Tech Tip Tuesday: Make a Ringtone

If you are an iOS user, you may be like me and disappointed that they took away the feature that allowed you to create RingTones from your music. If you look around on the interwebs you can find instructions for doing it manually. It involves several steps and renaming and moving files. It seems to be all legitimate since you own the music. But it is a lot more convenient to just buy the music ringtones so thats what a lot of people do.
On Android, I had a great little App called RingDroid it allowed me to trim a 30 second section of any song on my device and then save it to the RingTones settings.  It was pretty great.  I have looked around for something similar on iPhone.  No such luck.  But if you are looking do to this I did find a great little App in the Mac App store. Free RingTone Maker allows me to browse my playlists and music from iTunes. I can then trim the section I want to make a ringtone and with just a couple of clicks it puts the trimmed file back into iTunes as a RingTone.  It also works by dragging and dropping .wav and other files into the App and even lets you directly record using the onboard mic.
Give it a try!

Web of the Week Wednesday: FictionDB

Web Address: http://www.fictiondb.com/

There are other sites out there that let you manage and organize your books, but this adds a few great twists. First, it has one of the best series organizations I have seen. It is easy to find all the books in a series and sort them chronologically.  When searching Amazon republications often cause confusion and make it difficult to find the first in a series.  FictionDB lets you sort, organize and manage your books Try it out!

Tech Tip Tuesday: Look Ma! No Hardware.

When the first iPad was released one of the deepest frustrations with it was the fact that it wouldn't mirror the screen. Teachers wanted to be able to show their students what was going on. Trainers and instructional coaches wanted to be able to show teachers what was on their screen. No such luck With the release of the iPad2 and the increased power it became possible, but if you used the cable then you took this wonderful magical mobile device and effectively anchored it.

Then the Apple TV allowed you to throw your screen to an HDMI Connected device which meant you needed help to get it to a VGA Projector. OR you could buy a Document Camera for a variety of prices. I used a HueHD for a long time  to share my iPad screen. But recently some colleagues and I  have come across two amazingly useful tools that let you lose the hardware: 

AirServerApp This little app is software that takes advantage of the AirPlay feature of the iOS. Apple's iOS allows most iOS devices to mirror their screen to an Apple TV. The app essentially allows the iOS device to recognize a window on the computer an Apple TV. So now with your computer already connected to a projector you can share your screen to your computer and it will project to the screen.

 ReflectionApp This app does mostly the same as above. It is a little more expensive. Reflection offers 1 license while Airserver offers licenses on 5 computers.  The main advantage Reflection has is that it shows the iOS screen with a Skin that looks like the device. This makes it a bit more obvious that you are sharing your screen. So for just a few dollars you can now share your screen and leave the hardware behind.

A history of the World in 100 Objects

Web address: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/about/british-museum-objects/

Recently I finished Psych - the whole series.  In a fit of self disgust for watching 5 seasons (that's all that is on Netflix) and approximately 60 hours of Gus and Shawn's shenanigans, I decided to try something more productive. I started looking around and discovered some really great podcasts. My favorite: A history of the world in 100 Objects.  The site has high resolution images of the objects and you can listen to the podcast or download it.  At about 15 minutes each I can usually listen to 3 to 5 of them a day while checking up on email.  But please Watch Out.  Not all the objects nor all the podcasts are for younger viewers.

Find your Place in the World

There are lots of tools and methods for mapping our world. One good definition of technology is: tools humans use to interact with their world.

Everything from using a stick to draw in the dirt, to sextants and astrolabes, right on up to the most complex of GPS systems are technologies for mapping our world. GIS is an acronym for Geographic Information System. If you would like to learn more about using these softwares well. Right now you can learn even more: ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc.) is a premier provider of all kinds of Mapping software, data, and professional development. If you want to learn more about a course available this summer then Vist the TG3 page to learn more and apply.