Shedding the MS Shackles with Open Office

As the end of the year draws near, I've decided to look back through the Tech Tips Blog posts to see if I left any glaring omissions that ought to be addressed before I draw the curtain on this enterprise.  And I found a big one. I realized that in all my previous posts I have made almost no mention of Open Office.

Open Office is a full-fledged office suite of applications which rivals Microsoft Office in its capabilities.  Furthermore Open Office is entirely open source, which means that it's free to download, use, and re-distribute. Open Office is a great alternative for those who don't want to fork over several hundred dollars on MS Office.  It's also a great choice for students going off to university.  When you consider that students can purchase a capable netbook or small laptop computer for $300 to $550, it's hard to justify having to spend $150 more on MicrosoftOffice, Home and Student.

Using Igeom to Examine Angle Relationships

I had a recent request from a grade nine math teacher who was wondering if I could suggest interactive geometry software to support the unit on circle geometry. (Unit 8 in the Pearson Math Makes Sense text).  A quick perusal of resources turned up Igeom, a free Java applet created in Brazil and available for download on the Internet.  Igeom is relatively easy to use after a bit of instruction, and it's extremely portable.  A teacher can put the applet on a network share (such as handouts) for students to access, or it's small enough that students can copy it to their home folders and run it from there.

More Photo Fun

Back in December I drew attention to bighugelabs.com, a website that allows the user to take a photo of herself and place it within a relatively professional-looking context: a magazine cover, CD cover, Andy Warhol pop-art poster, motivational poster and more.

This week my colleague Rob Geiger has passed on a few more web sites which perform similar magic.  Each has its own strengths - and weaknesses. Here's a run-down.

Capturing Streaming Audio in Audacity

One of the most rewarding things about working as an Elearning Catalyst Teacher is learning new technologies and new ways of using old technologies.  I'm sure some folks just assume we were born with the background required for the job, but in actual fact, we're frauds; most of the ideas we bring to the table we've learned from the teachers and students we work with.  So, credit for this Tech Tip goes to the students of Vanguard School, who showed it to my colleague Rob Geiger, who then passed it on to the rest of us.

Frequently, when students are creating a PowerPoint or other multimedia presentation, they want to accompany it with music.  All too often when we ask them if they have the song they want to use on hand, the answer is, "Yeah, right here on Youtube."  In the past, members of Elearning have advised students that incorporating streaming audio from the Internet into a PowerPoint presentation is simply too difficult to bother with.  This tech tip changes that.

Facebook Privacy - Revisited

Further to our previous posts on Facebook privacy, I recently encountered two web sites which allow users to automatically scan their Facebook privacy settings and correct those settings that present privacy risks.

• Reclaimprivacy.org provides scripts which examine a user's Facebook privacy settings.  To do this, the user creates a bookmark/favorite for the script link, then logs into Facebook and visits his/her privacy settings.  Clicking on the script bookmark then runs the scripts, which report any issues.  Users can then choose whether or not to correct the identified "problems."
• Saveface, a service from the folks at Untangle (the site-blocking software that you have no doubt had the occasion to swear at when it prevents you from visiting a web site at school) provides much the same service as reclaimprivacy.org.  Unfortunately, Saveface takes a no-holds-barred, heavy-handed approach similar to its parent (Untangle).  The scripts provide no opportunity for user intervention or input; they simply change all settings to "Friends Only." In my case, I had travel photos which were in no way of a personal nature; therefore, I had set these albums to "Everyone."  Saveface self-righteously assumed it knew better and changed these settings without asking for confirmation.

In short, I would recommend reclaimprivacy.org for folks who find navigating the labyrinth of Facebook privacy settings a bit intimidating.  

Saveface may have a place for parents to set their child's privacy settings quickly and easily; however, I think there is merit in going through privacy settings with your child so that he/she can gain an appreciation for what's involved.  For most users, I wouldn't recommend it.

Protecting Your Gmail Account

As cloud computing grows in popularity and we do more work with internet-based applications (such as Gmail and Google docs), the need for good security practices increases. Google’s suite of applications is just one of those incredibly useful sets of tools that makes cloud computing so attractive. Because all of Google’s applications are accessed using the same username and password (your Gmail account), if someone gets access to your Gmail account, then they have access to all your Google-based information. The best way to protect your account it to understand how someone might get your account information.

Gmail Adds Drag & Drop Images

Not that long ago, Google added the ability to add in-line images to Gmail messages.  Before that, users could only attach images to messages.

Now Google has enhanced Gmail's handling of images by allowing users to drag and drop images directly into the compose window.  Users can simply drag an image directly from a folder window into their message.  One word of caution, though.  Images should be re-sized to dimensions appropriate for displaying within an email before adding them to the compose window.

Saving Face - How to Manage Facebook in Your Life - Part 3, Kids and Facebook

In Part 1 of this series of articles, we examined the potential privacy risks involved in the social world that is Facebook.  In Part 2, we looked at taking control of Facebook's privacy controls.  In this, the third and final installment, we will examine how we can help our children and students navigate the Facebook universe safely.

Saving Face - How to Manage Facebook in Your Life - Part 2, Taking Control

In a previous post, we examined some of the reasons users should be concerned about their privacy - or lack thereof  - on Facebook. In this post, we will look at how to take control of your Facebook account.

The tutorial below examines the many security, privacy, and notification settings within the Facebook interface.  If you would like to watch this video in a larger format, you can watch it on Youtube.

Create Your Own Book in Wikipedia

Wikipedia has just introduced a "Book Creator" function which allows users to compile any selection of Wikipedia pages into a single book, which can then either be downloaded as a PDF file or printed as a physical book.  The feature is remarkably easy to use; a quick video tutorial run-down can be found here.  While the video emphasizes a physical book as the final product, creating a PDF file is even easier.

Saving Face - How to Manage Facebook in Your Life - Part 1, The Issues

When it comes to Internet Safety, one of the topics parents ask about most is Facebook.  Facebook provides people with a means of staying connected with friends and family, but it also serves up some major challenges to maintaining one's privacy.

Now, before you dismiss the contents of this post as a "kid's issue," think again.  A great number of adults who frequent Facebook could benefit from some of the information and tips that follow.  This is the first in a series of posts in which I will examine issues related to Facebook and other social networking sites.  In this post, we'll examine some of the privacy issues related to Facebook in particular.