If a school does not have the money, network, or knowledge to support Microsoft OneNote, there are other comparable open source options:
Google Notebook (basic but conveniently compatible with the Google Suite) and
Zoho Notebook (which has a bump up on features and interface). The Zoho
video introduction has a good overview background on the power of Zoho and towards the end it gets really good. Google Docs is good for essays but for research gathering and projects, a notebook is very appropriate with more of an open environment and more potential. So which one is better? It is debatable.
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As I watched the ball drop in New York city on a TV at our vacation condo rental in Maui, Ryan Seacrest reminded the world that 2009 was year for Twitter, who won the "Breakout of the Year" by Webby Award. But then I checked and Twitter was first launched back in 2006 and the public finally "ate it up" last year. With all the hype Twitter has received, I was surprised to read an article that revealed only 8% of online teens use Twitter. Whoa. My first reaction was that schools were not integrating the latest technologies and maybe Twitter was left on the shelf. Although, I read that teens are Web 2.0 purists and enjoy publishing media driven content instead of mere words. Talking to my wife who is an English teacher, this makes sense. Students would much rather make their own movies or tag friends in their photos than write about their often mundane school life.
I have been waiting for three years for a rumored "G-Drive" from Google that would allow you an easy access storage space to upload and keep your files. I know you can do this indirectly through email but I wanted a file system style with folders for easy access and organization. Well, Google is now offering this 
Today was a professional development day at our school and I was asked to lead an hour long session on Google tools. I had given a similar seminar a couple weeks ago for a room full of teachers and enjoyed sharing tips to make life more efficient with Google but also ideas on how to integrate Google into the classroom. My computer lab has 24 computers and iMacs which I thought would be efficient but teachers just kept coming and the final head count was 47. I did a quick run through of Google Search, Gmail, iGoogle, and Reader in the time I had. I like to go fast pace and give people glimpses of the tools so that they have to really use their minds to keep up with the presentation and also to convince them to dig into it on their own after watching my trailer. Here are the slides with the screencasts embedded 
Over the past couple of weeks I have had students ask me to fill out college recommendation forms. I have so much respect for those rare students who have figured out my computer class and earned an A+. I would bet that 90% of those students will become successful. It is rare for a "book-smart" student to get an A+ because I assess more creative and practical thinking skills in my assessments which are project-based. Usually my street smart students excel. Anyways, I was looking at various college fairs coming up for the seniors and my eyes popped out when I read about the 
Had a couple of teachers ask me over the week what is the best tool to convert their PDF to a Word document. Most start with a Google search and the first hit is www.pdftoword.com. This one is a gymic. You supposedly upload your pdf and put in your email for them to send it to you but it never comes. I'm sure they sell your email to online marketers. The second hit is 
Posterous 
As a computer teacher, sometimes the last thing I think about is the English side of the lesson. Although, I need to focus more on it, especially since I teach a wide-range of international students. Since my wife teaches English at the university, she reminds me of the importance of English instruction in my lessons. I often assume the students understand the content and vocabulary of my lessons, but in computer, students often don't grasp the technical jargon. Today I was surfing a Twitter group and discovered 
I used 
Over the weekend, I was helping my cousin out with her