Today, Apple has released OSX Lion, refreshed products, and removed macbooks from its sleek lineup.

Here’s a brief rundown of the Apple news today.

OSX Lion

The new mac operating system. Top new features include:

• Multi-touch gestures
• Full-screen apps
• Mission control
• Launchpad
• AutoSave and versions
• Airdrop
• New Mail app

It’s available today in the Mac App Store for $29.99. Make sure your mac is ready for the upgrade. Click this link to check it out in the Mac App Store.

More about OSX Lion: http://apple.com/macosx/

Macbook Air

Apple’s thinnest notebook, the Macbook Air, has been refreshed with a few much-needed enhancements. It’s still available in two sizes 11.6″ & 13.3″ (diagonal). Here are the big enhancements:

• Both sizes come with Intel’s Core i5 sandybridge processor and are upgradeable to the i7 processor when ordering through the Apple Online Store.
• Backlit keyboard returns! The backlit keyboard that has been a prominent feature of the Macbook Pros was once in the Macbook Air when it was first released. It’s back.

I’ve been in the market for the Macbook Air, and both of these updates are really exciting to me. I have a Macbook Pro at work and at home, and the backlit keyboard is awesome!

More about the Macbook Air: http://apple.com/macbookair/

Mac Mini

The Mac Mini is a sweet little mac computer you can connect to any monitor or HD TV. It’s been upgraded with the Intel Core i5 sandybridge processor (upgradeable to Core i7) and added the new Thunderbolt port for connecting to Thunderbolt display or peripherals. The optical SuperDrive (CD/DVD) has been removed.

More about the Mac Mini: http://apple.com/macmini/

Thunderbolt Display

This is the new Cinema Display. It’s only available in 27″ size for $999. I think it’s the same as it’s predecessor, but now carries the “Thunderbolt” port. In addition to the new Thunderbolt port, it has three USB 2.0, FireWire 800, gigabit ethernet, and security slot.

More about Thunderbolt Display: http://apple.com/displays/

No more Macbooks, just Pros

Apple has apparently removed the regular Macbook notebooks from its lineup. They do not appear on Apple’s website. Remember, these are the plastic notebooks that came in white and black, then just white? Well, they are no more. I guess they’re leaving it to the Pros (Macbook Pros, that is).

I’ve been (and you probably have too) to a few workshops, conferences, and inservices about the 21st Century Learner, the Digital Generation, and/or using Web 2.0 to engage today’s students. Among the many resources they have put up on the screen and printed on the handouts, Edmodo has proven to be great.

Here’s why:

1. Students know how to use it.

Edmodo was designed to look and feel like social networking sites most students are already familiar with (it looks a lot like Facebook). I’ve had to spend very little time teaching my students how to use it. They just pick it up on their own and already know how to use many of its features. You don’t have to worry about student-to-student contact, because it’s not allowed. I find it really great for posting assignments and for receiving assignments submitted by students.

2. Easy to access.

Since it’s a web application students, teachers, and parents can get to it from any web browser on any computer connected to the Internet. Event students that can’t make it to class login so they don’t miss any information. Oh, and there’s even an app for that! They have a mobile web app, Android, and iPhone/iPod Touch app for instant access on-the-go!

Both student and teacher accounts can also receive notifications via email or text. When I post an assignment, alert, or feedback the students get it instantly on their phone! Now that’s timely feedback!

3. It’s free.

Yep. It’s a really great tool at a really great price. Teachers and students can signup for free accounts at http://edmodo.com. Schools and districts can setup an account/group so that teachers can create groups/classes within the larger organization. A lot of times I believe “you get what you pay for.” But not with Edmodo. It has become a tool I use for my classes on a daily basis. Plus, I know the developers aren’t giving up on it because it continues to get enhancements and updates that make it event better.

Here are a few screen shots from my teacher account:

This student put forth creativity into his tissue box that could not go unnoticed. Check this thing out:

Flickr: onejosh

It was reported by TUAW that Europe experienced a bug with recurring alarms set on iOS devices. The alarms were going off an hour later than they were supposed to. Located in the middle of the U.S., my timezone made the switch last Saturday night, and I too experienced this bug and discovered a quick fix!

I have my iPhone 4 running the latest iOS version with an alarm set to go off on “weekdays” at 5:30 a.m. After reading the post on TUAW, I was interested to see what would happen here in the U.S. Instead of doing a test by creating a temporary alarm, I decided to wait until Monday morning when I depend on my alarm to wake me. Sure enough, my alarm did not go off at 5:30 a.m. Luckily, my “internal alarm” woke me shortly after and I carried on with my day.

I’ve read about solutions like abandoning recurring alarms and set an alarm each night, or set your recurring alarm for an hour earlier. The solution that worked best for me was to just delete my recurring alarm, and recreate it. After deleting it and setting it again, it has gone off each day at the correct time.

How does this type of bug exist in late 2010? There have been devices with clocks and alarms for many years experiencing Daylight Savings Time.

With as many iOS device users as there are, it would have been nice for Apple to address this issue sooner. Will it be fixed in iOS 4.2? Or will we have to wait and see what happens when we switch back to Standard Time?

Have you experienced this same issue? Tell us about your experience with this bug and let us know on which device.

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…?

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!

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.

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.

Since this incident, I’ve beefed up my backup and data protection. I now use a Drobo by Data Robotics, Inc. I first heard about this sweet device on “This Week in Photography” podcast. I bought the model that holds up to 4 drives. It’s very awesome because you can easily add space, mix & match drives, and have peace-of-mind knowing it can manage a drive failure.

Adding space is easy. All you need to do is pop in any SATA I/II hard drive. That’s it! I purchased 2 – 1Tb WD drives from NewEgg that were on sale.

Drive brands, sizes, and speeds don’t matter. You can use any drive as long as it’s SATA. I am going to use a couple older drives I have laying around, along with the ones I ordered from Newegg.

One of the best parts about the Drobo is that it can manage a drive failure. The light will flash red, indicating a failed drive, and all you need to do is replace it with another. Drobo uses it’s own beyondRAID technology to store the data redundantly, allowing it to handle a crashed drive.

Data Robotics is offering a $50 mail-in rebate for Drobo purchases during March.

Be safe. Backup your data. Have it in more than one place.

Links:

• Drobo
• Drobo $50 mail-in rebate
• Drobo – TigerDirect.com ($329.99)
• 1Tb HDDs – Newegg.com ($99.99)