A guide to Facebooks Privacy Features

Thank you Cnet for posting this guide & video to Facebooks new privacy features.

Adding media to itunes

So I have found 2 different ways to add media to itunes.
the first through itunes itself

1. Insert a CDand add the CD to your library
2. Edits to Track Names   by using the the "Get Info" window.  Enter all of the track information if any of the fields are blank.

3. Submit CD Track Names by selecting Advanced, Submit CD Track Names. iTunes will connect to the Gracenote site, & check the available categories, and submit your information. The Gracenote staff will check your submission for accuracy and add it to the database usually within a day or two.
   

Thanks to Brian Tieman @ InformIT for the above info.

The second way to add media to itunes is to apply to become a Content Partner. There is an online application process and if you have more questions you can see the FAQ's page here.

Getting Started Online for Small Business

As a small business owner today one of the first things to do is create a website.  You are able to create a website for free with little knowledge of computer coding.  If you can create a Word document then you can create a website.  There are a number of these sites available however I use Yola and Google Sites.  One nice thing about Yola is that they register domain names, host your site and provide storage and customer service.  I can say the customer support at Yola is fast and thorough and I do recommend them.  Just check out these design videos here as an example.  Google Sites is powered by Google, currently they do not have as many options as Yola but they are free, easy to use and have all of Goolge's tools available.  I have yet to have a need to contact Google's customer support but the "Help" forums have been more than enough assistance for any question I have had.  You will be given a Google Sites address for free, if you want a customized name such as www.mysite.com you will have to register with a registry site and redirect your traffic.  I have use GoDaddy to register my domain or website address.  For $9.00 or less you can register your name and then redirect your traffic to a free site such as Google sites. When you have created your site you will need to submit your site to search engines so they know how to find it.  here are the links for Google, Yahoo, Bing.  Yes do all 3, it will take up to a week for your site to show up in a search.
Use Google webmaster tools & Google analytics to track web traffic, keywords, subscriptions and more. 
Remember to create a links page on your website.  The more people who you are linked to and the more who are linked back to you the better. 
Sign up for Google Apps.  I am cheap, I admit it.  I used the free or standard edition because my organization is going to use less than 50 users.  Here you will be able to set up email accounts with your domain address for example fred@mysite.com instead of fred@gmail.com  For Windows Live users go here.   Yola provides a great customer service page to set up your Windows Live account here. I have not used this product, I use Google, I have not had a problem with Google and I always recommend them first.
Your next step should be to set up you business Facebook page.  Use your new Google Apps contactus@mybusiness.com email address to sign up.  your Facebook user name should be your business name.  Why use Facebook?  Because that is where your customers are! Begin first with your profile, tell your customers what your business is about create an online portfolio of success and positive stories.  Slowly you will build an online network of friends.  Your local government has a presence here as well as you r chamber of commerce.  Link to these people by becoming their friends.  Are you having a sale?  an event?  create a fan page where you can ask for RSVP's or post special information about the event.  As a business be very careful with how private your profile is, you will want more public access to find you.  Update your Facebook page daily, the more traffic the better.  This is true with all websites. 
First why use Twitter?  Twitter sends out brief notices to your followers.  Many people follow Twitter on their mobile devices and Tweets tend to show up in Google searches quicker than a Facebook status message.  Use a Twitter Clients that I mentioned in one of my earlier posts to post blog updates, TwitPics of merchandise, Shortend URL's of specials or listings.  Twitter is a powerful tool and you will be amazed at how much traffic Twitter can bring to your website and hopefully to your cash register. 
You should plan to use your website, Facebook page & Twitter as a team.  One does not replace the other and each serves it own unique purpose.  As you learn you can incorporate a MySpace page and other social networking sites specific to your organization.
Now that your on the web its time to get on the map.  Two sites are here to help get you started. Yelp &  Google places.  I have seen the Google places sticker on multiple Rita's throughout the region.  Google places has a great video on how the product works and you can view it on their page.  Yelp by my own definition is the electronic yellow pages with reviews of businesses.  I have used the site often and will continue to do so.  I have found reviews to be very helpful and accurate.  Yelp does have a help section for business owners to help you with questions you may have.
Finally create a linkedin professional profile to interact with other business profesionals in your field. 
This is a process that is continually growing and evolving but will give you a good start.  Yes this will seem overwhelming in the beginning but with patience & practice I hope your business grows.

Social Networking for business

I am teaching a class tonight on social networking.  I expect that some of tonights attendes are expecting to learn how you can leverage a social networking site to grow your business.  The IPWatchdog wrote a fantastic article about what sites and Facebook applications you should use.  Sitepoint alos has a great list of the top 20 business oriented social networks to belong to and a review of each.  TopRank has an interesting post of the most influential sites for business.  I recently showed my students a video with Tom from MySpace who when asked how he advertised MySpace replied that he really didn't, the growth was viral.  Meaning he put the site up and it spread via the web from network to network.  I do not pay to advertise my blog yet I have visitors from over 39 countries.
Now how do you update all of these sites?  Business moves fast and so should your updates.  Why go to each individual site to post the same message over and over?  Check out this posting from TechCrunch on the top 21 twitter clients.  Cnet posts about an ad on to firefox called yoono  I hope these tools help your business grow.

Internet Tracking Software

I have been asked by some people during class if there is a way to track online traffic of children or other computer users.  My answer is absolutely.  While I do not personally use this software it is available and the cost is reasonable.  Yes you may block certain sites on your network through your browser, but to track data, history, passwords etc you should use this software.  This page by FreeDownloadCenter has a list of software, reviews and cost.  OnlineSafetySite has a very nice write up on NetNanny.  A simple internet search of Internet Tracking Software will bring up multiple software packages and reviews.
Hope this helps

I am reading about Pirate Bay...

According to TGDaily Pirate Bay has received an injunction to stop providing service.  Last week I posted about LimeWire being convicted of copyright infringement.  Again Students just don't understand the consequences about using this service.  I am looking forward to reading about fines and punishments.

FedFlix

This website has a full library of the best movies of the United States Government, from training films to history, from our national parks to the U.S. Fire Academy and the Postal Inspectors, all of these fine flix are available for reuse without any restrictions whatsoever.  Some are milatary training films, but this could be a great resource for history teachers.  Thanks to instructify for posting about it.

I am reading about

Movieclips is a site dedicated to you guessed it ....movieclips.  The one benefit to this site is that it has a licensing agreement!  This means not only is it FREE but also LEGAL!!!!!!! Another reason to love movieclips is at the bottom of the screen there is a help section for various versions of PowerPoint.  Someone here is a visionary! I hope you can use this site and check out the article by techcrunch.
Do you Moodle?  "It is a Free web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites."  I am very curios and am going to explore this site further.  Check out some demo Moodles here.

Look.com

I found Look.com which according to the "about" section of the site "is a social utility that connects people with people who look like celebrities, and those looking for people who look like celebrities. People use Look.com to upload an unlimited number of photos, share their matches and meet others who may or may not look like celebrities"You may also rate people and their celebrate match. 

Cloud Computing & Secure Websites

The Common Craft has done it again.  Lee Lefever has done it again with his plain english videos.  These two which explain what cloud computing is and how it works is great.  Also secure websites really explains what they are and how they work better than I can.  The simplicity of the videos and the animation keep students engaged.  This is my go to site.
Thank you Lee

What is foursquare?

I have been reading about FourSquare a lot lately.  I decided it was time to investigate and see what this was all about.  "FourSquare on your phone gives you & your friends new ways of exploring your city. Earn points & unlock badges for discovering new things." According to a posting from CrunchBase  FourSquare is a location based social network that incorporates users location with friends by "checking in" via a smartphone app or by text message. Points are awarded for checking in at various locations. Users can connect their Foursquare accounts to their Twitter and Facebook accounts, which can update when a check in is registered. By checking in a certain number of times, or in different locations, users can collect virtual badges. In addition, users who have checked in the most times at a certain venue will be crowned "Mayor" until someone surpasses their number. Various venues have embraced FourSquare, and offer special deals to users who are "mayors". According to mashable if you are attending the Today Show you may play and earn rewards.

Itunes

I love Itunes for many reasons.  First I love that I do not need an ipod to enjoy this fantastic yet free program.  Just download it to your desktop and you are ready to go.  I enjoy the free podcasts on all subjects, museums, tours, technology, radio broadcasts, and more.  Itunes even allows you to listen to some radio stations. 
I store my songs on an external device this way if my computer crashes i am able to simply move my songs.  I am using a PC, simply click file add folder to library and select your music folder and your songs will be there.  Yes if you have ratings and playlists they will not move.  Remember to change where your songs are stored by clicking edit/preferences/ advanced and select your external device.  I hope you enjoy itunes

Taracking the Oil Spill

I have been tracking the Gulf Coast Oil Spill with my students using various tools.  The earth.com shows the spill, related oil rigs and the coast in satalite detail.  The Google Maps Oil Spill gives another perspective.  Nola posts a new update daily, and the USA Today interactive map shows the spill grow in time lapse and related currents. 

I hope this helps you bring perspective to your students

 

http://earthnc.com/oilspill/

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/oilspill/index.html

http://nexus404.com/Blog/2010/05/06/google-maps-out-gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill-in-real-time-google-puts-into-perspective-the-magnitutde-of-this-disaster/

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/oil-spill-map.htm

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/view_the_noaa_gulf_of_mexico_o_4.html

I am reading about secure Google search

A new version of Google search has been released and for all of you concerned with privacy this may be the version for you.  Google secure Search which basically secures your search between your computer and Googles computer from 3rd party apps.  Thanks to GoogleSystem for posting. 
Online Universities Blog posts about Top 100 ways to use Social Media in the classroom.  Some of these ideas are great, some like make a Facebook page about a character you are reading about violates the user agreement of the site.  I do like the Twitter Treasure Hunt, virtual Field Trips.  The list is worth a brows through and has some great ideas.
Proof that the folks at Google never taught Middle School =)

Questions from last nights class

These are some of the questions I received from last nights computer class.

How can I access my PC remotely? 
How to Geek wrote a fabulous tutorial on how to accomplish this for free using the tools windows currently has installed.  Next Advisor has a great comparison chart for 3rd party software.  This pay to use option may be a better choice for those who will need to connect more that 2 machines.  Again remember to search each program for user reviews before you install a product.  Some of my peers use Logmein with positive reviews.
How to find the RAM available
on windows XP select start / control panel / system on the pop up window for system the RAM settings are at the bottom of the popup
What is a PDF?
"PDF" means Portable Document Format. The extension of the file is .pdf. This format was developed by Adobe ® Systems for ease of document sharing on the Internet and for easy printing of documents. It retains the original layout of the document when converted to a PDF file and is a very secure way of sharing and publishing information on the Internet.
What is adobe acrobat?
Adobe Acrobat is a family of computer programs developed by Adobe Systems, designed to view, create, manipulate and manage files
How do I delete icons on my desktop?
to only remove an icon read one of these 2 articles from Microsoft click here or click here.  OR Right-click an icon on the desktop, and then click Delete.

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Display, click the Desktop tab, and then click Customize Desktop.
3. Click to select the check boxes for the desktop items that you want to display, or click to clear the check boxes for the desktop items that you want to remove.

Remember deleting an Icon does not delete a program only the icon

How do I safely delete programs that are not listed in the add remove program list?
Go to this help article by Microsoft.  If this is not helpful try this article also by Microsoft.  Again be sure you know what you are deleting and do a Internet search for something if you are unsure.
How do I move a folder?
select start / my computer / select the drive you information is contained in for example "C" / select the folder by clicking on it once, it will turn blue / select edit from the tool bar / select copy to folder or move to folder / select the new location
Am I the administrator?
right click on the START button. If you see "Open All Users" rather than just "Open," the account is in the local Administrators group. for more info check out this article by lifehacker
What is and how do I compress folders?
The ZIP file format is a data compression and archive format. A ZIP file contains one or more files that have been compressed to reduce file size.  This article gives a great tutorial on how to zip (compress files) and email or store them.
How do I sort files?
Select start / my computer / select the drive you wish to sort / along the tool bar you will see an icon that looks like a calendar, select it, change the view to detail / at the top of the list click the sections you wish to sort by, date, file name, type, etc.
How do I set when updates will occur?
Select start / control panel / automatic updates, change when you want these to update.  Yes you will need to be connected to the Internet for these updates to load.  Note some programs may not update through the Windows automatic update service and will have their own settings.  Those settings can usually be found under tools or do an Internet search .

Sample letter asking permission to use copy written content

 I have found a number of videos that I would like to use in my classes and presentations.  I want to be a responsible roll model for my students and use these videos and other media with permission.  When you find a video you would like to use you will need to contact the owner or producer of the video.  This information can usually be found on the stations or bands website under contact us.  Many sites have forms that you will fill out as well as an email address.  This is a sample letter that I used and received permission back from the owner of the media I wanted to use.


To whom it may concern, I am a Fill in your Title.  I would like permission to use your video Name the video and the date it was aired or posted.  I would like permission to show the video during be very descriptive when and where you are going to show the video or use the media If possible I would also like to post the completed edited version on my Youtube account.  Since our budgets have been cut , I am hopeful that I can use this clip without payment of a fee.  If this is not possible, please let me know what fee would be required for this use.  Would you please let me know as soon as possible if this material cannot be licensed. If this use is approved without a fee, please reply to this tell the reader where to reply to you to signify your approval.  Also, can you let me know if I need to obtain separate permissions from any of the actors / reporters in the clip and their contact information?
Thank you
your name

Google Facial Recognition Search

TG Daily posts about facial recognition search from Google.  "There's no doubt that the company has efficient facial recognition technology already. Its Picasa photo sharing service allows users to search their own photo albums to find matches for labeled photos."  I already teach students that they will be Googled when they apply to colleges or universities but imagine searching using facial recognition?  Videos and pictures will come up even if you use an alias. 
According to a 2007 posting to the Google Opperating System you may add &imgtype=face to the end of the URL in your image search and pull up only face images.  I tried with limited success. 

I am reading about facebook & Google Wave

Yes as PCWorld reports Google Wave is out of testing and anyone can sign up and use it.  Frustrating for students in my district however is that Wave does not run in Internet Explorer =( You may download a plug in player but because of network settings this can take up to an hour and students are blocked from downloading.  Hopefully something will change so students may use this fantastic collaborative tool.  Some use Wave already outside of school however and the feedback has been great.
PCWorld also posts about 3rd party apps that help restore Facebook privacy.  I suggest you watch this video as well that discusses Facebooks use of private information.  Thanks to albesatt for posting it.

I am reading about..

PCWorld reports more about Facebook making privacy changes.  Supposedly it will become simpler to change & monitor your privacy.  PCWorld also reports about Google snooping on us. 
PC Mag posts about the new and improved Hotmail.  I am a Gmail user and have never used hotmail so I can't really comment on the new changes.  This article does have a slideshow of screen shots of the new version.

Need Demographic Data?

City Data has over 74,000 city photos, graphs of latest real estate prices and sales trends, recent home sales, home value estimator, hundreds of thousands of maps, satellite photos, stats about residents (race, income, ancestries, education, employment...), geographical data, state profiles, crime data, cost of living, housing, religions, businesses information.
CIA Factbook is another great tool for finding demographic data around the world. 
Scribble Maps is a cool way to draw and make notations on maps. 

How to delete Your FaceBook Account

" This short video demonstrates how to finally achieve an acceptable level of privacy on Facebook!" Reports the Videos Author VortexTech.  There has been a lot of talk about Facebook and its privacy issues lately the site ready to announce its 500 millionth subscriber soon has come under plenty of scrutiny for its privacy issues.  Many users want to delete their accounts but are unsure how to because of the steps involved. 

I am reading about....

North Jersey posts about stackmeup.com in my opinion another waste of time website, however I can see plenty of students using this and taking it a bit too seriously.  In a second post about an email scam North Jersey.com reports about an email scam offering a job with Habitat for Humanity.  To quote the posting "What makes this latest online scam particularly nefarious is the fact that the victim – in this case the donor – has little way of realizing he's been ripped off."
TechCrunch posts about Yoomoot a new site that tries to make online discussions more useful.  Check out this moot to learn how to create an online community.  With Ning charging for service this could be a new option. 
TGDaily posts about a Facebook search tool called openbook.  Openbook is basically trying to call out facebook on its privacy policy.  Still fun to look.
Free Technology for Teachers has a few great and useful posts.  The first compares Google and Wolfram Alfa called GooFram   Very cool to see how the 2 different search engines pull data differently.  A useful research tool.   The second post is about JayCut.  A web based video editing tool.  Whats cool is that it is network or website based so no need to be on one machine. 

I am reading about Photowow

PhotoWow is a digital photo to art company.  This is not a free site but they do develop a really cool product. 
This is National Photo Month
I am also posting an updated video on Internet search strategies

Google Ad Words

I received a Gift Certificate to try Google Ad Words.  I am curious to see how much additional traffic I recieve, currently I have been visited by 39 countries, 190 visits this month, 276 page views, 161 unique visitors, I average 10 visits per day.  My gift card was for $100 and I plan on using it over the next month.  I will post visit information at that time.

I am reading about...Limewire, facebook

TGDaily posts about popular file sharing site Limewire guilty of copyright infringement.  I can't believe how many of my students just don't understand how using this service or any other similar is stealing.  We discuss how a few years ago users of Napstar received fines for downloading songs.  I hope this doesn't happen to them.
Facebook is revisiting some of its privacy issues according to  The Register.  The NYTimes has a fantastic posting about questions asked to facebook by users. 
I also subscribed to the unofficial facebook blog www.allfacebook.com/

Wanna Teach overseas?

With teaching jobs hard to find in the States why not try teaching overseas?  The USAJOBS website gives details and suggestions.
Good Luck 

My Life is Average

One of my students asked me if they could base their website design off of "my life is average".  My answer after checking out this site is a loud NO! From the About Page "MyLifeIsAverage is a place to share your everyday mediocrity. It is a place to post the mundane things in your life, and read about what makes life normal for other people."  Not a school appropriate site in my opinion.

Welcome to Mac

Today started off with the network down....again :/   I am in my 3rd year teaching computers and have back up lessons for when this happens.  Today we watched "Welcome to Mac" A documentry on the rise of Apple computers.  This is a great video although you will need to skip the first chapter because of some language issues.  The movie is really interesting how it discusses the rise of Mac, the development of Mac, and the development of certain tools.  Students feedback has been everything from this was a little dry (boring) to really interesting.  No matter how students felt about the movie however we had some great discussions about how other inventions or companies are developed.  This is a great resource for your Tech Library.

Word 2007 how to add and format your Header Footer

This video will show you how to create and format your Header and Footer in Word 2007. It will also show you how to add new fields and file path names.

How to Format Word Art

This video will show you how to add Word Art to a Word 2007 Document. Once added you will learn how to format your word art.

Grouping Objects

Grouping objects is a great way to keep aspect ratios intact. This video will show you how in Word 2007 although the steps are the same in PowerPoint, Excel, and Publisher.

How to Create and Format a Banner

This Video will show you how to create and format a banner in The Office 2007 package. Although I show you who in Word 2007 the steps are the same in PowerPoint and Excel.

I am reading about quitting facebook, not upgrading to Office 2010, Google Privacy ...

What happens when you quit Facebook?  ABC answers in a great posting.  "We preserve the account in its entirety. People often deactivate for temporary reasons and expect their content and information to be there for them when they return," a Facebook spokesman said in a statement. Check out related postings 5 Privacy settings you should know about & a facebook email scam.
Cnet posts a very intriguing article about not upgrading Office but instead switch to Google Docs. In a related story BBC news posts about Googles Privacy questions.  Very interesting indeed.  I am thinking of trying to use Google Docs exclusivley next year.  However I don't see Office being totally replaced....yet.
Cnet also posts about FireFox 4.
PCWorld Posts iPad vs HP Hurricane

I am watching socialnomics

I enjoy showing videos to students about the changing landscape of technology.  This video from Socialnomics is an update from a video last year.  It shows the growing social media statistics.  Watch it, enjoy it and use it as classroom discussion.

Facebook Privacy

Check out this interactive Pie Chart on Facebook Privacy.  I am enjoy re-connecting with former friends from the past on Facebook but I am leaning towards removing a lot of information and photos. 

I am reading about epic, periodic tables, soundboard

Epic.org is an organization designed to help with online privacy and first amendment issues.  With all of the Facebook privacy issues popping up I found this site and have subscribed to their RSS
I learned about Soundboard this weekend, I can not wait to search for sound bites here. 
For those who enjoy the periodic table of elements here are some new periodic tables, social media,  Internet, texting
Do you use your Ipod Touch or Safari to access facebook?  Is your Facebook account stuck like mine?  Read this article from Techcrunch to find out why the facebook location tab is slowing things down.

The New Goolge Search

Check out the video from Google that shows the improvements.

I missed posting

I fell a little behind in postings this week.  I found a site from Free Technology for Teachers that converts PDF's to PowerPoint.  One reason why I haven't posted is because I am playing with this site.  Very cool and useful. 
I have been asked how to create a website by many many people.  It is really easy now, you don't have to know how to write code or program.  Some great sites to register your domain and create a free site are Google Sites, Yola, Wix, Xara. 
Google has redesigned its website.  I am recreating my web search video to incorporate these changes and will post it soon.

I am reading about embeddable tweets, footnote.com, icon finder

TG Daily posts about embeddable Tweets.  I am predicting in a few weeks articles will appear about maleware found in embedded Tweets.  Just be careful what you open.
At Footnote.com you can view the most exciting original source documents available for the first time on the internet.  Footnote helps you find and share historic documents. We are able to bring you many never-before-seen historic documents through our unique partnerships with [ http://go.footnote.com/nara/ ]The National Archives, the Library of Congress and other institutions.  I checked this out and it looks great.  The free version offers a lot of great resources.
IconFinder for those icons   Afraid to use Google images? Try this instead.

hacked email Gmail, AOL, AIM, HotMail, Yahoo

Lately it seems many of my friends have had their email hacked.  This is a bad thing.  You should make sure your email password is different than your other passwords.  You should also make sure you have a backup email address and that you registered that address with your main email.  Also copy your contact list over to the back up address so if your primary is hacked and spam is being sent you may warn your contacts.  Double check your answers to your security questions, as they are case sensitive.  Remember if this were to happen to you panic will set in and you need these to work properly.
If your Gmail is hacked and your locked out go here. 
Hotmail users should go to the Windows live Account recovery help area or email postmaster@windowslivemail.com to reset your hotmail password, if you did not reset your password go here. 
Yahoo users may call Yahoo! Customer Service 866-562-7219 408-349-3300 408.349.1572 or The E-Mail address for Yahoo!customer care is cc-advoc@yahoo-inc.com or y_answers_team@yahoo.com   or you may check out yahoo privacy central 
Aol Postmaster will help those users.  You may contact AOL by phone or IM.
Hope this helps =)
Please let me know how you make out and leave your comments

UPDATE 5/10/2010

This works! It takes about a week for Hotmail to respond but with patience you will get your account access/ info back.

I am reading about..Merit badges, Google TV

PCMag reports The Boy Scouts now offer a merit badge in Video game development.  I
Physorg reports that Google TV is coming.  Look for announcements of set top boxes soon. Or watch this youtube video.
USA Today reports on the peeping PA school district. 

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