Tuesday Tech Tidbit

Today's tech tidbit comes from technology integration specialist (and edtech legend) Eric Curts from the Stark Portage Area Computer Consortium (SPARCC). Curts publishes an edtech blog called Control Alt Achieve , in which he explores many creative ways to integrate technology into key curriculum areas.   Earlier this year Curts explored some of the best kept secrets of our ubiquitous web browser, Chrome.  There are actually a lot of tricks under the hood in Chrome that you can tap into to improve your efficiency.  In his blog post Chrome Can Do That?! Curts demonstrates some of the following tips and tricks that you can use right away to improve your web browsing experience: Pinning tabs Icons and emojis for bookmarks Bookmark folders Reading lists Making QR codes Google Lens image search (way cool!) Live captions Keyboard shortcuts To see tutorials on how to do these and other Chrome tricks, visit https://www.controlaltachieve.com/2023/02/google-chrome-can-do-that...

The Chrome browser on your computer has some handy built-in features to help you organize your daily workflow.  One example is the pinned tab feature.  If you visit certain websites as a regular part of your daily routine, you can pin that website as a tab at the top of your Chrome browser.  I use this feature all the time, as it helps me quickly access websites such as Google Calendar, that I use all the time.   Pinned tabs take up less real estate than a full tab.  You can fit a handful of pinned tabs in the same amount of space that would normally take one tab.   To use pinned tabs, you should first sign into the Chrome browser.  Click on the profile icon in the top-right corner of Chrome to turn on sync and sign in with your school email and password.   The video below demonstrates how to use pinned tabs. 

Slides Timer is a nifty Chrome extension that allows you to easily a timer to a Google slide.  While in presentation mode you can have a timer counting up or counting down from a time that you designate.  Slides Timer also allows you to add the current time to a slide while in presentation mode.  This extension is useful for timing a class activity, displaying a daily agenda, or pacing a presentation. Slides Timer is a free Chrome extension that can be found at the Chrome web store.  It only works in the Chrome web browser.  Once it is installed on your Chrome browser, Slides Timer works quietly in the background without you needed to engage with it.  Here is a link to Slides Timer in the Chrome web store . After you install Slides Timer, insert a text box in a Google slide.  In the text box, type a timer command in closed << >> brackets.  For example, to start a three minute countdown timer, type <<3:00->>.  To start ...