Writing about Technology

Here I sit - knee-deep in the final edit cycle for my upcoming book, "Educator's Podcast Directory 2007". Every time I reach this spot (it's my 14th title), I always think back to how I got into this in the first place. Might be a good time to write about it?

I get asked all the time what it's like to write, how you became an author, and what it feels like to publish. For me, it was a combination of dumb luck and good friends. A major publisher, IDG Books, the "Dummies" people, was looking for growth and expansion opportunities. At that time, they had about 100 titles on the market - mostly about technology. A friend and colleague at the school district where I taught, the lovely and talented Michelle Robinette, introduced me to the acquisitions editor and we three became the "next book" triangle. Michelle wrote "Macs for Teachers" and I wrote "Internet for Teachers". It was a HUGE risk for IDG - as both of us were at the time, unpublished, except for a bunch of magazine articles. I'd also done some chapters for scholarly works in the area of Mathematics for NCTM.

Michelle was great. We laughed, cried and prayed that we'd both finish and both books got done on time. Both were a hit, too.

The two most shocking things as a new writer were:
1. the size and scope of the contract they asked us to sign (it was more than 40 pages)
2. the crazy deadline

Every writer friend I know told me to beware of contracts and always get a second opinion. I called my lawyer, not a publications attorney, and he couldn't really help me much. Michelle and I were SO excited, we just signed the thing anyway. (I'll bet lots of first-time authors do that.)

It turns out that IDG was VERY fair to writers. There was an advance, plus a healthy commission for each book sold. The only stumbling point - what they called "high discount sales" - which covers sales through book clubs and places like the (then fledgling) Amazon.com. Those commissions were roughly half what the commissions were on a book sold off the shelf at Barnes & Noble or Borders.

The feeling of signing the contract was absolute rapture and absolute fear - all at once. That's because our books were due less than 4 months from the time we signed the contract. For me, that meant writing 350+ pages, obtaining illustrations with permissions, AND producing a CD to accompany the book. Oh, and all while I was teaching middle school science as my "full time" job.

Oh. And while I was writing my doctoral dissertation.

Looking back, I was INSANE to take on all that at once, but somehow I got though it. It helped me hone my organizational and writing skills - especially hopping back and forth between "Dummies style" writing and the academic writing for my dissertation.

Somehow, I finished both works on time. I defended my dissertation two weeks after my last deadline for the book.

Luckily, the editors at IDG were terrific (thank you) and my major professor's guidance made sure my dissertation defense went off relatively pain-free.

From there, I stumbled onto the speaking circuit and began to present, and later keynote, major education and technology conferences.

A couple years later, Apple hired me into their Education division and I was able to learn more about technology, meet hundreds of very bright people (within Apple and our education customers) and get even more excited about publishing.

Flash forward to today, after 13 other titles, I'm still keynoting and learning.

That's the Cliff's Notes version. If you want to hear more or have questions, just give me a shout at bard@techthree.com

What.. you don't know SHARPCAST??

OK. I found the "killer" application missing from my life. It's called Sharpcast.

It's the perfect cure for "too-many-device-syndrome". My problem - I've got photos on my Treo smartphone, my home computer and my website. They're NEVER where I need them, nor are they "in sync".

Welcome to Sharpcast... here's what the SJ Mercury News (10/23/06, Larry Magid) said:

"Like Flickr, Picassa and others, Sharpcast lets you upload your photos to the Web to share with friends. But its unique software not only automates the process so you don't have to do anything when you add more photos. It also lets your friends and family see any edits or changes in real time -- whether they're viewing your pictures on the Web, on a mobile Windows Smart Phone or -- ideally -- on a PC using their own copy of Sharpcast software.

Here's how it works. You download and install the free Sharpcast application on your PC and tell it where you keep your photos. It automatically uploads full-sized images suitable for sharing and printing. Once that's done, you can invite friends to view those photos on the Web, but if they also have the Sharpcast software they can view them on their PC. When new photos are shared, they get a notice via e-mail and through the software.

The software also has basic editing features and if you edit an image, your friend sees the changes immediately. Graphic professionals could even use this to get real-time feedback from clients.

Sharpcast has plans to do the same for documents, spreadsheets and other types of files as a way to keep your PCs and portable devices backed up and in sync and as a way to help you migrate to a new machine. Right now the full software experience is available only on Windows, but there will soon be a Mac uploader to allow Mac users to upload their photos for viewing on the Web.

An account with five gigabytes of storage is free through the end of the year, and can be downloaded from www.sharpcast.com. The company plans to continue offering basic free service and charge fees for extra storage and advanced features."

See?

GET IT. You won't regret it.

Why haven't you podcast?

As with most new technologies, podcasting seemed a bit mysterious at first. SOMEHOW, the folks at a conference had captured my presentation and then just sent me a link. I clicked the link and suddenly iTunes was talking to me.

True to form, the folks at Apple (iPod + broadcast= podcast) made things a lot easier. Now students, teachers, and friends are sending me links to podcasts and I've managed to whip out a few podcasts of my own. And these days, the podcast can include video as well as audio!

When the phone rang from the publisher asking what I'd like to write about next, I (naturally) answered podcasting. There are already a lot of books about "how-to" podcast, but not many, if any, providing a directory for educators to high-quality, content-relevant podcasts. So... it's off and running for the next Bard-book.

If YOU have a podcast to recommend, please send me an email. If I use it, you'll get credit ("name in lights") in the book!

Email me at bard@techthree.com.

See a handheld computer screen on your laptop?

This is perfect for education and helping students (and other teachers) learn about handhelds and smartphones in education.

Just use this tool and your students can "do as you do".

PDA REACH
Ever dream of controlling your Palm Handheld directly from your PC? With PdaReach now it is possible! All you need to do is just connect your PDA to your PC with the HotSync cable, and PdaReach will take care of the rest to bring you the what-you-see-is-what-you-get experience live on the PC monitor.

PdaReach was officially chosen (and helped developed) by Palm Inc. to announce and demonstrate Treo and other new devices. You can see PdaReach in action at International CES or other product roadshows or trainings from Palm exhibitors. PdaReach is also the only product that offers fast UI response for even a 480 by 320 screen such as that of a Tungsten Tx.


PdaReach 1.53
-- Supports Treo 600, Treo 650, LifeDrive, Tungsten E/E2, T2, T3, T5, Zire 21, 31, 71, 72 or the latest Tx and Z22.
$24 to purchase ($21 for site license - 10 or more users)
To get it go TO THIS LINK.

To try it:
1. Uninstall any previous installation of PdaReach
2. Download from above and run the installer on Windows XP/ME/2K/98SE
3. Tab the PdaReach icon on your PDA with USB connected

Acrobat Talks?

Quite by accident, I've just discovered that my Acrobat Reader can SPEAK the contents of a PDF.

To enable Reading preferences:
1. Open a document
2. Choose Edit-->Preferences and select "Reading"
3. Adjust Reading Order Options (as needed)
4. Select the settings for Read Out Loud like volume, voice, rate and pitch.
5. Click OK.

To have your PDF read to you, just choose View->Read Out Loud-->Read This Page Only (reads one page).

From an accessibility standpoint, this is amazing. It's also great to listen to producct brochures, or brochures written in different languages.

Amazing stuff.. yes?

Keeping Track of Passwords

On any given day, I use around 30 different passwords, pin numbers or secure URLs.

On any given day, I forget about half of them.

I asked a few friends what they to keep track - here's what I got back:
"I just click that "remember" box on my browser and it fills it in automatically"
"I set all my passwords to my mother's birthdate plus my dog's name."
"I keep a notebook next to my computer."
"Post-it notes."

Then I had an impromptu discussion with the network security person at a large Silicon Valley company. He said:
"Never use autofill for card numbers or passwords, that can be hacked. Never use predictable patterns in passwords that can be hacked. Don't write stuff down and stick it to your computer. If your office burns down, or the cleaning crew gets curious, you're screwed."

So, being the high-tech geek I am - I went in search of a more secure solution. There were a lot of options, it turns out, everything from creating a file on my computer containing the passwords and password protecting that (with biometric thumbprint identification!) to purchasing an off-the-shelf password management program.

The problem is that I move around all the time and aren't always in the office.

That's when I found SplashID.

SplashID works on my TREO and safely and securely stores all of my sensitive personal information in a secure, encrypted database that is quickly accessible on both my Treo and my desktop Mac. SplashID organizes and protects all of my user names, passwords, credit cards, PINs, and it allows you to sort and categorize (web logins, travel, email, network, or whatever) and is quite secure. Here's the link to the program information site.

But I wasn't through. It seems it is "insane" (security guy's words) to use the same password or to never change your password on important sites like banking, networks, email, etc. Hacking, it seems, is just TOO simple. So, while my passwords were secure now on my Treo and Mac, they weren't secure IN USE.

Sigh.

Then another friend suggested this: make your passwords match the site your in and add some personal number or fact that naturally increments and end it all with a punctuation mark.

That means, for example, that a Yahoo! email password might be:
yahooMAY06$
... that's YAHOO for the site, MAY06 for the month and $ for the mark. Next month the MAY would change to JUN and the punctuation mark would change to @ or something.

The "naturally incrementing thing" could also be a day of the week, zodiac sign, anything that occurs in an ordered list that you can remember.

My security guy says this is "better than using "password" for your password and more secure than what I had before, but not the most secure". Most secure, he says, means using passwords that don't use WORDS (predictable) or natural increments (ibid) at all. His system prompts users with an encrypted string that serves as their monthly password that looks something like this:
$LKm32:K#;ka.(Am)@8m

That's easy to remember, isn't it?

OK, that's it... now it's time to publish this entry... now what was my password???

Back to SplashID!

Handhelds and Smartphones in High School...

It's official! My latest book hit the stands on 3/1/06.

It's entitled: "Handheld Computers and Smartphones in Secondary Schools: A Guide to Hands-on Learning" and it's published by ISTE.

Here's the description:
Ready or not, here they come. Intelligent mobile devices are finding their way to schools in record numbers. This hands-on guide to handheld technology will give educators everything they need to "go mobile" with their kids: classroom management strategies, professional development ideas, tips for choosing and using best-of-class curriculum and productivity software, and practical classroom exercises that get the most out of handheld computers.

Here's the link.


This one was really fun to write. A combination of tips and tricks and activities gleaned from the training I do for Palm and anecdotal information from visiting lots of schools.

Hope you enjoy it!
Bard

Electronic Field Trip: To Saturn?

There's a new spin on virtual field trips. It's mission tracking. This one lets you follow the Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn and the recent landing on Titan where scientists report that "the first look at data from Huygens' descent and landing on Titan shows the Saturnian moon has Earth-like geophysical processes operating on exotic materials in very alien conditions."

Activities, facts and stories abound at NASA's site.

NASA's project site.


Here's the latest update (from www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/main/):
"09.05.05 -- Cassini scientists have discovered an unexpected menagerie of clouds lurking in the depths of Saturn's complicated atmosphere, while scientists studying the planet's rings have made several new findings that further our knowledge of how this dynamic system continues to evolve."