Monday, June 11, 2001

While MacDesktops is pretty well known for great desktop pictures (wallpaper for the Windows crowd), I saw a link yesterday on MNN to Rachel Robbins's Pixel Mountain Desktop Pictures. Rachel offers some beautiful photographs as freeware desktop downloads.

J. M. Baker has updated his freeware RPN Calculator (673K) to version 1.0.5.

Anise Hollingshead of Kids Domain has written an excellent links page of Summer Freebies (And Almost Freebies). It includes links to worksheet/PDF files, arts and crafts, books, outings, and some summer printables.

It must be a good day for freewares, as I finally finished my current effort on educational freewares, Teacher Tools 5: Teachers Still Love "Free!" While a lot of my columns lean more toward the primary and intermediate crowd, this column has a number of apps listed that could be valuable to middle or junior high school math teachers. Along the way, I also updated download links where possible in Teacher Tools 3: Teachers Love "Free".

Wednesday, June 13, 2001

Symantec comes up big in the Mac news today. They have announced updates for Norton Personal Firewall and Norton AntiVirus 7.0 for Macintosh. Updates for Norton Utilities for Macintosh and Live Update are also available. The updated Norton Personal Firewall now runs native in Mac OS X. Internet security is an issue most Mac owners haven't had to seriously consider in the past. With the introduction of OS X with the security liabilities of UNIX, coupled with users running OS X in an always on DSL or cable modem connection, the possibility of being hacked does exist. Such OS X users should find a native firewall application comforting.

Also announced was an update for Norton AntiVirus for Macintosh 7.0 to scan for viruses natively under OS X. The best news for current owners of the Symantec products is that the updates may be downloaded for free. The Symantec press release states:

Using LiveUpdate and the Internet, owners of Norton Personal Firewall for Macintosh can download the new firewall application; Norton SystemWorks for Macintosh and Norton AntiVirus 6.0 for Macintosh owners can download the new native virus scan and repair application; and owners of Norton Internet Security for Macintosh can download both solutions.

(Note: I believe the Norton AntiVirus 6.0 quoted above is an error in the press release and should read Norton AntiVirus 7.0.)

I had considerable difficulty downloading either the Norton AntiVirus or Utilities application updates via Live Update. Even after updating to Live Update 1.6.2 (update...update...update...Anyone have a good thesaurus with an alternative to "update?"), I received various error messages. I finally gave up and used NetFinder to download Norton AntiVirus for Macintosh 7.0.2 (5.3 MB) from Symantec's FTP site. However, the Norton Utilities for Macintosh 6.0.2 updater had not been posted at the time of this posting.

Winding up the Symantec report is a new June virus definitions update (1.5 MB). These definitions address the new Simpsons AppleScript Worm virus. I believe this is the third virus definitions update this month for NAV.

It must be time for bed. I just stuck a floppy into my Mac upside down. What's worse, I was copying an AppleScript to transfer to my daughter's iMac!

Thursday, June 14, 2001

Our connection problems with our internet service provider continue. Full postings will resume when the problems are corrected...or we have a new ISP!

CNN's Education page seems to have adopted a cookie cutter template for educational postings. "[Insert state name] [insert verb] with state funding problems."

When CNN Education posted Ohio Grapples With Fair Funding for all Schools Tuesday, I shot off a quick email to Ohio educator Joe Taylor for the scoop. Joe responded:

The funding thing is a mess. The legislature has been fooling around with it forever, with little effect. Frankly, I think they want the court to tell them what to do, so that it's out of their hands. It's made it a nightmare to try and pass a levy. Although public opinion had been on the school's side, they've been saying some dumb things about shutting the schools down that are not helping the situation.

Today, CNN Education ran Michigan Ponders Tax Credit for School Donations. It deals with a proposed bill in the Michigan legislature that would allow a tax credit for donations to public schools. Private school organizations are claiming they should also receive the same treatment. "The Michigan Education Association opposes the legislation out of concern that tax credits could lead to attempts to change the state constitution and allow credits, or vouchers, for private schools."

With school funding methods and formulas varying from state to state, CNN has about 48 more cookie cutter columns to write. I suspect every state appears to have serious problems adequately funding education right now. Despite the "cookie cutter" reference, both items are relevant and interesting. It's also good to see that at least one major news service has a page devoted solely to education.

From my days of doing evening and weekend news postings on the MacTimes News Network, I knew to always watch on Sundays for GraphicConverter updates. I can't remember one that has come out any other day of the week...until yesterday:-)! Thorsten Lemke has updated his indispensable graphics tool to version 4.0.8 with the usual bug fixes and added features. The $35 shareware (so far, pay once and you're paid forever) is available in Mac OS X (3.1 MB), Power Mac (2.8 MB), and 68K (2.2 MB) versions.

I received a nice email from Joe "Science Man" Martha yesterday about the column, Teacher Tools 5: Teachers Still Love "Free!" In an interesting coincidence, I'd been surfing Joe's site just minutes before receiving the email. (I was hunting the URL for Joe's directions for swapping out hard drives in the G3 All-in-one for another reader.) Joe currently has an interesting review of the MCH Multimedia Interactive Science Tutorials for chemistry and physics. He found their content excellent, while "probably best suited for introductory university courses, however, high school teachers could find many sections useful in their classes."

Joe's email also reminded me that I had neglected until today to sign up for Joe's "MacHome Classroom" newsletter. "It's aimed at helping teachers, parents and students get the most out of their macs." You can sign up for the fast growing newsletter (already nearly a thousand subscribers) at Scienceman.com.

NetFinder 2.3 (3.2 MB) is now available for download. Version 2.3 is compatible with Mac OS 8, 9, and X. I currently use NetFinder as my primary Mac FTP client with Fetch as a backup.

HyperStudio, the popular multimedia authoring tool, has been updated to version 4.2. The 4.0 to 4.2 updater is available for Macintosh (1245K) and Windows (1360K) . The HyperStudio site also contains updaters for many previous versions.

I confess I've been bribed. Nah, actually I logged on last week to the Washington Apple Pi Macintosh Users Group site last week and ordered a copy of Pi Fillings - Goes To School. While the folks at Pi have been good enough to carry my MATH DITTOS 2 sharewares on their Pi Fillings CDs, I've never purchased a copy. I really love the old fashioned shareware floppy and CD concept and always seem to find something different that I can use on each one. Yesterday, I received an email from Beth Medlin of Washington Pi, unnecessarily apologizing for not acknowledging my order since she had been out of town. Beth said that while she hadn't gotten out an email, she had sent the CD -- for free, as I was a contributor. When the mail arrived yesterday, I found that Beth had included both the Pi Fillings Goes to School and their regular Pi Fillings CDs. Thanks, Beth!

Friday, June 15, 2001

Charles Cooper asks Bill Rodrigues, General Manager for Education at Dell Computer, some probing questions about Dell's educational sales and Apple computer in a column yesterday for CNET. In what appears to be a reference to Apple's recent sales successes in Henrico County Schools and Quaker Valley School District, Rodrigues stated: "But if, all of a sudden, a competitor decides to go ridiculous, like losing 40 percent on a deal, that doesn't make a lot of business sense to us."

I'm sure you've been breathlessly awaiting news on the U.S. Department of Education's web site. Good news, I think, is at hand after the site briefly disappeared from the net yesterday. It apparently has not been hacked by purple Martians, but is indeed back up with a posting for yesterday, Charter Schools Prompting Improvement in School Districts Say Two Reports.

The U.S. Senate has approved the education bill by a vote of 91-8. It now goes to a House-Senate conference committee to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions. You can take your pick of links describing the basic story: CNN; ABC; CBS; MSNBC; or the NEA (National Education Association). A collection of sidelinks to the story include:

• Teacher Shortage Stokes Creative Recruiting (CNN)
• Senate Supports Scouts: Backs Boy Scouts' Access to Schools (ABC)
• U.S. Education Gets An "F" (CBS)
• The Trouble with Testing (MSNBC)

The New York Times adds Senate Approves Legislation to Penalize Failing Schools (free site registration required). On a more positive note, The New York Times Learning Network has been expanded since I last checked it to include material of interest for students and teachers of grades 3-12.

While I often try to track down the original source on a news lead or column, there's so much out on the web on the coming "smart tags" feature of Internet Explorer 6, that a couple of pointer columns may prove more illuminating and certainly more entertaining. Applelinks senior editor John Farr comments, "The Borg are coming and so far few seem worried, but you should be," in Comments: MS Smart Tags To Insert Links Without Permission of Site Developers. Besides writing a concise, informative posting, John makes it fun! The gang over at As the Apple Turns got in their licks on smart tags last week with World Domination: Step 81. If you really want to read the source articles for the columns above, see The Register and The Wall Street Journal.

Fabien Octave has released version 4.2 of his Apple Menus replacement, BeHierarchic. Version 4.2 (300K) adds compatibility for Mac OS X in the Classic environment. Registration for this excellent Classic OS enhancer remains $10 (so far, pay once and you're paid forever).

It appears that our dial-up internet connection problems are resolved for now.

The SchwabLearning.org has released the 2nd edition of Bridges to Reading. The series consists of "Five booklets containing easy-to-understand information, strategies to help parents support their child's reading abilities, steps to success, answers to frequently asked questions, and lists of resources." The series is available as downloadable PDF documents or one can request a free hard copy via U.S. Mail.

I spent some time last evening reading all 5 of the PDFs in the Bridges to Reading series. I found it to be an excellent, informative guide for parents with children who have reading difficulties. I also registered (free) and poked about the SchwabLearning.org site and was impressed with its mission and offerings. A short , but candid description of the Schwab's motivation in creating this organization and site is also posted. For educators and parents dealing with reading disabled children, this is an excellent site to explore.

MacCentral's Dennis Sellers found a funny page on the Unisys site that I'm going to file under "wish I'd found that." Sellers wrote:

Unisys Corp., an e-business solutions company whose roots go back to UNIVAC, yesterday issued a tongue-in-cheek "public apology" for "the many human inconveniences" resulting from its invention of that computer.

The "apology" contains such items as:

• Forcing you to go through a five-minute startup routine every time your computer crashes while you're creating a three-minute memo.
• Making it impossible for anyone to do more than five minutes' worth of work without being interrupted by an emailed joke, Top Ten list, or chain letter.
• Ensuring that if something goes wrong with a piece of equipment, intelligent, well-meaning people armed with hand tools and mechanical know-how will no longer be able to fix it.

The U.S. Department of Education has announced the awarding of 308 new grants under the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program "to create high-quality learning opportunities after school and during the summer."

The grants announced today will support approximately 1,420 new school-based centers in high-need urban and rural communities in 47 states and the Marshall Islands. Joining the school districts as partners are faith-based organizations, colleges, non-profit agencies such as Boys and Girls Clubs and YMCAs, scientific and cultural organizations, and other community groups.

A listing of the recipients of the nearly $206 million in new grant money can be found here. A searchable database of all grant recipients and programs is available here.