Extra: 2-2-14 Microsoft Mathematics

Last week, I posted about the Grapher app bundled with Mac OS X. Though, not automatically included with any Windows OS, Microsoft offers a similar app as a free download.

Microsoft Mathematics provides a graphing calculator that plots graphs in 2-D and 3-D, step-by-step equation solving, and useful tools to help students with math and science.

 

 

Theset of mathematical tools provided by Microsoft Mathematics can help students get school work done quickly and easily. Students can learn to solve equations step-by-step while gaining a better understanding of fundamental concepts in pre-algebra, algebra, trigonometry, physics, chemistry, and calculus.

 

A full-featured graphing calculator, designed to work like a handheld calculator, is included in Microsoft Mathematics. There are additional tools help evaluate triangles, convert from one system of units to another, and solve systems of equations.

 

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Featured: 12-16-2013 Office 365 Education

Office 365 Education provides a school staff, faculty, and students free email, websites, online document editing and storage, IM, and web conferencing.

Office 365 Education lets schools and districts modernize their communications and productivity infrastructure on their terms.They can get needed enterprise-grade communication and productivity services with flexibility.

All Office 365 Education plans include email and calendars, web conferencing, instant messaging, file storage and sharing, team sites, Office Web Apps, privacy, security, and more.

 Watch the Office 365 Educationoverview

Two of the Office 365 Education plans include the latest desktop version of Office. The plans that do not include the desktop version of Office support Office 2010, Office 2007, and Office 2011 for Mac with the latest browsers across your devices using Office Web Apps. You can take advantage of the Office 365 cloud services such as business-class email, HD video conferencing, and file sharing.

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Featured: 6-17-2013 Kingsoft Office Free

Kingsoft Office Free 2013 for Windows provides a no-cost, powerful alternative to the MS Office monolith.

Smaller and faster than most other office suites, Kingsoft Office Free 2013, includes a built-in PDF converter and automatic spell check, as well as an innovative Paragraph Adjustment tool.

Kingsoft Office Free 2013 includes the usual modules for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations:

• Writer provides word and text processing with drag-and-drop paragraph editing, a section tab, support for .doc and .docx.
• Easily create and edit Spreadsheets, a calculator, graphing, and multiple other tools for complex data analysis, export to both .xls and .xlsx extension files.
• Presentation lets you create dynamic slides for speeches and presentations, with Flash, sound and animation effects, and artistic backgrounds.

 Watch a video introduction to Kingsoft Office

In addition to the traditional interface which resembles older versions of MS Office, Kingsoft Office Free 2013 gives you a choice of a new interface similar to the newer versions of Office. You can easily switch between the two versions according to your preference.

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Featured: 2/19/2013 LibreOffice [Tools]

LibreOffice is a free comprehensive, professional-quality productivity suite that you can download and install. It is a powerful alternative to Microsoft Office.



The components of LibreOffice:

• Writer is the word processor inside LibreOffice. Use it for everything, from dashing off a quick letter to producing an entire book.
• Calc is the spreadsheet that manages your numbers and helps with difficult decisions.
• Impress is a fast and easy way to create effective multimedia presentations. Create presentations that look professional.
• Draw lets you build diagrams and sketches from scratch.
• Base is the database front-end of the LibreOffice suite. With Base, you can seamlessly integrate your existing database structures into the other components of LibreOffice.
• Math is a simple equation editor that lets you lay-out and display your mathematical, chemical, electrical or scientific equations quickly in standard written notation.

LibreOffice also includes a PDF file creator, meaning you can distribute documents that can be opened and read by users of almost any computing device or operating system.

There is a large base of satisfied LibreOffice users worldwide. It is available in more than 30 languages and for all major operating systems, including Windows, Mac, and GNU/Linux.

The roots of LibreOffice go back 20 years. Thousands of users regularly take part in beta testing of new LibreOffice versions. The development process is completely open, and LibreOffice has been extensively tested by security experts to verify your safety.



The simple-to-use yet powerful interface is easily customized. Microsoft Office users should find the switch to LibreOffice fairly easy, with a familiar look and feel. Compatibility with nearly all common file formats means you can easily import files from Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and can easily save to Microsoft Office and other formats when needed.

LibreOffice is totally free. You don't have to pay anything to download it, install it, or use it. You can copy LibreOffice as many times as you like, and you can give away and distribute copies to anyone.

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Update: GeoGebraWeb – Spreadsheet view and more…

GeoGebra is free and multi-platform dynamic mathematics software for all levels of education that joins geometry, algebra, tables, graphing, statistics and calculus in one easy-to-use package. GeoGebra was first mentioned on EDge21 in October 2009.



GeoGebra recently announced the new Spreadsheet view in GeoGebraWeb. You now have the Algebra, Graphics and Spreadsheet view available in your web browser, all based on HTML5 without the need for any plugins.

What is new in Geogebra:

• Graphics, algebra, and spreadsheet view
• Tools and style bar of the graphics view
• Input bar
• Open and save ggb files, also with Google Drive

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Extra: ocenaudio [Audio]

ocenaudio is an easy-to-use, fast, functional, cross-platform,  audio editor from Brazil.

ocenaudio might be the perfect audio software for people who need an uncomplicated way to work with audio files. ocenaudio also has powerful features useful to more advanced users.

ocenaudio is loaded with features such as support for multiple file formats, spectral analysis, and audio signal generation, with a focus on usability, providing the user with a cohesive and intuitive audio editing and analysis tool. Time-consuming tasks such as opening and saving audio files, or applying effects, run in the background, so that you can work on other files.

ocenaudio is free and available for all major operating systems: Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

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COD - 10/4/2012 - Kitabu [Ebooks]

Kitabuis a simple, easy-to-use, free Mac OS X desktop reader for Ebooks in ePub format.


Simply drag-and-drop any book in the widely used ePub format into Kitabuand start reading. The book will be added to your Kitabu library.

Kitabu features:

• Attractive, clean UI.
• Drag-and-drop support.
• Popup context menus.
• List and cover views in the library.
• Slider and percentage indicator for position.
• Table of Contents sidebar
• Books can be viewed in one, two, or three columns.
• Choose from a variety of fonts and backgrounds.
• Plays embedded audio and video.
• Open HTML links.
• Lion Full Screen mode.
• QuickLook plugin allows ePub file metadata previews in the Finder.

A significant shortcoming of Kitabu is the inability to search the text. Nor is bookmarking supported.


Kitabuwill be part of a cloud based service scheduled to be released to the public this year. Kitabu requires Mac OS X 10.6 or later running on a 64-bit Intel processor.

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COD - 7/19/2012 - Easy Portfolio [iOS]

Easy Portfolio is an iOS app that enables students and teachers to easily create e-portfolios to demonstrate learning.

Easy Portfolio is an uncomplicated way to capture evidence of skills and knowledge in a portfolio-style format. A variety of kinds of records can be added, including:

• Photo and videos
• Audio recordings or Music files
• Web links to online work
• Text entries/Observations
• Digital documents direct from Dropbox or email

Share a portfolio via email or sync directly to a Dropbox account.

Watch an Easy Portfoliotutorial 

Easy Portfolio is available from the iTunes App Store for $1.99 (USD). It is compatible with iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad with iOS 5.1 or higher.

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COD - 6/13/2012 - ClassroomWindow [Sharing]

ClassroomWindow is based on a simple premise: teachers are the real experts and no one knows better than they do what works – or doesn’t work – in the classroom.

ClassroomWindow is a place where teachers' voices can be heard by publishers, product developers, and district decision makers. Teachers may share their expert opinions about the books, curricula, and tools they use daily.

ClassroomWindow taps the practical experience of potentially millions of educators working with classroom products on a daily basis, combining the breadth of crowd-sourcing with the depth of expert analysis and evaluation, finally allowing purchase decisions to be made based only on the effectiveness of educational products and services.

ClassroomWindow hopes the transparency created via their site will heighten competition among education vendors, leading to more effective products that better meet the needs of today’s classroom.

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COD - 5/21/2012 - Needful Things [Tools-Mac]

Needful Things is a group of useful and convenient apps and services for Mac OS X from DEVONtechnologies, the makers of DEVONthink and other apps based on unique artificial intelligence technology.

The apps:

EasyFind finds files and folders by name or content using advanced Boolean operators.

Grid moves and resizes your windows with a single keystroke.

PhotoStickies shows your favorite pictures floating and borderless on your desktop.

ThumbsUp creates thumbnails for your website in seconds.

XMenu adds one or more menus to the right side of the menu bar that provide access to your preferred applications, folders, documents, files, and text snippets.

The services:

Blueservice sends selected text to Bluetooth–compatible devices directly from your favorite app with a single click.

Enter calculations into any service-aware app such as TextEdit, Mail, or Safari, and CalcService calculates the result with a single keystroke.

WordService provides a large number of commands for working with selected text, such as Reformat text paragraphs; Clean up tabs, quotes, line endings; Remove unwanted text parts; Sort lines or paragraphs; Change case; Insert date, time, or file path; and more.

PDF2RTFService is a filter service that allows applications capable of reading rich text files, e.g. TextEdit, to open and save PDF files as paginated rich text (.rtf) documents.

All of the Needful Things apps and services are completely free to download and use.

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COD - 5/8/2012 - ReadCube [Research]

ReadCube is a tool designed to help researchers be organized and save time, while discovering more.

Import PDFs in a single step. ReadCube creates your article library instantly with one-click download of related articles from PubMed, Google Scholar™, or publisher web sites. ReadCube will automatically identify the author, title, and journal citation information of every article you download.

All your articles are organized in one place. They’re full-text searchable and can include your own highlights and sticky notes. Go directly to the articles referenced in the paper you are reading with clickable references. Easily view articles that cite the paper you are reading, or articles related to it.

ReadCube automatically recommends relevant articles every day to help you stay on top of the latest research.

Watch a video introduction to ReadCube.

ReadCube is a free public beta app for Mac or Windows.

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Read Later: A Mac App for Your Read It Later Services

Read Later gives you Mac OS X access to both your Read It Later and/or Instapaper accounts in a single clean, efficient application with a more Mac-like look and feel.

Read Later enables you to manage your read later service accounts without logging in to them in a browser. Read Later stores articles so they are just one mouse click away. The Read Later design offers you quick navigation through your archives with support for tags in Read It Later and folders in Instapaper. Manage one Read It Later and one Instapaper account at the same time.

Read Later is free to use with a Read It Later account, but to use it with Instapaper requires an Instapaper subscription that costs $1 per month.

Read Later downloads the text content of your saved articles for faster access and/or offline reading. If you archive/unarchive, star/unstar articles or move articles between folders when you are offline, Read Later will save this action and push the changes to the appropriate service the next time you sync.

Customize the look of the Main Window and the Article View for your own reading experience. Shorten links with bit.ly/j.mp or send articles to Twitter, Facebook, Pinboard, Delicious, or Evernote.

I have used Read Later with my Read It Later account. Reading my saved articles with Read Later is a far more pleasant experience than using the website. I have not used it with Instapaper.

Read Later is free from the Mac App Store.

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COD - 1/23/2012 - OnLive Desktop [Cloud]

OnLive Desktop from Microsoft gives you simple access to MS Office on your iPad from anywhere you have an Internet connection.

Get access to a secure, reliable, high-performance Windows 7 cloud desktop with the Office applications you use the most: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Full featured document viewing and editing with OnLive Desktop:

• Create or edit Microsoft Word docs on the go using touch, an on-screen keyboard, or handwriting recognition to view, edit, and annotate.
• Build PowerPoint presentations and show them directly on your iPad or connect to an external monitor.
• Manage fully functional Excel spreadsheets. Create graphs anywhere, then drag and drop to update your Office documents.
• Open multiple documents and copy-paste between them.

You need to first create an OnLive account on the OnLive Desktop website. (If you already have an OnLive Game Service account you can login with that.) Then download the free app from the iTunes App Store.

When you open the app and sign in, you’ll see a Windows 7 desktop on your iPad. There are icons to launch the MS Office applications and a handful of other programs. You can’t add anymore applications to or permanently modify the desktop.

Once you launch an application, it looks to be pretty much identical to that application running on a PC. The popup keyboard is NOT the native iPad keyboard, but a proprietary on-screen keyboard that I found adequate, though the keys are smaller. Considering that everything is running on distant servers, the OnLive Desktop seemed sufficiently responsive on my home wi-fi connection with minimal lag.

View a video introduction to OnLive Desktop

Versions for Android, PCs, and Macs are expected soon.

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COD - 11/30/2011 - nSpaces [Tools]

 

nSpaces is a small, free utility that brings Windows users one of my favorite Mac OS X Lion features, Mission Control, which lets you create multiple virtual desktops and open different applications and windows in each one.

With nSpaces you can:

• Create multiple virtual desktops on your computer.
• Open different applications on each separate desktop to improve your productivity.
• Give a unique name to each virtual desktop.
• Set a custom desktop image for each of your desktop spaces.
• Set a different background color for each space.
• Protect your spaces with passwords.
• Hotkeys for everything.

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Catch of The Day - Moglue - 10/27/2011

Moglue allows publishers, amateur authors, and artists a way to create interactive ebooks and release them as apps for iOS and Android devices with no programming required.

Moglue offers a desktop application for both Mac and Windows that enables anyone to quickly and easily create interactive ebooks for platforms such as the iOS devices and Android tablets and phones. The content is made once, with an easy to use interface employing simple drag-and-drop and one-click publishing.

The goal of Moglue is "to build an open community where media is shared, and any creative, imaginative person will be able to use the platform to build and share fun, engaging apps."

Watch a video about Moglue

You retain full rights to use your media in whatever way you wish. Moglue will not allow anyone to remix or use your artwork in any way without your permission.

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Catch of The Day - Wave Editor - 8/10/2011

Wave Editor is powerful, user-friendly, and free digital audio editing software for Windows.

The Wave Editor environment especially suits beginners and performs basic editing tasks like: cut, copy, paste, and delete parts of a recording. The user interface was designed with speed, accuracy, and ease-of-use in mind.

Key features of Wave Editor include simple selection of audio blocks during playback, non-destructive editing which allows you to make changes to an audio track without overwriting the original file, and support for MP3, WMA, WAV, and more formats

Basic functions of Wave Editor:

• Insert Silence
• Normalize
• Amplify with Peak limiter
• Fade In, Fade Out
• Save Selected Fragment
• Reverse/Invert
• Unlimited Undo/Redo
• Zoom in/ Zoom Out
• Export to WAV and MP3 formats

Wave Editor runs in Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7.

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Catch of the Day - MS math 4.0 - 4/7/2011

Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 helps you quickly and easily tackle math and science problems.

From basic math to precalculus, Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 helps you visualize and see mathematical concepts.

Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 includes:

• A full-featured graphing calculator
• Formulas and equations library
• Triangle solver
• Unit conversion tool
• Ink handwriting support

Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 resources include Teacher Guide, Poster, Datasheet, and Step-by-Step

Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 is free to download and use.

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