flyinghaggis

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll check them out.

Windows Media Player can do this natively however our Music HOD doesn't like the interface and all pupils need to carry out this activity for exam purposes. Most of our pupils use iPads/Garageband for creating music which only appears to export in M4A format? I've tried a few of the more common apps but none so far support the M4A format out of the box without converting it first to MP3. Can anyone recommend and cheap/free software which will allow us to easily create Audio CD's using .M4A files?

It certainly does feel like we're rapidly moving towards a model where all devices are designed as 1:1 first and the concept of 'shared' device is very much an afterthought (if it's even considered at all)! I guess that's the main reason so many of us are having problems deploying and supporting Windows 10 in a shared school environment as that's not really Microsoft's primary focus anymore.

That's useful to know as we block the store as well.

+1 It strikes me that the primary reason the school is in the mess it is due to them placing absolute trust in a service provider and not having anyone in-house with the relevant skills/experience to manage them. Your first step as a Governor should be to rectify that issue. Tip: Posting on an educational IT forum asking for (free) help and advice from a group whose jobs the school has just outsourced is likely to rub people up the wrong way......!

Steam sale starts tomorrow just in time for the Xmas holidays so will no doubt grab a few games. I picked up a Windows Mixed Reality VR headset in the sales so will be checking out the VR section on steam https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/steam-sale-winter-autumn-2018-dates/

I bought that Lenovo headset when it was on black Friday sale a couple of weeks ago. There was an offer on HotUKDeals which was too cheap for me to resist! I only received it a couple of days ago but first impressions are good. The resolution is decent and the "inside-out" tracking using the headset cameras works really well. Elite dangerous is epic in VR and I bought Skyrim VR for it though haven't played it yet. I'll probably wait until the winter Steam sale before picking up any more titles though.

That is very much the pertinent question to ask isn't it! My school's made it clear they aren't interested in offering any support so if I do any courses then it's coming out of my own pocket and means spending my own time studying it. Without wanting to sound overly mercenary about it I need to be convinced there's going to be a return on that investment and it's going to improve my job prospects and/or job security! With so many courses being time-limited and qualifications going out-of-date within a year or two it's often difficult to justify. Of course, the flip side of that is that you risk never doing any training/studying and fall behind. I find it difficult in education to strike a balance because I've found myself doing courses which have felt like money/time down the drain as the school's decided to abandon the project/technology which is frustrating. Plus the number of technologies/platforms is so diverse in the school these days it's difficult to know what to study to keep on top of the workload. To be honest though I find it incredibly disillusioning that it's become "expected" that IT staff will spend their own time and money on training for new technologies the school decides to roll-out Interestingly someone earlier in this thread mentioned that the IT generalist role is slowly dying out and maybe my experiences are just a symptom of it. Having a knowledge of every single system and platform being used across the school is increasingly feeling like an impossible task. I guess I need to focus less about what's going on at my workplace and more on learning the technologies which I think will be of more general benefit in future....!

To be fair if you share documents with anyone there are a myriad of ways they could download and re-share those documents. The moral of the story is only to share documents/information you don't want redistributed with people who you trust. More worrying to me is the fact that staff seem to be frequently opting for the "anybody with the link" sharing option which means documents can be accessed effectively anonymously by anyone from anywhere. There are scenarios where this is required but most staff seem to be selecting this as the default whenever they share. In most cases selecting to share with specific groups of staff/pupils or everyone in the organisation would be more appropriate. We probably need to pass this up to the SLT/ICT teams for them to consider whether it can be addressed by more training or if we should be restricting this ability.

Wont have time to test it today but I'd assume that if when a user signs up for a Google account it'll fire an email on first sign up to the address it's shared with in order to verify that you own that email account.

Yeah, that does seem to be how it works sharing to specific people in that it requires then to create an associated Google sign-in.

That's what I thought but what's the mechanism if I share a document from our school to [email protected] (assuming Joe Bloggs doesn't have a Google Account)? Is it just a case of the first person to click the link (when there isn't an associated Google account) can create one with access to the shared material for that address. Other than the initial sign up email link being sent to that address is there anyway Google verifies the person opening that link is actually Joe Bloggs? I agree, we're not looking to restrict anything but I wondered what the mechanism was for securing external sharing from cloud systems like Office365 and Google Apps to external accounts?

Yeah, that's why we've been asking staff not to use the "anyone with the link" method of sharing. It's more the "share this with specific people/email accounts" mechanism I was wondering about?

With the advent of GDPR we've been reviewing what's been shared and are finding that users are increasingly sharing files outside of the organisation from their own personal drives. The policy is that staff don't share to anyone with the link and always pick specific users. However, I'm not sure what the exact mechanism of authentication for this is when selecting users outside of the school/domain. It brought about a discussion over whether there was anyway this sharing could be compromised? My understanding was that in theory it requires an account so only the person who received the email will be able to view the document. However, we were wondering whether there was scope for this being abused if someone else managed to obtain this link? Does anyone have any links to exactly how the authentication mechanism works when sharing Google Apps drive links to specific email addresses outside of your own organisation? As a school do you generally allow staff to share files to others outside of you school/domain?

My understanding is that most schools have an ERA licence which allows them to store and playback content which has been specifically "broadcast" on terrestrial television. Unfortunately its never been updated for digital services so even those offered by companies who broadcast in the UK (BBC, ITV, C4, etc) can't be recorded legally without breaching their T&Cs. https://era.org.uk/the-licence/

Feeling pretty disappointed with the ps classic so going to give it a miss I think. There's just too many issues with it. Poor game selection, bare bones emulation features, no rumble/analogue on the controllers. Seems like a very poor effort on Sony's part compared to the recent Nintendo mini consoles.

@Duke5A I'd just ignore mavhc. He/she only ever seems to come on this forum to wind people up, insult them and make negative comments. I guess every forum needs a resident troll!

Quite disappointed by the list of games on the Playstation classic. Missing lots of the best titles on the system IMO No Wipeout, tomb raider, castlevania, gran turismo, Tony hawk's, etc. It's not awful but it could be better..... And some of the games on it are just filler really(qube, Mr driller, cool boarders, destruction Derby). I'm aware several of those omissions are likely due to licensing issues so perhaps not Sony's fault.

It's kind of a by the numbers biopic but very well done. Also, Rami Malek is on top form and carries off the lead role perfectly!

It's not undeserved. How on earth did Microsoft manage neglect to include USB-C/Thunderbolt in what's going to be a 2019 product It's almost like they want to pretend the standard doesn't exist! Also the configurator options are as limited as you'd expect from a Microsoft product. If you want 16Gb RAM you also need to buy an i7 CPU (and 51GB SSD) brining to total price up to around £2000 On the plus side I love the new black colour scheme though

I've found that enabling click turning (so you turn in 30-45° increments) rather than smooth got rid of the motion sickness I used to experience.

I did kind of feel that way myself as I have RDR for PS3. I've only played it for an hour or so but it just felt like grand theft auto with horses which were inherently less fun than cars?

Heresy! The Xbox one controller is meh at best. Somehow they managed to make it less ergonomic than the reasonably decent Xbox 360 controller whilst still failing to improve the d-pad on it to match what's on the PS4 and the switch pro controller. I realise it's all down to personal preference but to me Microsoft's latest controller offering is my least favourite of the current gen consoles I own Regarding consoles my advice would be to buy the system most of your friends own as there isn't much between them! Failing that I'd suggest the PS4 as the best current system unless you like Nintendo titles and/or would find the portability of the switch useful. Maybe consider an Xbox if you really like Halo/Forza. Or you could just be sad like me and buy them all....

From the multi-platform games I've played I'd recommend :- Skyrim VR - There's nothing like walking about and seeing all the monsters, cities and dragons in VR! (Fallout4 VR is also great) Superhot VR - The time only moving when you do mechanic works perfectly in VR where you feel like Neo dodging bullets in slo-mo! Star Trek: Bridge Crew - Great fun multiplayer especially if you like star trek Arizona Sunshine - Zombies and VR are an epic mix Raw Data - Well designed wave shooter in VR Rec Room - The multiplayer paintball game is great fun as are a few others. The game is also FREE! Battlezone VR - The 80s tank game resurected in VR and turned into a rogue-like multiplayer game. Sort of FTL meets world of tanks! For anyone else who has Playstation VR I'd probably rate Firewall: Zero Hour and Wipeout Omega as my favour VR titles to date. Speaking of which if anyone is contemplating PS4 VR you can get the VR starter pack and move controllers (which you really need ) for just £230 at the moment. I really want to try Elite: Dangerous in VR as apparently there's a way to connect a Playstation VR headset to your PC using something called Trinus VR so let me know what you think when you play it!

Nice. Lots of people claim that VR is a fad but since getting my Playstation headset this year I've probably spent more time VR gaming than on a TV. Happy to recommend a few titles if you're unsure what to get.