See the evolution of the iPod
Good photos and narrative. Click here
Technology
Don’t worry. There is nothing to be afraid of, this is friendly technology! We will introduce you to easy to use and often FREE software. Most of it will be web-based because we believe cloud computing is the future of computing! If you find something we should include, drop us a note.
Dropbox
Your data is available anywhere you have an internet connection. On your laptop, desktop, iPhone, iPad. It doesn't matter. And it is FREE! Go here.
Zinepal
I admit, I haven't use d it much but it's pretty slick. Great if you find stuff in a blog that you would like to be able to pass out to your students.
Use Zinepal to create printable PDF magazines and eBooks from online content. You can select stories from blogs, websites and Atom/RSS feeds. Zinepal creates printable PDF, Kindle/Mobipocket and ePub versions of your zine. Print it, read it on your eBook reader or e-mail it to your friends. Go here.
Google Forms
This is a very useful tool. You can use your Google Docs account to create online forms, with the data sent automatically to a database that is stored online. Here is a detailed explanation of how to start using forms. By the way--there is also a growing library of templates. Can it get any easier than this?
URL Shortener and more
I like Tr.im (https://tr.im/) to create a shorter URL. It also allows you to create a "vanity" ULR. For instance, this URL is for the utahDECA facebook page (join us!)
https://www.facebook.com/search/?q=utahDECA&init=quick#/pages/utahDECA/115199294917?ref=search&sid=784236788.1274526039..1
Who wants to send that URL to someone? So, shorten it, with a vanity URL to this: tr.im/utahdecafacebook.
On top of that convenience, tr.im provides all kinds of stats on your visitors, referrals, etc. And of course, all for free!
TextMarks.com
I often get email asking me what program I use for text messaging. This is it, TextMarks.com I use the free version to create a key word and then control the response sent to people who text in the key word. From that point on I have "captured" their cell number and can text to the entire group any time I want. In the free version there are ads at the end of the message and you are limited to three key words per account.