Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category
Who needs mousepads anymore?
Who needs mouse pads anymore- especially when a wall works just as well? Here is a photo of simply, “innovation”! These guys just saved $1.99 on a mouse pad by using the nearest interior wall. Practical? Yes, but not for all desk scenarios. It works for them, maybe it will for you too!
iPhone 4 Pre-Ordered
Fist off- I know I haven’t posted in a long, looong time! I apologize for that and the fact that this one is also going to be quick and dirty (well, at least quick).
I’ve been trying to pre-order my iPhone 4 all day! I’ve checked into almost all methods (AT&T website, Apple Store website, AT&T store) with nearly no luck. After trying the Apple Store website over and over, keeping patience and perserverance, my order finally went through this evening.
Just a note for those who might have pre-ordered and decided to get it shipped to your door on June 24th: the package must be signed for upon delivery. Obviously, this is a security measure to make sure your new iPhone gets in the right hands. You can only get it shipped to the billing address on file with AT&T, so hopefully, you’ll be there on June 24th.
UPDATE: You do not have to be home to sign for the package if you complete the pre-signature form linked in one of Apple’s recent emails and post it on your front door.
UPDATE: I am one of the lucky (or not-so lucky) early adopters that received my iPhone before launch day. I received mine today, June 23rd, while the official launch day isn’t until June 24th. However, I’m not-so lucky because iTunes will not allow me to activate the device making it completely un-usable until activation can be completed. I predict they will begin allowing activation on the new devices tomorrow.
UPDATE: IT’S ACTIVATED! I couldn’t help but search the web for information on activating my new iPhone while I was waiting for midnight to tick on the clock. I came across this blog post that prompted me to restart my macbook pro and try activating with iTunes again. It worked! Just a simple restart. I wonder why…?
My first 10 minutes with the iPad
10 minutes with the iPad
Since I LOVE technology so much, and I love Apple sooo much…I’m gonna join the other geeks out there and write up a quick post about the iPad! This will be the only one though (I don’t promise).
Just to bring some up-to-date: I am a business educator at Wilmot Union High School. I am so lucky to work with such an awesome business & technology department that centers curriculum around preparing and educating our students for the 21st century and beyond. From SmartBoards to iPads, we do whatever we can to stay on the edge of technology by utilizing products that will help us as educators, help students learn, or both.
How I got it
On Saturday (4/3), I received an email from my department chair saying that our iPads have arrived at the school and somehow ended up in the Fitness Center. So I happily picked them up as soon as I could on a very happy Easter morning!
My first 10 minutes
I was not extremely excited when Steve Jobs first announced the iPad, mainly because it seemed to be a larger version of my iPhone. However, my first 10 minutes with the iPad had me a little surprised.
The form factor and build is amazing. Apple never ceases to amaze me when it comes to the look, build, and feel of their products. The iPad is no different.
The single most awesome thing about it…is it’s speed and response. Compared to my iPhone 3g, it’s way faster! When I flip the orientation, the screen adjusts way faster than the iPhone. The touch response is also way quicker and more accurate than the iPhone. I was using the Maps app to pinch to zoom and drag the satellite view all over the place. If you get a chance to play with one of these, you’ll notice a dramatic difference in speed and response compared to the iPhone.
The selection of apps that come with the iPad is slim! I assumed there would be the alarm clock, calculator, weather, and stocks apps like the iPhone, but no. This was a little disappointing.
For educators
The iPod has been incorporated in schools as a tool to engage students. The iPad will too. Not only does it do all of the same great things the iPod Touch can do, but it also provides a resource for new textbooks, or iBooks.
I use a free app called Touch Mouse to turn my iPhone into a wireless mouse & keyboard for my computer connected to a SmartBoard. While my laptop sits at the back of the classroom and the SmartBoard at the front, I can be anywhere in the room to type and control the mouse. With this app on the iPad, it can easily be passed around among students to demonstrate and take control of whatever is on the SmartBoard without even leaving their seat!
Here are some other great iPad apps for the classroom that I found in my first 10 minutes: Constitution for the iPad, Elements, World Atlas HD,
For photographers
This cool device will be great for photographers too. I can see this being used to show photos and slideshows to clients. The clients can easily hold this in their hands and navigate through the photos on its beautiful screen while sitting at a table or on a comfy chair or sofa. It will also be a nice way for photographers to take their work on the go. Just take the iPad along and you’re ready to display your best albums anywhere you go.
Cool app for photogs: CameraBag for iPad
Will I buy one?
Here’s the thing… I live by my iPhone, and I am really looking forward to the next version. I will be saving my dollars to buy that next. Additionally, if you follow the rumors about the iPad or have experienced the brief history of the iPhone, we know there will be another version of the iPad out soon. When the iPad version 2 is released…I will probably have to get one!
Second display with your mac
I’ve been using a second monitor to extend the desktop of my macbook pro for quite some time. Recently, my 19″ LCD external monitor puked, so I replaced it with a 26″ Samsung (really sweet!). With a second display much nicer than the 15″ on the macbook pro, I tend to do a lot more on the bigger one. If you depend on the menu bar and applications like Front Row, you need to get them to utilize the external display. I’ve finally figured out what you have to do!
Go into the display area in System Preferences and click the Arrangement tab. Not only can you arrange or rearrange your displays, but you can also drag the menu bar from one screen to the other! Bingo…all set!
If you want a menu bar on both displays, check out SecondBar. It’s a really cool app that allows you to have a menu bar on both.
Get serious about backing up
Drobo
Imagine for a moment, that the hard disk drive(s) that is inside your computer you are using right now, fails. All of your data vanished. Your photos of countless memories, documents, spreadsheets, presentations…all gone. What feelings would you have if this was true? It’s time to get serious about backing up!
A couple years ago, I purchased a Western Digital MyBook 1Tb external hard drive from a CompUSA store that was closing. I created 2 partitions on the drive; 1 HFS+ and the other NTFS. I used the HFS+ partition for Time Machine to backup my macbook pro. The NTFS partition was primarily just for storage.
Here’s my bad move: I stored my raw photo files on the NTFS partition, and nowhere else. That’s right, I am admitting that I was not backing up my digital raw files! I didn’t want to put them on my local hard drive because I knew the space would get eaten up very quickly from the large raw files.
So I learned this lesson the hard way when the MyBook decided to die. All of the raw photos I’ve ever taken with my Canon 50D -gone. I tried several ways to retrieve them, and no luck. Read the rest of this entry »
New Site is Up!
I’ve been wanting to make a personal website for quite some time now! Finally, it’s up and published on the World Wide Web! As you may or may not know, I tend to make myself quite busy, and it’s often difficult for me to find time to work on personal projects such as this. I have been busy with my full time teaching job at Wilmot Union High School, teaching and maintaining that website and getting it through a face lift and hosting move. Trav-A-Ling Tunes keeps me busy as a mobile DJ, and of course that website has been a top priority. Mix in a graduate program and the website for Gia’s Salon…and you’ve got a list of some of what has kept me busy lately!
Enough of the busy excuses and onto the beef of this post! First off, I could not have made this new site without the help of some great people! I started learning how to web design by teaching myself HTML and using Frontpage back in circa 1999. Some time in the early 2000s, my friend Nick Galich helped me learn to use Dreamweaver (at that time it was Macromedia Dreamweaver). he taught me CSS basics and I was still using tables to form my layouts.
Connect