TCC 7-1 Cindy's Links

Always short and sweet here are this issue's finds.

Things Google:
Google as a portfolio site provider...Sites and Drive work together. The teacher makes the overall site adding pages appropriate to the type of information the students will add. Then publishes it as a template and the students customize from there. Link to how...collaboration is possible.
My favorite Google teacher, Alice Keeler tells how to use Google Keep to  turn paper handouts into digital on the fly.
I already mentioned one of the parts of this Google for Education post  in the TCC 7-1 Old, but Golden post in the  section about Remind., but other things here include Classroom’s mobile app, Expeditions, and more. One of the more features is a Chrome app that will allow wireless mirroring of devices 1-to-1 called Cast for Education. Expeditions offers virtual field trips with 3D viewers...this one isn’t free...Cardboard viewers us smart phones for a BYOD less expensive option. There are 3D videos on YouTube.
This last Google item is a testimonial to an Alice Keeler post about making collaboration space specific for students. It is from a teacher, Christy Monge who tried giving each student a page named for them in the document (slides, in this case) Read and view the result of this hint.

Things Other than Google:
A launch page with links has become Hyperdocs??? A blog post if this is new to your...here.
Differentiation is an education buzz word.  We are to give students the opportunity to learn the way best for them. But listening to read??? Look as the post on whether this is cheating. Audio books can help many students absorb material they would not get from a book.

ENJOY!

TCC 7-1 Old, but Golden

As usual we will begin our year by reviewing our logins and looking at some new features of these old friends. This Tech Professional Learning Community (PLC) topic has to do with a song learned in Brownies: new friends are silver, old friends are gold. The old friends are: ERO, SchoolInsites (web host), Outlook (email), Enrich, StreamlineSC (Learn 360 portal), Discus, We are also reviewing phone/voicemail setup and a password addition to our work order system, School Dude.
But as usual there is modeling involved with the session. The main new friend for the year is ClassFlow from Promethean. We will be looking at some of the features more closely next month when teachers join a class. At Google Classroom schools the “always start in Classroom” rule is in effect. Having to join two classes may seem tedious, but they will have access to all the archived lessons in our classroom site.
Now for some outside sites which have become important over the years..Chrome has eased the need for online bookmarking since with a login your browser looks the same on any connected device. But EDU.Symbaloo is still the most visual bookmarking tool which can be very helpful for younger students. This link is to a Twitter webmix which has ideas for following chats as part your personal learning network. Using Symbaloo as your Personal Learning Network (PLN) home can be shared with students, too.
Remind was the first “messaging to parents anonymously” site. There are several others now and Google Classroom has a share with parents email feature now that combines all classes the student is in-volved with in one message. Can be daily, weekly or monthly. And ClassFlow has an app called ClassFlow Moments which mimics many of Remind’s features. Parents must be invited to join. Remind has grown since beginning. You can now add attachments and apply read receipts for documentation. Link to the Top 10 Ways to Use Remind. Still free...still private! ClassDojo is another first of its kind site. This has also morphed due to copy cat sites. They offer support with student video series. There has been a yearly set for several years.. The new set is here.
Many old friends have moved to subscription/membership, but are still useful enough to invest in. Edu.Glogster is one of these. I have been an Ambassador and used it as my presentation tool some years back. This was one of the first curation tools online….it offered a digital poster format which allowed students/teachers to add video, pictures and text to a background. These had URLs and could be shared or used to present. $30 will get you a personal account. It is a onetime purchase not a yearly license. Voki is a talking avatar and is itself is still free, but it has many additional educational features Voki Classroom, Voki Presenter, and Voki Teach which are paid. These all have 15 day trial with various levels which include combinations of the products from $5/month for 50 students to $10/month for 150.
So that gets Florence 3 started for the year...ENJOY!

TCC 6-2 Google Classroom Comes to Town

For 2016-2017 at least four schools (LCHS, REMJHS, JPTIS, and JCLES) will have Apps for Education accounts which allow them to use Classroom. So every student has a G-mail account...how does that work? Student id’s are related to their login in a private domain for their school. That domain is needed to be a Google Apps for Education school...the only users of Classroom. All student information can be restricted to that domain...even parents without accounts can’t view things unless they are shared in some other way, like a Google Group.
Google Drive provides storage for all student work. When using Classroom folders are even set up automatically for your classes and for your student work. Work can be done on any of Google’s applications: Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, and My Maps. Not only these, but photos, PDFs and videos can be stored in Drive., and other formats (Office) can be viewed and edited. Students can use Android, iOs, or Windows devices to participate. My Maps and Sites can also be used as alternative ways to make presentations.

TCC 6-2 Google Cardboard

This has been a learning school year. My status changed slightly and I become the mother of 150+ iPads that needed supervision, updating and redistribution...after the Configurator 2 was available. This was a steep learning curve for an Apple newbie.And now we have a school which is beginning the process for Google Classroom (on iPads). So I am again trying to gain a foothold by working on my Google Level 1 Certification.

That preface is to help you understand how I found the Google Cardboard appliances and app while looking for Google Groups to find uses for the discussion and mailing list. So hidden in the MORE of Google's matrix of tools was one I had never heard of...Google Cardboard?

TCC Summer: Summertime Fun?

I am a fan of Alice Keeler's blog, Teacher Tech, which is in My Blog List at the right. She is very knowledgeable in all things Google and shares tutorial information at Teacher Tech. Since our junior high and high schools are going one-to-one with Chromebooks things Google are helpful for those staff members who teach at those schools.
Another site new to me is Google for Education which offers training on the requirements to become a Google Educator. All courses listed are: Android Tablets for Education, Calendar, Chrome,  Chromebooks,  Classroom, Digital Citizenship, Docs Suite, Docs, Drawings, Drive, Forms, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Play for , .Education, Implementing Google Apps, Search, Sheets, Sites, Slides, and YouTube. The advanced portion of training for some of the offered lessons are required for the assessments for Certification, but the basic lessons are also there if you need that help  Each lesson also gives you an

TCC 5-5 Cindy's Links

Classmill describes its course creation site curated learning. It is another site which allows you to gather all the multimedia for your lesson/course for viewing from one site. MIT’s Future of Education report says, "The next generation of student life and learning, supporting the faculty with new instructional roles, introducing flexibility to the curriculum and in time to degree by modularizing course content"

Intel has some terrific Project Based Learning courses. During the one we facilitate with teachers yearly in our school district we look not only at self/formative assessment but we also look at technology to infuse. This Edudemic post, 5 Ways to Use Wordcloud Generators in the Classroom, has teacher contributed ideas including one which marries KWL charts and word clouds. Another Edudemic post, The Ultimate Twitter Guidebook, this with 100 sites giving lots of ideas and links for using Twitter from beginner tips and educator uses to cautions and student apps. Or 30 Innovative Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom  if that seems too much.

TCC 5-5 Project Based Learning with New Tech (PBL)

In August we move 2 more grades into New Tech which also means more PBL. Our district has been involved through Intel which has additional resources for PBL. Intel Engage site is a community which has tools and courses which are free to teaching professionals. Although not  directly connected to New Tech the basic information is convergent....just terminology is different. There is more information on Intel in TCC Issue 4-4.

At the site click circled for videos

I have had no formal New Tech training, but have been previewing the information at their network site: echo.newtechnetwork.org Even without a login it allows you to click on More About Echo above the login space.
  

There are videos covering schools, projects, samples, and reflections of teachers and students.  Two really good project samples are “The Cart Project” and “Cells Gone Wild” (featured) which were both real issue projects for which the students found real answers. If these aren’t part of official training they are worth a look. Several of the videos are student produced.

TCC 5-5 Producing InfoPics

Tony Vincent offers tutorials on lots of tech topics...beginning with Learning in Hand podcasts.

Screen Capture of Tony's Sample from Ted Talk

“A picture is worth a thousand words” may be true, but add a few words to a picture and you have something even more memorable. In his tutorial on infopic tools and how-to’s Tony features samples from Jonathan Nalder* and others. Students with various kinds of devices could use this skill to summarize, define, persuade, or advertise. His suggested tools are: Canva, Rhonna, Mextures, Over, Skitch, Pic Collage, PicLab, Phonto, Pathon, Color Effects, Color Splash Effects, presentation software (Power Point, KeyNote, or Slides), Pixlr, or PicsArt (has call-out speech bubbles to add). These tools are for various brands of devices so you would select what works on the tool you have. The one which works on the most types is Skitch...which also has a Chrome app for our New
Tech people.

TCC 5-5 Classroom Tech Infusion Classflow/ActivInspire Merge Tutorials

Promethean is improving Classflow...it will look different.  Since our Tech Cluster (Florence School District 3 PD) emphasis featured using it with ActivInspire 2.0 this isn’t too stressful. 

For those entusiasts who wanted to deeper look at what that Classflow/ActivInspire 2.0 combo would do here are some tutorials that will add to what we looked at in March:
How to use the Classflow teacher remote. I was not aware when we started that the remote worked with the software, also. I mentioned it to some, but assumed it was for Classflow. Woo Hoo...it works with the software, too.The app is available for Android, Apple, and Windows devices. A reason for either allowing some teacher phone use, data financing for personal phone use, or providing handhelds for teachers.
How to connect tablets & computers. This tutorial give you the information we talked about quickly during the introduction. It also mentions where to get the student app for those with tablets.

TCC 5-5 Talking QR Codes

April is the month with the QR code and Plickers for Tech Infusion. The article Classroom Tech Infusion for April was in issue 5-4 of TCC and the 2 or 3 posts ago. But in pursuing some of the research I made another discovery about what QR codes can do. Did you know they will talk? Because the blog post I worked from had several boards among its resources I ventured into Pinterest world and there it was...Teaching with Nancy had posted 2 tutorials for making code that talks when scanned. Nancy Alvarez has videos using QR Voice and Vocaroo on this Pinterest board. I have used Vocaroo previously and tried QR Voice successfully at home. They both change the  audio file into a QR code.  One of Nancy’s suggestions was beginning  letter sounds added to alphabet flash cards.

TCC 5-4 3 Writing Tools

One form of writing that may inspire participation is “choose your own adventure.” These stories allow the readers to “write” a different story by choosing different paths. Because of this authors have to have a good outline/overview of their story.  This gives them a good view of each event as it is added and makes for less edits later.

There are 3 online tools which were featured in a post by Richard Byrne at Free Tech for Teachers. The tools are: Twine,  Inkle Writer, and Playfic. He has reviewed them individually, but this article compares their features.
Inkle Writer is the most forgiving for the non-outliner. Paragraphs are done as individual elements and connected together last. The other two need more pre-planning.
Playfic allows preview of the work and helps with logical choice making. It uses directional choices to move through the adventure. Here is a preview of its product. There are lots of game/stories at the site.
Twine’s elements look like sticky notes and this makes connections easier to see. The story is in HTML so it can be viewed in any browser.

A paper-less way to write...

Enjoy!

TCC 5-4 An App for Writing

Fun and Writing? It’s possible with this app. An Edudemic blog post from the teacher’s point of view gives us insight into how to use Writing Challenge for Kids. . The author Melissa Nott has tried the app from Literautas with her 4th grade students. She tried this app as part of her emphasis on brainstorming ability for Common Core. She suggested it for 3rd grade and 7th also since it can be adjusted for range of writing and topic development also. She suggests using the kid version for students K-8, but there is an adult version which she has used personally. She thought some topics not for the younger classes.
The game-like tool provides a timed environment for the steps through the story with a prompt, a character, and a scene. Students are still using paper and pencil to produce the writing. And the prompts continue so you need to set time limits for this process. She suggested it as a great way to motivate the usually hesitant.
She graded the app in three categories: user friendliness (5 from her students), teaching,(4), and customer support(4). Teaching lost a point since there is no teaching about tension, climax, or resolution. This is originally app in Spanish so she also subtracted a point for a slight choppiness in translation.
Even though she only listed  three specific grade levels in her post she thought it would be useful at all levels and in most contents. And it’s fun….sorry, it isn’t our other favorite...free. The Apple  kid version is available at iTunes. And the Android is at Google Play. Both are $1.99. The adult app is similarly priced.

 Enjoy!

TCC 5-4 Plickers:Device-less LRS

Thanks to Val Grace and Pam Williamson from Scranton Elementary School for sharing Plickers with us at Tech Cluster.
They showed us the cards which they had begun using and explained the concept . These cards solve the problem of not enough student devices. Only the teacher needs a device to scan the cards.
Plickers.com is the website which is set up for classes that automatically assign students to the cards numbered 1-40 in the standard set. There is a library for questions to be offered to any of your classes in a click. The question sets only allow for multiple choice or true/false questions.
Once you are in class the teacher device controls what is shared with the class. Whatever is selected on it is fed to Live View in the menu. This page can be projected to show the question, answer choices, and results. Reports are also available.
The cards have a QR-like code that is unique to the student and it is held up to register the answer. Each edge of the square is marked with a small a, b, c, or d. The answer choice should be at the top when the card is held up. Cards are free to print at the site...or can be purchased on Amazon.(Stocking in April is the note.) Card stock and lamination makes them more durable, but a matte finished lamination film should be used since the gloss might make the card difficult to scan.
Scanning results registers the numbers/names of the cards so that any you missed may be added for a complete set of answers.
At this date the iOs apps are not available. The Android app works perfectly and I am sure the Apple devices will soon be up and going again.
Very Enjoyable!

TCC 5-4 Classroom Tech Infusion: QR Codes in the Classroom

QR codes are everywhere, but did you know we can use them in class? The code at the bottom of the page is for a website with many good ideas and lots of Pinterest board links with additional helps.

One of our student entries for National History Day (NHD) had added information with URLs which were viewable when  QR codes are scanned with the iPad that was provided at the display. For those who always say “ I don't have enough technology for this,” here are some obvious options: 

Chrome Extensions

· provide the tool at the station.

· use in groups.

· with permission from administrators allow student devices.

· Invite adults/parents with devices

Another option that works when the QR Codes are stored online is Chrome extensions. The Chrome browser has this option which can be added for free at the Chrome Web Store. I use 2 different ones: right-click QR code reader and QR Code Generator. These enable you to make and add URLs to a document for students to follow using codes instead of links. You use the right-click extension to draw a square around the code and a small window appears with the URL which you click ok on. These documents can be stored in our school website file manager or in Google Drive or you can add the codes to a webpage within your teacher pages or a wiki or blog. Any page with a place to insert a picture will do.

For other options, use them to add interactivity to parent nights. You can post information in the form of codes in your room linking to student work or information that they can save to phones. Several of the generator apps will allow you to make a code with text messages so you aren’t limited to websites or online things for your displays. The project above sends viewers to videos of Washington crossing the Delaware and his speech at Newburgh.

One tip I saw at this helpful site added code to textbooks for related video tutorials. Or if you don't want to scan. Link 

As always, enjoy!

TCC 5-3 World's Colliding...in 4D

We have been sharing Symbaloo with teachers across the district this month...and  Twitter for PD use got added by a colleague, Katie Sparks Ellison (@mediasparkles), for the high school teachers...in that learning mode I tried a Twitter Chat over last weekend on Tweetdeck which  allows easier following of Twitter feeds for the same hashtag, #Symchat in this case.. The subject was Augmented Reality (AR) which is part of an art project one of our teachers is doing with  her students .using Aurasma to enhance research.. (Aurasma is on page 2 already)
During this hour long meeting (Twitter Chat) participants expanded my view of AR to include gaming, glasses/headsets used to view, and lots of apps and sites which add augmented reality to science, history, and lots of others. It was fast and short...and the others were helpful to a newcomer. My other article goes into the way I envisioned using AR previously.

And because it was a Symbaloo sponsored chat I came away with 2 AR webmixes that continue my learning. The webmix is by Bobby (Brian) Lewis and is linked here. Most of his tiles were for sites using AR for Science or Social Studies. But his first tile is someone whose blog I follow and I had just put a different post of hers on my LCHS presentation for next week on Twitter. Another tile he offered was 2 Guys and Some iPads  (@TechMinock and @Techbradwaid) whose blog led me to an alternative tool for Aurasma and Layar. It is  DAQRI 4D Studio.  Minock and Waid are

educators who have been heralding AR for use in the classroom for awhile. They were using Aurasma, but have changed tools and are recruiting teachers to join their team of advisors to Daqri...and schools to be flagship schools.  Winter Park High north of Orlando is a flagship school due to one teacher’s interest.
The blog has AR tabs including one with tutorials. I viewed one of the videos on adding 3D models as overlays instead of video. This is a feature Aurasma doesn’t have yet. It appears that they will be producing lessons for cost in the future, but the tools are free for those who want to make their own.
Our first adventure into AR will be with Jennifer Maples’ Advanced Art class at REMJHS. Her students will use their art as the trigger and will overlay a video of their process and research. We are just beginning the research, but will be sharing results when finished.
Our first adventure into Twitter for PD will be at LCHS during the day on Monday, March 9. This is will also include Symbaloo’s ability to follow an rss feed and rumor has it Twitter feeds there.
There is also an AR discussion thread,  going on at Teacher’s Engage, Intel’s community for teachers. This link may require a login. This is a site we use for our Essentials course which is beginning today. They have a classroom ready apps chart to begin with and then discuss some other ideas for lessons. Drew Minock is contributing to the discussion there.
All my work seems to be conspiring to follow the same path...I’ve learned many new things...hope you have, too.
Enjoy!

TCC 3-1 Cindy’s Links from collaborators at WikiSpaces

Wikis are wonderful tools! And lots of people use them. WikiSpaces is full of Wikis public for viewing with answers to your questions.

A few of my favorites:

• http://web20guru.wikispaces.com/Tools+By+Subject has links to interactive resources for specific core content areas by the hundreds,
• http://teachwithyouripad.wikispaces.com Has classroom management apps and comprehensive list of apps. Set up also to add content/grade level apps as a member.
• http://sgilley.wikispaces.com/2011+TICAL an extensive list of technology sites classified by type. Another page has PD How-to’s (6 hour PD sessions)
• http://ipadsforadministrators.wikispaces.com/ gives you apps for admins classified by task with some information about what to use it for.
• http://ipadsforadministrators.wikispaces.com/Google+Forms is from the previous wiki, but is the best information on forms I found.

The good thing about wiki’s is that you can join and contribute if you wish. I am just mining information from these instead of reinventing the wheel.

Enjoy!

TCC 3-1 Two New Sites for Teachers, Students, or Life Long Learners

These sites are brand new to me although they have been around awhile. Both offer lessons which can be used to supplement in class presentations of concepts. The sites are LearnZillian and Sophia.

LearnZillian has memberships for teachers and students. It has searches for video lessons of common core standards and strands. The lessons include along with the video, single slides to download and project for student viewing, and commentary from the teacher/writer of the lesson. There are only Math and ELA components since that is also the beginning of the Common Core, but there appear to be lessons from K to 12. You can mark favorites and assign things to students.
LearnZillion is also looking for a few good “men.” Teachers are offered the opportunity to apply for dream team membership.

The second site is Sophia. Sophia is a social educational platform with subjects to interest all. There is a learning styles survey on the home page, They are partnering with Capella University to offer college level course pathways. Pathways include a video lesson, a quiz which offers 3 questions on your understanding of a concept, then the next, then the next...and it retains the result so you will get a well done message if you go to the concept again. These are available as supplements to in class teaching. Sophia has a training pathway for “flipping” your classroom. Or having students research a concept and then using class time for hands on activities to cement learning. Whether you flip over Sophia or not you will still find many helpful things to supplement your teaching.

Sophia is also a place where parents can brush up on skills without  having to spend time in a classroom. Then they can not only help, but model what learning should be...a life long adventure.

Did I mention….they’re free?!

Enjoy!

TCC 3-1 More Than Power Point (My Symbaloo has more...)

If variety is the spice of life our presentations need some spicing up! Let’s break out of the PPT mode...here are some suggestions:PhotoStory 3 and Movie Maker are freebies on every machine in the district. ETV has shown us how to use them during summer PD. Both can make movies out of photos or video. And...did you know you can save PPT slides as .jpg photos and insert them also? Other sites which are photo friendly are: Google’s Picasa (download) which isn’t just for pictures anymore but will make a video-type presentation for you. Animoto (membership) makes a movie for you automatically using templates and music from their site,.
 Voki and Blabberize let someone talk for you. Voki allows you to type or record or upload a voice file that the avatar speaks. Blabberize lets you animate still figures so that they talk. (memberships)
Sketchup allows students to model a scene in 3-D It has a free version, and we have licenses for the Pro software for the next 3 years’ use.
VoiceThread uploads either video or photos and allows you to add either text or audio/video comments to each “slide.”
Or would publishing an online book be more matched to the assignment. Issuu (pronounced “issue”) makes a page turning book and gives a url to the book which can also be viewed in presentation or paper mode. While 2epub.com will take a .doc or .pdf or .pub file and make it into .epub which can be viewed with ipads, Nooks, and many other e-readers.
Prezi is more like a mind map than a PPT, but follows a path to each “page” of your presentation.
Webpages or wikis give another way to share information. Weebly, jottit, and Google’s Sites host easy to make pages.
Some other helpful tools are Audacity (a down load that edits audio), Jing ( a download that records your computer screen as a movie), and Vocaroo (a non-member site that records audio which you can embed or email)
These should help add some spice! Enjoy!

*My Symbaloo        

TCC 4-3 Teacher Blogs...Should You or Shouldn't You

Edublogs finalists for the Best Teacher Blog led to a...blog post on Edudemic. I am using these as best practice samples for what teacher blogging can be.

Tech Use:

Teaching Using Web Tools is high school classroom blog with connected student blogs linked from Norway. Teacher and Students also wrote a book.
Edutech for Teachers gives Diigo and Infographics updates as a regular feature of this blog by a technology specialist/teacher. Winner for 2013
Kleinspiration helps make new tech things less mysterious. Cool Cat Teacher seems to lean more toward uses of tech tools Like me she comments on what others are doing

Elementary Use:

mattBgomez writes from a kindergarten perspective with lots of tech-nology inclusion Modifying old hands-on to new with added features.
Seomra Ranga shares lots of resources in grade level tabs.

Language Use:

Leavingcertenglish.net seems to be a classroom with assignments in ELA. Lots of graphics and models of how he uses them.
Read, Write, Reflect explores literacy and reflection in a 5th grade classroom.
Hunting English’s well-written commentary on education decisions, buzzwords, and possibilities verges on arty. I think he might be British...enough said.

Math Use:

Mathy Cathy is a blog with best practices using technology tools in a real 21st century math class. Pittsburgh’s protractor mystery is included in a post…

Speech Use:

Speech Techie is, yes, a blog on tools for linguistic improvement. There is an exten-sive list of apps which can be used by speech professionals or parents/children for success in speaking more clearly.

I think this gives you enough ideas and samples of what is out there already. So should you follow, write & publish, share, or what?
Let’s look first at following some of these fellow professionals. What is the benefit? For years teachers were isolated in a classroom with students. Collaboration and teaming have improved this, but blogs offer a peek into classes and teacher’s heads that you would never have access to otherwise. Start with one of these and find teachers who have content, grade-level, or other connections to you...and follow them. (This means signing up for a feed of their blog which brings it to you.) It will enrich your outlook and your “toolbelt.”
Whether you choose to write a blog and publish your own shouldn’t hinge on your love of prose, but that does help...hmm, one math and five ELA. But you should strive to produce some-thing you are proud to share with the world. Tell how you use a tool in class...it will help another teacher, and that’s as it should be. Educational professionals have always “borrowed” from others. Blogs give you the oppor-tunity to give and take for the benefit of our students. Be the best, always be open to new ways of doing the things you need to do. Or new uses for the “old” ways.
Enjoy!

TCC 5-3 Augmented Reality 3

National History Day is looming on the horizon. While enjoying this year’s crop I am again reminded of some tools that might enrich the displays with more action. The most mundane would be the inclusion of QR codes with additional information  for those with smart phones or an iPad  provided.
But a  major step up from that is adding an Aura.  Picture triggers would allow for video to be added to a display. The tool I have used is Aurasma. It has been featured here before in editions 3-2 and 4-2.
There are two main sites (free) for this tool. And an App is necessary to read the Aura. But both IOS and Android  devices are usable although webpages can be accessed in IOS.
Aurasma.com is the site which features Auras already made including many triggered by places such as the Eiffel Tower, or the White House. Other uses are for businesses which may have their storefront as an Aura which gives business information. My interest is as an educational tool. My 3-2 article gave some examples so I won’t redo that aspect. Since NHD brought this on how about ways to add Auras in a project. Some of our projects are: Bethune-Cookman University, FDR, and Betty Friedan. A photo used on the display boards of these could lead viewers to videos done by the researcher or clips used for educational purposes to enhance material without using valuable display space. Or the Aura could lead to a website with additional information. Or to original videos of interviews with experts.
The site that makes this possible is Arasma Studio where you can add your extras to your trigger image.
About the time of my first article the logo of the company/site changed. It was a less customized letter A in a different color. I think this is its last iteration for awhile.
The other tool from 4-2’s article was LAYAR. I have not used this tool yet, but it seems similar.