My latest website – Carefree Organics 100% Organic Skin Care

My latest website is a site that I created for my wife’s new organic skin care business. I used a lot of CSS3 as well as some javascript to create the site. I created the graphics in photoshop except for the logo which I created using illustrator.

One of the cool things about this site was that it was the first time I set up an ecommerce business so that people could ‘add to cart’ and pay right on the site. It was fun to figure out and I will be discussing ecommerce on this blog to describe my experiences. Anyway, check out the site: http://carefreeorganics.com

Should everyone in America learn to program? Code.org believes so

I have been preaching this for many years now. Everyone should learn to program. It should be a skill taught at either the K-12 or college level which is valued as a vital skill just like reading, math, etc. Now I am not saying they need to learn C++ but rather I believe students should learn the logic of the machine and how to do some very basic level coding. This will help them use all technology, help them troubleshoot, and overall just help them understand how the devices they are using think.

Here is code.org that offers free mini courses for students

MS Word opens to default document. How do I change it?

I just had a student asking me how to solve this problem. So to solve this problem (I found this answer in yahoo but it took a while to search so thats why I am posting it here):

1. Close Word.
2. Open Word.
3.  Click the File tab on the Ribbon.
4. Click Open.
5. Select Templates in the Favorite Links pane.
6. Select Normal.dotm or Normal.dotx. (This may be just “Normal” also.) This should become your open document.
7. Now delete all the text in the document, including text in any headers and footers. Pressing CTRL/A followed by the Delete key is the fastest way to do this.
8. Save the file with CTRL/S. You may get a warning message about the Global template having been changed. This is OK. Click Yes.
9. Close Word.

Call for proposals: Global Learning Technology Conference (GLTC) now open

Submit Here

GLTC advances awareness of technology for learning and connects educators, technology coordinators, administrators, instructional designers, developers, researchers and scientists who use and study technology for learning. An example of them promoting technology is that they’ve developed their own video conference script, through which, they’ve created their own video conference application. Conference presentations and exhibits will focus on technological innovations and their impact on learning and transforming education and training.

Sessions choices are a hands-on-workshop (90 minutes) or a concurrent session (45 minutes).   Keep the proposal length to a minimum of 250 words.  You will also be asked to supply a statement of what the audience will walk about from your session knowing.   

Submit a proposal on any of the following categories:

The Innovative Instructional Strategies category, instructors/teachers from higher education or k-12 will share and learn methods that are cutting-edge and successful according to research. These sessions may range from strategies for individual domains or interdisciplinary strategies for multiple domains.  The sessions will be identified as k-12 or higher education focused.

The Community Partnership category is for both business and any level educators.  These sessions will be for both business partnerships as well as educators to learn how educators are preparing students as well as the skills businesses require gainful employment.

The Training & Professional Development category will be for the community business members to share training and professional development strategies that are successful in obtaining and keeping employee’s knowledge and skills current while maximizing transfer of knowledge and minimizing cost.

Topics for the above categories may include:

  • Emerging technologies
  • Mobile learning
  • Professional learning
  • Team-based learning
  • Design thinking
  • Assistive technology
  • Social media
  • Virtual learning environment
  • Distance education/e-learning
  • Applied learning
  • Assessment and evaluation
  • Digital Content

Submit a proposal for one of the following types of session

  • Concurrent sessions where presenters speak on their work, research or a subject relevant to the conference theme. There will be time set aside for discussion and questions
  • Workshops where participants are provided an opportunity for hands-on exploration. We encourage proposals where workshops are designed for participants to work around a tool, platform, or concept. Workshops are scheduled should be highly participatory.

We encourage interactive presentations and ask that you describe how your session addresses the theme of the conference in up to 200 words.

Conferences of this sort might often find the need of screening important information on LED screens for the ease of its participants. Visual Impact LED Screen Rentals gives you the option of renting big LED screens for such events. Look them up today.

Yahoo ends telecommuting

I am not sure what to think of this. I get what the CEO is trying to do, unfortunately, she is trying to get it by making her employees unhappy. Telecommuting is a good thing but there is a difference between working from home 100% of the time vs part time. I agree with her that 100% might not be the most convenient strategy but why not part time? Have one day of the week where everyone needs to be in the office. Making employees happy and retaining them is very beneficial to companies. Additionally you want to be attractive if you are trying to recruit the top talent. But why would the top talent go to Yahoo when they could go to Google and work from home if they choose? Yahoo really needs to figure itself out right now. They are a big company with enough money to do some great things yet they invest in the worst ideas.

Spotify and Ford?

Now this is interesting and something that SiriusXM and Pandora need to look out for. Spotify is coming to Ford Sync. For those that do not know what that is, its the ability for your phone to connect to your car and play through its speaker. Now this is just Fords and technically you can do this anyway through bluetooth, but it is something to watch out for.

http://mashable.com/2013/02/25/spotify-ford-sync-applink/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29