Friday, December 3, 2021

ASA Tech Tips and News for December 3, 2021

 

I hope your Thanksgiving break was wonderful and restful. Now we head right into Advent and the Christmas season. With the new season come several new Google updates. Be sure to check them out, there are some very handy ones in the mix. There are also a couple of security-related videos. Please make sure you learn how to see what's really behind a Bitly link before you ever click on one again. Bitly is a great tool for shortening very long URLs, I use them myself, but it can also be used to hide malicious website links too. Someone always comes along to ruin a good thing, don't they? 


A New Phone Scam Bypasses Two-Factor Security Codes

FYI:  2-Factor Authentication is when a website requires a second step when you are logging in, which includes sending a code to our phone or email, which you enter into the website to complete the login process. Banks usually require this. It's important that you know you should never enter the code if you have not just logged in to that site yourself. 


How to See What's Really Behind a Bitly Link

Bitly is a handy tool for shortening long URLs, but sometimes it's used to hide malicious site addresses.


Google Workspace for Education Updates


Gmail:  Indicate Whether You'll Join a Meeting Virtually or in Person


This option was only previously available in Calendar, but is now also available in Gmail. This means when you receive an invitation for a meeting in Gmail, you can indicate whether you will be attending virtually or in person when you RSVP. Read all the details here. This feature is available now. Here are directions on how to respond to a Calendar invitation in Gmail. 

Docs:  Add a Page Break Before Paragraphs

This is useful when you always want a particular paragraph style or heading to start a new page. Simply highlight the paragraph style and turn it on. From that point on, everytime you use that paragraph style, it will force a new page. This will also allow you to import and export this feature from Microsoft Word. Find complete information here. This feature is already available. Find out how to use paragraph styles here

Docs:  Add People, Files and More to Docs with Universal @ Menu

@ Menu Demonstration
This is a huge time saver. Entering an @ in a Google Doc will now pop up a menu, allowing you to insert people, meeting notes, files, task lists, media, dates, paragraph heading styles, calendar events, page components (page numbers, headers, footers, etc.), bookmarks, special characters, links and more into the file. This allows you to access many features without clicking through menus or leaving the keyboard. This feature is available now. Here are instructions for using the @ menu. Give it a try!

Meet:  Immersive Background and Styles

Meet Immersive Background & Styles
Immersive backgrounds feature subtle animation that differentiates your background based on the time of day or weather where you are. These include Morning Condo, Night Condo, Rainy Cafe, Snowy Cafe and Sunny Cafe. In addition to these new backgrounds, there are also styles available. A Style will turn your existing background into a different type of lighting or illustration. For example, make your existing background black and white, or a pencil drawing, or appear to be in sunlight or vivid colors. You can turn backgrounds and styles on before joining the Meet. Not sure how to turn on backgrounds? Find out here. This update is available in Meet now (as demonstrated at right in the UC school office). Full info can be found here

Sheets:  Add People With Smart Chips

Similar to the @ menu in Docs, you will soon be able to add people in Sheets by entering @ and the first few letters of a name in a cell. You can select the person and then interact with the people Smart Chip that appears to view their info, book a meeting, start a Chat, send an email, and more. You can only access people at this time in Sheets. I'm not seeing this feature yet, but it should be available in the next few days. Find more information about using Smart Chips here

How to Delete Bookmarks on Google Chrome

How to Delete Bookmarks on Google Chrome, from How-To Geek by Mahesh Makvana
Sometimes you just need a bookmark temporarily, but other times you may find you have a growing collection of bookmarks that you no longer use - or no longer work. It's easy to clean them up. 

Take a Look at Your Google Docs Activity Dashboard


Can You Use FaceTime on Windows

Can You Use FaceTime on Windows, from How-To Geek by Yuvraj Wadhwani
Facetime is so easy to use for Mac, iPad and iPhone users, except when they want to FaceTime someone who doesn't use those devices. Now it sort of works with Windows users. Find out how it works. 

These Free Lessons Will Get Your Students Making Cool Explainer Videos

Teach your students (or yourself) the art of making effective explainer videos.

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