What is this Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a new currency that was created in 2009 by an unknown person using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto. Transactions are made with no middle men – meaning, no banks! Bitcoin can be used to book hotels on Expedia, shop for furniture on Overstock and buy Xbox games. But much of the hype is about getting rich by trading it. The price of bitcoin skyrocketed into the thousands in 2017.  

- To read the rest of the article By: Tal Yellin, Dominic Aratari, Jose Pagliery / CNNMoney and find out more about Bitcoin click the link below.
http://money.cnn.com/infographic/technology/what-is-bitcoin/

Impressive Series Of 360° Interactive Videos Of “New Seven Wonders” and more!

The New York Times has just published a series of 360° interactive videos on "The New Seven Wonders."  It is included in the New York Times 360° interactive video series called, The Daily 360. Click the link below to check The New Seven Wonders and more!  There are 360° interactive videos on the cutting, placing, and lighting of the Rockefeller Christmas Tree, a ride on a New York City Ferry and more. Enjoy!


https://www.nytimes.com/video/the-daily-360

Spam Is Back!

For a while, spam — unsolicited bulk messages sent for commercial or fraudulent purposes — seemed to be fading away. The 2003 CAN-SPAM Act mandated unsubscribe links in email marketing campaigns and criminalized attempts to hide the sender’s identity, while sophisticated filters on what were then cutting-edge email providers like Gmail buried unwanted messages in out-of-sight spam folders. In 2004, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told a crowd at the World Economic Forum that “two years from now, spam will be solved.” In 2011, cybersecurity reporter Brian Krebs noted that increasingly tech savvy law enforcement efforts were shutting down major spam operators — including SpamIt.com, alleged to be a major hub in a Russian digital criminal organization that was responsible for an estimated fifth of the world’s spam. These efforts meant that the proportion of all emails that are spam has slowly fallen to a low of about 50 percent in recent years, according to Symantec research.

But it’s 2017, and spam has clawed itself back from the grave. It shows up on social media and dating sites as bots hoping to lure you into downloading malware or clicking an affiliate link. It creeps onto your phone as text messages and robocalls that ring you five times a day about luxury cruises and fictitious tax bills. 

Click this link to read more of this article by Jon Christian 11/20/2017 

Extensions vs Web Apps vs Add-ons

The Google ecosystem provides a wide range of powerful programs to help you do pretty much anything you need. This includes browsing the web, typing a document, creating a slideshow, sending email, collecting data, and so much more.

However, even with all the features in their tools, Google knows they can’t do everything. There is probably some task you wish you could do, but can’t.

To help address this, Google allows third parties to create tools to extend the functions and features of Chrome, Docs, Sheet, Forms, and more. These tools come in three forms:

• Chrome Extensions
• Chrome Web Apps
• Add-ons for Docs, Sheets, and Forms

* To read more from from Control Alt Achieve: Transforming Education with Technology - by Eric Curts. Click the link below!

http://www.controlaltachieve.com/2016/06/extensions-webapps-addons.html

DocHub - Online PDF Editor

DocHub is a Google App that can be added to your account through the Google App Store. With DocHub you can Create, edit, fill PDF forms, annotate documents, whiteout text, append pages, merge files, add fields and more. DocHub fully supports all native PDF fields, including linked fields. Users are given an intuitive experience which seamlessly bridges the gap between PDFs and the browser. The Field Manager puts you in control to modify existing fields, or create new fields for check boxes, signatures, initials and more!

* For more information go to: https://dochub.com

    * To install go to the Google Web Store and search for DocHub  

Safe Searching For Kids!

Junior Safe Search's mission is simple: to provide a safe search for the learning minds of future generations!  Junior Safe Search is trusted by schools and families from around the world.  They use Google Custom Search but are not affiliated with Google Inc.

Link to check out Junior Safe Search:  https://www.juniorsafesearch.com/

Since Kiddle results are either handpicked and checked by their editors or filtered by Google safe search, you know you get kid-oriented results without any explicit content. In case some bad words are present in a search query, a guard robot will block the search. 

Link to check out Kiddle Search:  https://www.kiddle.co

3 Tips for Managing Phone Use in Class

Setting cell phone expectations early is key to accessing the learning potential of these devices and minimizing the distraction factor.

Ten is now the average age when children receive their first cell phones, and those phones quickly find their way into classrooms. While cell phones have extraordinary potential for leveraging learning, they can quickly become a hindrance in the classroom, diverting attention away from learning. How can teachers harness the learning potential of students’ phones while also keeping them from being a distraction?

* Read the full article by Liz Kolb at Edutopia - George Lucas Educational Foundation