"Education is not a preparation for life; education is life itself." John Dewey

Not too long ago I did a presentation about teaching in libraries. During it I recommend staying on top of tech issues by listening to podcasts. The list below is just some of the ones I listen to on a weekly basis. Not all are 100% tech but all are information.

• NYTimes Tech Podcast

This is more like tech magazine. You don’ t need to be a geek to follow along . They give great tips. Vocab and awesome interviews

• Crave

A British CNET podcast discussing current tech issues. It is fun and enjoyable and sometimes a bit insane. Occasionally I mentally tune out when they are discussing Britain only issues but this is minor.

• NPR Tech Podcast

This is a compilation of anything tech mentioned throughout NPR’s broadcast. This is ice because you end up with stuff from all over the spectrum. Also they explain it so eve the non techies will stay interested.

“Steve Jobs has always had a bit of Buzz Lightyear in him: comically self-confident, ingenuously overbearing and over endowed with charisma.” Katie Ha

Recently I have been working on a presentation about teaching to give at the RILA conference. I came across a great episode of a podcast from the Real Deal talking about Steve Jobs and his presentation style. Jobs is one of the creators of Apple and gives a really excellent and polished presentation. The episode features Carmine Gallo who wrote the Book Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs. He breaks down the style and mystique of Jobs as a presenter. Whenever I have taught PowerPoint I always mention Jobs as a good person to study. They also mention Presentation Zen in the podcast which is a favorite of mine as well. I plan on using some of the discussed techniques in both my presentation and my lessons. Check it out and see if it inspires a better speech.

“You can't be truly rude until you understand good manners.” Rita Mae Brown

Let’s say a coworker comes in and you notice a smell coming from their feet. You may feel if you say something it will embarrass the person to hear it from you. Also you may not be able to get the right words that will be sufficient without being rude. The Site NiceCritic is not meant to be mean in fact it is devoted to delivering small helpful notes to others while keeping it all nice and anonymous. To use this free service is the definition of simple. You choose from a category list, like appearance or general suggestions, of possible prewritten things to be sent. Almost all are one line long. Now don’t get the impression that they are all bad phrases. Many people feel just as uncomfortable offering praise as they do criticism. So to help with that they have a praise section that has phrases like “…great presentation” or “you handled that situation very well”. Once you choose a phrase you type in the person’s name and their email and hit send. It is all very easy and not mean spirited. So if you are looking for a nice way to say something give this a try.

“The first rule, indeed by itself virtually a sufficient condition for good style, is to have something to say” Arthur Schopenhauer

Every time I do a PowerPoint presentation I use the same old background templates. I decided it was high time I found something a bit more creative. Templateswise is a website devoted to templates for your presentations. Everyone is tagged for easy finding. They also have basic categories like business, nature, or travel. Once you find one just download it. It does need to be unzipped using a zip utility. Most of those are free. Once you extract your files you should have four files, three images and one that when clicked throws you right into PowerPoint. Now the unfortunate part is that it does not seem to add these new styles to your list of backgrounds but they are still easy to use. When the PowerPoint opens you will have three slides. All you have to do is copy and paste the slides as you go along. So if you want to make your presentation stand out give this one a try.

“Man, like Deity, creates in his own image” Elbert Hubbard

After the post about creating your own avatars I received emails telling me how much they liked the site (*cough* no comments though *cough*) and so I thought I would mention one with even more functionality. Gizmoz is an avatar site that really allows a lot of design possibilities plus a whole lot more. You can choose from a list of people or creatures that you can dress up. This stuff is the regular on almost any of this type. Some of the extras that make this worth it are the animations and the ability to add your text to its speech or, even better, your voice. If you have a microphone attached to your computer you can speak and it will be added to the avatar. This makes is perfect for adding to a website or blog. Oh did I forget to mention that you can also add your face to it as well? If you have a picture of yourself you can upload it to the site. They will animate the whole business for you. It does take several minutes to render and figure out your face from the photo. This part can be kind of creepy when it is recreating a digital you. My recommendation is use a picture of just you and not many other distractions. If you want a bit more style to your online representation give this one a try.

“Fortunately in my work there's always a choice: I can choose to do it willingly or unwillingly” Ashleigh Brilliant

For the past two days I have written about word processing for Macs so what about the larger percentage of people out there? Is there a good piece of software for word processing? Yes it is called OpenOffice. Below is a list of all that is comes with. Many people and business are turning to it because of two reasons. The price is free and it works. Give it a try.

• Writer – a word processor you can use for anything from writing a quick letter to producing an entire book.
• Calc – a powerful spreadsheet with all the tools you need to calculate, analyze, and present your data in numerical reports or sizzling graphics.
• Impress – the fastest, most powerful way to create effective multimedia presentations.
• Draw – lets you produce everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations.
• Base – lets you manipulate databases seamlessly. Create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports, all from within OpenOffice.org
• Math – lets you create mathematical equations with a graphic user interface or by directly typing your formulas into the equation editor.

“Happiness and love are just a choice away.”

As of this week there are some new choices for Mac users who need to do get some work done. Apple has updated and added their office software. Now the question is why do I need another software for office work when you have Microsoft Office for the Mac. In my personal opinion Microsoft made a mistake when they tried to Macify their standard office software. For a user like myself it becomes a pain to get work done because, even though I am using the same software, everything is moved around. So this being said I find it easier to use totally different software then the same that is strangely configured. Now Mac has had their own package of software called iWork. They have reworked much of the word processor, known as Pages, and the same goes for their presentation software, known as Keynote. Keynote became popularized for its use in the movie An Inconvenient Truth. They finally added the missing piece, a spreadsheet program. They call it Numbers. The reason this is exciting is the use of templates that Mac loves to use. It does make it easier and very impressive. The price is also very very competitive. It only cost $79.00 for the package compared to $400 for office. Pay attention PC users I will not be surprised if it ever came to PCs. If you use a Mac you may want to give this a try.

“Why are our days numbered and not, say, lettered?” Woody Allen

To round out the rest of the week I plan to do some posts on Microsoft Office. Many times we have multiple pages and we need to put page numbers in. Unfortunately, because of typewriters and old programs page numbers are always considered a pain. It is rather straight forward though. When in Microsoft Word click on the insert menu and choose page numbers. You will get a menu that allows you to change the position of the page number up or down or left, right or centered. A representation of the number is on the little sheet to the right. Also if you did not want a page number on the first page then you will need to click the no page number on the first page box. Go ahead and give this a try.

“A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words.” Ansel Adams

This next Flickr tool site is, I believe, is just for fun. Since people take photos of everything someone came up with a great idea to spell using only pictures from Flickr. This site is barebones and straightforward. Just type in some words that you want to see and press enter, from there you will see a mix of photos that have been tagged with enough information to spell your choices. If you keep hitting the refresh button at the top of the browser it will constantly choose randomly from the Flickrverse. What can you do with all of this? You could use this in any project that calls for lettering. If you scrapbook or create presentations this might be a new way of putting it all together. Give it a try even if all you do is spell your own name.

Note: Photo of Ansel Adams from 1960 by Nancy Newhall

“If you like overheads, you'll love PowerPoint.” Edward Tufte

Recently I have either been sitting through presentations or I have been teaching PowerPoint. Unfortunatley a presentation can be used as a crutch for a good an underdone speech or it can be a distraction. The site PresentationZen is a really good blog exploring the good, the bad, and the ugly of the presentation world. They explore not just PowerPoint but how to give a speech. They have some wonderful clips of really excellent and powerful presentations. The discussions range from questions like do you need a logo on every page to when is is appropriate for animation. Click here for a stand up comedian that really reinforces the problems that are faced when we are forced to sit through a badly designed one. I have always believed that presentation tools like PowerPoint or Keynote are good as tools but they are not a replacement for a well designed speech. Take a look and give it a try.

“Art is never finished, only abandoned.” Leonardo da Vinci

As much as I enjoy technology in all its forms I also love to see art from ages past. That is why whenever we are in New York City we head to one of the best museums on the planet. The Metropolitan Museum of art. Now they have a great online feature that is both filled to the brim with information but also smooth and fascinating. It is a time line of art history. It works well displaying representations of all the art of human history and putting it into some sort of context. It has the same overwhelming feeling that the museum gives off. So much information to take in and so little time. If you do not have a plane ticket but you want to see wonderful works of art then give it a try.

“To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism, to steal ideas from many is research.”

I teach Power Point and sometimes I recommend that people see a lot of other people's presentations. This is a great way to learn and get different perspectives on the way to deliver a presentations. The only question is where can you see all of these examples? Well Google has a nice feature that allows you to search by the file type. In the search box, type in the words filetype:, and an extension like PPT. PPT is the extension for Power Point but there are many others like PDF or DOC. Now once you have all that in, type in the word to describe the search, like vacations. To give you an example click on the link to see a search for Power Points about libraries. Give it a try!