Backups and Updates

This week of giving thanks is also a great time to take care of those backups and updates that you have been putting off.  As I write this I am backing up my own laptop to an external hard drive which I try to do once and month and highly recommend.  It is always better to be prepared, I believe that is the girl scout or boy scout motto! Of course it is easy to put off updating and backing up since it is time consuming and you can't use your computer or device while it's happening.  None the less these are things that need to be done and I am hoping to help make the process a little easier!

Let's start with back-ups: first and foremost back up your gradebooks.  To do this go to the pencil icon add/edit, select the Backups tab, select all in the top right corner.  You will see all your gradebooks be highlighted grey, now go to the green arrow/book icon at the bottom of the screen and click it.  That's it your all done!

Next you can back up your laptop to a flashdrive or a external hard drive.  If you have years of lessons plans on your laptop it is worth investing in a external hard drive to protect your content.

You can also use this time to backup your iOs device to either the iCloud or your iTunes account.  We add contacts to our phones every week, so make sure you are saving your most recent data.

As for updates, I myself am excited to finally go to Mavericks the newest Mac operating system!  Here is a great video of what it new with this update.  It is worth a look even if you have already started using Mavericks. I apologize for the ads in both these videos but reputable tubers have built in ads.

 


If you haven't already updated your iPhone to iOS 7 nows the time, in fact it is now iOS 7.04 that you should be on!  But don't stop at your phone is you have an ipad do that too!  Here is a great video on some great features you get with iOS 7



 

That's it! Have a great Thanksgiving break!! Relax, enjoy your family and run those updates and backups!!

AirServer: Project your iPad screen

If you are using iPads in your classroom, whether you only have one for yourself or you have iPads for your students as well, you have probably wished you could display the iPad screen using your projector. AirServer is an inexpensive way for you to do just that. It is a software application that you install on your computer (Mac or PC) so you can send your iPad display to the computer and from there to a projector or interactive whiteboard.

You can model for students and display your content, but you can also quickly and easily share content from students. AirServer supports multiple connections at one time, so you can have more than one student sharing ideas and/or work with the rest of the class.

Other features that you will appreciate include a true full screen display (Reflector, a similar software application, shows a wide border around the display when mirroring content), optional password protection (useful to prevent teachers/students in nearby classrooms from accidentally sending content to your computer), and the ability to easily identify your computer on the network.

AirServer offers a free one-week trial. The application costs $11.99 for 3 licenses or $3.99 each when purchased in groups of 10 or more. For more information, visit airserver.com.