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Social apps can make working with Office 2013 more engaging, efficient, and fun. They combine the networking and outreach capabilities of social media sites with the mobile productivity power of Office. Together, Office and social apps give you more insight into your contacts, allow you to monitor your social channels without using a browser, and can spice up your SharePoint sites in ways that you'll "like" (thumbs up). The LinkedIn for Outlook app is one of the most popular of the social apps. It lets you see LinkedIn profile data for your contacts while you are using Outlook. Not only can this app give you greater insight into your email contacts, it can help you build your professional network quickly from one of your most valuable professional resources: your Outlook contact list. Likewise, if you're an active Tweeter, you may want to add the ExTweet app to your library. It offers a way to display real-time Tweets that match the data in your Excel workbook. From the most popular social media website comes the Facebook Integration App. Use it to add Facebook social plug-ins to your SharePoint site so people can interact with it as they would a Facebook page. It can make your site more social by encouraging increased user engagement and eliciting immediate feedback and comments. Similarly, the ConnectWithUs app lets you connect your SharePoint site to your page on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, or any other community. These are just a few examples of apps that work with the Office applications you use every day to make them even more dynamic and useful. Explore the Office Apps Store to find more apps for Office 2013 that can make your work easier, increase your productivity, and help you have fun.

Remember the vintage game "Pull the Rug Out?" It is a board game where players stack different items on top of a rug. Eventually, one of the players tries to pull out the rug without tumbling the pieces stacked on top of it. Google's recent announcement that it is phasing out several additional services, including the highly popular Google Reader, reminded me of this game, as I recall that the stack most always toppled to the ground. Google introduced Google Reader, gradually built up its popularity, and then pulled the rug out with little warning, causing its customers to stumble. As one Google customer put it: "Google spends millions of wasted dollars on pet projects, then kills one of their best products on a whim." Google's most recent spring cleaning brings the total number of services it has discontinued to 70 in just a year-and-a-half. That's right-a whopping 70 services that have been shut down in just 18 months. Among the services Google will discontinue with little warning is Google Cloud Connect, introduced with a lot of fanfare just two years ago. Cloud Connect is a plug-in that enables Google users to share and edit Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel files. To continue collaborating with Microsoft Office, Google users have just four weeks to uninstall Cloud Connect and install Google Drive. Companies that can't get to it by April 30 will be out of luck, leaving them without a way to collaborate on Office documents used by millions of employees, partners, and customers. But of all the services Google is discontinuing this time, the one that's drawing the biggest backlash is Google Reader, a service used by hundreds of thousands of users to keep track of their favorite websites and blogs via RSS feeds. The news of Google Reader's shut down drew outrage from users, who put together a petition demanding that Google reinstate the service. "Our confidence in Google's other products - Gmail, YouTube, and yes, even Plus - req

www.office.com/setup Blogs: Last week, Outlook for Mac released two highly requested features designed to help you get more done, quickly. First, we added support for the Touch Bar for MacBook Pro users. Through the Touch Bar, we intelligently put the most common inbox, formatting and view commands at your fingertips-all based on what you're doing in Outlook. Additionally, we're bringing your favorite apps to your inbox with add-ins for Outlook for Mac. Whether it's translating emails on the fly or updating your notes or project board, you will now be able to accomplish all this and more right from your inbox. These add-ins are also available across Outlook for Windows, iOS and the web, so your favorite apps are always there to help you accomplish tasks quickly. Here's a look at what's new! INTUITIVE COMMANDS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS WITH TOUCH BAR SUPPORT IN OUTLOOK FOR MAC The Touch Bar in Outlook intelligently provides quick access to the most commonly used commands as you work on email and manage your calendar. When composing a new mail or meeting request, the Touch Bar displays the common formatting options. When viewing your calendar, you can switch between different views. And when viewing the reminders window, you can join an online meeting with one tap on the Touch Bar. www.office.com/setup Support for Touch Bar in Outlook for Mac is available to all Office 365 subscribers, as well as all Office 2016 for Mac customers. ACCOMPLISH TASKS QUICKLY WITH NEW ADD-INS Add-ins bring your favorite apps right inside Outlook, so you can accomplish tasks quickly without needing to switch back and forth between email and other apps. Last year, we announced the rollout of add-ins to Outlook 2016 for Mac in Office Insider. We are now making add-ins available to all Outlook 2016 for Mac customers who have Exchange 2013 Service Pack 1 or higher, or Office 365 or Outlook.com mailboxes. Use these add-ins to translate emails on the fly, edit a record in your CRM s

A great list of less-frequently used words and their definitions for use in your writing.

Great ideas for teachers to make writing easier for their students.

Includes writing prompts and ideas. Good for when you are struggling with finding an interesting topic to write about.

A very helpful list of online publishers that pay freelance writers.

Discovery Education's Puzzlemaker provides teachers, students, and parents, the tools necessary to create crossword, puzzles, word search puzzles, mazes and more online!

This site generates random writing propts to spark the writer's imagination or use in the classroom.

Qualities all teachers should possess!

This website has great tips on professional writing. Topics discussed are audience analysis, prewriting, cover letters, resume, style, technique, organization, etc. Anything you need to know about professional writing is available on this website. I recommend checking it out if you are getting ready to look for a job and if you are working in a business like setting where formal writing is required.

The website of the nation's largest nonprofit organization for the purpose of serving creative writers around the world

This web site has been a best friend to me in some of my education courses. It provides many ideas for lessons, tips on being an effective teacher, how to integrate technology and so much more. This site will be helpful to all of you future teachers and I know I will be using this site when I become a teacher as well.

Education World®. The Educator's Best Friend. The surfing is over. Here you will find the best education links and original content the Net has to offer. Dozens of other features...

Ideas and links to other sites with great smartboard ideas. Excellent site for teachers with access to this technology.

Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators is a categorized list of sites useful for enhancing curriculum and professional growth. It is updated often to include the best sites for teaching and learning.

Helpful advice for how to finish a novel if you are one to start a project and never finish it.

Great site on integrating technology into the classroom.