Monday, February 28, 2011

Google’s Recipe View Makes Recipe Search a Cakewalk


Posted: 25 Feb 2011 08:30 AM PST here
What do you do when you have to find the recipe for that dish you always wanted to make? You type your query on Google and try to find out the right one from all those results right? Well, a lot of those results aren’t what you are actually looking for. That means there’s a good bit of wasted time before you narrow down to the correct recipe. Well, worry no more because Google’s Recipe View is going to change all that.
Recipe search or the recipe view is basically a new search option introduced by Google that lets you efficiently narrow down to the right recipe without getting lost in hundreds of thousands of search results out there. The option can be located on the sidebar on the Google search results page, where you have images, news, videos and all that.
recipe view 1
When you click on it after you’ve searched for a recipe, you’ll find that the results as well as the interface changes showing pictures and content that only relates to the recipes centered around your query.
recipe view 2
Now here comes the good part – there’s further filtering and customization that can be done. Yes, you can further narrow down the results by the ingredients you want to put into the dish, the cook time (certain recipes take long while others can be cooked in minutes) and the calorie count.
recipe view 3
As you see in the screenshot above, I can select yes or no on the specific ingredients and filter the results accordingly. The choices are also available under cook time and calories to help me make the decision.
Overall I think this is an interesting way to search, and Google could incorporate this into many more search niches in the near future.

~~Hope this Helps!
~~GB

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Make 5

Make 5 (http://www.fi.uu.nl/toepassingen/00091/toepassing_wisweb.en.html) Make 5 is a fun way for students to practice addition, subtraction or multiplication. Students can play this game individually or against another student. This game provides a great platform for students to practice math facts and to start recognizing relationships between numbers. Students are given a target number and a goal to choose an equation on the grid that equals that target number. There are multiple correct answers on the grid. The goal of the game is to get 5 answers in a row on the grid (like Tic-tac-toe or connect 4). If you don’t have access to classroom computers to play this game, split your class into two groups and play with the whole class with an interactive whiteboard or projector. Each student should be given the chance to represent their team and match an equation with a target number. Give teams 30 seconds to plan their move before sending up the representative.

Again from http://ilearntechnology.com/?p=3647

Friday, February 25, 2011

Math Mania and World Math Day

Vmath Live hosts these online competitions each year for students around the world to compete in. Math Mania (http://www.voyagerlearning.com/mathmania.do) is a back to school challenge where students compete against other students in real time using the Vmath Live math program. Students face off with other students from around the world while practicing their math facts. As students answer questions, they can see, in real time, how other students from around the world are doing answering the same questions at the same time. The goal is to answer all of the questions as quickly as possible (correctly) and finish before the other students. The live competition is highly motivating and has students asking, “can I play this at home?” World Math Day (http://worldmathday.com/) is a competition that is held each year in March. Just like Math Mania, World Math Day is a competition between students from around the world. Each math fact game lasts for 60 seconds and improves student’s mental math. The World Math Day competition is for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. Visit both competition sites for more details about the competition and dates.

Again from http://ilearntechnology.com/?p=3647

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Register for Doodle for Google


    As many of you know, Doodle 4 Google is an annual art contest that invites K-12 students to re-design the Google logo. If you are a teacher or an educator, you can register your students or class to participate in the contest by March 2, 2011 at www.google.com/doodle4google. This year, parents can also register their children directly for the contest. Contest Prizes: This year’s student winner will have his or her doodle featured on the Google.com homepage for a day, receive a $15,000 college scholarship and his or her school will get a $25,000 technology grant for a new computer lab. Google will also visit the Forty (40) regional finalists at their their schools and provide an all-expense-paid trip to our New York City office. No Limit on How Many Doodles a School Can Send In: This year, there’s no limit on how many doodles each school can submit, so we hope you’ll get the word out. But remember, we can only accept just one doodle per student. We’ve even put together a Doodle Party Kit featuring easy-to-print- templates, flyers to spread the word, and certificates to reward the most creative doodles in the classroom. Check out the Info for Participants tab on the contest web site at www.google.com/doodle4google. So get your students doodling and also get the word out on the contest to as many schools as you know. Entries are due on March 16th but you have to pre-register online by March 2nd.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

IPlayMathGames.com

Coming up now is a series of posts from http://ilearntechnology.com/?p=3647
If you are lacking student computers for math practice, consider visiting iPlay Math Games. http://iplaymathgames.com has a collection of printable math games for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. The games are easily searched by grade or skill level. These math games can be played using common items like dice, cards, and other manipulatives. The games have been created to build skills such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, percents, algebra, long division, measurement, graphing, exponents, problem solving, puzzles, geometry, probability, logic, reasoning, numeration, patterns, and counting. Search for games that will meet your different learning needs. Next, group students together to play the games. Grouping students with similar learning needs helps students practice the math skill with others who are in need of the same practice. Create a math learning center where students can easily access the games and manipulatives needed for the games. Hold a math mania day once a week where students can practice the skills they have been learning in math class by playing these fun games.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

US President KMZ

We’ve created a U.S. Presidents Showcase to map the birthplaces of all 44 presidents, and provide details about their presidential terms, using the Google Earth plug-in. You can also see the states that voted during each president’s election by clicking on the tours in the left column of the showcase.

Whether you’re a history buff or simply curious to learn more about U.S. presidents, we hope you enjoy exploring a little further using Google Earth. In addition to the U.S. Presidents map, educators can use some of our other resources in their classroom to explore more aspects of history. Here are a few ideas:
Explore the White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and other historical monuments in 3D and have students explain how architecture is used to honor people, concepts and establishments

View a 3D model of Valley Forge National Park in Google Earth

View a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln and map the areas where slavery ended, as well as the areas that were not initially covered by this executive order
Discuss the famous painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware” by German American artist Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze and use the ruler tool in Google Earth to measure the width of the Delaware River
We hope you have fun exploring and learning a little more of the history behind the President’s Day holiday. And when you’re done, go out and enjoy your day off!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Holocaust's victims and survivors

Google partnered with Yad Vashem, the Jerusalem-based center for
remembering the Holocaust's victims and survivors, to bring more than
130,000 images from their collections online, in full resolution. You
can find the images on Yad Vashem’s collections site or by searching
the web; we transcribed the text from many of the images with optical
character recognition to make them more findable across the Internet.
Add a personal story to a photo or document on Yad Vashem’s site by
clicking on the “share your thoughts” section.
http://collections.yadvashem.org/photosarchive/en-us/photos.html
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/explore-yad-vashems-holocaust-archives.html

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Readability in Google Search


This week’s tip shows a new feature within the Google search engine - the ability to filter results by reading level!
It is very simple to do. Just follow these instructions:

  1. 1.Go to: www.google.com
  2. 2.Click the “Advanced Search” link at the right of the search window.


  3. 3.Enter the desired keyword(s).
  4. 4.Use the “Reading Level” pull-down menu to choose the desired reading level:
    Basic (easy reading)
    Intermediate
    Advanced (more difficult reading levels)


  5. 5.Click the Advanced Search button at the bottom right.
  6. 6.The results page will show only pages with the desired reading level!

  7. 7.Click the links beside the bar graph at the top of the results page to switch to a different reading level. (See screen shot above.)
    I have used Tammy's books for years! You might like them.

Friday, February 11, 2011

GOOGLE INVITES DOODLE ENTRIES

http://bit.ly/google-doodling
This year parents as well as teachers can register students in the
Doodle4Google contest. With registrations due March 2 and entries on
March 16, K-12 students still have time to compete and see their
Google homepage logo designs online -- and at the Whitney Museum of
American Art. Forty regional winners travel to New York. Three
finalists win scholarships. The grand prize winner takes home a
$25,000 technology grant for his or her school.javascript:void(0)

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

POWER TIP for GMail users

Port your existing number to Google Voice

Google Voice helps you manage your communications by giving you more
control over your phones and voicemail, but until this week, you had
to get a new Google phone number in order use all of Google Voice’s
features. With Number Porting, existing Google Voice users can now use
their mobile numbers as their Google Voice numbers. This means you can
now use all of Google Voice’s features, like ringing multiple phones
at once, without having to change your number. To get started with
Number Porting, log in to your Google Voice account, visit the
Settings page and click on “Change / Port” next to your Google Voice
number. Be sure to read our blog post for more info about Number
Porting.
http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/port-your-existing-mobile-number-to.html
http://www.google.com/voice

Monday, February 7, 2011

Egypt Resources


Large-scale protests have been underway since January 25 in Egypt. Activity has been concentrated in Cairo and Alexandria, and communication channels across the country have been intermittent.
The Google Crisis Response team will continue to update this page as more information becomes available.

Friday, February 4, 2011

New YouTube homepage

Google gave us a preview of a redesigned YouTube homepage in late 2010, and
now all logged-in users will see the new version when they visit
YouTube. The new homepage is designed to answer the question “What
should I watch today?” so there’s more focus on videos that matter to
you—including subscriptions, friends’ sharing and recommendations. You
can also filter your homepage to show only the latest uploads from
your subscriptions and get quick access to the inbox when you have new
messages or comments. If you’ve already watched a video, it will be
grayed out on your homepage—and you can remove any video with a simple
click.
http://www.youtube.com

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Google Art Project


Explore museums and great works of art in the Google Art Project

2/01/2011 06:02:00 AM
One of the things I love about working at Google is that you can come up with an idea one day and the next day start getting to work to make it a reality. That's what happened with theArt Project—a new tool we're announcing today which puts more than 1,000 works of art at your fingertips, in extraordinary detail.

It started when a small group of us who were passionate about art got together to think about how we might use our technology to help museums make their art more accessible—not just to regular museum-goers or those fortunate to have great galleries on their doorsteps, but to a whole new set of people who might otherwise never get to see the real thing up close.

We're also lucky here to have access to technology like Picasa and App Engine and to have colleagues who love a challenge—like building brand-new technology to enable Street View to go indoors! Thanks to this, and our unique collaboration with museums around the world, we were able to turn our 20% project into something you can try out for yourself today atwww.googleartproject.com.

You’ll find a selection of super high-resolution images of famous works of art as well as more than a thousand other images, by more than 400 artists—all in one place. And with Street View technology, you can take a virtual tour inside 17 of the world’s most acclaimed art museums, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA in New York, The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Tate Britain & The National Gallery in London, Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
Read more here.
Hope this helps!
~~GB

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Google Apps Help

Straight from Google folks:

Doodle 4 Google: 2011

The 2011 Doodle 4 Google contest is now open for K-12 students in the
U.S. to redesign Google’s logo around the theme “What I’d like to do
someday...”. The winning student, chosen by Google employees and a
panel of guest judges, will have their design displayed on Google.com
for millions to see, and take home a $15,000 scholarship and a $25,000
technology grant for his or her school or after-school program. We’ll
also choose 40 regional finalists, whose artwork will be featured in a
special exhibition in partnership with the Whitney Museum of American
Art. This year, the contest is open to parents to register their
school-age children directly, and we’re working with the Boys & Girls
Clubs of America and Girls Scouts of the USA so kids in those
organizations can participate too. Educators at public, private and
home schools can also register their students.
http://www.google.com/doodle4google