To educate, inform, inspire

Starfish flower opening

August 25, 2014 - Technology - by Mark - No Comments

We have grown a Starfish flower (Stapelia gigantea) for a number of years. It typically takes about an hour for the blossom to fully open. The open blossom measures about 5 inches across. While it is covered in hairs, there are no spines. I took a time lapse series of […]

Lithophanes

August 13, 2014 - Adobe , Technology - by Mark - 2 Comments

Over the summer, I had the opportunity to participate in a session by Andy Lauta discussing many capabilities with 3D printing and Photoshop. I was particularly intrigued by the concept that you can easily create lithophanes using Photoshop. I know you first question is probably – what is a lithophane? […]

Quadcopter

August 6, 2014 - Technology - by Mark - 2 Comments

I recently obtained a DJI Phantom 2 Quadcopter with Zenmuse H3-3D 3-axis gimbal and attached my GoPro camera to it. Yes, it is an expensive hobby, but one I am having a blast with. I have my own drone. Enough said. It is great to be able to see a […]

Mobizen

July 30, 2014 - Mobile Apps , Technology - by Mark - 9 Comments

Periodically, I have the need to display the contents of mobile devices on my laptop. Some time ago, I published a note on the Reflection app for iOS devices. At that time, I had to put together a kludge to display the contents of Android devices on my Mac. I […]

PhoneGap Build and iOS key

July 23, 2014 - Adobe , Apple , Mobile Apps , Technology - by Mark - No Comments

I have been giving more and more presentations on developing apps using either PhoneGap or PhoneGap Build. My most recent presentation was done at the Adobe Education Leader Summer Institute in San Jose on July 21. In the past, I focused on deploying developed apps on Android devices. However, I […]

Adobe Ink and Slide

July 16, 2014 - Adobe , Technology - by Mark - 2 Comments

I recently purchased the Adobe hardware Ink and Slide. I have been working with it for a couple of weeks and thought others might to see my insights. Personally, I like the pressure sensitivity and ease of use with tools like Adobe Line and Sketch. Unfortunately, the tool is a […]

2014 National Web Design Contest

July 2, 2014 - Technology , Web - by Mark - No Comments

I had the great honor of supervising our WebProfessionals.org national web design contest in Kansas City (June 24-27, 2014). We held separate contests for high schools and post-secondary schools. This year, we had representatives from a total of 35 states. Congratulations to the winners and to all who participated. Everyone […]

CSS Shack

June 25, 2014 - Technology , Web - by Mark - No Comments

I recently became aware of the CSS Shack project and thought it might be useful for readers of this blog. As I understand it, CSS Shack is available both as a desktop application (for Windows and Linux) and as a Chrome browser extension. I decided to focus on the latter […]

Lightroom Mobile

May 7, 2014 - Adobe , Technology - by Mark - 2 Comments

Those who know me will recognize that I have been promoting the use of mobile devices for quite some time. In my opinion, tablets and smartphones are content creation devices as well as content consumption devices. I have been recently working with Adobe Lightroom Mobile on my iPad. In order […]

Project Parfait

April 30, 2014 - Adobe , Technology , Web - by Mark - 2 Comments

Modern web design techniques focus around the concepts of responsive design. As such, many modern workflows include the concept of design in browser. An excellent overview of these modern processes can be found at CSS-Tricks. Adobe recently introduced an experiment that complements such a workflow – Project Parfait. For those […]

Tagged: Design WebDesign

Behind the screen – SnagIt

April 16, 2014 - Learning , Technology - by Mark - No Comments

I am continuing to focus on various tools I use to help students better understand various concepts and tools. This week, I focus on SnagIt (from Techsmith). Essentially, this tool allows you to take screen captures. Ok, I already know how to use the PrntScrn key (including the Alt+PrtScrn to […]

Behind the screen – Presenter

April 2, 2014 - Adobe , Technology - by Mark - No Comments

This is the second part of my attempt to share some of the technologies I use when teaching online classes. I previously briefly reviewed Adobe Connect. I thought it might be helpful to next focus on Adobe Presenter. I use this tool periodically to introduce a topic. Students in my […]

Photoshop Generate

March 26, 2014 - Adobe , Technology , Web - by Mark - No Comments

I never cease to be amazed at the capabilities and options available in tools. Options that I didn’t know about or overlooked. Yes, working with web technologies, one is constantly learning. I recently completed a course at lynda.com dealing with Adobe Generator by Chris Converse. I simply didn’t realize this […]

Photoshop and 3D Printing

March 12, 2014 - Adobe , Technology - by Mark - No Comments

I recently took the time to learn the fundamentals of 3D printing using Photoshop. Yes, I feel like I am using a replicator from the Starship Enterprise. I have actually created some items and shown them at our local Web Professionals and Adobe User Group meeting on March 11. I […]

Things which make me go hmm…

February 26, 2014 - ICC , Student Examples , Technology - by Mark - No Comments

Ok, this may be a bit of a rant, but I have experienced a number of situations in the past few months which really make me wonder. Some time ago (2011), I posted a set of notes on how to email your professor. [Note: although that rant was over 2 […]