Dropbox, Google Drive and other cloud storage services provide a sync client for desktops and laptops. The software keeps changes in sync between all of the computers that are logged into the account, along with changes in the cloud. For example, you can edit a document on your laptop, and those changes will be reflected…
By default, Chrome (and Firefox) tries to expand the tabs in the browser to accommodate enough of the title of the page so you can see it. Sometimes though, you don’t need the title. For example, your Gmail tab will have the Gmail icon and then the name of the label you are currently viewing…
Trello is a free project management service that could work very well in the classroom. The organization of Trello consists of the following parts, starting with actionable items: Cards A card is an item to be completed. Checklists, documents, pictures, etc. can be attached to a card to help you complete the item. Each card…
CloudConvert promises to convert anything to anything. While this is a little misleading (for example, you can’t convert a .zip file to an .mp4), it does support 206 different file formats. How it works is that you select a file, say you have a .mobi ebook that you would like to convert to .epub to…
Available for Chrome and Firefox, Nimbus Screenshot (Nimbus Screen Capture under Firefox) is another option for capturing screen shots from your browser. There are several options on what can be captured: It also allows you to edit the screenshot much like Skitch: Once you are finished editing the screen shot, you can download the image…
As part of the White House’s ConnectED initiative Safari Books Online has teamed with O’Reilly Media to offer free access to hundreds of eBooks. To access the books you will need a verified Edmodo or Clever account (I haven’t figured out what they mean by a “personal” log in that is an option). One downside is…
Sometimes when placing text on a slide in a presentation, the background image can make it hard to read the text. Other times you’d like your text to stand out a little bit from the document. This is where drop shadows come in handy. Basically this trick relies on two text boxes, each with the…
I’ve mentioned in the past about using Pushbullet to send links, text and other information to your students. Yesterday, Google announced the Google Tone. This adds a new icon in the toolbar that when pressed, emits a series of tones that other browsers with the extension installed will hear. I’ve tried it out at home, and…
With the WebRTC Desktop Sharing extension installed in Chrome, you can share your desktop with other Chrome browsers with just a link. Once the extension is installed, you can click on the icon it places in your toolbar to start sharing your screen. You will need some way to get the link to your students….
Over the years I’ve played around with easy ways to collect and search information, but never really satisfied with the outcome. Last week I had the idea to try to use GMail as a journal, and so far it is working pretty well. Why GMail? I wanted something that was frictionless to use. What do…