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Nine Things You Should Do After Installing OS X Lion | TechCrunch
No operating system is perfect, though. At least, not for everyone, and especially not right out of the (non-existent) box. Looking to make your Lion experience that much better, we’ve bundled together a bevy of tips and tricks that you really ought to have ready on your first trip into the new OS.
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Infographic: Nuclear Power vs. Energy Efficient Homes | The Energy Collective
For less than half the cost of replacing just 1 nuclear power plant, we could retrofit 1.6 million homes for energy efficiency and reduce the need for the same amount of energy the plant would produce. Doing so would also create 90 times more jobs than replacing the power plant.
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Are you listening, Steve Jobs? « BirdAbroad
It’s an Apple store!
Or is it?
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Longtime TV host Elwy Yost dies at 86
Very sad news this morning.
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GUEST BLOG POST: Savor a Book: Reading like a Writer « TWO WRITING TEACHERS
So what about you? Have you practiced reading like a writer recently? I would like to challenge you to take thirty minutes and read a book that you like. Have a sticky note nearby. What do your writerly eyes notice?
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Hamad bin Hamdan al Nahyan, a billionaire Sheikh and member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family, has had his name carved into the sandy surface of an island he owns in the Persian Gulf. It is no lackadaisical sand-scrawling, though: At half a mile tall and 2 miles long altogether, the letters HAMAD are visible from space.
Monthly Archives: July 2011
OTF Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century, Day #2
Day 2 of the Ontario Teachers’ Federation Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century really focussed on the use of Web 2.0 tools. The day featured Will Richardson who started out warning the audience that he was going to challenge their thinking and make them feel uncomfortable.
Then, he proceeded to push people into the deep end.
One of the thoughts that he shared early on should have put everything into perspective for anyone who is a traditional educator. It is so true in this day that “Information is not scarce so we have to go beyond “learning stuff”" and really take advantage of the opportunity to be co-learners. The audience was encouraged to forget for the day about being teachers and instead shift their attention to being learners and take advantage of all that is available in that role. It’s a good shift in thought and I think it does make people think about what the students in their class go through ever day.
If the ballroom was today’s classroom, shouldn’t it be “mobile, networked, local, collaborative, self-directed, inquiry based, on demand, transparent, lifelong, personalized, pull, and unpredictable”? Through anecdotes and his wonderful ability to tell stories, Will put all of this learning into context so nicely. Right up front, a very active backchannel was established that gave us all a chance to chat and share our learning throughout the session.
The group was noticeably engaged and excited to learn and take part.
Our group was missing one person for the learning. But @danikabarker and @reed_man were on their way. We were able to follow their progress to Toronto using the social media tool Glympse. The route had an interesting turn.
Maybe they stopped at the Apple Store?
After lunch, I had the opportunity to chair a panel discussion about the use of Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. The goal was to present a balanced, realistic discussion about where and how these technologies could be used effectively. Will Richardson, Johanna Lawler, Danika Barker, Hirad Zafari, Mark Carbone, Joe Pece, Jennifer Mitchell, and Cyndie Jacobs provided their own thoughts about the use of technology from their perspective. I felt that their comments nicely put everything into perspective.
As each panelist was talking, Peter Skillen was managing my computer and we put a related web resource on the big screen as they were talking. The resources are available here.
Then, Will put the group to work. It was hands on time for a quick introduction to some of the popular tools. In the next two hours, he set the stage for today’s Minds on Media event with high level views of Twitter, Delicious, Diigo, and Blogger. This time flew and even though we were in a nicely air conditioned room, he drained the audience. But, it’s a good drain! You have to be all-in if you’re going to use the tools effectively.
His presentation “Learning in a Networked World” was customized for this group with lots of Canadian references that really hit home with those I talked to is available here.
But, kudos to those in attendance. The day was self-documenting with the Today’s Meet channel referenced above and the hashtag #OTF21C. @tk1ng started another shared Google Document for the day and the shared observations here nicely complement the other backchannels.
I can’t help but reflect upon how powerful all of these tools are. I remember going to conferences just hoping that you got a good notebook and pen in your registration bag. Learning was a person thing and you got a glimpse of the conference. Now, going to a conference is a collaborative event with folks that you don’t know put you personalize the takeaways with all of the data that’s generated. It is an intellectual joyride.
Day 3 starts shortly and Minds on Media should serve to consolidate and extend the learning from the past two days.
OTR Links for 07/22/2011
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Watch out for little gotchas in the Lion upgrade | ZDNet
As operating system upgrades go, my move from OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) to 10.7 (Lion) has been remarkably smooth. I was up early enough this morning to sneak in ahead of the crowd, buy the $30 upgrade from the App Store, and have it installed before my second cup of coffee. Good thing, too—if I had waited a while I might have run into stalled downloads and connection errors.
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Learning in a Networked World:
For our students and for ourselves -
Openbook – Connect and share whether you want to or not
Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life. Whether you want to or not.
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Check for compatibility issues with Lion.
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Facebook and Twitter classes could be taught in Australian schools – Telegraph
Classes on the use of Facebook and Twitter could be taught in Australian schools under a proposal to prevent cyberbullying, seating and online abuse.
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App Compatibility Table – RoaringApps
APPLICATION COMPATIBILITY WIKI FOR MAC OS X LION
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A Google+ depository for: browser and standalone applications and extensions, icon packs and other resources
OTF Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century, Day #1
After the introductions and formalities and an opening Pecha Kucha from @peterskillen and @brendasherry, we were off and running with the OTF Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century conference.
Day 1 featured a full day with Garfield Gini-Newman. The one element that stuck with me throughout Garfield’s presentation was the simple question “What should a classroom in the 21st Century look like?” Throughout the day, he touched on technology, the mind and habits of today’s students, collaborative learning, cooperative learning, and everything that it means when you’re working in a wired (wireless) universe.
As I sit to write this post, I’m tossing around the key concepts that I posted to Evernote throughout the day when I wasn’t asked for some technical support but realized instead that there are two sources that address his message better than my interrupted notetaking could.
The first is a page on the OTF website from a previous two day presentation on Critical Thinking and it’s located here. More about his work is available on The Critical Thinking Consortium website.
That’s a first blush.
Those of us who are supporting this event commented on the participant use of computers during the session. This group seems to be ready and able to proceed electronically. As you’ll note in the image above, laptops were open on all of the tables from the start. That indeed was unique when thinking back on past events.
It turned out to be a pretty good way for the group itself to self-document the day. You can check out the Twitter feed by following the hashtag #otf21c.
Even better, @tk1ng started the group on its collaborative way with a Google Document that he opened up to the public. It started as a simple chart to summarize “Opportunities”, “Challenges”, and “Implications”. What happened with the group was pretty amazing — it ended up as a forum for the group to document the day. Many of the links and references from the presentation are embedded in this document. It also opened up our thinking to the rest of the world and some folks off-site did take advantage of it. The document is available here.
I’m looking forward to Day 2 with Will Richardson and a panel discussion from Ontario Educators. Should be great. What better way to beat the heat than to enjoy some quality learning in a nicely air conditioned ballroom with some of Ontario’s finest.
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OTR Links for 07/21/2011
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Official Google Blog: More wood behind fewer arrows
Last week we explained that we’re prioritizing our product efforts. As part of that process, we’ve decided to wind down Google Labs. While we’ve learned a huge amount by launching very early prototypes in Labs, we believe that greater focus is crucial if we’re to make the most of the extraordinary opportunities ahead.
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The History Game Canada is a game based on Canadian history that lets anyone play the past. Based on the award-winning, best-seller Sid Meier’s Civilization III, The History Game Canada is the “What If” game of Canada… and you’re the author. Will you replay our history or rewrite it?
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Mac OS X 10.7 Lion: the Ars Technica review
Mac OS X 10.7 was first shown to the public in October 2010. The presentation was understated, especially compared to the bold rhetoric that accompanied the launches of the iPhone (“Apple reinvents the phone”) and the iPad (“a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price”). Instead, Steve Jobs simply called the new operating system “a sneak peek at where we’re going with Mac OS X.”
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The Critical Thinking Consortium (TC²) is an internationally renowned, non-profit association of education professionals who are committed to promoting critical thinking from primary to post-secondary education through professional development, publications and research.
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While security remains a major concern, mobile banking is nonetheless spreading like wildfire.
It appears that convenience trumps security worries as a new report reveals Canadians are adopting banking apps on their smartphone rapidly. -
Your Computer Appears to be Infected: Google Adds Malware Warning to Search Results — SiliconFilter
Google has actually detected a major a massive influx of “unusual search traffic” that’s flowing through its data centers due to malware-infested Windows machines. As Google can detect whether your machine is one of the large number of compromised PCs that harbor this malicious piece of software, it can also warn you about it.
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Discuss your interest
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Float lets you focus on the stuff you care about — the headlines, the stories, the information — without the usual clutter of web pages. You’re in control. Choose a reading style. Read up and down, left and right, now or later.
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Serif Font Identification Guide
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Why Google+ Is Different Than Facebook, According to Google
Now we know!
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Why Google+ Is Different Than Facebook, According to Google – Technology – The Atlantic Wire
With the release of Google+, you possibly groaned, saying you didn’t need another social network. Google entered a very saturated market, and given its likeness to the very dominant Facebook, people have questioned its place on the Web. Can it really fill any niche that Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc. haven’t covered?
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21st Century Fluencies – Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board
We are rethinking the way we offer programs and facilities so that we can meet the needs of each of our students in the 21st century. We know today’s learners require new approaches, as we strive to prepare students for a future we haven’t thought of yet.
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TPACK – TECHNOLOGICAL PEDAGOGICAL AND CONTENT KNOWLEDGE
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Quality Rubrics / Checklist_v_Rubric
A good starting point when thinking about what tasks deserves a rubric, is to reflect on the nature of the task. What are your goals for you and your students?
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Using Sophia as a Student Assessment Tool
This packet is a guide for teachers and educational leaders on how Sophia can be used as a place for students to create content as a way of demonstrating their understanding of course material.
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How are you feeling?
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The Best Mac Themes for Firefox OS X: Beauty, Style & Functionality
Need to spruce up your browser? What about giving it a whole new look? Make your browsing personal again with these great Mac themes for Firefox. There is something here for all tastes, so why not take a look and see what your next favorite add-on is going to be?
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I started to collect a Google+ circle of women-only (aptly named ‘Women of G+’) and the idea of connecting with early adopter women in a new social networking platform is growing larger in my mind by the minute. I find it stimulating and refreshing to have a list of highly intelligent women on G+ to read every morning over coffee.
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This Google Site has been set up by Dr. Helen Barrett to focus on the use of Google Apps to create ePortfolios. On this site, there are instructions on how to use the different elements of Google Apps to maintain e-portfolios.
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Zoho for Google Apps brings the award-winning Zoho services to customers using Google Apps. Zoho for Google Apps makes it easier for people in your organization to collaborate, communicate and share information.
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35 Ways to Use Google Apps in the Classroom NEW
40 Ways to Start Using Google Apps in 40 minutes
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Tip 104 – A Google Spreadsheet Formula Everyone Should Know About!
Google forms are fabulous for gathering information, but sometimes, the data in the spreadsheet can be difficult to view. In this post, I’ll share a simple-to-implement formula and a bonus tip that will make it much easier to deal with (and even print) form-fed data!
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5 Must Have Google+ Chrome Extensions | Alltopstartups
These Google+ chrome extensions add much more capabilities for you if you are on Google+. Google+ is growing rapidly with almost 18 million users. Bookmark for future use if you are not on Google+ yet. When you finally join Google+, you may need these extensions.
OTF Army
If an army travels on its stomach, then the OTF Army did its job last evening! The Army landed for the Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century session in Toronto. Three days of learning for over 200 Ontario Educators begins today with a session about Critical Thinking with Garfield Gini-Newman.
The Army has its own peculiarities in its dining habits as well. We were able to wirness first hand the quaint Quinte habit of photographing food before it is eaten. The technique is demonstrated by member @aforgrave.
First, the main course….
Then the dessert…
This was worth a low-level flash shot….
And, finally the tea…
And, for post production, a napkin serves as a nice backdrop.
The learning starts in earnest in a couple of hours.
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OTR Links for 07/20/2011
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I was just going to have a mindless drive today but thanks to Stephen, I now have something to think about. He makes a good point. My immediate thought is that this is a case for the Extended Circles but I need to think it through.
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Half an Hour: How To Fix Google+ Circles
What’s the difference between what Google+ does and what I do now? Let me explain, and in so doing point to a way to ‘fix’ Google+.
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Where to hang out at Google Plus
Since it’s going to be so hot this week, just hang out, I guess. It could be very helpful when there’s a public hangout and you forget just where and when.
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Where to hang out at Google+, list of hangouts at Google+
Where to hangout at Google+
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At-Bristol | Optical illusions
Can you believe your eyes? Stretch your brain with these mind-bending illusions.
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Generation Safe™ helps the whole school community navigate the digital environment by providing a comprehensive set of resources for all stakeholders: professional development (online videos), incident management, and a comprehensive self assessment.
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Paste HTML: free anonymous HTML hosting
Use PasteHTML.com to put a HTML file online, quickly and with no registration. Use it as a sandbox for playing with CSS and Javascript. Use our bookmarklet to create a snapshot of any web page and store it online. Use our API to automate everything. Also publish a page of plain text or rich text.
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Quoting Change | peoriamagazines.com
Businesses come, businesses go. Buildings rise and fall. Individuals grow up and are transformed. New generations replace those that came before. Demographics shift. Technological change begets social change.
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Play Globetrotter XL, a free online game on Kongregate
Globetrotter XL Game
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Learning Science Through Inquiry
This eight-part workshop for K-8 science teachers shows inquiry teaching and learning in action, with real teachers and students in real classrooms. Whether you have already experimented with inquiry teaching and want to enhance your practice, or are new to the approach and want to know how to make it work in your classroom, Learning Science Through Inquiry will help you understand the process and how it benefits students.
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Project Based Learning: Explained. – YouTube
The Buck Institute for Education commissioned the cutting-edge advertising agency, Common Craft, to create a short animated video that explains in clear language the essential elements of Project Based Learning (PBL).
Where Do You Go?
(When you need a hole to crawl in) Just one of the wonderful offerings from The Strawbs on the Ghosts album. It was playing on iTunes in the background as I was doing some social networking last night. I couldn’t get over how appropriate it was.
While the advent of Google Plus, I have yet another social network where I have an account and am using to do some personal learning. I’m building it slowly as I go and am currently following 266 people. Already, there are some great discussions and personal growth that’s happening there. If I was just getting started in this whole genre, it might be the place where I go.
But, I’m not new to this. I have other places.
I have my Twitter account which is such a dynamic and powerful place to get started. At 140 characters, it has its limitations but also its strong points in that you have to get to the point immediately. Those that use it best get that and it can be very powerful when used properly.
I have a Facebook account with a whack of people connected there. It has served well to connect with family and indeed friends from other times and place. It serves me well although you do have to keep an eye on the changing privacy settings.
I have a Posterous account. This is serving as a multi-media blog for me where I just tuck away infographic, pictures, movies, etc. that I don’t want to lose track of since I might well need them for a blog post here or during a presentation.
I have a Tumblr account. It was to be a place where I would post a photo a day and I did so for a while. Sadly, other things caught up with me and I have a bunch of pictures that need to be added to keep it current. It started with good intentions but I found taking a prescriptive photo every day tedious after a while and I was losing the enjoyment of photography. I still take a lot of photos but post them in other places.
I have an Amplify blog. I like the concept here. On Twitter, rather than simply retweeting great resources, I’ll amplify them with my own thoughts and comments. It is a nice place to tuck away stories and I can return to them later and have my own original notes.
Of course, I have a Diigo account where I post some of the great links and resources that I find and wish to no lose track of and it serves as my own personal search engine in my browser. The Diigo bookmarks are backed up to a Delicious account which offers a different way of organizing and sharing them.
And, into the mix, I have this WordPress blog that I do my best to share my thoughts and learning and I get great paybacks for my efforts.
All of this digital footprint stuff is summarized here.
So, where do you go? Even as I type this, I come to the sense that there’s a tonne of things going on. Is it sustainable? Is it too much? Are there diminishing returns? Should one consolidate? An easy move would be to just post an “I’m moving” message and concentrate on one resource. Yet, there are really powerful and unique reasons for the services that I have set up. It seems almost criminal to disenfranchise myself from the great learning and sharing that I’ve enjoyed.
It would be so easy to say “I’ve gone Google”. However, even the folks at Google are quick to point out that they’re still in a beta of the service and that there’s more to come. We haven’t seen yet how they intend to make money with Google Plus. To date, it’s been advertisement-free but the reality is that it can’t stay that way. Will it become ad heavy?
Or, do I keep all the services going and continue the great networking that I’ve enjoyed? It’s been so valuable that it’s not an easy decision to make. For every reason to bail and switch, there are equally as good reasons to stay. On Google Plus yesterday, there was a good discussion about this with Peter Beens and Will Richardson. Will offered ifttt.com as a possible solution. Possible yes, but it doesn’t support Google Plus yet. Once the API is opened, you’ve got to believe that all of the major developers like Seesmic and Hootsuite will be all over it. While automation is nice to have (and many of the above are automated and hooked together), I really don’t want to have the same content just replicated from service to service. Some, yes; some no.
I can’t be the only person having these discussions. How about you? Are you ready to accommodate yet another social network into your daily routine or will something have to drop off the table?
OTR Links for 07/19/2011
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Modkit is an in-browser graphical programming environment for microcontrollers. Modkit allows you to program Arduino and Compatible hardware using simple graphical blocks and/or traditional text code.
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http://lesliefisher.com/handouts/fisher_gadgets.pdf
Leslie Fisher’s ISTE Gadget presentation
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This site will provide you with links, ideas, tips, and much more for supporting the use of infographics as an assessment option in the classroom. The site has three informational pages, linked on the right.
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Stixy: For Flexible Online Creation Collaboration and Sharing
We’ve made it fun and incredibly
easy for you to collaborate with
your friends and family online. -
The Global Read Aloud project is so exciting because it creates an international book club for our classes. My fifth grade students from Seoul, Korea will be able to talk, discuss, and share with students from all over the world about Tuck Everlasting. Thanks to the Internet, we can connect to classrooms thousands of miles away, something that I could never imagine doing when I was in fifth grade.
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You’ve arrived at this page because you typed or linked to “g.co”, Google’s official URL shortcut just for Google websites.
Whenever you see a short “g.co” link, you can trust that it will always take you to a Google product or service.
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The Twilio connector lets you send SMS messages and make voice phone calls using Twilio.
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µTorrent Plus – µTorrent Labs – Community – µTorrent – a (very) tiny BitTorrent client
µTorrent Plus is designed for people who live beyond the PC. It’s a single solution to find, get and play content anywhere, on any device. No more hassles with codecs or conversion, and easy shifting of content to devices.
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101 Brilliant Bloggers Talk About Google+ — BlogWorld & New Media Expo Blog
Today, I have a special edition for Brilliant Bloggers for you all – on the subject that absolutely everybody that seems to writing about: Google+. Since this new social media platform is brand new, I didn’t single out anyone’s posts like I usually do, but instead groups them into topic areas. If you wrote a post about Google+ as well that I missed, believe me, it was definitely unintentional/ Please feel free to comment with a link to your post!
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BBC News – The Beatles in the USA
As they visited Washington DC and Baltimore a young photographer, Mike Mitchell, snapped dozens of images of John, Paul, George and Ringo.
Now, after being filed away for nearly 50 years, these never seen before black-and-white photographs are being sold at auction at Christie’s in New York.
Take a look at some of them, and hear The Beatles perform and talk about their visits to the USA.
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Twitter From @A to @Z – Alexis Madrigal – Technology – The Atlantic
Highlighting Twitter users with a single letter
You Are What You Tweet
Your Twitter account contains an incredible amount of information just waiting to be harvested and organized. The service Visual.ly is there to help the cause. Since it was first announced, I was eager to see how it would do what it purported and now I (and you) can!
Visual.ly takes the data from your Twitter account and creates your own personal infographic. Up for the challenge, I headed off to the site and completed the form to get mine. Here I am!
Looking over this, it’s me all right. There’s nothing there that’s not available freely by analyzing me on Twitter. Well, maybe not the geeky grin but I do try to tweet good things rather than bad things. I must admit that I read “likely”, “obsession”, and “circumstantial” really quickly and wondered how they knew… But, upon closer inspection, I do like to read and share although not through a traditonal book. If that only was an iPad… It does look like I could do more work on being interesting and do it enthusiastically.
In addition to the single infographic, you can compare yourself (versus) against another user. So, I elected to go head to head with my OSLA and GECDSB nemesis @zbpipe. The results….
Looks like we’ve got Andy in common! Apparently, Zoe is more social than I am – do my automated tweets count against me? <grin>
Anyway, it’s an interesting little time waster. Check it out. I think I’ll add my personal one to my Digital Footprint page. It is a nice summary. What does your infographic tell the world about you?
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