The Power of Picasaweb

Picasaweb is a image uploading website similar to imgur, this website can be used to upload pictures from your computer into albums which can be public, private or shared with individual friends. Just press the upload button and pick what images you want and you'll be all set. The albums you create can be made into slideshows by pressing the slideshow button in the top left. You can also add captions to individual images that will be shown in slideshows. Since Picasaweb is cloud based, you can access your uploaded images from any computer with internet access, which is much less complicated than having to bring your computer with you to school, or storing images on a flash drive. With Picasaweb, a great image sharing website is just a few clicks away

Senior Project Audio Assistance!

Ever needed audio but have no way of getting it? In a tutorial video I walk you step by step through how to extract audio from Youtube videos. Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su1wK7iCQfQ

One Device

If I could only bring one device to school, it would undoubtedly be my iPhone 5. The iPhone is the most accesible, easy to use device that will connect you to pretty much anything.

The reason the iPhone 5 appeals to me so much is its accessibility. Just on my cellphone, I have email, Facebook, Twitter, the Pingree app, Youtube, games, internet browsing, Google Drive, music, and more, all in my pocket. I prefer the iPhone over my iPad because it is much smaller, so I don't have to take it out of my backpack to use it. The iPhone is perfect for day to day school life because its small, contains everything I need, and unlike laptops, has 4G (internet everywhere).

Let's talk about specs. The iPhone 5 has a 4-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display, with much more screen real estate than its predecessor, the iPhone 4s. The phones front facing camera shoots in 1080p while the back facing camera shoots 720p. The iPhone 5 also features the ability to take panorama photos. It has a built in rechargeable lithium-ion battery that I will admit, does not last as long as users would like. The phone features Apple's new "Lightning Charger" which is much easier to use than the previous charger. The screen displays beautiful graphics and is very responsive.

What are some of the cons of the iPhone 5? Well for starters, the price. If you have an upgrade available with your current cell provider, it will probably cost you around $100 or more. On top of that you have to pay monthly fees, and with any service provider it will cost you at least $25 a month for limited data access. The iPhone is also not very durable. I went out and bought an Otterbox protective case for mine, which does the job, but adds a considerable amount of bulk to the phone. 

In the end, the pros of the phone far outweigh the cons. The iPhone can connect me to anything anywhere, and is the perfect tool for school.

VoiceThread

VoiceThread - Conversations in the cloud. VoiceThread is a fantastic tool for students to engage and learn with each other, from anywhere. It is a website where people can communicate with large groups of people while discussing certain topics that everyone is learning about. You no longer have to be in a classroom at a certain time or place, all you have to do is have your computer and learn whenever and wherever you want. VoiceThread allows students to talk and communicate with each other online. Also, a teacher can teach an entire lesson online as well. For example, if there was a class on the Boston Red Sox, the teacher of that class would be able to create the entire course on VoiceThread. One day, the teacher could upload a photo of the Red Sox in 2007 winning the championship and record his voice and list the roster for that slide for everyone to hear. Then, students would be able to write or speak their reactions to the Red Sox winning in 2007 for the rest of the class to hear. VoiceThread is a great tool that allows students to go to class, on the computer.

My One Device ----- The Nexus 7

If i had one device that i would take to school everyday it would be my nexus 7.

The google android tablet is of a 7 inch form factor, that runs stock, pure Android. Because of this you know that you will always be at the very latest version of android. being able to smash bugs very quickly because google is on your side.

The price point? 200 dollars. extremely affordable. at school i can connect a bluetooth keyboard to it and use it to type in class, or study Quizlet cards.

It is also designed for google apps, so unlike iPhones or iPads it is designed to work with Pingrees' google apps subscription. Every single Google App is built in to the Nexus 7 natively. No third party software to download!

My One Device

If I could only bring one device to school, I would choose my Macbook pro. Its just the standard macbook pro, so its nothing amazing, but it gets the job done. Its great for doing homework if I need to, but it is also great for playing games, watching videos, and listening to music if I have all my work done.

The Macbook is a great computer for doing almost anything you would need to do on a standard basis, and while it may not have as much gaming ability, it is much better for doing standard operations in my opinion.

I almost decided on my Iphone 4s for this prompt, but I didn't choose that because all I really use it for in school is to check schedule and email.

My One Device

If could have only one device to bring to school, I would take a MacBook Air.  Now I'm not talking about the base model (the 11" screen, 64GB flash storage, and 2GB of memory.)  I'm talking abut the 13" screen, 128GB flash storage, and 4GB of memory model.  Now if you are concerned on price like I am, you would probably scour the internet looking for a great deal.  This can get pretty frustrating, because saving about $300 on a new or refurbished MacBook isn't easy.  But enough about money, I want to tell you why I chose this device.

Deciding wether to pick my smartphone (Nokia Lumia 900) or the MacBook Air was quite difficult.  Now my cellphone is extremely portable, and acts as a mini-computer (like most smartphones and tablets try to do.)  But my MacBook Air can complete tasks so much faster, and it has a keyboard so you don't rely on autocorrect for every other word you type on a mobile device.  In the end, I chose the MacBook Air due to the fact that it is much more powerful than my smartphone, and it is still very portable (around 2 pounds.)  One specific thing that made me confused on what to pick, was that my cellphone was the only device that can text--or so I thought.

I recently was researching to see if you could send SMS messages to any cellphone on a Mac.  It turns out I completely forgot about a mac app that I never use: iChat.  It's very easy, just sign in using your AIM, me.com, Mac.com, Jabber, Google Talk, or Yahoo account.  Then click on file, click on "Send SMS," and type in the cellphone you want to text with a "+1" at the beginning and you'll be able to send your message. (Click HERE for further instructions)

All in all, I chose the MacBook Air as the one device I would bring to school because it is more powerful than my cellphone or tablet, yet it is still very portable.

Diigo!

    Are you tired of doing internet research for a project at home, and then coming to school and forgetting the websites you used? Do you still want to have to write down notes of what’s on your screen on paper? Is having your bookmarks bar filled to the brink really annoying? Well, Diigo fixes all of those inconveniences. Diigo is basically one super powered bookmark that will make a student’s typical day much easier. Diigo is an internet application that enables an endless amount of webpages to be stored on it for future use. Then, to make the webpage easier to find for yourself,  you simply click the Diigo icon, and tag the webpage as a simpler name so you’ll remember it. For example, if I am doing a paper on the causes of the French Revolution, I can tag the webpage “10 Reasons Why the French Revolution Happened” as simply, “Causes." Therefore, making the webpage a lot easier to find on my computer. Also, another cool feature of Diigo is that you can take notes on the actual webpage! Simply click the sticky feature and you can paraphrase and annotate, without using paper or pen! Also, you can highlight important pieces of information with the Diigo highlighter. Lastly, is that Diigo allows the sharing of documents throughout a group of people. So, if I want to share a great web page with people in my group for a project, I simply share it on Diigo, and my group can see my notes and annotations instantly. In conclusion, Diigo is a simple, yet powerful tool. Try it!

http://www.diigo.com

My One Device

My One Device

If I were to bring one device to school, it would definitely be my macbook laptop.  It is perfect for getting your work done in class or just watching videos and listening to music during free period. It's a great laptop that can get the job done.

We always have work. Unfortunately, the laptops in the laptop cart get taken pretty quickly. So, having a personal laptop is great incase you don't get a laptop. Now, when laptops from the laptop cart are not available, I still have access to things like google docs at all times. So, I always can finish my work when I need too.

Also, you can use a laptop to play games and listen to music when you have no work to do. Just plug in some headphones, sit back, and relax.

In conclusion, my macbook is an extremely helpful tool for a combination of working and having fun.

My One Device

If I had only one device, I would choose my Samsung Galaxy Tab because it has a little bit of everything.  It has enough memory to store my music, movies, and even games, but also is a more portable device I can use for school work.  I have already used the device to write some papers, and it has the ability to sync the document to many online storage sites such as Dropbox and Google Drive.

The speakers are great for listening to music and watching movies, although using headphones is generally advised so that people in the surrounding area are not distracted.  If only a couple of people want to listen, turning the speaker volume down typically works.  Just like for many devices, applications are available for digital instruments and other entertainment purposes.  A music application I often use is Pandora Radio because it allows me to create a station based on a kind of music I listen to.

One feature I don't often use is the ability for the device to hold digital books.  Some people prefer reading real books, but if the book is on the device then you can take your music and your books with you wherever you go.  Some classic books are free, but others require payment of about $5.

As far as school work goes, there are great applications that will help.  There are some that allow you to make flashcards, some allow you to leave notes on the screen, others allow you to create a task list with items that can be crossed off when completed.  Overall, this device will provide you the ability to do just about anything.