Notes from the Ridge » TechTips http://notesfromtheridge.edublogs.org One teacher's adventures with Web 2.0 Wed, 10 Oct 2007 15:07:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 Making OpenOffice the Teacher’s Pet… http://notesfromtheridge.edublogs.org/2007/09/04/making-openoffice-the-teachers-pet/ http://notesfromtheridge.edublogs.org/2007/09/04/making-openoffice-the-teachers-pet/#comments Tue, 04 Sep 2007 13:28:04 +0000 Kevin Sandridge http://notesfromtheridge.edublogs.org/2007/09/04/making-openoffice-the-teachers-pet/ For those of you who have been able to escape the clutches of Microsoft’s Office Suite – favoring instead the OpenOffice.org product offerings, Teacher’s Pet may be of some use!

From the site:

The Teacher’s Pet is a free text tool that can help you transform text into fun classroom activities. Developed by a teacher, here are just some of the things the tool can do:

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]]> http://notesfromtheridge.edublogs.org/2007/09/04/making-openoffice-the-teachers-pet/feed/ 0 TechTips from the Ridge: Getting the Most out of Google http://notesfromtheridge.edublogs.org/2007/08/07/techtips-from-the-ridge-getting-the-most-out-of-google/ http://notesfromtheridge.edublogs.org/2007/08/07/techtips-from-the-ridge-getting-the-most-out-of-google/#comments Wed, 08 Aug 2007 04:49:10 +0000 Kevin Sandridge http://notesfromtheridge.edublogs.org/2007/08/07/techtips-from-the-ridge-getting-the-most-out-of-google/ Well, when you come across a good source of helpful tips and tricks, ya gotta pass ‘em along. Thanks again to Miguel Guhlin for setting me on the trail of the Web Worker Daily blog. If you haven’t linked to the RSS feed for this site, do it now. Some really neat stuff coming from these folks! I’ll be passing on some of Samuel Dean’s choice Google tips here. These are a few of my favorites. Check Samuel’s post for the rest.

Google Alerts: I use this service and it is a great way to stay on top of topics that fall into your niche area. You can customize the settings for this service to send you results as they come up or just have the system send a daily composite. I like the daily send as it helps keep my mailbox nice and tidy.Voice Local Search: This one is so good, I just used it to call my favorite pizza place…and I’ve already eaten dinner! ;) …. snack time…. Seriously, if you’re tired of footing the call and connect service for 411 calls, use this gem. According to Google’s Mobile Web website, all you need to do is dial 1-800-GOOG-411. If you’re in Chicago, use this service by saying “Chicago, Illinois, Hopleaf Bar” and you will be connected, free of charge, to one of the single most amazing bastions of Belgian beer this side of Bruges.Note, choose “text message” as an option to have the location and phone information sent to your phone. Once again people….free of charge. I miss this bar. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I’m going either going to have a short cry, or book a flight to Chi-town. I think I have my buddy Brian’s phone number handy here somewhere. :) Have some neat Google tips of your own to share?

Images of the Hopleaf Bar, Clark Street – Chicago.

Hopleaf sign on Clark St.

Flickr Photo Credits: Hopleaf Sign (Joel Mann); Karmeliet Tripel/Glass (Sarah); Digital Collage: Hopeleaf Interior (Phineas Jones)

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]]> http://notesfromtheridge.edublogs.org/2007/08/07/techtips-from-the-ridge-getting-the-most-out-of-google/feed/ 0 FoxClock Plugin Makes Timezone Management a Snap! http://notesfromtheridge.edublogs.org/2007/08/04/foxclock-plugin-makes-timezone-management-a-snap/ http://notesfromtheridge.edublogs.org/2007/08/04/foxclock-plugin-makes-timezone-management-a-snap/#comments Sat, 04 Aug 2007 17:21:23 +0000 Kevin Sandridge http://notesfromtheridge.edublogs.org/2007/08/04/foxclock-plugin-makes-timezone-management-a-snap/ foxclock2.jpgThanks to Miguel Guhlin for his post detailing several useful Firefox extensions by way of a Mike Gunderloy Web Worker Daily blog entry. I am a Firefox extension junkie – to the point where I end up adding and then deleting one or two plugins a day that I found less than useful, despite their enticing and descriptive reviews. One that I recently installed and have already found to be very useful is called FoxClocks, developed by Andy McDonald. It is just fantastic. As my world keeps shrinking via Web 2.0, it’s nice to be up to date on how far along constituents are in their respective daily routines. For instnace, I know instantly now via FoxClocks that it’s 3:11 am in Australia and that Graham and Jason won’t be reachable via Twitter or Skype until around 8:00 pm here in Florida. I know. Figuring the hourly differential is simply a matter of basic addition and subtraction, but it’s nice to have it all worked out for me as I glance down at the bottom of my computer screen. If you find yourself working with folks across multiple time zones, this is a great app to have.

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