School Tech News Archive

Screen Shot Plus 2.3 (Mac)

(Monday 30th April 2007)
Neat Dashboard widget lets you take screenshots on the fly. Save to HD or clipboard, in a variety of formats, etc. Free. (See also Wazza's Screencapture page for other options for Win and Mac).

BartPE Builder (Win)

(Monday 30th April 2007)
Use a BartPE (Pre-installed Environment) CD to re-image Windows computers. You will need a Windows install disk to create your own bootable BartPE CD. NSW DET schools can download a pre-made bootable BartPE CD (213Mb iso) from the DET ESDT Site.

School Computers Health Risk (Daily Telegraph)

(Thursday 26th April 2007)
"Wireless computer networks in schools may pose a significant health risk to children and staff, a UK teaching union warned.....The system has created a cloud of 'electronic smog' across Britain, scientists say. There are fears that the networks could be doing untold damage to health."

Proxy Switcher (Win)

(Thursday 26th April 2007)
Useful utility for Windows laptops that are moving between different networks (eg school and home). Provides a taskbar icon to change proxy settings on the fly. Lite version is free.

CoconutBattery (Mac)

(Thursday 26th April 2007)
Neat battery monitoring tool for Mac laptops - shows you the current charge of your battery, the current maximum capacity compared to the original capacity your battery, battery-loadcycles, charger information, and information about the age of your Mac. Freeware.

Blackboard Jungle Turning White (SMH)

(Tuesday 24th April 2007)
Some teachers are questioning the amount of money being spent on electronic whiteboards for schools.

Back by Popular Demand: Windows XP (SMH)

(Monday 23rd April 2007)
Dell has announced that it will once again let home PC buyers choose between Microsoft's older operating system and Windows Vista when they purchase certain new machines.

Copyright for Education

(Monday 23rd April 2007)
Information for educational institutions (including schools, universities, colleges, TAFEs, training organisations), teachers and academics.

SquidMan (Mac)

(Monday 23rd April 2007)
Looking for a use for that old iMac? If you don't already have a Sentral server, SquidMan will turn an OSX computer into a Squid proxy server. Very simple to setup, and free.

Tell The Truth Telstra

(Thursday 12th April 2007)
Why is Australia so far behind in true broadband investment? (Your friends overseas will laugh when you tell them that 256k/512k is classified as "broadband" in Australia!) "No government policies prevent Telstra from investing - it has chosen not to invest because it wants the rules to change. The ACCC believes this is so it can earn inflated profits." Eleven telcos have united to send a complaint to the ACCC asking it to investigate whether Telstra’s conduct amounts to misleading and deceptive conduct.

Camino (Mac)

(Tuesday 9th April 2007)
Camino is an OSX web browser that uses the Mozilla browser "engine" (from Firefox), but respects the OSX system preferences and proxy server (similar to Safari). The best of both worlds!

Chocolate Offsetting Calculator

(Tuesday 9th April 2007)
Eaten a bit too much chocolate over the Easter weekend? This site will calculate how much exercise you will need to do to offset the chocolate calories! (Macs will need to use Camino or Firefox to view the suggested "offsetting" activities.)

Mini Movies 2007

(Thursday 5th April 2007)
It's on again - and will be bigger and better than ever! Open to all NSW DET schools, expressions of interest (using the form available on this site) are due NOW!

Apple Education Seminars

(Tuesday 3rd April 2007)
Free seminars for DET schools (Illawarra on Friday 4th May). Showcases the latest technologies for connecting students through the creation and use of podcasts, blogs, wikis and the web as part of Apple's Technology for Learning rollout.

Screen Capture Software

(Tuesday 3rd April)
Most educators will, at some stage, find the need to publish graphical information captured directly from a computer screen. This page provides some options for using both built-in and 3rd Party screen capture software.

ThatQuiz

(Monday 2nd April 2007)
Register at this site to design your own online maths homework quizes, or use the prepared graded exams. The site marks your students' work and reports results to you! (Thanks to Phil Reece for this one).