Thursday, January 27, 2011

Phone Tips That Make Your More Productive On Your BlackBerry Device

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Underground Ministries feat. Kenny Bobien - I shall not be moved (stand ...



Sunday, January 23, 2011

5 Steps to Increase Your Personal Effectiveness

5 Steps to Increase Your Personal Effectiveness: "


How do you know you’re effective, that you’re “hitting the mark?” Do you have a way to measure each goal you’ve set for yourself? Let’s face it, it isn’t easy setting all those New Year’s Resolutions only to see them fall by the wayside just a few days into the new year. You originally thought you’d effectively hit each one. How can you get back on track?


If you’re like most people, you have all sorts of goals –  plans or wishes really – and many of them overlap each other in some way. YOU may be effectively juggling all those plans, but have you been effective in what you’ve completed?


If you want to improve your effectiveness, these 5 simple tips can help you:


1. Make the most of your down time or unscheduled time


Humans need down time. We have to take some time for ourselves every now and then to collect our thoughts, to set some goals, to work out how to put plans in motion. Unscheduled time allows out creativity shine and helps us concentrate on solutions to problems. But the only way you will be likely to find time for yourself is if you actually schedule some downtime. So schedule it ,,, and take it.


2. Be results oriented


You only get one chance in life, so it’s crucial to set both personal and professional goals to help you to achieve your dreams and ambitions. But don’t just set them – demand results from yourself. Setting goals costs you nothing but a little time and thought, but failing to set any goals can result in failure and regret.


3. Make your strengths work for you


Find work that allows you to make some use of your talents and interests and you’ll find that you’re happier, healthier and much more effective. If, for example, your talents and interests lie in working with people, find a job that allows you to take best advantage of those strengths. If you’re just NOT a “people person, ” please don’t think you need to go into sales. Oh and “finding” the work you truly enjoy may be a job into itself … but that’s okay!


4. Focus on one or two tasks at a time


“I’ve got so many things to do, I don’t even know where to start!” Felt this way recently? Probably. When you are overwhelmed with work, it’s imperative that you prioritize your tasks and then focus on the one or two most important tasks. Devote your full attention to them, so you can complete them, get them off your plate and move on to the next prioritized task. A tasks completed rarely comes back to bite you!


5. Make good decisions


When you must make a decision, get all the information you need, ask others for their input and suggestions, consider all the alternatives and then make the decision. Remember, to not decide is to decide.










Where on earth can I learn HOW to interview







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Olympus Debuts LS-7 Digital Recorder

Olympus Debuts LS-7 Digital Recorder: "

At the 2011 NAMM Show: Olympus has unveiled its compact new LS-7 “pocket” linear PCM audio recording device.


At just 4.4 inches and weighing 3 ounces, the LS-7 fits is about the size of a candy bar, and fits into a pocket, but can record uncompressed 24 bit/96kHz linear PCM audio in WAV, MP3 and WMA formats using either its internal mics or by plugging in an external mic. The recorder should be available for purchase around March 1, with a suggested retail price of $199.


Equipped with a generous 4 gigabytes of internal flash memory, the LS-7 has the capacity to grab lengthy, uncompressed PCM recordings. It also features a microSD removable media card slot. The LS-7 operates on two rechargeable AAA batteries. An optional RS-30W Wireless Remote enables users to start and stop the recording without touching the unit [a nice feature for live gigs].



The LS-7 employs two condenser stereo mics and a center, omni-directional mic capable of capturing lower bass ranges as low as 20Hz. The 45-degree outward positions of the two condenser mics enable users to record with wider stereo sound.  In addition, the LS-7 can play back audio on its built-in speaker. Finally, the LS-7 features a switchable low-cut filter that enables users to eliminate low-frequency sound from 100Hz and 300Hz.



Another cool feature of the LS-7 which I had not seen before in a portable digital recorder is voice guidance, whereby the recorder can provide audio menu prompts for users with assistive needs. This helps the user operate the device without needing to see the menus or buttons.


In addition to Olympus Sonority software, the LS-7 is packaged with a USB cable, windscreen, carrying case, two rechargeable AAA batteries, strap, an instruction manual and Olympus warranty card. Optional accessories for the LS-7 include the infrared RS-30W Wireless Remote, WJ2 Wind Jammer and A514 AC adapter.


See more product specs and pictures at the Olympus site.

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Friday, January 21, 2011

SMART Time Management Goals

Article just published!

SMART Time Management Goals

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Martin Luther King, Jr. – Timeline of Events #martinlutherking #googlemaps

Martin Luther King, Jr. – Timeline of Events #martinlutherking #googlemaps: "

Tomorrow January 17th is Martin Luther King Day in United States. Its a federal holiday here in United States celebrating Martin Luther King’s birthday (January 15th, 1929). Martin Luther King Day is observed on 3rd Monday in January every year.


Here’s a “Martin Luther King” journey map which I created couple of years ago. It maps out important events in Martin Luther King’s life. The map automatically moves on to the next event in Rev. King’s life. You can however manually move forward/back by clicking on the arrows located at the bottom left on the map.









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How to remember an entire magazine



Don’t Do Social Media Marketing by the Numbers

Don’t Do Social Media Marketing by the Numbers: "

As the social media industry matures and best practices continue to refine, I’m struck by how too many people tend to get caught up in the numbers — or at least the wrong numbers — and let those numbers dictate how and when they use social media. I’m not talking about keeping an eye toward the bottom line, or making sure you are getting a return on your investment in social media tools. I’m talking about companies thinking there is some “magic number” for how many tweets to do in any given day, how many times to post to Facebook a day, or how many blog posts to publish in a week.


While you should create some kind of structure or parameters around the time you spend communicating through social media, and there are some general rules you can consider, you shouldn’t be setting rigid limits. Through the years, I’ve come up with these guidelines. They change from year to year based on the popular network of the moment and how familiar people become with these networks. I suggest that you:



  • Tweet or check Twitter several times a day.

  • Update the status on a Facebook Page at least once a day, check at least several.

  • Blog at least once a week, check comments at least daily.


You should also know your audience because they may have a maximum tolerance. My own parameters for maximum engagement vary depending on service, my audience, and my capacity, etc, but generally I try to:



  • Tweet no more than several times in an hour.

  • Update the status on a Facebook Page no more than several times a day.

  • Blog as much as it makes sense for your business goals, your audience and your capacity.


There seems to be much more of an audience “tolerance level” for more blog posts compared to more Facebook status updates, for example, because blogs serve as useful as repositories of content as well as distribution channels of current information, and because unless someone subscribes to your blog by email, it is far less of a push medium than many social networks, there is much more of a “tolerance level” for more blog posts than more Facebook status updates, for example.


Here are some numbers that you should be thinking about, instead of simply counting how many tweets you put out today:



  1. The increase of engagement in your channels. Some easy ways to gauge engagement include Twittercounter, which can email you weekly stats; the Facebook Pages insights that are emailed to you by Facebook; or by using an application such as Swix Analytics.

  2. The breakdown of your fan base. Analyze where you are getting not just the most fans, but the most growth. Determine what you are doing when you see spikes in the growth of your Twitter followers or Facebook fans. For example, does that spike in follower count happen when you follow more people on Twitter or when you reference other Twitterers? Does it happen when you use Facebook social ads to drive traffic to your page or when you added a Facebook promotional fan box on your blog? Do more of what works if you can.

  3. The strength of your relationships. This is a bit harder to measure, but you need to assess whether you know your customers better because of what they say on your Facebook Page or what they address to you on Twitter or comment on your blog. Are you getting more people responding to you, commenting on what you say, repeating (retweeting,sharing) what you’ve posted? The stronger your relationships, the more influence you have, but having influence should not be your goal. Having strong relationships and earning trust should be.

  4. The volume of feedback. While getting a great deal of feedback requires more resources in order to react and respond to it, more feedback means you are not doing business in a vacuum, and you are opening better and faster lines of communications with your customers through social media. Every piece of feedback you receive, whether good or bad, is an opportunity to connect. Always remember that negative feedback is an opportunity to do something better.

  5. The conversion from fans to customers. How closely are you paying attention to how fans on your Facebook translate into actual sales? I wrote about Swix Marketer previously, which is a tool that can help you monitor clicks, conversions and sales. Many monitoring tools help you listen to what is being said and manage your responses, but how are you putting mechanisms in place that help you correlate activity in social networks with actual increases in sales?


Get out of the mentality of targeting a certain number of tweets of Facebook updates per day. Instead, go with your overall goals, the needs and wants of your audience, and the content and flow of the conversations. Look more deeply into how social media is increasing your authority, building your connections, and streamlining your communications with all of the people who matter most to your business, whoever they may be.


What numbers do you focus on when evaluating your social media efforts?


stock xchng image by mihow


Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub. req.):



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Monday, January 17, 2011

DEFCON 17: Hacking WITH the iPod Touch

SMART Time Management Goals

SMART Time Management Goals

Here is an acrostic to apply to your time management goals.
S=Specific-Your goals should be specific. General goals are too vague and will be difficult to define and actualize. Make your goal specific. Be direct in your target and you will know exactly what you are aiming for and you will know how to hit it, and you will know when the target has been hit. Be specific!

M=Measurable-Your goals should be measurable. It has been said that if it cannot be measured than it cannot be managed. Measurable goals are not only manageable but they are also methodical. When we set measurable goals we put a plan in place to reach the goal. Our goals should be set in such a way that they are time bound, task bound and target bound. Be measurable in your goal setting!

A=Attainable-Your goals should be attainable. When we set goals we should be fully confident that the goals that we set will be accomplished. It is easy to set goals that look good but simply have unrealistic expectations. These are not really goals but in most cases are dreams. We should set goals that we have every intention of reaching and we have set a course to with that very end in mind. In order to do this we should set goals that are attainable.

R=Relevant-Your goals should be relevant. Setting relevant goals means that we should set goals that will be meaningful and when the goal is achieved it will have a lasting impact upon our lives and upon the lives of those to whom we interact. Relevant goals are meaningful goals, significant goals, and useful goals. When we set goals we should look forward to their accomplishment with joy. The excitement of reaching these goals should encourage us as we methodically work our way towards their accomplishments.
T=time bound-This last point is the key to effective project management. The test of effective projects boils down to whether they were completed, but not just completed but how were they completed? Projects that are completed on time are successful projects. Our goals should be time bound and in this we are saying that the goals we set should be completed on time, or within the time we have set for the goal.

These are a few simple time management tips for setting goals. In review we should set goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time sensitive. Applying these simple tips will enable us to be more effective as we set goals in life.

Quick Steps to Resubmitting an Article

Quick Steps to Resubmitting an Article: "

The right way to handle a rejected article.


Before publication, we put all articles through the review process of two different human editors. When an article doesn’t pass review, an email is sent notifying you that your article has been placed in Problem Status.


When that happens, the most important thing you can do is not panic. It’s not the end of the world, and most of the time any issues can be fixed in a matter of minutes.


Nonetheless, there’s a right way and a wrong way to handle rejected articles. This video will walk you through the steps you should use if it happens to you.



Downloadable Versions:
WMV Format     MOV Format     MV4 Format     MP3 Format


Here’s a recap of the steps from the video:



  1. Read the Email – When an article is placed in Problem Status, you’ll be alerted of the problem through email. Read that message completely. In cases where a part of the article is causing the problem, we’ll highlight the problem area in orange for you. Once you have enough information to understand the issue and you know how to change it, you can jump to “Step 5″ of this sequence. If not, move to the next step.
     

  2. Check EzineArticles’ Editorial Guidelines – The Problem Status email may reference a specific section of the Editorial Guidelines to help you understand the rules. Visit the section indicated in the email and read through the guidelines. This should give you a better understanding of the rules in place, which will help you revise the article.
     

  3. Check Other EzineArticles Resources – If you’re still unaware of what caused the article to be placed in Problem Status, look to other EzineArticles resources for more clarification. This Blog can be searched by keyword through the search bar on the top of the quick links on the right side of this page. The Top 10 Reasons for Article Rejection and 2 Minute Approval Tips are two video series that may also help.
     

  4. Contact Member Support – If these resources don’t help you resolve the issue, it’s time to consult our Member Support Team. You can get access to Member Support by logging into the Author’s Area and clicking on the Contact link in the upper-right corner of the page. Be as clear as you can about the problem you’re sorting through and give details related to your question, including the article title and number. Once you fill in the fields in the Contact Us page, submit it and wait for a response. We’ll typically get back to you in about 24 hours.
     

  5. Edit the Article – Once you understand the reason why an article was placed in Problem Status, the next step is to edit the article to correct the problem. To do that, login to the Author’s Area, find the article under the Problem Article section and select the Edit button next to the applicable article title. This will bring you to the submission page where you can make the appropriate changes to the article.
     

  6. Resubmit the Article – After you’ve made the changes, the final step is to resubmit the article. Your article will go back through the Editorial Review process. If your article has multiple problems, be sure to correct them all before resubmitting because every time you resubmit your article it will be put back through the review process.


Again, if one of your articles is rejected, don’t panic. Instead, use these steps to walk through the process of resubmitting your article. Also, leave a comment to share your own experiences with the resubmission process.

"

Top 10 Reasons to Thank You for 2010

Top 10 Reasons to Thank You for 2010: "

Now that we’re a few weeks into 2011, it seems appropriate to take time to reflect on 2010 and the things that have helped make EzineArticles great … namely you.


We appreciate all that you’ve done to help us make EzineArticles what it is today. In honor of this mutually beneficial partnership, we’d like to show our appreciation and share the top 10 reasons we’re thankful for our members like you.






10. Together, we’ve kept EzineArticles the #1 article marketing site on the web for more than 10 years running.

9. You sent us your high-quality, original content. In return, we sent you increased traffic to your website, improved credibility and additional media exposure.


8. We’re all a part of a community of over 360,000 Expert Authors worldwide.


7. We made the EzineArticles Formula. You made it a huge success.


6. With your help, we’ve made EzineArticles.com one of the top 100 most-visited websites in the world, according the Alexa web rankings.


5. We rolled out our WordPress plugin and you gave it rave reviews.






4. We all gave our seal of approval on the new BETA site design of the Blog.

3. We strengthened the article writing and marketing community by providing Blog, Facebook and Twitter posts combined with your valuable feedback and interaction.


2. As a team, we worked together to develop the new submit page for faster and easier article submissions.


1. Together, we’ve shared our passion for EzineArticles and helped make 2010 a year filled with massive amounts of pre-qualified traffic back to your website or blog!


We’re looking forward to seeing more of that passion in 2011 through new high-quality articles, more great feedback and continued interaction.


Leave a comment to share the things you’re thankful for in your article writing and marketing endeavors.

"

More on Students and Reading

More on Students and Reading: "

Last week’s “Sink or Skim” blog post on students and reading generated some comments! Yes! Thank you!


Dave shared his daily quizzing strategy which he describes as “brief but challenging.” His approach includes several noteworthy design features. First, before the quiz students can ask him about anything in the chapter this is unclear to them. Then they take the 10 question multiple-choice quiz. After that they retake the quiz in groups of three and their score is an average of the two quiz scores.


There is no question that quizzes work—they get students (well, most students) doing the reading before they come to class and Dave is so right. The caliber of discussion when students are prepared is so much better. However, it seems to me quizzes are a short term solution. They are powered by extrinsic motivation—students are reading because they have to not because they understand that material in the text is relevant, important and having read it beforehand enables them to give and get more out of a class session. I know that sounds like pie in the sky—imagine students reading because they want to or even because they have discovered that there are benefits to reading beyond quiz points.


Why don’t students see the value of course-related reading? Why don’t they understand that professors assign reading for very good reasons? I’m not sure I know the answer, but I wonder if part of the problem is that so many of our students struggle to read college-level materials. They are not good readers and if you don’t have much in the way of reading skills, then learning anything from the material has got to be a struggle. Does a quizzing strategy help students develop more sophisticated reading skills? Or, do they learn how to find the answers to likely quiz questions?


During the past several years I’ve run into several articles describing activities that successfully get students coming to class prepared at the same time they work on developing good reading skills. Almost all of these I’ve highlighted either in the blog or the Teaching Professor newsletter so I won’t repeat the content, but I will share references to these articles. Never mind that they might be in discipline-based pedagogical journals not in your field. I can assure you that each of the strategies described in these articles (and each is different) can be used in any course where text and reading material are assigned.


All of them have students responding, usually in writing to the assigned reading. And here’s where quizzes have the real advantage: if you recycle the quiz questions and your only task is marking the answers, then quizzing is a time efficient strategy. The thought of having to read and grade more sets of papers can cause many faculty to back away from these kinds of class preparation assignments. These articles contain a number of good suggestions for making that a manageable task. Sometimes we hold ourselves to impossible standards. If we’re going to have students respond to the reading prior to coming to class, we think we must have them respond to multiple prompts for every assigned reading. Noble but unrealistic. Perhaps it’s a combination of quizzing and written responses, or perhaps its written responses with only some submitted for grading.


Teaching and learning are way too complex for definitive do’s and don’ts. Quizzes are not wrong or bad—Dave’s strategy is a commendable one. I like how it gives students a chance to benefit by sharing what they’ve gleaned from the reading. I think the more salient point is that with any instructional strategy, it’s useful to parse out its effects on learning.


References:

Howard. J. R., (2004). Just in time teaching in sociology or how I convinced my students to actually read the assignment. Teaching Sociology, 32, 385-90.


Roberts, J. C., and Roberts, K. A., (2008). Deep reading, cost/benefit, and the construction of meaning: Enhancing reading comprehension and deep learning in sociology courses. Teaching Sociology, 36, 125-140.


Tomasek, T. , (2009). Critical reading: Using reading prompts to promote active engagement with text. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 21 (1), 127-32.


Yamane, D. , (2006). Course preparation assignments: A strategy for creating discussion-based courses. Teaching Sociology, 34, 236-248.


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Tips for Increasing Interactivity in an Online Course

Tips for Increasing Interactivity in an Online Course: "

In a follow-up to the online seminar Creatively Engaging Online Students: Models and Activities, Curt Bonk, professor of instructional systems technology at Indiana University, offered the following response from a participant who asked, “What is your favorite method to increase interactivity in an online class?”



  1. Require students to give feedback to a peer each time they post to a forum.

  2. Assign critical friends for feedback on blog posts or reflection activities.

  3. Have a minimum post rule of three sentences. Sentence #1 is “I agree with so and so”; sentence #2 is “I think [or I believe] this or that”; and in sentence #3 students finally must say something substantive.

  4. Combine asynchronous discussion with a synchronous visit from the expert before and after the discussion starts.

  5. Use Flash animations of content with reflection.


During the seminar, Bonk elaborated on the use of Flash animations: “One short two-minute video does more for learning than reading the book for four hours. Reading about the Enron crisis for two years, I learned nothing. Watching a video of it, I learned everything I needed to know.


“I’m overstating a little bit here, but you get the point. And these have become cheaper. They’ve become more functional. They’ve become easier to embed with broadband. If we don’t consider Flash animations in certain subject areas, we’re not proceeding in an interactive, engaging way with our students, especially visual learners. …”


For information about ordering recordings or transcripts of this online seminar, go here »


Reprinted from “Tips from the Pros – How to Increase Interactivity in an Online Course.” Online Classroom, Dec. 2009.


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