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
