via sports.yahoo.com
A double without the ball ever hitting the ground--watch now!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Evolution of Microsoft Windows: 1985 – 2009 | Tools
via hongkiat.com
For all those people that think Windows is still hard to use--take a look at the evolution of Windows!!! Also a great way to show school-age kids what they missed!!!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Revision3 > Tekzilla Daily Tip > Episode 447: Personalized Movie Recommendations - computer, tip, Trick
via revision3.com
Try out Nanocrowd for personalized movie recommendations!
Welcome to Camtweet! Share live video on Twitter.
What is Camtweet?
Camtweet lets you share live video on Twitter.
How do I use Camtweet?
You can use any standard webcam or screen capture software.
How do I create an account?
If you have a Twitter account then you already have a Camtweet account, just login to Camtweet with your Twitter username and password and you are all set.
If you don't have a Twitter account you can sign up for one for free at Twitter.com.
via camtweet.com
Saturday, September 26, 2009
CERIAS - Integration of Information Security into K-12 Standards & Curriculum
Integration of Information Security into K-12 Standards & Curriculum
There is an alarming shortage of information security and information technology professionals in the state of Indiana and nationwide. In addition, as computer use continues to grow, children without a basic knowledge of information security issues can set themselves up to become victims and perpetrators of very serious and dangerous crimes.At CERIAS, we believe that the solution to these problems begins early. Integrating information security lesson plans into the K-12 curriculum and aligning them with state and national standards will help alleviate the shortage by increasing the skills of the entire future workforce; likewise, it will promote cross-curricular studies and real-world problem-solving. Integrating security topics into the curriculum will also help address issues of online safety, critical literacy, and transfer of ethical behavior to the online environment.
Integration of Information Security Resources
- K-5 Information Security Curriculum
We have designed a series of activities designed specifically for students in grades K-5. Concerned with subjects such as ethics, password creating and usage, and instant messaging, these materials are aligned with standards found in the current Indiana curriculum requirements for grades K-5. CERIAS staff members, experienced in K-12 education and information security issues, are available to help facilitate the lessons or to work with groups of teachers on strategies for implementing the lessons. For more information, please email us at k-12@cerias.purdue.edu.
- Middle School Information Security
Two surveys concerned with information security literacy were given to almost 500 middle and 9th grade students in three schools in Indiana-two rural middle schools and one urban high school. The results of this survey led to the creation of lessons and activities geared toward the needs of middle school students. The lesson plans and materials, "Your Guide to Safe Surfing: Learning about the Internet" is aligned with state and national science, math, history, technology, and language arts standards.
Mouse Gestures Redox :: Home
What are mouse gestures?
Mouse Gestures are a fast way to execute commands without using the keyboard, menus or toolbars. Instead, the user holds down a mouse button (usually the right one), moves the mouse in a certain way to form a gesture, then releases the mouse button.
In web browsers like Mozilla Firefox or SeaMonkey, gestures are used to go back or forward a page, switch between tabs, open multiple links at once, control text or image size, and numerous other functions.
However, gestures are in no way limited to browsers: the Mouse Gestures extension also supports Mozilla Thunderbird and Mail and News (SeaMonkey's built-in email client).
Install Mouse GesturesMouse Gesture examples
Below is a selection of the wide range of gesture functions. All screen shots were taken with the optional feature "mouse trails" enabled, to illustrate how the mouse was moved. Mouse trails are not available on all systems!
Back (Left):
Goes back a page in the browsing history.Forward (Right):
Goes one page forward in the browsing history.Close Tab (Down-Right):
Closes the active tab.New Tab (Up):
Opens the link crossed by the gesture in a new tab. If there is no such link, an empty tab is opened.New Window (Down):
Opens the link crossed by the gesture in a new browser window. If there is no such link, an empty window is opened.Open links in tabs (end with Right-Up-Left):
Making any gesture ending with a straight Right-Up-Left movement opens all crossed links in tabs.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Web Browser Faceoff: Mozilla Firefox vs. Google Chrome
We’ve had some pretty close races lately in our Lunchtime Poll feature, which got us thinking of the obvious question: which one of these contestants would win in a fantasy fight?
So we decided to pit some of these services and software head-to-head in a knock-down, drag-out cage match. There may even be jello involved. We’re asking you, dear readers, to cast your vote for the ultimate winner in this 1 v. 1 battle each week, for as long as we can keep the worthy contestants coming. Read on to vote in this week’s match!
No poll was closer than the Favorite Web Browser question earlier this month. The two victors far out ahead of the long tail were incumbent favorite Mozilla Firefox (
) and relatively new challenger Google Chrome (
). This week’s Faceoff pits these two browsers against each other for ultimate fame and glory.
Firefox (
) is armed with an unmatched extension architecture for power users to tweak and modify to their heart’s content. But all those add-ons tend to slow things down — will Chrome’s (
) relative speed give it the edge? Or is the lack of an official Chrome for Mac going to hold that browser back in the 10th round?
Cast your vote below until noon EST on Friday September 25th, and be sure to let us know your reasoning in the comments. We’ll recap the results later this week and start a new Faceoff next week.
Thank you for voting!Mozilla Firefox 53% (1,737 votes)Google Chrome 36% (1,189 votes)Tie. It's simply too close to call. 10% (343 votes)Total Votes: 3,269
Who would win in a fight: Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome?(poll)
via mashable.com
Not a race at all as far as I am concerned--Firefox extensions make the browser the most customizable piece of software I have!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Classroom2.0--ePortfolios
Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
Classroom2.0
View more presentations from Helen Barrett.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Are our training efforts helping educators or enabling codependence? - Dangerously Irrelevant
« Teen sexting: I failed my own information literacy test | Main | Tomorrow is Leadership Day 2009! »
Are our training efforts helping educators or enabling codependence?
I had a Twitter discussion the other night with Jim Twetten, who’s the Assistant Director for Academic Technologies here at Iowa State University and also has quickly become one of my ‘go to’ people on campus.
Jim took exception to the fact that I had poked fun at the ‘Learn about Facebook’ training session that ISU was offering to faculty. I replied that I was concerned that we never seem to hold folks accountable for being self-learners. After all, Facebook isn’t an extraordinarily difficult tool to learn how to use. Most intelligent people (which university faculty generally are) could figure out much of it if they just sat down and messed around for 30 minutes or so. And of course the same applies to blogs, wikis, and many other technologies. They’ve gotten so simple that the learning curve just isn’t that steep anymore.
And yet many educators (K-12 teachers and administrators, postsecondary faculty, etc.) still are extremely unwilling to just sit down and try stuff. Our digital learners, of course, have little hesitancy when it comes to clicking on things just to see what they’ll do. That willingness to probe, investigate, and experiment helps them learn and master the tools.
As someone who does a lot of training and professional development for school administrators, I wonder how much I’m facilitating codependence. In many job sectors, employees are expected to keep up with relevant technologies or risk job loss. When do we require that of K-12 and postsecondary educators? At what point do we say to them “No, we’re not training you how to use this. It’s easy enough for you to learn on your own. And if you don’t, we’ll find someone else who can.”
It’s a fine line between helping and codependence. And when it comes to educator technology training, I’m not sure we’re always on the right side of that line…
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Posted by Scott on July 10, 2009 in Staff Development, Tech Tools | Permalink
Technorati Tags: academia, academic, administration, administrator, administrators, assistant principals, CASTLE, codependence, college, colleges, digital learners, digital natives, district, districts, edublog, edublogosphere, edublogs, education, educational administration, educational leadership, educational technology, educational technology leadership, Facebook, higher education, Iowa, Iowa State, Iowa State University, ISU, Jim Twetten, leaders, leadership, leadership development, leadership preparation, leadership training, learners, learning, McLeod, postsecondary, principal, principals, professional development, professional development, school, school administration, school administrator, school administrators, school districts, school leaders, school principals, school superintendents, schools, Scott McLeod, scottmcleod, self-learning, staff development, student, students, superintendent, superintendents, teacher, teachers, teaching, technology, technology coordinators, technology integration, technology leadership, technology training, training, training, Twetten, Twitter, UCEA, universities, university
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Comments
View the entire comment thread.1Jay D. Bennett said...Amen and Hallelujah! As one of the designated "techie" guys at my company, I can't tell you the number of times that I've been asked to teach others in my same job how to use technology that I taught myself. I don't have a degree in tech, I haven't taken hours of courses, I just enjoy it and figure out what I want to do and how it works and how it applies and I just go. And you can bet that I am teaching my own kids the same way, here's a little guidance, now go and figure it out. There's a lot to be said about being able to teach yourself and I think we are doing a disservice to our kids, students, and coworkers by stepping in and practically doing it for them.
2Larry F. said...We struggle with this, too. It drives me crazy to repeat basic skills trainings to teachers. I am starting to offer one training and then no more. I am asking the teachers to read the directions and figure it out. That said, some teachers use the lack of training as a convenient excuse for not changing or learning. I constantly balance getting things done with enabling. If anyone has the magic formula, please share.
3ShellTerrell said...Scott,
You bring up great points! I tweet your posts for my Tweeps & feel as if I talk to the ones that already try to learn the technologies and are willing to learn more. I wonder sometimes how to reach the ones at my school who are too afraid of having any information online.I think webinars and events like the Leadership day help involve teachers in the learning process. To show my PLN how to use SecondLife for Twitter we have organized a newby field trip on Saturday. We have several newcomers to this event and mentors. This is a fun way for teachers to learn a technology that takes a lot of time to learn, but has wonderful educational value for the digital natives we teach. Here are the details: http://bit.ly/3uRGrB
4Susan McClements said...I teach computer applications at the college level. The "digital learners" in my class think they know "everything" about computers. However, this last year I incorporated a lot of Web 2.0 tools into the course, wikis, blogs, Delicious, RSS, Google apps, etc. For most of these students, all the Web 2.0 apps, except for Facebook, were "new" tools. Some of my administrators at the college, think that computer applications is not necessary at the post-secondary level, but I believe that there still is a need to train these students to effectively use these Web 2.0 tools.
5Sharon Elin said...What a driving question for anyone planning staff development sessions! The "how to" portion of any workshop should be only about 25% of the time; the other 75% should focus on pedagogy and how best to use the app instructionally to enhance the students' learning.
Best practices are not the same thing as being proficient with a tech tool. And you're right. Teachers are totally able to learn "how" on their own. What they need support for, really, is the "why" and "what next" questions regarding the use of the applications and tools in their classrooms.
We also need to promote teachers' use of each other as professional networks for resources and knowledge/skill pools. Once teachers are committed to a PLN, they will be encouraged to become and remain lifelong, self-taught learners who know how and whom to ask for help if they need it.
6edtechapalooza.wordpress.com said...Scott,
I think your points are dead-on. As someone who provides similar training to teachers, I agree that many of these tools shouldn't need special training sessions. One case in point, the document camera. I spent 10 minutes at a staff meeting at each school...done. However, as some have mentioned, information on 'best practice' for these tools in the classroom are necessary. This info is provided in a number of different ways.
For most, the luxury of time to "sit down and mess around" just isn't going to happen unless they are in a training session. One model we have tried with success is a rotation of sessions (ie. presentation tools, PLN tools, IWB info) that all staff cycle through and then 1.5 hours at the end of the rotations for staff to select which sessions to go back to for deeper exploration and assistance with planning for classroom use. Our teachers have really enjoyed this format and it helps to address the 'one size fits all' frustration many feel with all kinds professional development and training.
7concretekax said...You make some great points. I think many teachers are like some honor roll students in my class: they only care about their GPA and will jump through any hoop for their A. But as soon as I give them an open-ended problem with multiple solutions they panic and want me to solve it for them. They excel at following the rules and are great at "tradiional" learning of textbooks, questions, and tests.
Many teachers were good students and actually like the structure of NCLB telling them exactly what to teach (although they would never admit it even to themselves). They like to teach from sterile textbooks because they are organized and structured.
So... when told to use technology and to actually figure out how to themselves, they are lost. Just like the grade-caring student they have rarely been challenged to think. I was this kind of student to a degree and have since learned a lot about problem-solving and thinking from working construction. My boss would challenge me to figure out how to pour concrete in varied situations as every job was different and there was no textbook on what to do.
That is why many teachers resist figuring things out for themselves. That is how their school experience taught them and probably how they teach their own students: spoon-feeding everything.
8Doug Johnson said...Hi Scott,
I think you miss the point about "tech training." If it is good, it's not about how to push the buttons (one CAN teach that to oneself), but how to use the technology for educational purposes and its ramification for education. I would vote for a class on "Facebook" if using the tool for the broader instructional purpose was the outcome.
You can't just teach a person how to drive a car. You have to teach them to read a map as well.
Hope this makes sense...
Doug
9lhagen said..."That willingness to probe, investigate, and experiment helps them learn and master the tools." If classroom teachers aren't willing to do this, then how can they expect their students to be willing to do it? Frankly, I'm tired of attending technology training in my district. I'm usually more familiar with the app than the trainer because I've already figured it out for myself. My principal signed me up for podcast training before we left for summer break. I spent the time updating my Shelfari site. I agree with Sharon Elin that it's the "why" component that is missing in many of these training events. I'd love it if my district planned "sharing sessions" instead of training.
10mrsdurff said..."...employees are expected to keep up wh relevant technologies or risk job loss. When do we require that of K-12 and postsecondary educators?" YES!! And for my PA certification I, and every other educator, must accumulate a bunch of training hours. Why not learn something?
11mrsdurff said in reply to Doug Johnson...Indeed Doug! Some of us had to learn how to use tech tools in the classroom on our own too. I wonder why some have done so and some refuse to do so?
12Stephen C. Veliz said...I appreciate your post Scott, and I've asked the same question about my small training sessions on tech issues at my own school. I come to the conclusion that I'm willing to accept the role of enabler if I can get some of our teachers to use the tools. If it were not for our trainings, the issue would not be that teachers would not be willing to work through issues on their own. They would probably not even attempt using the technology.
13Roger Whaley said...I am interested in and worried about the amazing LACK of curiosity many people have. I think Doug is right on when he says it is not about pushing the buttons, but about what tech can do for you and how you can use it.
I also am amused when I run into a kid that thinks he knows everything about tech because of his birthdate. Susan is right. Effective use of Web 2.0.
We need some of each kind of training... some button pushing and some creativity. We do need to be told what technology is out there and what it does and how to do it. Musicians call this "building technic." Yes, you may be able to do some of that for yourself. But it goes much faster if someone can show you. We also need to see what some of the creative uses are for inspiration. What have others done with this software? What is a classic use? When is this a good choice?
I think some people are still worried about breaking something when it comes to computers. It is actually pretty hard to break a computer without dropping it in the fish tank or backing over it with the car. Bad keystrokes or bad clicks aren't going to do it.
When I run into a tentative tech student, I start talking about my attitude. If a technology isn't behaving the way it should while I am working with it, I get excited because I am about to learn something. (I think Madeline Hunter would call that anticipatory set.) When you get to that stage it is OK to poke around a bit. It is very hard to break a computer, so why not? What's the worst that can happen? It is already not working right... I am often surprised at how this helps the tentative over the hump.
We do need to follow-up so that these people work at it enough to make it work for themselves. If the tentative know no one is looking, they may give up way too soon. Tough to balance that follow-up without enabling.
14Jim Twetten said...Scott poses some excellent questions, as always. While technology races forward (and some of us with it), I'm forever struggling with how to help those who, to varying degrees, struggle to keep up.
To the very specific incident that Scott refers to at the top (Facebook seminar), we had quite a bit of (surprising) demand for that. And almost to a person, the requestors expressed concern over privacy and identity theft issues as the main thing holding them back from "diving in." I can't fault them for that -- they see students and other fearless technology users dive in without those concerns and some fall victim, sometimes in very public ways. So part of the "training" is imparting an understanding of safe practices and, yes -- a "how to" on security parameters and settings.
15Chris said in reply to concretekax...concretekax, your observations are spot-on. Many want a list to follow, step 1, 2, 3 and so on. Just like chapters 1, 2, 3, etc. provide the structure of the class for them.
Thanks for your comment. Doesn't solve the problem, but it does give me a reference point for those like that with whom I work.
Scott, thanks for this post. Very timely it seems.
16Louise Maine said...Love this post. I ran two sessions this week with learners of all abilities. In the Google maps/earth segment, I showed the basic tools on the screen and quickly how to maneuver/add information. then I let them go to complete tasks. It is obvious that it is not done like this as they were unsure what to do. In the end though, they liked the opportunity to learn this way. It is unfortunate that it is a foreign way to learn for teachers and that some cannot jump right into it. As a teacher who has taught herself most of what I know and then built a PLN of people much smarter than me, I bristle when teachers tell me that they don't have time to play with the tools. We all have the same 24 hours, how do you fill yours? Anyone who knows me, knows I have my hands into a lot of things, so please give me a break. I choose to spend it differently, I choose to be a learner and not wait for someone else to fill me up.
17CatTail Mom said...I have many colleagues who take pride in seldom using email - particularly of the "reply all" variety - or knowing how to copy-and-paste in Word. This attitude is heartily encouraged by the administration. The catch phrase is "Just pick up the phone."
The question of "Are we creating dependence?", then, is too far removed from my experience to be relevant. I don't know if this is true in other work sites and professions, as well, but I suspect it might be.
18Stu said...I discussed this recently in an article "Lifelong Learning is Not a 9 to 5 Job". http://paralleldivergence.com/2009/06/14/lifelong-learning-is-not-a-9-to-5-job/
19Chris Lindholm said...This is a topic that resonates in many aspects of leadership. I responded with a focus on technolgy for Leadership Day 2009, but would enjoy some dialogue regarding other realms of leadership! Thanks Scott for throwing out your reflections - it's great fodder form professional growth. Here's my post:
20Kelly Tenkely said...Scott,
I think you hit the nail on the head here. It isn't that a tool is especially difficult and requires training. It is an unwillingness to learn. There needs to be an expectation that teachers learn independently. We expect this of our students. We don't sit down and explain every little aspect of their learning. There comes a point when we expect them to take the knowledge they have and use it to construct new knowledge. This expectation should hold for teachers!21Barry said...Great post. Two thought here:
1) We would never tell our students, especially the younger one when say, learning how to read or to do complex math..."I'm dissapointed because you couldn't figure it out yourself.". On the contrary, we work very hard to help the newbies and the delayed learners master the skill with a lot of 1:1 attention. After all it is easy for the teacher because they can read!
I'm not necessarily defending those who are willing to push themsleves. I too often get frustrated because many of the teachers whom I train don't "get it" as fast I I'd hope them to. After all, I do right? But they aren't me. I need to remind myself to have patience and what I might consider to be "so easy" is truly a major conceptual leap for them.
2) I think this was mentioned in a comment above. Almost more important than the training listed above is the follow up for how this tool can be used for better learning. So what if they know how to wiki or Podcast or ning or wordle....how do they use it better and more powerful than what they are doing now?
That requires a good teacher and a good technologist. I guess a teachnologist?
22Carl Anderson said in reply to concretekax...I think Deci's work on motivation is relevant here. In schools we place, in many instances, devices that turn what should be naturally an intrinsically motivated behavior into one that is extrinsically motivated. How many students would enjoy art classes or literature classes more if they did not have to worry about their grade? When did teachers have to have a training session to keep up with technology effecting their profession? How can we take back intrinsic motivation for technology PD? Clearly the carrot and stick approaches don't work for reasons of motivation. Both the carrot and the stick render anything they are applied to as being governed by extrinsic reasons.
23Doug said...Very interesting post. I've been working to support K-12 teachers in technology (and I am a career K-12 teacher myself) for over a decade. I agree that it seems we ought to expect college degree professionals to be able to learn many of the simple new web-based applications on their own. Someone at lunch today, during a discussion of upcoming IT training for the next school year, mentioned how teachers love to have detailed written documentation to supplement the live training sessions. I frequently hear this and I have spent umpteen hours with screenshots creating the "manual" that goes with my training. I think this also may be a form of co-dependency: why can't the trainees use the help system provided by all applications as their documentation? Maybe that is one of the first things we need to train teachers in: how to learn computer applications on their own and use documentation provided online to get answers to their questions.
24John said...I'm encouraged and inspired by this good post and all the comments to offer a course on teaching yourself how to think with the Web. A teacher asked me the other day about something and I said, "google 'this and that,'" and you'll get your answer. She thought I was giving her a list. It was a surprise to her that the search engine might actually hold the answer to a question like that.
Workshops hopefully are evolving to include the impacts and benefits on pedagogy. But it's still difficult to get there to that, then the buttons, mouse clicking, etc. is still preventing the tool to be used at all.
Codependence is a real problem and it's perpetuated every day by folks who do their business in non-digital, more "comfortable" ways. Doing something with a computer of course doesn't always equate to the better or more efficient way of doing something. Yet, the role digital technologies will play in the adult lives of today's kindergartners is so profound that we have to honestly ask why we remain so fixated on paper. There are profound benefits to digital media (copy, distribute, re-mix, publish). When the tools to work and learn with these tools exist (you have access to them in your schools), we ought to be exploring them in lieu of deploring them.
I'll still provide support for my teachers with online tutorials, but my face time with them will be dedicated towards best practices and discussions in using digital tools in meaningful ways that promote higher-order cognition and engaged learners.
25Tracy Rosen said...Maybe it's the title of the training that needs to be changed. Learn about Facebook sounds like a bobo course and a waste of everyone's time. But Facebook and Privacy Issues doesn't.
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Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
VideoTutorialZone | Home
Welcome to The Zone...
...a Video Professor for Tech Geeks. here you will find a collection of free video tutorials with no strings attached. All high quality instructional videos for the upper crust of the tech world. You will never see a video here called 'How to Use EBay', but you might find 'How to write an automated last-minute bidding script for EBay'. You won't find a video called 'Using Front Page', but you might find 'Fundamentals of XAML'.
As we continue to add videos here, if you have any special requests, please let us know, for our To-Do list. If you have any questions about anything you have seen here, please take the time to post them in our forums so your questions can serve to help others as well. If you represent a company that would like for us to make tutorials for your product or service, contact us.
Finally, as you browse our videos, please take the time to rate them and comment on them so that others can benefit from the collective experience.
How to Create a PC Network Workgroup - For Dummies
A workgroup is nothing more than a collection of computers on a network. By isolating larger networks into workgroups, you can more easily access other computers. Your computer must belong to a workgroup if you want to easily access other computers in that workgroup. To join a workgroup, simply specify its name:
via dummies.com
Monday, September 14, 2009
19 Free Web Services That Keep Saving You Money - PC World
Sifting through all of the free sites and services available on the Web, you've probably come up with some favorites, such as instant messaging tools or video streaming sites like Hulu. Those are great, but what about freebies that displace something for which you usually pay? Think beyond free antivirus software and other no-cost PC utilities--how would you like free long-distance calling, MP3 downloads, e-books, and text messaging? I'll show you how to score those and more.
Some of these offerings, such as free services for making and receiving faxes, are for an introductory level of a paid product. Others are ad-supported or public services. But each one is a compelling way to get something, for free, that ordinarily costs you money. In many cases you'll get just as much as what you used to pay for--or more.
Make Free Long-Distance Calls
Sure, you can voice-chat around the world through Skype and other services. But Talkster lets you reach out and touch an actual telephone in addition to online calling options.
Free long-distance and international calls are worth putting up with a couple drawbacks. The service requires you to perform a convoluted dialing procedure: It gives you a special local number to reach a faraway friend, and your pal gets a local number too. You dial your local number, after which you have 10 seconds to tell your buddy to call back on their local number. You stay on the line and wait while they hang up and dial back.
You might hear an ad while waiting to connect again, but the two of you can talk as long as you want after the hook-up is complete. I thought calls sounded good, although one call recipient questioned the quality.
Send and Receive Faxes, No Fees Involved
Do you need to send faxes just once in a while? Ditch the fax machine and the trips to Kinko's, and use free-to-try online services such as Qipit and FaxZero.
Qipit lets you send up to five faxes each week for free. You can upload JPEG images or even send them directly from a camera phone. Free faxes include a header banner that mentions Qipit.
FaxZero limits you to two faxes of three pages each day, and its transmissions include a FaxZero-branded coversheet. But instead of sending images, FaxZero takes PDFs and Word documents, making it a better choice for PC-based use.
You can even cancel your dedicated incoming fax line and have people send physical faxes to you online. eFax Free handles everything, digitizing faxes and routing them to your e-mail account. You get a free phone number that is connected to eFax and is always listening for incoming calls.
eFax Free has a few limitations, however. You don't get to pick an area code for the incoming number, and you can't receive more than 100 pages each month. Plus, you have to read faxes in an eFax application, in its proprietary .efx format. (Paying subscribers can select an area code, receive more faxes, and read them as PDFs.) But for moderate use, eFax Free works well.
Videoconference for Free
Most chat and videoconferencing programs are free when your conversation remains between two people, but they charge you to add more. Instant messaging and videoconferencing tool TokBox blasts past that limitation, restricted only by your bandwidth.
Since TokBox interfaces with your camera through the browser, click Allow and Close to give permission.When you begin a videoconference in TokBox, you can automatically add contacts who are on AIM, Yahoo Messenger, and other supported services. Even better, however, your contacts can join the videoconference in a Web browser, just by following a URL. They don't need to install an application, and the TokBox Web site automatically interfaces with each PC's Webcam. Just start a conference, and click Invite, Share Link to get the URL.Make Free Conference Calls
Running a meeting on a shoestring? Just want to organize a family call across the country? Rondee provides free conference calls for up to 50 people, and it offers several great extras.
You can launch a conference call immediately, simply by notifying your participants and giving them a Rondee PIN. But if you plan a call in advance, the service will send calendar-compatible e-mail invitations (with all call-in details) and make a list of replies. It'll even provide a nonspeaking access code, too, so that you can invite people to listen but not talk.
You can activate voice recording for calls planned in advance, as well. After everyone hangs up, participants receive e-mail instructions for downloading the meeting as an MP3 file.
Use a No-Cost Directory-Assistance Service
Does your mobile phone carrier gouge you for directory-assistance calls? Instead of dialing 411, try Google 411. Dial 800/466-4411 (800/GOOG-411). The voice-recognition tool looks up numbers, addresses, nearby businesses, and more for free.
Next: Free Services for Taking Notes, Working With Files, and Grabbing E-Books and MP3s
via pcworld.com
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Lifestream Backup :: Home
Backup Your Lifestream In Case...
- Your Facebook account gets hacked, or they lose your data.
- Your Photobucket password is compromised.
- Your Twitter account is hacked.
- Gmail has a mass email deletion.
- Gmail goes down.
- You lose 4,400 Flickr photos that you don't have backed up elsewhere.
- Your Flickr account is permanently deleted.
- Your Youtube account is deleted.
- Your Google Docs are edited by the wrong person.
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Lifestream--what happens if your Web 2.0 info disappears?
Thursday, September 10, 2009
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