Use CleanPrint... Save Some Trees

I was over on NBC News reading this article about K-12 classrooms going high-tech when I did something I hardly ever do... I wanted to print it.  When I clicked on the print link something I had never seen appeared.  It was the CleanPrint interface.  I was intrigued.

The CleanPrint interface allowed me to remove pictures, shrink text, and a few other tricks prior to printing... all in the effort to reduce your printing footprint.  Take a look at this video for a short two minute CleanPrint overview.

Perceived Ease of Use

Once you have installed the CleanPrint button in your browser (an easy task...watch the video to see how to do this) you can use it to print any webpages cleanly and easily.  When you are on a webpage you want to print all you have to do is click that CleanPrint button, format what you want to print and then print. 

Perceived Usefulness

I already limit my printing but sometimes it is unavoidable.  If I have to print, I think that CleanPrint will become a useful tool for me.

Pros

• Reduce your impact on resources
• Intuitive and easy to use
• Works on all major browsers
• Free (ad supported)
• Page counter showing you how much paper you are saving

Cons

• CleanPrint only works when printing websites
• Sometimes you can't delete a part you don't want to print
• Doesn't work on every website (although most text heavy sites work OK) 
• Print view doesn't always look very good

Final Thoughts

While it does not work everywhere and it does not always format the document I want to print correctly, I think that CleanPrint is worth installing and trying out.

The Best Way to Download YouTube Videos is...

It's pretty easy to think of a few situations where you might need to download a video from YouTube*:

• You need to show it in a place where you won't have Internet access.
• Your classroom has really slow Internet access.
• You want a part of the video, not all of it.
• You want a copy just in case it disappears from YouTube

There are many other situations.  So, if you find yourself in such a situation KeepVid is for you.

Perceived Ease of Use

This tool is so easy to use. Copy and paste the link to the video you want to download into the field on KeepVid and press the large download button.

If you get asked about an "applet" go ahead and check the "Allow all applets..." box and click the allow button.

If everything is working correctly, you should be presented with a list that contains links to your video. Personally, I typically download the MP4 version in the best available resolution (bigger numbers).

That's it.  You can now store the video away in your Dropbox account or anywhere else for safe keeping and viewing.

Perceived Usefulness

If you've ever needed a video from YouTube this will be useful to you.

Pros

• Works well on both Macs and Windows.
• Totally web-based... nothing to install.
• Free.
• Fast (most of the time).
• The bookmarklet makes it even easier to use.
• Works with many other popular video sites.

Cons

• Lots of advertising (be careful to avoid all the bogus "Download" and "Watch Now" buttons).
• Sometimes it doesn't work (although I will say I have much better success with the bookmarklet)

Final Thoughts

There are other ways to get video from YouTube, I used to be very partial to VideoDownloadHelper on Firefox, but for pure ease of use (especially with the bookmarklet), this is my first choice for downloading videos.

Tips & Tricks

• If it doesn't work as advertise, be patient then click the refresh button
• The bookmarklet is key... install it!
• MP4 will play on just about anything

*Now I'm no lawyer, but if you don't own the copyright you shouldn't do this, right?  Check the copyright laws and how they might apply to your situation.  Just saying.

A new reason to love Dropbox

Not that you need another reason to love the usefulness of Dropbox (I mean I have about 99 reasons already)... but you get a new one anyway.* (What's Dropbox?)

A couple of days ago Dropbox announced a new and crazy easy way to share files or entire folders with anyone in just a couple of clicks.

All you have to do is open Dropbox on your computer, and right-click on the file (or folder) you want to share.

Select the "Get link" option from the Dropbox menu option and your browser will open showing you the web version of that folder.

Copy the web address and you can send it out to your students, other teachers, your grandmother, whomever!  You can even link to it, like I did right here (this is a collection of Digital Dioramas I created in PowerPoint... if you are interested).

Like I said, CRAZY EASY and an extremely useful way to share (you do share, right?).  I particularly think this is a simple and elegant way for teachers to share content with students.  The great thing is that you can still add files to any folder you share and the link does not change... so, share it once and then keep adding to it.

Oh, and your students DO NOT need Dropbox accounts to view and download your files.

One final tip.  If you use bitly (what's bitly?) to create a custom URL for your Dropbox sharing needs, you make it easy for your students to remember.  For example, here is that Dropbox link I shared above once I ran it through bitly: http://bit.ly/digitaldioramas.  Make one for science, math, reading logs, whatever!

Like I said at the outset, you may not need another reason to love Dropbox but this one might become your most useful reason yet.

Good luck!

*If you don't have a FREE Dropbox account, follow this link to sign up and we'll both get some additional extra space!

17 Keyboard Shortcuts You Must Know

There are probably thousands of keyboard shortcuts out there but here are my top 17 shortcuts that I use frequently and find the most useful. Together, they probably represent 85% of all my shortcut use.  I'm still amazed at how many people don't know these...

I use both Macs and PC so I'm listing the shortcuts required for each one (If I know it!).  I'll always list the Mac shortcut first (Mac / PC).  You'll notice how similar they are, so if you learn them on one platform they are easy to learn on the other.

Some of them have to be tried out to fully understand them.  I made a printable version of these that you can download if you want to keep it handy.

The Super Basics

Everyone should know these! All of these use the Command Key on the Mac (⌘) or the Control Key if you are on a Windows machine (Ctrl).  Memorize these.  You will use them all the time.

Navigation Shortcuts

Some of these might be new for you, give them a try.  I use these without even thinking about it anymore.  On the Mac I use the Run Application (Spotlight) to launch just about everything, rarely using the Dock. I prefer Chrome as my browser of choice.  Here are more Chrome shortcuts: Mac Shortcuts || PC shortcuts

Web Browsers
You probably spend a lot of time on the Web.  There are shortcuts that can help you here too.  Check these out.  Find (in page) is a great one to show students to help them become more efficient researchers.  Full Screen mode works great with LCD projectors.  The ⇧ represents the Shift key on the Mac.

Table 1 - Run Commands
These are my most used Run commands.  I like being able to launch applications without having to open the Start menu or get to the desktop.

Take the time to learn and memorize these shortcuts.  Quite often they are the fastest way to do something on the computer so they can be a time saver.  If you watch a tech-savvy person work on the computer they will use them all the time.  You can find even more shortcuts by doing some Google searches or simply look on the menu bar of your favorite programs and you'll see the keyboard shortcut typically listed next to many of the commands.

Bitly.com

Bitly can take a long web address (a URL) and turn it into a short one.  For example, this Google search for "Differentiation in the Classroom" before and after Bitly.

Before: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=differentiation+in+the+classroom&revid=1081965184&sa=X&ei=aGRLT6ObCMe10AGkjvmcDg&ved=0CCQQ1QIoAA&biw=1296&bih=783

After: http://bit.ly/xJJfRc

Pretty dramatic, right? Other than the short link, nothing else changes. Users that click on a short link are simply redirected to the original web address. It's not hard to imagine which one you would rather receive in an email or text message.

If you stop there, bitly might already be useful to you, however, if you sign up for a free account, bitly also lets you track and analyze your clicks.  So, you can easily see how many people have clicked on that link.  I think that teachers might find this useful if they use it for student, parent or teacher communication.  The additional data points that bitly provides can also be helpful if you are using it for blogging.  For example, please, share this post out using: http://bit.ly/w3gcXU... it will make my day :-)

Perceived Ease of Use

If you just want to shorten a web address bitly is super easy.  Simply copy and paste a web address into the text field at bitly.com and click the "shorten" button to generate your short link.  You don't need an account to take advantage of this functionality.

Once you have your shortened link, copy it and share it out!

If you sign up for an account, you can even create a custom shortcut to make it easy for people to remember.  For example, http://bitly.com/digilearn is a custom shortcut to the Digital Learning Series website.  That is much easier to remember than: https://sites.google.com/a/fccps.org/sparrgrove/digital-learning

Perceived Usefulness

Bitly is one of those services that you probably think you have no use for.  However, I think that if you remind yourself to use it when you are sharing links, you'll find that you use it all the time (assuming you share links with people)  If you get an account and make use of some of the statistics and analytical information they provide you may find bitly provides you with data that you can use to inform how you share and reflect on that sharing.

To make the service even more useful, bitly provides ways for you to use their service without even having to go to their website.  So, once you feel comfortable with the basics, make sure to view the list of tools that extend bitly.  I use the Chrome extension that will automatically shorten the web address of the page I'm on AND copy it to my clipboard so it is ready to paste somewhere... all with one click.  Since I really dislike extra clicks I find this very useful.

The mobile web-app (m.bitly.com) works really well also (at least on iPhone).  You can shorten links, see statistics and more right from your phone.  Availability on my desktop and iPhone is really becoming one of the primary characteristics I look for these days; it's unlikely an application makes my top usefulness list without this dual capability.

Pros

• No account required for basic functionality
• Super easy to use
• Create custom short URLs
• Tracking and analytics tools
• More tools that extend functionality than other URL shorteners I have seen.
• iPhone mobile app (m.bitly.com)
• Keeps an archive of what you share

Cons

• Short URL will mask web address (can mislead)
• I have heard (but not experienced) that some providers will block short URLs
• Wikipedia does not accept short URLs
• If bitly goes bust, not sure what happens to all your short URLs

Final Thoughts

It's amazing how many other URL shortening services there are out there and they are becoming more visible (especially now that Google has goo.gl and youtu.be).  For the time being I think bitly is the best of the bunch and don't see myself switching anytime soon... bitly is just too easy to use!

Tips & Tricks

• Use short URLs for your comments posted on blogs, forums, etc. Not only do they clean up the appearance of what you write but sometimes those locations cannot handle long URLs and might wrap them or cut them off, making them unclickable. 
• The mobile web-app is great for text messages. 
• If you create short URLs for your students to use, you can track hits and see if they are looking at what you are sharing. 
• Use the "Bundle" function to share many links at a time. 
• Check out the Firefox and Chrome extensions 
• There is a bookmarklet available 
• Bitly will generate a QR code for your short URLs (if you are into that kind of thing)

Dropbox

Dropbox is a storage service that keeps all your files and content easily accessible by storing it out "in the cloud".  Think of using it kind of like you use a USB thumb drive, except all of your stuff is available from apps available for just about any internet connected device (computer, tablet, and smartphone) and through the Web (just login at dropbox.com).  This means that you can get your stuff no matter where you are located... and this just rocks.  To help you out they even give you 2GB of space for free (I bet for many of you that is all you'll need). If you are still confused, watch the short video, that should help.

Perceived Ease of Use
Dropbox is very easy to use because you already have the skill set you need to use it.  Once you install it on all of your computers it looks and functions just like another folder.  The only difference is that all the files you put in your Dropbox folder will automatically sync to your Dropbox account in the cloud.  Those files will then sync down to any of your other computers or devices where you are using Dropbox.  So, start a file at work, save it to Dropbox and it's now almost instantly available on your home computer (not to mention your smartphone, iPad, etc).

Perceived Usefulness
Without a doubt, Dropbox is one of the most useful tools that's come along in the past few years.  I use it all the time and it has become the primary place I save things.  It's made me more efficient since I spend less time looking for things and I never lose my thumb drives anymore (especially since I never really use thumb drives anymore)

Pros

• Access your stuff from just about anywhere, on any device
• Get your stuff from web login
• Simple sharing of folders with other users (great for photos)
• It uses the folder structure you're already familiar with
• It's a quick way to backup your stuff
• Third-party software extends functionality (ex. dropitto.me & FileStork)
• Plenty of apps that integrate with Dropbox
• They provide lots of ways to get bonus free space (including a whopping 5GB bonus)

Cons

• Security concerns (I mean where is your stuff?).  Learn to encrypt it if you are paranoid
• Sync & access (mostly) depends on Internet access
• Hard to use on shared computers (in fact, it's a bad idea)
• Expensive (if you want to buy more space)

Final Thoughts
I've only skimmed the surface of some of the benefits of using Dropbox.  If you don't have a Dropbox account, your should strongly consider getting one.  If you are a thumb drive user, switching to Dropbox is an absolute no brainer.  If you use my referral code when you sign up for an account we'll both get extra FREE BONUS SPACE... although I'm shocked you don't already have a Dropbox account (but I won't judge if you use my referral code)!

Tips & Tricks

• Don't install it on computers that you don't use pretty much exclusively, otherwise, other people will be able to see your stuff.
• Check out the Dropbox blog for the latest news, including how to get more bonus space from time to time.

JotNot Scanner Pro

JotNot basic interface

 JotNot Scanner Pro is an interesting little app for iPhone* that essentially turns your phone's camera into a document scanner.  It's not a Fujitsu ScanSnap... but in a pinch, it's pretty awesome (and it's totally unfair to compare it to a $450 ScanSnap... but I will a couple of time in this post).  Also, at only $1.99 it is quite a bit cheaper than the ScanSnap.  You can email the results of the scans or take advantage of the tight integration with Evernote, Dropbox and Google Docs.  To see an example of the results this app can kick out, I recently used it to scan this 7-page document of David Foster Wallace's epic 2005 Kenyon College Commencement Speech.

*ipod touch or ipad, too

Perceived Ease of Use
While the learning curve on this app is not too complicated (once you know what you are doing), my first few times with it were not overly positive.  However, once you establish how to ensure you get the best quality scans (see Tips & Tricks below) and how to navigate through the JotNot screens, you will find that you can scan pretty quickly and easily (about a page every 20-30 seconds).  If you use apps regularly on the iPhone you will have little troubles learning this one.

Perceived Usefulness

Having this app at my disposal is incredibly useful.  Sure, I don't use it everyday and it's not worthy of a coveted spot on my home screen but I'm glad I've got access to it.  Likely, you will be in the same boat and probably won't use this app all the time (and when you do you will rarely use it to scan documents longer than 5-7 pages).  The app would be more useful to me if it could create readable PDFs but having OCR built into a $1.99 app would be a bit too much to ask for.  You can OCR through Google Docs (with which JotNot integrates nicely), but only if the file size is 2MB or less.

Pros

• It's about a portable as it can possible get
• Easily integrates with Dropbox, Evernote, Google Docs, and more
• You can create multi-page PDFs
• Creates very readable PDFs (take a look at a full page scan)
• Process cleans up background really well
• Fax your scans from your phone (I didn't try this... it's not free, but who faxes anymore?)

Cons

• Overall speed (The DFW scan took 3:30 with JotNot and 35 secs with ScanSnap)
• Size of scans (DFW with JotNot = 5.49MB.  With ScanSnap = 551k)
• Doesn't create searchable PDFs

Final Thoughts
I think you should buy this app.  The first time it gets you out of a pickle you can comment on this post and thank me for it.

Tips & Tricks

• Use a plain, neutral background and detect edges will work really well
• Take pictures straight down if you can (like in the image above)
• Use the "stabilize" button every time (it's slower but better quality)
• Go through all the menus, click on every button.  Great way to learn to navigate around.
• Use the "Enhancement Options" (presets for black & white, color, etc.)
• Swipe scanned documents on the home screen to delete, edit, star, etc.
• Open your scans in iBooks to read them on iPad
• Try it for other documents (recipes, receipts, etc.)