Kids Can't Use Computers[Article Link]

Came across this article this morning:

http://coding2learn.org/blog/2013/07/29/kids-cant-use-computers/

The author touches on some good points.

I know many children/teens/adults that use a phone or tablet as their primary device. Sit them down at an actual workstation and they may have some troubles.

You can do a lot on these devices, but there is so much more that you can do on an actual desktop or laptop.

A lot of schools don't even teach keyboarding class anymore.

I like the point of making them fix things themselves. Teach them how to research their problem and then carry out the necessary steps until it is fixed. Walk them through it, don't fix it for them.

An interesting read and it makes me think about the direction computing is going in.

Carroll Screen Resolution Software / Automatically Adjusting Screen Resolution

Recently, I was looking into changing the desktop screen resolution for a student with some vision concerns when I came across Carroll. Carroll is software that runs in the background and controls screen resolutions. What they had been doing was logging into the account and then the teacher would have to change the resolution. After class, she would then have to change it back for the next class coming in. This works fine aside from taking up time each day, but Carroll was the solution that proved to be helpful as it can handle the task automatically.

Carroll will pop up a box whenever a user logs into the computer for the first time. From there, the user can select which screen resolution they would like to work with. Then there is an option to reload this setting every time that user logs back in. The student is now able to log in and the software will handle changing the resolution seamlessly. After logging out and the next student logs in, they will get their screen resolution settings to load. These settings can be changed at any time.

If you are interested in checking out Carroll to see if it fits your needs, here is the link.

It is great for computers used by multiple users that need to work with an array of screen resolutions.

Doudou Linux / Linux for Children

Just saw this on HN and it looks cool.

Doudou Linx is a Linux environment aimed at children ages 2-12 and provides software aimed at learning and development.

I may have to throw this onto an old laptop for Harper and see what happens.

Interested in learning more? Check out Doudou Linux here. 

Should You Pay For a Warranty?

When you buy an item and the store offers an extended warranty should you get it?

No and yes.

Here's what to do instead.

Take the price of the warranty they are offering and divide it out. Then you can set that much aside each month in your savings. If something goes wrong, you'll have the extra money and if nothing ever goes wrong, you'll get to keep all of that money.

Companies won't give you more money out of a warranty than they take in. They use them mostly as a means to make extra money.

This is also good because:

You may find you don't like the item after a month or 2 and don't use it often.

You may decide if it breaks that you want to get something different.

Having the money in your own account will give you these choices.

So if you're worried that your item may break, pay the money to yourself each month and you'll always be the one in control of where it goes.