iPad and Online Services In Education

I have a bargain first generation iPad on the way (I will discuss why so close to the iPad2 coming out that I did this in another post).
Now I work in the education sector these days and one of the things I have wanted to do since starting the job was have an iPad to use in my everyday work.
I can see how the iPad (or tablets in general) can be used by teachers/lecturers and students a like in the classroom. They cry out as the ultimate device teaching aid.
But before the iPad arrives there are one or two services/apps that we all could be using that are also dam useful for tablet devices and dam useful if you don't have one.

Evernote is a great service. It allows basically you to make notes and store them. Sounds simple and nothing revolutionary. But it is, with the plugin installed you are able to clip web pages, or snippets from the web page. You can save tweets, email in photos well you get the idea. The apps on the PC and Mac are excellent, and there are also great apps for smartphones. So this is a really great note keeping site.

in the past (in this job) I have had a USB stick fail on me, and I have lost work. But there is a solution or an alternative to the USB stick for transfer documents from home and work. That alternative is Dropbox. Dropbox offer for FREE! 2 GB of online storage that syncs files up between PC's,Macs, iPhones, iPads and Android devices, plus it can be accessed through a web browser as well. So now I use Dropbox as my main place to save work files. These get synced to all my computers that I have the Dropbox app installed on, and once I get to work I can log in via a browser and download copies of the work I need for the lesson. This a great service and a great alternative to using a USB stick.

I am an Apple Fanboy, and I use a 2 year old Macbook all the time, and my preference for writing my slides etc is to use iworks. iworks is the Apple equivalent to Microsoft Office, and in my opinion is better than office. Now the problem I have is that sometimes I produce slides in Keynote that don't translate to Powerpoint. So if I want to use a slideshow with the way I intended I have to be able to play the Keynote presentation somehow at work. iworks.com is the answer. From within Keynote or any of the iworks apps I can upload my document and share it, or more importantly in the case of my keynote slides display them through the web browser (safari or Chrome, despite iworks.com saying I require safari, it will work with Chrome). The only draw back is that the web browser based viewer does not work with the remote clicker that I have for moving slides on. So I have to remain near to the PC and a mouse to move the presentation on.

So with these services in place a tablet of any description just becomes another way to access and update the information you have and use everyday. And while I am talking about using these in an educational setting these services can be used anywhere.

Broken Record

I’ll say it again and again, but I am getting fed up with all these manufacturers all claiming that their tablet will be an iPad beater. Yet they are comparing as usual their offerings to the current model of the iPad.

They did the wise thing last year and waited for Apple to release the iPad before releasing the models that they previewed at CES. But Apple surprised them then not with just what the iPad was but in the thing that killed off most of the offerings in having a $400 version of the iPad. Everyone had been planning on the rumoured price point of between $800 - $1000. When Apple came well under that they killed off a lot of the competition who just weren’t able to compete.

The $400 iPad also forced Amazon to drop the price of the Kindle. Which was a positive move for the Kindle as sales of it have increased since. If it had remained at it’s previous price it would of died from the competition of the iPad.

Now we have RIM with their vapourware that has been delayed from the planned launch of early next year because they have technical issues with the battery life. Apparently it isn’t very good, and doesn’t compare very well with the current iPad battery life (10 hours on the wifi model). And as I have pointed out all their rhetoric has been to compare their vapourware (which no one has had hands on with, and now we know why) with the current iPad. By the time the RIM offering hits the streets iPad2 will be imminent or will have just come out.

That’s a dangerous game to play for a manufacturer to launch in the shadow of an Apple product release. Look how well that worked out for Palm with the Pre (we will over look the under powered hardware). 

Samsung tried to distinguish their tablet from the iPad rather well I thought. They made the screen smaller (7”) so it was more portable, and gave it cameras (which apparently aren’t that great). But then they go screw it all up in the pricing and letting mobile operators control it. The Tab is more expensive than the iPad and you get tied up with a two year contract!! Yes I know that UK mobile companies are now doing similar deals on the iPad, but the iPad initial cost is cheaper than that of the Tab.

I think that the wise manufacturer should stop comparing their unreleased product with the current iPad. I’d even go so far as to stop mentioning the iPad all together in relation to their product. How about just concentrating on what your tablet will do well, and why I should buy it, instead of trying to compare it to a moving target.

My Thoughts On The Blackberry Playbook and Ipad Comparison Video

I’ve embedded the new video from Blackberry comparing the (yet unreleased) Playbook (their vapourware slate, well until it is in the shops it is not really real) to the iPad.

Now these videos are interesting to me for a couple of reasons. The first is that it gives us a sneak peak at what may be coming our way. But it doesn’t really give us any really useful comparison between the two devices. Basically what we are seeing in the video is a comparison between a prototype and a version of the iPad that will no longer be valid by the time a final version of the prototype hits the shelves.

And that is the point, already the iPad has moved on to version 4.2.1 of iOS4, by the time the Playbook hits the shelves of stores the iPad will be on it’s second hardware iteration.

Now I don’t know what the spec of the next iPad will be. All we do know is that it will be better spec’d than the current iPads. Maybe faster processor, more operating RAM, front facing camera, who knows? I can only speculate, or try and make logical guesses.

Why do I call the Playbook in the video a prototype? Well it can’t be a final production model, or it would be out in the shops. So Blackberry must be doing some final bits and pieces to the Playbook. Even at the launch, sorry announcement of the intent to release the Playbook no one could get a hands on. Which would imply that it isn’t at the moment in a usable state to let press and public get their hands on it.

And between now and when the Playbook finally hits the shelves things can change dramatically in what was shown and what is released.

So while interesting I’ll wait until I can see a true comparison between the two competing devices of final off the shelf products. Until then take these sort of videos with a pinch of salt.

Steve Martin And His iPad

I heard about this a couple of weeks a go on the iPad Today show over on TWiT.tv. It’s a funny little routine between numbers by Steve Martin at one of his Bluegrass concerts.

I’m a big fan of the early Steve Martin, let’s face it his track record on movies since about Roxanne time has been a bit below standard for such a great talent. But at least his efforts haven’t been as dire as Eddie Murphy’s. But I digress this blog is about tech, and here is a Bank Holiday afternoon funny for you to enjoy with a geek slant to it.

The iPad

Instead of writing my thoughts on the new Apple iPad I decided to record them using my iPhone this morning as I walked my mutts.

Hopefully a player has appeared above. If not you can download the mp4 audio file here.