Practical Practice

New Laws Ban Social Media b/w Teachers & Students

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 03:54:34 -0800

I just read this article in the New York Times about states passing laws to require local school districts to make new rules... Always a good idea! [Yes, sarcasm.] Our culture is so unsuccessful at legislating common sense, but such activity makes for good soundbites! When a small fraction of people use poor judgement, I think we are better served directly dealing with those specific issues and circumstances rather than encumbering organizations with more obligations with which, in all probability, they will not succeed. The expectation is appropriate professional judgement. True leadership articulates the vision, provides resources for accomplishing the vision (including who is hired and fired), and reflects on the degree to which an organization is successful in accomplishing the vision; so, everything remains focused, at all times, on the vision becoming reality. You see, if we really want to get to the root of this social media problem, I think our law makers should ban electricity in schools and in the homes of all school employees and students. I am convinced that, without electricity we would all but eliminate these issues of teachers and students crossing the line with social media. Hmm, perhaps we may need to ban them from even entering into places that have electricity... Maybe we should pass laws requiring policy makers to have common sense... Oh for some horse sense!

Doceri - A Complete IWB Solution for the iPad

Thu, 26 May 2011 20:02:28 -0800

I've just completed two HD quickcasts about a really impressive interactive whiteboard (IWB) solution for the iPad: Doceri. If you are thinking about purchasing a physical interactive whiteboard, think again. By purchasing an iPad and software like Doceri, you probably could easily save your school about $1,000 or so (per classroom installation) and have an even more versatile tool than a fixed interactive whiteboard. And if the iPad travels with the teacher, then you have greater flexibility of use over a physical interactive whiteboard that is permanently mounted in one classroom location. While these quickcast videos are not a comprehensive tutorial in how to use Doceri, they do provide a good overview of the current features of Doceri. The good people at Doceri are actively working to add some very impressive features to their already awesome product. I don't know if I am at liberty to share those or not, but this will be a product to place on your watch list. They are actively working to leverage the unique power of Apple iOS devices to extend Doceri well beyond a mere content deliver mechanism. I am eager to see how this product, already the most powerful in its class in my opinion, evolves into a comprehensive tool that teachers will just not be able to live without. Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with nor am I receiving any consideration of any kind from Doceri or SP Controls, Inc., for bringing this product forward. I do so only because I would have to have and use it if I were working in the school setting. I use it now every time I present to educators. Part One - What You Are About to See (7m.34s) Part Two - Feature Overview (23m.10s) This quickcast was created in HD using ScreenFlow and includes a live, simultaneous, side-by-side screen recording of both the iPad running Doceri and the computer display controlled by Doceri running on the iPad. (I'm delighted that Google allows my YouTube account to post large HD videos! And, on that note, all media used in this recording are used without violating any copyright laws.)

Augmented Reality Continues to Advance

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 18:14:10 -0800

I Long for the Day

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:12:54 -0800

We have such a reactionary, crisis-driven, fear-motivated public policy and funding mentality in the United States. I personally find this so unsatisfying. The results of this type of failed leadership are so incredibly short term and surrounded by the negative energy of perpetual insufficiency and blame. Then the nation's attention gets focused on the next big crisis and the former one is pushed aside. Then a new crisis has to be created to direct attention back to the other crisis... A vicious "spin" cycle. Many are now repeating the NCLB educational policy mantra: Sometime next year, 82% of our schools will be failing schools. Back in 2005 I began preparing my school community for the inevitable fact that by 2014, Mabry Middle School, then one of the best schools in the state of Georgia, would be labeled a failing school. Simply absurd. But, in my thinking, that community deserved to know where this policy was inevitably going to take us. Certainly my profession, as does every national sector*, has its issues. In many places, those issues are very serious. But 82% of schools are labeled failures while at the same time a significant majority of Americans believe that their local schools are doing a good job. Teachers are being dismissed in record numbers because funding has shrunk because of the failure in the financial sector while at the same time central office budgets and testing budgets are at record highs across the nation. Hundreds of children apply for only a tiny handful of seats in a small number of "high performing" charter schools while at the same time thousands in those same communities could care less, seeing no link between their education and their ability to attain the American Dream. After all, where are all of the jobs going? What do we build in this country? I hear many explanations: the extreme conservatives want to privatize schooling in the US. The teachers' unions are the problem with New York City alone paying over $100,000,000 annually in teacher salaries for teachers who spend over a year not teaching while their termination cases are being reviewed. The inflexible, reform-resistent system is the problem. Too many bodies govern the classroom: federal, state, local. The country can't afford to fund public education which should become a business enterprise. ... Waiting for Superman, an interesting perspective to be sure, suggests that it's all about the teacher in the classroom. Unquestionably, the living, breathing, human, proficient, dedicated teacher's face-to-face interactions with students in the classroom is essential to the educational future of our children. (Now, even that is under assault with the emerging energy around "School-as-a-Service" delivered through cost-effective, cloud-based, customized learning buzz being hyped as the next real solution.) But even if marginal and poor teachers who are protected by unions are the source of all of the problems in our schools, as Davis Guggenheim seems to suggest in his docudrama, let's wave a magic wand and remove every single one of them from our schools in an instant. Then what? Who replaces them? Our current colleges are not preparing enough future teachers because being an educator is not seen as a valued career path in this country. One thing is clear to me: a policy that labels 82% of the nation's schools as failures is bad policy. I dare say it is a failed policy. As the data comes in, even the charter school movement has clearly demonstrated that it does no better than their public school counterparts. Can "we the people," as informed, hard working, good people who care about our nation, our children, and our collective futures not envision a different perspective for what is going on here? When will we finally have the courage to stand up and say that the reactionary, crisis-driven, hysteria-centric, failure-riddled, fear-motivated policy and funding mentality that began with "A Nation at Risk," and culminated with NCLB and Race to the Top simply did not and does not work. It completely misses the mark. It neglects what motivates human beings to live a culture of personal best. It has a demonstrated track record of failing to empower meaningful, sustainable, positive change. It effectively erodes public trust and confidence in an institution that is essential for our national interests and democracy. If we can not motivate our country to support education reform through long term, sustainable funding models that empower local, human teacher leadership focused on the highest levels of individual student achievement in a caring learning community we will continue to be in this spin cycle of failure. I long for leadership that sees a better way to lead, that sees a better way to create policy, that sees a better way to empower sustainable, long term, positive solutions. Our children deserve it. *I've often pondered how national governance deregulated the financial sector and then reacted to that sector's sheer greed and incompetence, turning the national coffers upside down to give away unprecedented dollar amounts (no amount could be too much) compared to how those same governing bodies respond to the educational sector. Those were very powerful people, unlike educators, with tremendous financial and political resources.

Blogger Is Getting Hip

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:34:15 -0800

For all of my educator friends who use Blogger, Google is about to introduce some significant enhancements to the blogging platform. Apparently competition in the blogging space is heating up a bit. Google will be releasing 5 new dynamic templates that look really cool—see the video below. Users will be able to use and customize each template. These new templates use the latest in web technologies: AJAX, HTML5 and CSS3, to make all of their interactive goodness happen. Google has set up a help center article about these new templates, and you can also preview them at: Flipcard | Mosaic | Sidebar | Snapshot | and Timeslide.

Finally, below is an introductory video from Google that highlights the new templates. You can see them in action.

Forget Tethering: Wireless HD Out for iPad 2

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 13:29:32 -0800

OK, I'm going to really geek out here in this post. You have been warned. A few weeks ago I came across a solution being used here in LA for wirelessly, over WiFi, streaming 1080 HD video from HDSLRs (digital SLR cameras that shoot full frame HD video, like the Canon 5D Mark II) to HD monitors. TV Producers and movie makers are using this setup in Hollywood so the Director of Photography and/or the Director can see what the camera operator is shooting in real time. (Oddly enough, this is actually what got me to initially start thinking about using the iPad as a wireless interactive whiteboard. Admittedly a convoluted train of thought... More could be said on that; but, I digress...) The setup is really pretty cool, and the idea of wirelessly streaming that much digital video content in real time amazed me. The solution: the Teradek, a display device, and a wireless network. After watching a video demo of the technology, I was stunned to see that Livestream* and Teradek have already teamed up to allow users to stream HD video over the Verizon 4G network in real time. Watch the video below for a quick overview and amazing demonstration. (In the still poster image for the video below you can see the regular handheld HD video camera, the Teradek Cube sitting on top of the camera, and the Verizon 4G card plugged into the front of the Teradek Cube.)

Cube™ native integration with Livestream.com from Teradek on Vimeo.

This will be a game changer. News organizations, video production houses, schools, anybody, can now broadcast live, in real time, their own HD internet TV station. High Definition! In real time! Using affordable HD video cameras. And the price is affordable for a school or district account that might broadcast concerts, games, board meetings. Production houses can stream their dailies in real time to the execs in LA or NYC on a secured Livestream channel. This has numerous possibilities. (And beware: Teradek claims their Cube will tunnel through any firewall even if you're using a private IP address to get to the Livestream servers. Hmmm...) But that's really not what this post is about. That's just the setup for where my thinking is about to go. After figuring out how to turn the iPad into an IWB, I've been wondering why tether the iPad 2 to the projector to stream a mirrored, real time HDMI video out of the user's interaction with the iPad. Well, the answer is cost. The Teradek Cube solution is too expensive for typical classroom or presenter use. But, it didn't take too long. Eric Govoruhk and Kelly McAteer have created a homemade solution to wirelessly mirror the iPad 2 in real time HD to a projector or HD TV. The cost: about $250.

I think he is using the HP Wireless TV Connect and a USB battery pack/charger for a cell phone—all purchased at Fry's. Now, the solution isn't elegant. It's a hack (that does not involve changing the iPad 2 in any way). And it works—apparently with zero lag time. My prediction: it won't be long before similar devices appear on the retail market. Apple should have been a step ahead of this with their own accessory, at the least. And, maybe they are. Perhaps AirPlay, an accessory of sorts, will contain this feature in the not-too-distant future. Imagine, streaming everything you do on your iPad 2 wirelessly to your projection device. The next logical step would be having IWB software for the iPad itself, so the teacher can write directly on the iPad screen, on apps, on the web browser with no need for a classroom computer. Way cool! It's going to happen. As my grandmother would sometimes said, "I can just feel it in my bones." *If you don't know Livestream, Ustream, and similar services, I encourage you to explore those possibilities. Think, "broadcasting your IWB lesson in real time" and a whole lot more.

iPad as IWB Updates now Available in HD @ YouTube

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 20:47:03 -0800

I don't use a CDN service as they are out of my price range. And I had a few emails from people on the other side of our world who were having issues getting this series of quickcasts to play. Too many hits. Such great distance. One little server that tried. So I've uploaded all of these iPad as an IWB quickcasts to YouTube in HD. Because I recorded them all in the 4:3 aspect ratio, they look stretched as 16:9 HD videos, but the visual clarity of the HD uploads is so improved, I thought everyone would just deal with the stretch. (The only way to prevent the stretching would be to redo the quickcasts in 16:9. Just not happening. But any future screencasts I make and upload to YouTube will be specifically prepared for YouTube 16:9 HD from the beginning.) At any rate, because everyone has offered so many awesome suggestions, I'm releasing 4 more quickcasts with updated information (most of which came from your numerous emails) and one solid gold nugget! I really appreciate everyone sharing your ideas with me. Update 1: General Updates (7m:08s) Update 2: Splashtop Remote (9m:08s) <--the must have! Update 3: xTag Wireless USB Mic (2m:54s) Previous post w/ audio here at drTT Update 4: Updated Limitations & Advantages (6m:20s) These are best viewed on YouTube in fullscreen HD but are squeezed in here for those in a rush. Here is the link to my YouTube channel. Comments are open at the bottom of this post, so feel free to add your voice.

iPad - IWB YouTube Videos Now Up

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 07:28:32 -0800

UPDATE: Now published in HD on YouTube. Here is the link to my YouTube channel. The videos below are in the correct aspect ratio but are lower quality. Wow. I had no idea this would be so popular with everyone. My server has been slammed. To make the videos more easily available to everyone around the world, I've uploaded them to YouTube. I've received numerous awesome ideas (from people all around the world) that address some of the limitations and make using the iPad as an IWB even better. I hope to get at least one more quickcast up this weekend to share those ideas. And finally, I'll republish the YouTube videos in HD this weekend as well. Thanks for all of your feedback. I hope this is a practical and affordable solution for educators everywhere!

Turn Your iPad 1 or 2 into an Interactive Whiteboard

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 05:06:12 -0800

UPDATE: Trouble viewing these below? Try viewing them on my YouTube channel: iUpgradeTV or my Podcast series at the US iTunes Store, iUpgrade. Everyone is so excited about tethering the iPad 2 to a projector, admittedly very cool, that we have missed something else at least as good if not even better! Go all the way: make the iPad 1 or 2 into a complete interactive whiteboard solution! If you already own an iPad, computer, and projector, this can be done for less than the cost of Apple's new Digital AV Adapter for the iPad 2. Ok, full disclosure: this solution only costs 2 cents less than the adapter. But for tethering with the Digital AV Adapter, you also have to purchase an HDMI to VGA cable too! I just recently figured this out—last Friday to be exact. I confess, it was an accident, actually. Now, I'm not talking about just drawing on your iPad and projecting that drawing in front of the class, and I'm not talking about using the iPad2 to connect directly into a projector and show what's on the iPad. I'm talking about using the iPad as a control surface to actually control your computer desktop, write on your computer desktop, and project all of that in front of the classroom just as a regular interactive whiteboard does. The only difference: no interactive whiteboard is needed, and you can do this wirelessly using the first generation iPad as well as the second, and that's correct, without tethering your iPad to the projector or the computer with wires. This will work on both Mac and Windows machines. So, no matter what kind of shop your classroom runs, this should work if you have an iPad. I made a 4 part series of rough and ready quickcasts to take you through the entire concept and process. They are linked below the list of what each quickcast covers. This isn't difficult and offers an affordable solution for the classroom.

Part One: What You Need (2m.22s)
Part Two: The Setup Process (12m.07s)
Part Three: The Demonstration (6m.20s)
Part Four: Current Limitations (6m.11s)

The iPad is a powerful computing device, and with the introduction of the iPad 2 (cameras, a powerful iMovie app, tethering), it is ideal for the classroom setting. Apple hit another home run.

I hope you find these useful. They are also available for download at the iTunes Store in my podcast series, iUpgrade.

Cool Tools: Writing Software (Mac and Windows)

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 10:33:10 -0800

I've been doing a lot of writing lately, on a very big project, and I've found a writing tool I really love: Scrivener 2. Word felt too much as if it were "in my way" and didn't provide me with tools to facilitate a big writing project. I've used Scrivener many times before, but now that I've used version 2 for a while, I love it so much more than any of the numerous writing applications I've tried through the years. Things I really love about Scrivener 2:

The binder concept makes organization a snap and very versatile. I use a Manuscript folder with chapter subfolders and a Research folder with chapter subfolders. Easy. Clear. A Clippings folder contains anything I highlight and save to clippings from a quick right-click.
I simply drag and drop or clip info into my research folder: text, pictures, audio, video, web pages... You get the idea.
I can write in small chunks and later re-organize those chunks with simple drag and drop.
I love the cork board and note cards. They feel comfortable and make reorganizing the writing so simple. I organize the project so each written chunk is a notecard when I'm in note card view.
The outline mode is helpful and provides quick access to lots of information.
The full screen writing mode focuses my attention on the writing. No tools, no distractions—just write.
While writing, I can open anything in the manuscript, research, or clippings folders in a floating window to inspire my thinking. I can open as many things as I need.
The amount of meta information I can use, notes, comments, footnotes, annotations, etc. that can be added is incredibly powerful and easy.
I can split my window, have my cork board with my note cards on one side and my writing area on the other. Actually, you can put anything you want in either of these sides or change it to top and bottom, and add floating windows, and...
The finished project can be compiled in numerous formats (Word, PDF, Manuscripts, Proof Copy, Open Office, Final Draft [scripts and plays], webpages, ebooks [Kindle and iOS], etc.
I can remain in sync across multiple devices using the cloud.

I could go on and on. This program is incredibly powerful and flexible without adding a lot of complexity to using it. Scrivener works well in a personalized work flow. Use as much or as little as your writing projects demand. Here's a screenshot of one of my workflow windows.

Several videos about the software are available. May I commend these: 1. A Quick Overview of Scrivener 2 2. Numerous other video tutorials 3. An author's (Yuvi Zalkow) overview of his use of Scrivener Scrivener has won numerous awards and certain should. I highly recommend it. (And no, I am not getting anything from Literature and Latte for this recommendation. I doubt they even know I exist over here on this side of the pond. It's simply a tool I use and love and therefore recommend freely.)

Push Pop Press and Inkling

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 10:58:32 -0800

The iPad is popping up across the nation's classrooms. Not only does it offer numerous education-related software titles, is an affordable classroom computing device, and sucks students right into the learning content, the device also is attracting some very bright and creative minds in the soon-to-explode field of digital books. I have known of Mike Matas' work for several years. He has just launched a new company, Push Pop Press, that will begin releasing books for the iPhone and iPad. Mike first came to my attention when, at the age of 19, he created Delicious Library at his office, a coffee shop. Shortly thereafter he went to work for Apple for several years. Matt McInnis, also a former Apple employee, created the startup Inkling. I first met Matt several years ago when he was in China and willingly helped some of our 6th grade students at Mabry Middle School craft a digital video project with the purpose of raising funds for an impoverished Chinese family to purchase a water buffalo for farming. The students did a video conference with Matt as part of their final project. When a textbook is more than a textbook Imagine what's possible. That's the hard part, isn't it—breaking the mold that binds us. Imagine a textbook on which students can take notes and ask questions. Oh, and their fellow classmates and their teachers can answer them, right there, in their textbook, in real time. This is just one of the innovations these young men are making a reality: "to have your entire social network turned into a learning network." I also read today that Buford City School, in Buford, GA, a bit north of Atlanta, has purchased iPads and iPods for all of their K-12 students.* Amazing. I am fascinated to see where the digital textbook will take us. The journey will be an interesting one! *Tip of the fedora to Jo-Anne Preston, of Mabry Middle School fame.

From the State of the Union Address

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 13:29:16 -0800

Probably my favorite quotation: "Cutting the deficit by gutting our investments in innovation and education is like lightening an overloaded airplane by removing its engine. It may feel like you're flying high at first, but it won't take long before you'll feel the impact." I have often spoken about our obligation to invest in our futures by investing in our children's educational opportunities.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things... (Conclusion)

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 06:53:33 -0800

Hardware
The Glif
The Glif is a wonderful little piece of plastic. It can quickly and easily mount the iPhone 4 to a tripod. (Ever tried shooting HD video in an even slightly windy location with your iPhone 4??? You can easily get that horrible jello effect. You need a tripod!) The Glif can also conveniently tilt the iPhone for tabletop viewing and for FaceTime calls. I love this little guy! It's manufacture is an interesting success story for Kickstarter.

iPad I had no idea how much I would love this thing! Not only is it invaluable for travel, I find I take it for quick office visits where I would otherwise not have bothered bringing my computer. Battery life is astounding! It's great for children as well as adults and has a significant number of applications. (Check out Appolicious for ideas and recommendations.) One very big drawback is the absence of a camera (I want video calls!), a feature I hope will be present in the next model.

MacBook Air I bought the smallest one, with only 2GB of RAM, but with the largest SSD available 128GB. I am now traveling lighter than ever before and love it. Aside from the fact that I now wish I had purchased 4GB of RAM to improve app switching performance (I don't think it can be upgraded as I'm told they weld the RAM on the board), I really love the Air for traveling and now no longer take my MacBook Pro on the road! It's small, very light, and quickly turns on and off. Without a hard drive, applications open amazingly fast.

The Blue Yeti USB Condensor Microphone This USB mic delivers awesome sound! It's heavy and sturdy, making it ideal for a podcasting station in a school.

Apple's Wireless TrackPad Yes, it likes batteries like I like candy—well, not that bad. So, use rechargeables. Then ditch your mouse! This simple trackpad is an all-time great! Once I connected it via bluetooth, I stopped using my mouse completely. The use of gestures is too convenient: touch to click, two finger touch to right-click, two finger slide to scroll, three fingers to drag, four fingers to switch applications, pinch/expand to zoom, twist to rotate... It's just awesome! This is one of the most practical devices I've seen in a long time.

Desktop Software Transmit 4 Transmit 4 is probably the best FTP client of all time for the Mac. It seamlessly integrates with your chosen external editors based on file type. (For example, you can set it up so double clicking an image on the server opens it for editing on your desktop in your desktop photo editor of choice. Saving it after editing saves the new version back to the server.) Transmit 4 has a very rich feature set. You can even Quicklook files on the server (Highlight a file, maybe an image or a video, on the server. Touch the spacebar. See the picture. Watch the movie. No need to download it first.) In addition to all of the features you would expect from a great ftp client, here is a link to some "secret" features.

iMovie I was pleased to see Windows Live Movie Maker make some significant advances in the latest version of the Windows operating system. Then Apple released the latest version of iMovie and jumped out miles ahead once again. iMovie, from iLife '11, is a stunning product both for ease of use and power. The movie trailer feature teaches children to "think storyboarding" like a director.

Writeroom A simple, no-frills word processor that works with Dropbox. Microsoft Word is just too much for me. If I'm working on the desktop and don't need to design page layout (I use Pages for that.), I'm using Writeroom. It blanks my screen. I write. Simple.

Webware WordPress.org and WordPress.com WordPress has become my favorite blogging platform. It has grown into a very powerful blogging system. For many years, I've used a desktop editor that links to my blog system for creating posts. But this past year, as I revisited WordPress 3.x, I've become so fond of it's amazingly powerful web-based interface, I rarely fire up ecto or MarsEdit. I simply use, and love, the web-based WordPress 3.x interface. WordPress 3.x also makes upgrading the blogging system and plugins as easy as possible: click.

WordPress has an enormous users base and a (too?) huge collection of available plugins that add even more functionality. I "cut my teeth" on MovableType (MabryOnline.org was built with it.), but I'm now a WordPress evangelist. Rave. Rave. Rave!

Poll Everywhere I've used Poll Everywhere for many years now. If I were a classroom teacher, I would use it frequently. Principals can use it in public meetings to quickly gather feedback. The wife of the creator/owner of Poll Everywhere is a California elementary school principal. The features have grown over the years and are very powerful. Additionally, Poll Everywhere plays very well with iOS devices like the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

Dropbox Perhaps most people think of cloud storage as offering shared access to documents for group collaboration or photo sharing with family members. But Dropbox offers more. I'm finding more and more software that automatically integrates across devices using Dropbox for "system file" cloud storage: 1Password, Writeroom, and TextExpander are three of my favorites that I use daily. When I make a change to a document in Writeroom on my iPad, that change is immediately available to my computer or iPhone. When I add a password to a new website account, with 1Password that password is immediately available to all of my computing devices. Dropbox, just like Peppermint Bark, is delicious!

WordPress Plugins: Wordbooker, TweetPress, Related Posts (YARPP), and the SlideShowPro Director Plugin Wordbooker is a WordPress plugin that will crosspost new blog posts to your Facebook wall. Its feature set is rich and includes Facebook "Like" and "Share" buttons. Additionally, when someone comments to your Facebook Wall, Wordbooker brings that comment into your WordPress blog for approval. When approved, the Facebook comment shows up on your blog as well.

TweetPress is a WordPress plugin that simply tweets your new blog post URL and title to the world.

The Related Posts (YARPP) plugin uses conditional logic to find previous (even future, if you wish) posts on your blog related to the current post your reader has on the screen. Related Posts works in real time; so, the related posts for each post you publish are never static but always changing based on what you add to your blog. You can tweak the algorithm settings in a very simple interface.

The new SlideShowPro Director plugin gives your posts immediate and simple access to all of the photos you have uploaded into your SlideShowPro Director account (self-hosted or hosted by SlideShowPro). SlideShowPro now plays beautifully on iOS devices. (I've mentioned SlideShowPro on my site before.)

Zemanta Zemanta is like having a team of editors suggesting content for your posts as you write them. It's as if Zemanta is reading over your shoulder. As you type away, Zemanta will recommend links, tags, pictures, and other posts that are related to what you're writing.

Even more powerful, and my favorite Zemanta feature, you can restrict the sources from which Zemanta pulls recommendations by pointing it to an OPML file with just the RSS feeds or online content you wish it to use. Not only does Zemanta improve SEO, it enriches your reader's experience at your blog! I love Zemanta. It works with Blogger, WordPress, and MovableType blogs.

Conclusion Each of the products briefly mentioned in these two posts, These Are a Few of My Favorite Things..., deserves its own full post! But these posts are too long already. I simply wanted to introduce you to these "favorite things" if you were not already aware of them. Again, the criteria for mention in this year's series was simply frequency and joy of use. Since I enjoy using these digital tools, and I use them a lot, I wanted to make sure you knew about them. Now, go and explore!!

Have a wonderful 2011!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things... (Part 1)

Mon, 27 Dec 2010 10:25:16 -0800

Well, it's that time of year again, when I reflect back on the year.

In past years, I've posted my 12 Apps of Christmas series. But this year, I want to be a little different. Instead of solely focusing on iOS apps for the iPhone, and limiting myself to 12 of them, which I could never do anyway, I'm broadening my scope to include any application, iOS or desktop, webware (online applications or resources), as well as hardware. The criteria for this year's selection is simply frequency of use: What do I find myself using over and over again, more or less on a daily basis, because I personally find that use practical and joyful.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things.. will be a series of 4 posts:

iOS applications
Hardware
Desktop Software
Webware.

This first post in the series, probably the largest of the four, focuses on iOS applications. Keep in mind that many of these apps have also been developed for other mobile platforms! Here we go!

iOS applications
The iOS itself
Probably my favorite iOS "application" is not really an application but is the operating system (iOS) itself in the form of 4.0+ for the iPhone/iPod Touch and 4.2 for the iPad. I so desperately needed folders on my iOS devices! Additionally, the multitasking functionality has been a welcomed, though limited, feature. I frequently use the Home button double press to bounce between "open" recent applications.

Travel: FlightTrack Pro & FlightBoard, Navigon, Kayak HD, Night Stand
This probably doesn't apply to a lot of my readers; but, because I use these so much, I thought I would share. (Maybe your spouse travels a lot for work.)

I travel an insane amount. My travel workflow usually looks something like this: Use Kayak HD to find best fares. Book my flight. My email client, Mail on OS X, has rules setup so that incoming flight confirmations from the airlines are forwarded automatically to my TripIt account. My TripIt RSS feed then immediately places all of my flight information in FlightTrack Pro on my iPhone, iPad, and Calendar (iCal on OS X) as well as the calendars of my family members.

FlightTrack Pro provides virtually realtime flight, departure and arrival gate, and delay information as well as weather in the destination city, the layout of the plane with the seatguru seat map, and a map of the terminal. It even gives stats for the percentage of time that particular flight is on time, 15, 30, and 45 or more minutes late. You can see the flight path over a Google map and follow the plane's estimated location in flight during the flight. I've compared the location information with the onboard realtime inflight location information and found it to be astoundingly accurate.

Additionally, you can find alternate flights using FlightBoard, and call the airline all within the app. Finally, I use FlightTrack Pro to provide family and friends with depature and arrival updates through email, Twitter, or Facebook. For the business traveler or any person who travels a lot, FlightTrack Pro & FlighBoard, especially in conjunction with TripIt, are a must.

I often rent a car and drive in places unfamiliar to me. My GPS of choice is Navigon on my iPhone, using the TomTom Carkit. The carkit is essential as any GPS will very quickly drain your iPhone battery. The carkit provides charging, enhanced GPS signal reception, and augments the volume of the navigation voive. I've used GPS from many different manufacturers. I really like Navigon, which I mentioned last year, but this great app has gotten even better. It looks awesome on the iPhone 4. I also have the Panorama View 3D and Traffic Live addons.

A couple of the great features I'll mention: When approaching complex entrance and exit ramps, Navigon displays remarkably realistic imagery of the upcoming area complete with which lanes do what and the actual sinage to expect. This makes complicated big city navigation much easier.

Navigon knows the speed limit where you are. You can have it warn you when you exceed the speed limit by a specified amount that you choose. You can even set different amounts for the highway versus in town roads. This is incredibly helpful when you're more worried about navigation than local speed limits. (When I first used this application, I had no idea why it would say, "Warning." I was initially troubled, not knowing what it was warning me about. I finally saw, in the top right corner of the display, the little current speed limit sign with an exclamation point on it.)

My workflow typically includes getting the exact street address of my hotel and work locations and programming them into the GPS as favorites before leaving home. I've actually been somewhat amused at how many times I'm given the incorrect city in which a work location actually is found. Often, in larger cities, the city or village boundaries are a bit confusing to local people.

Finally, I'll mention Night Stand. When travelling, I always worry that I'll program the hotel clock incorrectly, or that's it's broken and will not alarm at all. I've even had the clocks be significantly incorrect. And if I decide to have a wakeup call, I worry the operator programmed it in incorrectly. So, I use Night Stand on my iPad as my alarm clock. I can see it from across the room, even without my glasses. And I love using the birds happily chirping as my alarm sound. It's far less jarring for those of us who aren't exactly morning people and are on west coast time with an east coast alarm.

Social Media: Twitter, TweetDeck, HootSuite, Twittelator
The iPhone versions are fine, but the iPad versions are incredible, making excellent use of the extra screen real estate. I use Twitter for a quick tweet fix on the iPhone and iPad. I find myself using the Twitter app more than any other Twitter client on my iPhone--almost exclusively. And I'm currently torn between TweetDeck and HootSuite on the iPad. I like the ability to share across multiple social media platforms. Currently, I'm leaning more toward HootSuite as my preference on the iPad and TweetDeck on the desktop. I especially like how HootSuite keeps click data/stats. Twittelator interests me because it will upload pictures shot on the iPhone to your own WordPress blog and use your URL scheme as the shortlink. (Twitter for iPhone is supposed to do this, but I've never been successful with the setup.)

Dragon Dictation
This is becoming a real winner to me. For quick text messages, emails and tweets, I fire this up more and more. I get a very high level of accuracy and find waiting for the application to load less annowing than using the tiny keyboard on the iPhone.

Remote and Remote
Both are made by Apple. One I use to control my presentations when I travel. The other I use to control the music libraries of the various computers and AppleTVs in the house. The new Remote application for iTunes and AppleTV is very well conceived.

CardStar
This is crazy, I know. But until the CardStar app was on my iPhone, I would not use any store discount or points cards at checkout. I refused to have a wad of them crammed into my pocket or in my wallet. But with CardStar, all of these cards (from the grocery store, the drugstore, the office supplies store, etc.) are in my phone. When I go to check out, the cashier just zaps my iPhone. In the few months I've been using them, I've saved over $400 I otherwise had been paying. I had no idea the savings were that significant. Now, I do confess to resenting the fact that these vendors now monitor my purchases. But, at the same time, I was glad to get the call about the recalled eggs that I had purchased that were part of the lot tainted by saminella. Had I not used CardStar, they wouldn't have known to call me.

RSS Feed Readers: Flipboard, Pulse
This is a delimna very much like my Shazam/SoundHoud and TweetDeck/HootSuite conundrum. I just can't decide which one I like best. I'm leaning toward Flipboard at the moment as it got insanely more personal with the ability to add your Google Reader account feeds (in total or in part). Flipboard really did deserve the nod it got from Apple recently. I prefer its clean readable approach over some of the website designs that are sometimes visually cluttered or filled with ads.

iA Writer (iPad)
I greatly prefer the keyboard in this simple text editor to the one on the iPad itself. I am annoyed every time I want to move the cursor just one or two characters or words and have to stop typing to try to position my finger exactly where I need the cursor. (Do I just have big fingertips or really bad eye/hand coordination?!) The iA Writer keyboard has keys for that: forward or back an entire word(s) or character(s). Apple could learn something here! I also use the apostrophy, colon, semicolon, etc. a lot. Having them on the screen keeps me focused on what I'm writing. Manipulating the keyboard to get to the keys you need quickly becomes a nuisance.

Other iOS apps worth a mention:
Pandora, Shazam, and SoundHound are among the all time great music apps, especially the iPad versions. I've blogged about these before; so, I won't go into detail about them here. But I highlight them again as they just keep getting better.

iMovie on the iPhone is limited but way cool! Who ever would have thought you could actually shoot and edit an HD movie on a phone?!

iTimeLapse is an app I'm now very interested in exploring more since I just purchase The Glif. (More on The Glif in hardware.) I love time lapse photography and this app does an amazing job quickly and easily creating and uploading a time lapse movie. I can see teachers using this in elementary school on the new iPod Touches.

1Password rocks my world. 1Password works on the iPhone, iPad, and desktop for both Mac and Windows. It provides an excellent password management system that can be continuously and automatically synced via your free DropBox account. With 1Password, you remove a great deal of the hassle of maintaining truly enhanced password security for every account you have. 1Password also will store all of your software serial numbers. I highly recommend everyone use this software and stop using a small number of passwords for everything in your life!

MyNetDiary HD for the iPad helps me more effectively manage my battle with the bulge. I use it every day, every meal. It helps me monitor my carbohydrate intake which greatly simplifies my diabetes/insulin management.

Disclaimer
I am not affiliated with any of these applications or their companies in any way. I simply use these applications a lot and like them.

Special Season's Greetings

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 12:06:45 -0800

Proof of concept: The video greeting when you first hit my main blog page (not individual post pages from a Twitter link, for example) was created by and purchased from the Canadian artist, Mark Gervais. (It's sold as a package of several different holiday video files for $4.00. He also has some great Halloween animations we use here at the house for our seasonal haunted house.) With a simple bit of code, mediaboxAdv, which I've written about before, opens the file when you first hit or refresh the main blog page. (Yes, one can structure it to do this on individual archive pages as well.) Last year I used a still image. This year I was delighted to learn that the same bit of code will autoplay a video file! All you have to do is link to your video file on the server! If you are comfortable tinkering under the hood of your blog (adding a bit of code to the template and storing a few extra files on your server), you could use mediaboxAdv for special announcements on your class or school blog or website. You could even have it play a short video welcome. But this post is more than just a proof of concept. I wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and the very best life has to offer in 2011!
Tim