Description
Twas the podcast before Christmas… and all through the school,
Not a waveform was stirring, this holiday Yule.
The headphones were hung by the micks with great care;
In hopes that some podcasters soon would be there;
The listeners were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions of webapps danced in their heads;
And Mama with her iPad, and I with my apps,
Had just settled in for a long winter’s nap.
When out of Alexa there arose such a clatter,
I dropped my device to see what was the matter.
Away to the laptop I flew like a flash,
And searched for Concordia’s Edtech Podcast.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But episode six of this, our eighth year,
I played it in hopes of something spectacular.
I knew I’d succeeded: The Christmas Techtacular!
Lessons Learned
Dennis – Give orphan Google Documents a home for Christmas. If you created a document in a shared folder and the folder was deleted, the file is not gone. It just exists in “unorganized space” on your Google Drive. It is an orphan file. You can search for it if you know the name, but what if you don’t? Type this in the search on Google Drive is:unorganized owner:me to reveal all your orphan documents. Then move them back to your Google Drive or to one of your folders on Google Drive.
Chris – A special gift to our listeners called “WHAT’S THAT APP? (A “Who’s on First” tribute with actual app names.)
Daniel – Email a dumpster fire – https://hey.science/dumpster-fire/ – Send an email to dumpsterfire@hey.com with whatever you want to torch. Use plain text or an image attachment. PG-13 rules apply. Watch on the live feed as your message is created, conveyed, and then dropped into the rolling flames. Experience catharsis.
Darcy – Just Keep Trying!
Fun Fact
6 Companies use up 43% of total internet bandwidth
Alphabet(Google): YouTube, Android Market, Google Search, Google Docs, Google Drive, DoubleClick, Gmail, and Crashlytics
Netflix: Netflix Video
Facebook: Facebook, Instagram, Facebook Video, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Oculus Rift
Microsoft: Xbox Live, Windows Update, Skype, Outlook 365, Office 365, SharePoint, OneDrive, Windows Store, LinkedIn
Apple: iTunes, iCloud, Apple Software Update, FaceTime, Apple Music, Apple.com, iCloud Photo Stream, Mac App Store
Amazon: Amazon Prime, Twitch, Amazon.com, Alexa, Amazon Glacier, Amazon Music
Notes & Links
Digital Christmas Gifts
Save the Christmas wrap and avoid the hassle of airline travel and covid tests this year. Today, for our Christmas Tech-Tacular we “unwrap” our favorite DIGITAL CHRISTMAS GIFTS. So fire up that YouTube Yule Log, and settle down for a long winter’s download.
Free!
- PhotoPea.com – Don’t want to pay for Adobe PhotoShop? You’ll find most of the common PhotoShop features you’ll need for creative imaging editing right here, with a surprisingly similar interface. And it all works right in your browser.
- Spotify – Up 1400% increase in listeners during covid. Search for various playlists. Need a school-friendly themed playlist for an event? Advertisements on the free version.
- Codespark – Academy is Free for educators. Aligned to Math and Science standards. Great for pre-readers and up!
- Mmhmm – Make Zoom take off with this Zoom enhancer. Include videos and slide decks, and get yourself out of the picture, or you can just shrink yourself.
- PearDeck https://www.peardeck.com/googleslides
Not Free, but not expensive
- Jackie Lawson Advent Calendar ($4.99 US App Store)
- Bloxels Home Account (Two ways to get it)
- Using at school? Have your teacher release your account and send you an invite.
- Get it yourself at https://playbloxels.com/?jumpTo=buy
- Notion – $48/year – is an online workspace with powerful tools for notes, tasks, wikis, and databases. Google Doc
You’ll need some help from Santa (or your rich uncle)
- JBL Charge 4 – $130 – Take it anywhere and also charge your devices
If you need something non-Digital
- Andy Losik’s 2020 Holiday Gift Guide – https://andylosik.blogspot.com/2020/11/mr-losiks-2020-holiday-gift-guide.html
- Little Passports – https://www.littlepassports.com/ – subscription boxes for young children. Every month the child will receive a box full of activities. (Geography, Travel & STEM activities)
Our Musical Christmas Gift to you from Darcy Hendricks
Additional Music Credits
This show’s segment bumpers were used via Creative Commons License. If you need music for your students we recommend this site for class projects and media creation.
We Wish you a Merry Christmas by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4612-we-wish-you-a-merry-christmas
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Up on a Housetop by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4571-up-on-a-housetop
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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