Diigo Bookmarking App Update

I am so appreciative of the ability to bookmark to the Diigo cloud.  Now a new feature has been added - the ability to save email to Diigo.  Diigo users receive private Diigo email address.  This should be a great feature to save all of those emails that are flagged as important.  Even if the Diigo bookmark is "private" - I would never bookmark any sensitive or private email content.

For more information, go to https://www.diigo.com/tools/post_by_email

Changing the Tab Names in Microsoft Office 2013 Ribbon Menu

In Microsoft Office 2013 the ribbon tabs are in all caps.  I guess the Microsoft Office developers did not know that all caps are difficult to read and they also indicate shouting!  I discovered a article today that includes screen shot on how to change so that only the first letter is capitalized.  The article is at http://www.askvg.com/how-to-get-rid-of-all-caps-tab-titles-in-microsoft-office-2013-ribbon/

Basically, you right-click on the ribbon menu tab to get the Customize Ribbon menu. Then you click on the tab name on the right side of the menu and select rename (this is where it is a bit annoying because the name will be not be all caps).  Click the space key after the name and then OK.  The tab name will display with only the first letter capitalized.  It is an easy fix for those of us who do not want to see all caps.

Update on Identity Thefts and Cyber Criminals

Cyber criminals are alive, well, and busy stealing identities.  PC World has a good article, How Your Identity Gets Swiped Even if You're Careful, by Dan Tynan online at http://www.pcworld.com/article/2050328/how-your-identity-gets-swiped-even-if-youre-careful.html

According to the article, three of the largest data mining companies, LexisNexis, Dunn & Bradstreet, and Kroll Background America Inc., have been hacked. The site, SSNDOB, is selling personal identifiers on the black market.  The only way to know if our personal data has been compromised is to order a free credit check.  Information on ordering the credit check is online at https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

To learn more about privacy rights thefts, go to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse at http://www.privacyrights.org/data-breach/new
I use the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse as a learning activity in the informatics courses I teach for Chapter 24 on Legal and Ethical Issues.  I  ask the students to find three information breaches and then to discuss how the breaches could be prevented.  The positive feedback on the assignment is awesome.  

FTP Software - Trials and Successes

FTP or file transfer protocol software was the main way to use cloud computing sites ten years ago.  It has largely been replaced with cloud apps such as, Dropbox and Google Drive.  Dropbox and Google Drive replicate the experience of having a different storage location on the computer.  In contrast, FTP software triggers the user to login to the remote site.  After logging in, the files and folders of the local computer appear on the left side of the window and the files and folders of the remote site appear on the right side of the window.  You click on files and folder to move them from your local computer to the remote site.  There are no sync capabilities as there are with Dropbox and Google Drive.

I had the FTP address, login and password for the Lippincott site but it did not work with the FTP software on my laptop computer (WS FTP).  I could view the site using the web browser so I knew the address was correct.  That made me believe I needed to find another FTP software.  CNET always provides great reviews of software, so I searched for free FTP software and found WinSCP at http://download.cnet.com/WinSCP/3000-2160_4-10400769.html 

I was able to successful access the remote site with the updated WinSCP software.

VitalSource Bookshelf for Electronic Versions of Many Books

I wanted to preview the electronic version of Informatics and Nursing.  Lippincott provides an eBook that uses VitalSource Bookshelf.  The software can be downloaded from http://support.vitalsource.com/kb/vbs-ht/download-the-latest-version-of-vitalsource-bookshelf

VitalSource Bookshelf is also the platform used by Elsevier for electronic books.  You have to first download the software to your desktop computer (it works on Macs and Windows computers).  After the software is installed, you create a username and password, to log.  Accounts is a menu selection in VitalSource Bookshelf.  Select it and enter the code for the eBook.  You can instruct the software to sync the eBook(s) with other devices

After software and eBook are installed on the Mac or Windows computer, you can install the software on your mobile devices.  I installed it on my iPhone and iPad.  When I signed in to the VitalSource Bookshelf site, I could see the Informatics and Nursing textbook with badge indicating that it was ready to be downloaded. The download took only a few minutes.  The eBook version of our textbook includes page numbers, which allows users to cite it in scholarly works.

The mobile version got terrible reviews from the Apple app store, but I did not experience any problems.

Because there are different platforms for eBooks, the features may vary.  For example, the eBook versions from Barnes and Noble and Amazon differ. eBooks from Amazon are read with the Kindle app.  eBooks from Barnes and Noble are read with the Nook app.

Stethoscope - There is an App for That

Students in one of my classes have discovered some amazing healthcare apps. That fact sparked me to do additional searching.  I discovered several FDA approved healthcare apps which I will review in separate blogs.  The ThinkLabs digital Stethoscope has the potential as an outstanding teaching/care provider tool for pre-licensure and nurse practitioner nursing students.

The ds32+ Stethoscope costs $239 (about twice the cost of a good traditional stethoscope).  It looks very similar to the traditional stethoscope except it has a pad with buttons where you can from bell to diaphragm and also amplify sound.  It works in conjunction with an iPhone and iPod Touch app, ThinkLabs Stethoscope app, which provides a visual of S1 & S2 heart sounds (the "lub dub" heart sound noises for non-healthcare provider readers). The app cost is $69.99. 

Read more at http://www.thinklabsmedical.com/

iPhone App Detects Heart Rhythms

Thanks to Martha for sending me an article about the federal drug administration (FDA) approving medical apps.  AliveCor is an example of an app that has been approved by the FDA for monitoring heart rhythms.  The monitoring electrodes are two raised areas on a case that snaps on the back of the iPhone.  As of now, it is available only for physicians and prescribed patients, not the general public.  The cost is $199.  The app is free from the Apple app store, but works only with the AliveCor Heart Monitor.

According to the video below, the monitor records Lead 1.  For those not in healthcare, Lead 1 is one of twelve leads that monitor heart electrical activity in the standard 12-lead electrocardiogram.

For more information on how the portable monitor works, go to http://www.alivecor.com/#subworks

Cannot get EndNote to work in OpenOffice Version 4

A student in one of the classes I teach is using OpenOffice and EndNote.  Since the hard drive on my computer was reformatted recently, I had to download OpenOffice again to attempt to replicate his experience.  The most recent version of OpenOffice is version 4.When I opened a text document in OpenOffice I could not find the EndNote menu.  I did a repair and it still did not show up.  I uninstalled EndNote and reinstalled it - no luck. 

I finally went into the program folder and ran Configure EndNote only to discover that version 4 of OpenOffice is not yet compatible with EndNote.  The option to use OpenOffice was greyed out. Bummer...

Malware or Virus? What's the Difference?

PC World has a short article written by Lincoln Spector that discusses the difference between malware and viruses at http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048261/understanding-tech-language-the-difference-between-malware-and-a-virus.html

He describes a virus as a subset of malware.  The bottom line is that they both refer to malicious code that make your computer do unintended actions, which are harmful.  Because cyber criminals are dreaming up new cyber crimes everyday, it is imperative for us to keep our antivirus and malware software up-to-date. Although computer viruses are rarer today than they were 20-30 years ago, the term "virus" lingers.  The antivirus software programs we use today are actually anti-malware programs. We do not have to pay large amounts of money for the software.  AVG (http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage) and Malwarebytes (http://www.malwarebytes.org/) are both free solutions.

Information in the first few minutes of the video below explain the different types of malware.

Ten Creative Cloud Storage Solutions

Read a great article by Saiket Basu this morning about ways to use cloud storage sources at http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-ways-to-use-your-cloud-storage-that-you-may-not-have-thought-of/

The creative ways identified in the article are using cloud storage for:

1. Family history vault with family interviews
2. Saving gmail attachments to Google Drive
3. Keeping voice memos in Dropbox using DropVox
    (a $1.99 voice memo recording app)
4. Embedding video with Google Drive - includes a nice short tutorial
5. Using Google Drive as a file previewer
6. Using Dropbox as a wall paper repository with Desktoppr (repository of free high-quality wallpapers) that integrates with Dropbox
7. Designing video quizzes with Google Drive
8. Sharing quick Excel surveys with SkyDrive
9. Saving scanned digital copies of print resources 
10. Storing favorite infographics

Update on iOS7

After a couple of days using iOS7 - I am very pleased with the changes.  LifeHacker has an article outlining some of the new features at http://lifehacker.com/top-10-secret-features-of-ios-7-1336967278@whitsongordon

A few items not mentioned include:

• New wallpapers in the Settings menu
• New sounds in the Settings menu
• The way folders work - you can have more than one page in a folder and each page can hold 9 icons

I am  certain that there are many other changes, but I am still discovering the new ones.

Quickoffice Free App for iOS and Android Devices

Quickoffice is now a free office suite app for iOS and Android devices.  According to the app store description, you can create and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files and save them to your Google Drive.  You can also use it to access your Google Drive, open and view PDF files, attach files to emails, and share files.  On iOS devices you can also zip files.


In order to use Quickoffice, you have to have Internet access.  All files are stored in your Google Drive account.  Quickoffice offers up to  15 GB free storage. 

For more information go to https://support.google.com/quickoffice/answer/3381968?hl=en
http://lifehacker.com/quickoffice-now-free-on-android-and-ios-with-free-googl-1350259070
http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57603769-285/get-10gb-extra-space-on-google-drive-for-linking-with-quickoffice/

When you first open the app, you are prompted to login to your Google account. You have to accept the app managing your Google Drive files, viewing your email address, and basic information about your Google account.

The next window provides you with four tutorials:

• Explore a budget spreadsheet (two sample spreadsheets - no tutorial)
• Get started with Documents.docx
• Get stared with Presentations
• Get started with Quickoffice.pdf

If you use Google Drive, QuickOffice may be a perfect mobile solution.

PS - Quickoffice is also an extension for the Chrome web browser, although it is still a beta product. The extension differs from the app.  Chrome extension allows you to view any Microsoft Office files, not edit the files. 

New Apple iOS 7.0 Update

This morning I was greeted with the new iOS update for the iPhone and iPad.  The new iOS is a striking different look and feel.  The security feature is built-in when Find My iPhone is activated.  I was prompted to enter a 4 digit security code every time I unlock the phone.  The search menu is available from every screen by swiping down.  The changes are all very nice!

Scanner for Mobile Devices

Flor and I are working on a paper for a podium presentation next year.  The submission document had to be scanned so she used an app called Genius Scan on her iPhone to scan the page.  It took less time than walking back to the office and using the scanner.  Genius Scan is also an app for the iPad from the iTunes store and for Android devices from the Google Play store.  It has excellent reviews.  You can read more from the Grizzly Labs developer site at http://www.thegrizzlylabs.com/genius-scan/

The scanned file can be saved as a PDF or JPG.  A copy can be saved in a variety of places including email, Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, SkyDrive, Facebook, and Twitter when upgraded to the $2.99 version.

See the YouTube video below to visualize how the app works.

EndNote Citation Manager Update

EndNote citation manager has made new changes by marketing the web version as being free. I imagine that the reason is to be in competition with other free citation managers, such as Zotero, Mendeley, and others (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_reference_management_software).  The web version used to be called EndNote Web.  The new name is EndNote Basic.  The new EndNote Basic provides 2 GB of storage which is comparable to Zotero.

EndNote recently released a free app for the iPad, but the app works only for users who have the EndNote program for the Mac and Windows PC (the purchased version) account.  The most recent version of the stand alone app is X7. 

EndNote Basic provides add-on extensions for the Firefox and Chrome web browsers (probably others, too).  The add-on provides an option to save the citation to MyEndnote.com or Endnote.  When experimenting with it today, I noted that it correctly grabbed the name of the Wikipedia page comparing reference management software, but it did not find the name of the page comparing EndNote Basic with EndNote at http://endnote.com/basic.  I had avoided using the web version previously because it often crashed when I chose the option to capture to the desktop EndNote program.  It did not crash this morning.

Although I was able to capture from a couple of webpages today, it was still annoying.  I had changed the setting on the web version to indicate that the citation was for a webpage, but when I imported the citations to EndNote desktop app, the citations were imported as journal articles.

There are many tutorials for using EndNote on YouTube.  One example is the video below.

Evernote Page Camera

At our ePublishing meeting yesterday, Noland demonstrated the use of Evernote page camera.  The feature is available for the iPhone and Android mobile devices.  The page camera is an option on the iPhone, but I cannot replicate it on the iPad. The screen shot below is the menu that opens when clicking on the camera icon in an Evernote Note (forgive my typing errors).  To use the feature, click on Page Camera and point the mobile device camera at the text or graphic you want to capture.  It works similar to taking a photo, except the camera flashes, which makes the graphic or text very clear. 

Augmented Reality with Aurusma App

Our ePublishing group met yesterday.  We always have an exhilarating time learning new technology tricks that have application to education and/or innovative use of technology.  Walt demonstrated an amazing augmented reality app, Aurasma.  The web URL for the app is http://www.aurasma.com/

The distinctive feature of the app is that you can create your own augmented reality items.  The app is available for the iPhone, iPad, and Android mobile devices.  The tutorial for use of the app is simple and clear.

To visualize use of the app, to to http://www.aurasma.com/campaigns/

I have embedded a 4-minute YouTube video which provides insight on how this app can be used in education. Enjoy!

Free Screen Capture and Annotate App - Snaplr

I have discovered some great free apps the last couple of days.  Snaplr is a free screen capture and annotate map.  It has some similarities to TechSmith Jing.  It can be downloaded from http://www.vessenger.com/snaplr for both the Mac and Windows PC.  A screen shot of the app is below. 

• Click on the Take Screenshot button 
• The screenshot will fill the window
• Annotate with the drawing/test icons
• Copy to the clipboard or save the image

The app is simple and easy to use.

1st Indian Cancer Congress and MERLOT

I received confirmation last week that I am invited to attend the 1st Indian Cancer Congress (http://indiancancercongress2013.org/) to be held in New Delhi, India during November.  I will be representing MERLOT and conducting a workshop November 20th on MERLOT open education resources (OER) for cancer.  It is an exciting opportunity to network with oncology physicians and nurses from India.  I hope to have the opportunity to visit Indian schools of nursing and cancer treatment centers in addition to representing MERLOT at the Cancer Congress.  My ultimate goals for the trip are to assist oncology healthcare providers to:

• Use and contribute open education cancer learning resources specific to cancer care in India to MERLOT.
• Network using MERLOT. 
• Develop Personal Collections.
• Participate in the MERLOT peer review process.

I appreciate the many followers of my blog who are located in India.  I invite them to make suggestions regarding the visit this November.  

MERLOT Open Education Resources for Cancer - OERC

MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching) has a portal populated with open education resources specifically for cancer at http://oerc.merlot.org/.

Quoted from the website:

The OERC’s portal is open and free for everyone around the world to use to:

• Find free, open, and online educational and training resources.  We will be “recommending the best” and “linking to the rest” of materials that could meet your interdisciplinary needs.
• Contribute to the global digital library of cancer resources so everyone worldwide can have the best and latest information.
• Develop and lead the social networks needed to bring individuals out of isolation and into a supportive community.
• Participate in online community conversations with cancer researchers, physicians, healthcare professionals, and others working in cancer education to freely share experiences and expertise.

The portal is designed for all people interested in cancer types, treatment, care, and prevention.  MERLOT seeks new contributions and about the portal. Please feel free to email me with suggestions and comments.

Emerging Android Trojans - Be on the Lookout

PC World has another article on cyber criminal activities involving Android devices,
Beware Android Trojans Hitching a Ride on Botnets, at http://www.techhive.com/article/2048287/beware-android-trojans-hitching-a-ride-on-botnets.html.  

According to the article, the Android is the mobile app equivalent to Windows PC for cyber criminals.  The name of the Android Trojan is Obad.a Trojan.  The Trojan is distributed using botnets designed for other malware.  If you are using an Android mobile device, pay particular attention to the distribution of the Trojan software noted below.

A quote from the article PC World:

"Handsets are initially infected with the botnet software SMS.AndroidOS.Opfake.a through a poisoned link in an SMS message.

The link promises to deliver a new MMS message to the target. If clicked, the botware will be downloaded and the target asked to run it. If the target complies, SMS messages with the same MMS pitch will be sent to everyone on the target's contact list.

In addition, the botware will download Obad.a, which sets up a backdoor on the handset that allows a botmaster to remotely control the device.

Other more conventional means are also used to distribute Obad.a, including SMS spam, links to fake Google Play stores and redirection from poisoned websites."

Sickle Cell Anemia Apps - Empowering the Healthcare Consumer

I was talking with a student who plans to research sickle cell anemia for the course project.  That conversation prompted me to look at the Android and Apple App stores.  There are a couple of apps that may be helpful:

SiKL is an app designed as a personal health record for those affected by the disease.  It is free.  It include personal details, medical contacts, sickle cell history, other medical history, medications, and an emergency summary as well as sickle cell basics and health living advice.

Sickle Cell Disease Resource Locator is a free app for the Android and Apple devices.  The app assists patients/families to locate resources for sickle cell disease. 

Both apps have very good ratings. 

Technology Can Make Syringe Use Safer

Dr. Swann of Huddersfield University has designed A Behavior Changing Syringe (ABCS) that changes color if it has been used previously.  According to Dr. Swann's website at http://designtoimprovelife.dk/abcs-a-behaviour-changing-syringe/, quoted below:

"While Safety Syringes – also known as Auto Disposable Syringes – cost 200% more than ordinary syringes, inhibiting wide-scale adoption by healthcare practitioners, the ABCs technology costs only 0.16p more than an ordinary syringe. And good design – in particular life-saving and reliable design – ought to be this affordable.
Dr David Swann’s impact estimation indicates that by year 5, his design innovation will have prevented 700,000 unsafe injections, saved US$130 million in medical costs and 6.5 million life years – just like syringes ought to."

According to CNN Tech at http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/03/tech/innovation/smart-syringe-turns-red/index.html, there are 4-5 billion injections given in India each year and 2.5 billion are unsafe.

The information on the two websites above is worth reading!

Interactive Resource for Learning About Citing and Plagiarism Prevention

Each semester when I teach about how to cite and prevent plagiarism, I always have one or two students who don't understand.  I discovered a tool that won the MERLOT Classic award that I will use this semester titled Vail Tutor http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=366819.  

It is an interactive tutorial with an associated quiz.  The results of the quiz can be emailed to the student  as well as the instructor. 

I plan to share it with our University library staff in my presentation on Merlot Tuesday. 

Student Computer Literacy Competencies

Students in my classes have turned the corner this year in regards to computer literacy. It is amazing. Most had their first computer course in middle school. Many feel proficient with spreadsheet software and use it daily. I an excited to think about their ability to improve patient care using their skills. My challenge is how to help them to further develop their expertise.