Will teaching kids to code boost math SAT scores? - From the Dec. 16th, 2013 Boston Globe

The app StreamToMe.

A couple of years ago, I found this app to help my band teacher share his music files with his students, now I use it to help students read along with the printed book and to save my teachers from losing their voices by 10 a.m.   

Use StreamToMe on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad to play *video*, *music* and *photo* files streamed over WiFi or Cellular from any Mac or Windows PC running the free ServeToMe server (download free from http://zqueue.com/servetome). No prior conversion or syncing required (huge number of formats supported without conversion) just tap the file and it plays. Play on your device or via AirPlay or TV out cables, turning your iPhone/iPod/iPad into a mobile media player for all your computer's files.

I use this app and the service to stream .mp3 audio books to students using the iPad.
I download the audio book to a designated folder on my macbook, that I share using ServeToMe, the kids open the StreamToMe App on their iPad and the folder and files are there and can be accessed no matter what type of multimedia files they are (ServeToMe works with a lot of different file formats). 

AirParrot, AirPlay mirror your Mac or PC's screen to your Apple TV, wirelessly.

AirParrot. This app allows those with older Macs (non-Mountain Lion macs) that do not have AirPlay Mirroring built in, the ability to do just that...stream your screen wirelessly to an Apple TV. For $9.99 it was worth it.  My principal had fallen in love with the announcement slide show I would show on our cafe TV.  I was using an iPad with Keynote, Airplay and Apple TV.  It was working great until other staff jumped on the Apple TV bandwagon! Our network went from one person using Apple TV to six and my poor little iPad (and its AirPlay) kept getting kicked off our network and Airplay kept losing it's connection to the cafe's Apple TV.  I know what you are thinking...dummy it's NOT the Ipad or the Apple TV's fault but it's your network...IT CAN'T HANDLE ALL THAT STUFF and you are right.  Being the stubborn, OCD tech person that I am, I was not willing to give up.  I downloaded the AirParrot trial, which gave me 20 minutes to see if I liked it.  I put it on my MacBook and it worked like a charm.  It never lost its connection with my cafe's Apple TV (maybe somebody out there can explain this one to me) but it is just what the doctored ordered!
Click here for a product review from MacLife. 

Why the Brain Prefers Paper.

A interesting article forwarded to me by my principal.  It is from the November 2013 issue of Scientific American (p. 49-53).

Here's the skinny of it.  "Studies in the past two decades indicate that people often understand and remember text on paper better than on a screen,  Screens may inhibit comprehension by preventing people from intuitively navigating and mentally mapping long texts."  

"In general, screens are also more cognitively and physically taxing than paper. Scrolling demands constant conscious effort, and LCD screens on tablets and laptops can strain the eyes and cause headaches by shining light directly on people's faces."

"Preliminary research suggests that even so-called digital natives are more likely to recall the gist of a story when they read it on paper because enhanced e-books and e-readers themselves are too distracting.  Paper's greatest strength may be its simplicity"  (Jabr, Ferris.  Scientific American. November 2013. p 49.)

Google to Unveil Auto Awesome Feature that Creates Stories from Your Videos

Article posted from Tech & Learning enews.

25 Ideas for Using Evernote as an Educator and More.

See what the buzz about Evernote is all-about.  From Tech & Learning Magazine.

Other Evernote resources;

Evernote Student Blog

How to use Evernote: the Missing Manual

Let's Block All Learning Tools and Eliminate Classroom Distractions

A very good Blog post by David Britten, a retired U.S. Army officer, husband, father and current public school superintendent who practices the principles of "leading out loud."  It's so good I wish I wrote it.

Online lecture prompts legal fight on copyright (subject fair use).

Click here for the story from August 27th's edition of The Boston Globe.

Updating iTunes when it does not want to.

So here's the skinny, I have an HP laptop with Windows XP-service pack 3 and all the requirements to install an updated version of iTunes.  My installed version of iTunes was 9 (I know sooo 2008!!).  I bought a new iPod in November and wanted to see if I could get it to work with it.  I opened up my iTunes went to "help" and click on "check for updates". The response was "unable to connect to update server".  My next plan of attack was to download the new iTunes from Apple and install it. After a couple of tries, it could not be installed, seems as though a file or two got; corrupted, went missing, or was just plain out of date.  What to do?  Then I remembered... I went to "Start - Control Panel - Add or Remove Program - Apple Application Support.  Clicked on change (remember I'm in Windows XP) and chose "Re install Apple Application Support, replace missing or damage files."  It did what it was supposed to, updated and repaired the files I needed to update to the new iTunes.  The new iTunes installed without a hitch.  Who knew??

Massachusetts Library System's Reference sources and tools online.

Ever find a great site you used, bookmarked and then totally forgot about??  Well that's what happen with this one.  It is a collaboratively created resource from MLS member librarians, where you will find freely available online sources that have been deemed reliable by fellow librarians. Also included are tools that may be helpful in your Reference work.  It's is maintained by Anna Popp, of the Mass. Library System (MLS). Saw her in person and found her to be a great research instructor and  source. 
http://guides.masslibsystem.org/free_reference_resources