Apple and Education

Apple has redesigned their education webpage as they revitalize their push towards education.  It's a great site where educators can find examples of how teachers are using Apple products in their classroom (ie, lesson, guides, etc.)  Also, this is a nice place for Special Ed as well as IT folk who need to deploy Mac/iPad, Active Directory, etc.

I highly recommend checking out Apple and Education by clicking here!!!

Bee Docs Timeline

Bee Docs Timeline is an application that has been around for awhile. It is designed to create stunning looking 2D/3D timelines for Mac OS 10.5. This happens to be one of my favorite Leopard apps out there.

What makes BD so great is how easy it is to use...just download that app (free trial) and you are all set to go ($40.00). You can then either create a timeline from scratch or import it from any number of Apple apps such as iCal, Skitch, iPhoto, etc. Any application that handles photos can be imported into Bee Docs.

Also, BD is great at sharing timelines via, email, Quicktime, Keynote, or any mobile device. This really is cutting edge software.

Download Bee Docs Timeline by clicking here.

Below is my sample timeline using the import feature on my blog...

iFixit

Being the Mac user I am, I decided to type a quick blurb on a rather useful site, iFixit. iFixit is a great resource for those that want to download manuals or view instructions on how to repair things. The instructions are very concise and easy to follow, and there are plenty of pics to help along the way.

Keep in mind, I am not suggesting to just go ahead and try to repair something, especially if you have never done this before. However, if the item is no longer under warranty and you want to give it a shot and don't have a GSX (special Apple section) login, this site should be
helpful.



Click here for more info.

Snow Leopard

After installing Snow Leopard and messing around w/ it for a few days I decided to post my thoughts on Apple's least expensive/powerful upgrade.

There are many sites online that offer great detailed reviews of 10.6 such as Mac World or Ars Technia review. They get into detail on all the changes, improved speed, Grand Central Dispatch, etc etc. However, I like to focus on a few things that jumped right out at me.

First, Quicktime X, is a new version of Quicktime which comes w/ Pro unlocked and offers screen capturing ability. This is very easy to do and users of iMovie 09 will feel right at home. Although, Quicktime 7 is still around for those that are not quite comfortable w/ the change (see Utility folder).



Second, Preview has some added changes such as an improved ability to annotate/highlight text. There is a new toolbar which allows you to edit the PDF which was very limited in other versions.



Finally, what really stood out for me was how apps were relocated or their names changed. For example, Directory Utility is no longer located in the Utilities folder but is now located in the System/Library/Core Services folder. While this might be confusing at first it does get easier the more you become familiar w/ Snow Leopard.

A great update from Apple for only $29.99!!!

Boinx TV

Boinx TV is a news broadcasting solution for Mac and the primary reason why I purchased the Mac Heist bundle. I've been working w/ Wirecast for a long time as I helped create the TV studio in my old district, and after trying out Boinx I've had some interesting thoughts...

First off, if you are going to be using Boinx you really need to be running it on a Macbook Pro or the equivlent desktop machine. If not, then you'll be getting an error message that may be looking like this...



However, you can still run Boinx (although it may be slow and your computer's fans might go into over-drive) and you'll be happy that you did.

While I find Boinx not as user friendly as Wirecast it really has some nice features that sets it apart from it's competition. There are a vast amounts of themes that you can choose from: sports, interview, traditional news cast, etc. which make it very easy to get the look you are going for. Plus, you can customize any one of their templates to make it look exactly how you want.

While I do prefer Wirecast (probably because I'm used to it and biased), I still think Boinx is a less expensive alternative that accomplishes the same thing. Although, in reality you couldn't go wrong w/ either one of these fine applications as they are both great!!!



For more info click here.

Top Ten OSX/Leopard features

I thought I would compile a list of my favorite OSX features. Keep in mind this is not strictly regulated to Leopard, some of these features have been
around since the induction of Cheetah (10.0)

1. Target Disk Mode - Far and away the best feature of any OSX Mac. By simply restarting a computer and holding down the t key, the computer will boot into Target Disk Mode. This mode is ideal for transferring large amounts of data via a Firewire cable to another computer, or troubleshooting computers, especially those that won't boot. Easily, the main feature for techs that seperates Mac's over PC's.

2. Single User Mode - Another excellent feature to help troubleshoot computers that are not behaving correctly or won't even boot up. Restart the computer and hold down command/apple + s, and it will boot into single user mode. From the command line you can type in any number of commands to try and fix the computer, the most popular is File System Check fsck -fy.

3. Force Quit - When an applications freezes or you get the spinning beech ball of death, usually a force quit will rectify the situation. By simply holding down option+apple/command+esc at the same time you will bring up the force quit option (for PC control+alt+delete).

4. Screen Shot - Something I do on nearly a daily basis is take screen shots to either make tutorials, for error messages, or to grab images that I need. On a Mac this is a built in feature. Simply hold down shift+apple/command+4, the cursor will turn into a plus sign, and then create a "box" around what you want to take a picture of. You will hear a camera go off and it will put a .png file on your desktop.

5. Preview - When I first started using Leopard one of the first thing I noticed are all the changes that were made to it. Before, Preview was Apple's way to open up images/PDF's. In 10.5 not only can you view images/PDF's but you can: crop them, resize them, add effects, etc. With the new features of Preview you can edit a picture w/out ever having to launch iPhoto which will save you a bunch of time.

6. PDF - Another useful feature which I use a lot is to create PDF's. On a PC you would need to have Acrobat Distiller or something like that installed. In OSX, all you need to do is a File-Print, click on the PDF and choose the option you want!!

7. Archive/Compress - If you need to compress large files for either emailing, storage, or some other need, OSX makes it a synch. All you have to do is click on the file/folder, select File-Compress and it will make a zip right on your desktop.

8. Disk Utility - Disk Utility is a built in feature to OS X which got a bunch of new features in Leopard. In here you can do basic trouble shoot by repairing permissions/disk, partition a drive, erase/zero a drive, or create a disk image.

9. Zoom In/Out - A nice little feature to have especially if you are doing a presentation and want to focus on a specific area on your desktop is the zoom feature. To do this enable it in System Pref/Universal Access, and then do the following command, shift+command/apple+minus or shift+apple+plus.

10. Spotlight - Spotlight is a great way to search for anything on a Mac. It also has a bunch of plugins and other features that you can find by clicking on the link. I like that not only does it search the computer, but it will search any document, PDF, or email for words that you are looking for.

Mac or PC

In working w/ computers everyday for the last ten years I get asked all the time what do I prefer Macs or PC’s...Well, my opinion of course is biased based on strictly using Mac’s but I do have some major reasons why I feel Mac’s are better for education.

Top 5 Reasons Mac’s are better for education:

1. Mac’s are more user friendly - for those users who are not familiar w/ either platform it is a lot easier to show somebody how to use a Mac.

2. Mac’s are lot less likely to get a virus - PC’s are not as secure on a “root” level and most viruses are built to attack PC’s.

3. Mac’s are a lot better value for your buck - while they are more expensive then PC’s, iLife alone makes it worth the value, plus it is a lot less likely to have to go in for repairs (unless of course you plan to run Linux)

4. You can run Windows on a Mac using Boot Camp, Parallel’s, Fusion, or any other number of Virtual Box.

5. Target Disk Mode - this is far away one of the most used features for a tech to troubleshoot user issues and can not be done on a PC.