Every once in a while when I’m working with teachers in front of their PC’s, I’m reminded of what a technology geek I’ve become.  Truth is, I used to be a total novice.  I didn’t even own a computer when I started teaching 13 years ago.  So like a lot of people who pretty much use computers for work-related tasks, I used to do a lot of things the long way.  But spending more and more time working with computers has forced me to find shortcuts and utilize little tricks here and there that make my computer work less of a chore–tips and tricks that a lot of computer users haven’t discovered yet.   NY Times tech guru David Pogue reminded me of this yesterday when I read his latest blog post about tech tips and tricks that I thought many of you would find helpful.  Some of these address smart phone usage, but those are really just small computers now, aren’t they?

This isn’t the first time Pogue has written about this, so if you like his latest tips and tricks, check out this previous post, too.

Before I end this post, I’d just like to add a couple that are not on his list.  This first one will seem obvious to most, but not all. You know how certain words in the middle of a block of text on a web page are a different color and/or underlined?  Like the yellow ones on this page?  Those are links…click ’em.  My other tip–browser tabs! I’m surprised at how many people don’t know about these and how much easier they make browsing the web and multitasking between, say Finalsite, Infinite Campus, and whatever other website you need to have open at the same time.  Use the image below as a reference, and try it out.  If you’ve never used tabs before, they’ll change your life.