Welcome to 2014 - Technology tip #1

I'm back at it again and I hope you are too! Here is the first technology tip for this year.

One of the things that I mentioned last year was that the ESU's across the state are working to implement a content management system called Safari Montage.

ESU 4 does have it's server ready and I've been training other districts on how to use it. I am slowly getting more comfortable with this system and will gladly show you how to get started with Safari Montage.

So, what exactly is Safari Montage? It is several things, but what I like most about it is that you can manage all your content in one place. For example, it has all the Learn360 videos tied to it, it has other video series tied to it, and you can add your own content such as youtube video links, pdf's, word and/or powerpoint files.

Here is a short introduction to Safari Montage. If you are ready to try it, please let me know and I will get you set up with an account. I will also take some time to walk you through some of the screens that you may see while inside Safari Montage.

 Enjoy, Gregg

Technology Tip - May 1, 2014

Happy May Day to all of you!

This week's tech tip comes from the google enterprise blog. Just this week, Google announced native versions of Docs and Sheets that will run on any device - iOS and Android.



So, what this means is that you can now download the Google Docs App and Google Sheets app right to your iPad, iPhone, or Android device. Since most of the folks inside the ESU use iOS, I have linked the Apps to the iTunes store.

So, get your copy of Docs and Sheets today. If you are a Google Presentation user, Slides will be announced soon.

Google Docs via itunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-docs/id842842640?mt=8

Google Sheets via itunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-sheets/id842849113?mt=8

Enjoy,
Gregg

Technology Tip - April 16, 2014

This week tip comes from two resources that I subscribe to and find very useful - Free Tech for Teachers and iPad Apps for Schools.

Both are blog pages that I follow, but instead of me going to those sites each day to read what has been posted, I get a daily email from the site and the post is feed and read directly in my email client.

If you go to each of those websites, you can find the subscribe button for email. It will look like the screen shot below. Click on the "mail" button icon and then you can add your email address to the feed. Once your email address is submitted, you will get a daily email from the site.

So, you can learn about new web sites and new technologies every day. For example, for today, the iPad email read "5 free iPad apps to help students learn to spell." So, if spelling is something you work on, then there might be an app that you might like.

Enjoy,
Gregg

Weekly Tech Tip - April 8, 2014

This week's tech tip comes from Learn360 (online video collections) and from Washington, D.C. Learn360 announced some new content as well as links to resources happening in the month of April. I always get excited to read what they are up to. Every teacher within ESU 4 can get a free account to these resources. You can view the online newsletter by clicking the link below.

http://click1.email.infobaselearning.com/ViewMessage.do?m=rnwwvkcl&r=yqklqmqvmc&s=yvcmqywybcrqzlzfczqcmsyftvpmpfgykkz&a=view

Secondly, the museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. has a virtual tour available via a desktop link. Click on the link below to see the museum.

http://www.mnh.si.edu/vtp/1-desktop/

Until next time...enjoy,

Gregg

Weekly Tech Tip - March 24, 2014

A new feature in Google Mail - Tabbed Inbox

There is a new feature in the Google Mail that you may enable. If enabled, Google will now read your emails and classify them into tabs, such as Primary, Social, or Promotions. There are also other tabs that you can enable should you choose to do so. This is refereed to as "tabbed email." Much like browser tabs, you can now have email tabs with each tab classifying and organizing your emails. If you choose to enable this feature, your inbox will look something like the picture below.

You can see that I have a Primary Tab, a Social Tab (for things like Facebook, Twitter, etc), and Promotions tab (these would items coming from my resellers, such as Amazon).  You can also choose to have other tabs show on your inbox.

What if emails land inside the wrong tab? No problem, just drag the email to the tab with which you want it associated.

To enable this feature, simply click the settings button (the wheel or clog) on the right side of your email pane, then drag down to "Configure Inbox".  You then choose the tabs you would like to enable and press "Save." Once complete, your inbox will look similar to the picture above.

For more information about tabbed email, please visit the google help page at https://support.google.com/mail/answer/3055016?hl=en

Enjoy,
Gregg

Weekly Tech Tip - March 18, 2014

What has google been up to? Every year, sometimes twice a year, Google does an update that has some affect on our users. They take services away and integrate them into something else. There are two updates that I would like to tell you about in this weekly tech tip.

1) If you have been using google notifier as a service, you need to know that google no longer has that as a service. If you continue to use google notifier, you may get a message that states the service is no longer running. You will want to delete this service from your computer since it no longer functions. I've captured a screen shot for you to reference.

2) Google maps has had an update to include richer content. Google maps can "take you to landmarks, send you flying above mountains in 3D, and can give you sneak peaks of places you plan to visit." Check out the maps and see what you can find. Below is a short intro video to the new google maps.



Until next week,
Gregg

Weekly Tech Tip - March 5, 2014

One question received this week that is worthy of a tech tip - "How do I download a video from a site like youtube and place it in my powerpoint or keynote? Instead of linking to the youtube video, I want to have it inside of my slide?" So, what this means, is that this particular individual wants to be able to play a youtube video that is not tied to the Internet. The video will be downloaded to his/her machine and then it can be inserted as a movie clip.

 The steps are pretty simple and have even become a little easier since the birth of youtube. You can google that question and you will get many, many answers. There are a lot of sites that will direct you to input the website of the video and then send you an email with a download. I don't particularly like those sites simply because they now have my email address and can start sending me emails I do not wish to receive. Enter the open source community. The open source community is a place where folks develop programs and then they are downloadable for free. For example, the Firefox browser is a program strongly developed by the open source community. There are tons of these programs for people to download and use.

Now, to answer the question. A program that I have found that works well is called ClipGrab. It is a very clean, simple program to use. You simply download ClipGrab, install it, and then copy and paste your youtube video link in the open window. Even on the website, it has these simple steps for you to follow. So, the next time you want to download a youtube video to your desktop, just use this handy little utility.

Enjoy,
Gregg