Smartphones - what a great invention!

I love my smart phone. I have a Palm Centro, running Garnet (Palm) OS and on Verizon's network. It is the single most useful technology gadget I have.

First, it is a phone and it works well. What I like most is that as I update my contacts on Palm Desktop, it sync's to my phone. That makes editing, and backing up information, very easy. In fact, all of the PIM (Personal Information Management) data is backed up on my computer and is editable through the Palm Desktop software.

This leads into the next part of the device that I love - the PIM. The Calendar and Task lists keep me organized. You are able to set reminder timers for both of these, which comes in very handy. The other PIM function I love is the Memo's function. This is basically a very simple text editor that allows you to create individual memos and categorize them. I have over 1600 memo's that I use for reference notes, lesson plans, financial information, account information, medical records, and more. You can even make them private and secured with a password.

Some other things I use my smartphone for include web surfing, email, test messaging, and viewing and editing Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files. I can also view pdf files. I have a microSD card that has all of my files from school. I use Microsoft Hot Sync and software on the phone to sync the files on my classroom computer, with the smartphone, and then my home computer. This makes my life easy by allowing me access to the files at any time, without having to have them hosted on a web site.

The other feature that I use alot now is the camera. I take pictures of magazine articles, papers, white board notes. and other things as reminders, and a way of keeping a permanent electronic record of things. The resolution is pretty good, so it works well. There are also some online services that will take the picture you to and they can convert it to text.

The phone also has Goggle maps so that I don't get lost, an MP3 player to listen to my music, games, reference information, and even a video player that allows me to load DVD movies onto the phone to watch. The small screen is actually pretty nice to watch on, and this is a nice way to pass the time when working as a paramedic and sitting at post in an ambulance.

Today's smartphones have a lot of power, features, and applications and are extremely useful devices. I'm not sure how I managed in the past without one.

I have a Palm Centro, but most other smartphones have similar features and applications. Some run on multiple networks, like Blackberry and Palm, and others are only on a certain network, like Apple. Before you purchase one, do some research and see which one that seems to work best for you.

Disclosure - While I do own stock in Palm (not a lot though), I am not trying to sell this to anyone. I tell people that a smartphone is a very personal thing and their own personal preference is what should lead them to which smartphone to purchase. Apple's iPhone, Palm, and Blackberry's are the most popular and all of them are very useful. I found Palm's to be the best fit for me and what I do. People who need a really outstanding email system usually go for Blackberry, and people who are looking to do more multi-media tasks look at the iPhone.

To each his own.

TUTORIAL 20 MEMINDAH DAN MENDUPLIKAT MENGGUNAKAN ARAH MOUSE DI AUTOCAD

Autocad tutorial kali ini akan membahas cara memindah dan menduplikat menggunakan teknik yang keempat yaitu menggunakan arah mouse. Cukup mudah memindah dan menduplikat menggunakan arah mouse ini anda hanya harus mengarahkan mouse kearah yang anda inginkan lalu masukan jarak yang diinginkan, maka pekerjaan memindah dan menduplikat objec selesai sudah. untuk lebih jelasnya silakan ikuti latihan dibawah ini.

CARA 4 MENGGUNAKAN ARAH MOUSE

Dalam latihan ini kita akan memindah objec rectangle 25x25 yang berada di samping kanan ke kiri rectangle 100x100, seperti gambar di bawah ini:

GAMBAR AWAL

HASIL MEMINDAH

silakan anda ikuti langkah-langkah sebagai berikut untuk prakteknya:
Ketik: M - Enter atau klik toolbar move ,Menduplikat Ketik: CP - enter atau klik toolbar Copy

Klik Objec yang akan kita pindah (rectangle 25x25) - Enter

Klik di sembarang tempat di layar

Tarik mouse anda kekiri (jangan lupa Panel ORTHO - ON), seperti gambar di bawah :

Masukan Jarak: 125 - Enter

Nah gAMPANGKAN????? Objecnya sudah berpindah tempat sesuai gambar di atas.

Acrobat Reader Tip

If you are like me, you find a lot of great resources on line for your classes. Many of these are in .pdf formats and you usually use Acrobat Reader (free from Adobe.com) to read the file.

But, what happens if you just want to use a part of the file? You still need to give credit to the source, but you may just want to use a little part of the file. Graphics or text can be easily copied and pasted into another document or even a PowerPoint presentation using the Snapshot tool in Acrobat Reader.

Go to "Tools" at the top of the window, then "Customize toolbars" and then scroll way down to "Select and Zoom Toolbar." Check the box in front of the "Snapshot tool". It's icon is a camera.

This icon will now appear on your toolbar at the top of Acrobat Reader.

If you want to copy a part of the .pdf file, simply click on the Snapshot tool icon, select what you want to copy using the mouse, and the highlighted box will be copied to the Windows clipboard. Then simply go to the file or document you want to place this in, place the cursor in the spot to insert the image, and "Paste" it. The selected item from the .pdf file will now be in your other document.

This is a quick and easy way to use part of a .pdf file in another file.

Google in Education

I love Google. The free products they have are great resources for me as a person and an educator.

I use Google Mail for email, iGoogle for organizing my selft, Google Calendar, Google Notebook, Google Apps, and Blogger (which is where this blog is hosted.)

iGoogle is my favorite application. Think of it as your own personal start page on the internet. I have mine set up with my bookmarks, Gmail inbox, Google Translate, CCN.com, Top Stories, Google Calendar, My Listy (task list), Google Reader, Google Notebook (lesson plans), Stock quote tracking, weather, and a Blogger gadget for posting to my blog. It is the one website that I open all the time to keep my self organized and informed.

I also use Google Apps to create, edit, and store word processing documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.

Since everything is hosted in the "cloud" (ie. on the Web), I have access to these items from any computer that has internet access. It doesn't matter if it is Windows, Apple, or Linux.

I have been so impressed with Google and have used it so much that I am sharing these things, along with some others such as Google Scholar, Picasa, and Sketchup, with other teachers in a professional development session in April.

Free, well designed, and useful. What more can you ask for?

TUTORIAL 19 MEMINDAH DAN MENDUPLIKAT MENGGUNAKAN KOORDINAT RELATIF OBJEC DI AUTOCAD

Autocad tutorial kali ini akan membahas cara memindah dan menduplikat menggunakan teknik yang ketiga yaitu menggunakan koordinat relatif objec. Jangan lupa!!! anda pastikan semua titik tangkap objec dalam keadaan aktif (lupa caranya klik disini).

Dalam koordinat relatif ini letak objec dianggap berada di titik kooerdinat 0,0. Nah kita perlu menghitung berapa jauh objec akan di pindah/duplikat dari titik awalnya. Perhitungannya selalu dari titik tengah objec. Ok kita mulai sekarang selamat latihan.

CARA 3 MENGGUNAKAN TITIK KOORDINAT RELATIF SEBUAH OBJEC

Dalam latihan ini kita akan memindah objec rectangle 25x25 yang berada di samping kanan ke sudut kiri rectangle 100x100, seperti gambar di bawah ini:

Untuk memindah menggunakan koordinat relatif kita perlu menghitung dulu. Anda perhatikan letak rectangle 25x25. Untuk kesudut kiri atas berarti nilai sumbu x= -125(arah kiri) dan sumbu y = 62,5. nah Anda sudah mengetahui letak koordinat perpindahannya. silakan anda ikuti langkah-langkah sebagai berikut untuk prakteknya:

Ketik: M - Enter atau klik toolbar move ,Menduplikat Ketik: CP - enter atau klik toolbar Copy

Klik Objec yang akan kita pindah (rectangle 25x25) - Enter

Klik di sembarang tempat di layar

Masukan nilai koordinat: - 125,62.5 - Enter

Nah selesai sudah Objecnya sudah berpindah tempat sesuai gambar di atas. Kalau tidak berarti anda melakukan keslahan langkah (yo musti....he...he...he...) coba lagi sampai bisa ok jangan menyerah.

TUTORIAL 18 MEMINDAH DAN MENDUPLIKAT MENGGUNAKAN TITIK TANGKAP OBJEC DI AUTOCAD

Bagaimana dengan latihan yang kemarin???? sudah anda kuasaikan????. Autocad tutorial mengharapkan anda telah menguasai materi kemarin dan sering mengadakan latihan sendiri sehingga anda akan mahir dan bisa menemukan teknik menggambar sendiri di autocad.

Autocad tutorial kali ini akan membahas cara memindah dan menduplikat menggunakan teknik yang kedua yaitu menggunakan titik tangkap objec. Jangan lupa!!! anda pastikan semua titik tangkap objec dalam keadaan aktif (lupa caranya klik disini).

Sekarang kita mulai saja, silakan anda buat dua buah objec rectangle dengan ukuran 100x100 dan 25x25 seperti dibawah ini:

CARA 2 MENGGUNAKAN TITIK TANGKAP SEBUAH OBJEC

Dalam latihan ini kita akan memindah objec rectangle 25x25 menggunakan titik tangkap midpoint garis verikal. Dan akan kita pindahkan ke titik tangkap midpoint garis verikal rectangle 100x100, silakan anda ikuti langkah-langkah sebagai berikut:
Ketik: M - Enter atau klik toolbar move , kalau untuk menduplikat Ketik: CP - enter atau klik toolbar Copy

Klik Objec yang akan kita pindah (rectangle 25x25) - Enter

Cari titik tangkap midpoint garis vertikal objec - klik, seperti gambar di bawah ini:

Cari titik tangkap midpoint garis vertikal objec tempat memindah (rectangle 100x100) - klik seperti gambar di bawah ini:

hasil akhirnya seperti gambar di bawah ini:

Flexibility as a teacher

I have found that being a teacher requires a lot of flexibility, creativity, and the ability to change plans at the drop of a hat. Snow days, snow delays, assemblies, testing programs, computer crashes, internet failures and a host of other things can leave you with a well thought out lesson plan that you can't use any more. I always tell student teachers and new teachers that they have to be able to adapt to these changes quickly and I've tried to give them some practical advice about it. I've also found that technology can be a great thing to have as a backup.

For example, one day the network connection in our section of the building went down (server crashed.) This meant that we could not access our files on the network drive, or even log into a computer. I was planning on using a PowerPoint presentation in class that day...now I had to change that. So, since I have a Palm Centro with Documents to Go on it, I simply called up the PowerPoint file on my Centro, grabbed a marker, and wrote the notes on the whiteboard for the students. Later, I posted the original file to my website so that the students could look at the pictures I had on the file. I tell new teachers to always print out a set of handouts for their PowerPoint presentations so that they can have a backup plan if their computer or projector fails.

Another good backup is for those days where you find out over half of your class will be missing because of an activity or assembly. I don't want to move ahead because too many students will be left behind, so I want to do something educational and about the topic at hand that they can catch up with on their own. The school district has a subscription to Discovery Streaming. On there are thousands of great educational videos, including Discovery TV shows, and lesson plans to go with them. I'll show the students that are in class the video and do an activity with them, and then post the video link on the class website and have the absentee students watch it at home on their own with a different activity to do.

As a teacher, you always have to have a backup plan and be ready to change your plans at any time.