The Mobile Classroom HD

Avoid "death by Powerpoint" by using some of these helper applications to help you through the big presentation. I've done hundreds of presentations around the world, and this is a couple of the programs that I use to keep my presentations interesting. You'll learn how to use Microsoft SysInternals' ZoomIt to help you make your point, and the free Logitech Touch Mouse wireless pointer that turns your iPhone into a remote mouse and keyboard.

Windows is a powerful operating system, but all of that power sometimes requires a few tweaks. CCleaner provides a simple and free front-end to remove unwanted files, remove incorrect registry entries, manage your computer startup process, and much more.

If you're responsible for building, maintaining, or editing web pages, then you probably surround yourself with a number of support utilities. In this episode, we'll examine some nifty webmaster tools for your browser, a stand-alone Windows color picker and electronic measuring tape, and you'll see how Google's Webmaster Tools showed me how to optimize my web site.

You may be familiar with the search engine capabilities of the Google Toolbar, but did you know it can translate web pages, spell check your email messages, and replace your calculator? In this episode, we'll demonstrate all of these Google Toolbar capabilities and much more!

If you're a news hound, then the web is probably your source of real-time breaking news. Unfortunately, it can be challenging to read the news if you follow more than a few web sites. In this video, we'll show you some simple ways to consolidate the latest news headlines, customize news topics, find information quickly, and share news with others.

One of the most powerful aspects of Google's search engine is its comprehensive knowledge of all-things-Internet. Unfortunately, the raw tonnage of this much data can sometime create a challenge when trying to find a needle in this virtual haystack. In this episode, you'll learn some techniques that can help you define more precise searches, get information quickly with some nifty one-word search parameters, and use Google's powerful trending tool to provide you with a unique perspective of what the rest of the world is searching for every day.

If you're trying work on Getting Things Done, then one of your primary organizational tools is a robust to-do list. Toodledo takes the idea of to-do lists to the next level with in-cloud synchronization, collaboration with others, and a nifty off-net option.

If you have an Apple-branded mobile device then you're probably using iTunes. However, there are some great features in iTunes that can be used by anyone with a computer, regardless of your mobile device. In this episode, we'll use iTunes to digitize our old CD collection, find free and unique shows for free, and even create free ringtones from our music library.

You've probably seen the mentions of RSS on your favorite web sites, and the orange RSS icon is now a standard feature on the latest web browsers. RSS can provide you with a new information source that can allow you to stay up-to-date with the latest news, build a knowledge center, or automatically track the weather. In this episode, you'll learn how RSS works, how to configure RSS feeds in your browser and in the cloud, and how to easily browse the content of hundreds of web sites in just a few minutes.

Your computer makes a great audio capture and editing tool, but Windows doesn't include the software you need to make all of that happen. In this episode, you'll learn about some free software that can get your audio into a usable format. You'll find out how to capture and edit audio on your desktop with Audacity, capture and edit audio in the cloud using Aviary Myna, and how to update your MP3 tags with Mp3tag.

You're certainly familiar with using a mouse and keyboard to use your computer, but have you considered using your voice? The latest voice recognition technologies provide amazing control of today's modern graphical environments, a remarkably accurate understanding of spoken words, and a number of unique controls through the use of just your voice. In this episode, we'll look at Windows 7 Speech Recognition and Nuance Dragon Naturally Speaking.

If you have children on your network, then you know how important it is to manage the flow of information from the Internet. In this episode, we'll learn about OpenDNS and their extensive Internet filtering technologies. You'll learn how OpenDNS can manage internet content by category, protect you from phishing, and block your system from accessing malicious web sites.

Every day, more of our personal information is kept on the hard drive of our personal computers. Unfortunately, most of this information is stored without any additional security or encryption. In this episode, we'll examine some free options for encrypting data in the operating system, sending encrypted information through email, and on-the-fly encrypting of data stored across entire drive volumes.

Windows is a great operating system, but there are always opportunities to make it just a little bit better. In this episode, you'll learn how to manage all of those startup tasks that are bloating your computer, how to tweak the user interface to improve your efficiency, and an easy way to make PDF files from any application.

Almost all of us have a network at home, but do we really know how to take care of it? In this episode, you'll learn how to keep your wireless network from being trampled by the neighbors, how to test the true speed of your network, and what you can check before calling your ISP's technical support.