It is always important to protect your kids online. Be safe. One option for parents is to create or sign a “10 Commandments for Kids Online.”

A Salute to Black History — an extensive database with links to specific pages for additional information

Lawson State Community College

http://www.ls.cc.al.us/blackhistory/blackhistory.html

http://sites.google.com/site/soetechteacher/Home/firefox-tips

When it comes time to revise the syllabus for the next semester, you might think that now is the time to incorporate some technology tools for you and your students. 

Check out Jane Hart’s SlideShare Presentation: 25 Tools http://tinyurl.com/6y34yv

Take a look at the technology tools and leave a comment about what you have used in the past and what looks interesting to investigate.

There are many features that Gmail does a lot that some users may have overlooked. Starting with one short web address, you can video chat, change the look of your email screen, ensure you didn’t leave yourself logged in elsewhere, and pluck a single message out of tens of thousands. Here’s a list offered by the ‘lifehacker’ site.

10) Change Gmail’s look entirely with themes.
9) Launch video and audio chats,
8) Back up your email from any system.
7) See all the places where you’re signed in, and remotely sign out.
6) Serve as a central, synchronized, smarter contact list.

5) Consolidate all your email accounts.
4) Help friends find their own Gmail messages or bookmark your own.
3) Keep your Gmail account(s) on your desktop.
2) Give you total search power.
1) Do much, much more with Gmail Labs experimental features.

Visit the lifehacker site for more detailed descriptions. Better yet, explore your GMAIL account and discover all of the tools yourself, such as Google Scholar, website creator (Sites.Google.Com), browser (Google Chrome (BETA) for Windows), just for starters.

http://lifehacker.com/5103016/top-10-things-you-forgot-gmail-can-do

My article about integrating technology into the curriculum with teachers on Kosrae has just been published:

International Journal of Pedagogies and Learning

http://www.apacall.org/ijpl/v4n4/

Online FREE storage space

Microsoft is offering free personal and secure storage on the Web of a whopping 5 gigabytes to users registered for its Windows Live services.
Users of its Hotmail e-mail service can access this virtual hard drive on the web using the same name and password. The service, which was in a beta
form with limited storage and went live last week across the world, can be accessed at

<http://skydrive.live.com/>

Users can upload and store their files in three folders: Personal, which they alone can access; Share with friends, which will be open to designated
friends who are also registered Windows Live users; and a Share with the World, where one can place files that are open to the wider public to
view. There is a generous limit of 50 MB for any one file.

You can read more on this piece by Anand Parthasarathy in ‘The Hindu’ dated 02 Mar 08 or browse it at:

<http://www.hindu.com/2008/03/02/stories/2008030252601100.htm>

Microsoft has developed an online workspace for FREE as a place where you can use it to group related information for work, school, or personal projects. This new set of online technology tools is similar in concept to Zoho [http://www.zoho.com] and Google Apps [http://www.google.com], both of which are also FREE.

Information from the website describes how to:

Organize a study group

•    Work together on assignments and share notes from class
•    Keep a shared schedule and task list for your group
•    Access them from almost any computer with a Web browser
•    No more flash drives or sending yourself documents via e-mail

Keep track of important school information
•    gather feedback on a document, report, or presentation
•    Manage schedules from sports to registration deadlines
•    Track your grades and progress toward degree requirements

Coordinate with club or team members

•    Post and manage schedules (for sports, clubs, organizations, etc.)
•    Share lists of who brings what (no more e-mails back and forth)
•    Open and save files directly from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

Watch the tutorial videos for additional information: http://workspace.officelive.com/

From the Microsoft website: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsxp/future.mspx

The Future of Windows XP

“Last year you told us you weren’t quite ready to say goodbye to Windows XP. We listened. That’s why we delayed our plan to stop selling it until June 30, 2008.

We love that you love Windows XP. We’ve seen it on our website, in e-mails, and through independent online petition drives. Our engineers work hard to build innovative software that empowers our customers. It’s nice when you tell us we’ve made a difference.

But our commitment to innovation sometimes means making tough choices. This is one of them.

After careful consultation with our customers and industry partners, we’ve decided to proceed with our plan to phase out Windows XP in June. It’ll be a long goodbye. We plan to provide support for Windows XP until 2014.”