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Did You Know Archive 2
Did You Know?
- XL Print Keyboard.
- You can transfer your Stickies database from one computer to another.
- Multiple ways to eject a CD or DVD.
- Using Preview, you can annotate, remove/reorder/combine pages PDFs.
- You can set up hot corners on you Mac.
- You can create surveys using Google Docs.
- You can now access the iBookstore in iTunes.
- iOS Basics and Apps We Like:
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Advanced Black on White Keyboard:
Do you know someone who is having problems seeing the letters, numbers, and other characters on their keyboard? If so, help is at hand. Logickeyboard's $95 keyboard gives users who are nearsighted or who have visual impairments an easier way to type that minimizes errors and reduces eyestrain. With its large letters, numbers, and punctuation, the keyboard makes it easier to accomplish tasks regardless of the application you are using, such as word processing, spreadsheet, or other programs. The keyboard is make from original Apple keyboards and then enhanced with durable high-contrast labels. State-of-the-art printing techniques make the keyboard's letters and symbols bigger and more visible.
Your Stickies notes are stored in a file called StickiesDatabase. You can find it by following this path: youruserfolder/Library/StickiesDatabase. (If you're using Lion and can't see the Library folder because it's hidden, hold down the Option key and click on the Finder's Go menu and then select Library.) Just copy the StickiesDatabase file from this location on your Mac to the same location on your new Mac.
For whatever reason, CDs and DVDs don't always eject properly. If one of these tricks doesn't work, try the next one.
- Press the Eject key.
- Drag the disc to the Trash.
- Launch Disk Utility, select the disc, and click the Eject button.
- Restart your Mac, holding down the left side of the mouse button.
- Restart your Mac, holding down the Option key. When the bootable volumes appear, press the Eject key.
- Shut down the Mac. Poke a thin piece of cardboard into the drive so it is wedged between the disc and the top of the drive. Start the Mac. After attempting to spin up the disc, the drive should eject it.
Annotate a PDF:
With a PDF open in Preview, click the Annotate button, and choose View»Show Annotations Toolbar (or press Command-Shift-A). A new toolbar will appear at the bottom of the window, with these options:
- SHAPE - Click the arrow, oval, or rectangle icon; then click and drag to draw the shape. Use the color and line thickness menus to change its appearance.
- TEXT BOX - Click the Text icon; then click and drag to draw a text box, and type to fill it with text. Click the Show Font Panel icon to change the font, size, style, or color of the text.
- NOTE - Click the Note icon and then click the place where you want the note. To move the note, drag the icon.
- LINK - Click the Link icon; then click and drag to define the link area. In the Annotations palette, open the Link Type menu. Choose URL or Link Within PDF.
- HIGHLIGHT, STRIKETHROUGH, or UNDERLINE - Click Highlight, Strikethrough, or Underline, and then drag across text to apply the style. Repeat to remove the styling.
Remove, Reorder, or Combine Pages of a PDF:
First make sure the sidebar is showing (if not, choose View»Sidebar»Show Sidebar or press Command-Shift-D) and that it's displaying thumbnails (if not, choose View»Sidebar»Thumbnails). To delete a page, select its thumbnail in the sidebard and press Delete. To reorder pages, drag them up or down in the sidebar. To add pages from another PDF, open the second PDF and drag the thumbnails of the page(s) you want to insert from the second document into the first.
Shrink a PDF:
PDF files containing graphics can get pretty big - even too big. To compress a PDF, open it in Preview and then choose File»Save As. Choose Reduce File Size from the Quartz Filter menu, and save the file under a new name. Shrinkage varies depending on the graphics in the file.
Set Up Hot Corners On Your Mac:
In the Exposé tab of the Exposé & Spaces preference pane (in System Preferences), you can specify actions that will occur when you move your cursor to the four corners of the screen. Those actions include showing all the currently open windows, showing all windows of the current application only, displaying the desktop or Dashboard, starting or disabling the screensaver, or putting the display to sleep. You can specify keyboard modifiers (Command, Option, Control, or Shift) if you'd rather not trigger the actions inadvertently. If you set one of the corners to trigger your screensaver, you can quickly lock your screen: In the Security preference pane, put a check in the box requiring a password after the screensaver begins. That done, move your cursor to the screensaver corner: Your Mac will be locked until you enter the password.
Google's form templates are awesome for not only collecting data from coworkers and students, but also for tallying responses. In google Docs, click the Create New button, and choose Form from the drop-down. Now, enter your questions, as well as the types of answers each question should get. You can format answers for multiple choice, checkboxes, and other common survey criteria, as well as add section headers and choose custom visual themes. Clicking the "Email for" button will send your contacts a link to the form (you also can copy and paste the link to publish it yourself).
When your recipients answer the form's questions, a Google spreadsheet living in the cloud collects and charts the responses for you to see. For example, you can gather all of your students knowledge of the current math lesson with one simple questionnaire.
Tapping on even an iPad's big screen isn't the best way to peruse the 200,000-plus ebooks that Apple's iBookstore offers. Now you can search for and purchase (thought not read) books in iTunes. And if you enable the Automatic Downloads option for books on your iOS device (but not on the Verizon iPhone, currently), purchases will appear on your device when you launch iBooks.
Splashtop Whiteboard allows teachers and students to turn their iPad into an interactive whiteboard. Once connected to their computer over Wifi, they can watch Flash media with fully synchronized video and audio, control favorite applications then annotate over lesson content all from an iPad. Now interact with students at their desk or from all four corners of the classroom!
Brought to you by the developers of the award winning Splashtop Remote Desktop, Splashtop Whiteboard offers users of existing interactive whiteboards (IWBs) a way to extend their investment by accessing their tools from anywhere in the class. For users who do not use an IWB, now they can implement one at a fraction of the cost. Leave the school PC on and connect to it remotely from the comfort of your home. No more late nights being stuck at school preparing for tomorrows class!
Teachers can:
Be in Control – Have complete control over the applications on the classroom PC as if you were sitting right there. No need to stay at the front of class. Be free to roam around. Hand the iPad to a student and let their imagination do the rest!
Annotate over ANYTHING – Use gestures to draw, highlight, or write over any content. Take snapshots of the screen and save them to the gallery then email the snapshots to students, parents or colleagues. Use different colored and sized pens, highlighter, shapes, and text tools over existing content or background templates.
Experience lifelike play back – All video and audio are played in high definition on your iPad. Play Adobe Flash content, iTunes music, DVDs, CDs, etc. as they were meant to be enjoyed but without any painful sync sessions.
Here are the steps to get started:
1. Download and install Splashtop Streamer onto your PC or Mac
2. Download and install Splashtop Whiteboard onto your iPad(Splashtop Whiteboard includes Splashtop Remote Desktop)
3. Fire up Splashtop Whiteboard and connect to your computer over Wifi
Enjoy!
Tips and Tricks in the Safari app:
- Turn on Bookmarks Bar in Safari: We all know you can tap the bookmarks icon in the Safari toolbar to access your bookmarks, but you can significantly cut down the number of taps it takes to get to them by turning on your Safari Bookmarks Bar permanently. In the Settings app, tap Safari, then turn Always Show Bookmarks Bar to ON.
- Clear Browsing History: You can delete your Safari browser history in a flash. Just open the Settings app, then tap Safari and tap on Clear History. Note you can also wipe your Cookies and clear your Cache here too.
- Open Safari Links in a new page: You can open links in a new Safari window, rather than always opening them in the current one. Just tap and hold on the link and a pop-over menu appears giving you the option to open the link in a new page.
- Find Text on a page: You can search for a particular word on an open page in Safari. Type your word into the Google search box. You'll see a list of suggestions appear, and near the bottom you'll see "On This Page", showing how many times that word appears on the page. Tap the Find option to go to the first instance of the word.
Create Folders on your mobile device:
Tired of swiping all over the place to find the apps you need? Organize them in to folder for quicker access. Tap and hold an icon to get them wobbling, then drag one icon on to another one to create a folder containing both. Next, drag-n-drop in whatever other apps you want to join the party. iOS will give your folder a name based on the type of apps you drag together, but you can easily change those generic labels if you want. Folders for types of apps (games, cameras, social media) make sense, but you can also sort apps in to groups that you use together or devise separate folders for work-related apps and stuff you use when you are off the clock.
The makers of The Elements, Touch Press, is turning its attention to minerals. It is a $14 iPad app developed with the help of the University of Chicago Press and the Field Museum of Natural History. You will find 360-degree images of 300 sparkly stones that you can rotate, examine, and zoom in on.