Group items tagged

Here is the lifehacker pack of tools - suggested by Lifehacker and installed at once by NiNite.

Caldav is what lifehacker recommends as an alternative to Google sync (which is going away January 31). I've been searching for an alternative to help our office manager figure out what to do. Lifehacker referenced this on their podcast from this week as still being currently the best way to replace Google calendar sync.

The desktops of the Lifehacker team and others and how they design their desktop. Click the "rainmeter" tab to see how they use rainmeter, for example. Some cool ideas here for designing desktops.

OK, so lots of things are pretty cool about Google Buzz but I absolutely hate that my already full inbox is now full of Google Buzz stuff. I just want to keep it separate. From lifehacker, just filter out label:buzz to go somewhere else. Done!

This might be an idea for some teachers wanting inventive, creative chairs. Lifehacker teachers you to make a stool with $5 of materials. Cool.

Google alerts is how we monitor our school brand. We use "Westwood Schools" +Camilla - this way it shows us everything for our school name and in our city. You can deliver to a feed or to email (many like email.) This way it will search and find things and email you when it finds it on the web. Lifehacker has an article on the creative uses for Google Alerts that you should read if it is your job to protect your brand for your business, school, or your own personal brand.

There's an interesting discussion going on over at lifehacker about the best ifttt "recipes." Ifttt is "if this then that" and is an automation program that does amazing, very cool things. I've integrated it with my wemo, for example, and have it turning off and on my lights in the den and logging when there is action or motion in the kitchen. This is one of those posts you'll want to look at the comments.

Drafts is a handy app for those who who use a variety of tools like Evernote and dropbox. For example, you can jot a note and click a button to send it to Twitter, Dropbox, Evernote and more -- (like if you want to save copies of certain tweets, etc. since it is so hard to get things out of Twitter.) I'm not entirely clear on the workflow automation piece of Drafts after watching this video on lifehacker but am going to learn more about this handy app.

I've found Lifehacker guides to be reliable in this area. This is their current guide for when to buy things this year and they keep it updated. If you have major purchases coming up and live in the US, I recommend reviewing this guide and sharing it.

Great post from Lifehacker of their 50 apps they are most thankful for with the links to the posts they've written about them. This is my kind of very functional list. I love it!

This is an excellent overview of how to use ifttt.For example, you can have ifttt put your Facebook photos in a Dropbox folder or Google Drive. There are many different things that ifttt.com can do for you. This lifehacker guide is one of the best for getting started.

This lifehacker article shares some of the research that has to do with productivity. This is one I wish all schools understood "when office workers get to arrange their space, productivity is increased." Some teachers I know have no ability to determine where they put their desks or the desks of their students. At my school, we are allowed a lot of freedom with arranging our rooms and it shows. The article also points out that office plans lower stress levels. Some interesting color research as well.

Tinkering works. Read Sylvia Martinez and Gary Stager's book "Invent to Learn" which talks about tinkering and how to use Maker Spaces to promote it to learn more. Great points from Lifehacker: "Research in the science of learning shows that hands-on building projects help young people conceptualize ideas and understand issues in greater depth. In an experiment described in the International Journal of Engineering Education in 2009, for example, one group of eighth-graders was taught about water resources in the traditional way: classroom lectures, handouts and worksheets. Meanwhile, a group of their classmates explored the same subject by designing and constructing a water purification device. The students in the second group learned the material better: they knew more about the importance of clean drinking water and how it is produced, and they engaged in deeper and more complex thinking in response to open-ended questions on water resources and water quality... it involves a loose process of trying things out, seeing what happens, reflecting and evaluating, and trying again."

Mobile Apps to replace Jott's functionality.

A reader named Liesl send in this great article from LifeHacker about the alternatives to Jott. Actually, after reading this, there really isn't an alternative to Jott without a lot of elbow grease. I may be coughing up the $3.95 a month. I just really use it. However, I'm going to email them. I NEED A FAMILY PLAN! I have my children using Jott on their cell phones but they use it very infrequently. I should be able to have some sort of family plan for our situation.

Lots of practical

Twitter is abuzz about Google Voice and this seems to be the definitive guide thus far for getting started (if you're lucky enough to get an invitation.)

The sooner kids realize that most magazine images are photoshopped, the better. I remember a model on a tv show being asked what it feels to look like her and responding thatbwith all the photoshop on her photos that she wished she looked like herself too! This is a great thing and some would like advertisers to start disclosing the percentage of their photos that are photoshopped.

A website that is for teams and is free for up to 30 members in a workspace. We are looking for work flow software for Flat Classroom so this is a neat one to try out. Lifehacker mentioned it as an underhyped app of 2011 because they think it is so great. It is definitely something for those who are interested in global collaboration to test out.

Google released three official extensions: you can view your Google Calendar, clip web pages to Google Docs, and view your YouTube feed right from Chrome's navigation bar.

Cool firefox add on that allows you to pull comments into google reader. It is called greactions and is very cool.