[ED-TECH] iPad Meetup - Wed June 9

Ed-Tech list members,

An iPad Meetup has been announced for 8:00 PM, Wednesday, June 9, 2010. If you would like to get together with other Miami iPad users, go to <http://www.meetup.com/iPad/4837/> http://www.meetup.com/iPad/4837/ and indicate your interest. Right now I am the only person who has indicated interest. If there are others, I will help make the arrangements to get this set up.

The meetup is a live meetup here, with a video conference with the people who produce "This Week in iPad." You can find out more about the This Week in iPad podcast at the<http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-ipad/>http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-ipad/ web site.

Please indicate your interest and share this with other iPad users you may know.

Bill Vilberg - bill.vilberg@miami.edu<mailto:bill.vilberg@miami.edu>, 786-250-2255

[ED-TECH] iPad Questions: eBooks, accessories, models

Ed-Tech list members,

Regarind my iPad messages, Jonathan West (POL) wrote, "You did not mention downloading books. For me it is the ipad or the kindle. Have you used both? It sounds like you have bought a lot of accessories for the ipad. Are some of these more essential than others? What about the various models of ipad (3G vs. others), is there a big difference. Which one do you have?" I thought I would respond to the entire group, in case others are wondering the same things. Some of you are thinking of buying an iPad and others are looking at them for gifts, so I thought it worthwhile to take this teachable moment and write some things down. Even if you are not looking at buying an iPad, I think you may find some of the information below useful.

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EBOOKS: IPAD VS. KINDLE
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I have only looked at the Kindle, Nook, and similar ebook readers; I don't own any. I have the Kindle reader app on my iPad, so anything you can get for the Kindle I can get for the same price on the iPad. I buy quite a few electronic books from O'Reilly, a computer/technology publisher, and read them in either ePub or PDF formats using iBooks, the Apple reader, or GoodReder, a 99 cent app that handles PDFs very well. The ePub format, like the Kindle format, reflows the book as you change the font size or use a different display. The PDF format is an electronic copy of the printed page. I like the PDF format better. For textbooks, as we move to eBook formats, it seems to me we will want the PDF format, so that we can talk about "the top of page 127" and have everyone in the class on the same page, literally. If paper books disappear, which I think is very unlikely, and everyone is using an electronic copy of the text book, we might start numbering the material with chapter and sentence numbers, in order to accomplish the same thing. Interesting to watch how this works out.

I did NOT get a Kindle when it came out. I DID get an iPad. An iPad makes more sense for me. But I have a friend in Orlando who went to Barnes and Noble when we were visiting a few weeks ago and bought a Nook. She uses a netbook to access the Internet and do work when she is home. She wanted something light and easy to take with her so she could read books. That was the right choice for her.

Here are some short/quick comparisons between the Kindle and the iPad. This is obviously my opinion. I think the facts are acurate, and I stand by my thoughts on which system is better in each area, but depending on which areas are most important to you, you may come to a different conclusion than I made.

- BATTERY LIFE: Advantage KINDLE

The Kindle is an amazing reader, as are the Nook and some others. The electronic paper technology is almost magical. Power is used to set the page so you can read it, but then the system is essentially asleep while you stay on the same page. This makes for an incredibly long battery life on the Kindle. The iPad lasts a day of heavy use, based on my experiences.

- USEFULNESS: Advantage IPAD

The Kindle allows you to do one thing: read things, primarily books but also magazines and newspapers. It does that well, but that is about all you can do. The iPad has an app for almost everything. Its email and calendar are incredible, integrating perfectly with both Exchange and Google. I have both a personal calendar on Google, a work calendar on Exchange, an Instructional Advancement Center calendar on Google, and about four other calendars, and I see them all as one integrated calendar. I have book readers on the iPad, so the iPad does much more than the Kindle

- DISPLAY: Advantage iPAD

The Kindle only displays black and white. That is OK for many books, but many others have diagrams and photos that are in color. These are displayed in Black and White on the Kindle, even though the underlying file is actually in color. The iPad screen is lovely. It has beautiful colors and a larger screen that eBook readers like the Nook. Reading a magazine on the iPad is pleasant, with full-color pages. The newest App I have is a Wired magazine with videos and other neat features integrated into the magazine. There is no way to replicate that on a Kindle

- BACKLIGHTING: Advantage IPAD

The Kindle can be read if you are sitting on the beach, but it is hard to read from the Kindle in bed. The Kindle has no back-lighting, so the screen must be illuminated from external lighting. There is lots of external light on a beach. You have to turn on a light in bed if you want to be able to read there. I find myself doing lots of reading in bed and very little on the beach. Not disturbing my wife while reading in bed is crucial, so the iPad is better for me.

- WEIGHT: Advantage KINDLE

The Kindle is lighter than the iPad, noticeably so. The iPad has a glass screen, the LCD display, and an aluminum case, all of which add weight. The Kindle feels like a feather to me, while the iPad feels like a hard-cover novel. I use a shoulder bag to carry it around, so that isn't a major problem for me, but the Kindle gets the advantage here.

- COST: Advantage KINDLE

The cost of a Kindle is much less than the cost of an iPad. With the Kindle you have wireless access included for the life of the item. With the iPad it costs $130 more for the wireless version and you will pay another $30 a month if you buy the 3G iPad if you want to get unlimited data through it. Both the Kindle and the iPad will generate lots more expenses. With the Kindle you will be buying books and subscribing to magazines and newspapers. With the iPad you will be buying books and applications. The Kindle looks like it will cost less, both to buy and to own.

- CONCLUSION

I really expect eBooks to grow in usage over time. I can only hope that it happens before my children have to have back surgery from carrying around their incredibly heavy backpacks, filled with textbooks. I hope that everyone at UM will research how they can select either a textbook that is available as an eBook, or an open source textbook that can be downloaded onto a device like the iPad. Our world will be better as that change is made.

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ACCESSORIES
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- APPLE IPAD CASE

There are an incredible number of cases for the iPad. I bought the Apple case and it has worked well for me. My goal was to make sure the screen didn't get scratched while I was carrying the iPad, provide some protection for the iPad, and make it easy to tilt the iPad when setting it down on a desk or table. I wanted a slight tilt so I could use the on-screen keyboard, and a steep tilt to watch movies and such. The Apple case has met my needs. The case covers the screen when I am carrying the iPad. The cover flips around and attaches in the back, holding the iPad either slightly tilted or almost vertical. The way the case is put together there is a nice edge of rubber all the way around the frame of the iPad, providing protection when I set down my bag. The Apple iPad case costs $29 as I recall.

Many people just get a case that they slide or zipper the iPad into when they are not using it. They seem to work well. I have one of those for my MacBook Air and it works well. I guessed, before using the iPad, that I would be flipping it out a lot, and that opening a case to get to it would be a nuisance. I was right about getting it out a lot. I have been happy with the ease with which I can get it out, work on it, and put it away, when using the Apple iPad case.

- POWER SUPPLY

The iPad comes with a power supply that plugs directly into the wall. For $29 you can buy the power supply that either plugs directly into the wall or has a power cord so you can be farther from the outlet. The iPad needs a lot of power, more than the iPhone, which needs more than most USB devices. So I have a second charger. I keep one at home and one at work. I discovered that one of my original iPhone chargers, with the fold out power plug, will charge the iPad, although slowly. I keep that next to my bed for overnight charging. I also have a charger in our living room so I can charge the iPad while I am using it on the couch. And I have a charger on my desk at work so I can keep it charged during the day. I keep it open and turned on all day, as my control panel for what I am doing, using a task manager application.

- VIDEO CABLE

There is a $29 iPad video connector. It lets you connect the iPad to a VGA device, like a monitor or projector. It only outputs some things, such as slide shows from Keynote (including Powerpoint files), pictures, and videos. The application has to enable output through the video connector. I got this, so that I can start using the iPad when I give presentations. This may not be as nice as using a computer, since I may have to stay by the iPad to advance the slides. I don't know.

I had an iPod video connector. It lets you connect the iPad (or iPad or iPhone or Touch) to a device with red, white, and yellow RCA connectors. I use that a bunch. Out TV has RCA connectors on the front, so that you can hook up a device like a Wii or Xbox. I plug the cables into that connector, change the TV input to VIDEO 3, in my case, and watch videos from my iPad on the TV. Very good quality. ABC has an app that lets you watch recent episodes of their shows. And Netflixs has an app to let you stream movies directly onto the iPad. I may have to activate my Netflix account again.

- TEN ONE DESIGN POGO STYLUS

A couple of companies make stylus that work on the iPad. Because the screen requires conduction in order to work, it normally only works with your fingers. But you can take some conductive foam, often used to hold computer chips when they are being shipped, stick the foam on the end of something, and use that instead of your finger. (You can also use stick cheese and sausages, I have been told, but they probably mess up your screen.) Ten One Design makes a stylus that I tried out. You can see it on the http://tenonedesign.com/stylus.php web site. It cost more than $10, and I don't like it at all. It reminds me of a golf pencil: very short and stubby. I have to press hard in order to make it work. And it is hard to drag the foam across the screen when trying to scroll up or down web pages. If I was going to try this again, I would certainly get one with the clip so that you can clip it in your shirt pocket. The one with the clip is called the Pogo Stylus. I think the addition of the clip is the only difference, so I don't intend on trying it.

- KEYBOARD

I bought and returned, unopened, the keyboard dock. It lets you connect the iPad to a keyboard so you can type and charge the iPad at the same time. I realized, before opening the box, that I wouldn't be able to use it with my case. It only works with a "naked" iPad.

I have an Apple Bluetooth keyboard, as well as another Bluetooth keyboard. I have successfully connected both of these to my iPad. I haven't used them much, because the on screen keyboard is good enough for 1-2 hours of work. But if I was writing on the iPad all day, I would probably use the Bluetooth keyboard. My previous messages have been created on the iPad with the on-screen keyboard. This message is being created on my Mac using the same Bluetooth keyboard that I have for my iPad. It is much easier to work on the real keyboard for long periods of time.

- APPLICATIONS

I don't really want to itemize all the apps and books I have bought so far. I have all the Apple iWork/office apps: 3 @ $10 each. I have LogMeIn so that I can get to my desktop computers from my iPad: $30. I have around six ebooks that I got on-sale from O'Rielly: 6 @ $10. I have Things for iPad: $20. (I already had Things for my Mac and Things for my iPhone: $50 and $10 respectively.) Those are the big ticket items that I can think of. I have bought lots of games for anywhere between $1 and $5, and some other things that were free.

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IPAD MODELS
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The iPad comes with three amounts of memory: 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. I have the 64GB model, and I have most of the memory occupied. This is primarily due to my loading lots of video on my system, so I will always have something to watch when I am on the public transportation to work. The cost for the smallest memory model is $499. It costs $100 extra to get the 32GB model, and another $100 to go to 64GB. So you can think of the three models as $500, $600, and $700 each. These are the Wi-Fi models. That means that you can connect to the internet if you are in a location with wireless access. This includes almost all of UM, my home, McDonalds, Panera Bread, Starbucks, and other locations. The last time I as at Starbucks, they charged for their wireless access, but if you have a starbucks gift card and register it online, you get free access. That is how I do it. The Wi-Fi only iPad cannot access the internet from a car, many restaurants, a park, or any other location that does not have Wi-Fi wireless access available. This is the model I have (64GB Wi-Fi) and I will explain how I get around the limitation below.

The Wi-Fi plus 3G iPad costs $130 more than the Wi-Fi only model, at each of the three memory amounts. It has equipment in it so that you can use the 3G cell phone system to access the internet, anywhere that you can get a 3G signal. 3G service goes a long distance from each cell phone tower. I don't know the real number, but it is probably a bit less than a mile. Current Wi-Fi goes something like 100 feet or so, at least within buildings. We have many Wi-Fi access points on campus, including many of them inside each building, in order to have full coverage. I am not sure where our AT&T cell towers are, but if one was located on or near campus, it would probably cover the entire campus, including inside most of the buildings. So 3G is much more pervasive than Wi-Fi, at least in Miami. But 3G is also slower, and in much of the country AT&T doesn't have any 3G service. A cabin in the mountains probably won't have 3G service, even if it has AT&T cell phone service. But if you can get internet access through the phone company or a cable company, you can set up your own Wi-Fi access point and have Wi-Fi in your cabin. So, as with most things, there isn't a simple question which is better. If you are just going to use the iPad in your living room in front of the TV, and you have Wi-Fi in your home, don't bother with the 3G model iPad. But if you want access anywhere and everywhere, get the Wi-Fi plus 3G model.

I have the Wi-Fi only model, but I can get access anywhere. I do that because I have a smart phone with "tethering." If you have access to the Internet with one device, like a smart phone, you can usually find a way to connect the smart phone to other devices so they can access the internet through the smart phone. In my case I am using an iPad and an iPhone. The iPad connects to the iPhone via Wi-Fi. A program that I bought for the iPhone connects the iPhone to the internet using 3G, and relays everything from the iPad through the iPhone. So the iPad is tethered to the iPhone. It is all wireless, so I can actually keep the phone in my pocket while using the iPad. No physical connection is needed.

Now, what I am doing is against AT&T rules. They do not allow tethering. At least some of the Android smart phones come with tethering enabled. AT&T says that they will be allowing tethering at some point, but have not announced how much they will charge per month for this feature. So I have jail broken my iPhone so that I can install special applications onto it, including on called My-Fi that sets up tethering. Jail breaking also violates AT&T and/or Apple rules. It is incredibly easy to do right now, using an application called Spirit. I don't use tethering very much, so I don't think I will get caught, unless someone turns me in and AT&T decides to take action. I would rather pay AT&T's fees, assuming they are somewhat reasonable, than have to jail break my iPhone, but I want the tethering capability.

If you get the Wi-Fi plus 3G iPad, you will have to also pay a monthly fee every month you use the 3G internet access. This is either $15 or $30 for each month. Given my limited access, but sometimes listening to music, checking email, and reading newsfeeds, I would need the $30 unlimited fee. So if AT&T is willing to offer me $30/month tethering on my iPhone, I will take them up on it. I am already paying for an unlimited data plan.

Which model you should get is up to you, depending on whether you want internet access anywhere or have a way of getting internet access via some other device. There is another device called mifi from either Spring or T-Mobile that costs about $60 a month and provides the same service as the iPhone with the My-Fi application installed. So there are many ways to skin this cat.

Hope this helps someone.

Bill Vilberg
Instructional Advancement
Richter Library, Room 325
bill.vilberg@miami.edu<mailto:bill.vilberg@miami.edu>
786-250-2255

[ED-TECH] Facebook Privacy Scan tool

Ed-Tech List Members,

Rick Ramos, manager of the Blackboard Help Desk, shared the http://www.reclaimprivacy.org/ web site with me, thinking that I might want to share it with those of you who use Facebook, or know people who use Facebook. He was certainly right. This is a great tool that quickly checks your privacy settings on Facebook and either changes them for you or provides a link to the page where you can change them. The instructions are on the reclaim privacy web page. I found it useful and quickly made a number of changes in my settings. Thanks, Rick.

Bill Vilberg, bill.vilberg@miami.edu<mailto:bill.vilberg@miami.edu>, 786-250-2255

Re: [ED-TECH] iPad update

Michel,

These are good questions so I will reply to the whole mailing list.

1. You can create keynote slide presentations on the iPad. The Keynote application costs $10, which is also the cost of the Pages and Numbers apps. These three are like lite versions of PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. They can read data files produced by Powerpoint, Word, and Excel. You lose some things in the translation, but simple slides come through fine.

2. Apple makes a $29 connector between the iPad and a VGA cable, so you can connect the iPad to a data projector. The iPad does not mirror the output of the display to the projector. You only get output from a few applications. Keynote is one of them, so you can show your slides easily from the iPad. You can also show most movies and TV shows, and slide shows of pictures. You CANNOT display the web browser except through a document camera.so for simple presentations you can work on them on the iPad and display them from the iPad. If you want to go out to a web page, you can't use the iPad to demonstrate that in class. (I don't know if Apple still makes the composite cable for the iPhone. The composite cable also works with the iPad, if you want to connect to a video display that has the yellow, red, and white RCA connectors rather an a VGA connector.

3. I can create a PDF document from Pages. But i can only then access it using file sharing from another computer. I don't see any way to access it directly on the iPad. That means that I don't see any way to email it from the iPad. There may be a way using third party software, but I have not come across it yet. This is where I use LogMeIn and just use my desktop computer remotely.

Thanks for asking some great questions. Let me know what else I can share.

Bill Vilberg - bill.vilberg@miami.edu, 786-250-2255

On May 21, 2010, at 10:29 AM, "Dupagne, Michel" <dupagnem@miami.edu> wrote:

Bill,

I wish that you would address the ability of the iPad to be used to make a PowerPoint presentation easily. Can you easily connect the iPad to an LCD projector? Can you easily project PPT slides? Can you edit your PPT presentation on the iPad if needed? Is the software you are referring to, including iWork, free? This is one important application for many faculty. I also wonder whether you can create a PDF document and send it via e-mail on the iPad.

Thank you. Michel

[ED-TECH] iPad update

Ed-Tech list members,

I am wrapping up a two week stay-cation, during which I have tried working on the iPad almost exclusively. While I have run into some issues that I hope will be resolved in future operating system updates, in general it has been an incredibly positive experience.

Every day, after dropping my son off at Miami Dade College, I have gone to McDonalds for my breakfast. I love the parfait, and it is a fairly healthy and inexpensive item on their otherwise death inducing menu. But that is for another message. All McDonalds stores now have free wifi, so I take out the iPad and do email for an hour or two, while listening to soothing new age music on my headset. Very relaxing. I adapt to new technology fairly quickly, so the on-screen keyboard has been a pleasure to use. I actually can touch type on it. It is a bit tiring since I have to hold my hand above the keys, the way I was taught in typing class years ago, but not the way I actually rest my hands on the keys of a keyboard. I make mistakes, but they are realized almost immediately, so I can correct them, or the iPad corrects them for me using Apple's excellent predictive typing technology that I have grown to depend on in the iPhone.

ISSUES

The lack of windows is a bother at times. When I am writing an email and have to check a web site for the exact wording on a link, I have to save the draft message in Mail, open the browser and check the wording, then go back to mail and open the draft. Slows me down a bit compared to having both the message and the browser window open on the display on my main computer. Slows me down a bit, but isn't that big of a deal.

There is no easy way to attach documents to an email message. That is, I cannot work on the message and then add a document. I can work on a document in an application on the iPad and email the document to someone, so there are work arounds, but they all feel like major detours compared to the simplicity of attaching a document to a message on my desktop computer.

There is no way to access the file system. There are no folders. You can't move files around. You can't even see files unless the application let's you, and then you can only see files that are "owned" by that application. You can email a document, and add text to the email, but if you reply to an email message and want to attach a file, you are out of luck without some serious gyrations.

I have Pages, Numbers and Keynote, the Apple iWork office suite on the iPad, so I can work with Word, Powerpoint, and Excel files. If documents are sent to me via email, I can open the attachments in the office apps and work on them, modify them, and return my copy via email. But the transformation done to read them on the iPad loses a LOT of features, like change tracking, some formatting, macros in Excel, and more. You experience that loss whether you are coming from iWork documents on the Mac or Office documents on a PC. Updates to the iWork suite on the iPad will reduce this issue over time, but for now it can be a real problem.

Getting a file from my desktop computer onto the iPad is confusing, at best. The easiest process for me seems to be either using Dropbox, which has a great iPad app, or emailing the files to myself and then opening the email attachments on the iPad. Some files can be synced with iTunes. Some files can be dragged onto the iPad when it is docked to iTunes. Some programs offer other options. But i am still struggling with this. I write down what I have done each time so I have some hope of doing it again a week later.

NONISSUES

I have only run into two web sites where the lack of Flash on the iPad was a problem. That is probably because the iPhone is now three years old and most sites that use Flash have created alternatives for Safari on an iPhone or, now, iPad. Anyway, this has not been a big problem for me.

There are times that I have to do something on my desktop computer. I can do that on the iPad, although slowly, using LogMeIn. This is a free service that you run on your computers, i have it running on both my Mac and my PC. With a $30 app on the iPad I can access and control either computer from anywhere on the Internet. This has made it possible to do somethings, like send a file that is on my desktop to someone, that I couldn't have done otherwise. As long as the computers keep running, I am fine. If they shut down or restart, I can't get back in without physically entering my password at the keyboard. But I have not run into that yet.

SURPRISING POSITIVES

Some of the apps on the iPad are so good it is scary. I was trying to estimate the cost of attending some conferences and needed airfare data. The Kayak application made the process a pleasure. Even if I was sitting at my computer, I think I would use this iPad app in the future over the Kayak browser add on or web site.

The iPad calendar is wonderful. I have my UM Outlook/Exchange calendar together with my personal Google calendar and a slew of IAC calendars all visible and color coded on a single unified calendar. When someone schedules a meeting with my through Outlook, I am notified on the iPad, if it connected to the Internet, so I can go to my calendar, automatically, and see how that day looks, before accepting or rejecting the request.

Mail is great. I have my UM Outlook/Exchange calendar with push notifications of new email. I also have my personal gmail account and two other accounts I need to check on occasion. This is not a unified inbox, so I still have to check each account individually on the iPad, but that is scheduled to be corrected in the next operating system update, due out this summer.

I have the entire season of Law and Order: SVU on my iPad. I was watching these on my bus ride to and from work. (If you want to talk about using public transportation to/from UM, let me know. I get a monthly pass with a parking tag at a reduced rate through UM and love my personal time riding back and forth. Takes me 15 or 20 minutes longer than driving but reduces my gas and auto costs while at the same time letting me relax instead of driving. Back to the iPad comments...) During my stay-cation I decided to watch the end of the season. It was great. I could do it anywhere. And i bought the iPhone composite audio/video cable, which allows me to watch the videos on our TV at home. Just plug in the yellow, red and white cables from the iPhone/iPad cable, change the input on the TV to video, and play the show on the iPad. Great picture and sound. Better quality than out TiVo, I think.

CONCLUSIOIN

So the iPad is now with me all the time. When I travel, it will be all I take with me in the future. I even found a small man-purse that holds it, with a little work, so I only have one thing to carry my sunglasses, keys, checkbook, pens, ID card, Metro transit card, and my iPad. You can see the bag on the http://bit.ly/bZO3Hz web page. It cost $20 at Target. It may not work for everyone, since there is NO padding for the iPad, but with the Apple iPad case the edges are protected nicely so I am happy. I put the bottom of the iPad onto the back compartment and then pull the top corners of the bag over the top corners of the iPad. Perfect fit. Sort of like putting a fitted sheet onto a bed. If you see me with that bag, you can know that I have my iPad and have hours and hours of reading, entertainment, and information at my finger tips. An iPad is NOT a computer. It IS an incredible magic slate.

Again, anyone who is interested in seeing mine is welcome to set up an appointment. I will be back at my desk on Monday.

Bill Vilberg - bill.vilberg@miami.edu, 786-250-2255

[ED-TECH] Facebook privacy

Ed-tech list members,

This message is intended for Facebook users. For those of you who don't have a Facebook account, I can tell you that it opens a pathway for people from your past and present to make contact. In some cases that is wonderful, letting you get reacquainted with people that you have lost touch with, or communicate with friends both near and far. In other cases it can be kind of creepy, with some people, that you would rather forget, asking you to be their Facebook friends. Almost all the undergraduate students at UM use Facebook. It is their primary communication medium right now, I think. So, use it or not as you prefer. But if you do use it, please read on. Feel free to share this with people that you know who use Facebook.

There has been a lot of news lately about Facebook giving information to outside companies. Some default Facebook settings were changed so that information that was previously assumed to be private was now public. Users can opt out of the new settings, but must do so individually. If this is of concern to you, go to http://WindowsSecrets.com/links/vd8dnym35vsad/7edb77h/?url=WindowsSecrets.com%2F2010%2F05%2F20%2Fts%2F%3Fn%3Dstory1 and read how to make the necessary changes in your Facebook privacy settings.

Bill Vilberg - bill.vilberg@miami.edu, 786-250-2255

[ED-TECH] Shuttle & ISS sighting opportunity Thursday @ 8:30 pm

Ed-Tech list members,

The international space station, with the shuttle attached, will be visible from Miami on Thursday, May 20, starting at 8:30 pm for about four minutes. It will start in the north-northwest part of the sky, about 27 degrees above the horizon. It will climb to 74 degrees above the horizon (90 degrees is straight up) as it travels toward the southeast. It will appear as a very bright planet, moving fairly rapidly through the night sky. I have only observed it with the naked eye. I don't know if binoculars would help. A telescope would probably have trouble staying with it, because of it's speed. I will take our dogs out to open area and look for it. I hope it is clear out.

Progress, a supply ship for the ISS, will be visible from Miami about 11 minutes earlier. It won't rise as high, but it will follow about the same path. Might as well go early and see if you can see it, too!

I can still remember going outside in the fall of 1957 and watching Sputnik go overhead. How far we have come.


SATELLITE

LOCAL

DURATION

MAX ELEV

APPROACH

DEPARTURE


DATE/TIME

(MIN)

(DEG)

(DEG-DIR)

(DEG-DIR)







ISS & SHUTTLE
Thu May 20/08:30 PM
4

74
27 above NNW 15 above SE







PROGRESS
Thu May 20/08:19 PM
4

49
17 above NNW 16 above ESE

Bill Vilberg - bill.vilberg@miami.edu<mailto:bill.vilberg@miami.edu>, 786-250-2255

[ED-TECH] SPECIAL EVENT with DOE Senior Policy Advisor on Online Edu, HEOA, Quality & Innovation

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the last minute notice on this.  I wanted to invite you to attend a special ednak event with the DOE's Senior Policy Advisor.  The event is today (5/19) at 4PM EST.  Follow the links in the below email to register for the event.  This event is free to attend.

Thanks,

Colt

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Special Event: Online Education Trends We are pleased to invite you to a special ednak event: A Discussion on Online Edu, HEOA, Quality & Innovation. We will be joined by Hal Plotkin, Senior Policy Advisor to the Under Secretary of the United States Department of Education.  In this workshop, scheduled for May 19th 4PM EST, we will discuss important issues and questions facing the online education industry. As with all ednak Workshops, this is a FREE event, however registration will be limited.  Register for the Event Here is a brief overview of the topics that will be discussed: Mainstream adoption of Online Education Higher Education Opportunity Act Quality Standards Outliers in the Online Edu Industry You can read more about Hal on his Bio Page.  We are very thankful Hal will spend some time with us and share his thoughts and perspectives on pressing online education issues. Register for the Event If you would like to view past Workshop events, please access the Workshop page and select the event recording you would like to view. Enjoy! Colt ednak Thought Networking for Online Educators

[ED-TECH] Google Voice - free long-distance, plus more

Ed-Tech list members,

Google Voice is now available for anyone with an email address that ends with .edu. Go to http://www.google.com/googlevoice/students.html to request an "invite." It will be sent to you within 24 hours.

The primary services offered by Google Voice, that I think may make it worth your while, are listed below.

1. You can get free long distance calls. Do you have friends and family that you call and would like to talk to for free? The process will seem strange at first. You go to your COMPUTER and specify the number you want to call and the number you want to call from. So if I am at work I specify that I want to call from my office phone. When I submit the form, almost instantly my office phone rings. This is Google Voice calling me. When I answer the phone, I hear a ring tone. This is Google Voice calling the other number. So the conversation takes place between two regular telephones. It is just set up on the computer. No charge, at least in the US. This is unlike Skype, where you need to call from the computer and have a headset connected to the computer to participate in the call.

2. You can get a number in most any area code, providing a local call for anyone in that area code. I created mine in the Miami area code, since I give it to everyone and most people calling me are local. But if I wanted, I could get an area code in Mississippi, where I have some close friends, or in Pennsylvania where my 94 year old father lives. Then people in that area code could call me using a local number. NOTE: you only get to pick one area code, so think about where you want it to be before setting up your account.

3. Your Google Voice number can be configured to ring any combination of different telephones. My phone number, below, is my Goggle Voice number. If you call that number, the phone on my desk, my cell phone, and my telephone at home all ring. Whichever one I answer, I will be talking to you. You can quickly change these from a web page. So I can add my home phone when i get home, and remove it when I leave, quickly and easily.

4. Messages left in you voice mail box, are converted to text and emailed to you. Now, the speech to text conversion is not perfect, but you can easily get a feel for what the message was about. So, if I am in a meeting and unable to take a call, and the caller leaves a message (most people don't, I have found), I get an email message that I can read to see what the call was about. If important, I can excuse myself from the meeting and call the person back, almost instantly.

5. (I turned off this feature, but some people really like it.) Google Voice can have people identify themselves so that you can hear the person's name before you connect with him or her. You hear the name and then decide whether to take the call or send it to the voice mail system. This can allow you to filter out telemarketers, surveys, or people you don't want to talk with.

And there is even more.

Normally you request an invite and it could be months before you get in. At the moment they have a special page for anyone with an edu email address. Well, it looks like they are directing it to students, but here is no way for them to know why you have an edu address. So if you act now, you can get an invite within 24 hours of requesting it.

Go to http://www.google.com/googlevoice/students.html to request your invite. Use your edu address and a link to get started will be sent to your edu account within 24 hours.

For more information on Google Voice, google "Google Voice guide" and check some of the links that are returned.


Bill Vilberg - bill.vilberg@miami.edu<mailto:bill.vilberg@miami.edu>, 786-250-2255


Begin forwarded message:

From: "Vilberg, William R." <bill.vilberg@miami.edu<mailto:bill.vilberg@miami.edu>>
Date: May 16, 2010 5:42:26 AM EDT
To: "Vilberg, William R." <bill.vilberg@miami.edu<mailto:bill.vilberg@miami.edu>>
Subject: Google Voice for Students

http://www.google.com/googlevoice/students.html


Bill Vilberg - bill.vilberg@miami.edu<mailto:bill.vilberg@miami.edu>, 786-250-2255

[ED-TECH] The iPad

Ed-Tech list members,

I just want to let everyone know that i LOVE the iPad. I got one the day it came out and it has changed my daily experience. The iPad is Apple's newest device. If you are not familiar with it, you can go to http://www.apple.com/ipad and read about it or, better, go to one of the many Apple stores in the greater Miami area and get some hands-on experience. Until you use it, you can't really understand the difference it makes.

The iPad supports "lean back" activities, while a computer supports "lean forward" or "sit up" activities. Think about how you read a magazine. You are probably on a couch or reading chair, with your back on the chair, and the magazine held comfortably in front of you. That is the position you are normally in when I use the iPad. Now thing about the position you are in when you are using your computer at your desk. You are sitting forward, with you hands over the keyboard, and your eyes on the monitor. You are "working." Whether you are using a large desktop computer or a portable or a netbook, the position is the same. While you can play games or read for recreation while learning forward, your are less likely to do it than if you were leaning back. So I encourage you to think of an iPad as a magic magazine rather than as a computer without a keypad. Then you might understand where it fits into our lives.

I use my iPad for a range of activities.

- I read books on it. Most are formatted in PDF or ePub formats. I have both technical and entertainment books. They are a joy to read on the iPad. The highlighting and bookmarking capabilities are incredible.
- I watch TV and movies on it. I just finished last year's season of Heroes, and I am starting this past season's Law and Order: SVU. With a 45 minute bus ride each morning and evening, I can watch two episodes per week. The presentation on the 9.7" screen is incredible.
- I also watch TED talks on it. They come out so fast that I often fall behind, and I really want to experience all the talks that are posted on ted.com<http://ted.com>. Since they are always available on my iPad, I watch one whenever I have 20 minutes or so available.
- I check my e-mail with it. I have the wi-fi model, so it isn't "always on" the internet. I have to be somewhere with a wireless internet service. That includes UM, my house, McDonalds, and numerous other locations around town. The newer wi-fi + 3G model uses a wireless internet service when you are near one, and uses the telephone's 3G network when you aren't. So you can get to the Internet almost anywhere. But when I am on the Internet I can check my e-mail. And the on-screen keyboard is good enough that I can type out fairly lengthy e-mail messages.
- I surf the internet with it. It is a wonderful way to access the internet. For the first time I find that I can comfortably read things on blogs or news sites. I am not "sitting in front of my computer." I am leaning back in an easy chair, "reading my iPad." It really makes a qualitative difference, at least for me.
- I read the news with it. I start my day check out the weather, the New York Times articles, USA Today, and some news feeds about technology and education. I would guess that I read the news at least 30 minutes more per day than I used to. Again, it is that comfort of leaning back versus sitting at a desk that really makes a difference to me, I think.
- I play games on it. Currently I spending some time every day playing an incredible pinball game on the iPad. I am no pinball wizard (although my brother was called Tommy when we were little) so I don't play it well, even claim to know what I should be aiming at, but it plays like a real pinball game and I love it. Solitaire is great, and I have a few other games that I come back to.
- I connect to remote computers with it. This tends to be a "lean forward" activity, since I see the desktop of my work computers on the screen of the iPad and then can do anything I want on the remote computer. I am using LogMeIn for this. It isn't incredible fast, but it allows me to find a file and send it to someone, even if I am not in the office.

I really am surprised by how much I use it and how it has made my life better. If you have any questions about it, let me know. If you would like some hands-on time with mine, let's set up an appointment. If you just want to see and feel one, stop by the Apple store in Dadeland, the Falls, or any other location, or check at a BestBuy store. More than half the BestBuy stores sell Apple products, including iPads. My iPad was paid for by UM, so that I can evaluate it and give you my thoughts. My thoughts: it is great and I now have a 1.5 pound magic magazine that can do so many different things. I just turned 61 last weekend. I feel like I am too old for all this new technology, but I do love the new experiences it provides.

Bill Vilberg
bill.vilberg@miami.edu<mailto:bill.vilberg@miami.edu>
786-250-2255