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This is referring to Apps for business, Ryan. I certainly hope the Google Apps for Education will continue to be free now that many educators and schools are depending on them. If not, there will be some dramatic changes that need to be made.

There was a free version that would allow you to have up to 10 users. This version has been eliminated for new users. I am making use of this version since my school is not accredited, which is a requirement to use Apps for Education.

An easy way to back-up your Android phone.  Simpler than most usual ways to back up everything.

Useful for those who make use of ipads in the classroom as well.

Has anyone ever used something like this in his classroom?  I have students that greatly enjoy having some music playing in the background (I limit it to classical piano, mostly).  Anyone know of a study that demonstrates if this helps students learn?

I've used Simply Noise in my classroom of 5th graders and I have had mixed results. Some kids really like it and some hate it. I tend to prefer the brown noise as opposed to white or pink noise. I think I might make less of a deal of it with my next class next year and just use it for a little longer period of time to get a better read on its effectiveness. I took my students to on a field trip to Environmental Systems Inc in Brookfield, WI and they use brown noise generators throughout their office/cubicle area to mask ambient noise. I found it very soothing. They used to have it timed to go off at 4pm and they found that their employees subconsciously sensed it was time to leave for the day. Not wanting to encourage them to leave early, they decided to gradually bring the volume of the noise down over the course of 30 minutes and that took care of their issue. Not necessarily applicable to what you were asking about, but kind of interesting.

I can't believe that Google is shutting this down!  Hopefully some of these alternative RSS readers will be able to take its place.  Any suggestions or recommendations from the WELSTech crowd?

Very cool (and very geeky) stuff here, especially if you have a newer model of android phone.  

Another possibility to replace Google Reader, and IFTTT is just plain fun.

Some useful apps in here that work well with chromebook users too.

Worth looking at if you use these tools.  I personally prefer the always free Microsoft Security Essentials for my own use.

If anybody is looking to update to Windows 8 and wants the start menu back, this might help.

With cloud storage continuing to make progress as broadband continues to make inroads to more people and speeds increase, I hope features and transparency in using them grows. I have and use to various degrees iCloud, SkyDrive, DropBox, and Google Drive (used Insync for a while). My favorite is still DropBox and the space limitations are not an issue for most people. Speeds of Cloud storage will never be the same as LAN or WLAN speeds for large file storage, so frequent access to large files in the cloud is not a realistic possibility yet (ever?). While an argument could be made for backup, well I think CrashPlan, Mozy or Carbonite (as well as others) have that market covered. While I like the Arstechnica brief pros and cons (http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2012/04/cloud-storage-a-pricing-and-feature-guide-for-consumers.ars), I would love to see more in depth pros and cons from long term usage. iCloud for instance while great for iOS backup for our families 2 iPhones and 1 iPad, there is no transparent way to mount the iCloud volume for direct or cached data storage. On the other hand, the Shared folder on the Dropbox volume is nice for my wife and I to share working files across our two or three computers for work. Awesome. SkyDrive has a hook in MS Office which I have tested and works nicely, but it is limited in device support. GoogleDrive is really new, so I am still working through using it. I suspect this will continue to evolve over time.

Brainstorming is a powerful but underutilized tool in Christian ministry, education, and in the body of Christ in general. This article gives practical guidance for moderating a secular brainstorming session. What solutions might we Christians discover when we steep our hearts and minds in God's Word, prayerfully gather, inviting the Creator-Spirit to open our eyes and minds to see the creative opportunies which God's challenges ("obstacles") occasion.

Good primer on video formats.

Good primer on video formats.