water resistant camera

After seeing the ad on TV for the water and shock proof camera, I thought that could also work for the busy early childhood centre - I know my camera stopped working after about 6 months from a combination of sand and me dropping or banging it. Information is available on Consumer online. Though they seem quite expensive, at around $650 (not sure if this is the exact one advertised on television - you know the ad with the big slobbery dog)

Think before you post

keyboard covers

If you've been concerned about protecting the keyboard from water and sand when children are using them, prehaps one answer is a keyboard cover. They seem quite cheap and can be ordered over the internet. You can purchase them for Mac laptops too, or a disposable one for a key board.

Another tripod

Check out this nifty tripod!
It is even cheaper (and certainly more portable!) than the one I previously posted. My colleague Linda has been using it, and says it is stable and strong enough to hold a video camera - you can even bend the legs to make it stable on an uneven surface.

tripod

On my journey looking for printer cartridges earlier in the week, I did manage to find a reasonably priced tripod. It comes in a very handy carry bag (see photo - on the floor) and has lots of bells and whistles. The 'neck' the camera sits on has a crank handle tha lets you lower and raise the camera smoothly, you can also turn it left, right, and up and down. The leg design seems very stable. Now I'm all set to video, and would love to try a video conference using the camera. (It is a Vivitar VPT-3600).

Have you ever wanted to convert files on your computer but haven't had the software to do it?
This site might help. It looks pretty easy to use too:
www.zamzar.com

We would really like to convert the photostory files some of the centres in the project have made so we can show them on the online site - perhaps this will help! - I used this but only managed to get the video with no sound, so using the original file (which only played sound) I combined them both using iMovie - not perfect but useable.

My new printer

Today I went to replace the black toner cartridge in my new laser printer (HP 2600n) This lasted just over 3 reams of paper - quite low for a laser printer (but one of the cheaper options). I learnt that firstly I should have used the phone or internet to find out who actually stocked the cartridges, as Noel Leemings, Bond and Bond, Dick Smiths, and Magnum Mac will only order them in, rather than keep them in stock. Warehouse Stationery stock them, but not all branches have them in stock. I s'pose it was a great opportunity atleast to try out the new Wellington bypass and changed one way streets. I decided to walk to many of the shops which was quicker in the end (and better for me of course). Another thing to watch out for is that the toner leaks out of the cartridge once out of the printer.
By the way I hope you're recycling your printer cartridges. HP do it for free, here is the link
I still don't have a new printer cartridge so that will be tomorrows adventure!

Manda's ICT

I have had to start a new blog as I have some how cannot log into my old one (whoops what did I do wrong??) Learning as I go!