Phixr

Phixr was so easy to access.  I signed in using my gmail acount, uploaded a picture and started playing with the features in less than one minute! 

I was able to crop and frame my favorite picture from our character breakfast at Disney last week.

Phixr would allow me to upload the picture to Facebook, but I would have to give it access to my existing pictures on FB, so I did not do that.  It also allows me to upload to Snapfish so I can directly order prints. 


Since working with a single picture was that simple, I thought I would mix it up by uploading ten pictures and test the multiple picture option.  If this is as easy, I can see myself using this program in a science class where students upload and mix pictures from lab experiments as a way to tell the story of the lab.  Don't get me wrong, they would still need to do a formal lab write up as preparation for college, but I could assess their conceptual understanding from hypothesis to conclusion via the photographs.  It was not as easy as I wanted to combine the pictures into a collage, but I still like the idea of creating a photo lab report to accompany a written one.  

Think Free

Before this assignment, I never heard of Think Free, so this was the perfect opportunity to check it out!  Their "Cloud Office, Everywhere" description on their webpage could be describing Google Docs, as it boasts of affording users the ease of collaborating in online Office Environments. 

The write up and the images support my presumptions of its similarities to Google Docs, especially with their beautiful concept map paired with its professional youtube promotional video. 




ThinkFree is not as its name suggests; it is not another run of the mill open office software programs.  In one of the write ups it claims that one of its special abilities is to export files as PDFs.  I just clicked over to my Google Docs and I can download word documents as a PDF.  It also claims it can work on Android devices where Google Docs cannot.  Tomorrow I will borrow my daughter's cell phone to test this claim.  For tonight, I found a website http://thinkfree-office.en.softonic.com/   so I can take a free look at the software; play with it to see what it can do!  While I thought I found a way to do an end run around the system, I should have read what I previously stated: I cannot play with this for free.  My only analysis can be made on the software claims, Youtube videos and random blogs on ThinkFree.  From my perch, do not see a difference between the currently free Google Docs and Think Free.  If I cannot use Google Docs on an Android phone tomorrow, that would be the tipping point toward paying for the service.

Creating my own Web Page

When I started creating my own web page, I was excited to have so many templates from which to decide.  I spent hours trying to force my ideas into the formats, and actually created and deleted three sites, sub-pages, uploaded videos and pictures.  I read and re-read the information on how to change templates.  Becoming very frustrated, I scrapped the templates and made my own site. My greatest disappointment is that I do not have a beautiful background.  Just like everything else in this class, I will return and update this throughout the week.  For now, I will debut my first attempt at a completed web-site Edington: Take One.