You know the drill, you’re sitting at your computer, using Gmail, and need to go to another message but your mouse is way over there. Ugh, lifting your hand is such a pain. What if I told you there was a way to navigate and manage Gmail almost entirely by the keyboard? Would you believe…
When Gmail was first released, Google pushed really hard to get people to think past folders. Gmail used Labels, with the prime distinction that an email could have multiple labels at the same time. Much like tags, this ability allows you to organize your information in a variety of ways. Using the Add here function lets…
New Tools for Interactive Fiction and Engaged Writing | Edutopia Students were using interactive fiction tools to reimagine American Revolution battles as text-based adventures, written from the second-person perspective. Interactive fiction is essentially a computer-based version of Choose Your Own Adventure books, in which the reader has agency regarding a story’s multiple, threaded outcome. I…
The Most Dangerous Writing App is a web based applications for writing a rough draft. What sets it apart from other writing apps is the fact that if you stop writing for more than 5 seconds, everything is deleted. Using the app is simple, select a time limit for the writing session and hit start. …
Reddit is a curious beast. It’s an online discussion forum where people can congregate around particular topics. Although I would be cautious using Reddit with students (the language and topics can most definitely be inappropriate), teachers may find it a good resource to find answers to tough questions or to catch up on news. Here…
Wikipedia has a built in feature to create ebooks directly from the website. This is a great way to curate information for your class and distribute in a format that can be read offline or on various handheld devices. To get started, head to Wikipedia and look on the left side of the screen under…
It’s been almost two years since I last posted about Pocket, and it’s still a very important tool in my arsenal today. Pocket is a service that can save articles from the web for you in a format that’s easy to read. I use Pocket in a couple of different ways: to save longer articles…
Amazon released a new Kindle this week, the Oasis. At 3.4MM thick and 4.6 ounces in weight, it is over half the weight of an iPad mini and almost 50% thinner (44.3% if you want to be pendantic). The downside is that it is $290. But, who buys a black and white Kindle? Readers I…
A student showed me this video this week in their presentation over the Intel 8088. I had now idea IBM had a portable computer like this available in 1977. Storage consisted of 204KB tapes. Amazing how far we’ve come in 40 years.
When you visit wttr.in, you get a nice console looking weather display. The site tries to geolocate your position from your IP address, but for some reason it brings up Kenton, United Kingdom for me. You can place a zip or locate in the address and it will pull that location’s weather. A neat way…