I Just Sat Through iPad Training.

I just sat through iPad training.

Nothing really new, because we have the device at home.  I really do like iPads for reading, Twitter, e-mail, calendar.

Here's what I am thinking about school use:

• This isn't a full-blown computer (yet) and yes you do need a full-blown computer every once in a while.
• If it is graphics or audio or video work you will be much happier with a computer.
• Full versions of programs don't run here.
• FileMaker Go and FileMaker are not the same deal for instance.
• SmartMusic still needs a computer, but playback has moved to Android and iOS.  (Hey SmartMusic!  Next million dollar idea is a full version for the iPad!)
• Those are just two of my favorite programs.
• What if you wanted to do some programming?
• For iOS that is done with a computer.
• What if there ISN'T an app for that?

• I'm glad I don't have to share one of these.
• If you had to share with different settings for each user, you would go nuts.
• I am guessing that kids will have a lot of fun moving the apps around and changing the wall paper.
• A computer can have multiple users.
• I love the fact that I can set things up my way and the rest of the family can have their settings on our computers at home.

• I wish there was more room to store things.
• I think that iPads are a great place to share pictures, but there are only so many gigs to the memory on these.
• The cloud that is coming this fall will have restrictions on the amount of time you photos will be stored.  
• I have been known to want to walk around with gigs of data.
• Schools are fairly complex data-wise and I like to use our info.

• I wish it were easier to lock down.
• You MUST wander through and monitor what kids are doing with iPads.
• The remote desktop is easier with computers.
• I love web browsers with "White Lists" for my kids.
• This Safari doesn't have that.
• I wish the web history wasn't so easy to obscure on iPads
• In fact, it is fairly easy.  Go to the pages icon and start hitting X's.

• I think that schools will purchase these by the truck load.
• The cost of these is at a tempting price point and yes it is a CPU.
• But can't we do a little better for our students?
• It is a nice transition from paper to digital.
• The form factor is very much like paper and can sit on a desk like a worksheet.  Teachers have worked this way for at least a couple of centuries.

Maybe I am being a little persnickety and I don't mean to sound grumpy.  iPads will continue to improve.  I am guessing that the ability to secure these for classroom use will get better soon (or maybe I am behind on my apps and it has improved already!)  But right now, if you could only purchase one device, would this be the device? 

Let's Play, "How Can I Use This With..."

http://www.eye.fi/
http://www.nikonusa.com/
http://www.apple.com/ipad/
http://www.apple.com/icloud/

I like to think of ways that my tech toys can work together.  Sometimes, a small idea or two triggers a regular storm of things that scream "put me together."  This week the ideas are the Eye-Fi SD card and the soon to be here iCloud, set to be up and running as part of Apple's OS X Lion operating system environment.

The Eye-Fi is used to move pictures (as jpegs) from you camera to your computer via a wi-fi connection.

The iCloud will move pictures from your Apple device to all your other Apple devices automatically.

Simple ideas with some big implications.

The workflow will really flow.  Does anyone remember film?  Take you pictures, drop your film off for developing ( or clear a lot of time to do your own darkroom work), then wait.

Hopefully, you got the focus, exposure and composition good enough to avoid going back to reshoot.

Now, you shoot, check the histogram, look over the focus and composition on the camera.

Now, for a really close inspection, have your jpegs wi-fied to your iPad.

Need to do some adjusting and don't want to do it on your iPad?  That's fine, because the iPad has already sent it to your computers with its Photo Stream feature.  Pictures could take up a lot of space, so there are some limits on how much time they will spend on Apple servers, but you will have time to get jpegs moved to a local drive.

I have been known to worry about the quality of my pictures (and I shoot the RAW format) and I think I will be paranoid about the limited time on Photo Stream (even if it was two decades!) So what would be the fix for that?  I think that would call for a camera with two disc drives. They exist!  The Nikon D7000 is an example.  Set one slot up for wifiing jpegs and one to capture the RAW information.  Perfect.

Big picture?  It has never been easier to do photography of good technical quality and get it in circulation.  A good imaginative eye for for photography, that may be another story...

Thunderbolt, iCloud and Macbook Air a Killer Combination?

I was just sitting here on a rainy day and scanning the Mac rumor web sites.

It seems that the Macbook Air refresh is going to wait for the Lion release.  Then the usual speculation happens as to why and when and what users hope will happen.  A couple of people troll and then those people engage in a word war that I hope my kids never ask me to explain.  Yawn.

Then I got to thinking about the Air refresh.  The big story there may not be the Lion/Air combination.  What if the big story was the Thunderbolt/Air refresh?  Thunderbolt seems to be the hot Apple refresh item on their other products.  iMac and Macbook Pro got it, why not Air?

For years, if someone asked me which Apple laptop to get, I would say any of them but the Air.  Mostly because of the ports that weren't there.  No Firewire.  One USB.  Without a lot of storage on board that seems kind of limited and what if you wanted to do a couple of peripherals?

The Air just didn't do enough and I wonder how it is going to fair in a world that includes the iPad.  It's just too close to the computing power of the iPad with about the same flexibility.

What if the refresh included Thunderbolt?  The right dongle for that port and you could have a number of Firewire or USB devices and a monitor going right into the machine through Thunderbolt.  I've always liked those docking stations that some Windows laptops have.  With Thunderbolt, you could get the same single connection convenience.

Then, if people ask what Macbook they should get, I would have to ask how much power they are really going to need.  If you don't need to do anything seriously processor/graphics card intensive  the answer may be an Air.  With iCloud, how much on-board storage are you going to need?  Who knows?  Maybe the processors take a big jump in speed and the Air/Macbook line is even further blurred....

Thunderbolt, iCloud and Macbook Air could be a killer combination.  That might be the real Macbook Air refresh story.

Hmm. Free (or pretty cheap) Storage and More From Apple.

http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/11piubpwiqubf06/event/

This Steve Jobs keynote at WWDC may not have been too exciting when compared to those from the past, but I think there are some interesting developments for academic users here.  Yes, it was essentially an all software talk and the hardware Steve-notes are more glamorous, but what that software can do is very interesting.

Easy use of the internet to update all of your devices!  I will be able to load pictures on my computer/iPhone/iPod (take your pick) and they will go out to all my other computers/iPods/iPhones.

That's it.  Nothing to hook up.  No discs.  Just enjoy the pictures on your devices...

Sounds like that's the way it will work with music too.  Cool.  I don't know how many times I wished I had brought something from my home computer to work to share with my music classes.  I always seem to have things on the wrong iPod, too.

iPad in school? as part of a 1:1 effort? I think this may answer many of the questions I have about iPads in school.  How do you get work from one place to another with an iPad?  Apple is making that look easier.  I think there are some real uses around a school for all of this.  It would be nice to see school work hand itself out or better yet, turn itself in.

THE thing this does for iPad and other iOS devices is make the computer unnecessary.  Update and sync files over the wireless.  Back-up?  Over the wireless.  At least two important take-care-of-business chores made easier.  Does not having to buy the computer make a lab of iPads easier to afford?  How about individuals needing to bring SOMETHING to school?  I don't know... I think the iPad may be an excellent choice for a first computer.

Will there be a way to update all of a district's devices via iCloud?  Right now, it sounds like there will be limits that favor individual or family accounts.  What if you need to get an app installed on 152 iPads?

The proverbial question used to be "Mac or PC?"  Now, how about "Mac, PC or iOS?"  The sensible answer has always been "Does it run what you need?"  I hope certain software companies are keeping an eye on iOS.  MakeMusic and Microsoft are companies that aren't there with what I would call full packages of programs (yet.)

Most of what iCloud does is possible to do all with other products, but iCloud seems more seamless.  We'll have to see how this shakes out when it hits the real world.  It is going to be an interesting fall.