SOPA & PIPA

For those of us who are web dependent you have probably heard about SOPA & PIPA, but have your students?  DO they know what it is and what it means?  Or do they just think its cool that Google and Wikipedia have blacked out?  

So how to educate students on PIPA & SOPA?  Well Google has a great visual on its SOPA & PIPA page that you can connect to here. The Wikipedia article is probably written just a bit better for a Middle or High School Student to really comprehend.  Google's article although short and sweet doesn't answer the questions as well as the Wiki article though.  Because pictures tell a story better than words I will show this video That Kirby1 posted on his youtube channel.  I am certain that this will bring up some heated discussion especially with 8th graders, I wonder though whose side they will be on?

PollDaddy

A while back I wrote a post about online survey tools.  Well today I stumbled upon another one.  PollDaddy.com.  The basics are the same as SurveyMonkey or Google Docs Forms, however when comparing to SurveyMonkey Directly it looks to be a bit cheaper.  $200 a year for corporate clients.  

Love to hear some feedback from those that use online survey tool.

Moving Domains

As I reported earlier I am moving one of my websites away from Yola.  So far the process has been relatively painless except for the moving the Blog which was the main reason for moving in the first place.  Because Yola was my Host as well as my Registrar I needed to move my Domain name to a new registrar.  I use GoDaddy already so I moved my domain name there.  Basically you just follow the steps for Godaddy for transferring a domain.  You will need to get a transfer code from your initial registrar first.  Then begin the GoDaddy Process.  

The process with Godaddy took about a week.  Between Yola releasing the Domain and Godaddy completing the move.  Then it took about 48 hours for all of the forwarding to really work properly between Godaddy and Google sites.  

I learned a valuable lesson here.  Always back your site up and own that domain.  

Move Complete

I have completed my website and blog move.  A couple of things I will remember to tell others when setting up a website.  Make sure you can export your data.  That was tough to learn that I had to rebuild the entire site from scratch.  No copy and pasting here but a total rebuild.  Having to re-input all of the blog entries was a killer.  I got lazy towards the end and just stopped tagging posts because I just wanted them in the new blog.  

Things are working great now.  My domain name, now hosted with Godaddy, forwards to my new site, hosted by Google sites.  My blog, hosted by blogger is up and running.  Blog posts are forwarded to Twitter using Twitterfeed.  I am able to post to blogger / twitter from my Android powered phone via email.  It is so much easier for me now to post information and photos.  Hopefully I will continue to post.  If i ever feel the need I can always go back and edit old posts and tag them but.........

Webmaster Help

Check out this really helpful video on Google Webmaster Tools.  It is about a half hour long but really worth it.

Assistive Touch

I have someone using a Verizon iPhone Version 5.0.1 (9A405) On the screen this person has this "White Dot" that once pressed opens up a menu.  I would like to disable or turn off this "APP"  I can't figure out how to do it.  I looked under the "General Settings" and there was no toggle switch to turn it off like in other videos I have watched.  I called the Apple Help desk who told me they think the phone was jailbroken but I don't think this person did that.
So who can help me?  I posted 2 pictures below. Thanks

Update: OK so this is called Assistive Touch. 2 ways to turn this off:

1) Go to Settings

     Assistive Touch

     Turn Off

2) Select the "Dot"

     Go to "Gestures" 

     Choose a Gesture Square

     Assistive Touch Off

Add a Blogger Gadget To Google Sites

To add a Blogger or Embed Blogger to your Google Site:

• Edit Page
• Insert Gadget
• Search for "embed blogger"
• Fill out the form
• Add

Please note that as of posting you will not see the blogger logo on the gadget but rather what appears to be a calculator. Worked for me no problem.

Moving From Yola To Blogger

I have decided to ditch Yola for Goolge Sites.  It's not that I dislike Yola or don't like the features they have.  Yola has come a long way since I initially created a site with them, however the cooking site I host is mostly a blogging site.  Because it is a blog heavy site the blog feature in Yola holds me back.  Too many steps involved.  So I am moving to Blogger.  The first problem I encountered is that I can not export my Yola blog.  This is tragic and something I should have looked into when I first created this site, but hind site is always 20/20.  So I will need to copy and paste EVERYTHING.  Once I have rebuilt the blog and website I will have to re direct my domain.  That will be another post.  

The moral of this post to all my followers.  Be sure you find a way to back up your blog or site before you build it.  Moving is stressful enough.

ParksByNature

I came across this really cool app for iPhones, iPods, and Andriod phones.  It's called  ParksByNature and has "access the most up-to-date park information such as upcoming events, weather conditions and safety alert communications, while taking in the scenery at your favorite area. Choose a park to visit by location, or by activity such as camping or fishing."  Looks like there are a few more states available to iPhone users but Android market users should see more maps soon.  Very cool & Free.

Spam Warning Gmail New Policy

Look Out for this phishing email;


To all our esteemed customers, all accounts not registered/verified will be suspended by the end of the month. We are sorry for the inconveniences but with the increase in accounts daily, we are trying to serve you better.

Verify Account

Facebook at Work or School

Thought this was very clever of one of my students.  As in most schools social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are blocked.  However one of my eighth graders was able to figure out that if he changed his facebook account settings at home to only use HTTPS ( a secured site ) to access facebook he could:

1. Login to a school computer
2. Google Facebook
3. Select Login from the sitemap
4. The secured https://www.facebook.com will show up in the address bar
5. Circumnavigating our web blocking software
6. Sign into facebook
7. Update his status

I am by no means advocating this or encouraging this behavior and will report this to my administration.  However I did think it was clever of this student to think outside the box and problem solve.

To turn on secured browsing on facebook

1. Log into your account
2. Go to Account Settings
3. Security
4. Secure Browsing
5. Check the box
6. Save Changes