Category Archives: Essentials

Essential iPad & tech skills

Essentials, iPads, Student, Students

Save Your Data! [what to do after your iPad gets wiped]

Here’s what you need to MAKE SURE gets setup after your iPad gets wiped – or better yet, BEFORE something happens  to your iPad.

The Short List

  1. iCloud signed in to your MDS email address
  2. iCloud Backup ON
  3. Google Drive – signed in, Pix auto-backup
  4. Notability – backing up to Google Drive
  5. Setup Email

The Detailed List

iCloud

This will make it faster to setup your iPad in case of a disaster.

  • Settings –> iCloud
  • Make sure you are signed in. You should see YOUR MDS EMAIL at the top. If you have used a different email address, CHANGE IT NOW. If you want to know why, ask Mr. Rule.
  • Turn iCloud Backup ON – and start a backup.

 

Google Drive

Automatically backup your pictures and videos after you take them.

  • Sign in to Google Drive
  • Look for the 3 stacked lines, top left. [It’s called a “hamburger menu”].
  • Click it.
  • Select Settings…..
  • Select Photos
  • Turn ON both sliders at the top [Use Google Photos folder, Autobackup].
  • Sometimes the “Google Photos” option is grayed out. I don’t know why. Let me know if you figure it out.

 

Notability

Automatically back up everything in Notability to a folder on Google Drive.

  • Fire up Notability
  • Bottom Left corner – click the gear icon [settings]
  • AutoBackup
  • Google Drive
  • Login
  • Give it permission

 

Setup Email

  • Settings –>Email
  • Add new account
  • It’s a GOOGLE account
  • Fill in the fields – should be easy to figure out.
  • When you get to the screen with 4 sliders – turn all 4 of them green, then hit SAVE
Essentials, Faculty, Faculty/Staff, iPads, Student, Students

My iPad isn’t working – no email, no printing, no web surfing

Problem: If your iPad all of a sudden stops working oncampus, it is most likely because your subscription to the network has expired.

It MUST be renewed every 30 days.

Symptoms: no email access, can’t print, can’t surf the web, but the wireless icon is still active.

Solution:

  • Open up a web browser window.
  • Surf to an OFF-CAMPUS website you’ve never visited before. Perhaps HamSandwichTees.com,  or ShadowSoundStudio.com, or Macon.com… well, you get the idea. It MUST be off-campus, and MUST be somewhere you’ve never visited before.
  •  You SHOULD see the “login here” splash screen.

 

Essentials, Google, Make Tech Easier, More

Search the Internet without wasting time

This article will get you started searching the internet, and keep you from wasting time while doing it – assuming you don’t WANT to waste time! It is NOT going to be exhaustive, and will not show even HALF the techniques that MDStech knows. It will, however, get you started.

The Goal:

Find the information you seek in ONE attempt.

First, WHY?

You search the ‘net quite often for information. You actually search a lot more than you think, because EVERY time you look for something – whether its on Amazon, or eBay, Instagram, Facebook, Tunblr, Twitter, or a search engine – you can use these principles EVERYWHERE you search.

Imagine the time you can save.

Second, WHAT?

Let’s stick with Search Engines. Most people use 1 or at most 2. There are literally hundreds of search engines out there – and NONE of them cover the entire internet. [Not even Google].

To keep things simple, let’s group search engines into 2 categories:

  1. Regular
  2. Meta

 

1. Regular search engines – like Google or Bing – take the words you type into the search box [the “keywords”] and try to find webpages that they previously discovered [“crawled”] that matches your words.

They don’t really understand the meaning of words, though – which is why you will get a mixture of results ranging from crossing a river to a car manufacturer if you search for the word “ford”.

2. Meta engines – Click here for a list – search other search engines and combine the results into one list. The advantage of Meta engines is that each of the “regular” engines knows about different parts of the internet. Thus, by searching several engines at the same time, you can cover MORE of the internet to find your information.

Third – HOW? part 1

And,

Or,

Not.

Those three words can be very powerful, and can help you find your info in ONE try – when combined with the tips in part 2, below.

You can tell your search engine to search for

first word AND second word AND third word

This would make the engine look for web pages that HAVE to contain all three words.

You can tell your search engine to search for

first word OR second word OR third word

This would make the engine look web pages that HAVE to contain only ONE of the words

You can tell your search engine to search for

first word NOT second word

This would tell the engine to list any webpages that contain the first word, but only if they do NOT contain the second word.

Examples:

ford and chevy and honda
The results HAVE to have all three car brands

ford OR chevy OR honda
The results must have only ONE of the three words
To be honest, this one is not used much at all

ford NOT car NOT truck NOT vehicle
The results will have the word “ford” in it, but hopefully you won’t get any results relating to Ford Motor Company.

HOW you tell the engine to do this depends on the engine. Check the engine’s help pages.

[Often, just typing the keywords gets you an AND search. Putting a minus sign in front of a keyboard means NOT. Try it and see if it works.]

Fourth – HOW? Part 2

How do you come up with the words to type in that search box? Ah, THERE’s the secret sauce to search.

Step One: The Question

Phrase your search in the form of a question. Write it down until you get the hang of this.

HINT: The more specific the question, the better the chance you’ll get this done in one try.

 

Step Two: Underline

Underline the important words.

Step Three: Keywords

Those underlined words are your keywords. Type them into the search engine.

Step Four: READ the results.

Actually look at the descriptions to see what will LIKELY give you the answer you seek. Doublecheck the web address to see if it looks like a legit source [Hint: Facebook.com probably isn’t a good choice.]

Step Five: Go to Page Two.

Sometimes the answers you seek are on page two or three.

Step Six: Synonyms

If you haven’t found the results, look at your keywords. Is there another way to phrase it? Are there any synonyms you could use?

For example, instead of “rain”, you could use “downpour”, “weather”, “inclement weather”, “precipitation”

HINT:
You have a Thesaurus on your iPad.

AN EXAMPLE

You look at your shoe, and see the shoelace has this little thing on the end of it, and start wondering if that thing has a name,

Step 1: Phrase it in the form of a question.

What is that thing on the end of my shoelace called?

Step 2: Underline the important words

What is that thing on the end of my shoelace called?

Step 3: Type those underlined words into your search engine of choice.

If that doesn’t work, make sure to check page 2 and 3 of the results. Or you could try using a synonym – “name” instead of “called”, for example.