Chromebooks – Restart to Update

This post also appeared as a reminder to students on my school blog HeathcoteTech

So often technology can be funky. Things work fine one day, and not so fine the next. And often there is no concrete explanation as to why things go wonky.

This is especially true of Chromebooks, but is easily solvable. It is because of an impending update. Google will send out an update to the device, but wait for the user to install it, however, in the meantime that impending update is the cause of the wonkyness…

You should keep your Chromebook up-to-date, and it’s very easy to do so.

If you see a 1 by the clock, that means there is an update available. Click the clock and then click the “Restart to Update” link.

Google sends out updates regularly, and at random times, so any time you see that 1 by the clock, you are welcome to click the “Restart to Update” button.

Think of it as preventative maintenance. Doing something before things go wrong, to prevent things from going wrong…

Fall 2019 Chromebook Buyers Guide

I originally wrote this for my class blog @HeathcoteTech. After receiving multiple emails from parents with personal device/Chromebook questions I figured I'd turn my email replies into a more structured "buyers guide" of sorts. The thoughts and opinions in this post are my own and crafted with 2nd-5th graders in mind, as that is the population I teach. This is in no way meant to be a comprehensive list of the "best" Chromebooks on the market.

This is the second annual Chromebook Buyers Guide. Chromebooks are great devices for elementary school students and beyond. There are lots of options and hopefully this guide will give you a sense of why go Chromebook and which models(s) to check out. Enjoy...

As the years have progressed there has been an ever increasing interest from parents to purchase Chromebooks for home use. Awesome!
I think it's an excellent idea and a great investment, we use them every day at school and I have four in my home.
Before I get into some device specifics I want to touch on a few common points of interest from parents...

Fall 2018 Chromebook Buyers Guide

I originally wrote this for my class blog @HeathcoteTech. After receiving multiple emails from parents with personal device/Chromebook questions I figured I'd turn my email replies into a more structured "buyers guide" of sorts. The thoughts and opinions in this post are my own and crafted with 2nd-5th graders in mind, as that is the population I teach. This is in no way meant to be a comprehensive list of the "best" Chromebooks on the market.

As the years have progressed there has been an ever increasing interest from parents to purchase Chromebooks for home use. Awesome!

I think it's an excellent idea and a great investment, we use them every day at school and I have three at my home.

Before I get into some device specifics I want to touch on a few common points of interest from parents...

Chromebook, the new tool for the shed...

I spent my day at Google's New York office, in the venerable Commerce Building of the Port Authority of New York building (which Google recently purchased for themselves for the paltry sum of $1.9 billion, yes, with a b).

I was there for the final event in a series of Chromebook Classroom roadshow presentations. We got to spend the day using a Samsung Chromebook and getting insight, tips & tricks, and the overall picture of the various ways we could use a Chromebook in education.

Those who know me know I'm a Apple guy to my core (yes, pun 'tended) so I went with skepticism on the hardware front but an affinity for Google products in general. After about 30 minutes of using the book and hearing the pricing pitch I tweeted this: