Newsletter No.53
If you want a consultancy visit to discuss any aspect of ICT, remember every Lifeline school has a one hour consultancy visit included in the subscription so it won't cost you anything.
Green IT Box - a recycling solution
We are frequently asked for advice on disposing of old IT equipment. Until now there has not been a simple answer but the 'Green IT Box' seems to be an ideal solution for schools.
You contact us to order your box - which comes on a pallet - and we arrange for delivery to your school. You fill it with your old equipment (PCs, laptops, servers, printers, cables, fax machines, laptop batteries etc) and then telephone Green IT Box. They collect it within 72 hours, securely recycle it and send you a Waste Disposal Certificate by email.
If you wish thay can send you a list of all the serial numbers but this costs extra. Lifeline subscribers get a discount price by ordering through us. For further details click here or on the picture.
An Interactive Projector - that's different
The BrightLink 450Wi, is a short-throw interactive projector , which turns any standard whiteboard or smooth wall into an interactive learning area. It comes with an 'interactive pen' which should only need configuring once - hence removing the need for repeated calibration.
Additionally it has a web interface and can be programmed to turn on and off at certain times (lengthening bulb life) and uses a standard vga connection as well as a network connection enabling one feed to be sent to several projectors or a projector to be fed from a network connected computer in any part of the school.
The Epson 450Wi costs £1425 and until August 31st comes with a 4 year warranty for projector and bulb (education only).
Easy Interactive Tools is supplied with the 450Wi and it is also possible to buy Promethean's ActivInspire software for about £499.
However, although it is NOT permitted to use Smart Notebook software the SMART Notebook Express web application can be used to show any existing resources.
We are frequently asked for advice on disposing of old IT equipment. Until now there has not been a simple answer but the 'Green IT Box' seems to be an ideal solution for schools.
You contact us to order your box - which comes on a pallet - and we arrange for delivery to your school. You fill it with your old equipment (PCs, laptops, servers, printers, cables, fax machines, laptop batteries etc) and then telephone Green IT Box. They collect it within 72 hours, securely recycle it and send you a Waste Disposal Certificate by email.
If you wish thay can send you a list of all the serial numbers but this costs extra. Lifeline subscribers get a discount price by ordering through us. For further details click here or on the picture.
An Interactive Projector - that's different
The BrightLink 450Wi, is a short-throw interactive projector , which turns any standard whiteboard or smooth wall into an interactive learning area. It comes with an 'interactive pen' which should only need configuring once - hence removing the need for repeated calibration.
Additionally it has a web interface and can be programmed to turn on and off at certain times (lengthening bulb life) and uses a standard vga connection as well as a network connection enabling one feed to be sent to several projectors or a projector to be fed from a network connected computer in any part of the school.
The Epson 450Wi costs £1425 and until August 31st comes with a 4 year warranty for projector and bulb (education only).
Easy Interactive Tools is supplied with the 450Wi and it is also possible to buy Promethean's ActivInspire software for about £499.
However, although it is NOT permitted to use Smart Notebook software the SMART Notebook Express web application can be used to show any existing resources.
What's New?
We are hoping to hold a 'what's new' workshop early in the Autumn term. Among the presentations we are hoping to have Epson (interactive projector), Samsung (netbook) and D-Link (managed wireless). If you are interested in attending this workshop then please fill in this form.
Just 2 Easy News
Just 2 Easy (www.j2e.com) has been provided free to all our subscribers since its launch in January 2008. Version 3 has just been released which you will know about if you have used j2e lately - it looks quite different and some choices (embedding videos etc, creating web-forms) have their own icons..
What you may not know about are the new additions to this easy to use (hence the name) online software.
JIT is the Just 2 Easy Infant Toolkit. The normal cost is £0.50 per pupil but Lifeline subscribers get a 10% discount.
You can take a look at JIT by going to http://www.j2e.com/jit. Further development is ongoing and the developers are only too happy to receive suggestions.
J2MeaSure is a set of measuring tools designed for use in education. It includes a ruler, calliper, protractor, angle measurer and scaling tools. Students can calculate the length, angle and area of any objects on the screen.
J2Measure is an add-on to j2e and normally cost £0.20 per pupil per year. Of course Lifeline subscribers get a 10% discount.
If you are already registered with j2e then to upgrade to JIT, J2Measure or j2e Symbols, simply login to your account as an administrator (admin). Click on admin, my settings and the school tab. Make sure the authority is set as Lexicon and then click on upgrade. Your free j2e account runs until 31st December 2010.
For j2Measure or J2e Symbols (additions to j2e) the cost will be automatically calculated with the 10% discount to run to the end of the year. Alternatively you can get a free 30 day trail. For JIT your account will run for a year from the day you register.
If you have not already registered then Click here to find out how to sign up (password 'j2eregister').
One of the other recent additions to j2e is the 'Word Cloud' which gives an idea of the subjects written about at a glance. To access the word cloud simply click within the writing on j2e and select 'analyse'.
At the end of this newsletter is its word cloud.
Merlin Training
If your school is interested in Merlin training by an enthusiastic ex-teacher who can make Merlin understandable and fun then fill in this form.
Free Software
If you want or need to edit digital photos and don't want to spend large amounts of money on professional software then you can download 'ArtWeaver' free of charge from www.artweaver.de
We wish all Lifeline Subscribers a restful holiday.________________________________________________
Stop Press: As from 13th July 2010 Microsoft are no longer providing security updates to Windows XP with Service Pack 2. It is therefore strongly advisable that all PCs running Windows XP are upgraded to Service Pack 3.
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