Mobile Learning Devices in the Classroom « Verizon Business Tools

via vzwbusinesstools.com

This came from a tweet from @alvintrusty: Excellent video of a local school using cell phones in the classroom - vzwbusinesstools.... - fav line "using pencil and paper took so long"

March 9th.

Very interesting!

Posted via web from sefcug's posterous

The Story of a Sign

via youtube.com

Was referred to this video via a comment on Creative Copy Challenge #18:
http://www.creativecopychallenge.com/creative-copy-challenge-18/comment-page-1/#comment-1773

This is a very moving video, that shows how words really do matter.

Enjoy, and thank you Shane Arthur.

Posted via web from sefcug's posterous

Four Technology Tips Feeds to Check Out

The list that follows contains some of my favorite Google Reader geeky tips feeds (not necessarily MS Windows only).

Check them out and let me know what you think.

TinyHacker

Site: http://tinyhacker.com/
Feed: http://feeds.howtogeek.com/tinyhacker

This is part of the How-To Geek network http://www.howtogeek.com/, which has been mentioned here numerous times before. The difference is that TinyHacker shows only a very short tip summary, with a link to a more in depth posting.

Usually has several posts each day.

I usually check this feed every other day or so, to see if there is anything interesting.

Online Tech Tips

Site: http://www.online-tech-tips.com
Feed: http://www.online-tech-tips.com/feed/

"Welcome to Online Tech Tips – a blog that provides useful computer tips in an easy to understand format."

In my experience the above tag line contains the essence of why it should be added to everyone's favorite tips feed list.

Usually one or two posts each day.

FriedBeef’s Tech

Site: http://www.friedbeef.com
Feed: http://www.friedbeef.com/category/useful-tips/feed

The feed shown above is for the useful-tips category only. The main feed (which includes all categories such as: Firefox, Freeware, Productivity, and others) is: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Friedbeef/ .

Usually a couple of posts a week.

ghacks.net

Site: http://www.ghacks.net
Feed: http://www.ghacks.net/ghacksnet-feed-list/

Once again a variety of categories, so something should be of interest.

Several posts each day.

What are some other popular tech newsletters?

Here are the top five vote getters:

1. Windows Secrets is a very popular newsletter in its own right, and it's grown in recent years by acquiring or merging with Fred Langa's "LangaList", and Ian "Gizmo" Richards' "Support Alert" newsletter. Windows Secrets tends to be just a tad more techie in general, though Fred Langa's and Gizmo's sections are often better targeted at the average computer user. Windows Secrets has both a paid and free version, and online archives.

2. The Internet Tourbus, by my friend Bob Rankin, is a twice-weekly newsletter that's been publishing since ... well, since a long, long time ago in internet terms: 1995. Bob also runs Ask Bob Rankin (gee, that sounds like a familiar concept! ), and the articles he writes there also appear in the Tourbus.

3. Kim Komando has a popular national radio show (not surprisingly, "The Kim Komando Show") where she answers technical questions on the air. Naturally, I'd heard of her long ago (and it seems only recently that her show reappeared in my radio market), but I didn't realize that she'd branched out into email newsletters to the degree she has. Hers is a daily newsletter with lots of tips and tricks that I assume both come from, and compliment her radio show. (She actually has several newsletters with a single sign-up.)

4. Tech Bite by former PC World columnist Steve Bass, who, to quote his site: "writes weekly commentary on the technology products he loves, the strategies for getting the most out of them, and the gotchas that can cause computing misery plus a couple of weekly laughs." Steve always has a number of good tips and tricks (though personally I think his "time wasters" section probably gets the most hits, and might even be his true passion - and darn it if I didn't waste some more time myself after just visiting the most recent issue. )

5. Tech Republic is actually a blog/forum/publication site, owned and operated by the tech publishing powerhouse ZDNet. It shows up in this list because they offer a fairly wide variety of different topical email newsletters. While most are targeted at tech professionals ("The Web's largest community of IT leaders"), publications aimed at Windows XP or Windows Vista and 7 can still include a fair amount of interesting information for a lot of people.

via ask-leo.com

Actually, I subscribe to 4 out of the top 5 already.

Definitely will check out the others.

Posted via web from sefcug's posterous

Interesting Finds 05JAN10

*************
http://tinyhacker.com/

TinyHacker is the latest site in the How-To Geek <http://www.howtogeek.com/> network, dedicated to finding links to great, random geek stuff.

*************
http://productivegeek.com/

Productive Geek explains how to use your geek skills to keep yourself organized and productive, and gives you a chance to discuss your geeky productivity techniques with others.

The Productive Geek site is part of the How-To Geek network of sites.

*************

Have added these to my Google Reader. Check them out and I believe you will want to do so also.

Steve Costello
Computer user groups keep users informed, join one and become an active participant.
http://card.ly/sefcug

Posted via email from sefcug's posterous

Computer Free Weekend #2

I started 2010 off with another computer free weekend. (See my previous post: http://bpcablog.blogspot.com/2009/09/computer-free-weekend.html)

New Years Eve morning was the last time I accessed any of my computers, until I reached work this morning. Although I have a lot of emails and RSS feeds to catch up on, I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with my granddaughter, as well as the rest of the family here in Florida, reading, doing a little fishing, and just generally relaxing.

Now I have to get back to the regular routine once again, but I do intend to find another weekend in the next few months to be computer free once more.

How do you recharge?

Do you also set aside a computer free, or  even technology free, weekend every once in a while?

Six Steps To Help You Fix Common DVD Drive Errors

via feedproxy.google.com

Just had the problem last weekend myself. Only had to go through Step one to determine problem, turned out to be a loose cable. But, I would have followed basically the same path to determine the problem if it was otherwise.

Posted via web from sefcug's posterous

Why and How to Preview Shortened Links

via wildapricot.com

This is great advice, especially if you Twitter a lot!

Posted via web from sefcug's posterous

Video Interview with Laurie Orlov | Gilbert Guide

Excellent treatment of technology and aging in place.

http://dailywrinkle.gilbertguide.com/articles/technology-keeping-todays-seniors/#

Posted via email from sefcug's posterous

Good Quote

"Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done." - Andy Rooney

Software Cheatsheets Resource

Just ran across a great posting from makeuseof.com.

The posting is entitled:

14 Great Cheat Sheets & Posters to Make You a Software Wizard.

Computer Free Weekend

I left work on Friday, September 4, 2009 and returned to work this morning September 9, 2009. During the time I was away, I had no computer access, and I found it to be very refreshing.

I had lots of time to spend reading, relaxing, fishing, talking with my wife, as well as just vegetating. I read five books, watched two movies on DVD, and took a nap each afternoon.

FYI, the books read were:

• Undone by Karin Slaughter
• Storm Cycle by Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen
• Killer Summer by Ridley Pearson
• Vanished by Joseph Finder
• Fire and Ice by J. A. Jance
  

Sometimes I just need to get away from it all. Usually, I am on the computer all day at work, working on editing two newsletters for computer user groups, and even sometimes cruising the internet strictly for pleasure.

I liked this so much, that I intend to try to schedule a weekend, or long weekend each quarter, to refresh and recharge.

How about it, is this something you have done? If so, how often do you have to recharge? Leave a comment and let me know.

I Am Back

I am sorry that I have not been posting recently. I have been dealing with a family member with major medical problems.

Things are now back to semi-normal, so there should be more frequent postings.

I have added my Google Reader shared items to this blog. They can be found by scrolling to the bottom of the blog, and are just above the Quotation Of The Day. The last five items shared will be shown, with the option to View All.

DSL Problems

I have not been able to access the internet since July 1st, until late this afternoon.

I tried rebooting the DSL modem, router, and computer, numerous times. I tried connecting directly to the DSL modem from the computer itself. I contacted Earthlink numerous times. Nothing solved the problem. Finally, I decided to try replacing cables, starting with the phone connection. Lo and behold, that was the problem, once I connected a new phone connection, everything worked fine.

This has been a good lesson for me, to practice what I preach. I have always told others check all the simple things first, such as making sure everything is plugged in correctly, and swap out cables first. If I had followed my own advice, I would have saved days of aggravation.

If something like this happens to you, remember check the simple things first.

Laptop Touchpad Tip

We had a training class Tuesday at work; the class was hands on using some Dell laptops. A few of us were constantly putting information in the wrong places, because we did not realize the touchpad was active, even though a mouse was attached.

This situation is very aggravating, so we asked the instructor how to disable the touchpad, but he did not know. One of the others said she was having the same problem with her personal laptop, and did not know how to disable it.

Today I saw an article in my RSS feed from PCMech, which is one of the feeds that is a high priority read for me, as I find information that is relevant to my PC useage there all the time.

The following is a quote from PCMech's About page:

PCMech (formerly called PC Mechanic) is about computers and technology. We define "PC" a little more broadly. Yes, PC stands for personal computer. Much of our content is about personal computers. But, since we first launched, technology has evolved and now there is so much more to talk about than just computers. So, we cover technology. We cover the internet. We cover - yes - computers, hardware, software, etc.

Our job is to cover the fast-changing world of tech and help you apply it to improving your life. Technology shouldn't be limited to the uber-geeks who follow this stuff 24/7. At PCMech, we'll do that so you don't have to.

The article is entitled Disable The Touchpad When A Mouse Is Plugged In.

My comment regarding the touchpad and mouse on my notebook is as follows:

My HP Pavilion TX1410us Entertainment Notebook PC also has a button right at the top of the touchpad, to disable/enable.

There is a Synaptics driver that controls both the touchpad and the mouse, but no way to configure to disable the pad when the mouse is plugged in, at least that I can see.

Microsoft Guide for Aging Computer Users

I was browsing through older posts at Aging In Place Technology Watch, shown under my links listing, and found Laurie's October 6, 2008 post: http://www.ageinplacetech.com/content/microsoft-guide-aging-computer-users.

As I am aging, and finding myself looking for more accessibility options, I decided to follow the link in her post to the Microsoft page. Once there, the following statement, at the top of the page, intrigued me enough that I had to read they whole thing:

Baby boomers can use Microsoft Windows XP to customize their computers and counter the effects of age-related difficulties with vision, hearing, and dexterity.

I enjoyed the illustrations, by Brian Basset, that were next to each section also.

All seniors/boomers, using Microsoft XP or Vista, should check this out, as the more we age the more likely these tips can help us. I also recommend subscribing to the Aging in Place Technology Watch RSS feed, for more information on aging and technology, not only for yourself, but for others in your life.

Crazy Doodle

I was playing around at a creative writing site, <http://writingfix.com/right_brain/Serendipitous_Crazy_Illustration1.htm>, and created the this doodle from the prompt that was generated.

Recording Internet Radio - Podcasts - Media Players

Just some quick information:

Last night I was at a dinner for Boca Raton Computer Society, Inc. (BRCS) and a couple of us started talking about recording internet radio broadcasts from Argentina, also during the discussion the idea of podcasts of the same shows, as well as media players, came up. Below is what I could find with some real quick searches on Google and Ask.com, for some free and or inexpensive solutions:

Recording internet radio links: (found at ask.com by searching for "how do i record internet radio broadcasts?"

http://radio.about.com/od/recordstreamingaudio/a/blrecordinghub.htm

http://www.cnet.com/1990-7899_1-6306524-1.html

Podcasts from Argentina:

I do not speak the language so I do not know how much this link to a search on ask.com will do, but give it a try:

http://www.ask.com/web?qsrc=2106&o=ffx&l=dir&q=how+do+i+find+podcasts+from+Argentina+radio+stations%3F&adt=0

Free Media Players:

VLC Media Player

Link to it's site: http://www.videolan.org/

Gizmo's Freeware Review (Media Players):

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-windows-media-player-replacement.htm

These should get you started, if you are interested. Check them out and enjoy yourself.

Social Media 101 via Punctuality Rules

Punctuality Rules is one of the RSS feeds I check on a regular basis.

The main focus is grammar, but today's post is about a guest post at Soc Media 101 about Live vs. Lay, and a link to their free ebook Finding Your Voice in a Crowded World, which I found to be very informative.

I have added Soc Media 101, to my Google Reader feeds so I can keep up with the social media tips and how-to posts.

Email Rules and Cartoon

I follow PC Magazine on Twitter, which is where I found a link to the 09Apr09 Article "The 25 Golden Rules of E-Mail".

I tweeted back that this should be required reading. Numbers 6, 7, 8, 9 and 15, address some of my pet peeves regarding email.

I thought the cartoon below from xkcd.com fit right in.