Chase Masters, University Library

Chase's role at the Taubman Health Sciences Library includes managing technology projects and resources, consulting with faculty to effectively incorporate technology into their curriculum, supervising staff, serving in the HS-STEM Administration Unit, and identifying and building partnerships with instructional technology units throughout the university community. You may reach him at mastersc@umich.edu.

Tech Tip: Weather in Calendar

This month’s tip is a service that enables users to integrate weather forecasts directly into their calendar. Weather in Calendar uses emojis to display a 16-day forecast and works for all calendars supporting online .ics and emojis, such as Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Outlook on iOS, Android, MacOS, and Windows. Users can enter their city, adjust according to… Read More »

Tech Tip: Bluesky

This month I’m highlighting a decentralized social app called Bluesky. It was developed by former Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey. It aims to create a new form of social media that is open, transparent, and community-driven. The platform uses an open-source framework and has a Twitter-like user interface with algorithmic choice, federated design, and community-specific moderation. Its goal is… Read More »

Tech Tip: Arc Max

This month, I’m highlighting some new, innovative AI features that were recently added to the already impressive Arc web browser: Arc Max. Rather than simply adding a sidebar for ChatGPT like many other browsers are doing, they identified five specific integrations that can make browsing the web easier and more enjoyable: Each of them may be individually enabled… Read More »

Tech Tip: Upscayl

This month’s tip is an AI tool for upscaling low-quality images with surprisingly good accuracy and detail: Upscayl. It’s an excellent app for those looking to enhance the quality of their photos, especially those taken with older digital cameras. Multiple settings are available, like selecting the type of image, how much to upscale, file type, and advanced users… Read More »

Tech Tip: Diffchecker

This month, I’m sharing a website that offers a simple and easy-to-use tool for comparing the differences between two pieces of text: Diffchecker. It can be used to compare two versions of a document, check for plagiarism or spelling mistakes, and much more. Diffchecker works by highlighting the differences between two pieces of text and allowing users to… Read More »

Tech Tip: Reclaim control of your digital life

This month’s tip is a comprehensive guide to help individuals reclaim control of their digital lives in an age where technology and social media have become pervasive in our daily lives. Written by the Center for Humane Technology, Take Control educates users on the negative effects of persuasive technology and social media, and empowers people to take action… Read More »

Tech Tip: Easily extract images from PowerPoint

For this month’s Tech Tip, I’m sharing a tip that I’ve found very useful over the years. It’s a simple technique to extract all images (and other content, such as the fonts used in the presentation) from within PowerPoint files just by changing its extension. You can do this with files you’ve saved directly from the Microsoft PowerPoint… Read More »

3D interactive anatomy table gets new features

Note: This article was co-authored by Kai Donovan, Media & Learning Technologies Specialist, University Library. The Taubman Health Sciences Library (THSL) is excited to announce that the new Table 8 software update is available on their anatomy dissection Anatomage Table to enhance human and animal anatomy and physiology instruction, learning, and research. Located just inside the glass doors… Read More »