I love my MacBook - really love it! While it is a 2011 model, I have beefed it up with 16Gb of RAM and a 512Gb SSD. The computer is pretty much all I could want and I use it all day, every day! It is my work and home computer, goes with me everywhere and sees a huge amount of use.
So, when Yosemite appeared as a free update, I thought to myself, what the heck, nothing like a new operating system overhaul to make my awesome machine even awesomer! It actually downloaded in a few hours and for the first time ever, I just upgraded my existing machine instead of doing a rebuild from scratch.
The first few days, Yosemite was pretty and new but sluggish...and then my awesome Mac started misbehaving. It was slow...my Mac is never slow but now it was. I headed off to the forums figuring that there must be a fix out there. Below is the list of things I found, tried, etc....
1. Chrome is horribly buggy on Yosemite and loads lots of processes that then hang with the effect of driving with the parking brake on. Ok, I thought, they will fix that soon and I switched to Firefox. I have to say that Firefox has come leaps and bounds and I actually really like it as a browser (typing in it right now!)
Mac was still slow....
2. I found that the older models that have the switching graphics cards seem to have some issues. I disabled the fancy transparency features and then disabled the graphics switching.
Mac wasn't quite as slow now and then an update came out. I installed the update with excitement that it would clear all my woes but then there developed a popping sound in the speaker. Very annoying...
3. I tried all kinds of things here - SMC and PRAM reset would clear it for a while, reboot would clear it briefly, a terminal command to kill all audio processes did not seem to have any affect.
In the meantime, I started noticing display issues. Background windows would pixelate, just clearing up when you clicked on the window.
4. I decided that my woes were my own doing (surely Apple would not dump a faulty operating system on us!) and rebuilt the whole machine from scratch. I just knew that would fix it. Wiped the hard drive, downloaded and created a usb installer and off I went. It was going to be GREAT!
Hmm, every problem was still there but now they were actually worse. The sound would randomly quit in my favorite video client forcing a reboot to fix. The display was pixelating like crazy and I couldn't go much more than an hour before the speaker would start popping at every possible chance it could. And, oh sooo slow.
I called Apple and talked them into honoring the warranty that had just expired on a new logic board that been installed a few months ago, thinking now it must be my computer.
Then, last night, I thought I would try one last thing. I wiped the hard drive and reinstalled Mavericks!!
I love my computer again. It is fast, it works, there are no sound or video glitches and the best part of all, I don't have to cuss at that stupid green button that Apple thought they would "fix" with Yosemite. I reinstalled Right Zoom and now my windows maximize as I want them to.
It is a sad day when I have to downgrade, it is the first time I have ever had to with Apple. Honestly, Apple, are trying to become Microsoft? It this your Windows 8 OS? I understand it might work well on newer machines but while mine is an older model, it has the same i7 processor as the newer ones and the same amount of RAM. It is not as though you are trying to make it compatible with every computer out there - it just has to work on Macs!
So, if you are on the fence and are on an older Mac, my advice is to wait...or maybe just skip this one altogether! Unless you just want to appreciate your Mac again...as I do now after the Yosemite climb!
Friday, December 12, 2014
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
K12 Education - Where is it heading?
There is a lot of discussion out there about K12 education - "it is outdated", "we are still teaching students to be citizens of the industrial world" and "we are not responding to the technology that is all around us."
It is hard to argue that the style of K12 education has changed very little. Driven by enforced standardized testing, teachers lecture, write on whiteboards and drill in the same style that they did 20 years ago. But today's world is very different and today's students are very different too. Information is readily available and accessible at students' fingertips. The teacher is no longer the sage on the stage and can be questioned and challenged at every step, but they still behave as though they are the only ones with the answers.
Schools need to become proactive in deciding their future, especially at the high school level where the regular brick and mortar building is quickly losing its value. When anyone can grab their phone and instantly become researchers and experts on any subject they like, we need to be teaching students how to disseminate information, how to verify and analyze, how to problem solve and how to be a useful participant in today's information driven world and workplace. Instead, we are still placing way too much emphasis on teaching things that students just do not really need to know anymore because they carry a pocket encyclopedia with them everywhere.
Distance learning has been with us for decades but now it is being pushed to the forefront of education in the world's demand for convenience of life. Society expects to get what it wants, when it wants and education is becoming a commodity that is being packaged in every shape and form. Whether we agree that is an effective form of education or not, it is what the people want. They do not want to be tied to regulated class times and they do not want to learn according to the whim of one person.
And yet, the K12 school continues to teach in the way it always has, expecting students to show up every day for class, to sit and be lectured to, to do their homework and repeat the process every day till graduation. Rural schools are steadily losing students - many because parents have to move to the cities for work, but many others to home schools and online schools because the regular school is no longer serving the needs of their consumers.
In order to survive, high schools are going to have to reevaluate their whole structure. If students can get information anywhere, why are we forcing them to come to a building to get it. The flipped classroom model touches on this, let students ingest information at home and then making the classroom and interactive space where students work on projects and get one-on-one attention from the teacher. The blended course also provides the benefits of allowing for students to learn material at their own pace, in their own style and then providing face-to-face time with teachers for feedback and interactivity.
So, what if a high school became a tutoring and social center instead of a regimented typical high school? Students could learn subject matter at home and come into the school at their convenience for extra support, to work on projects or to participate in extra-curricular activities. Not only would this allow for freedom of scheduling, but would seriously lighten the financial burden on the smaller schools that are constantly struggling to provide enough teachers to cover every subject at every grade level. Teachers could alternate between being on call at the school for support and interacting with the online modules from the comfort of their homes. Students could come in as needed or connect with teachers via video if transportation was an issue.
A few high schools have already started programs like this, allowing students to work from home but requiring them to come in once a week for some face-to-face time. This blend of both online and face-to-face seems to have better results than pure online classes as high school students need some monitoring, some real feedback and some time to interact with teachers and peers.
Yes, blended learning is the new catch word but if the K12 high school wants to survive, it had better start taking it seriously!
It is hard to argue that the style of K12 education has changed very little. Driven by enforced standardized testing, teachers lecture, write on whiteboards and drill in the same style that they did 20 years ago. But today's world is very different and today's students are very different too. Information is readily available and accessible at students' fingertips. The teacher is no longer the sage on the stage and can be questioned and challenged at every step, but they still behave as though they are the only ones with the answers.
Schools need to become proactive in deciding their future, especially at the high school level where the regular brick and mortar building is quickly losing its value. When anyone can grab their phone and instantly become researchers and experts on any subject they like, we need to be teaching students how to disseminate information, how to verify and analyze, how to problem solve and how to be a useful participant in today's information driven world and workplace. Instead, we are still placing way too much emphasis on teaching things that students just do not really need to know anymore because they carry a pocket encyclopedia with them everywhere.
Distance learning has been with us for decades but now it is being pushed to the forefront of education in the world's demand for convenience of life. Society expects to get what it wants, when it wants and education is becoming a commodity that is being packaged in every shape and form. Whether we agree that is an effective form of education or not, it is what the people want. They do not want to be tied to regulated class times and they do not want to learn according to the whim of one person.
And yet, the K12 school continues to teach in the way it always has, expecting students to show up every day for class, to sit and be lectured to, to do their homework and repeat the process every day till graduation. Rural schools are steadily losing students - many because parents have to move to the cities for work, but many others to home schools and online schools because the regular school is no longer serving the needs of their consumers.
In order to survive, high schools are going to have to reevaluate their whole structure. If students can get information anywhere, why are we forcing them to come to a building to get it. The flipped classroom model touches on this, let students ingest information at home and then making the classroom and interactive space where students work on projects and get one-on-one attention from the teacher. The blended course also provides the benefits of allowing for students to learn material at their own pace, in their own style and then providing face-to-face time with teachers for feedback and interactivity.
So, what if a high school became a tutoring and social center instead of a regimented typical high school? Students could learn subject matter at home and come into the school at their convenience for extra support, to work on projects or to participate in extra-curricular activities. Not only would this allow for freedom of scheduling, but would seriously lighten the financial burden on the smaller schools that are constantly struggling to provide enough teachers to cover every subject at every grade level. Teachers could alternate between being on call at the school for support and interacting with the online modules from the comfort of their homes. Students could come in as needed or connect with teachers via video if transportation was an issue.
A few high schools have already started programs like this, allowing students to work from home but requiring them to come in once a week for some face-to-face time. This blend of both online and face-to-face seems to have better results than pure online classes as high school students need some monitoring, some real feedback and some time to interact with teachers and peers.
Yes, blended learning is the new catch word but if the K12 high school wants to survive, it had better start taking it seriously!
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Email on Mountain Lion
I just love my Macbook Pro. But recently I have been struggling with Mail continually freezing up. The only thing I found was a suggestion from Apple to delete out emails from my Gmail accounts Really Apple, I have to delete email to make my Mail app work correctly? - this does not seem like a realistic option in this day and age. And yes, I have cleared caches, rebuilt mailboxes and totally rebuilt the app from scratch to no avail.
So, I finally started looking at alternative mail apps. I needed something that could talk to my Exchange account and handle two Gmail accounts without freezing up. Turns out that was not as easy as I thought it would. I spent a week or so going through app after app and thought I would share thoughts about the two winners of my research!
Postbox - while Postbox does not support Exchange, it does support Imap and I was able to connect to my Exchange account and add both my Gmail accounts. I have been using Postbox for about a month now and I cannot believe how much my stress level has gone down. No more sitting on the phone looking at the spinning beach ball waiting for Mail to let me look at an email that I needed to reply to a question on the phone!! Postbox has some great features - Quick reply right from the email - why hasn't Mail ever had that feature? And the ability to search just attachments! I love that feature. Postbox really has improved my life immensely!! The only thing I don't love in Postbox is the Search feature - you have to use full words/names and hit enter to search. Also, there is a strange little bug that would randomly change the sender on an email to one specific contact - not sure if I just had a corrupted database or if others have seen that too. But it just takes a click on the Home button to fix.
So, you ask, if I love Postbox so much, why are there two winners?
Well, just today, Airmail announced that it had an update that added Exchange support. Airmail is one slick app and just pretty to look at! I had tried it a while back and really liked the app (enough to pay a few bucks for it) but I could never get my Exchange account to connect. Well, today I fired it up, added Exchange and have used this app for the rest of the day. It also has Quick Reply and the Search searches as you type. I miss the attachment search but it is so speedy and efficient, I think I will stick with it for now.
You can't really go wrong with either of these apps. They are not free but they are pretty cheap and well worth the investment. If you are having trouble with Apple Mail, take the plunge and try something new - I know I am so glad I did!
UPDATE - still some issues with Exchange on Airmail so am back to Postbox but eagerly awaiting a fix from Airmail!
So, I finally started looking at alternative mail apps. I needed something that could talk to my Exchange account and handle two Gmail accounts without freezing up. Turns out that was not as easy as I thought it would. I spent a week or so going through app after app and thought I would share thoughts about the two winners of my research!
Postbox - while Postbox does not support Exchange, it does support Imap and I was able to connect to my Exchange account and add both my Gmail accounts. I have been using Postbox for about a month now and I cannot believe how much my stress level has gone down. No more sitting on the phone looking at the spinning beach ball waiting for Mail to let me look at an email that I needed to reply to a question on the phone!! Postbox has some great features - Quick reply right from the email - why hasn't Mail ever had that feature? And the ability to search just attachments! I love that feature. Postbox really has improved my life immensely!! The only thing I don't love in Postbox is the Search feature - you have to use full words/names and hit enter to search. Also, there is a strange little bug that would randomly change the sender on an email to one specific contact - not sure if I just had a corrupted database or if others have seen that too. But it just takes a click on the Home button to fix.
So, you ask, if I love Postbox so much, why are there two winners?
Well, just today, Airmail announced that it had an update that added Exchange support. Airmail is one slick app and just pretty to look at! I had tried it a while back and really liked the app (enough to pay a few bucks for it) but I could never get my Exchange account to connect. Well, today I fired it up, added Exchange and have used this app for the rest of the day. It also has Quick Reply and the Search searches as you type. I miss the attachment search but it is so speedy and efficient, I think I will stick with it for now.
You can't really go wrong with either of these apps. They are not free but they are pretty cheap and well worth the investment. If you are having trouble with Apple Mail, take the plunge and try something new - I know I am so glad I did!
UPDATE - still some issues with Exchange on Airmail so am back to Postbox but eagerly awaiting a fix from Airmail!
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Samsung Galaxy S4 - what???
Well, this is a day I never thought I would see! I have jumped ship and bought a Samsung Galaxy S4! I really kind of shocked myself especially after IOS 7 which I really think is a great upgrade. But after several frustrations and having to help my husband set up his new Droid device and then playing with my daughter's S3, I called Sprint, cancelled my 5S order and went to the Sprint store and got the S4.
Here are my initial thoughts, what I miss about the iPhone and what I like about the S4!
Ok, yes, I miss my familiar Apple interface, ease of syncing everything with my Mac and stuff like that. The Samsung has taken me two days and I am still not totally set up where I want to be but this is what I have accomplished so far!
Music - syncing my iTunes to Google with Music Manager and using Music Play on the Galaxy - works great - actually better because I have access to my entire library and can select what to store on my phone without having to be connected to my computer.
Photos - using Dropbox's automatic picture upload on the Galaxy and then an automator script to automatically dump anything in that folder into iPhoto. A few minutes to set up but working great.
Reminders - using Reminder for iCloud to sync my reminders (this was the only thing I have paid for so far!)
Do Not Disturb - the S4 has Blocked Notifications - works the same way only a little better because you can create a custom list instead of just being able to select favorites as exemptions to the silent rule.
iMessage - found MightyText - works the same way but adds some great features like a notification on my Mac of incoming phone calls. And I get all my text messages there, not just Apple ones!
But what I really like about the Galaxy that has me not regretting my decision so far!!! (I am an Apple lover so it is hard for me to endorse their competitor!)
1. The keyboard! Wow - there is a number row above the letters - no more switching screens just to put a number in a password or email address. And Swype is just amazing - I have no idea how it makes sense of my wild swipes but it does!
2. Word predictions - it used to drive me crazy on the iPhone that every time I went to log in somewhere I had to type out my entire email or username. Galaxy pops it up as a suggestion as soon as I start typing, one click and I am done - love it!
3. Widgets and layout - finally I can put icons wherever I want!!! I used to jailbreak just for this feature - five pages packed with rows of icons is aggravating. The Galaxy lets you mix and match widgets and icons so each page looks different and of course if you pinch in on any screen, you get thumbnails of every page and just touch to go to the one you want.
4. Split screen - I can have two apps open at once - how cool is that?!
5. FREEDOM to download whatever apps I want from anywhere!! Yes, that is huge!
Battery life seems about as bad as the iPhone but I have been using it a lot the first few days, installing apps, setting up and just playing so I will see when I get down to normal usage.
And finally the size of the phone - it is huge compared to the iPhone! This is bad and this is good - I still haven't figured out how I am going to carry it, when to put it half the time, etc. However, I actually love having more screen space and you can get a lot more done with the larger screen. Less zooming in and out of webpages etc.
Overall, I think I am really going to like this phone. Once I get over my old inherent dislike for the Android operating system (based on the older versions of the OS), I hope to be more productive with this device and that is what really matters to me!
Sorry, Apple, I do love IOS7 but your continual controls and limitations have sent me over to the dark side...and I am not sure I will return!
Here are my initial thoughts, what I miss about the iPhone and what I like about the S4!
Ok, yes, I miss my familiar Apple interface, ease of syncing everything with my Mac and stuff like that. The Samsung has taken me two days and I am still not totally set up where I want to be but this is what I have accomplished so far!
Music - syncing my iTunes to Google with Music Manager and using Music Play on the Galaxy - works great - actually better because I have access to my entire library and can select what to store on my phone without having to be connected to my computer.
Photos - using Dropbox's automatic picture upload on the Galaxy and then an automator script to automatically dump anything in that folder into iPhoto. A few minutes to set up but working great.
Reminders - using Reminder for iCloud to sync my reminders (this was the only thing I have paid for so far!)
Do Not Disturb - the S4 has Blocked Notifications - works the same way only a little better because you can create a custom list instead of just being able to select favorites as exemptions to the silent rule.
iMessage - found MightyText - works the same way but adds some great features like a notification on my Mac of incoming phone calls. And I get all my text messages there, not just Apple ones!
But what I really like about the Galaxy that has me not regretting my decision so far!!! (I am an Apple lover so it is hard for me to endorse their competitor!)
1. The keyboard! Wow - there is a number row above the letters - no more switching screens just to put a number in a password or email address. And Swype is just amazing - I have no idea how it makes sense of my wild swipes but it does!
2. Word predictions - it used to drive me crazy on the iPhone that every time I went to log in somewhere I had to type out my entire email or username. Galaxy pops it up as a suggestion as soon as I start typing, one click and I am done - love it!
3. Widgets and layout - finally I can put icons wherever I want!!! I used to jailbreak just for this feature - five pages packed with rows of icons is aggravating. The Galaxy lets you mix and match widgets and icons so each page looks different and of course if you pinch in on any screen, you get thumbnails of every page and just touch to go to the one you want.
4. Split screen - I can have two apps open at once - how cool is that?!
5. FREEDOM to download whatever apps I want from anywhere!! Yes, that is huge!
Battery life seems about as bad as the iPhone but I have been using it a lot the first few days, installing apps, setting up and just playing so I will see when I get down to normal usage.
And finally the size of the phone - it is huge compared to the iPhone! This is bad and this is good - I still haven't figured out how I am going to carry it, when to put it half the time, etc. However, I actually love having more screen space and you can get a lot more done with the larger screen. Less zooming in and out of webpages etc.
Overall, I think I am really going to like this phone. Once I get over my old inherent dislike for the Android operating system (based on the older versions of the OS), I hope to be more productive with this device and that is what really matters to me!
Sorry, Apple, I do love IOS7 but your continual controls and limitations have sent me over to the dark side...and I am not sure I will return!
Thursday, September 19, 2013
IOS 7 Hello - Jailbreak Goodbye!
IOS 7 came out yesterday. Once the Apple servers came back online(!!), I was able to download and restore my phone pretty easily. My phone had been jailbroken so I could not do a simple upgrade. The process was simple and I had no issues at all. I decided to set up as a new phone as I had a bunch of apps on my phone prior that I never used and I did not want to randomly install everything.
I have to say that I really wasn't that excited about the new look from the previews but now that it is on my phone - I have to say that I love it. There is nothing bland and plain about IOS 7 - everything slides and moves with style - it is a gorgeous UI!
Most exciting features that I have found so far and why I probably will not jailbreak again -
1. Mail finally has a select all button so that you can mark everything as read in one move (essential for people like me that are pretty anal about not having badges showing on my icons unless there really is something new there!)
2. Control center - yes!!! One swipe to get to those essential controls like wifi, flashlight, calculator etc. No more need for SBS settings!
3. Multitasking- looks like the Cydia App Auxo which I loved. There is now a screenshot of each app - took me for ever to figure out how to close apps but finally found that a quick swipe up takes care of that!
4. Notification center - much better than it was, fully customizable. Nice overview of what is happening today.
As of now, I have only just scratched the surface but I have to say everything so far is akin to a total overhaul but still with the familiarity of the Apple apps that we love!
Good Job Apple!!
I have to say that I really wasn't that excited about the new look from the previews but now that it is on my phone - I have to say that I love it. There is nothing bland and plain about IOS 7 - everything slides and moves with style - it is a gorgeous UI!
Most exciting features that I have found so far and why I probably will not jailbreak again -
1. Mail finally has a select all button so that you can mark everything as read in one move (essential for people like me that are pretty anal about not having badges showing on my icons unless there really is something new there!)
2. Control center - yes!!! One swipe to get to those essential controls like wifi, flashlight, calculator etc. No more need for SBS settings!
3. Multitasking- looks like the Cydia App Auxo which I loved. There is now a screenshot of each app - took me for ever to figure out how to close apps but finally found that a quick swipe up takes care of that!
4. Notification center - much better than it was, fully customizable. Nice overview of what is happening today.
As of now, I have only just scratched the surface but I have to say everything so far is akin to a total overhaul but still with the familiarity of the Apple apps that we love!
Good Job Apple!!
Monday, September 16, 2013
Introduction
I would call myself a software person in as much that I can become almost obsessed with a certain software application and immerse myself in it! The following things have become part of my life due to this compulsion of mine: all things IOS and Mac, jailbreaking iDevices, Powerschool (this one has taken a back seat now), Moodle and the H323 video conferencing world. This is the most recent list, I also do too much with Microsoft Office out of need more than actually thinking this is cool and am now seriously considering moving to Linux as my primary operating system but that would be a pretty big leap.
So this blog will include various rambling on certain technologies, primarily in the educational environment but not always!
So this blog will include various rambling on certain technologies, primarily in the educational environment but not always!
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