YouTube can be a great classroom resource, but the comments and "related content" are often distracting and can even be inappropriate. There are two great tools available to help you embed a YouTube video in a clean page with a couple of quick clicks:
1) Quietube (quietube.com) is a button you can add to your browser bookmark bar that "masks" a YouTube video with one click. Done.
2) If you plan to post a video for students to watch, copy the YouTube URL and paste it into safeshare.tv. This will generate a new "safe" link that shows the video on a plain page. Share THIS link with your students to help them avoid distractions and just see what you want them to see.
Showing posts with label Multimedia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Multimedia. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Resizing Images
The proliferation of high resolution digital cameras and scanners has begun to cause issues when people try to put these HUGE images into documents, on the web or send them via email. Unfortunately the camera industry is pushing us to use much higher quality images than most of us need!
Suggestion#1: Know how big your images are! Windows: right-click and choose "Properties." Mac: right-click or ctrl-click and choose "Get Info" or simply select the file and use CMD-I. Sizes are in KB or MB (=1000KB). Emailing anything larger than 3MB is not recommended, and 500KB or less is good for inserting images into documents or web pages.
Suggestion #2: If you only intend to use your images on the computer (in documents, on the web or in presentations) I recommend turning the resolution DOWN to 3.2Mpx. This still gives you a decent quality image (will still print fine in 8x10) with a manageable file size. True: Zooming in to choose just a small portion of your picture will result in degraded quality.
Suggestion #3: Learn how to resize your images.
Suggestion#1: Know how big your images are! Windows: right-click and choose "Properties." Mac: right-click or ctrl-click and choose "Get Info" or simply select the file and use CMD-I. Sizes are in KB or MB (=1000KB). Emailing anything larger than 3MB is not recommended, and 500KB or less is good for inserting images into documents or web pages.
Suggestion #2: If you only intend to use your images on the computer (in documents, on the web or in presentations) I recommend turning the resolution DOWN to 3.2Mpx. This still gives you a decent quality image (will still print fine in 8x10) with a manageable file size. True: Zooming in to choose just a small portion of your picture will result in degraded quality.
Suggestion #3: Learn how to resize your images.
Windows: Our school computers have the "Image Resizer Powertool" installed. This is a free tool available from Microsoft (Google it for the link). Once installed, you can right-click on an image and choose "Resize Pictures," then choose from a list of sizes (small, medium, large). This will create a COPY of your image with the size added to the filename. You can also select multiple images and resize them all at once.
Mac: The Preview program has the capability to reduce the quality of images. Open the file and choose "Save As," then rename the file (so the original is preserved) and move the quality slider to the left. Unfortunately this only works for single images.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
The iPhoto library
Most people find the iPhoto and iTunes applications an easy way to view organize pictures and music, and iPhoto has great slideshow, printing and editing features as well. One drawback of both programs, however, is that they "hide" your files from you, making them difficult to find or manage on your own. Because both programs use a database to help organize your files there can also be times when the program "loses" your files, making you think all is lost.
So where ARE your picture and music files? iPhoto stores everything in the iPhoto library, located in the Home --> Pictures folder. Although this looks like a single file, ctrl-clicking on it and choosing "show package contents" will show you a folder that includes many database files and a folder called "originals" that has your actual JPEG images. This understanding can be particularly helpful if your database becomes corrupted: you can pull out the "originals" folder, rename or delete the iPhoto Library and re-import them.
iTunes works in a very similar way, however the "iTunes Music" folder containing all of your actual files is not hidden: it is located in Home --> Music --> iTunes.
So where ARE your picture and music files? iPhoto stores everything in the iPhoto library, located in the Home --> Pictures folder. Although this looks like a single file, ctrl-clicking on it and choosing "show package contents" will show you a folder that includes many database files and a folder called "originals" that has your actual JPEG images. This understanding can be particularly helpful if your database becomes corrupted: you can pull out the "originals" folder, rename or delete the iPhoto Library and re-import them.
iTunes works in a very similar way, however the "iTunes Music" folder containing all of your actual files is not hidden: it is located in Home --> Music --> iTunes.