While the 150+ items at this site will remain at this site, there will be no more new postings here. New postings and pages will be at the new location for the blog…http://riverstreettech.blogspot.com.
Come on over!! And update your RSS feed to the new address.
And why we don’t use PC’s.
Even though most of our agency still relies on PC’s with Windows as an operating system, we steadfastly cling to our Macs. Partly because we love them. Partly because they are easy to use. And partly because, while they cost a bit more up front, the real operating cost over the years is much lower. Various studies have documented that fact.
And what is one key part of that operating cost? Protection from viruses, malware, etc, etc. The PC network folks are always worried about viruses, buying software to protect themselves from viruses, and spending costly staff time trying to locate and eliminate viruses.
And here is a story of one school district where one tiny virus made a huge difference. Check it at at The Washinton Post.
Switch to Windows? No thanks, we’ll stick with our Macs!
Welcome back to a new school year. The beginning of the year is always exciting. It holds the promise of new things and of doing old things in even better ways. And for this blog, I’ll continue to provide you with tips and articles and information and opinions. I try to do it on a regular basis…but really I just do it when I can. LOL I look forward to the new year and to any comments or feedback you might have.
Have a great 2009-2010 school year!!
So they say, anyway. But I had no intention of being absent from the blog for so long! My apologies. There are a lot of good things going on with technology and I promise to get back to sharing those with you.
Anyone who reads this blog noticed a long time ago that I stopped writing posts. I didn’t want to do that. But I missed a lot of work this year and, trying to catch up on what was missed plus do all the new things on my “to do” list, well, eventually I ran out of time to do everything. And this blog got pushed aside.
Now I plan to get back to the fun of writing and sharing things about using your mac, using your software, and technology tidbits in general. I’ll post for the three weeks I work this summer and then full time in the coming school year.
Good to be back!
Just like Bloglines in the last post, Google Reader is a free place to gather all your RSS feeds. And just like Bloglines, the setup is easy. If you already have a Google account, just log in and go to your Accounts page. Reader will be listed. Otherwise, go to www.google.com/reader and choose Create An Account Now. Google will walk you through setting up a free account and you’ll be all set.
Now when you visit a site with an RSS feed, you’ll see the same options I shared in the last post – either the RSS button, the smaller feed buttons, or a text link for an RSS feed. Clicking on any of those will give you the option to save your RSS feed and now you just choose Google rather than Bloglines.
The one difference is that Google will often give you a screen that asks if you want the feed saved to your homepage or Google Reader. So you’ll need to click the button for Reader.
Once you start saving things, your Google Reader page will look like this…
On the left will be the names of your feeds…on the right will be a short summary of each feed so you can choose whether or not this is something you want to click on and go read.
There are many other RSS Feed aggregators available. If you have an AJAX home page (Pageflakes, Netvibes, etc), you can feed them right into that. And there are applications you can download to manage your RSS feeds. And Safari has a built-in aggregator function that will bring your feeds right to your bookmarks. But Bloglines and Google Reader are the most widely used because of their ease of us and the ability to access them from anywhere on any type of computer.
As you may already know, you can leave a comment at the end of any post. I appreciate the comments that let me know something was helpful! But this is also a great place to leave your questions related to a particular post…or to any issue! All comments are automatically e-mailed to me, so I’ll know when you comment. If the answer is short and specific, I’ll add my comment right beneath your comment. Check back and get your answer. If your question opens up a broader topic or seems like something lots of folks would want to know, I’ll do a new posting that answers your question.
So don’t hesitate to join in the conversation and make sure you are getting the support you want!
Welcome! I hope this blog will provide an easy resource for all the folks at River Street, Coltsville, IPM, the Group Homes, and the Outreach Program. Leave me your questions. Look for answers. Watch for updates and tips and instructions for using your computer more efficiently.