LearnShifting

 I have been attending the RunRev online game academy which is designed to teach you how to build a game, in this case  a side scrolling game where you avoid enemies and try to collect bonuses.

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This entry was posted on January 18, 2012 at 5:08 AM and has received 106 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Happy New Year to all readers. As you know, New Year brings more than hangovers… it brings resolutions. My resolution is to run an informal learning event on how to build an application for an iPad, an iPhone or an Android device. For those Windows and Linux folk out there, you can use the same language for all platforms.

The language is called Livecode and it is from a company called RunRev.

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This entry was posted on January 4, 2012 at 9:34 AM and has received 94 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I have just returned from holidays and luckily my camera was not stolen, but if it was, I would have checked out http://www.stolencamerafinder.com which allows you to enter the serial number of the camera (so go and write it down right now) and the website will trawl the web looking for photographs that have the same information (exif data) stored within them.

There is a great article in the Age Newspaper about the website and success stories.

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This entry was posted on December 29, 2011 at 2:01 PM and has received 100 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I have been on this quest to offer a solution to teachers that would enable them to create a talking book. I had a few criteria though.

• You had to be able to use free tools to do it.
• It couldn’t be something that teachers thought was too difficult and not worth the effort
• It had to play on the iPad
• It had to play on other devices as well, including Windows
• As the book was read, words would highlight. (Don’t get too excited by this – it is not there yet, but more on that later)
• I also wanted teachers to be able to share the books with students and other teachers who had iPads without going through iTunes

I need to tell you that this has been a long time coming and I feel that out of our teaching community, about 90% would be able to create an eBook without audio after about ten minutes guidance (ie reading this blog entry) and of that group, half would be willing to have a go at adding audio and video to their book.

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This entry was posted on August 21, 2011 at 5:26 PM and has received 497 views. There are currently 1 comments. Print this entry.

Paul, a long time friend who works in Indonesia and definately has too many gadgets is a well known geologist and constantly surprises me with the way he combines geology, geography and photography into his adventures through Indonesia. He sent me a link to a journey that he plotted on his GPS and was translated into a track with points of interest along the way.

The application also plots speed and altitude.

So whether it is a trip on your bicycle into work, a flight in an ultralight aircraft or your next journey on holidays, you can use your GPS or as the title of this piece suggests, an iPhone.

In the classroom using such a tool to record a biology transect, a historical journey or just your favourite tourist spots around town are things an iPhone owning teacher could add into their list of activities.

To see Paul's trip visit http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=1081210&code=0577e0de93149e4028a83edce51aa3f6 and on that page will be links to the application.

This entry was posted on May 12, 2011 at 7:47 AM and has received 336 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Actually it belongs to a good friend and it was dropped off yesterday to either be resurrected or given the last rites. When Adam plugged it into the wall it didn't stir - a cold lifeless black rectangle. But with the deftness of a lifesaver, Adam applied the iPad equivilent of CPR and revived the small beasty. How did he do it? if you follow the instructions below -

Reset the iPad or iPhone by holding the Power Button at the top right of the device and the home button (the 'Circular Button') at the bottom center of the face at the same time. Hold them both until you see the screen go black and the white Apple logo appear. When this happens, you can let go - the  iPad or iPhone is rebooting.

My friend's iPad made a full recovery.

This entry was posted on April 12, 2011 at 9:57 AM and has received 361 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Firstly the good thing about the iPad 2.0 (which PCs have been able to do for almost 30 years) - Now you can plug a cable into the iPad 2.0 and display whatever is on the iPad 2.0's screen onto another device like a TV or data projector, not just videos and photos as you can with iPad 1.0. So if you are teaching an iPad app in the classroom, now you can display it on your projector (if you have an iPad 2.0).

For those of us with wireless iPad version 1.0 (me) the latest release of the iOS which is now at version 4.3 allows you to use a 3G device (my iPhone 3GS did the trick) to act as a local wifi hotspot. I was able to tether my iPad and iPod touch to the phone using bluetooth and access the Internet and mail from the iPad.

People in the vicinity can't randomly access your personal hotspot.

With this update it means that you really only need one 3G sim card and therefore one data plan. Something to consider if you have an iPhone and are considering buying an iPad. Was it fast? Certainly was.

This entry was posted on March 14, 2011 at 8:00 AM and has received 1240 views. There are currently 1 comments. Print this entry.

 I have been using Microsoft's tag reader and it is great, especially when you want to create your own tag that points to content. In Tom Khulman's latest blog he has a graphic of an admission ticket to an event in Phoenix . The ticket had a QR Code on it and the code also had a hyperlink which took you to information about the event.

http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/heres-how-to-help-your-subject-matter-experts-build-better-e-learning-courses/ is where the article is and I recommend the article as it talks about working with Subject Matter Experts in an eLearning context.

Back on topic... Microsoft tag reader couldn't read the tag, so I downloaded another reader called mobiletag which is in the app store or you can visit their site at http://www.mobiletag.com.

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This entry was posted on January 12, 2011 at 5:32 AM and has received 260 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

 I try not to cross-post from my other blogs but having just returned from a wonderful holiday to Singapore, Malaysia and a brief stopover in Bali I combined a little road testing of the iPad again in a travel/holiday environment.

anyhow the link to the article and a YouTube video shot, edited and uploaded to YouTube without going near a laptop, desktop or netbook is included.

The movie of this is continued at the blog...

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This entry was posted on December 22, 2010 at 10:47 PM and has received 309 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

If you have an iPad or an iPhone, the operating system update many have been waiting for is here. It is worth updating but if you haven't updated your iTunes in a while you'll need to get that upgraded to 10.1.

Here is a small video about the upgrade from Cnet which interestingly began with an ad for the Windows mobile 7 phone.

 Go to http://apple.com for details about the release. But here is a useful article for the enterprise http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/368723/6_sets_useful_apple_ipad_resources/ from computerworld

iOS 4.2 Software Update for iPad

This update contains over 100 new features for iPad including support for multitasking, folders, unified mail inbox, Game Center, AirPrint, AirPlay, and many system improvements. It is highly recommended for all iPad users.

iOS 4.2 for iPad includes the following:

• Multitasking support for third-party apps

- Multitasking user interface to quickly move between

apps, adjust screen brightness, control playback,

lock screen-rotation, and manage print jobs

- Support for audio apps to play in the background

- VoIP apps can receive and maintain calls in the

background or when device is asleep

- Apps can monitor location and take action while

running in the background

- Alerts and messages can be pushed to apps using

push and local notifications

- Apps can complete tasks in the background

• Folders to better organize and access apps

• Mail improvements

- Unified inbox to view emails from all accounts in one

place

- Fast inbox switching to quickly switch between

different email accounts

- Threaded messages to view multiple emails from the

same conversation

- Import .ics files into Calendar

- Open attachments with compatible third-party apps

- File or delete search results

- Option to select size of photo attachments

- Messages in the Outbox can be edited or deleted

• Game Center

- Send and receive friend requests

- Invite friends to multi-player games over the Internet

- Play multi-player games by auto-matching with other

players

- View Leaderboards and Achievements

- Discover new games from friends

• AirPrint

- Print mail, photos, web pages, and more directly to

AirPrint compatible printers on a local wireless network

• AirPlay

- Wirelessly stream videos, music, and photos to

Apple TV

- Wirelessly stream music to AirPlay-enabled speakers or

receivers, including AirPort Express

• Find text on web pages in Safari

• Use Spotlight to search the web and Wikipedia

• Suggestions and recent searches appear during a web

search

• Support for TV show rentals using iTunes

• Create and edit iTunes playlists on device

• Support for iTunes gifting of apps

• Send and accept calendar invitations wirelessly with

supported CalDAV servers

• Support for MobileMe calendar sharing

• Enhanced location privacy

- A Location Services icon appears in the status bar to

indicate when Location Services are being used

- Location Services can be enabled and disabled per app

- Indication of apps that have requested your location

within the last 24 hours

• Additional Parental Controls

- Prevent adding friends in Game Center and deletion

of apps

- Restrict changes to Accounts and Location Services

settings

• New languages, dictionaries and keyboards

• New fonts available in Notes

• Wirelessly sync notes using IMAP-based mail accounts

• Automatic spellcheck

• Silence background sounds using the Silent switch on

the side of iPad

• Improved support for Bluetooth AVRCP

• Persistent WiFi connection to receive push notifications

• Support for Bluetooth braille displays and International

braille tables, control VoiceOver using an external

keyboard, and other accessibility enhancements

• Wireless delivery of carrier settings updates for

iPad WiFi + 3G

• Improved enterprise support

- Support for third-party Mobile Device Management

solutions

- Enables wireless distribution of enterprise applications

- Exchange Server 2010 compatibility

- Support for multiple Exchange ActiveSync accounts

- Support for Juniper Junos Pulse and Cisco

AnyConnect SSL VPN apps (available from the

App Store)

• More than 1,500 new developer APIs

• Bug fixes

Products compatible with this software update:

• iPad

• iPad WiFi + 3G

For feature descriptions and complete instructions, see the user guides for iPad at:

<http://support.apple.com/manuals/ipad>

For more information about iPad, go to:

This entry was posted on November 23, 2010 at 8:47 AM and has received 173 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.