IT Ideas

Ever want to edit Google Docs or Slides (Presentation) without a connection? You can enable offline mode in Google Drive. This allows you to edit Docs and Slides and view Spreadsheets. You changes get synced when you get your connection back. Handy when on a train with a Chromebook and the 3G is a bit dodgy. Screen shot of how to enable: Just click on more in your drive (under Recent) and click on Offline Drive and enable it. Job done.

Google Search Education Centre Google has a site dedicated to teaching people how to do more effective searches. Search Education  has a wide range of feel resources and lesson plans that are quite useful. Even if you think you knew everything there was to know about search engines - this might throw up a few surprises. Latest series of lectures here  - these are on Power Searching.

How to add hyperlinks in Google Spreadsheets Was linking a few sheets together using =importrange and wanted to put a quick link back to the linked sheet. Had to look up how to do this as it was not obvious. You use the function =hyperlink. So type this into the cell =hyperlink("url of website","Link text to appear in the cell")

Easy private cloud with Asus RT-N65U Just got one of these routers at home to replace my old BT HomHub 3. Mainly for the duel band WiFi which is great. However, you get two USB3 port in it. The storage you plug in can be turned into your own little private cloud. This is accessed (along with any samba shares on your local network) can be accessed via the Asus AiCloud apps on phones or visiting a secure website that you choose the address for. So you can download and upload files to your usb device pretty much anywhere and on any device. Small Screenshot:

Duolingo You can find Duolingo in the Chrome Webstore. Its an app that allows you to learn French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian from scratch. I've been learning German. My eldest son uses it at home to help with French and German and really likes it. For a free course its a seems really good. Screenshot: I never liked languages at school - but this makes it rather good fun! You need a decent headset to get the most out of it. 

Web Version of Spotify If you want to use Spotify in a browser - so on a Chromebook or just don't want to install the local app, then there is now a beta web app. You do need a Facebook account to access it - but once in you can use you regular Spotify App. Follow this link: https://apps.facebook.com/get-spotify/?fb_source=notification&fb_ref=cazzette_gb&ref=notif&notif_t=app_notification Sign in with Facebook. You should then be able to switch to your Spotify account. Bookmark the page. Then enjoy browser based Spotify. There is a thread about this in the Chromebook group forum , which I would recommend to any Chromebook users out there. Don't know how long it will be in beta - but appears to work well on my ARM based chromebook and PC. Update: You can now get Spotify as an App in the Chrome-web store. So no need to do any of this now.

How to edit Videos in Google Drive A lot of people in our Apps domain have found how easy it is to upload videos straight to their Google Drive. However, it would be nice to be able to edit them. Well, you can. You need to add a app called Pixorial to your Drive and then you can: Edit videos Add captions and credits. Add transitions. Add audio tracks. Add images and much more. I've tried to illustrate this in a little video: