Froggipedia - AR app that allows you to see life cycle, AR anatomy, and Dissect

Froggipedia is an AR app that allows the user to see the life cycle of a frog, see the anatomy in an AR format, as well as dissect the frog.

This is worth checking out. I can remember the smell or formaldehyde from 7th grade science class.

Embedded below is a 1 minute and 53 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,
Brad

Type in "Roll a Die" in Google to have dice rolled for you as well as other Games and Tools

Google has updated their "Roll a Die" feature which allows you to have a 6-sided die rolled for you instantly as well as options to add other dice as well.

What is also nice is the ability to see other Games and Tools below the dice (games and tools such as Pac-Man, Solitaire, Calculator,etc.)

Embedded below is a Gif followed by a 57 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,
Brad

Want to create your own GIF? Try using Giphy and YouTube.

If you would like to create your GIF (like the Phillies winning the World Series) in just a couple of minutes (or less) - try using Giphy and YouTube.

Below are the steps:

• Find your video on YouTube
• Copy the web address (URL)
• Open Giphy.com and select create
• Paste (ctrl v) in the box where it says paste video, GIF, or image url
• Choose duration and start time
• Continue to decorate
• Add text and decorate as needed
• Continue to Upload
• Upload to GIPHY
• Choose how you would like to share the GIF
• If sharing on social media the under 10MB is important to take note of and use

Embedded below is a 2 minute and 1 second YouTube tutorial. Go Birds!

Take care,

Brad

Google Photos - how to find when picture was taken and with what device

Google Photos is an amazing storage device for all your photos and videos.

If you want to find when a specific image/video was taken and with what device, simply select the three dots (upper right) on any device.

Embedded below is a 22 second YouTube tutorial showing what it looks like on an iPhone.

Take care,
Brad

Screencast-O-Matic's new iOS Screen Recorder!

Screencast-O-Matic just announce their iOS app that allows you to screen record for free. This is awesome for app demos, tutorials, video feedback, etc. Click here for more information from Screencast-O-Matic.

When you launch the app:

• you will see the option to record and where to place the recording (camera roll, Screencast-o-matic, etc.) as well as the same option you saw before with turning the microphone on or off. 
• select Start Broadcast

• you will then see a screen that tells you that once you close the app they will trim this part out

• you can then start to record your tutorial
• when completed make sure to select the red line and stop the recording
• feel free to trim and then save

• once saved you can then re-enter and select edit
• you will then see options to trim, crop, facecam, speed, and rotate

• the Facecam is awesome as you can add your face as well as recapture audio to your video
• this is awesome if the app itself (like Expeditions) shuts off your audio

Embedded below is a 1 minute and 8 second YouTube tutorial.

We are announcing the release of our iPhone/iPad app. You can now download your #iosscreenrecorder from the App Store. Take advantage of all the awesome things @screencasto has for you! #videocreation #screencasting #screenrecorder https://t.co/hOSUIRcE3q

— Screencast-O-Matic (@screencasto) June 25, 2019

Take care,

Brad

Google Expeditions is now available on "some"Chromebooks

Expeditions is an amazing (and free) virtual and augmented reality app with the ability to take your classes to far away places and look into what organs look like. If you do not access to tablets or phones, Expeditions is one thing that falls by the wayside.


Google announced at the ISTE conference in Philadelphia, they will be adding support for use of Google Expeditions on Chromebooks and Chrome OS tablets.

Unfortunately, not all Chromebooks and OS tablets will be compatible - click here for the technical requirements.

The Chromebook Tab 10 and the ASUS Chromebook Tablet CT100 are the only two devices that fully support AR and VR Expeditions at the moment.

Later in the summer the list of supported devices will expand, so check back!

via GIPHY

Take care,
Brad

Chromebook App Hub, an online resource to help learn about apps and activity ideas for schools

On Google's Edu blog they recently wrote about the Chromebook App Hub.

The Chromebook App Hub (also available here - https://chromebookapphub.withgoogle.com/about) is an online resource to help educators, administrators and developers work together to learn about Chromebook apps and activity ideas for schools.

The site is very easy to navigate, just be sure to select either Ideas or Apps at the top (left).

Once you make your choice you will then see options to filter your search.

Embedded below is a 1 minute and 12 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,

Brad

Adobe Spark - now has collaboration feature

Awesome news! Adobe Spark's web version (mobile later in the year) lets you add people to edit and comment on your project. Also of note is the fact that only one collaborator can work on the project at a time (real-time co-editing will be available later this year). Click here for Adobe Spark's blog post about this awesome new feature.

To invite others to be collaborators, simply enter their email addresses and they will be able to edit or comment on your project.

The "shared with you" tab in your dashboard will appear for projects that you have been invited to join.

Click here for a Wakelet collection revolving around Adobe Spark.

Take care,

Brad

Save links/sites for a later viewing convenience. Use Wakelet's extension and app!

How many times have you...

• Had a whole bunch of tabs open and wished you open up the same exact ones the next time you open your computer?
• Found a website that you think looks pretty awesome; however, you just don't have the time to truly look into it right now?
• Found an awesome site on your mobile device that you want to save to look at later on when you have the time?

This has happened to us all and it can be so frustrating! Well, Wakelet is remove those frustrations. If you use Wakelet's extension (for Chrome and Firefox) you can not only save an individual link to a collection in seconds, you can also save all those open tabs for the next time you open your computer.

Embedded below is a GIF showing you the above.

Wakelet's app (available in Google Play as well as Apple Store) has helped me so many times when I find an interesting Tweet, site, etc. The ability to instantly add something of interest to refer back to at a later date in time is awesome. There have also been times when I want to add to a collection I shared with others, I can do it in just seconds with the app.

Embedded below is a GIF showing how to save something awesome (like The Philly Special)!

Go Birds!

Brad

How to easily search within your Outlook emails

If you are interested in searching within Outlook to find specific emails from senders, it can sometimes prove to be time consuming.

A little trick is to select the icon you see below and type in from and choose sender. You will then be able to type in their name and search for emails from that particular sender.

You can also use:
From: — Search sender names and addresses.
To: — Search recipient names and addresses.
Subject: — Search subject lines and display emails that contain the specified words.
OR — Search messages with subjects that contain one word or another.

Take care,

Brad

Where on Google Earth is Carmen Sandiego - The Keys to the Kremlin Caper

Google Earth has launched the third "Where on Google Earth is Carmen Sandiego" - The Keys to the Kremlin Caper. VILE has stolen one of the world’s great treasures. Help Carmen Sandiego track them around the globe and recover the loot.

In order to find this (and other games) you can easily access them by selecting Voyager (left side second option under the three lines) and then games in Google Earth.

Embedded below is a GIF showing the beginning of the game.

Take care,

Brad

Classroomscreen.com - new images and GIFs

Classroomscreen has added some new awesome images and GIFs. I have to say "Proud Patrick" is my favorite while my family loves "Little Louis".

Embedded below are the new images in a GIF format.

Take care,
Brad

How to have someone browse as a guest when you are logged into Chrome

If you are logged on to your Google Chrome account and would like someone to browse on the computer; however, you do not want them to browse while you are logged on - try Open Guest Window.

Simply select your icon and then Open Guest Window.

Users will then see this screen come up.

To learn more about browsing as a guest - click here.

Embedded below is a 31 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,

Brad

Create green screen videos using iMovie!

The recent update to iMovie includes the ability to create green screen videos! This will make it very simple for users of all ages to videos with awesome backgrounds.

• Make sure to create your video using a green screen
• Have a background photo to add to your Movie
• Then tap the + (upper right) and select your video with a green background
• Tap the three dots and select Green/Blue Screen
• Your video now has the background you chose!

Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 55 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,

Brad

Father's Day - story behind the tragedy that created the day + create a quick movie of dad using Google Photos

Blake Harper shared a story on Fatherly about the tragic mining story that created the day. Click here to read the story - or click on this link -
 https://www.fatherly.com/love-money/first-fathers-day-monongah-mining-disaster/

As in the past, if you are in need of a video for Father's Day (Mother's Day, cat, dog, etc.) use Google Photos. I created a blog post about this back in May for Mother's Day. 

You can also click on the link below.
https://www.timetotalktech.com/2019/05/use-google-photos-to-easily-create.html

Take care and Happy Father's Day!
Brad

Google is ending integration between Google Photos and Drive in July

According to Google's blog post, written by Dan Schlosser Product Manager.

Starting in July, new photos and videos from Drive won’t automatically show in Photos. Similarly, new photos and videos in Photos will not be added to the Photos folder in Drive. Photos and videos you delete in Drive will not be removed from Photos. Similarly, items you delete in Photos will not be removed from Drive. This change is designed to help prevent accidental deletion of items across products.

There will also be an "Upload from Drive" feature available in Photos where you choose photos and videos from Drive, including “Shared with Me” items, to import into Photos.

It is important to note that existing photos and videos will stay in Google Drive and Google Photos.

For some this may disrupt the fact that you will not have a backup of your photos in Drive. Just something to be aware of. Maybe uploading to Shutterfly could spell you for a bit.

Brad

Twitter - Manage up to 5 accounts in the "new" Twitter

Twitter has allowed you to manage up to 5 accounts easily within the app. Unfortunately the web version did not allow for this. Now with the "new Twitter" you can manage up to 5 accounts.

Make sure you try out the new Twitter (see video) but also look on right side of "Legacy Twitter" and then select your account (upper right) and then the three dots. You can then add existing accounts!

Embedded below is a 29 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,

Brad

Grammar checker built into Google Docs

Woke up this morning to a nice surprise in my Google Docs (personal and school). It is very similar to spelling (however it is blue). You can access the suggestions by selecting 

• Tools
• Grammar and Spelling
• or Ctrl + Alt + X 

I will say, it is not perfect as I typed numerous sentences with grammatical errors and it did not pick them up.

However, it is a step in the right direction.

Embedded below is a picture, a GIF, as well as a 48 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,

Brad

Need to transfer files from school Google account? Try Google Transfer - Google Takeout

If you need to transfer files easily from your school account (due to leaving a district for whatever reason - graduate / switch districts / etc) - make sure to use Google Transfer - Google Takeout. This service allows you to you can copy and transfer your files to another Google Account.

To read more about this click on this link

Take care,

Brad

Growth Mindset Lesson Resources

Araoz Learning has provided an amazing set of growth mindset resources available in a Smore. To see the collection you can click on this link or see the collection embedded below.

Play Oregon Trail, Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, and 2,300 other MS-DOS games for free in your browser

The Internet Archive allows you to play games such as The Oregon Trail, Donkey Kong, Prince of Persia, plus 2,300 other MS-DOS games in your browser.


I had a great time checking out these games and if you were a child of the 80s (or enjoyed these early games), I am sure you will as well.

Embedded below is a GIF followed by a second YouTube tutorial followed by a Wakelet collection sharing some of my favorites.

Brad

Gimkit game show for the classroom that uses knowledge and strategy.

Want your students to learn using a game show type format plus a little strategy? Try Gimkit!

Gimkit is similar in nature to a Quizizz, Kahoot!, Quizalize, etc - but what separates it from the others is the strategy. Participants use earned cash to purchase upgrades to use throughout the game.

Gimkit has an awesome help center - https://gimkit.crisp.help/en/ that can answer your questions, and if you do not see your question answered, you can chat with them (bottom of the help section site).

Embedded below is a 3 minute and 31 second YouTube tutorial showing the basics of the site, how to get started, what it looks like from a student point of view, etc.

More tutorials will be shared in the future. FYI - Gimkit was started by a 10th grader - Josh Feinsilber who I believe graduated in June of 2019.

Take care,
Brad

What's the difference between AR, VR, and MR?

Mike Quindazzi's tweet below states that the World will download 6+ billion Augmented Reality mobile apps by 2022, I thought it would be good to share what the difference between AR (augmented reality), VR (virtual reality), and MR (mixed reality).

The world will download 6+ billion #AugmentedReality mobile apps by 2022 >>> @StatistaCharts via @MikeQuindazzi >>> #VR #AR #VirtualReality #Smartphones #IoT #Mobile #Fintech #MobilePayments #eCommerce >>> #Infographics pic.twitter.com/W04MgUTxf3

— Mike Quindazzi ✨ (@MikeQuindazzi) June 8, 2019

To find out the differences click on this helpful article by The Franklin Institute.
 https://www.fi.edu/difference-between-ar-vr-and-mr

 It includes:

All About Augmented Reality (AR)

What is Augmented Reality?

The Science of AR

What's the Difference Between AR, VR, and MR?

Take care,

Brad

Remember to restart your computer

Why restart your computer? Think of it as you going to sleep, have great dreams, wake up after 8 hours, refreshed and ready to go.

A shutdown is simply that a power down. Does not make you feel refreshed and ready to go - you just shut down.

Basically, when you restart your computer, you remove the random, unimportant, and temporary data that may be causing issues with your device. Any bad code that is causing issues will be removed When you restart, the computer or device will bring the system up from scratch, restarting all the software so it will work just as well as it was working before.

So, while there is no answer to "how often should I restart my computer?" - I tend to restart my computer every other week.

Click here for an article revolving around Why Does Rebooting a Computer Fix So Many Problems?

Take care,
Brad

Use this extension to control Google Slides on any device, remotely, without any extra hardware.

Use the extension Remote for Slides to control Google Slides on any device, remotely, without any extra hardware.

• Simply add the extension (click here)
• Open a Google Slide
• Select Present w/Remote (next to Present - upper right)
• Open up the link on whatever device you wish -  https://slides.limhenry.xyz/
• Select Start Remote and Copy the code
• Type/paste on the open website - https://slides.limhenry.xyz/
• Select next slide or previous slide 

Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 1 minute and 37 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,

Brad

Copyright Laws - $9.2 million federal court ruling against Houston ISD for violation of copyright

Teachers in Houston ISD (Independent School District) photocopied and redistributed copyrighted study guides without permission of DynaStudy and kept doing so even after the company brought up these concerns to the school district.

Click here for an article written by Jacob Carpenter in the Houston Chronicle.

Richard Byrne has a nice blog post entitled Three Lessons to Learn from the $9.2M Copyright Ruling Against Houston ISD

Brad

Flipgrid - How to make the created QR codes smaller to print out

Yesterday I shared the awesome new update to Flipgrid that allows you to easily download all created videos in a topic with one click.

Flipgrid - Quickly print QR codes of all videos in a topic. This is pretty awesome (and a time saver) as you now do not have to select each video you want to share in QR code format - you can select download them all. Thank you @Flipgrid https://t.co/n2P7V1SpJZ pic.twitter.com/GYA4dX6N56

— Brad Dale (@bradjdale) June 3, 2019

I started thinking back to the teachers I worked with (especially the art teachers) who attached the QR code to the top of art piece. Families would walk by and scan the QR code with their mobile device and hear their child discuss their piece.

So... the size of the QR codes that are generated with this new update were too big. After some thinking and toying around with other sites and programs, I think I came up with the simplest of all solutions (just an FYI I am using a Dell notebook).

When the QR codes are generated and ready to print out make sure you change pages per sheet to a larger number (in my example 12 pages were to be printed so I changed it from 1 page per sheet to 16). Embedded below is a screenshot followed by a GIF and 54 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,

Brad

Flipgrid - Quickly print QR codes of all videos in a topic

So this is a pretty awesome update (not sure exactly when this update occurred) - but you can now instantly print all QR codes to videos in a particular topic!

This is pretty awesome (and a time saver) as you now do not have to select each video you want to share in QR code format - you can select download them all.

Simply enter into your topic and look above the first video (to the right). You will see the embedded picture below.

Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 31 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,

Brad

Play Connect 4 using Google Drawings

Matt Gomez created a template to play Connect 4 in Google Drive (click here).
 https://twitter.com/mattBgomez?lang=en - Twitter

Once you make a copy of the document, go ahead and share with another player.

Once the player opens the shared document, they can open the chat box up (if you want to point that out) and chat until they are both ready.

Once decided who goes first the player will simply need to drag the drawing into the proper spot on the Connect 4 board. Then the game continues as it typically would until the player who connects 4 in a row wins.

One item to point out is that if an issue arises, remember version history under File. This will enable the players to see who last went and altered the doc.

Embedded below is a 1 minute and 43 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,
Brad

Periodic Table of iPad apps, STEAM Apps, AR and VR, Educational Books, and Ed Tweeters to follow

Mark Anderson (along with Steve Bambury) posted an awesome blog post revolving around the Periodic Table of iPad apps, STEAM Apps, AR and VR, Educational Books, and Ed Tweeters to follow.

• The Periodic Table of iPad Apps (with various updates for new iOS releases)
• The Periodic Table of iPad STEAM Apps 
• The Periodic Table of iPad Apps for AR and VR 
• The Periodic Table of Educational Books to read today 
• The Periodic Table of Educational Tweeters to follow 

Can't say enough how amazing this is.

Take care,

Brad