What is Cloud Computing?

Greetings,

I hope you are having a Great Summer!  I know it has been pretty Hot over here in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.  Today I will be sharing with you a new term that is becoming very popular in mainstream.  In fact on Yahoo, this term Cloud Computing was featured the second most popular topic last week. 

If you look at the diagram up above, you can see that as a society we are bombarded with technology from tablets, laptops, desk tops and smart phones.  What if we could have one central location online to store all of our files? Well there is a solution and it is called a cloud.  In a cloud we can store all types of files and access them from our many digital devices. 

You can now access your files from anywhere and from any computer on the internet by using a cloud. Online file storage has been around for many years and is now becoming available to the average person.  You will be hearing more informaton on cloud computing in the future.

Clouds are becoming easy to use and people are starting to upload their files to them. One of the Great features about clouds, is they allow you to share these files with your friends and colleagues.  Clouds also allow you to keep your files safe and secure. 

If you want to get your own cloud, one of the best recommended sites you want to try is dropbox.  This site allows you to hold up to 2GB of memory in their cloud.  You can register with them and get more space if you want for a nominal fee.  Simply click on the picture below to get started sharing your files in a cloud.

We hope you enjoyed this blog article.  We will see you next week with another new and exciting topic.  If you want to learn more technical details about cloud computing, you can click Here. Take care.

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Have You Heard of Open Office?

Greetings,

I hope you had a Great Fourth of July Week.  This week I will be sharing with you a free open-source office software suite for Word Processing, Presentations, Spreadsheets, Graphics and Databases and More.  There are a lot of people who are not aware about this free software.

If you click on the picture above, it will take you to the site where you can download this free open sources office software package.  That's right for free!  This is a program that has similar functions as the Microsoft Office 2003 software applications such as (Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Access). 

There are free tutorials on the web site and on YouTube where you can learn how to use all of the free open-source office software programs.  The best thing about this free software is you can use it for any purpose you wish and that includes commercial and educational. 

You can also install it to as many computers as you like.  You can make as many copies and give them away to family, friends, students and employees.  If you are not using the MS Office 2010, 2007 or 2003 software applications, I encourage you to download Open Office. 

You will want to learn, practice, create projects and then teach others how to use it.  I hope you enjoy this free resource.  Don't forget, if you are currently learning how to use PowerPoint 2010, you can check out my free tutorials on YouTube.  Just search for the Complabteacher channel.  I will see you next week.  Take care.

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What is Google Docs?

Greetings,

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving Holiday this past week.  Today I am blogging about Google Docs.  According to Wikipedia, Google Docs has been around for since 2005, but was made available to the public in 2007.  If you are not using google docs, you are probably curious about all the buzz on this free application.

This application allows you to create ,edit and share documents, spreadsheets, presentations, forms, surveys and drawings.  It works with Microsoft Office products without requiring the user to have the program loaded onto their computer.  You can also upload your own documents to store online. 

The best way to tell you about this application is through videos.  Listed below are a collection of links that will educate you more on how you can use this application.  The 4 links below will show you videos from Youtube.  If you are unable to view these videos from your school.  You can always check them out at home.

1. Google Docs in Plain English (3 minute video) - If blocked, click here.


2. Teachers and Principals talk about Google Docs (4 minute video) - If blocked, click here.

3. Google Docs: A Love Letter (2 minute video) - If blocked, click here.


4. Learn More About Google Docs (step by step video tutorials)

To get started with this application, you can try it for free by visiting: http://www.docs.google.com/demo/ 
To start using Google Docs visit: http://www.docs.google.com/

Hope you enjoy the videos and tutorials above.  Remember, you want to spend time playing with the different applications that google docs has to offer.  I will see you next week with another topic.  Take care.

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