Silly YouTube Tricks

I've got a few silly tricks to share when using YouTube.

The 1st is 'Quiet YouTube.'

First, find the video you want to watch in quiet mode. Then in the address bar, put quiet in front of youtube.com.

Example: http://www.quietyoutube.com/watch?xkjfdfkdf

Then hit enter and this will take you to a "quiet" page of the video you want. There will be no advertisements to other videos on the side. Great for classroom environments.


The 2nd silly trick is 'copy URL at current time.'

Say you want to share a video with somehow to show them a specific part in the clip. There would be two options really....give them the time they should jump to or make them watch the entire clip. With copy URL at current time, we can skip doing both of those.

To do this, got the time spot in the video you want and pause the video at that time. Go gown to the red bar and highlight over the red line with your cursor on the time you would like to start with. Then right-click and chose copy video URL at current time.

Now you can share this link or put it online and whoever watches it will see the video start at the exact moment you picked. Nice!

Those were just a couple quick silly YouTube tricks. I picked them up at a Google educator training this week and wanted to jot them down here for notes and to help other people as well. Hope everyone has been doing well!



~Michael

Codepad

Just found a neat site worth sharing:

http://codepad.org/

Codepad is a quick way to write out and execute code snippets for various languages like C, C++, Python, Ruby, and many more.

Great resource for Chromebooks where you might want to write a bit of code, but don't have the necessary software under Chrome OS to do so.

Note: Make sure the private box is checked or your snippets of code will be publicly available. 


~Michael

GradCalc - New Android Version Released!

Hello all,

Just in time for back to school, I am releasing a new updated version of my Android app, GradCalc.

GradCalc is a small, fast app to lookup what year a K-12 student will graduate. Great when having to make user accounts and only know what grade the student is in.

Updated features include:

Adding a splash screen

Updated rounded icon

- and other small fixes.

Find it on the Google Play Store at:

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

Note: Don't mind the old screenshots on the store page

If you have an Android device, please give it a download and see how it runs. As always, any feedback and sharing is much appreciated.

Thank you.

Chromebook Resources for .edu

Chromebook Resources For EDU

Start with basics!

Handling and care of the Chromebook

-          How to handle

-          How to charge

-          How to properly put away

Signing in and out of the Chromebook

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWBl_KhDHPw&feature=youtu.be&list=PLc2H-KIyiUpOseg3PNqCfloV-zf-hVIWJ

Navigating built-in apps

Chrome Webstore to install more apps/extensions

Google Drive

Google Apps – Practice making a document, Opening, Sharing

*Google Docs, Slides, etc. all auto-save work. Students won’t have to remember to save!

Google Docs

Google Slides

Google Sheets – may be more advanced

Google Mail

Chromebook Basics Playlist on YouTube (Excellent source):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdaI-JXijR4&feature=youtu.be&list=PLc2H-KIyiUpOMaEwlhBXC9Xx-N0gGsONA

Getting Started with Your Chromebook:

https://www.chromestory.com/chromebook/getting-started/

Chromebook 101: Getting Started:

https://www.thinglink.com/scene/459761281381957632

Practicing Internet Safety:

http://www.internetsafety.com/resources.php

101 Best Chromebook Tips, Tricks, and Timesavers:

https://www.chromestory.com/chromebook/tips/

Saving as PDF:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGIqfwM8DLc

Use Microsoft Word Online with Chromebooks:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/word-online/fiombgjlkfpdpkbhfioofeeinbehmajg

Pewaukee Lake Elementary School Chromebook Resources:

https://sites.google.com/a/pewaukeeschools.org/ple-chromebook/3rd-grade

30 Ways to Use Chromebooks in the Classroom:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1GLmWQ7EJyqF-5ViHaQINkAId2mw9Qoc8KXNN0rVJglM/edit#slide=id.gd3883805_2_181

Mrs. Mallon's 3rd Grade Class:

https://sites.google.com/a/sylvaniaschools.org/mmallon/chromebooks

Scholastic Computer Lab Favorites:

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/clf/index.htm

Dance Mat Typing:

http://primarygamesarena.com/Play/Dance-Mat-Typing-2012

Starfall:

http://www.starfall.com/

ABCYA:

http://www.abcya.com/

Chromebooks for Special Education and Assistive Technology:

http://www.doceocenter.org/resources/chromebooks_sped_at

Coding:

https://code.org/learn

Scratch Programming:

https://scratch.mit.edu/

Chromebook Classroom (Nice overview of what apps and extensions are and how to get them)

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1hHJJtSEbev1TuOqDvalcQw2HW5y5gcd2ns9mgQFYGp4/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000&slide=id.g1486ff6_2_14

Google Docs Offline:

https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/2809731?hl=en

Troubles? Powerwashing a Chromebook:

https://www.chromestory.com/2013/02/what-is-powerwash-on-a-chromebook/

‘Chrome OS Missing or Damaged’ Message:

https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/1080595?hl=en

K6-12 Chromebook Resources and Ideas:

http://www.northolmstedschools.org/Downloads/Chromebook%20Resources.pdf

Google for Education Resources:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/16pGWXaoxC6CtVV1kZ0I9PgtSntZP80_2gWmaxKSLB18/edit#

Neat Apps to use

https://nearpod.com/

https://prezi.com/

*Special note: This list was curated by Michael L. Kelley Jr. and is free to be shared or passed around. All credits on the above links go to the respected content holder. Special thanks to all authors, teachers, and school districts who have put great Chromebook resources on the web. 

(These notes were originally drafted up for a teacher that wanted to get more familiar with chromebooks.)

Are Shortened URL Links Safe?

Are the shortened URL links that you click on safe?

Do you know where they are taking you?

Do you know if they are malicious?

Do you know if they will install software?

Read this article real fast.

Very good site to check if the shortened URL is indeed taking you to where it should be or not:

http://getlinkinfo.com

WannaCry Ransomware

WannaCry ransomware is making its way around the internet today. Many older systems (XP) are getting it.

I've heard that systems not patched, can receive this with no user contact necessary. Machines can blue-screen and then reboot and the ransomware will be running. Here is some detailed information about WannaCry:

http://blog.talosintelligence.com/2017/05/wannacry.html

Had 2 machines at work get this today. Looking into further and will be taking some precautions.

If you do run an older operating system, considering upgrading or taking the system offline in the meantime. Also, make sure security updates are being applied.

Finding Inactive Computers in Active Directory

Trying to clean up your active directory?

Here is a quick little script/command to find inactive computers from active directory.

This uses the server command dsquery.

Open a command prompt or Powershell on the server.

The example is:

dsquery computer -inactive 7 -limit 200

This will display a list of up to 200 computers from active directory that have not been logged into in the last 7 weeks.

Adjust -inactive xx -limit xxx as needed for your domain.

Note: The dsquery command can be used on active directory users as well.


~Michael

Chromebook Tip: Add Website to Shelf

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted on here. All is well, I've just been busy with other things. I've been working on my Chromebook a little more often lately and want to share a quick little tip. This tip will allow you to quickly access your favorite sites by pinning them to the Chromebook "task bar" or shelf as Google calls it.

In Chrome, go to the page you want to pin. Click on 'Customize and control Google Chrome' button on the top right. (This is what you click on to get to the menu and settings for Chrome). Next, scroll down to More Tools > Add to Shelf...

A box will pop up letting you rename the site link. Hit OK and it will be pinned to your chromebook shelf at the bottom. If the site has it's own site icon, that will be the icon that it adds.

My current Chromebook setup. The sites I've added on on the right-hand side.

I'm going to try to be posting a little more frequently on here. Look for a lot more on Chromebooks and other projects to follow.

Hope everyone is doing well.

The Literary Report

Hello,

The first review on my book blog - The Literary Report, is now live.

I decided to branch things out to a separate blog, as the posts on here are mostly technical and this audience may like that more than seeing book reviews pop up and having to sort through them to find the content they like.

I also did it to hold myself accountable. 

I always intend to read more, but I get sidetracked by various things. I'll start multiple books at once and not make it through any of them.

I'll be putting in a stronger effort in 2017 to read more. All content will be posted as books are finished. This puts an expectation on me to finish books.

I'm trying to keep the reviews shorter and include relevant information pertaining to the books. I'll also give each book "Literary Review points" at the end. This will be on a 0 out of 5 scale. This way I can quickly look back and see if I would want to read a book again or not. Hopefully, this format is beneficial to the audience as well.

So if you like that kind of thing, please head over and check it out. If not, thanks for reading this and continue to look forward to more Bit of a Byte posts coming in 2017!


~ Michael

Top 50 Developer Tools of 2016

Check out the list and see if your favorite languages, frameworks, utilities, and tools made the list.

Check out the list here.