[TIPS] Science teachers - check this out before the kids leave

http://www.teachersfirst.com/single.cfm?id=8258 This is what it's about: TeachersFirst is proud to offer this chance to experience the life of a physics researcher through the eyes and dry humor of our own physics blogger, Andy. As an undergraduate not long out of the high school physics lab, Andy brings us into the "real world" of scientific research but can still connect with the middle or high school student who may be wondering, "When am I ever gunna use this stuff?" Spending the summer of 2007 at Los Alamos National Labs, Andy shares his day-to-day discoveries and gives your students a chance to respond to the blog, perhaps connecting to a "real" scientist for the first time. - - This looks like it will be good. Check it out. Thanks to Candice S for sharing this one. ...

Read more »

a Photosynth demo

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/129Wait until you see THIS! The future is NOW. Amazing technology.This is what thet site says about this talk:Using photos of oft-snapped subjects (like Notre Dame) scraped from around the Web, Photosynth creates breathtaking multidimensional spaces with zoom and navigation features that outstrip all expectation. Its architect, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, shows it off in this standing-ovation demo. Curious about that speck in corner? Dive into a freefall and watch as the speck becomes a gargoyle. With an unpleasant grimace. And an ant-sized chip in its lower left molar. "Perhaps the most amazing demo I've seen this year," wrote Ethan Zuckerman, after TED2007. Indeed, Photosynth might utterly transform the way we manipulate and experience digital images.Make sure...

Read more »

Another follow-up to the Celest story

http://learningismessy.com/blog/?p=276This is a nice post about the media coverage that has happened as a result of the story of Celest being skyped into her 4th grade class while she was home recovering from cancer treatments. Make sure you read the whole thing, and DO check out their wikis and other projec...

Read more »

MindManager 7 Ships for Windows and Mac

True to their word, Mindjet Inc, started shipping today-Mindjet MindManager 7 for Windows and Macintosh users. I participated in a webinar today to take a look at the new features for the Windows version, and was rather impressed with the new features. I think that the biggest factor will be ease of use. While power users will always drill down to find the features they need-new users to MindManager 7 will find the ribbon interface easier to navigate and find what they are looking for without having to go into the menus. From a useability standpoint many more users will be up and running much more quickly. Likewise, I would predict that even...

Read more »

Microsoft Introduces "Tabletop" PC

As computing devices get smaller and smaller, Microsoft is bucking the trend with its Microsoft Surface "tabletop" PC, code-named "Milan." The device, about the size of a small desk, allows the user to draw and write on the surface with a brush or fingers. Instead of using a mouse or keyboard, the user manipulates digital elements on the surface with his or her hands.The first of the Milan devices will be shipped to corporate customers to be used as kiosks... providing Milan with crucial exposure while allowing Microsoft to work out any kinks before offering surface computing to home and office users. At any rate, the average consumer will be forgiven for not pouncing on the first available units, which cost approximately $10,000 each.Source: ZD...

Read more »

A VERY cute video on Copyright and Fair Use

This is too cute. http://www.teach42.com/2007/05/29/a-fairy-use-tale/ Steve Dembo points to this YouTube video done by Eric Faden of Bucknell University. You HAVE to watch it. Oh, and remember the name Steve Dembo. I'll be mentioning his name again - as PETE&C draws clos...

Read more »

Reasons to Get into Subcontracting Relationships

There are many ways to determine whether or not you should get involved in subcontracting relationships.Your first order of business will be deciding what in-house techs can manage by themselves and how you can supplement this with the right additional employees or subcontracting partners. If you are a small consulting firm, you will not be able to hire someone with five different certifications and pay huge salaries. This is the time to think about subcontracting.Deciding What to Do with Subcontracting RelationshipsIf you think you can afford an expensive person with a lot of certifications and keep this person busy, you will still have a hard time getting the person excited about fixing jammed laser printers, hooking up PDAs to computers or reinstalling simple software. This type of work...

Read more »

Office and box.net - very cool!!

How can kids get their work to and from school? That's been a big issue since the days of the 5 1/4" floppies. Now, some schools even block the use of usb drives so the problem continues.Until now. (Does that sound like a Ted introduction?) :-)Box.net has announced that it has made a free add-in for Office that will integrate directly to box.net. Once you install the free add-in a special "Save to box.net" option will appear in the add-ins section. Well... here is what the email release from box.net says about it:Save files from Microsoft Office to BoxIn other news, Microsoft Office is now Box Enabled! We've released a plug-in for Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Publisher that conveniently uploads any document you're editing to Box. Once the software has been installed, a "Save to Box.net"...

Read more »

[TIPS] A Memorial Day Video

Thanks to John G for sharing this with me via the for:jgates513 tag on Del.icio.us. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ervaMPt4Ha0 This very moving video was done back in November of last year, but it is very appropriate for Memorial Day. Note her comments. She had to turn OFF the comment feature for this video because so many folks had decided to turn the comments into a forum for public debates. Very sad. Sorta missed the point, eh?...

Read more »

Mobivox- Taking Skype to a Cell Phone near You

I recently tried out Mobivox which is a really interesting free service that lets you dial a local access number and then Mobivox acts as a bridge to your Skype contacts. I was able to dial a local access number and when the Voxgirl Avatar asks who would you like to call you say "who is online," with that the Voxgirl Avatar says connecting to Skype and then proceeds to name all of your contacts who are presently online. When Voxgirl says the contact you want to reach, you simply press the pound key (#) and you are connected. I recently place a call using Mobivox and checked my Verizon account just to check if there was any other fees. The call...

Read more »

Cheetah spot by spot: DIRECT_IO

Back to another article about the new features of IBM IDS 11.10 (code named Cheetah).This will be a short article about a new feature that can end an old discussion. I'd bet that at least once, every Informix DBA had an argument about the advantages and disadvantages of using raw devices vs cooked files.Raw devices are hard disk partitions or at least represent a physical device somewhere (either a local storage disk or a NAS pseudo-device). They are not used by any OS filesystem. The access is as direct and fast as possible. There is no filesystem layer or cache involved. The Informix instance requests the I/O operations directly to the underlying OS. Their advantages can be resumed as:They're fastYou don't waste memory in FS cache (normally useless since IDS uses it's own cache)They're the...

Read more »

How to find the IP address of the sender in Yahoo! mail

When you receive an email, you receive more than just the message. The email comes with headers that carry important information that can tell where the email was sent from and possibly who sent it. For that, you would need to find the IP address of the sender. The tutorial below can help you find the IP address of the sender. Note that this will not work if the sender uses anonymous proxy servers.Finding IP address in Yahoo! Mail1. Log into your Yahoo! mail with your username and password.2. Click on Inbox or whichever folder you have stored your mail.3. Open the mail.4. If you do not see the headers above the mail message, your headers are not displayed. To display the headers, * Click on Options on the top-right corner * In the Mail Options page, click on General Preferences *...

Read more »

IT Consulting: What Business Skills Do You Need to Succeed?

If you want to get involved with IT consulting, you have to know more than just information about technology. Business skills are critical to IT consulting, and you need to develop them in order to be successful. Good Data Management for OrganizationYou need to be well-versed in spreadsheet maintenance and know Excel very well to do well in IT consulting. You will have a lot of data to deal with for both internal and client use, and knowing how to efficiently manage it will avoid wasting time. Use the PhoneIn IT consulting, your verbal skills have to be great, and you have to be able to talk comfortably on the phone. You will be using the phone to follow up with leads and set up appointments. You will also be offering tech support and collecting on invoices and other debts. Speak Well...

Read more »

Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course Web site updated

The Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course Web site has been updated and now includes information on Easy-to-Customize Templates -- immediately downloadable sample document. Learn all about the templates that come along with the Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course, and hear the author describe them first hand.Audio Training Programs -- gives you all the details on the 14 hours of immediately-downloadable audio training programs that come along with the Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course. Listen to select audio excerpts from these training programs.Sample Tips and ExcerptsImmediately Downloadable Training ResourcesField-Tested, PROVEN Results -- Read about, listen to, and watch how field-tested, PROVEN results, strategies and techniques have already DRAMATICALLY changed the...

Read more »

Posted in: Computer Consulting Kit Home Study Course,IT consulting

How to find the IP address of the sender in Hotmail

When you receive an email, you receive more than just the message. The email comes with headers that carry important information that can tell where the email was sent from and possibly who sent it. For that, you would need to find the IP address of the sender. The tutorial below can help you find the IP address of the sender. Note that this will not work if the sender uses anonymous proxy servers.Finding IP address in Hotmail1. Log into your Hotmail account with your username and password.2. Click on the Mail tab on the top.3. Open the mail.4. If you do not see the headers above the mail message, your headers are not displayed. To display the headers,* Click on Options on the top-right corner* In the Mail Options page, click on Mail Display Settings* In Message Headers, make sure Advanced...

Read more »

[TIPS] a writing prompt for your economics students

How's this..."OK, class, imagine this: Today, an engineer in the oil fields somewhere in the Middle East area has just finished analyzing the data, and to his/her horror the data shows that the Earth has reached 'Peak Oil.' In other words, we have just hit the midway point of the world's oil supply. From now on we are consuming the final oil deposits on the planet. Talk to me about what would likely happen in the short run and the long run when this news is made public." (It just may be THIS generation who will be faced with this inevitability.) "Use whatever tools you feel appropriate (Inspiration, the outline feature in Word, whatever tool you think works best for you) to jot down ideas. Not complete sentences yet. Just ideas. Things like, "Gas prices rise sharply" or "Panic on Wall Street."...

Read more »

[TIPS] New Poptech videos

You've heard me speak about PopTech.org and their popcasts, right? Well, I wanted to alert you to a couple new movies that they've added. The one I just finished watching is of the architect, Blaine Brownell. Send this tip to your fellow teachers who are teaching this sort of thing. In this video Blaine shows and discusses the new materials that are being created now for building materials. You'll be amazed at the variety of the products and of their implications on buildings of the future. And if you're like me, you'll be in awe of the ingenuity behind these innovations.See it here: https://www.poptech.org/popcasts/PopCasts.aspx?viewcastid...

Read more »

[TIPS] Ethanol - the big lie?

Here's another one for the science teachers among us. This video is an investigative news piece about ethanol. IS it all that it's hyped up to be? Is it the solution we're after? Show this to your classes and see what they think.http://digg.com/videos_educational/Myth_Corn_Ethanol_is_GreatBTW - digg is itself a site you may want to check out. See what other folks are "digging." Subscribe to various categories, like educational videos, perhaps. That's how I found this mov...

Read more »

[TIPS] an interesting school library wiki

http://slmsbookexchange.wikispaces.com/Here is an interesting wiki that a school librarian recently started with her students. Here is how she described the project to me in an email:"I created a good book wiki with 3 classes in my middle school building. Many books have multiple reviews but so far we have almost 300 unique titles in. With one class, I have taken it to the next level. They have been spending time adding links to the author's website, podcast of an excerpt and for further reading suggestions. Check out "Great and Terrible Beauty" under "Fantasy". "Won't this be a good resource for the kids as this grows? And, it's THEIR resource! Check it out. I can see the kids linking to all sorts of outside resources in some cases. What if they also recorded themselves reading a short...

Read more »

The Risks of Autonomous Robots

Anyone familiar with the Terminator or Matrix movies has an idea of the dangers of intelligent machines running amok. But as scientists develop ever more autonomous robots, such warnings are moving from speculation to reality very quickly.Samsung, for example, has developed an armed robotic sentry for use in patrolling the tense border between North and South Korea. Such military applications alarm robotic ethicists, who suggest that society is not ready to confront the consequences of autonomous robots designed to kill. They are also concerned about the growing use of robots to care for the elderly, particularly in Japan. Is society, they ask, truly ready to entrust its most frail members to these machines, particularly since our experience with them is relatively limited? Or, could...

Read more »

[TIPS] Pennsylvania wants to ban cell phones in schools

Get this:"Section 1. Section 1317.1 of the act of March 10, 1949 11 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949, added 12 December 22, 1989 (P.L.749, No.103), is amended to read: 13 Section 1317.1. Possession of [Telephone Pagers] Electronic 14 Devices Prohibited.--(a) The possession by students of 15 telephone paging devices, commonly referred to as beepers, 16 cellular telephones and portable electronic devices that record 17 or play audio or video material shall be prohibited on school 18 grounds, at school sponsored activities and on buses or other 19 vehicles provided by the school district.First of all, why is the STATE involved in what is arguably a LOCAL issue? Second, why are people who have NO CLUE about this topic even involved...

Read more »

Is True Global Democracy the Next Great Political Movement?

A near-universal disillusionment with traditional forms of government is driving new expressions of democracy around the world, underscored by a growing awareness of global issues and Internet-based connectivity. Paul Hawken of Orion magazine describes how many of the networking trends evident over the last decade are coalescing to create new ways for socially- and politically-minded groups to organize and make a difference:This is the first time in history that a large social movement is not bound together by an "ism." What binds it together is ideas, not ideologies. This unnamed movement's big contribution is the absence of one big idea; in its stead it offers thousands of practical and useful ideas. In place of isms are processes, concerns, and compassion. The movement demonstrates a pliable,...

Read more »

[TIPS] One for the musicians in the group

There are some WONDERFUL videos on YouTube. And remember, you can get them to show in your classes by using either zamzar.com or media-convert.com - and maybe others.This is one that you will want to share with your musician friends. Bobby McFerrin is shown in this one performing a Bach prelude. But what's so VERY cool about this is that he invites the audience to sing the beautiful Ave Maria that Charles Gounod wrote to work as a descant to the prelude. The result just may send chills up your arms. What a beautiful moment this audience shared with this fabulous musician.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgvJg7D6QckWhile you're there check out some of the other videos of his that you'll see list...

Read more »

IT Consulting: How to Earn Income During Start-Up

During the start-up phase of your IT consulting business, you should be getting leads and prospects through demand generation, qualifying these prospects and leads and going out and following up on sales meetings. You can’t afford to get strong-armed into joining a channel program or by the latest gadgets that do not serve an immediate purpose with clients.Stay Away from Channel ProgramsDuring the start-up phase of an IT consulting business, don’t get suckered into joining channel programs that won’t help your business. Focus on finding paying clients above all else.How Will You Get Paid?You need to figure out a structured way of ensuring payment with new IT consulting clients. Get payment as you do the work or get credit card authorization, particularly when products are a part of the...

Read more »

[TIPS] More from Ted

I suddenly thought, "Why haven't I heard of new videos from Ted? I subscribe to it, after all." So, I went there to see if anything new had been added. I'm glad I did. LOTS of new videos have been added, so if you've not been there recently you should go back. May I recommend a couple? This one is beautiful (even if his vocal inflections DO drive me up a wall): http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/40 - Life through photography. Here, James Watson talks about how he and his partner discovered DNA: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/35 This one will fascinate you, too: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/76. The Bonobos - apes that write (and play Pacman). And, Pilobolus performs a dance that merges dancing with biology here: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/24...

Read more »

[TIPS] What a great bunch of students I met today

Today I had the pleasure of attending a student showcase held in the East wing of the PA Capitol building. Students from around the state attended to show off some of the great things they've been doing in their classrooms. I didn't get to talk to all of them, but those I did talk to were amazing.   Take Kristen, Hanan, and Nicole, for instance. Kristen, I believe, is in 5th grade. The other two are in 6th. I was actually on my way past their table when the line I was in stalled, putting me right in front of Kristen. I looked at her display (which I had seen earlier but I didn't have a chance to hear them talk) and she seized the moment, offering her hand to greet me. I'm SO glad she did. She proceeded to tell me about the projects that she and a team of six others have been working on...

Read more »

[TIPS] A letter to Secretary Spellings

http://www.pbs.org/teachers/learning.now/2007/05/open_letters_on_the_role_of_ed_1.html   Two good things about that article. I like what it says about the use of technology in education and the "movement" it's trying to get started that will bring our opinions to the attention of the Secretary. But, I also know the guy who is quoted in the article. He's relatively new to blogging and already he's found his voice and has had some very good inputs. He's also a new daddy. :-)   Check out his blog here: http://kpruitt.edublogs.org/   &nb...

Read more »

[TIPS] Walk a straight line

Do you recall the mashup I talked about some time ago called,"If I dig a very deep hole, where will I end up?" It's a mashup found here: http://map.talleye.com/bighole.php. Let your students try it. They'll be amazed where they end up - and it's likely NOT to be in China.Anyway, this one is from the same site: http://map.talleye.com/ But here you choose a location and a direction and it wll plot out your path as if you walked a straight line in that direction. It's not going to be at all what they think for THIS one, either.Dble click PA on the map, or zoom in and let them start on their house, if you wish. When you dble click that spot a green(ish) flag appears at that spot. Click it and it will let you choose the direction. When you do it will plot it. You can even see it the readl Google...

Read more »

[TIPS] loss of privacy on Facebook

This blog post from the CoolCatTeacher points to a video that you MUST show to your students - and especially your college aged kids. http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2007/05/are-kids-too-much-of-open-book-on.htmlBefore they create a Facebook account they should see this video. Does this scare you? If not, watch it aga...

Read more »

IT Sales: Stress What Makes You Unique to Prospects and Clients

If you want to increase your IT sales successes, you have to show your clients and prospects that your benefits are different from everyone else’s.IT Sales and Benefits: An ExampleLet’s say you move to a new location in a 27-story building that houses a lot of high-end firms. There are other similar buildings in the neighborhood, and you may wonder if you should capitalize on the closeness.The truth is, the presence of other firms can help you own the whole area. Your unique benefit is that you are right there, and you can get things done more quickly and better and cheaper than another person that is not there.IT Sales: Sell Your Own UniquenessWhen you are selling your service agreements, you can lead into it by giving a guaranteed response time. Because you are right in the neighborhood,...

Read more »

[TIPS] Another virtual reality world

This article from TechCrunch - http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/05/17/entropia-universe-a-better-second-life/ - tells us about The Entropia Universe. http://www.entropiauniverse.com/index.var What is it? You should read the TechCrunch article, but here's what the site says about itself."The Entropia Universe is more than a game. The Entropia Universe is for real. Real people, real activities and a Real Cash Economy in a massive online universe.Join people from around the globe who use the Entropia Universe currency, the PED, to develop their characters everyday on the untamed planet of Calypso. The unique and secure Real Cash Economy allows you to transfer your accumulated PED back into real world funds."The NY Times calls it, "The buying game." I KNOW I'll pass on this one, thank you very much....

Read more »

How to find the IP address of the sender in Gmail

How to find the IP address of the sender in GmailWhen you receive an email, you receive more than just the message. The email comes with headers that carry important information that can tell where the email was sent from and possibly who sent it. For that, you would need to find the IP address of the sender. The tutorial below can help you find the IP address of the sender. Note that this will not work if the sender uses anonymous proxy servers.Finding IP address in Gmail:1.Log into your Gmail account with your username and password.2. Open the mail.3. To display the headers,* Click on More options corresponding to that thread. You should get a bunch of links.* Click on Show original.4. You should get headers like this:Gmail headers : nameLook for Received: from followed by a few hostnames...

Read more »

Create A Hidden User Account

Create A Hidden User AccountThis tweak allows an account that is normally displayed on the Welcome screen to be hidden from view. To log on using the account it's necessary to use the Log On To Windows dialog box similar to the one in Windows 2000. #[Start] [Run] [Regedit]#Registry Key:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList#Modify/Create the Value Data Type(s) and Value Name(s) as detailed below.#Data Type: REG_DWORD [Dword Value] // Value Name: Type Name of Account to be Hidden#Setting for Value Data: [0 = Account is Hidden / 1 = Enabled]#Exit Registry and Reboot...While the account is hidden on the Welcome screen, note that the account profile will be visible in C:\Documents and Settings or wherever user profiles are stored as well...

Read more »

[TIPS] SEOmoz's Web 2.0 Awards - Just the Winners

http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0/short Thanks again to Sue S for sharing this one. This is the 2007 list of winners in the Web 2.0 Awards contest. I've sent out last year's versions of this site but I didn't know that the 2007 version was available. Here 'tis. The page you'll see is the short list - just the winners in the various categories. To see the complete list which includes the runners up, go here: http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0/   This is a good way to see what the readers think are the best in each of the categories....

Read more »

New Mindmapping Application

I guess folks can't get enough of mindmapping software. I just found out that Comapping released their mindmapping application that also runs within the browser. Comapping is a full featured mindmapping program with the ability for others to collaborate and edit shared mindmaps. Comapping is available via a subscription and is accessible from any computer connected to the web. Take a look at it and let me know what you thi...

Read more »

Outsourced Journalism

Add writing and reporting to the list of jobs that are now being outsourced. Although native foreign correspondents have been around for decades, news sources such as one in Pasadena, California, have begun outsourcing its local news coverage to reporters in India:James Macpherson, editor and publisher of the Pasadena Now website, hired two reporters last weekend to cover the Pasadena City Council. One lives in Mumbai and will be paid $12,000 a year. The other will work in Bangalore for $7,200. The council broadcasts its meetings on the Web. From nearly 9,000 miles away, the outsourced journalists plan to watch, then write their stories while their boss sleeps — India is 12.5 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time.“A lot of the routine stuff we do can be done by really talented people in another...

Read more »

[TIPS] A happy ending to a familiar story

In February I made this post about a "must-see video" that dealt with using Skype in the classroom to include a little girl who was at home fighting leukemia. Remember? Well, here is the happy update.   http://learningismessy.com/blog/?p=272   &nb...

Read more »

[TIPS] Third grade tech problem solvers - I FOUND IT!!!

http://www.halcyon.com/arborhts/mahlness/2006/02/third-grade-tech-problem-solvers.html - or http://pages.citebite.com/t1d6c9s8g5xrx Those of you who know me will know that I've often told this story that I had read somewhere online but I couldn't remember where I had read it. Finally, thanks to this post from Miguel I was able to track it down again.   This is the story of the a girl in his THIRD GRADE class... "She was typing in Word - wanted to print, but could not - and could not save to her network folder. But she had Internet access. There was only one computer in the room that had access to our printer at that time."   Do you remember me telling that story? Anyway. If you've NOT heard me tell the story, read it for yourself at either of those top links. This made my day!!...

Read more »

[TIPS] 'To Catch a Predator' - MSNBC.com

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10912603/ This is VERY difficult to watch. Maybe you saw it on TV already. "To Catch A Predator" will shock you. Hopefully it will also scare you into talking with your kids about online safety. Maybe you should watch this WITH your kids.   The page is full of stories and videos of the confrontations they had with the ... "suspects." Start on the right side in the "As Seen on the Broadcast." Then check out those other links - if you can. Make SURE you watch The Legal Fallout section.       &nb...

Read more »

IT Consulting and Trends of the Seasons

Those in IT consulting need to know about seasonal selling trends. You cannot expect someone to make a huge decision for an IT project during the following times unless it is an emergency: late summer; during the holidays. IT Consulting: Stay Away from Standard Vacation TimesIf you are running an IT consulting business you need to remember that most people will be vacationing off and on between early July and Labor Day, so you should not expect major IT purchases or decisions during this time. Therefore, if you have a lot of IT consulting leads in the winter and early spring, follow up in April, May and June.IT Consulting: With Promotion of your Business, Timing is EverythingYou should concentrate marketing and sales efforts in the fall, from Labor Day in early September until around...

Read more »

[TIPS] background view of blogging using blogmeister

Are you interested in getting your students blogging but are unsure of how it works? http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=feae8ff06d57432016ce   This video is from Mark Ahlness, a third grade teacher who put a powerpoint together for his parent night some time ago. He's now replaying the powerpoint and talking over it to tell us what he told the parents that night. In part of it he shows the backstage operations of a blogmeister blog - what he sees and what the student sees.   If your school won't allow students to blog without teacher moderation then you should watch this. It's a great insight into the workings of that blog service. It's also a great insight into the workings of a great teach...

Read more »

A wonderful moment, if I may share

was working in my office yesterday when someone knocked on the door. It was a woman who works at the IU, although not in our location so I rarely see her. The last time I saw her was at the employee recognition dinner when she commented that she had my tips in a notebook, all printed out, etc. I joked something like, "OH! So YOU'RE the one who's reading my tips!"Anyway, yesterday she happened to be in the building so she stopped by to show me those notebooks. Yes, plural. Two thick binders FULL of the printed tips dating back to 2002, shortly after I started at the IU and began again to send daily tips. Back then they were Office tips, mostly. But, her notebooks had tabs to identify the categories of the tips, from Word and Excel to Protecting yourself online, to websites, etc. She had a third...

Read more »

Dear Bloglines, Tear down the wall!

I've been taking some wonderful Apple workshops in a district down the road a bit, and have been frustrated time after time when I try to check my bloglines account there. It's blocked. One reason for it to be blocked is that the url contains the word 'blog' and that organization (an IU) that provides the filter blocks everything with the word blog in it. Outrageous, I know. But, in the case of bloglines, the person in charge of the filtering decisions always points to the image wall in bloglines as the reason to have it blocked. Today I went back in there to see for myself, and the very first screen contained three images of topless women among the images. *FLAG!* *Sirens!* *Danger, Will Robinson!*I've written to them before, but I wrote again to the bloglines folks to ask them to PLEASE...

Read more »

IT Specialist: The Real Way to Narrow Your Focus

You may wonder why you should be an IT specialist, which may imply to you turning away prospective clients. However, a true IT specialist focuses marketing efforts on finding enough prospects to which to market. An IT specialist chooses an area of focus that gives him/her ample prospects that will turn into clients that can grow and shape a consulting business. To find a niche, think about your best clients. If they are small accounting offices, for example, you can do a search online to see how many small accounting offices are within a hour of where you are located. You can contact the industry trade groups or talk to a mailing list broker if this information is not readily available to you. IT Specialist: Niche-Focused MarketingMarketing to a niche is easier than general marketing...

Read more »

[TIPS] PoducateMe Guide | PoducateMe

http://poducateme.com/guide/ Since some of you receive these tips via email as opposed to RSS and so are not likely to be blog readers, you're not, then, likely to have seen today's post from Will Richardson. He points to that list as an, "incredibly extensive resource on podcasting..." And boy is it ever!   If you've been thinking about trying your hand at it, or even if you're a podcaster already, do check out that list. Wheeeeeooooo!   (Poducate?? I hope that term doesn't catch on, thoug...

Read more »

[TIPS] scrapblog

Thanks to Kurt who heard it from Miguel who read it on TechCrunch... (Isn't this fun? :-)  )   Scrapblog is a newcomer to the web 2.0 tools arena and it's a VERY cool tool. It lets you build scrapbook-like pages with photos, movies,  text, links, and more on some excellent templates or on blank pages that you can customize. Then you can make it public, private or even embed it on your own web page. There's more to it, as well. If you're into these kinds of tools, you should check it out. There's even a sample on the TechCrunch page above.   http://scrapblog.com/   Sure looks like another fun way to share pictures of your classes that you've been taking all year. &nb...

Read more »

[TIPS] StudentCam Winners

http://www.studentcam.org/winners_2007.asp Thanks to Sue S for sharing this one. C-SPAN held a contest for students across the country to have students produce video documentaries. There is a Grand Prize winner, then First, Second, and Third Place winners. Do check them out. There is one winner, at least, that I'm wondering if some music copyright wasn't violated. See if you can find it.   Imagine a world whereby kids could have access to that kind of material (creative commons licensed, maybe?) for their school projects. Or, maybe it's best that they don't get used to thinking that everything on the Internet is fair game. What do you thi...

Read more »

[TIPS] Bits & Bytes newsletter online

Hello Everyone,   This is of interest to the local folks.   The May 2007 Edition of Bits & Bytes is now online, featuring: Schools Adopt 21st Century Methods Innovative Student Podcasting Also, we would like to hear from you on your opinion on Bits & Bytes. Please fill out our online survey to help us take Bits & Bytes to the next level.     Bits & Bytes May 2007 Editionhttp://www.caiu.org/43833812384423/lib/43833812384423/_files/May07-issue.pdf     Bits & Bytes User Opinion Survey http://www.caiu.org/caiu/Forms/TakeSurvey.asp?PageNumber=1&SurveyID=34J4m4K23m...

Read more »

[TIPS] Celebration of Collab oration

http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2007/05/04/celebration-of-collaboration/ This is another post by Jennifer Wagner in Wes Fryer's blog. In this one she points to a number of different online collaboration projects that just may fit into what you're doing with your classes. She says: "The availability of collaboration tools (blogs, wikis, skype, podcasts, email, Google apps, web pages, photoshares, and more) has grown immensely in the last 12 months and if you haven't embraced the chance of collaborating with another classroom(s) you are missing many MANY opportunities of bringing some fantastic and valuable teaching moments into your classroom." Then she lists several examples. Check them out. Wouldn't be exciting to expand your horizons as well as your classroom wal...

Read more »

[TIPS] Latin America wiki project

Kristin H points to a cool wiki project being run by two classes in her school. http://learninglatinamerica.wikispaces.com/ The students are studying Latin America. The two classes are working together to build this space. There is a nice personal and group rubric so they know how it will be graded, and they seem to have taken to it nicely.What I like are the discussion pages. Take a moment to read down through those pages from time to time. It's fun to see the thought processes going on with it. The kids just don't quite know what to do. But, they gradually warm to it and now I think they are ready to go with it. Kristin said that one student commented that since people IN those countries can read what they write she feels she has to be REALLY accurate and she has to correct her grammar,...

Read more »

[TIPS] It is NOT the iPod's fault

http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2007/05/06/it-is-not-the-ipods-fault/ While Wes Fryer is away from his blog, Jennifer Wagner is keeping it alive and well. Today she posted an article entitled "It is NOT the iPod's fault." Her district has just implemented a policy saying that ipods are NOT to be brought to school, basically. She has written a letter that she's going to send to her school board in which she lists all the things that can no longer happen if this policy is put into place. The letter is very well done and it does a good job, I think, of arguing against such a rigid policy.   See what you thi...

Read more »

[TIPS] Digital Billboards That Turn Your Head

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202397.html There are a couple of things that I want you to note about this page. First, the article itself. Digital billboards. If you were driving down the highway and there was a billboard that was more like a mini commercial, would you be distracted by it? In my opinion, OF COURSE you would. And you would probably watch it more than once. How it's not considered a dangerous distraction is beyond me, except that money is involved and money can sway lots of important opinions. It reminds me of a prototype of a device that I saw on a website years ago that projected larger than life 3D images into the air. Immediately I thought, "I can imagine a world where giant, scantily clad women are being projected into the night...

Read more »

[TIPS] Top 25 Web 2.0 Apps to Improve a Student's or Professor's Productivity | OEDb

http://oedb.org/library/beginning-online-learning/top-25-web20-productivity-apps Thanks to Ken P (proud new pappa) for sharing this with me via the for:jgates513 tag on del.icio.us.   This page lists 25 cool tools for school. Among those that I hadn't known before are Empressr , a slideshow and multimedia tool that looks very interesting (Y' see, web 2.0 sites just abhor putting the e before the r at the end of their site names. Witness Flickr, Dumpr, Mappr, splashr, and others), and Mindomo, a mindmapping tool.   Check out that entire list, if you don't know the sites alrea...

Read more »

IT Consulting: Become a Full-Time Professional

Determining the best time to leave a full-time job and become a full-time computer consultant can be challenging. The following tips can help you learn more about what schedule for launch will work best for you. IT Consulting: You Need to Know Your ExpensesYou have to know what your living expenses are before leaving your day job and embarking on a career as a full-time IT consulting professional. You also have to know what is in your IT consulting sales funnel to make the best decision.IT Consulting: Be Ready for SurprisesYou should have a plan already in place to handle bumps during the process of planning your IT consulting business. What happens if your launch date has to be sooner or later than expected? You might lose your day job suddenly and find yourself needing to start your...

Read more »

[TIPS] recalling the youtubex site

I would have thought that a site that is recommended by Kim Komando would be a bit more... family friendly.. thank this one turns out to be. Such is not the case, in this particular case, however. Therefore, I'm RETRACTING my suggestion about that site. One of the others should do you just fine, howev...

Read more »

[TIPS] download videos

Here's another one that comes from Kim Komando. This site will let you download videos from YouTube, Google Videos, MetaCafe, iFilm and more. Just be careful of copyright issues. You can't republish them, for example.http://www.youtubex.comSo, that's, what.. three different sites that help you download those videos? Surely ONE of them will be to your liking. ...

Read more »

[TIPS] some good fonts

This one was featured in Kim Komando's Cool Sites email late last week. I love fonts. The problem is that there is no easy way to include fonts in a document so that others can see that font. At least, not on the Macs, there isn't. Still, making pdf's or printing the page are options.In any case, if you're looking from some good fonts, especially those that are movie fonts, check this site first.http://www.typenow.net/themed.htmAnd, if you're a windows user you can embed the fonts you're using right into your Word or Powerpoint document. Simply choose the Tools menu from your Save or Save as dialog box. It's up along the top near the right side. There you'll find the option to embed the font. Save the entire character set, and not just the characters in use. Look around. You'll see what I...

Read more »

[TIPS] an incredible Rube Goldberg machine

OK... I KNOW this won't increase a test score, but this is a video of one of the most incredible homemade contraptions you'll ever see. The video itself is often a bit too dark to get a real good look at what's going on, but by the time it's over you, too, will be amazed at the ingenuity behind it.http://snipurl.com/1gtqj (The url is WAYYY too long to post. If your school blocks these, that's OK. Send it home and watch it at home.)Here's an idea... First, show this to your students. They'll get a kick out of it, I'm sure. Then, go back through and check off (from your handout) the different kinds of simple machines that these folks used in this contraption. OK... it was a reach... but really, you should see this video. It reminds me of this one from a while back: http://autorepair.about.com/cs/funstuff/l/bl_honda.htm...

Read more »

[TIPS] Creative Commons info

Thanks to Wes Fryer, http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2007/05/03/creative-commons-quickstart/, for pointing to this one.http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7023.pdf *The Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org) is.. well... here's what it says about itself:"Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. You can use CC to change your copyright terms from "All Rights Reserved" to "Some Rights Reserved." "It might be described as a 'movement' that is encouraging folks to lighten up a bit on the copyright rules that they apply to their work. Of course, in some cases you just wouldn't want to do that. But, there are many, many cases where you just might. I've released several...

Read more »

A Computer Consulting Business Takes Time and Hands-On Work to Build

Starting up a computer consulting company is a time-intensive process that involves meting a lot of people and getting to know them. As a computer consulting professional, you will have to make a lot of follow-up calls, take out display ads and do direct mail campaigns and other marketing activities in order to establish real connections with people. Be realistic when planning out your computer consulting business and know it will be a very labor-intensive endeavor. Computer Consulting: Franchises are Not EasyA franchiser will not be handing you a client so don’t buy one if this is your expectation. Instead buy a current business if this is really your need, and then expect you will need a lot of capital to keep it going. Buying a small computer consulting firm can cost somewhere between...

Read more »

IBM's "Five in Five"

IBM has released a report outlining "five innovations that will change our lives over the next five years." The "big five" concepts -- though not completely new -- are:We will be able to access healthcare remotely, from just about anywhere in the world Real-time speech translation-once a vision only in science fiction-will become the norm There will be a 3-D Internet Technologies the size of a few atoms will address areas of environmental importance Our mobile phones will come close to reading our minds...

Read more »

First Step Toward Organ Regeneration in Humans

Research conducted at Stanford University suggests that humans may one day be able to regenerate damaged organs and nerves, and possibly even regrow limbs. This research has focused on primitive animals such as the sea squirt, which can heal itself in ways that higher-order animals cannot. By understanding the way in which animals repair damaged body parts, scientists hope to be able to replicate such processes in humans.Source: Biology News ...

Read more »

To Create Folder " CON "

Without using Command Prompt.Here is a simple method..........Rename folder from the right click option........Now press alt and press 255...press 255 frm the right sideof the key bords i.e., num pad....where only numbers r given.....now write con and then press enter.....huh!! you ll see a con folder in ur pcand also you can delete it easi...

Read more »

Yahoo buys RightMedia

As answer to Googles assumption of Doubleclick strengthens now also on-line portal Yahoo in things marketing technology.On-line portal Yahoo took over the indicator market place RightMedia. So far the enterprise held already 20 per cent of the portions. The “New York Time” numbers the purchase sum on 680 million dollar. With the Deal Yahoo wants to offer competitor Google slogan, to which recently Doubleclick for 3.1 billion dollar in cash bought.RightMedia operates the indicator market place RMX Direct. Publisher and indicator customers know there indicator places according to an auction principle en and ersteigern. Doubleclick had recently...

Read more »

MySpace increases internationality

On-line contact stock exchange aims with a new Spanish test version at potenzielle new user in Latin America off.On-line contact stock exchange MySpace expands its offer internationally. The “Financial Time Germany” reports. A recently started test version in Spanish language is to address those approximately 150 million Internet user in Latin America. In Brazil MySpace wants besides a local version of the Website to start, said Peter Levinsohn, Chef of the digital business with the MySpace nut/mother news corporation, the FTD. Also in China MySpace started recently a test version, which is operated under license by a Chinese enterpri...

Read more »

Universal goods baskets for Shopping market places are considered as future of the E-Commerce

Shop.com had itself patented its solution now.The E-Commerce-market place Shop.com had itself patented its goods basket solution OneCart. The technology makes it for the customers possible to buy with different dealers with a only one virtual Warenkorb. In this way consumers must complete only once the order process, all the same like many dealers them products orders.Universal goods baskets for on-line market places apply with many Branchenenxperten as future of the E-Commerce. Also large portals already recognized that: Yahoo and Amazon have themselves already portions of the so far still privately led enterprise secur...

Read more »

eBay customer connection wants to strengthen

On-line auction house wants to worry about its best customers strengthened and to double the expenditures for customer connection in the next years.Small gifts receive the friendship: In the future eBay Top customers can count and - Powerseller on still more gratitude on the part of on-line auction house. “eBay in the next years more than” eBay Marketingchef Harald Eisenächer opposite the technical periodical OnetoOne and quit special effort around Top customers by particularly aufwändige Mailings or Vorabinfos over new features will double, said its expenditures for the customer connection. A service Hotline particularly for the best customers was already furnished. Also the salesmen are to profit to Eisenächer according to of the action: Power Seller are recompenced in the future with smaller...

Read more »

A half million mobi Domains counted

Years after their introduction the Internet address for mobile telephones its 500.000ste Domain books one and a half.On-line contents for user of mobile terminals grow: In October 2006 the Domain Provider introduced dotMobi an Internet address, which was particularly for the announcement by contents aligned on mobile telephones - now the consortium announces the registration of the 500.000sten.mobi Domain. Travel offerers took up the Domain for mobile telephones as first, meanwhile also many enterprises from the ranges messages and maintenance mobile content provided and with the special address provided. To date the.mobi Domains is common in 104 countri...

Read more »

[TIPS] mashup explores trends in your area

This one was posted on the Programmableweb site. This cool mashup lets you click on your hometown to find out the average cost of housing, the average rent, and the cost of living rate. Very interesting. Looking for a real life math example. There's got to be one in there, eh? And your economics class. Check it out.http://www.neighboroo.c...

Read more »

[TIPS] VERY cool browser trick

Now, when I say browser I mean Firefox. I don't know if this works in IE or not, but you can try it. This was posted here on the Make site:http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/05/open_2_start_page_tabs_in.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890 or http://snipurl.com/1j505Want to have TWO sites open when you open firefox? As the article says, simple go into the Options and in the field where you have your start page listed, add the pipe symbol - | - the shifted BACKspace key (the REAL backspace, not the one in URL's that some folks mistakenly call the backslash*) and then your second URL.Mine looks like this:http://www.caiu.org|http://www.bloglines.com/myblogsThey each open in their own tab. I think I'll see if I can add a third.. and a fourth... and... OK, I'm calm now. Check it out!* Sometimes I'll...

Read more »

[TIPS] Google's latest improvement that you wont see

http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2007/05/see_the_googleplex_s.htmlYou can image the power demands that the google servers require. What do you DO when you consume SO MUCH electricity? You install solar panels. They amount to 1.6 MEGAWATTS of solar power and they not only cover some rooftops, but they also cover some parking spaces. Well, they're raised so that cars can park under them for some shade. Clever? I suppose they didn't get where they are by being stupid, eh?That article points to some Google Earth files that will show you a 3D drawing of that facility. Check it o...

Read more »

Cheetah spot by spot: Better update statistics

I think I will get many of you to agree with me if I say that the only thing we really know about statistics is that they're really important.Everything else seems a bit unclear and remains more or less a mystery. This article won't clear your doubts about update statistics, since I'll focus only on Cheetah's new features.If you want to learn more I advise you to check these resources:John Miller's article on DeveloperWorks The Performance GuideThe Cheetah BETA Infocenter page for update statisticsThe Cheetah BETA Infocenter page for the release notes I have to agree that something should be done about the documentation of the UPDATE STATISTICS command given its complexity and its importance for achieving maximum performance from the RDBMS.The information gathered by the UPDATE STATISTICS...

Read more »