Kristy: Cool Text, Buttons, and Logos

A great tool for making your own neat text for websites, blogs, or anywhere you can place a photo, cooltext.com offers easy to use tools to make some really flashy or classy items.

Here is a quick logo/image I made:

Here is another:

Each of these took less than 2 minutes to make.

You can also make buttons for websites or blogs:

Enjoy!

Kristy: Tagul - the interactive word cloud maker

Earlier I spoke about Wordle, which generate word clouds from text to generate a customizable word cloud. The newest word cloud generator is Tagul, which allows you to create word clouds with words that function as hyperlinks.

Below you’ll find my first Tagul cloud. All of the words were pulled from somewhere inside of this blog.

Kristy: Digital Posters

Digital posters are fun, and they can easily be made using www.glogster.com. Even better is http://edu.glogster.com/, which allows you to register as a teacher and have up to 200 student accounts under your name.

Here’s an example of a poster I’ve made to explain an assignment to students: http://kerplode.edu.glogster.com/edit/posterize-your-favorite-class/

Here’s a screen-shot if you didn’t want to click on the link:

Here is a wonderful example of a student Glogster of the Skeletal System: http://cbrannon.wiki.hoover.k12.al.us/Skeletal+System+Glog2

Here is a wonderful tutorial on how to use Glogster as created by Traci Blazosky: http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dgqwv5cr_127g7nqc8fm

There are a lot of options for this one. Happy postering.

Kristy: Motivators

A really fun website is http://bighugelabs.com/motivator.php. This website allows you to make a motivational-style poster in about three minutes. Upload a photo, supply a headline and short text, and you get something like this:

Super easy to do. Put one in a PowerPoint, make your own classroom posters, or students could even make one. There are a lot of possibilities here.

Kristy: Windows Dancer

Okay, so maybe it isn't a favorite thing. (In fact, we uninstalled the program.) It's just something that made me laugh.

See the video below:

Kristy: Printable Reference Guides for many things Technology

http://www.customguide.com/quick_references.htm has developed some seriously wonderful, and free, visual handouts for those needing a quick reference guide for all things Microsoft, Mac, and Adobe.

They even offer these guides for multiple years.

*The 2007 guides are available for those now transitioning from Office 2003 to Office 2007.

It has lots of print screens, and it does a fairly good job of explaining the ribbon system, as you can see from this picture:

The CustomGuides available for free include:

Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Publisher, FrontPage, InfoPath OneNote, Outlook, Project, SharePoint, Visio, Office 2007, Windows, and Entourage
Internet Explorer
Mac Appleworks 6
Apple Mac OS
Adobe Acrobat
Dreamweaver
Fireworks
Flash
Photoshop
Photoshop Elements
Computer Training
ECDL
IBM Lotus Notes
QuickBooks
Mozilla FireFox

Kris: Building a Rock Band Double Kick Drum Splitter

With Guitar Hero, hooking up a double kick drum is easy: just plug 2 pedals into a headphone splitter. Rock Band is trickier.

In Rock Band, the controller registers a kick when the circuit closes (pedal is pressed down) but can't register a new kick until the circuit re-opens. That means that if you still have your right foot pressed down on the pedal, the circuit remains closed and it doesn't matter what you do with the left pedal. It will be ignored until you completely lift your right foot.

I found a schematic on the web for this controller mod. The purpose of the mod to acknowledge a closed circuit (pedal pressed down) but immediately re-open the circuit even if the pedal stays down.

It's a 5V system which can easily be run from a 9V battery and a 5V regulator. I first built it on a non-solder breadboard to test it out. Now that it works, I eventually intend to solder it properly and mount it in a project box. It's temporarly housed in a cardboard box.

All parts except the 74HC14 Hex Inverter IC can be found a Radio Shack. The 74HC14 can be found online at several electrical component sites for about 25 cents. Since you have to purchase it online, it's best to buy everything online to save a few bucks. Radio Shack is a little expensive. In total, I paid around $20-$25 for everthing needed.

Required parts:
(1x) 74HC14 Schmitt-Trigger Hex Inverter
(4x) 10k ohm Resistor
(1x) 120 ohm Resistor
(2x) 10 uF Capacitor
(1x) 2N3904 NPN Transistor
(1x) 5V Relay (Normally-Open, Non-Latching)
(3x) Diode
(1x) Mono 3.5mm (1/8") Output Jack (Male)
(2x) Mono 3.5mm (1/8") Input Jack (Female)

To power it, you'll need:
(1x) LM7805 Voltage Regulator
(1x) 9V Battery
(1x) 9V Battery connector

To construct it, you'll need a PC board or breadboard and jumper wires.

I couldn't find mono inputs, but you can buy stereo inputs and just use the one active lead.

Temporarily, the board is mounted in a cardboard box that I had laying around. The end result is about the size of a Wii controller, but it can be housed in a much smaller box if soldered to PC board.

Word of warning: If you buy a mono extension cable to use as your male output jack, test it to see if it is tied to ground internally. Mine was, so I had to cut apart the connector and sever the connection so it wouldn't be constantly closed.