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TechLearning: Top 100 Sites of 2011
"The time is finally here for my annual list of favorite sites of the year. This year I decided to up my post to the top 100 instead of 25 because of the number of sites that I reviewed and the popularity of the post. I tried to cover a wide range of sites, from flash-card creators to digital storytelling, and of course social networks, which really stood out in 2011. I hope everybody enjoys the list and has as much fun reading it as I did creating it."
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A social Learning platform built for education.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
The Scam - Part II
It's only been about 24 hours since I heard about this scam, so we're not far into the process. Those scammers downloaded EVERYTHING off his computer. Everything. There good news, if there IS any to be found in this mess, is that he didn't have a quicken or Excel file anywhere that would have contained his important information. But, if they have his password to his email - which is the same password he has for everything - then they have access to WAY too much information.
So, the first thing he did was unplug the computer. (Closing the barn door after the horses have all left.)
Next, he called his Credit Union to report it and to stop his cards. For some reason it sounded to me like they only stopped his check card and not his Visa, so I encouraged him to call them back tomorrow to be sure they canceled both.
Next, he called the FBI to report it. The thinking was that they would then be on the alert for activity on his Social Security number. Wrong. They suggested he visit www.ic3.gov and file a report. Of course he can't do that on his computer, so he'll have to do it from work .
He will also be paying a company their $10/month fee to watch over and protect his SS#. An identity theft protection company. So, he's now got $120/yr added expense.
And he'll be coming over to my place on Sunday? Why? Well, I, being the closest thing to tech support that he can find, will spend much of Sunday reinstalling Windows XP. We'll format c: and start fresh. Of course, his CD is six years old, so the number of updates will be mind blowing, I'm sure. I'd rather chew razor blades than to sit and fuss with Windows all day, but that's what's going to happen. It's a full day's work. I KNOW why tech folks charge at least $200 to do it. It would be SO much easier if he could somehow spring for a new laptop, but I know that to be out of the question, as well.
Once again, PLEASE send an email to everyone in your address book and warn them against this scam. This isn't over by a long shot. It's going to get more costly as it moves forward. Costly both in terms of money AND time.
So, the first thing he did was unplug the computer. (Closing the barn door after the horses have all left.)
Next, he called his Credit Union to report it and to stop his cards. For some reason it sounded to me like they only stopped his check card and not his Visa, so I encouraged him to call them back tomorrow to be sure they canceled both.
Next, he called the FBI to report it. The thinking was that they would then be on the alert for activity on his Social Security number. Wrong. They suggested he visit www.ic3.gov and file a report. Of course he can't do that on his computer, so he'll have to do it from work .
He will also be paying a company their $10/month fee to watch over and protect his SS#. An identity theft protection company. So, he's now got $120/yr added expense.
And he'll be coming over to my place on Sunday? Why? Well, I, being the closest thing to tech support that he can find, will spend much of Sunday reinstalling Windows XP. We'll format c: and start fresh. Of course, his CD is six years old, so the number of updates will be mind blowing, I'm sure. I'd rather chew razor blades than to sit and fuss with Windows all day, but that's what's going to happen. It's a full day's work. I KNOW why tech folks charge at least $200 to do it. It would be SO much easier if he could somehow spring for a new laptop, but I know that to be out of the question, as well.
Once again, PLEASE send an email to everyone in your address book and warn them against this scam. This isn't over by a long shot. It's going to get more costly as it moves forward. Costly both in terms of money AND time.
The Scam - Part I
My friend is no dummy. It's just that the timing of this scam couldn't have been better - for the scammers, that is. Couldn't have been worse for my friend.
His 6 year old Windows XP machine is probably loaded with spyware. I say that because it takes about 15-20 minutes to boot. Sometimes even longer. There were multiple hangs and freezes, and each one accompanied by the notice that asked if this error should be reported. He always said yes, figuring that it would keep the Microsoft folks employed.
Re-imaging a windows machine is no job for a novice, and paying someone else to do it was out of the question. The computer just wasn't worth the $200 that it would no doubt cost. I showed him how to put it into Hibernate mode instead of shutting it down, and that helped him tolerate this slow machine a while longer. In retrospect, that turned out not to be such a favor.
One evening he received a phone call from a very pleasant sounding woman who identified herself as an employee of Microsoft. She claimed to have been noticing an abnormal number of error messages (I think she called them error codes), and she was offering to fix them. How? Just allow her access to his computer and she'd take care of it.
Now, you and I know better, right? Microsoft doesn't employ people to call the homes of users, even if they DID somehow know your phone number, and volunteer to fix your computer. But, she even gave him a phone number and suggested that they hang up and he could call her back after he confirmed everything. But, after all, there WERE a lot of error codes coming from his computer. Still... it smelled fishy. But yet, she was SO helpful over the phone. You can almost see the little angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other, can't you?
Long story short, he DID allow this woman to have complete control of his machine. She said it would take quite a while, so he left it on and went to bed. Somewhere around 2:30AM he heard it reboot. That sick feeling in his stomach hadn't left. He just wasn't sure about this, but it was too late now. By the time I found out about it the next day it had been over 12 hours since she took control of his machine.
In the interest of reading comfort I'm going to stop this post here. I'll continue with Part II to let you know what he's gone through since then. In the meantime, PLEASE tell ALL your friends about this scam. It's SO easy for it to work, because if you've got a windows computer in the house, chances are it's running poorly and throwing errors. It's the perfect scam.
His 6 year old Windows XP machine is probably loaded with spyware. I say that because it takes about 15-20 minutes to boot. Sometimes even longer. There were multiple hangs and freezes, and each one accompanied by the notice that asked if this error should be reported. He always said yes, figuring that it would keep the Microsoft folks employed.
Re-imaging a windows machine is no job for a novice, and paying someone else to do it was out of the question. The computer just wasn't worth the $200 that it would no doubt cost. I showed him how to put it into Hibernate mode instead of shutting it down, and that helped him tolerate this slow machine a while longer. In retrospect, that turned out not to be such a favor.
One evening he received a phone call from a very pleasant sounding woman who identified herself as an employee of Microsoft. She claimed to have been noticing an abnormal number of error messages (I think she called them error codes), and she was offering to fix them. How? Just allow her access to his computer and she'd take care of it.
Now, you and I know better, right? Microsoft doesn't employ people to call the homes of users, even if they DID somehow know your phone number, and volunteer to fix your computer. But, she even gave him a phone number and suggested that they hang up and he could call her back after he confirmed everything. But, after all, there WERE a lot of error codes coming from his computer. Still... it smelled fishy. But yet, she was SO helpful over the phone. You can almost see the little angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other, can't you?
Long story short, he DID allow this woman to have complete control of his machine. She said it would take quite a while, so he left it on and went to bed. Somewhere around 2:30AM he heard it reboot. That sick feeling in his stomach hadn't left. He just wasn't sure about this, but it was too late now. By the time I found out about it the next day it had been over 12 hours since she took control of his machine.
In the interest of reading comfort I'm going to stop this post here. I'll continue with Part II to let you know what he's gone through since then. In the meantime, PLEASE tell ALL your friends about this scam. It's SO easy for it to work, because if you've got a windows computer in the house, chances are it's running poorly and throwing errors. It's the perfect scam.
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| Creative Commons: Flickr: Ivers |
Saturday, January 21, 2012
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Wolfram Education Portal: Free Resources and Materials for Teachers
Check this out. Send it to your math and science teachers, especially.
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Revolutionary war game.
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LIBERTY! . Road to Revolution Game | PBS
Nice interactive game about the Revolutionary war
Saturday, January 14, 2012
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Record & Share your PowerPoint presentations | Present.me
A really easy way to present and record yourself.
Saturday, January 07, 2012
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Top Ten Twitter Hashtags for Educators – SimpleK12
A nice list to get new twitter users started.
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Record from the computer and it will generate a qrcode that will point users to the recorded message.
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We are proud to announce the Operational release of "Reverb", the next generation metadata and service discovery tool. Reverb has been developed utilizing modern web development technologies and presents you with a fresh new look and interface for discovering Earth Science data. We invite you to give it a try and let us know what you think. Reverb will be continually updated on a monthly basis taking into account your user feedback and other enhancements which are currently planned. Your feedback will be critical in us ensuring that you are able to find and access the data you need in the best way possible.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
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"Applying critical thinking skills through web research can help students:
Improve search skills.
Evaluate the information they find.
Incorporate them in their work."
Saturday, December 24, 2011
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How to Harness the Power of the Cloud | Mac|Life
Stash your stuff in the cloud with our handy guide on online backups http://t.co/MLN7l4Gu
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Using Google Earth in the classroom | Google Earth Blog
Today we're looking at GEteach [Google Earth PLUGIN required.] , a site developed by 9th-grade Geography teacher Josh Williams. The site uses the Google Earth Plug-in to give you quick access to a wide variety of information such as the CIA Factbook, population densities, and various other human and physical geographic overlays.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
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YouTube Blog: Opening up a world of educational content with YouTube for Schools
YouTube changes for educators: "YouTube for Schools" http://t.co/xJ1RRZeo with educational playlists & network setting for administrators
Saturday, December 10, 2011
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A fun way to make a new picture of yourself. Save this for when you want to turn yourself into Santa.
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Hard Times Generation: Families living in cars - 60 Minutes - CBS News
advantage of PST “@jdickerson: The amazing Scott Pelley piece everyone is talking about on family homelessness. http://t.co/Y5GnrNZu”
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Day 12: Google Docs on the Go With My iPad | PCWorld Business Center
Gdocs on iPad #edcamphbg @jgates513 http://t.co/IkupYoS4
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I'm resending the link to the article about how we
#educoach I'm resending the link to the article about how we do coaching: http://bit.ly/ibU3Cf
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Sue Woodruff created this very useful tool for mea
#educoach Sue Woodruff created this very useful tool for measuring your impact: http://bit.ly/a0nthL
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Here is the #edchat wiki: http://bit.ly/3T4hh2. Archives are put up there by @jswiatek #140edu
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you can read about how we propose doing coaching a
#educoach you can read about how we propose doing coaching and how we enroll teachers in this article too http://bit.ly/peW4wy
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Literature and Latte - Scrivener
@jgates513 show her Scrivener... http://t.co/nzVcolN
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Web 2.0 tools that will instantly impact your clas
Web 2.0 tools that will instantly impact your classroom: http://fishingforedtech.wordpress.com/
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5 reasons parents should oppose evaluating teachers on test scores http://j.mp/iXw4e9 We already have number 4.
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Autistic Girl Expresses Profound Intelligence - YouTube
If u haven't seen this clip, this is a MUST watch! Carly's inner voice found a way out! Way to go @CarlysVoice http://youtu.be/F4XMlhCfp3Q
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Why Education Needs to Change: A Student Perspective on Vimeo
@SirKenRobinson @TEDChris have you watched this grade 8 student response to your RSA video yet? http://bit.ly/dEcxtJ via @Neilstephenson:
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RT : Guest Post by : Building a PLN Does Not Requi
RT @isteconnects: Guest Post by @TheNerdyTeacher: Building a PLN Does Not Require a Hardhat:Networking advice educators http://bit.ly/hefNKn
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NASA - Swift Survey Finds 'Missing' Active Galaxies
[Video] Astronomers use Swift to find 'missing' black-hole-powered galaxies, previously too obscured to see http://go.nasa.gov/dHwFy3
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Egyptian Revolution 2011 COMPLETE. World MUST MUST watch this. Freedom for All! - YouTube
RT @acarvin: Another video montage of the protests. Some great footage in here. http://youtu.be/-HGfFyqJMrk #jan25 #egypt #revolution
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Free Technology for Teachers: Video - 7 Billion People
This video is amazing - 7 Billion People http://bit.ly/e9Qtvc
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aids in swaziland - Wolfram|Alpha
.@jgates513 Since you're a WolframAlpha/Data fan...
and since it's World AIDS day... http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=aids+in+swaziland -
Lauren's Life - the conjunction for my thoughts, ideas, and life
Blogs-o-the-week: 2 incredible student blogs! http://bit.ly/aLw3yv & http://bit.ly/ch7IQC See more: http://bit.ly/9qsplo #ebshare
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