reason that some schools cite for blocking ALL blogger blogs. There IS a way to block that at the firewall, as detailed here: http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=48787. They say that the firewall administrator should enter: http://www.blogger.com/next-blog?navBar=true into the rules and all is solved. But, that means that every district's network admin will have to do that. Wouldn't it be a TON simpler to make that an option on the template page? Of COURSE it would.

Wouldn't you think that with all the staff and all the money that Google has, and with all the requests that they get (you should check out the Group Help area - OY!) that they would make this easy change? It's a violation of the TOS to remove that nav bar completely, apparantly, but it's OK to force the rest of the world to add a filtering policy to address their issue? I don't get it.

If YOU would like them to remove that show-stopping 'feature' from their templates, let them know here: http://help.blogger.com/?page=contact&skiplogin=yes

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Fly Fusion Pentop

I have been a big fan of Anoto functionality and its implementation in the Fly Fusion Pentop Computer which was recently released by LeapFrog. One of the features which I was most interested in looking at was the ability to transfer your handwritten notes and transfer them into Microsoft Word as a text file. Unfortunately, the Fly Fusion Pentop only works with the Windows operating system. Once you install the Fly Fusion Pentop computer software you are ready to give it a try. Simply click on the Fly Notes icon and open your Fly Notebook and begin writing. I have tried the Fly Fusion Pentop with both print and cursive and it worked quite well. It is important to note that you must use the Fly Fusion Notebook when using the pen. Once you have written your notes you simply plug your pen into the computer with the supplied USB cable and your notes are downloaded to the Fly Fusion Pentop application. Once downloaded you can transfer them to Microsoft Word with a click of the mouse. The handwriting recognition worked exceptionally well. This is certainly a viable alternative for note taking and a way for students to catalog and store their notes digitally. One of the advantages of this system is the ability to search your notes on the computer and to be able to convert them to text for further editing. Give it a try and let me know what you think. At $79 dollars this is a very worthwhile tool and one that has lots of application in the classroom.

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Posted in: Anoto,Fly_Fusion,Fly_Pentop,LeapFrog

Analyzing Data in InspireData 1.5

In this video I will show you how easy it is to use a Pie Graph to analyze the data from the eSurvey that was published on the web using InspireData 1.5. Click on the first video in the Screencast Media roll to see a demonstration of how easy it is to use. I also show you how you can use the SlideShow feature built into InspireData 1.5.

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Posted in: inspiration,inspiredata,inspiredata_1.5 videos

Weekend website: More anwers than questions

Yahoo Answers offers you the chance to ask questions in a user-friendly open forum. The forum is broken down into various categories such as 'Pets', 'Health' and, of course, 'Computers & Internet'.

CNET provide various forums (or is that 'fora'?) where you can ask computer-based questions; including one aimed at 'Computer Newbies' in particular.

Both sites require registration to submit and respond to questions. I check both regularly for opportunities to share my *ahem* sagely advice.

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Posted in: Websites

IT Marketing: How Long Until Success?

When it comes to IT marketing your computer consulting business, you can’t expect instant success. But there are some steps you can take to make the process run as smoothly as possible.

IT Marketing Requires a System

If you are doing well with IT marketing, you may have joined the Chamber and be ready to go to your first networking meeting. You might have even participated in venture capital groups in the IT field and be handing out business cards everywhere you go. Still, you may not be seeing great success yet. What’s the problem exactly?

You need to give your system time to develop. You can expect to wait three to six months before you see any sort of benefits from your efforts. If after six months you are still seeing no results, you probably just need to change your IT marketing techniques or join a different networking organization.

IT Marketing: Stress Personal Relationships

You can’t just go to a few networking meetings and get a great account. Sometimes you might get lucky, but the majority of the time it pays to make sure people know, like and trust you.

If you have a great personality and are friendly and charismatic, you probably like working with people. If you prefer to be alone, you probably aren’t going to go really far with your IT marketing efforts unless you change your attitude a bit.

First impressions are going to be very important, so you should dress neatly and start to build a good relationship with people you meet. Chemistry and a good rapport mean everything. You also need to be prepared to send business to those you meet if you find someone that needs their services. Put yourself out in the public.

The Main Idea with IT Marketing

Successful IT marketing requires patience and building personal relationships.

Submitted By: Joshua Feinberg

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Posted in: IT marketing

[TIPS] This Ted Video tore me up

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/171

 

---snip ---

"Filmmaker Deborah Scranton talks about and shows clips from her documentary The War Tapes, which puts cameras in the hands of soldiers fighting in Iraq."

 

The language is real and often raw. But, if one if offended by the language and NOT by the images then ... there HAS to be something wrong. Ms Scranton's talk is very moving, as is the film itself. I don't want to get into the war debate, but it's no wonder it has become such a divisive topic.

 

Oh, and my sincere Thank you to any Iraq War veteran who may be reading this. I can't imagine how you were able to do your job.

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[TIPS] If you honk for peace, don't tell anyone

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/orl-honkerfired1307sep13,0,1217940.story

 

Here is a teacher who told her class that she honks for peace. Someone took exception to that - for some reason - and the teacher was fired. The lower courts ruled that teachers have no right of free speech. HUH?

 

Maybe I misread that. Let's say I did. But, why in the WORLD would anyone complain about a teacher making that comment. My thoughts? It's all about politics. Have you ever known this nation to be so polarized by politics? Maybe it wasn't about politics. Maybe.

 

Oh, she's taking her case to the Supreme Court. It'll be interesting to see how this conservative court will rule on this, in light of all the other political incidents in our courts lately.

 

So, honk for peace - but don't tell anyone.

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Keyboard shortcut of the week: Shut `em down

After last week's mammoth collection of word processing keyboard shortcuts, this week, I present a short and sweet way to close any window.

Simple hold down the Alt key and press F4... Hang on! Don't do it now... Oh, too late.

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Posted in: Keyboard shortcut

InspireData 1.5 eSurvey Videos

I have been playing around with the eSurvey feature in InspireData 1.5 for the past couple of days and have used it to launch a survey for this blog. I have posted a Blog Survey to the web that you can complete that was done entirely with InspireData 1.5. When you click on the link you will be prompted to enter a six digit code. The code is 209062. The information will be helpful to me- so give it a try and let me know what you think.

I have included a Screencast Media Roll widget that shows you just how easy it is to publish, enter, and retrieve your eSurvey results right from within InspireData 1.5. To view the screencasts just click on the icon in the widget below. Enjoy!

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Posted in: inspiredata,inspiredata_1.5 videos

[TIPS] Pangeaday - mark it on your calendars

http://pangeaday.org/ - watch the trailer!

Here's a site to watch. As it says:

"Pangea Day taps the power of film to strengthen tolerance and compassion while uniting millions of people to build a better future. In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it's easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that - to help people see themselves in others - through the power of film."

On May 10, 2008, four sites from around the world will join together in a video conference to produce a four hour event of "...powerful films, visionary speakers, and uplifting music."

Mark this on your calendars. Plan to show the resulting videos in your class. What better way to bring the world together in your classroom? This should be POWERFUL!

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[TIPS] the audio of the show is online

Those of you who couldn't tune in to hear the "It's Elementary" show on EdTechTalk on Monday are in luck! :-) The audio file has been edited and is now posted online. To hear it, point your ol' browser to: http://www.edtechtalk.com/node/2259  

 

I only listened to about ten seconds of my talk (I had heard it on Monday) and the sound was pretty good.

 

So, if you're interested in hearing what I had to say about Moodle for use in the Elementary grades, check it out. Many thanks to the wonderful folks there who made it such a pleasant experience.

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[TIPS] Turning Kids into book lovers - part II

http://www.teachermagazine.org/tm/articles/2007/09/12/06millermentorii.h19.html

 

A while back I sent this link out (courtesy of ASCD newsletter) that was part I of this story of how a teacher turned her 6^th graders into powerful readers. Here’s a short comment from this follow-up article:

 

“We must go back to what builds readers in the first place: reading out loud to them; letting them read with a friend, an audio tape, or a podcast; reinforcing that reading is pleasurable and social; removing the pressure and risk by deemphasizing comprehension tests and reports; and finally, accepting that some students, both boys and girls, will never innately value reading as enjoyable”

 

Send both of these articles to your favorite reading teacher. Wouldn’t it be great if hundreds more schools turned their kids on to reading by following this one teacher’s methods. Dare we dream… maybe thousands more schools?

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Odessa Software Releases ConceptDraw Project 4

Here is a Press Release from CS Odessa about the the release of ConceptDraw Project 4 for Macintosh and Windows. I hope to do a review of the program in the future and look at the integration with ConceptDraw MindMap 5.

------------------------------------------


Odessa, Ukraine, September 13, 2007 – CS Odessa today announced the general availability of ConceptDraw Project 4 for Macintosh and Windows. The newest release of ConceptDraw Project 4 project management software is designed to plan and track a wide range of projects simultaneously and to accurately allocate and manage any shared resources between all supervised projects. Also added to Project 4 is a “Resource Usage View”, enhanced Microsoft Project compatibility, a redesigned tabular project interface and a number of commonly requested usability improvements.

The addition of “Resource Usage View” in Project 4 permits project managers to quickly ascertain an accurate view of resource loading and task allocation for each available resource. Project 4 represents the project data in a clear, compelling visual presentation displaying a color-coded representation of resource usage; possible areas of potential resource misalignment are highlighted for clear viewing. “Resource Usage View” is an essential tool for quickly finding over and under allocated workers and then being able to precisely balance against the project requirements.

The ConceptDraw Project user interface has undergone some important changes in version 4, providing even quicker navigation between projects and different status views, these changes dramatically speed up the task of project management. With Project 4 tasks and resources contained in all projects are clearly laid out making it easier to supervise each individual project as well as all the projects contained in the manager’s portfolio. These user interface changes have been introduced in Project 4 to make project operations easier and faster for both beginner and experienced users.

ConceptDraw Project 4 is an Universal Binary application and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or greater to run. All purchasers of ConceptDraw Project 3 from August 15, 2007 until ship date are eligible to receive a no cost upgrade to ConceptDraw Project 4.

ConceptDraw Project 4 is available at the price of $199 USD at:
http://www.conceptdraw.com/en/purchase/project/main.php?utm_source=pressrelease&utm_medium=4.0&utm_term=release&utm_campaign=PRJ

Volume purchase discounts, educational and non-profit pricing is also available. More information about ConceptDraw Project 4 and

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Posted in: ConceptDraw MindMap 5,ConceptDraw Project 4,mindmapping,project management

[TIPS] vuvox - WOW!

I’ve had this one on my list to check out for a while. Many thanks to Kevin Conner for sending this to me via the for:jgates513 tag on del.icio.us.

http://www.vuvox.com/ – RUSH there now to try it out. And, if you’re reading this on the mailing list, go to my blog to see the one I just created in 3 minutes time. Or, just click this link to see it: http://www.vuvox.com/presentations/10736

First of all it was tons of fun to make, as their options are outstanding. Second, they give you the ability to email it to someone, get a regular link for it (as I posted above), or the code to embed, as I did on my blog. If you’ve got pictures up on flickr or some of the other photo sites you can get the images from there. I had to get the feed for my pictures instead of logging in to select the images. That can be good or bad, I suppose. The good part is that this slideshow will always show the latest images. The bad part is that those latest images are going to be public, so I’d best remember that as I upload them.

When you make one, send me YOUR link. I’d LOVE to see what you created.

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Creating MediaRolls with Screencast.com

Here is a new way to display your screencasts if you are using Camtasia Studio and Screencast.com. This is a pretty neat widget that shows a list of the screencasts that you have created. Let me know what you think.

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Posted in: camtasia_studio,mediaroll,screencast,screencast.com

[TIPS] animoto - amazing

http://animoto.com

If this site doesn't blow your mind then ... NOTHING will. I first saw it on the k12onlineconference site. Someone made a short intro movie for their upcoming presentation, and they used this site. You upload your images and it makes the most incrdible visuals with them. You HAVE to check it out. Play the demo on the animoto site, or go to the k12onlineconference.org site and play the second life movie. What great fun!! One thing, though - I can't get it to play in wikispaces. Wikispaces doesn't like the code.

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Five top freeware applications

Before spending your hard earned cash on software, it is always worth looking to see what is available for free. In this article I will look at five free applications that I use myself.

First up, and probably most importantly, we have a virus checker. AVG anti-virus free edition has all the features I want from anti-virus software. It loads quickly, doesn't take up much system resource, updates itself regularly, and only bothers me when it finds a problem.

After viruses, spyware is the next major problem that arises from using the Internet. I use Spyware Terminator, which has many of the same virtues as AVG anti-virus, in that it is not constantly bothering me with messages. In my opinion, such software should sit quietly in the background doing its job.

Quick tip: when you run a scan on your PC looking for spyware the software 'looks' at each file, which means that the virus checker also checks that file. So by running a spyware scan you also effectively run a virus scan.

Do you use Windows Media Player to watch video files? Do some videos not load into it? Does it complain about needing something called a 'codec'? You can do worse than try the VideoLAN VLC media player. VLC supports most common media types, both audio and video, and is available in versions for Linux and Macs too.

The last two freeware applications have been featured in previous articles here. TreeSize is a program that provides a graphical representation of how much hard-drive space each folder is using; very useful for working out where all your hard-drive space has gone. The other is Startup Control Panel, which provides a means to manage which programs run automatically when Windows starts.

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Posted in: Freeware,Protection

[TIPS] reminder that anti-bullying video?

Now that school is back in session, this is the perfect time to refresh your memory about this excellent video, “Hero in the Hallway.” The music is very good – kids will like it – and the message is so VERY important.

 

Here is the link to the original post: http://tipline.blogspot.com/2007/07/anti-bullying-video-worth-seeing.html

 

Here is the link to the youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtFtbaKIYyg

 

Can’t get to youtube at school? Remember, there are many ways to skin that cat. For one, go to www.keepvid.com and paste that address in that search field and choose YouTube from the dropdown next to it. Click Download to begin the process. Almost immediately, another link will appear under that row of ads which says, “Download link.” Click that and save the file to your desktop. Remember, it’ll be called “getvideo.flv.” You should rename it to something else, but keep the .flv extension. (Assuming you can see the extensions. If not, don’t worry about it) Finally, you’ll need a player like the VLC player or miro. Don’t worry, you can do it.

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Inspiration Releases InspireData 1.5

Earlier this month, I posted a review of InspireData and shared with you just how innovative and well designed this application is. Well to top it off, Inspiration, Inc. just released InspireData 1.5, a free upgrade from InspireData 1.0. With InspireData 1.5 it is now possible to create surveys and post them to the web with a click of the mouse. Inspiration has done a great job of implementing this feature so that students and teachers can post their surveys to the web and have others with the link and code complete the survey on with a browser. When the publisher of the survey is ready they can end the session and then access the data right from within InspireData 1.5. Combining the data analysis tools within InspireData 1.5 with the ability to do online surveys makes this the perfect tool for project based learning and collaboration across the web. In no time you will be thinking of creative ways to use InspireData 1.5 for all kinds of cross curricular projects. If you have InspireData 1.0 then point your browser to the Inspiration web site to download the updater-you won't be sorry you did. InspireData 1.5 is one piece of software that can open all kinds of doors to learning.

I have posted a Blog Survey to the web that you can complete that was done entirely with InspireData 1.5. When you click on the link you will be prompted to enter a six digit code. The code is 209062. The information will be helpful to me so give it a try and let me know what you think. Thanks

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Posted in: inspiration,inspiredata,InspireDate_1.5