A “Revisited” blog post indicates that I reread the original and used AI-assisted tools (e.g., Grammarly) to improve grammar and word choice.
First published on April 21, 2014.
Today I explored the Apps on my Mac that begin with the letter “A.”One of my favorite (but underused) apps( that I am glad I have used since the advent of Heartbleed ) is 1Password. It allows me to quickly and securely access my myriad accounts and quickly find things, like this Animoto video from a year ago that I had forgotten I had made to celebrate the wonderful creative work of some of my students.
Adobe Reader is another app I take for granted (behind the scenes, but there when I need it) . But do I really need AlarmClock Pro anymore?—Perhaps, if I remembered that it has a time-zone converter and an uptime recorder that can embarrass me with a record of how long I’ve been sitting at my machine!
“How many different music players do I need,” I ask myself as I rediscover my AmazonCloudPlayer. How many flashcard makers are necessary (which best suits my needs or those of my students) as I find Anki again, untouched, and with a new version:). And, heaven forbid, there is always the temptation to visit the MAC App Store, especially since it is built into the Mac Mavericks Operating System.
I REALLY should learn how to use AUTOMATOR and its distant cousin, TextExpander—and their incredible capabilities for improving the efficiencies of my workflow and commenting on student papers. To achieve that mastery, I will first seek out the sage guidance of David Sparks and his incredibly well-written books, ebooks, and screencasts. Hmm, I see that he uses Vimeo for his screencasts. I’ll have to revisit it when I get to my “V'”‘s. How about—oh, the audacity of suggesting it, Audacity? I have several times attempted to master it because of an interest in creating podcasts and wanting to support open-source software endeavors. Still, alas, it has been banished to the trash because it just crashed my machine. Besides, if I ever reach the “W’s” among my apps, I suspect that “Wiretap Studio” will serve the same function—and better.
Enough, even though I hear the buzz of “B’s.”
