Why Microsoft’s .NET Is .Not for Me

2002 – My students sometimes joke with me that if they don’t say they like Macs, I’ll ruin their grades. Of course, I wouldn’t ever make my computing preference a factor in a grade; other than the fact students must complete assignments on a computer, I’m not so narrow-minded (or unethical) as to do such […]

Educational Standards and Benchmarks on the Web and in the Classroom

2002 – The communication gap between teachers and software companies is hindering the adoption of technology by “technology resisters” and the adoption of standards by veterans waiting for the latest fad to expire. Apple knows a little about this, probably more than any other computer vendor, but even they don’t get it in a fundamental […]

Macworld Expo Wrap-up

Macworld San Francisco 2002 has come and gone, and the new flat-panel iMac has finally arrived. The iWalk was shown to be a Photoshop daydream, and the 1.0+ GHz Power Macs predicted by the rumor sites are still in the future.

The Digital Hub Is Incomplete

2002 – On the face of it, Apple’s digital hub strategy seems to be progressing well. At Macworld San Francisco 2002, I saw how iPhoto nicely complements iMovie’s intuitive design. I got to touch an iPod for the first time – boy, it sure is tiny – and as I reported yesterday, I got to […]

Macworld and the New iMac

2002 – I’m sitting in one of the lobbies at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, having made a pass through the entire exhibit hall, up and down every aisle. This is my first Macworld, and I’ve learned a few things, seen some things, and talked to a bunch of people.

Remotely Control Your Macs: Timbuktu vs. Apple Network Assistant

2002 – One of the difficulties of working in a lab full of Macs is that students sometimes wander off and do things they’re not supposed to do. Our district has filtering software, but as several news reports have recently pointed out, no filtering software is perfect. Teachers simply have to be aware of what […]

Office Politics: ‘Rassling with Word 2001

2001 – This is the first Mac Lab Report I’ve submitted for a while, primarily because I was working on a grant proposal for my school, and it absorbed all of my time. It absorbed my time not just because it was a lengthy proposal (approximately 20 pages of text and charts) but because it […]

Time to Go with Point One

2001 – Back in January, I wrote in Never Go with Point Oh that I was conservatively waiting to switch to Mac OS 9 until Apple brought out OS 9.1 or greater, because by then most of the bugs would be eliminated. I also tend to run about one OS version behind the rest of […]

Hands On: iBook Carts in the Classroom

Our school is one of many that purchased some of Apple’s “iBook mobility solutions” this summer, but unlike some well-meaning souls in various spots around the country, we decided not to just roll the computers into classrooms right away. We’re going to field test the technology before it is placed in classrooms (gasp!).

11 Things You Might Not Know Your Mac Can Do

2001 – I find that casual users of the Mac OS do not investigate the features of the operating system as thoroughly as necessary to achieve the greatest efficiency. Perhaps that is because Mac users tend not to read the manuals for their computers (if there is a manual to read), or maybe it is […]

Things They Don’t Tell You about the New iBook

2001 – There have been many excellent reviews of the new snow-white dual-USB iBook detailing such interesting features as the dropdown hinge, the integrated FireWire port, the keys that pop off too easily, the beautiful scratchable surface, the nice software included (such as iMovie2), and the bright high-resolution screen. This is not one of those […]

Working Around File Sharing’s ‘Wall of 10’

2001 – If you have ever set up a small Mac network, you know creating a server is as easy as pie (see Transferring Files from Your Old Mac to Your New One: Classic Mac OS Edition for more on this topic), and it’s a snap to setup login names and passwords using Users and […]

Astronomy on the World Wide Web

As regular readers of this column are aware, I am an astronomy teacher. I teach both high-school and college astronomy for teachers (online) and am involved in several organizations and astronomy programs. I maintain a collection of links at www.AstronomyTeacher.com, which lists dozens of links sorted by category.

A Windows User’s Guide to the Classic Mac OS

This article explains how to take the skills you have as a Windows user and get the same job done on a Macintosh. It is intended as a guide for beginning users and not a comprehensive Mac vs. Windows comparison; for example, the niceties of configuring TCP/IP are not covered here.

What Price Rankings?

July 2001 – This week, Apple will undoubtedly make several announcements at the Macworld Expo in New York. Among these will be some product revision announcements, Mac vs. PC benchmarking demonstrations, and sales figures showing how Apple has regained the lead position in educational sales. What won’t be announced are some of the unfortunate tactics […]

PowerSpeak: Forgotten Fundamentals of Presentation Speaking

2001 – If you had to do a presentation to the city council regarding radioactive emissions from your local nuclear plant, first you’d do a bunch of research and then sit down to create your presentation. Although your material may be important and your research thorough, you may not be able to get your point […]

I’ll Never Forget the First Time

2001: My first Mac wasn’t my own. It belonged to my college professor. I think it was a 512K Fat Mac, because it booted off of a floppy and didn’t have a hard drive. It couldn’t have been later than 1985, because that’s when I graduated.