tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61117372316119827512011-10-21T14:00:06.845-06:00This is a simple blog about my tech life at a high school in Northern Alberta, Canada. We have PCs, Notebooks, iPods, Moodle, and other disjointed pieces of technology. Somehow they all play together. This blog is about that sandbox.Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.comBlogger801100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-68313068763035594442011-10-21T14:00:00.000-06:002011-10-21T14:00:06.873-06:00

I know I dropped this blog, but I just purchased a Macbook Air. What a dreamy machine. Sure I love the iPad I used for the last year, but for a my work flow this is so much better. It's small and light enough that I slip it into my regular folder. It is also good enough on batter that I do not need to bring my adapter around during the day. Finally it runs OSX. I've been windows now for so long I

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-68565657201522901012010-05-26T00:39:00.000-06:002010-05-26T00:39:58.925-06:00

It's been a great run. I've learned and shared much about technology and our small school in Northern Alberta. However, times are changing. I'm off to work in the town of Myrnam as the principal of their k-12 school. I'll miss writing about technology, but I just will not have the time to do it justice. Thanks for checking in, and perhaps we'll visit again on a blog about administration???

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-57532598763772996372010-04-26T22:26:00.000-06:002010-04-26T22:26:03.760-06:00

iPod touch and iPhones are rapidly becoming useful tools for education. Here are a few apps that can help you be successful on your educational journey here at BRHS. Homework Organizers myhomework - an excellent homework organizer - FREE! Science TCT Lite - good and free Periodic table of elements - FREE! TCT Full - a full featured Periodic table of ellements - $0.99 Units - a simple unit

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-47233762997388390232010-01-02T16:34:00.000-07:002010-01-02T16:34:27.083-07:00

Christmas break is a wonderful and needed rest for educators everywhere. It always helps me clear my mind and be able to focus again on the daily challenges in the classroom. This break I found myself pondering the question of a digital life. OK, that's not quite the concept, but it will have to do. I am wondering about just how much ownership, awareness, and organization students and teachers

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-33552396147025126892009-12-16T10:46:00.000-07:002009-12-16T10:46:10.539-07:00

I know, I know, it's like sacrilege to recommend a proprietary product when there is a good open source player in the field (VirtualBox), but wow, the new VMWare player is solid. I've installed it on Ubuntu x64 and Windows 7 x64. Each did so with no complaint. Then I created an x64 guest on each with the other as the OS. So I have Ubuntu 9.10 x64 as host with Windows 7 x64 as guest and vice

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-58746171509133745392009-12-10T00:03:00.000-07:002009-12-10T00:03:54.199-07:00

About every two months I get an itch to mess up my world. I'm not sure where this masochistic tendency comes from, but it's impossible to deny. Just when my computer is working perfectly, I format and install a new OS. Lately, this is not as satisfying as it used to be. Now, the install of the OS goes very well. Nearly all my important stuff shows up instantly. What's with that? Oh for the days

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-80705429662699305252009-11-06T17:28:00.000-07:002009-11-06T17:29:19.148-07:00

So several of us have iPods in class. Sure we can each connect to online content, but how can we share content with each other directly?I think that is a key step to making iPods an excellent part of daily use.Thoughts?- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-45708968246156993002009-11-01T16:48:00.002-07:002010-01-02T16:53:55.714-07:00

Well, I've had the device for a few weeks now and I still can't get enough. How am I using it? Here is an email I sent a colleague earlier on that very topic! PIM apps Right now, just the built in ones, but they all sync to google. So multiple calendars and all my contacts go back and forth between google and the ipod I'm considering this since it also works with google and toodle, which i've

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-11613011801158655212009-10-18T21:35:00.000-06:002009-10-18T21:35:29.856-06:00

This young lad makes a great case for iPods in classroom. I know I'm all for it. I wish our kids bought these instead of the TI83s we force them to in Math.

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-51521625150668547872009-10-17T14:00:00.000-06:002009-10-17T14:00:14.699-06:00

I love Moodle. Use it daily. Now I have an iPod, and love it too. It's time to get this great piece of hardware together with this awesome software. I've posted as much to moodle.org, but I'm not getting any traction. So if you have an ipod/iphone please let your voice be heard, run over to moodle.org and post your opintion. Here is the thread where I've been posting these thoughts; moodle

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-32579632730445936622009-10-13T21:11:00.000-06:002009-10-13T21:11:15.107-06:00

I've used a lot of picture apps over the years. Most do the job. They organize, create folders, do small touch ups, and add tags. Picasa has always been amoung the best. Add free and an easy way to upload and share over the web, and I've been using using it as my main stay for years. One thing I've been meaning to do though is to tag my pictures with the names of who is in them. Now I have no

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-74500777572971702712009-10-07T15:46:00.000-06:002009-10-07T15:46:58.049-06:00

I usually endorse free or open source. However, these guys recently earned any endorsement I can come up with. Here is the story; About 2 months ago I finally purchase the NIV study bible for my PALM. I had been using various free bible packages and a very old one I purchased years back, but none of them had the NIV. Then i purchased an iPod touch and said goodbye to my LifeDrive (a very tough

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-91461052410354584022009-09-16T09:26:00.002-06:002009-09-16T09:35:15.682-06:00

Look no further than Digsby. This program really is an all-in-one wonder. I have lots of digital friends, or friends that are digital. One problem I have though is that they are all on different networks. So a program like Pidgin or Digsby helps me run only one program and still get in touch with all of them. A nice touch with Digsby is that by creating a Digsby account, I only have to enter my

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-20590789323117909382009-08-15T12:18:00.002-06:002009-08-15T12:21:44.590-06:00

P.O.D's are personally owned devices. No one is sure how they will affect traditional education, but one thing is for sure, they keep coming!Our school has great and open wifi, but then most teachers do not allow ipods or data phones in class. We're missing something. Perhaps this fall is the time to start the discussion.Check out this fantastic presentation if you have not already done so. Again

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-86724618582867522122009-05-26T21:17:00.004-06:002009-05-26T21:47:39.550-06:00

OpenDisc - Education versionMany schools have a tight budget. That is often the reason given for them to consider Open Source. However, there is more that Open software than price. Much more. Lately I've found better tutorials, and a better online user base for Open Source alternatives to mainstream software. I would also like to suggest Open source is a better way for all software to go. Even if

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-44255103764751593112009-05-11T15:08:00.002-06:002009-05-11T15:11:33.869-06:00

I've been using this over over a year and it's easy to forget that many teachers may have missed this one. What is it? Well, it's an easy to use online equation editor. You can add it to your iGoogle home page (as I've done), use it in place at www.sitmo.com/latex or ebedd the code into any website.After you build your equation you can download the .png graphic file or copy and paste into just

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-62082418156996400642009-04-06T23:20:00.003-06:002009-04-06T23:24:47.781-06:00

I'll need to come back to this after a few weeks of really benching this service. However, out of the box it simply expands what I do with delicious. All the usual tagging and sharing tools, but adds on page comments and better social networking tools. If I can get enough people from my PLN to use this, it will really take off.Also, you can have it auto bookmark to Delicious as well. Perfect.

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-43315152889580510272009-04-06T09:17:00.002-06:002009-04-06T09:32:47.680-06:00

I'm just experimenting with this, but looks to solve one of my number one issue with Moodle. If you've used Moodle (a fantastic open source LMS), you may have run into the problem of courses that scroll on forever. Moodle seems to be ok for a short course, but once you've grown a bit, the students seem to do nothing by scroll and scroll.Enter Patrick Thibaudeau's tab display. Essentially this

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-40547573360765491012009-04-03T15:23:00.002-06:002009-04-03T15:27:49.909-06:00

Not enough time to post something significant, but having a great time connection with good people down here. Check out MoodleMoot.ca for more information. If you wish to pick up the flavour of the conference, hit search.twitter.com and look for canadamoot

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-6518536476633419682009-03-12T14:29:00.002-06:002009-03-12T14:37:27.909-06:00

Twitter actually arrived sometime last year, but this is when it arrived for me. For most of the world, they are not using Twitter to follow famous people or interesting people for fun. While cool, I don't seem to have the desire or time to do that kind of stuff. So twitter remained a novelty. No more.I'm down in Calgary at the ADETA conference. Some very cool people here and, as usually happens

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-1508944722349441402009-02-19T13:48:00.002-07:002009-02-19T13:52:32.827-07:00

I played around with Ning a while back and could not get my head around why I would want my own social network. I guess a lot has changed in the past year. Many starting networks have really taken off. Which is good, but also a problem. It's a little harder to stay in touch with just a few people in a specific area. I think that's where Ning can really fit in.A small group can stay in touch or

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-40276943688757122822009-02-15T18:53:00.002-07:002009-02-15T20:01:53.001-07:00

The USB key. Everyone has one .... or should ($7.95 for 2GBs at the local tech store). But are we using them well? Two sites I use that helps the lowly USB key come alive. First, http://portableapps.com/It's really amazing what you can carry around with you. All the essential apps and many niche ones too. The top of your list should be from this site though:http://allwaysync.com/

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-28685616548155772202009-02-09T15:10:00.003-07:002009-02-09T15:15:28.356-07:00

I love the concept of this device, but sadly, I have not laid my hands on it. I have been reading books on electronic devices for years, and this looks dramatically better than anything I've used. The size, the contrast, the easy of access to a library all looks very good. Unfortunately, who has this kind of money lying around for books? or rather, just to access books. This brings up a major

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-62037600726273554622009-02-06T13:38:00.001-07:002009-02-06T13:38:36.758-07:00

If you are a tech junkie like me, you probably already have a nokia tablet. If not ... what are you waiting for? These devices are dropping rapidly in price and who doesn't want a linux based PC in your pocket?In case you somehow missed what this device is, it's basically an underpowered notebook to-go. It has a beautiful 800x480 touch screen, slide out keyboard, mini-SD slot and a built-in mic/

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-81438852468796183232009-01-05T21:19:00.005-07:002009-01-05T21:47:36.292-07:00

Imagine your whole desktop being a website and you've pretty much got EyeOS. To work, you would point your browser to your Eye server and login. Then run apps as you would on your local computer. Anything from Office software to simple games. EyeOS is in very early development but it could catch on. It has a few cool things going for it.One, it's open source. That allows everyone to participate

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-27486955342173939942008-11-18T11:06:00.002-07:002008-11-18T11:14:43.230-07:00

Ok, that sounds like the obvious KVM line. Not so. Instead I'm talking about controlling and using multiple machines from one keyboard and mouse that is simply hooked up to one computer (no special cables or boxes). Why? Well, if you need to ask, this is probably not for you. I need it since I bring a notebook around wherever I go and I often sit at a desk that has a nice computer, but I still

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-63801437844850913352008-11-06T19:28:00.003-07:002008-11-06T19:46:21.026-07:00

Ok, this will not help me gain any political points, but it must be said; Notebook software from Smartboard is a major waste of time. I know, I know, it slices, it dices it .... Actualy I know all that it can do. I'm a certified trainer and I will continue to help people use and understand it. Still, it's a waste of programming. Why?Well, first off we already have Keynote or Powerpoint. Very well

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-21446101415428055322008-10-22T19:51:00.002-06:002008-10-22T20:01:23.194-06:00

When I first started playing with iGoogle, it was just that playing. It was fun to add pieces of news, and the few blogs I really stay in touch with. Sure the calendar was nice, and a quick glance at my email was cool too. Still, it didn't really grab my attention. Well, that's changed.It all started when I bumped into a LaTeX formula creator online. That's the subject of another whole post, but

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-66522044996574097572008-10-05T07:53:00.006-06:002008-10-05T21:14:20.421-06:00

There are times when you just need a Windows app. Thankfully those times are becoming more rare, but until they're gone there are two good solutions to this problem.First is VirtualBox. If you have the RAM and a legal copy of M$ XP this is a great way to go. The latest version is much better than earlier versions and with it's seamless window mode you can pretend you don't even have XP installed.

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-49488693407799548562008-10-01T19:47:00.002-06:002008-10-01T19:58:18.570-06:00

There are far too many poor ways to get X config to see two monitors. I know, because I've tried and forgotten them all. Linux has always been very bad at detecting video cards and changing desktop resolutions. Sure, I know all the reasons why, and I know how to manual edit my xorg.conf file. However, I should not have too. OSX and Windows have been making this easy enough for my elderly parents

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-33435409153214873202008-09-30T11:02:00.003-06:002008-09-30T11:10:06.423-06:00

This has been the number one road block for using Linux at our School. About once a year I format a student system into Linux. It starts rosy, I'm feeling good about all the open source software we're going to use. It's an upbeat day. Flash forward to about a week later and I'm sadly RISing it back to XP. Why?Students just can't login with their AD accounts like they do on Windows or Mac. They

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-29227742722852561882008-09-27T10:16:00.005-06:002008-09-27T10:27:02.954-06:00

I took my class down to the computer labs this week to learn about zoho. We only had a class and a bit, but they caught on very quickly. Using the Zoho notebook they quikly built review centers for the unit of study we are working in.All went well, and I'd recommend this to anyone for a great online project. However, one note of warning. Zoho notebook sucks up RAM. After about half a class they

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-85795114353629976172008-09-15T00:27:00.003-06:002008-09-15T00:29:45.520-06:00

OK, this is a lot like the wiki video but it still deserves a look. I can't tell you how many of my colleges think email is the ultimate collaboration tool. Even when faced with multiple versions of documents or being somehow left off the email group list, they still insist it's the best. Perhaps if they saw this great quick video (who is commoncraft anyway?)

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-62352528222585535482008-09-07T11:28:00.004-06:002008-09-07T11:30:02.940-06:00

Just in case you have not seen this video on Wikis, and so I'd have a place I could always find it, here is a simple video explaining why Wikis can be so good. Enjoy and think of the possibilities ...

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-83569671031203228912008-08-21T21:25:00.006-06:002008-09-01T11:55:30.479-06:00

Hey ... my school lab just got evergreened! I've been looking forward to this for four years. Finally a whole room full of brand new computer technology. What will they be ... Well it turns out they are big, square, fat, full towers with separate monitors. They come in room dampening black and are full of cords but no card reader, web cam or even a mic. This particular set even comes with ball

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-31983522925576838042008-07-27T12:39:00.003-06:002008-07-27T12:43:34.155-06:00

I came across this video on another educators blog. If you have not watched it and teach students, please take the time. Our world has changed and is continuing to change. I'm not sure yet what the proper response is, but together we'll figure it out.A look at education and technology through the eyes of our students:

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-64850889695610535572008-05-08T11:28:00.003-06:002008-05-08T11:45:16.221-06:00

Ok, so I'm stating the obvious. Mobile Internet Devices rock, and we are going to see more of these in our schools. What are MIDs? Well, you could argue that new phones that browse the web are MIDs. That would be true of Apple's iPhone, Nokia's N seriers, and LGs Viewty. However it would not be true of regular phones that just happen to browse the net on some crappy java based browser.MIDs

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-22926621474618453942008-04-30T14:31:00.005-06:002008-04-30T17:42:44.597-06:00

Our class has been getting into online discussions with our Moodle course site, but I want to move it beyond basic text chat.Enter VoiceThread. This is a very easy to use audio/video comment collector on an image or slideshow you create. Well, it's more than that, but this is how I wish to use it. As you can see from the previous blog, you first upload an image, then as students or anyone to

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-50749655828781331142008-04-30T11:07:00.001-06:002008-04-30T11:07:21.585-06:00

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-27723851805276312602008-04-24T14:20:00.003-06:002008-04-28T10:21:17.322-06:00

Alright I'm still not "sold" on Zoho. However this one thing is too cool. Go there sign in and then click on Zoho Creator. Just watch the starting video. AAAHHHH too cool.Now, without any purchase of a server or software, you can create online databases that are accessible in other websites or blogs. (OK, if you've never done this the hard way, then you won't get this but trust me, this is very

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-168351730560934032008-04-24T14:09:00.002-06:002008-04-24T14:18:01.650-06:00

I can't say I'm going to use Zoho (zoho.com), but it is worth checking out. If you have not yet bought in to google with gmail, googledocs, and googlecalendar, I would definitelycheck it out.What is it? Well, it' s basically all the software you might use on your machine, but online. So you can create spreadsheets, word processing files, presentations, and much more. Why this stands out as

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-55277229883742579032008-04-13T23:23:00.002-06:002008-04-13T23:28:09.082-06:00

Seems like the last two years have been too much reality and not enough dreaming. I see cool things all around, EEEPC, N800 tablets, inexpensive science probes, Moodle, gmail for schools ...However, most technicians with school districts just think inside the box. What's worse is they force the rest of us too. Why not try to do a whole lab in linux? Why not try a cart of EEEPCs instead of full

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-51962906625180796762007-12-20T09:41:00.000-07:002007-12-20T09:50:36.104-07:00

I just don't know why this is hard for everyone to do. Companies like PALM have been doing it forever between Outlook and the in PALM databases. Why is this hard for everyone else?I carry one VISTA notebook. Sometimes I boot it into Ubuntu (I'd love to live here but...). I have a desktop machine at home in an office, and my wife has one in the living room. I carry a Windows Mobile device (this

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-62399374230503645862007-11-25T11:39:00.000-07:002007-11-25T12:24:19.697-07:00

Just because you are small doesn't mean you don't need to know about your servers, switches and key desktops. You do!That's why years and years ago someone wrote SNMP or Simple Network Management Protocol. For who and when ... go Google it. Or go here: Net-SNMPI just wanted to tell you how I use it on small networks to monitor key stuff. There are two basic parts. One is the part that runs on the

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-2347627130566619282007-11-25T11:22:00.000-07:002007-11-25T11:26:32.069-07:00

So if you've ever been forced to switch from linux or mac to pc one of the first things you'll miss are all the network tools. Where's the ping scan stuff? Where's the trace route stuff?Ok, MS does provide much of that if you dig around but I still was not satisfied. Hit Google and search and you're likely to find lots of spyware and crap. So .... check out WildPackts.They offer a collection of

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-17425875679131684842007-11-25T11:19:00.000-07:002007-11-25T11:21:57.191-07:00

Ok, so that's like a month or two old, yet I somehow missed it. Turns out gmail now has imap support. This rocks. Now all my computers and handhelds see the same mail and folders.The way it works is gmail uses labels in their interface, but they show up as folders in outlook or other email clients. Finally, my email life has grown up! Thanks Google is there anything you can't do ...(actually I'm

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-52495996347996154522007-11-05T11:46:00.000-07:002007-11-05T12:09:15.229-07:00

So I live in too many places and have too much technology. It is at the point where I can hardly keep everything straight. To that end I decided to find a way to get everything syncing with everything else. So far this is the place to go:http://www.scheduleworld.comThis let's me have my cell, Outlook, and Google Calendar in sync. A change anywhere is reflected everywhere. Too cool.I did have some

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-41453028905654073792007-10-18T11:08:00.000-06:002007-10-18T11:15:36.249-06:00

So I'm down in Edmonton for a few days at a distributed learning conference. It's going very well. The current speaker: George Siemens (http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/) is doing a great job bringing us into the "Know" of technology and how this is changing.What allows the current students to participate now? In this technological society? So many schools are blocking these tools instead of

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-56695608851922396942007-09-30T22:10:00.000-06:002007-09-30T22:14:35.208-06:00

So being cursed with the Vista notebook has really put a crimp in my ability to control and fix mac clients. Remote Desktop was so good for me when I had a mac, but dropped vnc connections constantly when I would connect from a PC. Vineserver fixes all that.It is much faster than Remote Desktop over general Internet. I use Ultra VNC on the PC, and Vineserver on the Mac. They connect beautifully

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-30898247613501599782007-09-30T11:42:00.000-06:002007-09-30T11:48:43.612-06:00

Too many of us are here. Being forced to run Vista for work. Here are a few tips I've had to work out lately.If you would like a simple way of picking up Podcasts use Juice at:http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/Then make these adjustments:http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/02/10/how-to-make-juice-22-work-in-windows-vista/If you have and old PALM like me (LifeDrive) try these instructions for syncing

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-83033349987930875582007-09-03T10:16:00.000-06:002007-09-03T10:45:48.929-06:00

Well PALM still has not derived a new OS. What a shame. That platform rocked and was miles ahead of everyone else. Then, well I'm not really sure what happened next but the bottom line is no innovation for years (Aside from treo models)I just wanted to post one last time about my favorite model of PALM; the LifeDrive. Cool gadget. Everyone goes on about the beauty of the iPhone, well I've had

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-4925683573284682382007-06-30T11:48:00.001-06:002007-06-30T11:48:14.819-06:00

Want to collaborate online with your coworkers or students, but everything looks too complicated?Well, try WriteBoard. It is fast, easy, and free. Where do these guys come up with this stuff? A few years ago I had to spend hours building websites and trying to get students to email me material. Now, in a minute I can setup a writeboard, and tell my students it's URL. They have no problem

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-48479546429879788462007-06-29T16:38:00.001-06:002007-06-29T16:38:10.040-06:00

Well, it's a little buggy, but at aleast it works. If you use mac, run over to:http://dl.google.com/macwidgets/Blogger.wdgt.zipDownload the new dashboard widget and start blogging easily.

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-38641499145166732392007-06-20T23:17:00.000-06:002007-06-20T23:43:14.802-06:00

Ok, if you are reading this, you already use Skype. But in the off chance you don't, you should. I used it off and on a few years back and it was ok, but not amazing. Now, it's even better. The video chat between Windows and Mac worked flawlessly.That has always been a challenge. Till now I was using iChat on the Mac and Trillian PRO(AIM) on Windows. Worked, but not well. It often dropped and I

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-91585519090824279152007-06-11T20:27:00.000-06:002007-06-11T20:32:08.945-06:00

There are far better websites than this that review Camino and why it's good. I just wanted to remind the Mac community that it's out there and it's a great browser. If you run a Mac lab this is better than FireFox since Camino listens to the MCX setting of default homepage and proxy settings. This means you can guarantee that students will see your homepage, and use your proxy for surfing (well

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-90257066231990663632007-05-13T21:32:00.000-06:002007-05-13T21:35:10.565-06:00

Free Geekery posted a fantastic blog about adding some excellent software to the default Ubuntu 7.04 install. Check it out:http://www.rewardprograms.org/thefreegeek/features/17_musthave_free_apps_for_new_ubuntu_users.html

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-91590627799935685792007-05-09T23:34:00.000-06:002007-05-09T23:42:56.735-06:00

Well everyone knows about OpenOffice. A great, open source, office package. In case you have not and, you own a Linux or MS box, you should visit this site, download the software and be amazed at the quality of the product.What has always burned me a bit was the less than easy X11 port for Mac users. From time to time I have installed it and tried it. However, in the end, I just would not keep

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-15428575798322353802007-04-23T16:21:00.000-06:002007-04-23T16:27:46.892-06:00

Words can explain how happy I am to find a real SIM game for my PALM! Great programmers have brought Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe to the PALM. Check out: http://www.esoftinteractive.com/openttd.htmlHere is a quote from their website:"Now you may play Transport Tycoon Deluxe on the go! Experience the greatest of tycoon games on the palm of your hand, available for both Pocket PC and Palm

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-79517450101915625332007-04-13T19:54:00.000-06:002007-04-13T20:23:15.983-06:00

I've run school computer labs for 10 years now. To do so efficiently I need to have three tools in place. One, easy start-and-walk-away setup of computer clients. Two, easy remote install/uninstall of software. Three control over who does what when and where.On Macs I do one with Netboot/Netrestore, two with Remote Desktop, and three with Open Directory and MCX settings. On windows I can do one

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-32129599452148318852007-04-13T19:51:00.000-06:002007-04-13T19:53:17.756-06:00

I'm sure you've heard, but if not, go and get this app. It does what it claims to do. Now my PALM, iCal, and Google calendar all read and write to the same set of calendars. Very good, reasonable cost.http://www.spanningsync.com/

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-37241163827137696062007-02-11T21:01:00.000-07:002007-02-02T15:42:03.383-07:00

If you use Google and a Mac grab this app. Sure, it's beta. Sure it has bugs, but Google calendar rocks, and now you can sync with iCal and from their to PALM.This is way cool. I can't wait till they work the bugs out and sell this beauty. Here is the link:http://blog.spanningsync.com/A thought is sneaking in here .... is Google slowly taking over my life ....

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-71617566156166340662007-02-02T15:33:00.000-07:002007-02-02T15:42:03.769-07:00

I'm not sure if you have had the joy of teaching under-motivated high school students programming. If you haven't, let me assure you, it's not easy. To that end I have tried various gimmics and tricks to pour C++, JAVA, or Basic code into their emerging mindsets. All with some difficulty. There are many free compilers out there in cyberspace that students can use, but they all suffer from a lack

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-29974315580228673552007-01-22T10:39:00.000-07:002007-01-22T10:49:15.119-07:00

It's a secret wish of mine that all software should be free for education. Ok, not secret, but still a wish. It bothers me to no end that our schools have to pour limited resources into software, just to train users who will go out and buy that companies software. It's not right. I'm not a graphic shop. I do not use Adobe Photoshop for anything I sell or make money from.Some companies have

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-1063241063307681092007-01-22T10:37:00.000-07:002007-01-22T10:39:47.338-07:00

What?! What is this .... cool, kind of like apple script ... kind of like Automator on steroids with easy of use .... Hmmm needs more research.http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-52439753159407223562007-01-22T10:30:00.000-07:002007-01-22T10:37:44.953-07:00

So the power of MAMP isn't that it quikly installs and sets up Apache, MySQL and PHP (although it does that), it's that it does so in a box. Well, not a box, but all to itself. This allows you to run these tools for a specific website your working on, without affecting the rest of you machine.Ok, that's still not right. What I mean is, I can use MAMP to install a website I'm building onto my

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-70102625492522196792007-01-20T15:30:00.000-07:002007-01-20T15:36:22.608-07:00

I've installed Apache, MySQL and PHP individually on mac. Now, why do it that way? The good people at "living-e" just created MAMP, which is LAMP for mac. Here is how they advertise it:" Server environment on your Mac:The MAMP Apache, PHP and MySQL under OS X! Frequently demanded, and not yet available in this form anywhere in the world, with MAMP you install a

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-87657317217704808192007-01-20T12:00:00.000-07:002007-01-20T12:09:14.743-07:00

I believe there should be two systems in place to preserve up-time for small Mac servers. One is to RAID 1 (mirror) both data and OS drives, the other is to use an external Firewire drive to backup the OS. Here are the steps I would recommend to have in place for this to happen.First, backup the system now with a Firewire drive. This is cheap and easy. OS drives or partitions are usually very

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-51213713668725811272007-01-03T15:39:00.000-07:002007-01-03T16:08:16.625-07:00

I've written about this before, but I find it very frustrating. PALM is a great PDA. For years it enjoyed being the top kid on the block. However, a while ago the Microsoft behemoth swept in and has really taken over. Why? I'm not qualified to give the complete answer, but it seems to me that PALM has staggered from a loss of direction an innovation. It took them too long to get Wifi, SMS, and

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-15497845210034163932006-12-22T15:07:00.000-07:002006-12-22T15:09:52.428-07:00

So Merry Christmas to all. I really mean that. May this season bring you much Joy.Also, I wanted to get a thank you out there to the awesome people at Xandros. We are investigating switching to Linux from Windows and the people there have really been fantastic. If we switch, you can be sure I'll write lots about it here, so if you are considering switching, stay tuned .... So thanks again! And

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-2760565696824958182006-12-19T09:22:00.000-07:002006-12-19T09:27:18.322-07:00

I take a lot of data on the road. A lot of data (2 - 6 GBs all the time!). I'm also sitting in front of different PCs all the time. To make sure I'm working on the same document I need to run around with a USB key. The hassle comes when I've changed a document on a machine, but I want it to be updated on every machine.To that end I've been Allway Sync. Sure, I've used others, but this one is

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-84777471024151959372006-12-05T23:11:00.000-07:002006-12-05T23:14:11.542-07:00

The good stuff just keeps pouring in! Here is a great take on IM on the road, or on different plateforms: MeeboIt's simple. Online access to all the popular IMs from any desktop anywhere. Very cool.

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-17972146705445754142006-12-05T08:48:00.000-07:002006-12-05T08:53:31.869-07:00

Very cool. I use firefox on every machine I work with (of course!), and now with foxmarks I have a consistent set of bookmarks on every machine too! True, with search engines as powerful as they are, I often do not need them, but there are a few sites that just don't come up in the all powerful Google. For that, I still use bookmarks. Again, this works on my Mac, or my PC at work!Plaxo is still

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-35370854474236377262006-11-28T10:14:00.000-07:002006-11-28T10:18:35.379-07:00

Ok, I have not used this service long enough to be any kind of authority on the subject. However, it appears to work. I now have an address book on my Mac, PALM, and PC at work that stays in sync. That's right. They all chat and stay happily together forever .... :)Perhaps my days of importing and exporting contacts are done! Oh, right the URL:www.plaxo.com

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-40668592319372797132006-11-25T16:57:00.000-07:002006-11-25T17:10:36.625-07:00

Check this out now!ajaxwriteImagine having a full version of MS Office with you on any computer at any time... Well, now you can (almost). You do need an internet connection, and it's not MS Office. But it is an office alternative that is very mature and works well. It reads and writes the MS Office file types and loads amazingly fast. I am seriously considering this for our school EVEN THOUGH

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-5429388902804074382006-11-22T23:08:00.000-07:002006-11-23T21:26:08.914-07:00

So I'm pretty jazzed about the new server. It seems to be ticking along nicely. Time to do something new.A few years ago I modified a free help desk system to help me manage the tech demands at our school. It was hard work, and took many hours to implement. Still, the rewards of having anything that worked for "free" seemed worth it. However, times have changed. Now I expect more from open source

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-5057390707776440392006-11-22T12:57:00.000-07:002006-11-22T13:01:07.269-07:00

A cool concept this "Pando". I haven't yet tried it out, but I often have to juggle attachement size. Of course, it works better on Windows with IE, but at least there is an OS X standalone. Not sure about linux.Check it out at: http://www.pando.com/The concept is simple.Send an email to a friend, attach a large document with the Pando plugin.Your friend gets the email, but with only a small

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-40186538646019532172006-11-21T23:10:00.000-07:002006-11-21T23:24:10.495-07:00

Ok, I'm sure I'll get flack for this one, but here goes:If you can, use Red Hat.I know, I know, Ubuntu is cool. Open source rocks. It's one of my mantra's too. However, there is a reason you pay for Red Hat. It's solid, it works, there's help.I just moved our webserver again today. Third time in 4 months. First it was SUSE 10 (there must be a reason for that distro, but I haven't found it), then

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-40346601088561717952006-11-20T22:10:00.000-07:002006-11-20T22:25:21.743-07:00

I've had terrible luck getting usb drives to mount properly in Ubuntu 6.06 server. They show up on the desktop, but are inaccessible. I can't mount, since they say they are mounted, but I can not unmount either (some kind of pmount error).I had a friend point me to a work around for now. First, exit from Gnome. Then login to Xterm (you can pick that option from the login options at the login

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-69147905896663453512006-11-19T22:44:00.000-07:002006-11-19T23:36:41.725-07:00

Ok, I love PALM devices. They just work and I've built up a pile of cool programs I love to carry with me. that said, my life is changing, and I need to have better and better mobile access to my data and the Internet. To that end I got a LifeDrive for a great clearance price expecting to do both in spades.Well, some of it worked. If I'm close to a WiFi point I can do amazing things with RD and

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6111737231611982751.post-19377521977524006332006-11-19T11:01:00.000-07:002006-11-19T11:06:05.331-07:00

So I'm back from the JTC in Alberta. Great event, with too much to talk about. I'm going to try to be part of a one-on-one educational initiative at our school. We'll see how it comes together, but I believe this might help some marginalized students. Perhaps the non-academic stream, like science 14/24 or something.I'm thinking tablets or notebooks. Also some probes and associated hardware. I'll

Jonathan Konradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08533904587245682958noreply@blogger.com0