Tool of the Week: Google 2-step verification

Posted on by mrsoltys
The things someone could do with access to your e-mail is a bit scary. Not only do have access to any linked bank accounts and other personal information, but also your friend's and families' contact info, where they can start phishing and trolling from a trusted source.  Your e-mail is used to recover lost or stolen passwords to all sorts...Read More

Tool of the Week: Gmail, google Calendar, and Google Docs offline

Posted on by mrsoltys
[caption id="attachment_962" align="alignleft" width="214"] In a new tab, apps that will work when disconnected from the internet appear in blue, while others are turned gray. Be if you don't see app icons, be sure you're on the "Apps" tab at the bottom.[/caption] Sorry to post two Gmail tools in a row, but google offline is awesome.  After being gone on...Read More

Tool of the Week: Key Rocket for Gmail

Posted on by mrsoltys
Today I stumbled across a really cool extension for google chrome (A really amazing web browser for Windows and Mac), that works with gmail to make your gmail experience quicker and more productive. It's called KeyRocket, and anytime you do something in gmail that has a time saving keyboard shortcut, KeyRocket pops up (un-obtrusively) to tell you what that shortcut is for...Read More

Tool of the Week: Flipboard

Posted on by mrsoltys
A co-worker of mine recently suggested I start blogging cool smartphone Apps, and I think this is a great idea.  While doing "Tool of the Week" I've already pointed to a few services that have smartphone apps, and have tagged them with the "Smartphone App" tag, but i'm going to start doing some more posts specifically related to cool apps across...Read More

Tool of the Week: Online 3D printing (rapid prototyping)

Posted on by mrsoltys
[caption id="attachment_863" align="alignright" width="150" caption="The Cube 3D printer or the makerbot could be a really fun engineering teaching tool."][/caption] Recently, I've been super intrigued by online 3D printing services (Aka: cloud printing, rapid prototyping).  The principal is simple: You upload a modle to a website, it's printed on a rapid prototyper machine, and mailed to you. I've found 3 services online that...Read More

Tool of the Week: Google Drive?!

Posted on by mrsoltys
I was taking a mid-day break reading the internets when I saw this post: Needless to say, being the google fanboy that I am, I was stoked. [caption id="attachment_849" align="alignright" width="300"] Note: The file name here was "HPIM3746.jpg," so it was image recognition that told google this picture was in sydney[/caption] I've installed it on my computer, and Google Drive...Read More

Tool of the Week: Wunderlist

Posted on by mrsoltys
My friend Andrew introduced me to wunderlist when we were working on a project together.  At the time, I thought it was neat, but now I know that it's AWESOME. Wunderlist is a task management tool that syncs across multiple platforms and even has a smartphone version!  I use both the Mac OSx app as well as the iphone app....Read More

MATLAB Tip: Logarithmic color-scales for contour and image plots

Posted on by mrsoltys
[caption id="attachment_761" align="alignright" width="392"] Logarithmic Color-bar for Contour Plot[/caption] A lot of my data ranges orders of magnitude, and can be very hard to depict using standard MATLAB functions like imagesc, contourf, contour, etc.  A quick google search on how to make logarithmic contour plots and logarithmic color-bars yielded some unhelpful results, so I thought I'd give a quick post here. 1) Define Your Contours Define where you'd like...Read More

Took of the week: KeepVid.com

Posted on by mrsoltys
I teach at a public school that has amazing technology resources: many students are given laptops and there are ample computers around the school. One problem I run into quite often is YouTube is blocked from any computer on the district's internet. Now, I'm not going to say anything negative on the district's policy to block youtube: It can be...Read More

Tool of the Week: GitHub

Posted on by mrsoltys
In any sort of research, chances are you're going to have to write some code, be it in Matlab, R, or Javascript, or some other processing language.  Having the ability to share your codes with others, and truly collorabirate is extremly useful in being productive.  You could share your codes via a file sharing service like Dropbox, but at least...Read More