APP Attack! QuickCite

Do you need to create a bibliography but struggle with formatting the citation? Why not try QuickCite!


Simply scan the bar code of the source you want to cite and QuickCite will email you the formatted citation. It's that simple!

What formats are supported? According to the website:

Currently we support MLA, APA, IEEE, and Chicago, and have plans to add Harvard and BibTex formats in the very near future.

The App currently works only with books - since it needs the ISBN bar code to create the citation. But the company states on their website that they are looking into adding the ability to create citations from other sources.

QuickCite is available through the App Store and the cost is .99!




Do you have a favorite APP you would like to see highlighted? Let us know - maybe you could even be a guest contributor!

Do you want to learn more about APPS? Then sign up for our APP Attack workshop on May 3rd at our Ewing NJ office. This is a new date because the first session is sold out! We are limiting the registration to the first 20 people, so sign up today!

For more info, click HERE.

Let's Get WILD (Women's Institute on Leadership and Disability) - Feel Good Friday

Mobility International USA is a non-profit organization who's mission is to "empower people with disabilities to achieve their human rights through international exchange and international development." To read, in detail, more about what they do click here.

MIUSA has a program called the Women's Institute on Leadership and Disability or WILD. The purpose of this program is to empower women with disabilities around the world to achieve their goals, share their dreams, and discuss their experiences.

From their program in 2010, WILD created a video called "Loud, Proud and Passionate". It features attendees from Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chile, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Palestinian Territories, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, St. Lucia, Syria, Turkey, Uganda, United States of America, Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Their goal is to reach 10,000 views on Youtube and to raise funds for future WILD programs. Currently their view count is 11,332. While they have reached their goal, this video is definitely (read absolutely) worth sharing.

Enjoy watching and please pass it along!!!!!



Have a story or group you would like to showcase on this blog? Email me at vlombardo@advopps.org and we'll get it up here.

Happy Friday!

Making Instruction Accessible

Today is the NJCART meeting focusing on Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM).

After our presentations from Joy Zabala of the Center for Applied Special Technology and the National AIM Center (10 Things Everyone Needs to Know About Instructional Materials.) and Perkie B. Cannon of NJDOE’s Office of Special Education Programs’ Learning Resource Center Project [Accessing Alternate Print Media Through the National Instructional Materials Access Center (NIMAC).]; Janet DeSenzo of JanTech Educational Services and I will lead a demonstration and discussion of Technology Tools to Enable Access to AIM.

Some of the tools we will be highlighting include:

Software Solutions

Kurzweil 3000 from Kurzweil Educational Systems

Read:OutLoud from Don Johnston Inc.

DAISY to ePUB from Don Jonhston Inc.

Hardware Solutions

Intel Reader from Intel

Classmate Reader from Don Johnston, Inc.

Web 2.0 Wednesday! Print What You Like.com

Have you ever tried to print a website to review off line and you end up with four pages of junk you didn't want? Maybe you get two pages of ads, a whole page that just shows the navigation links. Wouldn't you like to just print what you like? Well - now you can with printwhatyoulike.com


This website allows you to simply enter in the URL from the site you want and hit enter. Then you see your selected website in the print what you like frame. Now - simply select any of the zones and choose from some of the options (such as ISOLATE, REMOVE, WIDEN and RESIZE)

By selecting from these features, you can strip a website down to just the text you were interested in. Also, you can adjust the text size to accommodate many users. You can also choose to remove all images or backgrounds. You can also change the font of the text!

Once the page only contains what you want, select PRINT and you are all set!

Come to the NJCART Meeting! Accessible Instructional Materials

Please join NJCART for our next meeting.

Making Instruction Accessible.

Join us on February 24, 2011 from 10 am to 1 pm at the Learning Resource Center – North Satellite in Morris Plains for an afternoon with Joy Zabala, Perkie B. Cannon, Janet DeSenzo and Mike Marotta.

First, Joy Zabala of the Center for Applied Special Technology and the National AIM Center will be joining us via the Internet to discuss 10 Things Everyone Needs to Know About Instructional Materials.

What are accessible instructional materials? What are they and who needs them? Is AIM the same as NIMAS? Wouldn't digital materials solve the problem? What does this have to do with copyright? How can we build on what we already know? If these questions and others sound familiar to you, join Joy for a fast-paced look at a few of the major issues swirling around the provision of print-based materials in accessible formats when needed.

Next, Perkie B. Cannon of NJDOE’s Office of Special Education Programs’ Learning Resource Center Project will present Accessing Alternate Print Media Through the National Instructional Materials Access Center (NIMAC).

This presentation will cover texts eligible for conversion to NIMAS format, student eligibility to receive NIMAS materials, assistive technology considerations for accessible print media and procedures to access the NIMAC repository.

Finally, NJCART’s own Janet DeSenzo of JanTech Educational Services and Mike Marotta of Advancing Opportunities will lead a demonstration and discussion of Technology Tools to Enable Access to AIM.

Our speakers will highlight a variety of assistive technology tools (both hardware and software solutions) available to enable students to access AIM.

For directions to the February meeting, located at the LRC – North Satellite, 104 The American Road, Morris Plains, NJ, please visit http://www.state.nj.us/education/lrc/dir2lrcns.pdf.

RSVP by February 18th to Mike at mmarotta@advopps.org.

Admission for NJCART members is FREE!!! Did you forget to send in your dues? Visit http://www.njcart.org/page17/files/Membership%20Application.pdf to download our application: print the form, fill it out and mail it with your check to NJCART c/o Advancing Opportunities, Inc., 1005 Whitehead Road Extension, Suite 1, Ewing, NJ 08638.

Not a member? You can participate in this meeting for just $10 – bring a colleague, and their admission is half off.

APP Attack! 14 Apps to get you through the next conference

This article came across my desk last week and I thought I would share. The article, written by Shelly Terrell, is from Tech & Learning and is entitled "14 Apps that should accompany you to the next conference."

Many of us use the iPad for not only our consumers, but as a productivity tool for ourselves. This article highlights a group of Apps that may help you best use your time at a professional development activity.

The Apps listed in the article include:

• Networking Apps (My Name is E; Bump)
• Note taking Apps (Evernote; Posterous, Mindblowing)
• Free Storage Apps (DropBox; iBooks)
• Streaming Apps (Ustream Broadcaster; Ustream Viewer)
• plus, a handful of additional Apps
  

Do you have a favorite APP you would like to see highlighted? Let us know - maybe you could even be a guest contributor!

Do you want to learn more about APPS? Then sign up for our APP Attack workshop on May 3rd at our Ewing NJ office. This is a new date because the first session is sold out! We are limiting the registration to the first 20 people, so sign up today!

For more info, click HERE.

Team Hoyt "Yes You Can!"- Feel Good Fridays

This is from the team's website:

Team Hoyt is an inspirational story of a father, Dick Hoyt, and his son, Rick, who compete together in marathons and triathlons across the country.
Team Hoyt strives to help those who are physically disabled become active members of the community. Join us in spreading Team Hoyt's message, "Yes You Can!"

This is one of the most inspirational things I have seen in a long time.

Enjoy watching their video and if they are coming to a race or speaking event near you, try to see them.

Happy Friday!

Independent, Happy and Successful - Mission Accomplished

"I just wanted to thank you so much for all your help with my student. The technology that she is getting trained in has really opened up doors for her. For example, today she was in the library (like everybody else) reading myths and legends on the computer via Kurzweil. She was independent, happy, and successful!! "

This email is from a teacher who wanted to thank the team for helping to intergrate assistive technology tools (that were located within the district) for a student. The team's goal was for the student to be as independent with reading and writing as possible. We have reached this goal. Mission Accomplished.

Web 2.0 Wednesday! Posterbee

Are you looking for an online spot for collaboration? Whether it's with students or co-workers - working together online increases productivity and facilitates task completion.

By using Posterbee, team members can share slides, notes, videos, and files to one centralized location. Simply use your team email address to send information to the shared space from anywhere. Another way to share is to use the Posterbee Bookmarklet, which embeds itself in your browser window and allows you to automatically send items from your browser window.

This service is free for teams up to 12 people.

Have you tried it? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

APP Attack! ZoomReader

Exciting news in the area of text to speech support for reading. aiSquared, the company behind Zoom Text, announced recently a new app that is coming soon!

ZoomReader will allow you to use your iPod built in camera to take a picture of any text. Then using state of the art Optical Character Recognition (OCR) the app will translate that picture into text.

Some of the other features of the app, according to the website, are:

• Simple UI designed with large buttons and integration with iPhone’s VoiceOver feature to ensure accurate screen control and ease-of-use by the visually impaired
• The only iOS solution built from the ground up for low-vision users that features both OCR and an audio synthesizer for reading back captured text
• Customizable highlight colors, synthesizer, text size and speech rate

While the app is being marketed towards the blind / low vision community, the usefulness of these features for anyone with a print disability are obvious.

Do you want to learn more? Check out this video for additional information.






Do you have a favorite APP you would like to see highlighted? Let us know - maybe you could even be a guest contributor!

Do you want to learn more about APPS? Then sign up for our APP Attack workshop on May 3rd at our Ewing NJ office. This is a new date because the first session is sold out! We are limiting the registration to the first 20 people, so sign up today!

For more info, click HERE.

I am NOT a fan of American Idol - Welcome to "Feel Good Friday"

I will be starting a new regular post on Fridays called "Feel Good Friday". The sole purpose of these posts will be to share a fun or inspiring story about people with disabilities.
This week's post is about the American Idol contestant, James Durbin.

I am NOT a fan of American Idol. In fact, I am anti-TV in general. Regardless, someone brought to my attention the contestant James Durbin. James is diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome and Tourette Syndrome.

Here is his American Idol audition video. It is clear that he is letting his abilities overshadow his disabilities. He has a lot of courage and a lot of strenghth to get in front of three judges (not to mention the country/world). I wish him well and I will be rooting for him from afar, because I still won't watch the show.



Enjoy and Happy Friday!

TLC Spotlight - Kindle

The Kindle Wireless Reading Device

Mention the word eBook reader and the brand that springs to mind is the Kindle. With digital book readers such as the Amazon Kindle, reading can become a new experience. Your entire book collection can now be stored up to 3500 books in 4GB memory. The main advantage is that the item is so light at 8.5 onces, very portable and can be taken anywhere or read at anytime.

The first selling point for the Kindle is the quality of display. With eInk screen technolongy as opposed to LCD display (commonly found in most computers), the kindle can be read even in broad daylight. 

 

Check out the video...

 

 

What do you think? Do you want to TRY IT before you BUY IT? Then join our Technology Lending Center. Click here to join today!

Come to the NJCART Meeting! Accessible Instructional Materials

Please join NJCART for our next meeting.

Making Instruction Accessible.

Join us on February 24, 2011 from 10 am to 1 pm at the Learning Resource Center – North Satellite in Morris Plains for an afternoon with Joy Zabala, Perkie B. Cannon, Janet DeSenzo and Mike Marotta.

First, Joy Zabala of the Center for Applied Special Technology and the National AIM Center will be joining us via the Internet to discuss 10 Things Everyone Needs to Know About Instructional Materials.

What are accessible instructional materials? What are they and who needs them? Is AIM the same as NIMAS? Wouldn't digital materials solve the problem? What does this have to do with copyright? How can we build on what we already know? If these questions and others sound familiar to you, join Joy for a fast-paced look at a few of the major issues swirling around the provision of print-based materials in accessible formats when needed.

Next, Perkie B. Cannon of NJDOE’s Office of Special Education Programs’ Learning Resource Center Project will present Accessing Alternate Print Media Through the National Instructional Materials Access Center (NIMAC).

This presentation will cover texts eligible for conversion to NIMAS format, student eligibility to receive NIMAS materials, assistive technology considerations for accessible print media and procedures to access the NIMAC repository.

Finally, NJCART’s own Janet DeSenzo of JanTech Educational Services and Mike Marotta of Advancing Opportunities will lead a demonstration and discussion of Technology Tools to Enable Access to AIM.

Our speakers will highlight a variety of assistive technology tools (both hardware and software solutions) available to enable students to access AIM.

For directions to the February meeting, located at the LRC – North Satellite, 104 The American Road, Morris Plains, NJ, please visit http://www.state.nj.us/education/lrc/dir2lrcns.pdf.

RSVP by February 18th to Mike at mmarotta@advopps.org.

Admission for NJCART members is FREE!!! Did you forget to send in your dues? Visit http://www.njcart.org/page17/files/Membership%20Application.pdf to download our application: print the form, fill it out and mail it with your check to NJCART c/o Advancing Opportunities, Inc., 1005 Whitehead Road Extension, Suite 1, Ewing, NJ 08638.

Not a member? You can participate in this meeting for just $10 – bring a colleague, and their admission is half off.

Web 2.0 Wednesday! Zukmo

Do you have so much info on your computer you don't even know where to look for stuff? That is where Zukmo comes in!
Simply sign up for this website and begin collecting your information. Or as the website says:

"Zukmo helps you with consuming information that is relevant to you and doubles up as a digital memory for information you never want to lose."

Once you add your information into Zukmo, you have the ability to utilize the features of the website, including:

• Using Full Text Search capability
  
• Ability to see a snapshot of a saved page - this works even if the website disappears, you will still have your snapshot.
• An Easy Reader setting that lets you view the page without any of the banners, links, ads, etc. that tend to clog up web pages.

Try it out and let us know what you think!

APP Attack! New Search Features of App Store + Top APPS of all time!

Today we are going to talk about the new search features that have been added to the App Store.

Have you ever tried to search the App Store for an app? It's difficult, isn't it! So many choices and not a very user friendly interface to narrow down your searches. The Categories help but you are still left with many choices that require an extensive search to find something you might want to try.

The new search filters include: Category, Release Date, Customer Rating, Price and Device.


Try it out and let us know what you think! Does this make your app shopping easier? What other types of filters would help you?

Have you ever wondered what the most popular APPS of all time are for the iPad?

Well....here is the list of Top Free and Top Pay APPS for the iPad. Enjoy!

All-Time Top Free iPad Apps
1. Pandora
2. Google Mobile App
3. Movies by Flixster
4. Google Earth
5. Yelp
6. Fandango Movies
7. Remote
8. iBooks
9. Bible
10. Solitaire

All-Time Top Paid iPad Apps
1. SoundHound
2. StickWars
3. FlightTrack
4. Backbreaker Football
5. Calorie Tracker
6. BlocksClassic
7. iFart Mobile
8. GoodReader for iPad
9. Cro-Mag Rally
10. Ambiance


Do you have a favorite APP you would like to see highlighted? Let us know - maybe you could even be a guest contributor!

Do you want to learn more about APPS? Then sign up for our APP Attack workshop on March 15th at our Ewing NJ office. For more info, click HERE.

Web 2.0 Wednesday! AudioThief

Have you ever wanted to grab the audio from a You Tube clip to listen to away from your computer? Maybe an interview or product review - where having the video part is not critical to understanding the clip.

Then try AudioThief

This website is a FREE video to audio converter for any clip you find online. Simply get the video URL and paste it into the CONVERT field on the AudioThief website. Click CONVERT and the mp3 track will be quickly created for you to download. Once the file is ready, right click the mp3 and save to your computer.

Now go ahead and enjoy that audio on your iPod!

Have you used this tool? Leave a comment below and share your experience.

Come to the NJCART Meeting! Accessible Instructional Materials

Please join NJCART for our next meeting.

Making Instruction Accessible.

Join us on February 24, 2011 from 10 am to 1 pm at the Learning Resource Center – North Satellite in Morris Plains for an afternoon with Joy Zabala, Perkie B. Cannon, Janet DeSenzo and Mike Marotta.

First, Joy Zabala of the Center for Applied Special Technology and the National AIM Center will be joining us via the Internet to discuss 10 Things Everyone Needs to Know About Instructional Materials.

What are accessible instructional materials? What are they and who needs them? Is AIM the same as NIMAS? Wouldn't digital materials solve the problem? What does this have to do with copyright? How can we build on what we already know? If these questions and others sound familiar to you, join Joy for a fast-paced look at a few of the major issues swirling around the provision of print-based materials in accessible formats when needed.

Next, Perkie B. Cannon of NJDOE’s Office of Special Education Programs’ Learning Resource Center Project will present Accessing Alternate Print Media Through the National Instructional Materials Access Center (NIMAC).

This presentation will cover texts eligible for conversion to NIMAS format, student eligibility to receive NIMAS materials, assistive technology considerations for accessible print media and procedures to access the NIMAC repository.

Finally, NJCART’s own Janet DeSenzo of JanTech Educational Services and Mike Marotta of Advancing Opportunities will lead a demonstration and discussion of Technology Tools to Enable Access to AIM.

Our speakers will highlight a variety of assistive technology tools (both hardware and software solutions) available to enable students to access AIM.

For directions to the February meeting, located at the LRC – North Satellite, 104 The American Road, Morris Plains, NJ, please visit http://www.state.nj.us/education/lrc/dir2lrcns.pdf.

RSVP by February 18th to Mike at mmarotta@advopps.org.

Admission for NJCART members is FREE!!! Did you forget to send in your dues? Visit http://www.njcart.org/page17/files/Membership%20Application.pdf to download our application: print the form, fill it out and mail it with your check to NJCART c/o Advancing Opportunities, Inc., 1005 Whitehead Road Extension, Suite 1, Ewing, NJ 08638.

Not a member? You can participate in this meeting for just $10 – bring a colleague, and their admission is half off.