Tuesday, June 29, 2010

2 cool apps

This past week I came across 2 cool pictures apps. Frame Wiz, which is 0.99 and it allows you to add a frame to any picture in your library. Also, Color Splash, $1.99, which allows you to gray out a picture and splash some color to specific items on the picture. Here is an example of Frame Wiz.

Photo transfer app

Hi all. So while I was at the conference i needed an app to be able to send my iPhone photos to my iPad without the use of the computer, and syncing.

The photo transfer app did the trick. For $2.99, i was able to download this app on both the iPhone and iPad. Very easy to use. Launch it on both devices, set one as sender, the other as receiver, and you can send up to 50 photos at once from phone to iPad. You can also sent to and from the computer if you want.

The only requirement is that you must be on a wifi network. It asks you to input the iphone's ip address in order to make the connection.

- John

Sent from my iPad

Monday, June 28, 2010

Lee and Ipad Class

Today, I made a reservation to take an "Ipad Tour" class at the Apple Store. Probably should have research it more carefully because when I there you didn't need an appointment and could just drop in.

Having said that, it was good for me. The presenter did a pretty quick overview of many of the tricks of the Pad, some of which I somewhat already knew and a number of things that I didn't. One neat one is that when you scroll down a number of pages in a document or such, you don't need to scroll all the way back to the beginning. You just tap the clock numbers at the top of the page and it takes you all the way back to the top.

So, is it worth it for others to attend, I doubt it because I think most are beyond me, already. But, it was worth it for me. Actually, once there becomes a more critical mass of Ipads at school, John could do an intermediate class that would be very helpful.

As an aside, I decided to only bring my Pad home tonight and leave my computer at school as an experiment. I have only been home a little while but I can already see why the Pad is not a computer. I have limited access to ICal, I can't charge my IPhone with the Pad so have to find other sources, I can't synch my phone, well, you get my drift. I can see that the computer serves as the Mother Ship for a lot of things that the Pad can't replicate.

Sent from my iPad

Thursday, June 24, 2010

The advantage of battery life

So i have been in workshop sessions all week, and have had my macbook ready to go at all times. And on occasion, i have needed to break it out in order to try things out in final site, which does not behave with safari, and thus does not work with the iPad (for admin purposes).

However, for the majority of my work, I have taken notes using Penultimate with my stylus on the iPad. I have also had it available to read news, rss feeds, create and respond to emails, get on the web, etc. I think the key point is that while my Mac would need to plug in after a couple of hours, the iPad lasts all day, literally.

Speaking of battery life, it's nice to be able to watch a movie on the plane!

On the downside there are still certain functions that need work. Would love to be able to download from within safari. There are other ways around this, like good reader, which can download a pdf file from the internet using the URL. But I would like it all to take place within one app. I think we'll get there, just a matter of time.

Oh, just a note about final site. iPhone and iPad app are in development, which will allow parents/students/teachers to have access to the school website in a format built for the mobile platform. Looks very cool in beta so far.

See you all soon.

- John

Sent from my iPad

Monday, June 7, 2010

Calibre

So, aside from all the hoopla over iPhone 4, there is actually something else to report. Thank you to Rachel D. for discovering an article on the web about 10 cool ways to make your iPad more productive. All the apps in there were things we have already mentioned in this blog except one. The application is called Calibre, it is a free download for Mac, Windows and Linux. 

It is designed to convert e-book file types from one kind to another, including PDF files. I downloaded it and tried it out today. It's a little quirky (would recommend you watch the video tutorial) but once up and running, is a very handy tool.

I uploaded some PDF files, as well as some news feeds (built into the application, such as Time Magazine, Newsweek, and much much more). I converted these to iBooks format, then did a sync with the iPad. 

Voila! All of these files converted neatly into iBooks and were instantly available in my iBooks library. And if you saw Apple's announcement today, the new iBooks app will allow us to annotate, highlight, etc. and see our collections of notes and highlights. In combination with Calibre, we have just opened up a whole new potential library for students to be able to access, annotate, highlight etc.

Calibre is free, and can be dowloaded at http://calibre-ebook.com/


- john

Today's announcements from WWDC

Wow, the Worldwide Developer's Conference is going on right now. Read the live blog at:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/07/steve-jobs-live-from-wwdc-2010/?sort=newest&refresh=0

Highlights so far?

Iphone 4
High resolution screen
Two cameras
Camera flash
Gyroscope!

iMovie for iPhone!

Much more to come

- john

Sunday, June 6, 2010

RE: running into limits

Yes that makes sense about Twitter and other web sites not seeing where photos and other files are located. I think this is something that will be resolved in the new OS. At least I hope so. The iPad has been designed without a real hierarchical file structure, in the same way wikis and blogs are designed. However, the new OS seems to hint at returning to some folder like ways to organize, so we'll see.

As for 3G v. Wifi, i guess that will depend on users. However, i would say that for the most part, home and work, we all seem to have wifi access. That being said, i use my little mifi device to get access to the internet on my iPad on a number of occasions.

- John

Sent from my iPad

Running Into Limits

Downloading from camera is NICE. Able to manipulate in lots of ways.
Not able to upload to iWeb or Flickr, though. Uploader for Flickr
doesn't see where files are.
Also have had some wireless connectivity issues ... is 3G the faculty
answer, with WiFi the student solution?

Characters live to be noticed. People with character notice how they
live. ~Nancy Moser

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Sharing with Chaperones


Maya and Catherine both are using it to remote checkin at school.
Catherine walked back over and said, "I love this. I never should have
picked it up!"

a1 Perfect Browser for iPad

I have been somewhat frustrated with the lack of features in the safari browser for iPad. Most particularly, the inability to have tabs, which i use all the time on the desktop.

Just recently found this new browser, A1 Perfect Browser, which has the ability to create tabs, and has other features as well, like a simple elevator scroll bar on the right that makes scrolling a simple flick of the thumb. Also has the ability to save open tabs, has as Find feature for finding text on a page, and more. These are things I expect in a browser so they are welcome features on the iPad.

this is not a free app but worth the money in my opinion. I suspect the next version of safari will have some of these features though.

Interestingly, with custom apps like Mashable, Early Edition, and other news readers, i am "browsing" less and less anyway.

- John

Sent from my iPad

Friday, June 4, 2010

ModulR Case and accessories

Hi all! Well, this is probably more than I would need, but thought I would share. They have a variety of options, like a wall mount, a car rack (to place on the back of a head support for the kids to see the iPad, etc. Pretty innovative design.

http://modulrcase.com/accessories.php

- john

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Q iPadding in Flight

New York day 1

Uploading pics is fine. USB photos go straight to iPhoto. Battery started on full charge. @ 70% 22hours later. No wifi in rooms. Only in lobby. Having all forms (itinerary, med forms, permission slips) in one place is awesome.
Will see if I can find wifi hotspots to upload pics during the day or as soon as we hit hotel lobby in evening.

Characters live to be noticed. People with character notice how they live. ~ Nancy Moser