Macro Mania

As we found out we have to set up 100 flash drives tomorrow, I sought out ways to make this task easier. I instantly though: macros! Since macros record whatever we do on the screen, it would make our job much more efficient. All we would have to do is type in a username and password, and then press enter. We tried a couple of programs, and then I hit it, AutoHotkey. We had some difficulty at first creating a perfect macro…there seemed to be some glitch, but after some toying wth it we now have a macro that will complete most of the work for us…and now it will take us about 25 seconds to set up a flash drive. We were hoping to do this in the library circle, so we could set up 14 at a time.

The macro itself will do the following, run the TravelerSafe+.exe, and go through clicking next where necessary. It will then move the partitioning slider midway…so half the drive will be secure, and the other half will not be. It will then move the cursor to where we have to input the username.

 

Wiki Solutions

There are two wikis, which I feel are perfect for teachers. The first one is Wikispaces, and it has a special offer for teachers here http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers. The second one is Wetpaint, http://wetpaint.com. I prefer these, mainly because they are just easy to use. In both, you just hit the edit button at the top, and whatever, and however you type things in the box, is exactly how it is going to show up on your page (not true for many other services). Also, both allow you to set permissions; do you want the entire world to be able to modify your page, just people you select, or members of the site. It is completely up to you. Both have been used by teachers or in the academic environment, see these examples. One is from Wikispaces http://westwood.wikispaces.com/Westwood+wikilinks+page, and one from Wetpaint http://scienceeducation.wetpaint.com.

 

HCK-3 Basic Version

Click on the following link http://www.4shared.com/file/2965309/587c7ca9/hck-3_simple_tutorial.html, scroll to the bottom where it will say “Please Wait 10 seconds”, when it is done, it will turn into a Download button, click that. This is a simple and easy tutorial for creating a page in HCK-3.

 

Wikis Fit the Bill

We feel wikis are more befitting to the challenge you proposed.  You stated that you wanted something so

 

Office, Online… For Free?

My task at hand today was to find an online word processor, spreadsheet creator, and slide show creator…alternatives to Office. Here is my report:

 

The Long Tail: My Say

http://jaymin.wordpress.com/2006/08/03/the-long-tail-my-say/

 

File Hosting Solutions

See the spreadsheet here http://www.wikiupload.com/download_page.php?id=12493. Just a note, here is Iomega’s stock http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/research/msnbc/newsnap.asp?Symbol=iom. A major resource I used was Techcrunch. and in particular the article by Michael Arrington, http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/01/31/the-online-storage-gang.

 

Recent Accomplishments

I apologize for not posting for a long time. Brian and I have both been very busy, tackling a couple projects at once. Nevertheless, here is a list of what we have accomplished. First off, we tested every usb port in the library, and we drew up a map. See it here http://www.wikiupload.com/download_page.php?id=12334. We also tested many of the computers in Rudder South, namely the ones on the island.  (I will post the map tomorrow). We also conducted tests on the flash drives, on each type of computer. I will post that spreadsheet tomorrow as well. In addition to all of this, we researched file hosting solutions for Mr. Carreras. Here is a list of the ones we did not choose, and why. http://www.wikiupload.com/download_page.php?id=12415. The finalists are Box.net, Strongspace, and an Iomega storage solution. We will post a spreadsheet comparing them tomorrow. Plus, we also finished the HCK tutorials.

 

File Hosting Solution

In regards to the challenge we were given, we found two possible, and easy to use solutions. After searching for a while for picture and video hosting, I found a site with a list of Web 2.0 sites, http://web2.0dot.org. Then it struck me, instead of just focusing on video and picture hosting, I should think broader….file hosting would fix the problem more easily, and would fit all the requirements. My solution was box.net. It is very easy to use; you can browse for a file you want to upload, or you can open a Java Applet to drag and drop. The interface reminds one of Windows Explorer. Here is a link to the pricing http://www.box.net/info/pricing-plans, and here is a link stating why Box is better than others. http://www.box.net/info/service-comparison. It is also very easy to privately share, and I feel this is an excellent solution to the teacher’s problem. Brian also found one solution, on his blog.

 

Nonadmin…The Magical Solution?

So, we have some great drives…my favorites being the Kingston ones. However, students would need admin access to their computer to use the drive. Though, there may be a way to bypass the admin access, and it goes by the name of Nonadmin. Nonadmin, once installed on a machine by an administrator will allow anyone to securely use the drive on any school computer. To test this, we will need an actual school computer, and we will need admin rights to it.