Tech Tip Tuesday: Get your own Account

http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/index.html

Wednesday Web of the Week: quietube

Web Address: http://quietube.com/

YouTube without distractions! Hope you like it.

Tech Tip Tuesday: Fundamental Files Formats - Part 5

Images/Photos

Images or photos on the web obviously aren't the same as the photos developed in dark rooms, although those can make it onto the web too.  All information on the internet or on computers must be converted into binary code.  This binary code is made up of 0's and 1's.  Every bit of data that flows into your computer is made up of this code.  Different codes specify different things.  The formats we have been talking about for the last few weeks also tell the computer which program to use to decode the 0's and 1's.  Converting the pictures we are used to seeing on photo paper to digital formats brought about several different solutions many of which are still commonly used.

• *.jpeg/jpg this extension is an acronym for Joint Photographic Experts Group.  A group that together developed the format and adopted it as a standard for digital images.  This has become the most widely used standard for digital images, this may be in part due to the fact that it is the most common format created by digital cameras.


• *.bmp stands for bitmap and is a file format that is still used occasionally.  If you have ever used Paint on a Windows machine it uses the bitmap format.  This is also a common format for clipart.


• *.gif is graphics format that has been around for many years.  Graphics Interchange Format was one of the early image formats for the web. It's major contribution is the ability to overlay multiple images into a single file and thus create animation.  It is based on patented algorithms and these patents prompted the creating of *.png


• *.png is a format created to replace *.gif.  It has taken a long time but it has steadily gained ground.  While *.jpeg is still the most common but *.png is gaining more and more acceptance and use. Not all image editing software supports this format, but if you use PowerPoint to create an image *.png is now the default and all web browsers can display these images. An animated version of this format uses the *.mng extension.

Tech Tip Tuesday: Fundamental File Formats - Part 4

In the Office:

There are some really fundamental file types that you need to know around the office.  First is Microsoft Office.  There are 3 file types for Microsoft Office.  from 1997-2004 Microsoft Office used the same file format. When Office 2007 was launched new features were added that aren't compatible with older versions of Office.  An x was added to distinguish between the older formats and the newer one.  Office 2007 and later can still open and save files using the  original format but the *.***x format allows for more compatibility for sharing files online and editing them online.

• *.doc/*.docx
  
  
  
  • The .doc extension indicates a word processing document and is available to anyone using Microsoft Office.  Because Office was so widely adopted many other word processing softwares can read and save into this format.
  
  
  
  


• *.xls/*.xlsx
  
  
  
  • The *.xls extension is used for spreadsheet files. Excel can also create *.csv files and a few other formats, but most other spreadsheet programs can save in the *.xls format
  
  
  
  


• *.ppt/*.pptx
  
  
  
  • PowerPoint uses the .ppt extension.  PowerPoint can also create several other formats especially useful is the *.pps/*.ppsx format which a a PowerPoint Show.  This is a file that opens and plays the PowerPoint, but isn't editable. It can be very useful for sharing PowerPoint via email or on the web.
  
  
  
  

Secondly, is OpenOffice.  OpenOffice is a suite of Office Software that is free and OpenSource.  Because it is free, smaller entities are adopting it and using it.  OpenOffice has 6 different parts and can save files to wide array of formats.  The three main file typs match with Microsoft Office.

• *.odt
  
  
  
  • This extension indicates an OpenOffice text document or word processing document.
  
  
  
  


• *.odp
  
  
  
  • Open Office Presentations use the *.odp extension
  
  
  
  


• *.ods
  
  
  
  • The *.ods extension is used for spreadsheets.
  
  
  
  

Thirdly, is iWorks, this is Apple's suite of Office products.  Apple uses 3 formats for its software however, they don't follow the 3 letter convention

• *.pages for Pages Documents


• *.numbers for Numbers Spreadsheets


• *.key for Keynote Presentations

Wednesday Web of the Week: PBS Kids Video

Web address: http://pbskids.org/video/

If any TV is good for kids it would have to be PBS TV.  You can get great information, content and effective teaching strategies all in the videos from PBS.  Now, you can get them a la carte.  PBS Kids video area allows you to watch some of your favorite children's video live on the web.

If you are a Utah Educator you can also visit eMedia to find full length versions of some of the PBS video content.

Tech Tip Tuesday: Fundamental File Types – Part 3

*.html

• This is the native language of the World Wide Web. It was developed by Tim Boerners-Lee who wanted a way to make the Internet more accessible and easier to navigate. He developed tools that allow designers to use "tags" to give attributes to text like formatting, hyperlinks, and to show images.  A web browser is needed to read these files. HTML is an acronym for Hyper Text Markup Language.

*.pdf

• This extension used by Adobe for Portable Document File format.  The best way to explain this is to think of it as hitting the print button on the computer but getting a digital print.  This file format was developed to share files using a small size and that was not editable.  If you share Word Processing files they are editable.  *.pdf files are editable too but not as easily.  Most forms and documents for printing are formatted in this format.

Wednesday Web of the Week: GoogleArtProject

web address: http://www.googleartproject.com/

We highlight a lot of Google stuff here because Google has a lot of cool stuff to highlight.  The latest cool tool from Google is a creative and unique application of Google's Street view technology.  This technology allows you to see what the actually streets look like and even take a virtual road trip.  Now at the end of the road trip you can even visit a museum virtually.  GoogleArtProject uses the technology to allow you to walk around a museum and look at the works of art on the walls.  It's a pret

ty fantastic trip and has a bunch of great museums to start with.  You can read more about how the project began on Google's Official Blog

For more help on teaching with Art and about Art you can check out ArtsEdge.  This is a resource that UEN partners with through Thinkfinity.  You can also find great interactive websites, games and activities at on UEN's Interactive page.

Tech Tip Tuesday: Fundamental File types - Part 2

There are 3 file formats that are extremely important.  These file formats are some of the most basic and often overlooked formats around: .txt, .rtf, .csv These simplified file formats are used for importing and exporting data. Many softwares or websites will let you export data using these formats.  For example credit card companies will often let you export your transactions as a .csv file. There are many programs that then edit data on you computer. These file types are compatible with many different programs. When you know that a computer you will be taking a file to doesn’t have the same software as the computer you are using you can save it in one of these file types to make transfers simpler.  They can also often be used to send files or data via email when you don't know what software your recipient has.  Two of these formats are for text, one without formatting and one with.  The other is for tabular data.  These formats also work cross platform or in other words both Mac and Windows.

• *.txt
  
  
  
  • These are simple text files. You will also sometimes see these called ASCII files. These are the simplest types of files that contain text and numbers only. The are very useful for saving the text of a document without any of the formatting or other data.
  
  
  • Using the Save As function in most Word Processing Software and choosing TEXT will also create a *.txt file.
  
  
  
  


• *.rtf
  
  
  
  • These are a more complex text file type. Rtf stands for Rich Text File. These files as the name states are richer than simple text files. You can include things like bold, italics, and underlining. To create this type of a file you open Wordpad. It is Windows Operating Systems Rich Text Editor. On a Mac you can use TextEdit to create a .rtf file
  
  
  • Using the Save As function in most Word Processing Software and choosing Rich Text will also create a *.rtf file.
  
  
  
  


• *.csv
  
  
  
  • This is a file type that allows you to import data into different spreadsheet or database programs.  You can create these using WordPad on Windows or TextEdit on Mace. Separate each data point with a comma. Hit enter to start a new row. When you save it you must manually enter the.csv extension.
  
  
  • The Save As function in most spreadsheets will allow you to save a spreadsheet as a .csv file and you can use any spreadsheet software to open a .csv file.