tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73974833911489848952024-03-20T17:02:38.947-04:00Tech Tips & ResourcesTechnology Information For River StreetEmil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.comBlogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-83429208514321986282015-09-18T10:30:00.001-04:002015-09-18T10:30:20.265-04:00Tip of the Week - DownloadsIt has been a while (a LONG while) since I've used this blog. But I want a spot to archive tips and techniques and ideas...so I'm resurrecting this spot. I hope it gives you a nice place to find some of the help you might need!<br />
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And to kick things off, the first Tip of the Week for this school year...<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">When you download something from online...an installer for software, a PDF, a Google calendar, a new font, or anything else.it all gets put in one spot. The Downloads folder. Sometimes people can find their Downloads folder. Sometimes not. And even if they do, it can get very fulland then it gets harder and harder to locate the file you want. So..is there a better, easier way to manage your downloads?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Well, first of all, I like my downloads to go where I can find them and use them right away. For me, that¹s the Desktop.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But the question is..how do you make them go to the Desktop? There is not a one-step solution for this. You have to implement this solution once for every browser you use Safari, Firefox, Chrome or Internet Explore (does anyone really still use that one??). In each browser, go to the Preferences for that browser. So let¹s use Firefox as our exampleopen Firefox, pull down the Firefox menu, and choose Preferences. There you will find the options for downloads</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Save files to which allows you to pick any place you want (for me the Desktop)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Or</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Always ask me where to save files so that you can choose every time you download a file. Honestly, this gives you the most control, but really, how many times are you gonna pick a different location??</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Chose the option you want and you are all set. At least for Firefox. Now repeat that for every other browser.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And remember, no matter where you download files to use them and them deal with them correctly use them and delete them or file them in the right spot. Don¹t allow them to clutter up your desktop. Always remember, every item on your desktop slows down your computer measurably. A full desktop is a much slower computer.</span></div>
Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-81534726073089473552011-11-18T13:30:00.001-05:002011-11-18T13:32:06.963-05:00Tip of the Week - Mouse Buttons<!--StartFragment--><span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">People often come to me and ask ... why don’t Macs have a right-click button on the mouse. <br />
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Truth is...Macs have always had a right click. So why don’t you see the button? Well, Apple loves to design things to look and feel sleek, smooth, elegant. So putting cracks in the mouse so that there were two distinct buttons just never appealed to Apple. But the buttons are still there! The mouse on your iMac or eMac can tell <i>where </i>you click with your finger. If you click on the left side, one thing happens. Click on the right, a different thing.<br />
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However, you can control what that thing is! If you go into your System Preferences and look for the Mouse preferences, you’ll see a window that includes this...</span></span>
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<!--StartFragment--><span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">As you can tell, this mouse actually has FOUR buttons. And each button can be controlled here with a pop-up menu. You can select what each button does.<br />
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So don’t hesitate to customize your mouse and take full advantage of your mouse button options.<br />
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By the way...on some mice, there really are not multiple buttons. On all the ones made by Apple in the last few years...yes. But sometimes we buy less expensive replacements that really are single button mice. And on some older Apple mice, there was only one button on the mouse. But does that mean those folks did not have a right click??<br />
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Fear not! You still have access to both a left click and a right click. When you click the mouse button, that is your left click. If you hold down the CONTROL key while clicking the mouse button, you get a right click. </span></span>
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</span></span>Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-49527476910384671072011-10-28T10:17:00.000-04:002011-10-28T10:17:28.572-04:00Tip of the Week<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 15px;">Okay, the first 6 tips were pretty straightforward. But today I’m giving you one that will let you dig just a bit.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">
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Why?<br />
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Well, as we’ve moved to the new version of Office, we have more e-mail attachments showing up on our desktops that are compressed files. Those are called Archives. And they look like this....</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Little icons with a zipper. This means something has been compressed in some way for delivery to you. It can be an e-mail attachment. It can also be a file or application that we’ve downloaded. Either way, when you double-click on it, the files or applications are decompressed.<br />
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BUT...<br />
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While the file is now there for you to work on, the Archive is still sitting on your desktop. And unless you do a lot of housekeeping, you soon end up with a bunch of those little things all over the place.<br />
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Seems like some smart person would have figured out an easy to way to avoid that, huh?<br />
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Well they did.<br />
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And here is what you can do to solve this problem.<br />
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Double-click on your Hard Drive. Now look for your System folder. It will be a folder with a little X on it, like this...</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Now let’s dig deeper. Inside the System folder is a Library folder. And inside that Library folder is a folder called CoreServices. Once you get that far, look for Archive Utility. Here is the path you’ve followed...</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Double-click on Archive Utility to open it up. Looks like nothing happened, right? But it did. The only thing that changes are your menu options, so look to the top of your screen...</span></span>
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Pull down the Archive Utility menu and select Preferences. When the Preferences open, look for the pop-up menu for After Expanding. This is where you can tell your computer what to do with all those Archives.<br />
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The default setting is Leave Archive Alone. You want to change that to Move Archive To Trash. (That red arrow isn’t on your computer...I added that just to point the way)</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Now when you open up one of those compressed files, you’ll still have your file to work with, but you’ll be automatically cleaning up the debris that is left behind!<br />
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<i>Note...if you are working on an older version of OS, you might not find this option. But this is a good solution for most of us using any of the recent versions of OS X.</i></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></div>Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-17628935851850127102011-10-07T09:33:00.000-04:002011-10-07T09:33:45.225-04:00Tips of the Week<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This year, I'm trying to send out a weekly tip via e-mail to all our staff. Just short, quick things that might help them with their technology. It isn't all limited to work stuff...but I just try to make it all fairly current stuff.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And I decided I might as well share them here, as well. Today will be Tip #5 in our building...so below, you can get caught up with all of the first five.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tip #1 - E-mail Attachments</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">When you receive an e-mail with an attachment, many folks highlight the attachment and hit Open. Oour experience with this has been mixed. For that reason, I've always encouraged folks to hit "Save" and save the attached document to their Desktop. Then go and open the document. That has always been more reliable.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Tip #2 - AccountKiller</span></span></div>
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</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We all create lots of accounts around the web...facebook, flickr, skype, ebay, amazon, iTunes, Windows Live, etc, etc, etc. Many of them we use – but some we create and then realize we don’t want or need. And we would like to get rid of the account rather than just go away and leave it hanging.<br /><br />
But how?<br /><br />
Sites don’t always make it easy to figure out how to delete an account. They like to add up users...not eliminate them.<br /><br />
If you have an account you would like to delete as effectively as possible, visit AccountKiller ( </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.accountkiller.com/en/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">http://www.accountkiller.com/en/</span></span></a></u></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> ). This site gives you direct links to instructions for deleting accounts on many of the most popular sites. <br /><br />
And if you are considering creating an account, it is sometimes fun to check out AccountKiller first. They list sites by color code...with the “black” sites being those that are nearly impossible to actually delete without calling upon super powers and counting on a lot of luck.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Tip #3 - facebook help</span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There have been lots of new changes going on with facebook.<br /><br />
If you are trying to figure out the basics of the new changes that are in place, here are a few resources to help you sort out Lists, the Ticker, the Top Stories and Recent Stories breakdown, and some of the things you can do to manage what shows up on your wall and what you share with others.</span>
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.avitricks.info/2011/09/how-to-use-facebook-new-features-to-protect-your-privacy.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">http://www.avitricks.info/2011/09/how-to-use-facebook-new-features-to-protect-your-privacy.html</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
</u></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-privacy-2011-9#1-know-that-anything-you-post-or-comment-on-a-friends-wall-is-public-your-posts-will-show-up-in-others-news-tickers-1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-privacy-2011-9#1-know-that-anything-you-post-or-comment-on-a-friends-wall-is-public-your-posts-will-show-up-in-others-news-tickers-1</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.bloggerclick.com/2011/09/new-facebook-news-feed-guide.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">http://www.bloggerclick.com/2011/09/new-facebook-news-feed-guide.html</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
</u></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(scroll down and watch the video at the end of the post)</span>
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://kikolani.com/new-facebook-timeline-profile-privacy-settings-news-feed.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">http://kikolani.com/new-facebook-timeline-profile-privacy-settings-news-feed.html</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://blog.identified.com/2011/09/how-facebooks-new-privacy-settings-can-be-beneficial-.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">http://blog.identified.com/2011/09/how-facebooks-new-privacy-settings-can-be-beneficial-.html</span></span></a></u></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Tip #4 - VLC</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We all watch videos online. We all get videos sent to us via e-mail. And we’ve all had videos that we could not play. But there is a simple solution that Mac-lovers have relied on for many years now...VLC.<br /><br />
VLC will play almost any video or audio. If VLC doesn’t play it, you can usually just give up.<br /><br />
Here is a quick review of VLC...</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.cultofmac.com/116284/vlc-plays-just-about-any-video-file-you-can-find-50-mac-essentials-45/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">http://www.cultofmac.com/116284/vlc-plays-just-about-any-video-file-you-can-find-50-mac-essentials-45/</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
</span></u></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
And here is the site to download it. It is a free and safe download.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.videolan.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">http://www.videolan.org/</span></span></a></u></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Tip #5 - Screenshots</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There are lots of times you may want to share what you see on your screen. Grabbing a quick screenshot is amazingly quick and simple. It can be a quick way to grab a section of a web page and share with another person as an e-mail attachment. It can be a great way to save an error message to share with the tech folks when you ask for help.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Here are the instructions for the Mac folks...</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">To get a photo of your entire desktop, press Command-Shift-3 (all at the same time). If your volume is turned up, you'll hear a snapshot sound. And a document named "screen shot" with the date and time as part of the name will appear on your desktop. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">To get a photo of a specific area of your screen, press Command-Shift-4. Your cursor will turn into a crosshair. Click and drag to highlight the area of the screen you want to capture. When you release the mouse button, you'll hear the snapshot sound and the image file will be saved to your desktop.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Lastly, if you do a lot of screen captures...or if you want to take that shot of your desktop and then label items, draw arrows to highlight certain features, etc...download <a href="http://skitch.com/">Skitch</a>. It is a great free tool for capturing and working with screenshots.</span></span></div>
Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-80827519080685807172011-10-06T09:30:00.001-04:002011-10-06T09:30:22.903-04:00Steve Jobs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdqE_EnlosBC4JTuOe9jcZoIyGKAj0TLYiGDbIvxWADElPyDc5pkBPeejiKpxaXod21D70UvwJeChRh372k49QbxtQhIAfuga0H-oFdAug0qKAfEV1PI-V8ZJGqUpb8Q2Sm2U3-2ZFyvI/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-10-06+at+9.20.25+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdqE_EnlosBC4JTuOe9jcZoIyGKAj0TLYiGDbIvxWADElPyDc5pkBPeejiKpxaXod21D70UvwJeChRh372k49QbxtQhIAfuga0H-oFdAug0qKAfEV1PI-V8ZJGqUpb8Q2Sm2U3-2ZFyvI/s400/Screen+shot+2011-10-06+at+9.20.25+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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I was having dinner last night when my daughter sent me a text telling me that Steve Jobs had passed away. As the technology coordinator for a school that is dedicated to Apple products and personally, a true fan of Apple technology, it was a sad moment. We all knew he had been fighting cancer for a long time. But I'm not sure we thought it would end so soon.</div>
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The vision of this man changed our world. Through Apple and Pixar, he changed how we interact with each other, how we engage in creative pursuits, how we enjoy movies and music, and much more. In fact, I wonder just how many people found out about his death on a device that he created and brought to the world - an iMac, a MacBook, an iPad, an iPhone, or an iPod Touch? No doubt, the products he gave us were the source for this sad news for millions.</div>
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And in our school, his vision and his products have made life better for our students. At this moment, our classrooms are using their new iPads in ways that give our students opportunities for skill development, communication, and leisure in ways we've never been able to provide in the past.</div>
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While I'm sure Apple will continue to flourish as a company, we've all lost something with the passing of Steve Jobs.</div>
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May he rest in peace.</div>
Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-86651886750792639572011-09-22T10:03:00.000-04:002011-09-22T10:03:23.721-04:00Word versus Google DocsAt work, we have stuck almost exclusively to Microsoft Office as the tools of choice. Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage are the backbone of our program. But let's not kid ourselves, not everyone is happy about that. And it is a very costly program to maintain.<br />
<br />
So what are the options?<br />
<br />
I've written in the past about the beauties of Google Docs and Open Office - both of which offer free versions of comparable programs. And in my own personal work, I've slowly started to migrate more and more toward Google Docs. I love the fact that I don't have to worry about updating software. Google does that for me. I love that it is free. And I love that I can access my documents from work, from home, and from my phone.<br />
<br />
But Jeff Utecht says it far better than I could. So check out his recent blog post on <a href="http://www.thethinkingstick.com/10-reasons-to-trash-word-for-google-docs/">10 Reasons To Trash Word For Google Docs.</a><br />
<br />
I don't think our program will make the change anytime soon. But for personal work, Microsoft Office makes less and less sense.Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-81426615288949632662011-09-12T10:41:00.002-04:002011-09-12T10:41:43.311-04:00A Brand New YearThe title makes it sound like Day One. Actually we are already into Week #2. But getting time to blog has taken a back seat to helping other folks get up and running with new versions of Microsoft Office, working to help update our database, trying to be supportive to staff who want to implement new things, etc.<br />
<br />
And trust me, I get very excited by staff who want to implement new things! I've got a couple of teachers working on a new journaling activity using the iPad. Another teacher wanted to incorporate music into the classroom via iPad and iPod. And one teacher setting up a new classroom blog. I have a lot of fun helping those folks!<br />
<br />
And I've organized my staff learning opportunities for the year. In the course of this year I'll be doing workshops on blogging for families, using video in the classroom, using powerpoint in the classroom, ways to incorporate the iPad into the curriculum, using social media with the students, and much more.<br />
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I think it will be a very exciting year!Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-27898297936589132672011-06-21T10:59:00.004-04:002011-06-21T11:01:28.053-04:00Twitter - A Learning ProcessI recently posted about <a href="http://riverstreettech.blogspot.com/2011/05/why-i-love-twitter.html">Why I Love Twitter</a>. But it hasn't always been that way. And even today, it isn't a 24/7 kind of feeling.<br />
<br />
I learn a lot from Twitter. I have the app open and the little stream of tweets runs down the side of my desktop most of the day. I find lots of resources. I get links to really great articles. So what was the problem with Twitter early on?<br />
<br />
It was overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time. Twitter isn't just about going to the web site and creating an account. It involves a lot of searching and seeking to find people to follow. It involves learning an entirely new "language" as you figure out tweets, retweets, hashtags, Tweedle, Twitter Search, DM's, etc, etc. And then there is the search for the best desktop application for following along. Which also means finding the best iPhone app for following along. And then keeping an eye out all the time as apps come and go, get upgraded, etc. In other words, Twitter can be a lot of work!<br />
<br />
And the result of all that? Initially, not much. At conferences, speakers routinely sent out a tweet and we all watched as dozens of responses poured in. And they illustrated how this expansive network could answer all your questions as they tweeted a question and got numerous answers. But for the typical user, it is a long time before that happens. And it can very quickly become one of those things where it feels like...sure, <i>you</i> can do it cause you're well known and you write books and you have thousands of followers. I have six. And if those aren't online when I ask the question, I get no answer at all.<br />
<br />
Fortunately, times have changed. I've been on Twitter for more than a year now. I've got enough followers that I sometimes actually get one answer when I ask a question. Sometimes even <u>two</u>! And that, along with all the other resources I gather makes Twitter worthwhile. I love what I get from it now. But it did take time.Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-84389346454445369412011-06-15T09:56:00.010-04:002011-06-15T10:03:40.022-04:00Building a PLNFor a few years now I've been hearing all about building my own Personal Learning Network. And the concept seems terrific. Even the actuality of it has been good. But it has also been a struggle.<br />
<br />
Take this blog, for example. I know I'm not writing anything earth shattering. I'm sharing basic resources and tips. But does ANYONE read? Google tells me that I've had over 1000 page views. But I've had less than a dozen comments. So who is reading? Am I just not sharing anything worthwhile?<br />
<br />
And then there is Twitter. I follow a bunch of folks. Good folks who share tons of great resources. And some folks follow me. But when a presenter at a conference tweets to his/her followers and suddenly dozens of responses pop up on the screen, it seems like a trick. Sure, that person is a keynote speaker day after day, has written books, is well known...so they can throw out a question and gets dozens (hundreds?) of answers. It doesn't work that way for your average guy. I can throw out a question and get one response. Or no responses. Cause I'm not so well known. And after seeing how Twitter worked for them, that feels like a failure.<br />
<br />
So I'm still struggling to develop a better PLN. One that not only brings resources to me as a passive participant, but one where I'm more active. Where there is more conversation and collaboration.<br />
<br />
In an effort to get there, I'm participating in the new <a href="http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/2011/06/15/pln-challenge-1-what-the-heck-is-a-pln/">Edublogs Challenge - 30 Days To A Whole New PLN</a>. Let's see if this kickstarts some new learning for me and some new ideas about participating in a more effective manner.Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-31997605785785113902011-06-08T09:38:00.001-04:002011-06-08T09:38:26.417-04:00Protecting Your Gmail AccountIt seems like almost everyone is using Gmail these days. It is certainly a convenient and powerful e-mail tool. But even Google can be subjected to hacking attempts, phishing, etc. And recently it was reported that many government officials had fallen prey to having their e-mail accounts attacked.<br />
<br />
So what can you do?<br />
<br />
Google provides lots of tools within their Gmail program to help you detect and guard against these things. In addition, there are other tips for keeping your mail safe.<br />
<br />
And no one explains this stuff better than the security folks at <a href="http://www.sophos.com/">Sophos</a>. The <a href="http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/">nakedsecurity blog</a> recently posted a great article on <a href="http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/06/02/how-to-stop-your-gmail-account-being-hacked/">How to stop your Gmail account being hacked</a>. Six steps to protecting your e-mail.<br />
<br />
Check it out!Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-36987930079343315512011-06-07T10:45:00.000-04:002011-06-07T10:45:34.982-04:00Speed Up Your MacRegardless of how fast our computer operates, the grass is always greener on the next desk. That computer always seems a little faster. Or perhaps your work computer seems faster than the one at home...even though the one at home is newer.<br />
<br />
Lots of things impact the speed of a computer. The processor. The RAM. And we all know about those things. But there are things that impact the speed of a Mac that you just might not think about.<br />
<br />
Check out this short video on <a href="http://www.cultofmac.com/how-to-greatly-increase-your-macs-speed-video-how-to/95180?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cultofmac%2FbFow+%28Cult+of+Mac%29">5 Easy Ways To Speed Up Your Mac</a>. You might pick up some tips that will give you a nice little boost in speed.Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-70678502935898508852011-06-02T09:58:00.000-04:002011-06-02T09:58:42.348-04:00A Great Overview of Computer Viruses<a href="http://commoncraft.com/">Common Craft</a> creates great training videos. But saying that would be misleading you. That might make it sound like they have long videos of presenters with slide shows trying to teach you things. Nope. They have 3-minute videos using paper cut-outs and the most basic, straight-forward explanations of things related to technology. On their site you'll find such things as Social Media and the Workplace, Twitter in Plain English, Secure Passwords Explained, and much more. And not all of their videos are about technology, so check their list of featured videos to discover more of what they offer.<br />
<br />
For today, I want to guide you to one specific video - <a href="http://commoncraft.com/virus-video">Computer Viruses and Threats</a>. This 3-minute video gives a great overview to the basic types of threats to your computer with some good suggestions for how to protect yourself. Check it out!Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-84029993575891904222011-05-18T11:44:00.000-04:002011-05-18T11:44:46.722-04:00Online Notes, Backing Up Your Blog - Richard has the answersI read Richard Byrne's blog every day. <a href="http://www.freetech4teachers.com/">Free Technology for Teachers</a> never fails to offer up good resources, good advice, and good tutorials. For example, here are two recent posts worth reading, if you haven't already...<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2011/03/scrumblr-simple-online-sticky-note.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+freetech4teachers%2FcGEY+%28Free+Technology+for+Teachers%29">Scrumblr</a> - a site for sharing online sticky notes. Like Wallwisher and Corkboard.me, Scrumblr is an easy to use tool with great application for classrooms and any groups that need to share bits of information.<br />
<br />
And if you have a blog - and who among us doesn't these days - you should back it up! <a href="http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/12/how-to-back-up-your-blog-and-why-you.html">Here</a>, Richard gives step-by-step instructions for backing up your blog on Blogger, Edublogs and WordPress.<br />
<br />
And stick Free Technology for Teachers in your RSS feed. You'll be happy you did!Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-89854766747150516382011-05-06T11:33:00.001-04:002011-05-06T11:34:59.349-04:00Why I Love Twitter<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">There are lots of posts out there about this...and I could do one that talks about building my network, getting support, etc. But sometimes it is better to just show you! So I thought I would share just a few of the great resources and articles that have popped up on my screen just this morning.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Some </span><a href="http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/kids/articles/2011/05/05/20110505top-app-kids-childrens-book-ipad-iphone.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">great children's books apps</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> from @pebrodsky</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/enterprise/2011/05/7-document-collaboration-tools.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Five document collaboration tools for the iPa</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">d from @iPodsibilities</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<a href="http://www.ipadcurriculum.com/2011/05/ansel-and-clairs-adventures-in-africa/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">An amazing iPad app</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> from @ktenkely</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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<a href="http://jeffthomastech.com/blog/?p=10261"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">How college professors are using social media</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> from @coolcatteacher</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">How </span><a href="http://mashable.com/2011/05/04/mobile-education-initiatives/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">mobile tech is improving education</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> from @iPodsibilities</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span> <br />
<a href="http://www.squidalicious.com/2011/05/oodles-and-oodles-of-apps-leo-likes.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Oodles and oodles of apps Leo likes</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> from @shannonrosa</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<a href="http://www.lovethatmax.com/2011/05/20-more-reasons-moms-of-kids-with.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ToTheMax+%28To+The+Max%29"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">20 More Reasons Moms of Kids with Special Needs Rock</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> from @gretchenrubin</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/No-more-paper-no-more-books-Brookfield-students-1367822.php#photo-2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">High school freshmen get iPads</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> from @pebrodsky</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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<a href="http://www.snapps4kids.com/2011/05/alphabet-animals-talking-abc-cards-for-kids/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Alphabet Animals</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> app from @SNApps4Kids</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<a href="http://techinspecialed.com/2011/05/04/idoodle-card-very-nice-app-to-teach-art-and-fine-motor-skills/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">iDoodle Card</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> app from @techinspecialed</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<a href="https://sfari.org/news/-/asset_publisher/6Tog/content/two-new-checklists-offer-rapid-early-diagnosis-for-autism?redirect=%2Fnews"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Two new checklists for early diagnostic help with autism</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> from @NeuropathLrng</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Check out these sites. And check out these great folks on Twitter!</span></div><br />
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</div>Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-39861006300627205722011-04-27T13:05:00.002-04:002011-04-27T13:05:52.882-04:00Delicious has been sold/saved!Check this out...just released on <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/27/yahoo-sells-delicious-to-youtube-founders/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29">TechCrunch</a>...Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-24479107654714318562011-04-27T10:25:00.000-04:002011-04-27T10:25:28.214-04:00Grade Level Resources for the ClassroomThis is a terrific site shared by <a href="http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/">Kathy Schrock</a> recently. It is the eThemes list from the University of Missouri. It has a tremendous list of resources broken out by themes for each grade level. You can check it out <a href="http://ethemes.missouri.edu/grades">here</a>.Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-79915049590387333312011-04-26T13:59:00.000-04:002011-04-26T13:59:37.591-04:00The Loss of Information<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">Who remembers GeoCities? Yea, a lot of us do. GeoCities was one of the very first make-your-own-web-page sites on the internet. It made personal web page creation very easy and free. And everyone was doing it. Over time there were pricing options, extras, etc…all designed to help the owners make some cash. And eventually, in 1999, GeoCities was purchased by Yahoo. In an continued effort to make GeoCities profitable, Yahoo limited some of the free access by controlling data transfer limits. And problems continued from that point forward.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Yet, we continued to build web pages. More than 38 million pages had been created by 2009. And then, in October of 2009, Yahoo announced it would be shutting down the GeoCities service for the United States. And the next day, sites became unavailable.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Now Friendster is going away. The social networking service has announced that it will shut down its site and delete all user content on May 31<sup>st</sup>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know, most of us have moved on to Facebook or other options, but Friendster still has more than 110 million registered users.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Fortunately, Friendster has given users some warning for those who want to archive some of their photos, updates, postings, etc.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But not everyone will get a chance to do a backup. Not everyone will know how. Not everyone will even realize they should. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">And what does this mean for us? Millions of pages of information between GeoCities and Friendster will be lost. Photos. Updates. A running narrative of thousands of lives. Comments and opinions on current events and popular culture. That’s a lot of our history to be lost.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I know, perhaps a bit dramatic. There are so many places where thoughts and opinions are recorded. We’ll have plenty of those left and plenty of options for revisiting them. But in the digital age, the loss of so much at once does make me wonder about how we preserve and archive our data since so much of it is currently stored on servers that can go away just due to a change in corporate policy or the financial bottom line. Perhaps we should each be more responsible for backing up our facebook page, our blog posts, our twitter updates? I don’t know. I just get the sense that in the digital age, years of digital information shouldn’t be quite so easily done away with.</div><!--EndFragment-->Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-32582143009177551662011-04-13T10:17:00.000-04:002011-04-13T10:17:15.982-04:00Two Tech Tools Say GoodbyeWe've lost two really nice tech tools this week. But losses seem to be business choices, not an indication that the technology was not widely accepted and successful.<br />
<br />
The biggest surprise was the announcement by Cisco that the Flip camera was being discontinued.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxID1uAQbYJE14EUCmRkIHW7l-PUqjFiFiBEeetmNwQaSzWfDD9Ln2PunvrWzJPwjS8fqeqVeoT1nG32aIMOm4pvIgNkiIPBB-rR5kuZWCml-uSJv-DC5I43JcSd9f9ayRoGu-mkObwKM/s1600/flip-camera.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxID1uAQbYJE14EUCmRkIHW7l-PUqjFiFiBEeetmNwQaSzWfDD9Ln2PunvrWzJPwjS8fqeqVeoT1nG32aIMOm4pvIgNkiIPBB-rR5kuZWCml-uSJv-DC5I43JcSd9f9ayRoGu-mkObwKM/s200/flip-camera.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
Cisco has rarely been a company that sold direct consumer products. But when they purchased the Flip camera a couple of years back, it seemed to be a new, positive direction for them. And the Flip was very successful. However, it is not the focus of the company and it just didn't work for them. So the Flip is going away.<br />
<br />
There are other small video cameras on the market, but none had the success of the Flip. And with smart phones already in our pockets, maybe it is getting less necessary to have an extra device to capture video.<br />
<br />
Our other loss this week is Flock. Flock was a great little browser built around social networking. And with the rise of social networking, that seemed like a perfect match. But there are so many browsers available and some of them are definitely big players in the field. So Flock is ending customer support this month and asking users to choose another browser.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOWZSvDfvagUq0JoHfzlxrWLyrk4ywUQgJaBOqG-4PRRn_VAFMsinzViLps26KYcKK-b96OGTxpfC1IQu7JeWWUJgRMF5J_OaJ16LbCnpzOpdk_zIdQvABG-auqidKkLEScsBGcr3KfzQ/s1600/Flock+Browser.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOWZSvDfvagUq0JoHfzlxrWLyrk4ywUQgJaBOqG-4PRRn_VAFMsinzViLps26KYcKK-b96OGTxpfC1IQu7JeWWUJgRMF5J_OaJ16LbCnpzOpdk_zIdQvABG-auqidKkLEScsBGcr3KfzQ/s400/Flock+Browser.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
Farewell Flock and Flip (no alliteration intended!) We'll miss you.Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-68456319447646158552011-04-11T11:59:00.000-04:002011-04-11T11:59:00.352-04:00A Group of ResourcesToday I just wanted to throw out a bunch of great web sites that offer curriculum resources in reading, keyboarding, and math.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>READING</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://bookleads.wikispaces.com/">Bookleads</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.worksheetworks.com/english.html">Worksheet Works</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.60secondrecap.com/">60 Second Recap</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://tarheelreader.org/">Tar Heel Reader</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.bookshare.org/">Bookshare</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://storytimeforme.com/">Storytime For Me</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><br />
</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>KEYBOARDING</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><br />
</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Arcade Typing Tutor</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.rivulus-sw.com/Rivulus/Arcade_Typing_Tutor.html" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration: none;">http://www.rivulus-sw.com/Rivulus/Arcade_Typing_Tutor.html</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">A download to help kids learn to type on the Mac.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Good Typing</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.goodtyping.com/" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration: none;">http://www.goodtyping.com/</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Free online typing course for all ages.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Typing Web</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.typingweb.com/" style="color: #3778cd; text-decoration: none;">http://www.typingweb.com/</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Free online typing lessons and games plus a large teacher portal for managing a class roster when several kids are learning to type.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>MATH</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Worksheet Works</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">http://www.worksheetworks.com/math.html</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">A treasure trove of resources from basic math facts to algebra and geometry and measurements and more.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">The Problem Site</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">http://www.theproblemsite.com/default.asp</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">SuperKids Math Worksheet Creator</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">http://www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/math/index.shtml</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">I'm definitely not the kind of person who believes in lots of worksheets. And yet, when you need one, it is great to have some quick resources.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Khan Academy</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">http://www.khanacademy.org/</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">A tremendous collection of videos showing math skills from the most basic to the most advanced.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Mathway</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">http://www.mathway.com/</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Put in a problem, get an answer. Sometimes seeing one problem solved provide the clues necessary to learn how to solve more.</span>Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-50383320595215894462011-04-11T10:09:00.000-04:002011-04-11T10:09:00.270-04:00TestThis post is just a test.Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-83861097479867089632011-04-08T09:41:00.001-04:002011-04-08T09:42:21.240-04:00Can you make my Mac go faster?This is one of the questions I hear most often in my day. Even computers running at a pretty decent speed can seem slow after a while - especially if you've had a chance to use a newer, faster model. No doubt, technology changes so rapidly that there is always a faster machine out there. And most of us want that one!<br />
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However, budget constraints make it impossible to always buy the fastest machine. Or even the second fastest. And we certainly can't upgrade to newer machines nearly as often as we would like.<br />
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That being said, there are still some things you can do to help your computer run a bit faster. Some of them involve a bit of technical knowledge and/or confidence, so I won't even mention those. You can ask me about this if you want to know. For this list, I'm sticking with things everyone can do to give their Mac a bit of a boost.<br />
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Restart your computer. Seems obvious, yet many of us don't restart our computers that often - especially at home. I know our Mac at home sometimes runs a week or more without ever being turned off or even restarted. That can start to slow things down. Even on incredibly heavy computing days at work, I've often restarted during my lunch break and found things to perk up a bit in the afternoon. So make sure you don't leave your computer running for days at a time without turning it off and back on.<br />
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Add RAM. Obviously you can't do this at work. We make our best effort to purchase extra RAM for machines now so that we don't face this problem. But at home, you may not have packed your machine with RAM when you made the initial purchase. And in my opinion, it is rare that a computer comes with enough RAM as the default setup. So if your computer at home feels sluggish and you are a bit on the low side for RAM, buy some extra and install it. RAM is inexpensive. And installing is a do-it-yourself task.<br />
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Clean up your hard drive. No, that doesn't mean running any sort of defragging program. It simply means, if your hard drive is getting pretty full, it might be time to throw away a few gigabytes of old stuff that you no longer need. And if you do need it, move it to a portable drive for archiving (make sure there is also a backup of that drive!) and you'll find your computer picking up a bit of speed.<br />
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Clean your desktop. While you are in the cleaning mode, focus on that desktop. In fact, even if you don't clean out your hard drive, you should still clean your desktop. There should not be dozens of folders and documents scattered all over your screen. Put them away! That is why you have a Documents folder. Items sitting on the desktop initiate some background processing on the Mac...and that is taking away processing power that could be used to help with your work. The cleaner your desktop, the faster your computer.<br />
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Check your applications. How many are open? And have you used all the open ones in the past few minutes? If there are several open that you haven't touched in an hour or so, close them! Applications sitting open are capturing RAM And processing power. All that can be freed up if you quit them. And pay special attention to any applications that you have set to automatically fire up when you log in each morning. Login items open up and then sit silently. Sometimes we forget they are even open. So narrow down the list of login items to only those things you absolutely use throughout the day every day.<br />
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One particular application that we all use a lot and can suffer from running a long time is our browser. If the internet seems slow, quit your browser and then start it up again. That often helps speed up use of the internet. If it still seems slow, make sure you've emptied the cache. To do so in Safari, pull down the Safari menu and choose Empty Cache. In Firefox, pull down the Firefox menu and choose Preferences; click the Advanced button on the top of the Preferences window; click the Network tab in the Advanced window, click the Clear Now button. And in Chrome, pull down the Chrome menu and choose Clear Browsing Date; Clear Cache will be an option in the window that appears.<br />
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As a final step for speeding up your machine if you are at home, you can buy a faster hard drive. The time it takes to read a file from the drive or to write a file to the drive can vary dramatically from drive to drive. The new solid state drives can do that as much as four or five times as fast as a spinning hard drive.<br />
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An older, slower machine will always be older and slower than the slickest new desktop or laptop on the market. But keeping an eye on these few things can help maximize the speed you get from your computer.Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-65900583142121612352011-04-05T09:56:00.000-04:002011-04-05T09:56:06.079-04:00Customizing Your Toolbars Makes Life EasierAll the applications on the Mac come with a toolbar. The row of tools spread across the top of the application window. And all those little tools come in handy. But the default choices aren't always the best choices.<br />
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For example, here is the default toolbar for the Finder on my computer...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhehk4hNrXZbDJ-a8mqbVcz5RvXQ-bqUXgtXX1OGNviz5xLumEUFkEUvdWvM_Hvi30C6EPplIVoZT2oWMV6Odu7fyn5DXjFtRneIxl6w-MIqRUO8qM8DZuk0shbz9hLKBzBWgfbGCX3rdk/s1600/Finder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="37" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhehk4hNrXZbDJ-a8mqbVcz5RvXQ-bqUXgtXX1OGNviz5xLumEUFkEUvdWvM_Hvi30C6EPplIVoZT2oWMV6Odu7fyn5DXjFtRneIxl6w-MIqRUO8qM8DZuk0shbz9hLKBzBWgfbGCX3rdk/s400/Finder.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
And here is the current toolbar after I customized it...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhenKAcwZb3kRFRpt_f5u7o1ZraKkqd54Och5seTbjg8soTsfJ2k0oRD8_4bLIiQJ1gFXdPbOPSNMf3jpKUK8hUV3AV5pfb0VtUd67Za1kv9gccYHu8yVluYuvR1oWZkbHxPvXfqe1cvic/s1600/emilharden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="27" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhenKAcwZb3kRFRpt_f5u7o1ZraKkqd54Och5seTbjg8soTsfJ2k0oRD8_4bLIiQJ1gFXdPbOPSNMf3jpKUK8hUV3AV5pfb0VtUd67Za1kv9gccYHu8yVluYuvR1oWZkbHxPvXfqe1cvic/s400/emilharden.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I create a lot of new folders, so why not have a quick button for that? And I delete a lot of items and this gives me a one-click option for that, as well. Plus I am a daily user of Dropbox and this gives me quick access to my Dropbox folder. So customizing makes my work easier.<br />
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So how can you do the same? Well, some applications have a "customize" button right on the toolbar that looks like this...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDwzUljUJkrPdIsw9mAgo109ALxIpH0oHTtSQ9-JBPYsl4cQ-aSFu4by8iXVJPYK-2ADx0nmLUxiUr14ohgdH6vHPfUhCohiZ2NyOZljIjgVG8bX_nY38GZiQheXp__i4WpINztmbRIG0/s1600/100+Tips+%252331_+How+To+Customize+The+Toolbar+%257C+Cult+of+Mac.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDwzUljUJkrPdIsw9mAgo109ALxIpH0oHTtSQ9-JBPYsl4cQ-aSFu4by8iXVJPYK-2ADx0nmLUxiUr14ohgdH6vHPfUhCohiZ2NyOZljIjgVG8bX_nY38GZiQheXp__i4WpINztmbRIG0/s1600/100+Tips+%252331_+How+To+Customize+The+Toolbar+%257C+Cult+of+Mac.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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But if that button isn't there, no worries. Just right-click or Option-click on a bare spot on the toolbar of an application and you'll get some options for optimizing. Here are a couple of examples of what you might see...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh081fTqjdxv6JiDIXe1ZIJGbS16TAQtchyphenhyphentQUO_5aDkU36XJaUFjWPZHFa9dKyJ9c4ZNBMl4F6zl2KMeeW-02Sf-zpFqUKmYfDaeG04MvM2rMlj7ViJo5pfyR5afuuwUnx4_-qFdWuKAk/s1600/Firefox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh081fTqjdxv6JiDIXe1ZIJGbS16TAQtchyphenhyphentQUO_5aDkU36XJaUFjWPZHFa9dKyJ9c4ZNBMl4F6zl2KMeeW-02Sf-zpFqUKmYfDaeG04MvM2rMlj7ViJo5pfyR5afuuwUnx4_-qFdWuKAk/s1600/Firefox.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Customize drop down menu in Firefox</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkbBHoyF9juIEBpGJu0IexNaNvDdKfRyg9JVegPMvUGH2bbZIrfT1QlmmQPY2AXD5HdQmIbgGc9f3E3geHc-ODG5lw-oIfT6e2rkT4ecs4nYCmpqXyIljIT2MqiXpqD2IkUtJmO4z6VLk/s1600/Microsoft+Word.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkbBHoyF9juIEBpGJu0IexNaNvDdKfRyg9JVegPMvUGH2bbZIrfT1QlmmQPY2AXD5HdQmIbgGc9f3E3geHc-ODG5lw-oIfT6e2rkT4ecs4nYCmpqXyIljIT2MqiXpqD2IkUtJmO4z6VLk/s1600/Microsoft+Word.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Customize drop down menu in Microsoft Word</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Once you choose to customize, a window with various options will drop down. You'll see a range of buttons (don't forget to scroll for more!) and you can just drag them on and off your toolbar. You can even use the space and separator options just to help organize your toolbar for easier use. Once you are done, just click Done.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4xCDtAciMabIEzEGnku0e7u84fo26BqiC-bD_TgcbcILB9AUdDweAcFxTNeQQmlwucWIn_WPm4vxAW7oVjKfoMYjTxnf6y66B-YPda_Uu1ssZjtaVmiM24MvHltQt6Mo7TRS5K-Fe7as/s1600/Firefox+options.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4xCDtAciMabIEzEGnku0e7u84fo26BqiC-bD_TgcbcILB9AUdDweAcFxTNeQQmlwucWIn_WPm4vxAW7oVjKfoMYjTxnf6y66B-YPda_Uu1ssZjtaVmiM24MvHltQt6Mo7TRS5K-Fe7as/s400/Firefox+options.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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And don't worry about messing things up. There is always the option to just restore the Default toolbar.Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-88635879648659709562011-04-01T08:34:00.000-04:002011-04-01T08:34:14.755-04:00The Best Thing On A Mac Might Be Preview<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT3iHSN-v8VDDIYIFxO8uwbqHS7y3VExgzlDtDRcViZdC9rRa5bPE0H7F5lOkNwgzA9esrxi0bRz7wzKUJxFWajao8feXW1ReRC05xAOJnUGIFW-z2imf5WNZKbpwoO8ormd-IidcAvoo/s1600/mac-preview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT3iHSN-v8VDDIYIFxO8uwbqHS7y3VExgzlDtDRcViZdC9rRa5bPE0H7F5lOkNwgzA9esrxi0bRz7wzKUJxFWajao8feXW1ReRC05xAOJnUGIFW-z2imf5WNZKbpwoO8ormd-IidcAvoo/s200/mac-preview.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>There are a lot of things I love about my Mac. But one of my favorites is Preview. Preview is a little application that comes pre-installed on every Mac computer. And it does so much more than just give you previews!<br />
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I use Preview to open and view graphic images.<br />
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I use Preview to open PDF files. I know, you can do it in Adobe Acrobat Reader. But I like Preview much more.<br />
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I use Preview to import from my scanner.<br />
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I use Preview to crop and do quick color adjustments to graphics.<br />
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And I thought I was using Preview for most of what it could do. But I was wrong. There is so much more Preview can do for you. Check out <a href="http://www.thinkmac.net/tutorials/2010/9/14/fun-with-preview-in-mac-os-x.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Thinkmac+%28ThinkMac+%26+Mac+Tips+Daily!%29">Fun With Preview in Mac OS X</a> for ten things you can do with Preview. Well, ten plus a bonus!Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-26675251475144240072011-03-31T12:43:00.000-04:002011-03-31T12:43:00.396-04:00E-mail SecurityWe've had a few breaches in e-mail around here lately. A couple of those were human error - people replied to a spam message and gave away critical access information. Others were folks who realized their e-mail was being used to send out numerous messages to everyone on their contact list about certain medical options to enhance aspects of their life. And NONE of these are good.<br />
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So what can you do?<br />
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First of all, never respond to a message and include critical account information. In this particular spam incident, people were asked to provide their e-mail address and their e-mail password. Thinking that they were writing to a system administrator, they did so. And suddenly strangers had full access to their accounts. It was quickly discovered and corrected. But a lesson was learned. If someone sends you an e-mail, they obviously already know your e-mail address! Why would they be asking for it again? And you should NEVER send your password to someone you don't know. The name on the e-mail was unknown, yet people were trusting. Just don't go down that road.<br />
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Next, if you have Gmail, Google is providing users with a <a href="http://mail.google.com/support/bin/static.py?hl=en&page=checklist.cs&tab=29488">Gmail Security Checklist</a>. This interactive checklist will walk you through 20 different items you can do to help keep your e-mail (and your computer) more secure. Each step has a brief explanation to help you understand why it is important and how to do it. You don't have to do all 20 at once...Google will track your progress so you can complete it over several sessions.<br />
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And you don't even have to have Gmail to benefit. Anyone can go through the steps and many of the things they suggest will apply to whatever computer, browser, software, or e-mail account you have.<br />
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A few minutes of your time is definitely better than the time it will take to resolve a security breach and to apologize to all your friends and co-workers for those invitations to purchase select pharmaceuticals.Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7397483391148984895.post-26318831942671762732011-03-30T09:31:00.000-04:002011-03-30T09:31:45.553-04:00A Springtime GardenIt really is spring. At least the calendar says so. The forecast for snow later this week isn't in agreement. But I know spring really will get here. And that means time to work in the garden!<br />
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For those of us who work with kids on the autism spectrum, gardening can offer some unique and fun learning opportunities. It doesn't matter if the garden is outdoors in a nice gardening space or just some containers filled with flowers, herbs and/or vegetables.<br />
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One interesting way to approach gardening is to create a sensory garden. Caitlin Wray of <a href="http://www.welcome-to-normal.com/">Welcome to Normal</a> recently wrote a post on just that topic. Her post was a guest column over at <a href="http://www.hartleysboys.com/2011/02/planning-simple-sensory-garden-by.html">Hartley's Life With 3 Boys</a>.<br />
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Caitlin's post provides some excellent suggestions for plantings that would help children explore all 8 senses - touch, vestibular, sight, smell, sound, proprioceptive, interoceptive, and of course, taste. The kids we work with can all use practice in exploring those senses. So check out Caitlin's post today!<br />
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By the way, both <a href="http://www.welcome-to-normal.com/">Welcome to Normal</a> and <a href="http://www.hartleysboys.com/">Hartley's Life With 3 Boys</a> are terrific blogs! So make sure you explore more than just that one post.Emil Hardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03620490192912064059noreply@blogger.com0