This past weekend, Windows 7 BETA was released to the public and I was one of the millions of people who attempted the download. It took me about 19 hours to download which isn’t too bad, but that was after more download servers were added. I am installing it on a VMWare virtual machine as well as a ASUS Eee netbook. We’ll see how it goes.
Well, I have been using the iPod for a couple of months now and still love it.I have been able to find many useful applications including one that will allow me to use Remote Desktop to my servers as long as I have a wi-fi connection. I have also found the WordPress application for the iPod, as that is what I am composing this post on. The keyboard isn’t too difficult to use once you get used to allowing the spell checker do it’s job (thanks to Ryan Collins for pointing that out).
I was really getting tired of the older theme and had to pick a new one. It may get changed again over the weekend, we’ll see.
For school I carry a Samsung i760 Windows Mobile “smart phone.” I’m not sure who coined the phrase “smart phone” because it really couldn’t be any further from the truth. This thing wasn’t designed with the phone part being it’s primary function. To be honest, I’m not really sure what it’s primary function was supposed to be. Several years ago I purchased a Compaq iPaq Windows CE device and wasn’t impressed. I found the Windows CE operating system difficult to operate, and not really good at any of it’s intended functions. Personally, I feel the same way about Windows Mobile 6 Professional, it’s not really good at anything. Maybe that’s a little harsh, it’s not GREAT at anything. For example, I received a text message from one of my assistants letting me know of a family emergency and that she wouldn’t be in to work. However I didn’t get notification of that text message, I stumbled across the message that afternoon. Blackberry devices on the other hand do nearly everything great! Perhaps those of you with Windows Mobile devices know of some tweaks or something that I could do to start loving that device, but I think I’m going to stop using it.
Over the weekend I purchased an iPod Touch so that I could use it as a PDA, and use my LG VX-8700 cell phone. I’d buy the iPhone (or perhaps the new Blackberry Storm once it arrives) but the coverage area, particularly at school, is better with Verizon. So far I’m loving the iPod touch other than an application that I downloaded just seemed to lock up the device. All has been well since I removed it. I’ll write more of a review as I discover this little gem.
In the recent weeks we have been starting to get caught up, and are being more proactive than before. We have started tracking down the students who have installed illegal software, and we are re-imaging their laptops. We have found quite a few students who are playing online games because there is nothing to install on their systems. RuneScape seems to be the big one, because they can start the game at home and put the laptop into standby mode. When they get to school, where the site is blocked, they pull up the session that is already running. The only way that I have found to stop this is to shut off port 43594 on the firewall. We’ll see if that keeps them out.
We are currently evaluating Microsoft SMS Server to aid us in the distribution of software packages. We have had quite a few requests for additional software to be loaded, and we need some sort of agent based system to distribute the software. If anybody has any experience they are willing to share with SMS, please visit the forums and speak up. There are quite a few schools doing 1 to 1 that have this same issue.
Lastly, please visit the forums and speak up. Introduce yourself and your school.
I was sent a link to a new website for K-12 schools doing 1 to 1 programs, the link was snet by CoSN.
