Computer Science For Kids Using Python - Or I Like Turtles

Hello!

I know I'm a little late to Computer Science week, but better late than never. I feel that computer science is way more valuable than just a week or an hour of code.  This post will be a quick introduction to teaching children programming through the Python programming language. We will focus on using the turtle graphics module within Python.


 First, you will want to download Python. Python can be downloaded here.  I'm using Python 2.7 for all of the samples, so I would suggest using that. The Python download includes a program called IDLE which is a shell for interpreting or running our programs. To complete this guide entirely, I would set aside a solid hour or so - more if the program is not installed on your computers yet.


This download will include everything you need to run python programs, however, I would strongly advise on also getting a quality text editor and possibly a Python IDE, or integrated development environment for later use.

My suggestions for these would be:


Text editor: Sublime Text 3

Python IDE - Pycharm community edition


Take some time and install these if you want. When you're ready, open up IDLE.


Note: Python files end in .py   If you write your code in a text editor be sure to save them accordingly.

Python is an interpreted language. That means that it does not need to be compiled before it runs like some other languages. You can type in Python statements and see the results immediately like below:

As you can see, Python can be used as a fancy calculator! Spend the next few minutes having the kids type in some calculations of their own. Write out some more advanced mathematical equations on the board and see if they can use Python to solve.

When done, open a fresh IDLE window and now type: print "Hello World from Python!" and hit enter:

We have now made the infamous first program for any language - Hello World! Spend a minute or two having the kids print text on the screen via the print command.

It follows this skeleton: print ("YOUR TEXT GOES HERE")


Now we move into the turtle graphics module portion. This is where I think children will have the most fun. The turtle graphics module is an included library. A library is code that extends beyond the normal functions of a language. You can find various Python libraries on the web. We can start working with turtle graphics right away because it is included in the regular Python installer.

The basic concept behind turtle graphics is drawing on the screen. Our "turtle" acts as a pen and moves on the canvas where we want drawing along the way in a given direction.

To use the turtle graphics mode, we need to tell Python that we want to use it. This is done via the import statement:

import turtle

Next, we need to create an object to work with. Objects carry out actions just like in the real world. Our object will be the turtle, so let's give him a name:

larry = turtle.Turtle()

 Now we have defined our turtle as larry. Larry will now be able to move around the screen and draw for us:

larry.forward(100)

The above line will move larry in the direction he faces 100 pixels on the screen

The last step is to tell the program that we are done:

larry.done()

Those 4 lines would give us:

The complete program listing for the above program is:

import turtle

larry = turtle.Turtle()

larry.forward(100)

larry.done()

It's really quick and easy to get something going on the screen. Now let's try something a little more advanced. Math will start to come into play here.

We will change the pen color of larry to orange by adding in this line:

larry.pencolor("orange")

Now let's make a square using the above code snippet.

import turtle

larry = turtle.Turtle()
larry.pencolor("orange")

larry.forward(50)
larry.right(90)

larry.forward(50)
larry.right(90)

larry.forward(50)
larry.right(90)

larry.forward(50)
larry.right(90)

turtle.exitonclick()


The above program should yield these results:

We successfully drew an orange square on the screen using those 90 degree angles! At this point, I would suggest talking about games like Minecraft and how many objects come together to form the game world. Pygame is a Python library intended for games creation. Have kids check it out when they get some time.

You could have the kids try to draw a more complex object at this point such as a house by dividing parts like the house structure, roof, windows, door, etc.

You could also set a timer for say 10-15 minutes and see who can draw the most shapes in the allotted amount of time.

There are many ways to go from here. See what the kids can come up with next. Here is a fun picture of something I whipped up next:

You can start to do all kinds of crazy shape/color combinations with very little code. The above code sample is:

import turtle

larry = turtle.Turtle()
larry.pencolor("purple")

for i in range(125):
    larry.forward(60)
    larry.left(125)

    larry.pencolor("red")

    for i in range(125):
        larry.forward(100)
        larry.left(125)

turtle.exitonclick()

The program uses conditional statements (for i in range(125):  to achieve the drawing. I won't get into conditionals for the scope of this tutorial. It also features two pen colors: purple and red.

That wraps up your first steps into Python programming using turtle graphics. I'll include a few links so that you can continue research into Pythong/turtle graphics if interested. They are:


Python 2.7 Docs

Turtle graphics for Python 2.7

Python Beginner's Guide Wiki

Python for Beginners 

Intro to Python Graphics 



I hope you found this tutorial useful. Please feel free to share/modify parts of it as you wish.

Happy coding!


~Michael

Providing Tech Help with Windows Problem Steps Recorder - PSR.exe

     In Windows 7 and 8 there is a neat utility called the Windows Error Reporting Problem Steps Recorder. It will record the actions from your desktop and allow you to share them with people. To launch the recorder, go to the start menu and in the search programs and files box type: psr.exe

     You will then see psr.exe pop up. Click it to launch the program. You will see that there is Start Record and Stop Record. When you want to begin capturing your steps hit Start Record. When finished, hit stop record. You'll be asked for a name to save the files which will be in a .zip file. When finished, you can navigate to where you saved the .zip file and open it. The file within the .zip file will included all of the steps that were recorded along the way with pictures of each.

     This is a great little utility for helping someone with their computer. You can record yourself running a program or Windows utility and then save it and pass it onto someone else that is having trouble. That way they can follow the steps that you took exactly to remedy the issue they're having.

     Be sure to check it out and see what uses you can come up with!

Removing Unwanted Chrome Browser Extensions

Note: The article assumes you're running Chrome on a Windows operating system.

Many times, an unwanted extension can cause system slow downs or make ads appear. To check what extensions you have installed in Chrome go to Settings > then chose extensions from the panel on the left side.

It will look like this:

You can see on the right side a little check box option to enable or disable extensions. This comes in handy, but what if the check box is grayed out? Many harmful extensions can do this, making it appear that you cannot remove them. If the extension doesn't have an entry in your add/remove programs list, take the following steps to try and remove it:


1. Locate the extension ID of the unwanted extension. To do this, enable Developer Mode by checking the Developer Mode box at the top right of the extensions page. This will show you the ID right below the extension. An example ID of one of my extensions is: ID: fljalecfjciodhpcledpamjachpmelml

2. The next step is to locate this ID within the Windows registry. To do this, open the start menu and in the program search box type: regedit. The program will appear in your list. Open that:

Warning: Use caution when using regedit as it alters your system

 Navigate to where the registry key is for the bad extension. The two places to look are:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE, then select Policies > Google > Chrome > ExtensionInstallForcelist.

and 

 HKEY_CURRENT_USER > SOFTWARE, then select Policies > Google > Chrome > ExtensionInstallForcelist.

3. This will show you the installed extensions and most often will show you the ID of the bad extension causing the troubles.

4. In the registry key, look at the path of the key. It will point to a folder location on your hard drive. An example would be C:\\Program Data\   Leave regedit open and in another window, navigate to that location and you should find a folder or files with the same ID name that we found above. Delete the folder or file with that name completely.

5. Go back into regedit and right-click on the registry key of the extension ID that is causing the problems and chose delete.

6. Restart the Chrome browser. You can navigate to your extension list from the settings menu and note that the extension should be gone!

Great job! You've successfully killed your first malware extension within Chrome. Now you know what to do for future cases. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to drop me a line.




~Michael

Watching Online Videos From Different Regions Using Hola Chrome Extension

This is a post for anyone who has ever tried to stream a video online and got the message that:

This video is not available in your region.

This typically happens if you're trying to stream content from a different country such as Canada, etc.

To easily get around this, just install this simple Chrome extension that I found and you will be able to watch videos in any region.

Hola  is a really nice extension that is exactly what you're looking for. It is free and fast to install. It does require that you have the Chrome browser installed.


~Michael

Introducing Tippy$ to the Android Market Google Play Store

Proud to announce the release of my next Android app, Tippy$. A tip calculator written for the Android platform. One nice feature of Tippy$ is that it will tell you at the end how much to add onto your calculated tip to make the final bill amount even. This is nice so you can easily keep track of spending.


To try out Tippy$ grab at copy of it for your Android device at:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mkelleyjr.example.tippycalc&hl=en

As always, I appreciate any feedback or comments.

Thanks!


Michael

Generating a Text List of Running Processes in PowerShell on Windows 7

In this quick guide, I'll show you how to generate a list of the running processes on a given Windows machine using PowerShell. I'm using Windows 7 in my example.

To run PowerShell, open up the run command and type powershell then hit enter. That will open up the command line for PowerShell commands to be ran.

To generate the list type in the following command:

Type: Get-Process >> ProcessList.txt

A breakdown:

Get-Process = gets the running processes of the machine. You can run this command by itself and it show the list within PowerShell or the command line.

>> = write stream points to where the file will be written. In this example it will write the output to whatever folder location you are currently running PowerShell in.

ProcessList.txt = the name of the file we are generating

You can change ProcessList.txt to whatever name you would like just make just it ends in .txt so you have a text file.

This can be useful if you want to analyze things that are running. You can print it out or save it and check it on another computer if you think you might be dealing with a virus process that is causing a slow down.

Cracking Windows 7 System Passwords via NTLM Hash with Cain & Abel

*Please note: This article is for educational purposes only and I will not be held responsible for any misuse of information. The goal of this article is to expose just how easy passwords can be cracked and to educate on better password making for accounts.


Cracking system passwords in Windows 7 via Cain & Abel is super easy if you have access to the system. You can also use this and other programs on another computer if you have access to the NTLM hash file by grabbing it off a system first. There are programs that can do this easily enough, but they are out of the scope of this article.

This example will assume you are trying to crack the password of an account on a computer that you are sitting at and have 5-10 minutes to carry out the example. I'm using a Windows 7 pc for this example.

The first thing to do is grab a copy of Cain & Abel for the system at: http://www.oxid.it/cain

When you first open Cain, you may get a warning about Windows Firewall being on and then the program will eventually open. You won't need to change any firewall settings for this example to work though.

When the program opens you will want to navigate to the cracker tab:

Once you are in the cracker tab, click the blue + sign at the top and chose "import from local machine".

It will look like this:

This will show you the hashes for passwords on the system you're on. In this case, I previously made a user named Bob and gave him a password when I created his account. Here you can see the info for Bob showing up in Cain along with the hash that will be used.

To be able to crack the password we need to make a wordlist for Cain. You can find many good wordlists online. I chose to make my own for this example because 1. I already knew Bob's password and 2. It shows you how to make your own wordlist file for this program and others of this type.

Open up notepad, and type in the following words with each word being on its own line:

Save this file as wordlist.txt  

Now, in the Bob entry in the Cain program, right click on Bob's name and chose Dictionary Attack and then chose NTLM hashes.

You will see a new window pop up and you must tell Cain about the wordlist.txt that we created. To do that, right click in the top white portion and chose add file. Navigate to where you saved your copy of wordlist.txt and add it in. It will then look like this:

None of the other settings need to be changed once the list is added. Click start to start the password cracking. Within seconds and almost immediately the program should finish and show the password was cracked! Bob's password has been found out:

We can now log into Bob's account on that system using his password of abc123. We have successfully cracked this password.

This was just a small example of gaining access to a system via simple password cracking. There are many more programs that will accomplish this task and many wordlist files to use with them.

When making passwords, it is necessary to think of these attacks to better protect yourself. Many programs will automatically add capitals and letters to the beginning and end of words in a list they are testing as well. So doing things like adding 123 at the end of a word in your password will not protect you enough. You can make many rules so that you can be sure you are testing all combinations of letters and numbers when using these programs. That's why a good mix of upper and lowercase letters + symbols + overall password length must be considered when trying to make good passwords.

Enable God Mode in Windows 7

To enable God mode in Windows 7, create a new folder anywhere you would like and name it:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Once named, a GodMode icon will be displayed with access to very important shortcuts for your system to change all kinds of options and access many common Window's features.

My 2nd Android App: GradCalc

Hello,

My 2nd Android app is being released on Google Play today.

GradCalc is a simple utility to find out when a student will graduate. It targets the 2014-2015 school year, so it will be good for making user accounts for students over the summer and into the fall.

Great for K12 admins who need to make user accounts as they can quickly check the projected graduation year based on grade level.

Please test on my app on your device and let me know if you find anything strange. I would greatly appreciate it.

The app can be downloaded from the Google Play store here:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mkelleyjr.k12gradecalc

Thank you all so much!

Michael

Windows Command Prompt Shortcuts/Time-Savers

     You can get a lot done on the command prompt in Windows. Quickly getting a command prompt open in windows in the directory you need can sometimes take a while depending on how deep the file structure goes. Luckily, there are a few quick and cool shortcuts to make life easier.

In Windows 7, there is the open command prompt here feature. This lets you right-click on a folder to access a command prompt that points to that directory. To try it out:

Hold shift and then right-click on a folder and this will bring up the sub menu and you will see that an option for open command prompt here is now listed:

Holding Shift + Right-Click

Another cool trick is to bring up the explorer window for the area you want a command prompt in and simply type 'cmd' into the address bar. This will open up a command prompt in the current path you're in. For example, if I was in My Documents > My Games folder and went to the address bar and typed in cmd and hit enter, the command prompt would automatically appear targeting My Documents > My Games:

Typing 'cmd' in the Address Bar of Explorer Window

Sometimes it is necessary to run the command prompt as admin. Try this next time you need to:

Start Menu > Run > Type: runas /user:administrator cmd.exe and hit enter. It should then prompt you for your credentials if necessary. 

Another time saver for administrator command prompt would be making shortcut to cmd and then right-clicking it to bring up the properties. Look for the advanced button on the shortcut tab and check run as administrator. Awesome. 

Hopefully some of these tips will come in handy for you. I would also recommend checking out this great resource - An A-Z index of the Windows cmd command line at:

http://ss64.com/nt/

Grab Password Hash File in Windows 7 with PwDump7

     This article is meant for informative and educational research only. Not responsible for any misuse of this information.

This guide will show you how to use PwDump7 to quickly generate a listing of hashes for Windows 7 user accounts.

I'll be running all commands as administrator and assuming that I made a new user named Bob for testing purposes. This guide assumes you have some familiarity using the command prompt in Windows.

PwDump7 can be found at: http://www.tarasco.org/security/pwdump_7/

A direct download of the software can be found here: http://www.tarasco.org/security/pwdump_7/pwdump7.zip

1. Unzip the file PwDump7 and copy it into your C:\Windows\System32 folder like this:

2. Open a command prompt as administrator. Start menu > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt - Right click on Command Prompt and chose run as admin.

3. Navigate into your system32 folder. A quick tutorial of commands can be found here: http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chusedos.htm

4. Run the command: PwDump7 and hit enter.

5. The program will run and hashes for user accounts will be displayed. Below is a shot of Bob's hash:

6. Right click in the top window bar of the command prompt and go to edit to select all and then do it again and chose copy this time. Copy and paste the correct hash portion into a new text document and save as hash.txt

7. You now have hash.txt containing the user password hash. From here, it can be used with other programs to try and  crack the password. 

Sharper Image Apple 30-Pin to Lightening Adapter

     Found this tonight in TJ Maxx and figured it was worth picking up.

It is a Sharper Image 30-pin to lightening adapter for Apple iPhone 5, 5S, and SC. They had it with all of their phone accessories. It is priced at $7.99. Not a bad deal at all considering I have a bunch of 30-pin cables laying around and only a few lightening cables.

The unit is very light and small which is good because it can be carried around in your pocket. The build quailty feels good on it as well.

I did try hooking the adapter into my iHome and while it charged, I was not able to get music to play directly from the iHome speakers while plugged in. I will have to look into that though, but for $7.99 being able to make use of all the extra cables I already have will still be worth it to me. If interested, I would check out your local TJ Maxx while they might still have them around.

IN1 Multi-Tool Utility Case

Saw this case and thought that it is pretty cool looking.

It is the IN1 Multi-Tool Utility Case. The concept is neat, however, I'm not sure that it would actually come in handy that many times. The case includes: tweezers, toothpick, scissors, nail file, screwdrivers (Phillips & flat-head), and two small pens (red & blue).

The case is priced at $44.95. The size of the tools has me very optimistic, but I think it's a neat concept and would be cool to show off.

Creating a Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Virtual Machine in Virtual Box

     Hello, this is a quick guide on getting a Windows Server 2012 virtual machine up and running in a quick amount of time. Many will find virtual machines great for testing purposes without risking the chance of messing up important settings or data.


To begin you will need:

A copy of Virtual Box from:

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

A .ISO image of Microsoft Server 2012 Evaluation Edition from:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/hh670538.aspx

      Select Evaluation ISO from the drop down list. You will also be prompted to install a small download manager to handle downloading the .ISO.

Note: If you have a regular copy of Server 2012 you can make your own .ISO image using a tool such as PowerISO.

A machine with a decent amount of RAM and hard disk space.

For my example, I'm using a 64-bit Windows 7 machine and I'll be allocating around 2GB of RAM and 15GB of disk space. Use what you would prefer. More RAM will make things smoother and more disk space will only more storage.

Install Virtual Box and move the finished .ISO Server download to a location that you will remember.

Once Virtual Box is installed, open it and click new in the top right corner:

This will bring up a menu to insert the name and type of Windows. I just chose Server 2012 and chose Other Windows 64-bit at the very bottom.

The next few options will allow you to pick RAM and HD amount. Refer to what I said above when deciding how much to use. I chose a 15GB VDI at this step. 

Once you have picked, it will begin to setup the virtual machine disk space:

Once that is finished, you will see the screen below:

Choose the green start arrow to start the VM. You will then get a screen asking you to point to your .ISO file that you downloaded from above:

Choose the location of it and hit start. The system will begin to boot up and you'll get prompted with:

You'll know go through the Server 2012 setup and install it. Choose the settings you would like and hit next. It will eventually start to install Server 2012:

Once it finishes, it will prompt you to enter a password and then you will be at this screen:

To log in, go to File > Insert Ctrl + Alt + Del. That will send the command to provide a login box. If you try to do it normally on your keyboard you will bring up your computer's task menu. 

Note: I have read that some people have issues connecting their VM to their network. Under settings > General, make sure you set Version to: Windows 2008 32 or 64 depending on what you're using as there wasn't an option for Windows 2012. This may have changed by now. 

Congratulations! You now have a Windows Server 2012 installation running within Virtual Box on your operating system. You can now enjoy tweaking out Server 2012 to your liking! 

Logging into a Windows 7 Machine Locally When Domain is Unavailable

     Sometimes students have to log in locally at home from their devices. This can be troublesome when the domain is unavailable and they don't know the name of their computer.

Luckily, there is a fast remedy for this.

For this example, we will assume that username: bob is trying to log into a computer named: laptop001

This would give the local name of: laptop001\bob

We can log in quicker by using this method. To log in locally on a Windows 7 machine using the example credentials from above:

In the username box you would just type: .\bob

Then you would input the password as normal and log in.

This method uses a full stop to cut down on the amount of information that needs entered. This is good for people trying to log in that might not know the device name.

Elmo Document Camera Manual Languages

Chinese Elmo Manual Portion

Arabic Elmo Manual Portion

21 Years Ago in the World Wide Web

21 years ago today, the World Wide Web source code was released to public domain.


Yay!

Video Card Swap Out

     Well my work computer kept shutting down at times due to video issues, so I had to do a little video card operating today. Left the larger NVIDIA and I'm now back on the ATI wagon. Don't really need anything that intensive, but it was annoying having the random shut downs when the NVIDIA card was being taxed.

Nothing groundbreaking here, but a photo of the old friend and the replacement:

Cheers!

Save $ iPhone 5 Charger: VIBE E-SSENTIAL USB Charger Pro Kit Review

     This weekend, I was in the local Half Price Books and spotted this crazy good deal. For a mere $9.99 + tax, I was able to pick up this charging pack that includes a cable for new iPhones!

USB Charger Pro Kit by VIBE-E-SSENTIAL

     The pack is USB 2.0 and includes:

iPhone 5/iPad Mini cable
iPhone/iPad cable
Mini USB to USB cable
Micro USB to USB cable
USB extension cable
USB wall charger
USB car charger

Overall, the build quality on the pack is nice and even if a cable or two would fail over time, it is still a solid purchase for that price. The items are manufactured by DGL Group, Ltd. Worth having just to throw in your bag or car and you'll always be ready if someone needs a device charged.

Craftsman Garage Door Opener Model 315 Circuit Board

Had to tear this apart and check it out today.

Craftsman garage door opener, model 315:

Top View After Removal

Bottom View After Removal

Eclipse IDE: Turning Off Compiler Warnings

     I found that when writing Android code, Eclipse tends to pop up a lot of warnings that aren't necessary. One of the biggest is variables that aren't being used. Sometimes I like to add in the variables before I ever use them, thus a warning is thrown by Eclipse. This short guide will show you how to remove these warnings.

To begin, in Eclipse go to  Project > Properties > Java Compiler > Errors/Warnings.

You will see this:

The Errors/Warnings menu in Eclipse IDE

There is a box at the top that says "Enable project specific settings." You will want to check that box.

From there, you can go through each setting and enable or disable the warnings as you see fit.

The one I was looking for was under unnecessary code:

Variables not used set to warning. Can be changed to ignore

Setting: Value of local variable is not used to ignore will stop those pesky warnings from appearing.

After changing settings, hit apply and it will prompt you to recompile your project. 

These settings can be reversed at any time but a recompile will be necessary. 

XBOX 360 Error Code: 416B-0000-3080-0504-8007-0070 Fix

     Recently, I had this code show up and had to implement a fix for it. The code is vague and gives a hint at checking network connection. The code was thrown when trying to apply an update to be able to download a profile again. The update appeared to be working, but would fail out every time. Even clearing the cache from the hard drive didn't work. Looked around for a while before finally stumbling onto a solution.

To fix error code: 416B-0000-3080-0504-8007-0070 implement the following:


1. Open the disc tray.
2. Take out any game that is in it.
3. Pull out the power plug from the console.
4. Gently push the disc tray HALF-WAY back in, stopping before it fully closes.
5. Plug the Xbox 360 power cable back in.
6. Turn on the Xbox 360 allowing the disc tray to automatically close the rest of the way on its own.


After following the above steps, the console should be able to update normally.

Chromebook: Acer C720P The a Bit of a Byte Review

     The Acer C720P is a touchscreen Chromebook running the Chrome OS. I recently had the chance to setup a few of them and get my impressions on the system. The price starts around $298 depending on the specs of the system (Amount of RAM). The Chromebook is targeted to students and non power users who need a system to handle basic tasks like email and web browsing. Boot times on this machine are almost instant. Open the lid and the C720P is ready for action within seconds. Setup is quick and it is possible to have your system up and running within about 5 minutes.


The C720P packaging looks like this:

Acer C720P packaging

The system specifications are as follows (Can vary):

Acer C720P specs

The SSD in this model I tested makes the C720P very snappy and responsive. 16GB doesn't seem like much, but buyers of the C720P can take advantage of the free 100GB Google Drive upgrade for two years. Once the year is over the storage will remain, but you would need to purchase additional storage if needed. The battery is said to give around 7 hours battery life and quickly charges. You will find it easy to make it through long lectures and still have time to go and finish up any assignments afterwards. 

Acer C720P package contents:

Acer C720P, charger, and manuals right out of the package

The C720P is a sleek system. It is light, thin, and looks good sitting out in the open. 

Typing on the keyboard can take a little bit to get used to depending on your current system. I'm used to using a full size keyboard, but if it bothers you that much a USB keyboard could easily be plugged into the Chromebook. This model also has an HDMI port. 

The touchscreen feature is nice to have. It is very responsive to gestures and the out of the box calibration is great. An example of using the touch screen to minimize apps to the tray is shown with my hand placement on the Chromebook below. 

Hand placement to quickly minimize an app

To give an idea on how much time I have spent with these, here is a photo of the ones I setup in that single day. I have a down a few others in the past as well. 

A stack of Chrome

Overall, I would say the Acer Chromebook C720P is a good investment for students or anyone that needs a light laptop on the go. You won't be able to run every program on this, but for basic tasks it shines brightly. Of all the Chromebook systems I have dealt with, I would say this one is easily my favorite just due to the speeds, designing, and reliability of this model. 

A Bit of a Byte review total for Acer Chromebook C720P:  9/10

Sublime Text Quick Tip: GOTO Line

     In Sublime Text, there is a nifty keyboard shortcut that will take your cursor to whatever line you want in your source file.

To try/check this out type: ctrl + G 

A little box will appear and you will be able to input which line number in your source file you would like to navigate to.

Teach Them Like They Know Nothing

     Teach them like they know nothing is an excellent method of teaching a concept or idea to someone. In this method, you assume that the person you're teaching knows absolutely nothing about any of the concepts you are about to present to them. Even if they are familiar with some portions or steps, you must assume that they know nothing on the topic, equipment, etc that is being dealt with. This method can prove very effective.

Teach them like they know nothing removes all prerequisite items/information.

Teach them like they know nothing breaks the barrier of people who are afraid to ask questions when they get stuck or are unsure of something.

Teach them like they know nothing will give them the building blocks to reach the final product or outcome.

Teach them like they know nothing reinforces basic concepts by covering every single process.

Teach them like they know nothing makes large tasks seem smaller by breaking the overall function down into easier to handle chunks.

Next time you have to teach someone something, defiantly give the teach them like they know nothing method a try.

CMSD TechBits

     Hello. Just wanted to put a quick link to my school's IT department site TechBits:

     http://cmsd.k12.pa.us/blogs/technology/

     Some of my pictures working with technology around the district are featured on it. Check it out!

Installing Sublime Text 3 Color Picker

Color Picker is a great tool to add into Sublime Text 3.

How many times do you want to see how a color change would look, but before you can you have to leave your editor? 

Well no more. Head on over and install this color picker for Sublime Text 3:

https://github.com/weslly/ColorPicker

A great plugin to have that saves lots of time.

Once installed, the Color Picker can be invoked within Sublime Text 3 via:

Microsoft Windows: ctrl + shift + c

Mac OS X: cmd + shift + c

Linux: ctrl + shift + c

From there, you'll be able to make your choices. 

Happy pickings! 

Microsoft Office on iPad No App Required

     Here's a quick tip for using Microsoft Office on your iPad without having any of the Office apps installed.

To do so head over to: https://office.live.com/start/default.aspx

The only thing you'll need to have is a free Microsoft account to get ready. Then you'll be able to chose which portion of Office you want to use.


Here's a picture of Word in action on iPad via the Office Live site:

Word running on iPad 

Guide to Installing Sublime Text Themes in Windows

     One of the quickest ways it install a theme is to place it directly into the necessary folder within your Sublime Text installation. This guide assumes you 1. Already have a theme file (.thTheme) and you know where it's saved to. 2. That you're running a version of Windows.

To install a theme:

1. Right-click and copy or paste the .thTheme file.

2. Go to this folder:  C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Roaming\Sublime Text 2\Packages\ User

Note: The folder name for Sublime Text may vary by version, but will still be under C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Roaming

3. Paste in the .thTheme file.

4. Restart Sublime Text if it was already opened. 

5. Open Sublime Text. Go to: Preferences -> Color Scheme and chose your recently installed theme.

There you have it. A quick way to install themes without using a package manager.

Chromebook Unboxing: Acer C720 x30

Anybody that has rolled out Chromebooks knows this feeling...

30 Acer C720 Chromebooks

Don't worry...they were already out of the boxes. Setup 30 more Chromebooks + cart today.

Digging the touchscreen capability and the responsiveness from the SSD.

Full review to follow sometime in near future.

Camouflage Theme for Sublime Text

Hello,

I recently made my first theme for Sublime Text editor. It is called camouflage.

A screenshot of this theme in action:

The theme file (Camouflage.tmTheme) can be found on my GitHub at:

https://github.com/mkelleyjr/SublimeThemes

To install this theme:

Pull down the file from my GitHub or copy it and paste into a text editor and  then save it as Camouflage.tmTheme

Next you will copy the file into this directory assuming you're running a Window's OS: 

C:\Users\(YOURUSERNAMEHERE)\AppData\Roaming\Sublime Text 2\Packages\Color Scheme - Default

Note: Your version of Sublime Text could vary from mine. I'm currently running version 2 it appears...(need to update!) so the folder name may slightly vary. 

Once the file has been copied, you'll need to restart Sublime Text and then you can go to Preferences -> Color Scheme -> Camouflage to set it as your new color scheme. 

I've found this theme useful when working with strings and numbers. 

Note: This theme can also be used with Textmate editor on the Mac platform. 

For more information on installing and customizing Sublime Text, check out:

http://docs.sublimetext.info/en/latest/customization/customization.html?highlight=themes

Mac users:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7808452/what-is-the-full-path-to-the-packages-folder-for-sublime-text-2-on-mac-os-lion

Linux users: (Ubuntu) 

http://www.sublimetext.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=13642

Enjoy!