MLL Tech Tips-November 2007

What, another blog?

Yes, just what the world needed. Or at least our world. We need a better way to communicate news to the CELOP community regarding MLL issues specifically and technology issues generally. Read this blog to get updates that used to be distributed on printed MLL Updates newsletters (still archived on MLL Tutorials).

What can you do with this blog?

1. Come here (mll-celop.blogspot.com) and read it. It will be updated throughout the semester.
2. Use this feed address in your RSS reader, such as iGoogle, to get article titles automatically delivered to you:
   http://mll-celop.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
3. Post comments (link below) to articles for all to see.
4. All articles are automatically archived in reverse chronological order. See the Blog Archive on the right side of this page.
   
5. Learn more about blogs and RSS feeds, including having your students use them for their writing.

New laptops and iPods!

The MLL has two new MacBooks and the two iPod Nanos that came free with them. Reserve these, and all other equipment, in the maroon binder in MLL office 251.

So, now we have the following portable equipment that you can reserve for use in your class:

5 Apple laptops (2 of which will also run Windows XP)
2 iPod Nanos
Speakers for laptops and iPods
4 projector carts with speakers (some with DVD and VHS players)
4 video cameras

Why iPods for the lab? Use them to bring digital audio into your classes outside the lab or smart classrooms. (A boombox still works for audio on CDs.) For example, if you want our students to do an activity involving an NPR program (or any audio), you could follow these steps:

1. Reserve an iPod and speakers in the equipment check-out binder in 251.
2. E-mail a link to the NPR story to John (or Rudy), who will put an MP3 file of the program on the iPod.
   
3. In class, simply connect the iPod to the speakers, find your program on the iPod menu, and play.
   

If the iPod freezes up when trying to play a track, restart it by pressing the Menu key and enter key simultaneously for several seconds until the Apple icon appears.




A Better VPN Experience

Use Shimo instead of the Cisco VPN client to connect to B.U. It's faster and promises to stay connected. It adds a menu item to your top Finder menu.

http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macgems/2007/08/shimo/index.php