12 Apps of Christmas!

The end of the year brings good tidings... This years' close out tech-tip will look at 12 apps, some of which you may already know and use, but there might be something new worth trying out!

The holiday season calls for some entertainment and even better if it is free.

At number 12

TiVibox.tv this app works well on android platforms but also runs well off your [PC] browser. Just make sure you have the latest version of Java running. From your android device search for the tivibox app in the google play store and watch HD quality live TV.

Number 11

Blogger App: With your WNS email you have access to your own blogger account. Blogger is the blogging platform from google. With this app, you can blog on the go. You can find this app in the google playstore, iTunes and windows store.

Number 10

During the holiday time you may want to find that last minute deal, 

or just a place to get away for the weekend. The SleepOut app is simply amazing. It works worldwide. All you need to know is the name of the city and that’s it. Just type in Mombasa and see what comes up! With this app you may want to also have uber [app] handy to get around!

Number 9

Aviary: is a very cool app. Make that meme! Or tweak that pic, aviary is the app for you! Available in ios and android app stores.

Number 8

The long wait is finally over! Your beloved Firefox is now available for ios and android. Firefox is an amazing fast and secure browser. Log into the browser and create a profile [also works with chrome], this keeps your shortcuts and browsing patterns, making your internet experience as fluid as possible.

Number 7

Hootsuite: This apps comes in two versions: free and premium. The free version allows you to manage up to 3 social media accounts. This means, once you create a Hootsuite account and add 3 social media accounts for example: Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, you can update all three at one go or even schedule an update… The app offers in apps purchases, for better customization to improve your experience.

Number 6

Destiny Quest: This apps allows you to access our WNS library away from campus. All you need to do is to use the first potion of your email address as your username and the generic password as password. Change it when you access the system through the school website.

Number 5

Dinner Spinner: If you love to cook or try out new recipes Dinner spinner is the coolest app ever! Available from your app store! [ios or google playstore]

Number 4

Google Keep: Capture what’s on your mind and take it with you. Make that shopping list or to-do list complete with check boxes and reminders! And more amazing you can share the keep document as you would a google doc!

Number 3

Google Hangouts: google hangouts allows you to chat from your Google Instant Messenger, this apps gives you the freedom to keep in touch while on the move!

Number 2

Nike running / Mapmyrun : these two apps are tottaly awesome! If you love running you will understand! If you don’t you’ll not mind

having them. Mapmyrun allows you to map bike rides and walks.

Number 1

Outlook! I have been very impressed by this app. Microsoft have done a good job at fine tuning this app. It will allow multiple email accounts and from different platforms. The interface is easy and configuration is pretty straight forward. If you were looking at trying a new email app I recommend Outlook!

Have a Merry Christmas!

Access Destiny | Remotely

Access Destiny | Remotely | Updated


Sometimes you just want to know if you can find a certain book from our library, then you pause and think, how will I do this and i'm off campus? Now Destiny [our cloud library server] is accessible remotely. With Version 13, which we are currently running the access using apps is more fluid. Destiny Quest,  is the app to find in the AppStore, Windows Store or google playstore. When you get it install it. When you launch the app for the first time you will need some access credentials. Use the details below:


The URL :https://wnslibrary.follettdestiny.com
The username is the first potion of your name before the @ sign and the password is password.

Example:
URL: https://wnslibrary.follettdestiny.com
Port: 80
SSL: 443
username: jamesbond
password: password

When you log on you will have access to a simple interface that will let you know if  there are new titles, overdue books and you can see the books [titles] you have put on hold.

If you try to access destiny from a remote location via the link on our website by clicking on the WNS library button [while using your personal computer or device], then use the same credentials you as mentioned in the example above.

Have a fun day at the WNS Library!

Multiple Apps | Google Contacts | Flip your classroom!

Tech tips | Install Multiple Apps at once!

Some times you wonder how will I keep all my “free” apps up-to-date? And how do I download them without the burden of installing spyware without my knowledge? Free apps or open source applications offer great alternatives for paid for productivity software.

If you work on a windows environment there are apps that you use all the time for example, Chrome, VLC, Adobe DC, Paint + just to mention a few. Secure by Design Inc. created a tool to help you install most of the common apps in a clean environment free of malicious software and bugs. To get to their website follow this link. [https://ninite.com/]

For mac users, follow this link [http://www.getmacapps.com/] or [http://macapps.link/en] these allow you to install multiple apps at the same time. For the Mac user, you will need to launch a terminal window and paste the link given after your selection. To launch terminal, go to the top right hand corner, click on the spotlight search, then type the word terminal, when the icon pops up, click to start terminal. You may need to enter your administrator password to allow the installation to proceed.

These websites allow you to keep your apps up-to-date, and if new software is added you can safely install it from here.

Google Contacts

Saving your contacts on Google makes life easy.  If your have a group of people who you call often,  If you would like to update your address book, let me know and I will email you the CSV file [instructions on how to upload at the end of this section] with WNS Faculty and Staff. When you get the CSV file upload it to your Google contacts. This then creates a new list called “imported” You can rename it or create a new group with an appropriate name for example : Office, Teachers, Parents and Guardians etc. Next time you sync your contacts on your [device] phone, the new group “office” will appear with the details of the people who were in the CSV file. For WNS I have already created this file with everybody’s phone number and current email address. 

Follow this link on how to import the CSV file into your Google contacts.  https://support.google.com/mail/answer/14024?hl=en

Flip your classroom!

 

Have your tried Blendspace? Another way to flip your classroom, sign up using your Google account [Your WNS email]. [www.blendspace.com] This allows you to create lessons that have digital content in them. Blendspace does work wit Edmodo but the in app support with will stop soon. Blendspace in itself is a great tool, so do give it a try.

Directions made simpler

As the Summer holiday begins [winter for some] there will be lots to do over the break. Finding an address can sometimes be tough. GPS coordinates are great, for devices, but perhaps not people. In neighborhoods like Karen in Nairobi, it would seem easy to figure out an address, but what you may not know is there may be several homes at the said address. Well to make things more exiting, if you were to deliver something to an informal settlement, like Kibera, now that would not be an easy task.
All this might be changing with What3Words. Mapping the entire globe in 3m  by 3m square spaces using 3 words.

This addressing means everyone has a shipping address. Help can reach those who need it faster,
shipping of goods and services can be done more efficiently, and words are easier to remember :)
Learn more on here....

If you find this address you might just be in luck for a cuppa tea! adopts.enhances.prettiest

Shop Again! | Online

VITU MOB [Kiswahili for Many Things]

Recently I came across a very interesting app. This app allows you to shop online from known brands and have your merchandise  delivered to your door. The lead time from purchase to delivery is approximately three weeks, but the amazing thing is... it is to your door. The sign up is simple. Go to the vitu mob website by clicking here Then download the vitu mob app. On the top right hand corner of your browser you will see  the vitumob shopping cart icon. This is where you check out from to have your bill tabulated in Kenyan Shillings.Once you have completed your transaction a VITU MOB agent will call you with details regarding shipping. Payment can be made using VISA, MASTER and MPESA. This will make shopping from stores in the US simple again :) Give it a go, try the service and have fun shopping.

Here are some stores you can buy from in the US.

If you prefer purchasing from the UK you can use Kesnosm freight. 
They allow you to purchase from leading UK stores, ship your merchandise to their UK warehouse and then it will be forwarded to Kenya. Typically this takes two weeks. Once your goods arrive, you will be contacted to give delivery information. A charge of Kenya shillings 3000 /= is typical for Nairobi and it's environs. With kensom you can ship anything. All you need is to have your contact person in the UK send your package to the kensom warehouse, pay, that's it. Delivery to your door.

Below stores accessible via KENSOM online shopping.

Gmail tips and tricks!

Get the most out of your Gmail account!

Google Labs provide a “sandbox” environment for apps that in the experimental stage but not yet released as fully commissioned features of Google apps. The Labs can be accessed by hitting the settings option from the configuration wheel that located on the top right hand side of your Gmail account.

In the labs you can enable some interesting features that customize your look and feel while using Google mail apps.

One cool feature is the use of preview panes. This allows you to preview your email by just click in on it once.

Your Gmail account suddenly now looks like the familiar Microsoft outlook interface.  You can have it Vertical or horizontal.

Another cool feature you can enable is undo send! You do know how frustrating it gets when you hit send and then see that TYPO! Aaaagrrr well now with undo send you can catch that and make corrections. To hit undo, you must click on the cancel link at the top of your mailbox where you see the word Sending then a message undo send appears. If you click on it your message will not be delivered to the recipient until you re-send it.

One more trick: using the operator “OR” when doing a refined search.  See example below

from:sammygatere@westnairobischool.org OR from:techsupport@nwea.org

This gives you a refined search using the parameters specified.

Enjoy customizing your Gmail experience.

More stuff:

Follow this link for more tips and tricks!

Map how you think!

More from Google

Consolidating information can sometimes be a tough call. For example if you are planing a holiday with friends and need to pick a place and activities to do as a group, that can get pretty interesting, everybody has a great idea to share, some ideas that are not so great and well those that you don't even bother about. Sometimes meetings are the same and you may want to consolidate all the information in a visual form. Mind Mapping has been around for years. In the simplest terms it can be referred to as a visual form of note taking. Taking notes this way helps capture what the main issue, give an overview or the complex matters if any and visually helps organize your information.
Google apps  has a tool that can allow you to do this and share map with other collaborators who can contribute to the conversation visually. The tool is called MindMup! you can install it from the Google market place and for our organization, just go to Drive, NEW, MINDMUP and there you go!

Read more about MindMup

A screen shot of MindMup

Trees, Paper, Energy!

Perhaps when you hit the print icon from your productivity application you hardly think about saving

energy! well the more you hit Print the more energy you consume! The going green campaign enlightens you on how best to manage paper based print work. Did you know that every ton of paper translates to 17 trees? this is huge! if you think about it when was the last time you planted a tree to offset what you printed in the last year! So as the year unfolds consider to plant one or two trees to offset this disequilibrium.

Another way of saving energy, paper and trees is through planning your printing. If you can, print double sided. If you have a choice print to a more cost effective printer please do. For example in our Kenyan context, the cost of printing a single page using a typical box laser printer  (paper included) is approximately Kes 4.18 ( $1 = Kes = 90) in comparison to about Kes

2 when using an multi-function printer copier [MFP].

Printing technology has been changing rapidly, Since Johannes Gutenberg invented a machine that revolutionized the world, things have moved up a notch. Now rapid prototyping is a reality, you can imagine how this can impact teaching science, art, mathematics practically anything, there is only one small hitch before we order one... we need to break two banks to afford it! :)[$2500 for an entry level]

More about Printing

3D printer with an F1 race car prototype

1. 3D printing and more[here.]
2. How paper use impacts your bottom line [read ...]
3. 3D Art [watch...]
4. Paper Reduction act [read...]

3D printing Math encounter!

Go Google Drive!

Go Google Drive | take your files anywhere!

Welcome back! hope you had lots of fun over the Christmas holidays! As you settle into the new year and get re-acquainted to your technology or start using new stuff Santa gave you... having all your devices talk will be a simple must. Online collaboration is becoming increasingly popular and cloud based solutions are just everywhere. Looking at  Google, one of the products they have on their offering is Google Drive. Google drive allows you to have your own personal cloud storage. Some immediate benefits are; The ability to share you documents  easily and give the restrictions for access and modification. For business grade Google Drive has 30 GB of storage that can be accessed using the the Google drive app from any device that has access to the internet. Google also has some online productivity tools such as spreadsheets and word processing. The  beauty of  working off

these online tools is, once you start typing, the document is saved. 

When working with others, Google drive allows you to see who is currently working on the document at anytime.

Please watch these videos on how to get started:[Just follow the link]

1. Meet Google DRIVE [Under 2 min]
2. Go Google DRIVE [Under 2 min]
3. This is Google DRIVE [Under 2 min]
4. Explore Google DRIVE [Under 2 min]
5. How Google Apps WORK [Under 2 min]
6. Beginner's guide - Google Drive [16 Min]
7. Google Drive  - a Complete User Guide [16 Min]