Tech Talk Roundtable 08-06 | Christmas Tech-Tacular 2020

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; […]

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 [email protected] 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

 

https://www.sandvine.com/blog/netflix-vs.-google-vs.-amazon-vs.-facebook-vs.-microsoft-vs.-apple-traffic-share-of-internet-brands-global-internet-phenomena-spotlight

 

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/