Technology News

On first impressions, the Lexmark Optra M410 is very much in keeping with other printers in its range. Slight differences exist of course, with the most noticeable one being the difference in height, (taller than most) and depth, (shallower than most). This design helps it slot into many of the more tightly arranged cubicles. The printer uses Lexmark Optra m410 toner.

Despite being a substantial product, weighing in at forty pounds, the Lexmark Optra M410 remains surprisingly easy to maneuver. Indeed, whether setting up the unit for the first time, replacing the toner, or simply for standard maintenance and cleaning, most should be able to cope with moving it on their own. This excellent design continues to the control panel and the layout of all fundamental access areas.

Setting up the printer should take no time at all. Though there are excellent instructions provided, a single person could manage to get up and running in about 15 minutes, without having to read them. The clear and concise operating panel will let you know when ready to print, and also provide you status updates concerning paper, blockages, toner level and so on.

That said, running out of paper really should not be too easy however - the standard draw holds up to three hundred and fifty of regular letter size sheets. Staying with the paper, misfeeds, blockages, and wrinkled, torn and even folded sheets obviously impacted on the operation of the Lexmark Optra M410. However, such was the ease of use, clearing these, with the help of the information on the panel, and the well designed cabinet doors was a breeze and took no more than a minute.

Whilst resolution in printing has moved on considerably over the years, the quality produced by the Lexmark Optra M410 is very high. Printing in monochrome, an output of up to 12 pages per minute with a resolution of 1200dpi, (600×600), is produced. This makes for clear text definition, and a very good reproduction of photos and graphic images. Be sure to only use Lexmark Optra m410 toner with this product.

Everything necessary to start printing straight away is provided. The basic package should be more than adequate for all but the most demanding of personal users, and micro enterprises. Connection can be made via parallel and serial ports, as well as the ever popular USB. The Lexmark Optra M410 is compatible with most operating systems, including Macs, whilst the 4MB memory is impressive.

Unsurprisingly, replacing the Lexmark Optra M410 toner is just as easy as operating the printer itself: You will be clearly advised by the control panel when it is time to change cartridges. Swapping over your new for old should be completed in less than a minute…and again, there shouldn’t really be any need to consult the manual! If you are switching to a simple to use, good quality printer, the Lexmark Optra M410 has to be a serious contender, for a beginner or otherwise.

For quite a while, I have been looking for a decent Mac Twitter client. With so many clients based on Adobe’s AIR platform, it’s hard to find one that is native to the Mac OS X Cocoa system.

Unfortunately, Adobe AIR applications are often lacking in usability and find themselves buggy.

Therefore, any Twitter client I want to use must meet a few requirements:

It has to be a native Macintosh application. I don’t want to have to install a runtime for a single application.

The program must be exceedingly stable. I hate programs that crash.

It must have a clean, fluid interface without the clutter of most Twitter clients.

The application must have the standard Twitter features: block/unblock, follow/unfollow, user profile viewing, trend searches, and direct messaging.

I have discovered an application that I really like. It’s called Tweetie.

First for Atebits was Tweetie for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Now it has made it’s way to the Mac platform.

Tweetie for the iPhone quickly became one of the most downloaded Twitter clients in the App Store - offering excellent functionality at a low price.

Boosted by the success of Tweetie’s iPhone variant, Atebits set out to make a full featured client for the Mac OS X.

Tweetie for Mac is an excellent native Mac Twitter client. It is based on Cocoa, Apple’s native scripting workflow. Thus, it meets my first requirement.

Tweetie has yet to crash for me. I have it open nearly any time I’m at my computer (which is often) and I have yet to see a single crash or slowdown. So it meets my second requirement.

Tweetie’s user interface is impressive. It looks beautiful and is powerful but is not overdone - like some AIR applications are. It isn’t littered with buttons and useless information. On the left side there are four buttons:

-Timeline (for tweets from your friends) -Mentions (for all tweets that mention you) -Direct Messages and -Search (so you can look for trending topics)

You can also access unlisted functions with a variety of key combinations ” as detailed in the various menus. There is also a nifty blue notification icon that sits on the menu bar at the top of your screen and turns blue when new tweets arrive. This clean interface satisfies my third requirement.

The application definitely boasts a spectacular set of features. You can even drill into your conversations and see what was said by each person involved.

Tweetie even supports user profiles fully. Find out who is following you and who isn’t. You also have the option to block a person from his/her profile.

By using the search function, you can find hot topics, users, or even phrases. See who is talking about a given topic and follow or block users from this screen.

Tweetie even comes with a bookmarklet for your browser so you can quickly tweet a link to your current webpage.

As far as pictures go, Tweetie for Mac supports yFrog, TwitPic, Twitgoo, Posterous, Img.ly, and Pix.im.

Tweetie even gives users the option to shorten URLs without even opening a web browser.

If you have multiple Twitter accounts, you can use them with Tweetie. The app supports them beautifully.

This amazing feature list more than meets my fourth requirement.

Tweetie is available for free to download and use as long as you wish. This version is supported by ads. You can buy a license for $20 to remove the ads.

I have no complaints about this amazing little app. It does everything I need and more. If you are seriously looking for a Twitter client for you Mac, take a serious look at Tweetie. I think you will be impressed.

For quite a while, I have been looking for a decent Mac Twitter client. With so many clients based on Adobe’s AIR platform, it’s hard to find one that is native to the Mac OS X Cocoa system.

I have found that Adobe AIR apps are often buggy and simply don’t measure up to the competition.

So, for me, a Twitter app needs to meet a few qualifications:

It must be a native Mac app. I don’t want to have to install a runtime just for that application.

The program must be exceedingly stable. I hate programs that crash.

It must have a clean, fluid interface without the clutter of most Twitter clients.

The application must have the standard Twitter features: block/unblock, follow/unfollow, user profile viewing, trend searches, and direct messaging.

Finally I have found an application that is fun and easy to use: Tweetie.

First for Atebits was Tweetie for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Now it has made it’s way to the Mac platform.

Tweetie quickly became a popular download in the Apple App store as one of the best Twitter clients for such a low price.

Because of Tweetie’s iPhone version success, Atebits developed a full-featured version of the software for the Mac platform.

Tweetie is a 100% native Mac Twitter application. Based on Cocoa, Apple’s native programming workflow, Tweetie meets my first requirement.

Tweetie has yet to crash for me. I have it open nearly any time I’m at my computer (which is often) and I have yet to see a single crash or slowdown. So it meets my second requirement.

Tweeties UI is nothing short of impressive. It’s beautiful and powerful but not overworked. It isn’t littered with useless buttons and widgets. At the left side of the screen are four buttons:

Timeline (for updates from you and your friends) Mentions (for all tweets that mention you with an @yourusernamehere ) Direct Messages Search

You can also get to several unlisted functions by using key combos - as shown in the program’s menus. In the notification area of your Finder bar sits a notification icon that glows blue when new Tweets arrive. This beautiful UI satisfies my third requirement.

Tweetie does sport an impressive set of features. You can drill down into your conversations and see a detailed display of what you said and what was said in reply.

Tweetie for Mac also supports user profiles. Read bios, find out who is following you and who isn’t. You also have the option to block a user from his profile.

By using the search function, you can find hot topics, users, or even phrases. See who is talking about a given topic and follow or block users from this screen.

Tweetie even includes a nifty “bookmarklet” for your web browser so you can quickly send links via Twitter.

For photo uploads, Tweetie for Mac uses yFrong, TwitPic, Posterous, Twitgoo, Img.ly, and Pix.im

You can even shorten long URLs directly in Tweetie with it’s support for Bit.ly, TinyURL, Is.gd, tr.im, and even DiggBar.

Multiple user accounts are also supported by Tweetie.

With such an extensive feature list, Tweetie more than fulfills my fourth requirement.

Tweetie is a free to download and try as long as you want. The free version is ad supported. You also have the option of buying a license for $20 which removes the ads.

I have no complaints about this amazing little app. It does everything I need and more. If you are seriously looking for a Twitter client for you Mac, take a serious look at Tweetie. I think you will be impressed.

If you want more info about Tweetie, check out the Atebits website.

I have seen a few posts out in cyberspace about who or what inspires people. In 21st Century Collaborative, snbeach talks about What Inspires you? She is inspired by community. In Ramblings of a Technology Coordinator by Christine Archer, she refers to Sir Ken Robinson and his sources of inspiration in her post Who Inspires You?

Sometimes I would reach a phase (and yes, it is just a phase that everyone goes through) where I feel as if I’m in a rut, or I’m tired, or I’m bored. I start to wonder why I am doing this or I feel as if I’m not making a difference. Sometimes the frustrations about the paperwork or the regulations can really make me feel bogged down. When I feel overwhelmed by deadlines or upcoming projects, I want to run away. This is the time that I reach into my bag of inspiration for some help. Here are some of the things that I do.

I will watch a movie about teaching. I loved the movie To Sir With Love or The Freedom Writers. It helps to remind me why I went into teaching and helps me remember that I want to make a difference. I also like the fact that these teachers do not give up even though they would be justified if they did. Are there any movies that inspire you?

I will read books about teaching. I love the Torey Haydn books. I love to read about the different situations she has to deal with and how she never gives up. I also start to think about what I would do if I had been in the same situation. What books about teaching inspire you?

I will go observe a good teacher. There are so many good teachers out there and they are a wonderful resource right at our fingertips. Even though I feel like I don’t have the time to do this, I will make the time to do this. If I didn’t, I would just sit at my desk and be unproductive anyway so what could this hurt? I might even ask my students which teachers they like and why. Then I will share these positive statements with that teacher and ask if I can observe him/her. Sometimes this helps to jump start me into action. I might notice a strategy that this teacher uses that is successful and I want to try it with my class. Do you know someone where you are that you would like to observe?

Read blogs by other educators to see what they are doing in their classrooms or their schools. Sometimes by entering a debate or a discussion, it helps to energize me. By reading their blogs, I feel a connection which makes me feel less isolated. Sometimes I feel so alone in my feelings and wonder if I’m the only one out here who cares or feels or worries. There are so many blogs out there by other educators who know exactly what I’m feeling.

Learn something new so that I can share it with my class. It doesn’t have to be anything big, just something fun or different. You could teach yourself, take a class, or find someone else to each you. One year I got a book and learned how to juggle. This was a lot of fun and my class was impressed. I found out another teacher crocheted and asked her to teach me, which she did and my students looked forward to seeing how much progress I made on my afghan. They loved the thought of me learning something new right before their eyes. It also gave me something to be excited about that took my mind off of my problems. This year I am learning to speak Mandarin Chinese. What would you like to learn and how could you go about learning it?

Research Paper - MasterPapers learnt the article and mystery of writing a perfect research paper! This is why their custom writing services are the best in the industry. No matter what the top of you essay, research paper or dissertation, they can do it all!

Here are some interesting sites that I’ve found this week, thanks to my Personal Learning Network (PLN). As a teacher, I feel we have to keep up to date concerning research in our field and current issues in the education system. I hope some of these inspire you, inform you, and even have you asking questions. Thank you for coming by and visiting!

Make Your Own Rain Stick - directions for making this

Bookshare – “Accessible Books and Periodicals for Readers with Print Disabilities, free for all U.S. students with qualifying disabilities.”

Scratch – “Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art — and share your creations on the web. Scratch is designed to help young people (ages 8 and up) develop 21st century learning skills. As they create and share Scratch projects, young people learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.”

Cost of Living Calculator -compares how far a salary in one city will go in another

Playing History – “There are tons of free historical games, interactives and simulations on the web. Playing history aggregates info on these resources in a simple, searchable database making it easy to find, rate, and review historical games. There are currently 128 shared games.”

Original image: ‘Veere: tools‘ http://www.flickr.com/photos/19907278@N00/36125185 by: Ard Hesselink

Source: loonyhiker

Today is the last day of my class: Nature of Learning Disabilities which met for four days a week, three hours a day for four weeks. I truly loved teaching this class and really enjoyed my students. There were only three students but they all had a different background which led to lots of different points of view. One teacher taught in the public school, one taught at a private school and the other one was just an undergraduate with no teaching experience at all. We had wonderful discussions and everyone gave great input. Whenever questions arose, I felt I was able to take time to answer them and give help when needed. I learned a lot from them also. It is always a joy to teach students who are hard working and conscientious because it makes my life as a teacher so much easier!

I really enjoyed sharing my knowledge of special education with others because I feel it is so important for general ed and special ed teachers to know this information. I think (and hope) they have a better understanding about Learning Disabilities and the characteristics of a student with learning disabilities at different ages. I also think it was great to discuss different strategies that can be used to help these students. With such a small class, we were able to sit a semi circle and really have meaningful exchanges of ideas. I really enjoyed the Skype call we made to Lisa Parisi and Christine Southard to talk about their Inclusion class. I hope they can take the knowledge learned in my class and apply it to their classrooms or their lives.

By showing the class different technology tools, I was able to demonstrate how differentiated learning could help all students and not just the students with special needs. They willingly tried the new tools and became quite good at them too. Each student set up a blog (Check out our Class Blogs) and commented on other blogs which I think is a great way to reflect on teaching practices as well as keeping up with current trends in education. I really wish that I had more time with them to show them more tools. I didn’t get to show them all the things I wanted to because I was afraid of overwhelming them. If I showed them too many, I was worried that instead of trying some of them, they would avoid all of them. So I am pleased they learned to blog, use Skype, use Plurk and Twitter, use Google Reader, saw Voicethread and Delicious. I think we accomplished a lot in a month!

Overall, I feel this class was successful and we accomplished all that we set out to do. I just hope they keep up their blogging because I enjoyed reading them and would love to stay in touch.

Original image: ‘Introduction to monstering‘ http://www.flickr.com/photos/76074333@N00/318034222

Source: loonyhiker

In This is a call to all my past resignation from Stop Trying to Inspire Me, Tom writes,

“I’m supposed to be a professional. Being a martyr isn’t professional. It’s pathetic. I don’t think that teaching is a calling. It’s not a job, but it’s just what you … well, what you are. You have a job at a school, a career teaching a certain subject, but you ARE a teacher. That means that job or no job, you’re still a teacher, much like a writer is always a writer no matter how old or how many jobs or books he writes. Teaching is a craft that you hone for years and years, and nowhere in that craft is anything that tells me that you should nail yourself to a cross. Because if there is, then I’ve made a huge mistake.”

I totally understand and agree with what Tom is saying. Whenever I tell people that I was a special education teacher (after they finally figured out that I didn’t mean that I taught “gym”), they would tell me that I was amazing, or call me an angel, or exclaim that I was a saint! This really made me uncomfortable. I don’t think I do anything special other than specialize in an area of teaching. This is a lot like an orthopedic surgeon or a neurologist. They specialize in a certain area of the medical field but they trained for this, just like I trained for my profession. Of course I don’t get paid the extra money for my specialty like they do. I could only wish!

I taught special education for almost 30 years and learned something new all of the time. I learned as much from my students as they probably did from me. Even when I had many parents tell me how much they appreciated how much I did for their child, I didn’t feel like I did anything special. I did what I had to do. I did it because it was necessary in order for my students to be successful. In fact, I have a confession to make. I was in constant contact with the parents because it made my life easier. Since I had established a rapport with the parents, they supported me and backed me up when I was having problems with their child. When I felt discouraged, they were there to encourage me and boost me up. Other teachers would shake their heads at me or look at me disgustingly when, during parent conferences, parents would ask other teachers to contact them like I did. Needless to say, I was not always the most liked member of my faculty. I actually had some teachers come to me and tell me to stop contacting parents because it made their lives difficult. Well, I didn’t because it made my life easier!

I love to hear when former students contact me and tell that they are successful in their lives. This makes me feel good until they tell me that I did something special to make this happen. I believed in them. I don’t know how to tell them that this wasn’t anything special that I did. This was something that I think every teacher should do. It is like being a coach to a baseball team. The coach doesn’t give up on the team before they even start the game. He has to believe that they have a chance to win or they might as well not even play the game. When I teach, I believe that these students have a chance and it is my job to find what they need in order to succeed. If teachers don’t believe this, they need to either retire or resign. If a teacher doesn’t believe this and wants to continue to teach, an attitude change needs to happen or more harm than good will happen.

No, I’m not a hero. I don’t wear a special cape or have super powers. I just teach. I teach because it is the job I have chosen to do. I teach because I knew I would be happy in this profession and I had to have a career that I loved. I teach because I love it. I teach because I feel I can make a difference. But please, don’t think I’m a hero, because I’m not.

Original image: ‘Supergirl - DC Anime Heroine Series‘ http://www.flickr.com/photos/52388909@N00/2874125162 by: Daniel Chan

Source: loonyhiker

In Courageous Online But Still Cowardly Lion in my School from Blogush, Paul Bogush states,

Source: loonyhiker

The Upstate Technology Conference 2009 was a fantastic conference and one of my favorite events of the year. I love getting to meet with other people from around my state that I only see online but not in real life. On Wednesday night we went out to dinner at Wild Wings and got to enjoy a real life visit. You can see my pictures of the conference here: UTC2009 Pictures

On Thursday I was schedule to present The VoiceThread Venture at two different sessions. I was thrilled with the turn out for the session and the response to the presentation. I felt that at the end, many of them were really excited about trying this out in their classrooms. I tried to show examples of how it is used at different levels so that everyone could see how this tool could be adapted to any subject and at any level. You can see my presentation below:

Here is a summary of the sessions I attended and my comments about them:

It all started on Tuesday afternoon when I went to Hide and Seek 2.0 which was a preconference session. I learned about geocaching and now I’m really excited going geocaching on my own (with my hubby of course!)

On Wednesday after teaching my morning grad class, I went to the session Using Photostory3 with Audacity presented by Robert Burdette. I have never used Photostory so I was interested in seeing what it could do and how it could be used in the classroom. I am also interested in seeing how I can merge my Audacity sound files with it.

The next session was Can We Work Together? Using Collaborative Tools presented by Cathy Nelson Fran Bullington. I really liked this because I learned more about Google Apps and Google Docs. I have not used Google Docs and Forms but I can see how it can be very useful in class.

The last session for me that day was No Budget Broadcasting presented by Chris Patterson Sara Adkins. It was really exciting to see how this teacher had students produce a daily TV broadcast on a shoestring budget. I like the way certain segments could be prerecorded and then spliced together.

The next session I went to was Q&A with Chris Craft. He gave a great explanation of how he did certain things. He opened it up for people to answer questions and share ideas and concerns. I loved how this was an open session with no major focus so the audience could direct this to where they needed it to go.

The last session of the conference for me was Buying Tomorrow’s Computer Today… CHEAPER! I liked this one because I learned the different features that I should be comparing when I buy another computer. I imagine I will be looking for a new computer within the next year and this helped me get a better idea of what my needs are and what features will be needed.

Source: loonyhiker

Here are some interesting sites that I’ve found this week, thanks to my Personal Learning Network (PLN). As a teacher, I feel we have to keep up to date concerning research in our field and current issues in the education system. I hope some of these inspire you, inform you, and even have you asking questions. Thank you for coming by and visiting!

Last Few Minutes of the Day – Larry Ferlazzo asks people to give suggestions for what they do if there is still time left in the class. I enjoyed reading the suggestions that people left.

Families Fighting Flu – “Families Fighting Flu is a non-profit, volunteer-based corporation established in 2004 that is made up of families and healthcare practitioners. Each family has experienced first-hand the death of a child due to the flu or has had a child experience severe medical complications from the flu. We are dedicated to educating people about the severity of influenza and the importance of vaccinating children against the flu every year. Through education and advocacy, we hope to improve the rates of childhood flu vaccinations and help reduce the number of childhood illnesses and deaths caused by the flu each year.”

PBS Teachers - is PBS’ national web destination for high-quality preK-12 educational resources. Here you’ll find classroom materials suitable for a wide range of subjects and grade levels. We provide thousands of lesson plans, teaching activities, on-demand video assets, and interactive games and simulations. These resources are correlated to state and national educational standards and are tied to PBS’ award-winning on-air and online programming like NOVA, Nature, Cyberchase, Between the Lions and more.

Links to Web 2.0 Tools by Jennifer Hand

Outrageous Ooze – is it a liquid or a solid? A great experiment to do with kids

Original image: ‘Tools‘ http://www.flickr.com/photos/10488545@N05/1596898776 by: Josep Mª Rosell

Source: loonyhiker