android programming

It is springtime at New Milford High School and new ideas are flourishing.  Teachers are consistently empowered and given the autonomy to take calculated risks without the fear of failure to enhance the teaching and learning process.  The end result is that our students benefit from lessons that combine sound pedagogy with the effective integration of technology. Below are two highlights...

Unlike the Mail app for iPhone, the official Gmail app for Android phones lacks an obvious way (like, say, a pair of arrow keys on the actual message screen) for navigating from one email directly to the next.Given that, I’m guessing plenty of Android users—hey, myself included—have been repeatedly tapping their way back to the inbox whenever they’re done with one message and want to skip to...

Ever wish there were a Print button next to the Reply and Forward buttons in the Mac’s Mail app, or a pair of Zoom buttons on the top of every Safari browser window?Well, here’s the thing: you can add, remove, and rearrange the buttons in the “toolbar” of several familiar Mac programs.Not every Mac application has a toolbar of buttons that you can customize, but many of them do, including Safari,...

Would you like to have that favorite folder or program that you use all the time listed in Computer along with all your drives so it is really easy to access? Computer is not a regular folder so you can’t just drop a shortcut there the usual way. But there is a quick way to get a shortcut listed in Computer and here’s how. Windows 7 Open the Start search box Enter:  %appdata% The hidden folder...

Ever found yourself CC’d in an email thread that just keeps going, and going … and going? Make it stop!If you’re a Gmail user, there’s an easy way to silence—or “mute,” as the feature is called in Gmail—any email conversation that you’d rather not be a part of. Once you’ve muted a conversation, new messages in the thread will skip your inbox and head straight to your All Mail archive. “Muted” Gmail...

Yesterday I had a conversation with one of my teachers who has future aspirations to become an administrator.  The two of us had set some time aside for her to discuss my many roles as a principal.  During the conversation she asked me if I regretted any of the decisions I had made.  I paused, thought about this for a minute, and responded that I did not.  This is not to say that...

Ever wish you could snap a quick photo of whatever’s on the screen of your Android phone—say, a “screenshot” of an interesting app, or of an eyebrow-raising message thread?Well, taking a picture (or a “screen capture,” as it’s called in tech circles) of your Android phone’s display is a fairly easy process, so long as you’re using a relatively recent Android device.You can jump to a recently...

Need to track a package, get the status of a flight, do a little math, or find out if the ground really was just shaking beneath your feet?Believe it or not, you can do all that and more straight from the Google search box—and in most cases, you’ll get the details you need the instant you tap the Search button.Read on for 10 clever, time-saving Google searches, from converting currency and units...

I have been extremely blessed to be invited to speak and work with administrators all over the country.  There is nothing more exhilarating than sharing the work of my students and teachers as it has radically changed how I lead.  Especially during keynote presentations, I talk about the need for school leaders to take calculated risks to initiate meaningful change. However, I rarely demonstrate...

To get back to where you were five pages ago in a desktop browser, you can just glance at your web history or—better yet—click and hold the Back button. Just tap and hold the Back button, then tap the page you want to jump back to.But what if you want to jump back several pages in a single bound with Safari for iPhone or iPad? Believe it or not, you can do pretty much the same thing you’d do on...

Wish you could browse the latest scores, glance at your inbox, check the weather, or even identify a song directly from your Android phone’s lock screen, no passcode required?Well, you can, actually, thanks to the new lock-screen “widgets” in the latest version of Android.Adding a widget to the lock screen on your Android phone is a snap, and dozens of lock screen-friendly widgets are available...

Is your digital library of iBooks getting a bit cluttered? If so, good news: there’s an easy way to tidy up the virtual bookshelves on your iPhone or iPad. In just a few taps, you can create new folders—or “collections,” as Apple calls them—for your iBooks, perfect for rearranging your e-books in practically any way you wish. You can reorganize the iBooks on your iPad or iPhone...

As the end of the school year draws near, the education reform rhetoric is heating up.  This means states like New Jersey and New York are closer to implementing new teacher evaluation systems as a result of Race to the Top, NCLB waivers, and other mandates adopted through recent legislation.  It seems like we are now at a crossroads between what the reformers think is best for elevating...

A year and a half ago I decided to implement a job-embedded growth model at the suggestion of some of my teacher leaders.  They desperately sought time during the school day to engage in professional growth opportunities, learn how to integrate Web 2.0 tools, and develop their own Personal Learning Networks (PLN’s).  After some thinking and looking at various options inherent in the current...

Annoyed that the Mac’s Preview app, and not Adobe Reader, always gets to open your PDF files, or that Safari has dibs on your HTML documents rather than your favorite text editor?Well, one way to open your documents with the programs you want is to right-click the file in question and select “Open with…” from the pop-up menu.But there’s also a way to permanently change the “default” program that...

Even though Windows 8 doesn’t have a Start menu anymore, I still find myself clicking in the corner of the screen to open programs, search my PC, or do anything else the Start menu used to do.Of course, without an actual Start menu, I usually end up click the Internet Explorer shortcut that’s sitting in its place, meaning I have to sit back and wait as my PC laboriously launches an unneeded browser...

I was devastated to learn a few weeks back that Google Reader was getting the ax.  I took solace knowing that many of the other Google tools that I have become quite attached to were still around.  That was until I read a tweet about Google Alerts quietly being shutdown.  I paused and then quickly realized that something was amiss, as I had not been regularly receiving my alerts.  Now...

7 secret iPhone features you need Did you know you could turn your iPhone’s camera flash into a blinking alert light, or that you can shake your iPhone to “undo” a typo? No? You’re not the only one.Read on for seven clever iPhone features that you might not have known about, from how to take a screenshot to an easy way to baby-proof an iPhone app.1. Turn the camera flash into a...