Category Archives: Internet

Burning Chromebook: Day 5

Internet, Internet Marketing, Mobile, , , , , , , ,
Chromebook and MacBook Air

Chromebook and MacBook Air

I doubt if I will have a huge need to use SFTP/SSH on the Chromebook, but I did spend some time taking a look. At the moment I believe there are two options available to me:

  1. Secure Shell Terminal emulator and SSH client.
  2. ShiftEdit.

There is also a Chrome Extension (FTP Client), but based upon the reviews this is not something I will pursue.

No issues with Chrome so far. I imported my old Safari bookmarks and plan to test Desire2Learn access over the weekend. This is where I think I might see some quirks, but D2L indicates that the browser is supported.

TweetDeck worked well. Unlike some of the early versions this version has spell check.

I don’t plan to integrate my work and home email accounts into Gmail. The webmail options are functional, albeit a little clunky. With home email I will have to decide which of the three options are best for me:

  1. Horde
  2. RoundCube
  3. SquirrelMail

MacBook Air

Chromebook

Notes

Office Word

Google Docs

No issues so far. Spell check does not seem to be available offline. This might be fixed by installing an extension.

Office Excel

Google Sheets

No issues so far.

Office PowerPoint

Google Slides

Some formatting issues with imported files. “Present” not an option unless using native slide format.

iWork Keynote

Google Slides

Files

Considerable formatting issues with imported slides. Downloaded QuickTime mov, m4v, and mp4 files playable in Files.

iBooks Author

No equivalent.

Was not expecting to find an equivalent.

Dreamweaver

ShiftEdit.

Works well. Did not see spell check as an option.

Photoshop

pixlr

Tested with some basic cropping and resizing. Need to test more extensively.

Cyberduck
  1. Secure Shell Terminal emulator and SSH client.
  2. ShiftEdit.

No issues so far.

Safari

Chrome

No issues so far.

Twitter

TweetDeck

No issues so far.

Email

Gmail and Webmail

No issues with Gmail so far. Have to configure webmail.

Screenflow

  • Google Hangouts

  • Screenr

  • Screencastle

Have not tested.

iTunes

Google Play Music

Working well. Music Manager has uploaded the majority of my library.

Evernote

Evernote Web

No issues so far.

Dropbox

Dropbox

No issues so far.

Burning Chromebook: Day 4

Gadgets, Internet, Mobile, , , , , ,

I had not expected to find an equivalent to iBooks Author, but have installed a couple of epub readers. I don’t really anticipate having a great need for these, as I will be reading ebook predominantly on the smartphone.

Epub Readers

Today I concentrated on finding a Chromebook alternative to Dreamweaver. I had assumed that there might be a version of Amaya or KompoZer, but that was not the case within the Chrome Web Store. The best alternatives that I found were:

ShiftEdit

ShiftEdit

ShiftEdit looks like it will work for me. There is a Chromebook app which connects to the web service. The only thing that I did not find during my cursory testing was spell check, so I will have to use Google Docs to work around this.

MacBook Air

Chromebook

Notes

Office Word

Google Docs

No issues so far. Spell check does not seem to be available offline. This might be fixed by installing an extension.

Office Excel

Google Sheets

No issues so far.

Office PowerPoint

Google Slides

Some formatting issues with imported files. “Present” not an option unless using native slide format.

iWork Keynote

Google Slides

Files

Considerable formatting issues with imported slides. Downloaded QuickTime mov, m4v, and mp4 files playable in Files.

iBooks Author

No equivalent.

Was not expecting to find an equivalent.

Dreamweaver

ShiftEdit.

Works well. Did not see spell check as an option.

Photoshop

pixlr

Tested with some basic cropping and resizing. Need to test more extensively.

Cyberduck

Have not found solution yet. I might be able just using Secure Shell Terminal emulator and SSH client.

Have not tested.

Safari

Chrome

No issues so far.

Twitter

TweetDeck

No issues so far.

Email

Gmail and Webmail

No issues with Gmail so far. Have to configure webmail.

Screenflow

  • Google Hangouts

  • Screenr

  • Screencastle

Have not tested.

iTunes

Google Play Music

Working well. MUsic Manager has uploaded the majority of my library.

Evernote

Evernote Web

No issues so far.

Dropbox

Dropbox

No issues so far.

Burning Chromebook: Day 3

Gadgets, Internet, Mobile, , , , ,
Native PowerPoint files don't "Present"

Native PowerPoint files don’t “Present”

Day 3 of testing moved onto using Google Slides. I was able to open up existing PowerPoint presentations, and was impressed that Chrome discreetly placed a link to other apps that would interact with the file. However, Google Slides did not allow me to present the slideshow (although it would for presentations created in Google Slides). The way round this was to import the existing PowerPoint presentation into a new Google Slide file. Importing created some formatting issues which were not there when I opened up the original PowerPoint file, so in future I would have to factor in time to make minor adjustments.

Imported PowerPoint files will "Present"

Imported PowerPoint files will “Present”

Unsurprisingly the Chromebook did not like native Keynote files. My options here would be to export from Keynote to PowerPoint and then display using Google Slides (or a cloud service like SlideRocket). Here, the export process created more formatting errors (and the rather nifty transitions and visual effects are lost). Sadly using iWork.com to present is no longer an option, with the service being shut down in 2012, but if I wanted to preserve all the features of the original Keynote file then playing an exported QuickTime file might be an aceptable workaround (providing I did not need to see presenter notes).

MacBook Air

Chromebook

Notes

Office Word

Google Docs

No issues so far. Spell check does not seem to be available offline. This might be fixed by installing an extension.

Office Excel

Google Sheets

No issues so far.

Office PowerPoint

Google Slides

Some formatting issues with imported files. “Present” not an option unless using native slide format.

iWork Keynote

Google Slides

Files

Considerable formatting issues with imported slides. Downloaded QuickTime mov, m4v, and mp4 files playable in Files.

iBooks Author

No equivalent.

Was not expecting to find an equivalent.

Dreamweaver

ShiftEdit (Cloud9 IDE might be an option too)

Have not tested.

Photoshop

pixlr

Tested with some basic cropping and resizing. Need to test more extensively.

Cyberduck

Have not found solution yet. I might be able just using Secure Shell Terminal emulator and SSH client.

Have not tested.

Safari

Chrome

No issues so far.

Twitter

TweetDeck

No issues so far.

Email

Gmail and Webmail

No issues with Gmail so far. Have to configure webmail.

Screenflow

  • Google Hangouts

  • Screenr

  • Screencastle

Have not tested.

iTunes

Google Play Music

Working well. MUsic Manager has uploaded the majority of my library.

Evernote

Evernote Web

No issues so far.

Dropbox

Dropbox

No issues so far.

Burning Chromebook: Day 2

Gadgets, Internet, Mobile, , ,

Day 2 of the my adhoc testing of the Chromebook. I still like the keyboard, but the clicking on the trackpad feels uncomfortable – whilst at a desk using a regular mouse is a much more pleasant experience. Coming from the MacBook Air I have tendency to click on “Alt” rather than “Ctrl” when I copy and paste. These though are minor issues.

What I wanted to do was to find ways that I could match 80% of what I do on the MacBook Air. Here is what I have found so far:

MacBook Air

Chromebook

Notes

Office Word

Google Docs

No issues so far. Spell check does not seem to be available offline. This might be fixed by installing an extension.

Office Excel

Google Sheets

No issues so far.

Office PowerPoint

Google Slides

Have not tested.

iWork Keynote

Google Slides

Have not tested.

iBooks Author

No equivalent.

Was not expecting to find an equivalent.

Dreamweaver

ShiftEdit (Cloud9 IDE might be an option too)

Have not tested.

Photoshop

pixlr

Tested with some basic cropping and resizing. Need to test more extensively.

Cyberduck

Have not found solution yet. I might be able just using Secure Shell Terminal emulator and SSH client.

Have not tested.

Safari

Chrome

No issues so far.

Twitter

TweetDeck

No issues so far.

Email

Gmail and Webmail

No issues with Gmail so far. Have to configure webmail.

Screenflow

  • Google Hangouts

  • Screenr

  • Screencastle

Have not tested.

iTunes

Google Play Music

Working well. Music Manager has uploaded the majority of my library.

Evernote

Evernote Web

No issues so far.

Dropbox

Dropbox

No issues so far.

 

 

Burning Chromebook: Day 1

Gadgets, Internet, Mobile, ,

Samsung Chromebook

This week I am testing a Chromebook, one of the very reasonably priced Samsung Chromebooks. I have only been using the laptop for a day or two, but so far I am impressed. The device is well constructed, even though it is plastic. I noticed some rough edges along the lid of the laptop, but nothing that particularly worried me. The matte screen is decent, the keyboard is a pleasure to type on.

The concept of a machine that needed a constant and consistent connection to the Internet was a little scary – my home Internet connection is not particularly reliable, and I commute regularly. However, certain programs (such as Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides) work to a certain extent offline. At the moment I am bashing this out in Google Docs offline as I travel on the train to work.

I would not have thought that the Chromebook could work as a replacement for my MacBook Air, but there is some potential. The Chromebook feels as lightweight as the Air, and has a larger matte screen (like many, I despise the reflective screens). The trackpad isn’t as good as the Air’s, but at the moment it appears I can do much of what I use the Air for on the Chromebook. The laptop won’t work as a complete replacement, but should be able to complement my desktop computing.

Spell Check does not seem to be available to me offline, which is a bit of a pain. This will be something I investigate later.

The critical applications I need to use (or find a decent alternative) on the Chromebook are:

  • Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

    • Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides should suffice here

  • iWork Keynote

  • iBooks Author

  • Dreamweaver

  • Photoshop

    • Started experimenting with pixlr.

  • Cyberduck

  • Safari

    • Chrome is the obvious replacement here. I have encountered some issues using Chrome on some work websites, so will have to investigate using Firefox as well.

  • Twitter

    • TweetDeck is already installed and working well.

  • Email (work and home)

    • My Gmail client is already installed, but I think I will rely on webmail for my work and home email accounts. To be honest, I probably use these more on my ‘phone.

  • Screenflow

  • iTunes

    • The inelegantly named “Google Play Music” is installed and working well.

  • Evernote

    • Does not seem to be an offline version available, so Evernote Web is the way forward.

  • Dropbox

    • The browser-based version seems to be working well. May use Google Drive as well.

This week I will fully investigate how well the alternatives work out for me.

My train travelling into Chicago was delayed at a station for a few minutes, so I took the opportunity to see how well I could use my iPhone’s hotspot to connect the Chromebook to the Internet. It took a while to get this working, and Bluetooth was a little problematic, but I eventually got online.

 

Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States

Internet, MOOC, Online Learning, , , , , ,

Pearson has a published a very useful report on “Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States.” The accompanying infographic is shared below. The complete report is available at:

http://sloanconsortium.org/publications/survey/changing_course_2012 

(and yes, they do talk about MOOCs in the report)

Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States

Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States

WiFi Express Adapter Model Number: F8277

Gadgets, Internet, Mobile, , , ,
WiFi Adapter

WiFi Adapter

I took a minor gamble this week and ordered a “WiFi Express Adapter Model Number: F8277.” This is an unbranded USB Ethernet adapter that looks suspiciously like an Apple USB Ethernet adapter, but also works like an Airport Express (minus the audio out and printer/drive sharing).

I have unpacked, but have not tested the device. The printed instructions are not particularly illuminating:

WiFi Adapter Screenshot

WiFi Adapter Screenshot

Good to know use in the Pub is expected…

 

 

Resuscitating (and repurposing) the old Nokia N900

Internet, Misc, Mobile, , , , , ,
Nokia N900

Nokia N900

I migrated to an Apple iPhone 5 a while back. Even though the ‘phone is lacking a keyboard (which my old Nokia N900 had) I am fairly happy with the device. However,  I sort of need for a portable speaker, and rather than buy a Jawbone JAMBOX (or equivalent) I think I can repurpose the N900.

Over on Maemo.org Sabrog has a useful piece of script for activating the earphone socket as a line-in:

Speaker ON

#!/bin/sh
amixer -c0 set PCM 100%
amixer -c0 set 'Right PGA Bypass Mixer HP Switc' on
amixer -c0 set 'Left PGA Bypass Mixer HP' on
amixer -c0 set 'Left PGA Mixer Line1L' on
amixer -c0 set 'Left PGA Mixer Line2L' on
amixer -c0 set 'HP PGA Bypass' 100%
amixer -c0 set 'Speaker Function' On
echo "Speaker is ON"

Speaker OFF

#!/bin/sh
amixer -c0 set PCM 100%
amixer -c0 set 'Right PGA Bypass Mixer HP Switc' off
amixer -c0 set 'Left PGA Bypass Mixer HP' off
amixer -c0 set 'Left PGA Mixer Line1L' off
amixer -c0 set 'Left PGA Mixer Line2L' off
amixer -c0 set 'HP PGA Bypass' 0%
echo "Speaker is OFF"

Thanks Sabrog!