silentvirus

Instant messaging has been proven time and time again to make any work or learning environment more efficient and productive. Instant messaging is a way of instant communication across the internet or local network. Both users use the same client where they can send from 140 characters up to a couple of paragraphs, depending on the service. It is very similar to text messaging on cell phones, but it is a bit faster and is meant for more of a conversation then a text message is.

In the business world, employees are able to communicate from great distances quickly making communication cheaper, faster, and more efficient (Stafford). In the education system they are also making great head way. Instant messaging allows students to ask teachers questions about homework, grades, or any other question they have, and get an answer very promptly. Students can also ask each other questions or collaborate together on projects creating more team work among students. Blackboard, a widely used course management software, has instant messaging built in it, so next week I will write about the possibility of using Blackboard (Blackboard).

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“Blackboard Launches Instant Messaging Within Blackboard Learn(TM).” PR Newswire (April 2, 2009): NA. Academic OneFile. Gale. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. 14 Apr. 2009 .

Stafford, Tom. “Introduction to the special issue on instant messaging in the workplace.(Technical report).” IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 51.4 (Dec 2008): 350(2). Academic OneFile. Gale. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. 14 Apr. 2009 .

Oolewah High School Technology teachers,

In your mission statement, your eighth goal is to “develop and expand technology to enhance teaching and learning.” Until the end of your school year, I will be posting a new item a week to help expand technology and enhance teaching and learning in your classes (Ooltewah). I dare each one of you to read the weekly posts and think about how you could take the suggestion and implement it, how it could help, and if it would be worth it. You do not have to implement any of my suggestions; I just dare you to honestly think about using each one of them.

Please note: The title of each post meant for you all will start as “OHS:”

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Ooltewah High School. “Mission Statement.” 12 April 2009 . Path: School; Handbook; Mission Statement.

Sprint recently changed their SERO program to the Everything Plus(SM) Referral Progam.

The SERO plans were 500 minutes for $30/mo or 1000 minutes for $50/mo, and they both had unlimited SMS, MMS, and internet access. 500 minutes is plenty for me so I was excited to being paying only $30/mo, but they changed it a week before I was going to sign up for it–when my Verizon contract ended. Very bad timing.

They changed to 500 minutes for $59.99/mo or 1000 minutes or $79.99/mo, and they both have unlimited SMS, MMS, internet access, GPS navigation, and Sprint TV.

They also changed it from just needing an employee’s email address to their email address and the last three digits of their employee ID number (CID). If you would like to sign up, just go to http://sprint.com/everythingplus and enter the email address russ.s.mcguire@sprint.com and the CID 383 (via McGuire’s Law) but, if you are eligible for a corporate or student discount, you will more than likely be better off using that.

Have you ever used Lime Wire, or peer-to-peer (P2P) in general? Lime Wire is definitely one of the best in my opinion, if you have the full version, at least.

The version of Lime Wire that you can download off of LimeWire.com for free lacks some features that Lime Wire Pro has, such as faster downloads.

You can get the free version of Lime Wire Pro on LimeWirePro.at.tt.

Always having loved Digg , and always wanting to have made a lyrics type site of Digg, it is finally done with the help of Pligg.

PunkItOut.com has been registered by myself for a couple of years now. It was registered when ‘Web 2.0′ was first booming and I wished to create the first lyrics Web 2.0 social website. Never quite getting around to it (maybe having tried and failed), Pligg is a nice way to go ahead and get it up fast, and make it look pretty later.

If you would like to try making a social website of your own, or if you like Digg, or have ever wanted a website such as Digg, go ahead and give Pligg a try!

Do you want to learn PHP? Do you know what PHP is?

PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, I know, it says PHP in it’s own name – it’s just that crazy! PHP is a server-side scripting language. It can be used on a command line or embedded in HTML, where it is most popularly used.

PHP is probably one of the, if not the best introductory programming language. It is now an object-oriented language, so once you learn PHP, then learning  Java, C, or Perl will be much easier then if you were to try by itself.

The book I found most helpful – well, free book – was Practical PHP Programming. You can also buy this in a paperback book called PHP in a Nutshell. This is written by an amazing author named Paul Hudson. The only problem that I have with his writing is that I don’t like some of his spelling since he uses UK English.

“How to lose weight and hair through stress and poor nutrition.”

The Hacker’s Diet is a very inspiring book for the overweight geek. Programmers, engineers, and scientists alike can all appreciate John Walker’s approach to losing weight. He takes an engineers approach. The only way you can lose weight is to burn more calories than you take in. He gives an easy and realistic way to lose and then maintain your weight for the rest of your life. He also supplied very helpful computer tools for you to use.

John Walker has now also come out with the The Hacker’s Diet Online. It just came out of private Beta invitations only so now anyone can sign up and keep track of their weight easily. I use this on a daily basis because it keeps track of how much I should be losing every day and how many calories I should be eating to lose the amount of weight in the alloted time.

As this blog is starting, please look for more features and a more advanced layout. You may find yourself on this site one day with everything working just fine, and then everything broken when you return the next day. So thanks in advanced for your patience, and I am rather sorry for any inconvenience that may occur.

Welcome to silentvirus!

This blog will review books, shows, movies, software, hardware, events, and basically anything else geek related. It will also give advice, and will try to answer any questions raised.

If you have any questions or advice, feel free to comment anywhere on the website or you can message me at feedback@silentvirus.com. Thanks for visiting and please return to read more articles!