Google tools, iPad Apps and cool web resources 9-9-13

Google tools:

5 Gmail and Google Drive Updates you Missed Over the Summer (in animated gifs) http://www.googlegooru.com/5-gmail-and-google-drive-updates-you-missed-over-the-summer/

How To Organize Your Research With The Power Of Google Drive -A nice resource/reference for students! (And teachers too.)  http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-organize-your-research-with-the-power-of-google-drive/

To help summarize and analyze data in Google Spreadsheets, use this - goo.gl/QnbQSi  

A Complete Guide to Using Blogger In School - 81 Page Free PDF ow.ly/obyTJ  (NOTE- Here at Norris, I already have this in our folder of free ebooks on the Q drive.  O:\eBooks -Free\Blogger for the classroom) 

10 advanced tips and tricks for Google Forms - not too hard, but very powerful! ly.tcea.org/yphgn

Google+ Hangout Tip Sheet http://t.co/ZE6N9qKp91  (At Norris, I have filled this Google Doc under our Tech Docs in Drive, as a future reference.) 

Chromebook tip  via @googlechrome: Swipe right on your mouse with two
fingers to go back & swipe left with two fingers to go forward in your
browser history

Web sites and tools: 

Shutterfly Photo Story is a new free app that allows you to make digital photo books with audio from your Shutterfly photos. Many classroom applications and possible uses! https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shutterfly-photo-story-for/id659614190?ls=1&mt=8

More Tools for Your Utility Belt from TCEA -These guys are a must follow for teachers on Twitter!

GoSoapBox is a web-based clicker tool  http://www.gosoapbox.com/tour

Sandy Delzell and Sarah Koehlmoos shared thinglink.com with the Intermediate staff a while back. This tool allows you to put notes, directions, even sounds as links on a photo.  (Great for classroom directions, student guides, and more.)  Give it a try!

I have mentioned this one several times, but I think it's an amazing tool for connecting with your classes or student groups via text messaging.  https://www.remind101.com/  (Very safe, since you do not even know the students phone numbers.)  Hopefully you have a Google class calendar for class assignments and activity. If so... remember students can set SMS (Text messaging) reminders for items on that calendar. 

52 Economics / Money - Coin Counting Websites goo.gl/F13yds 

Active Textbook - Turn PDFs Into Multimedia Documents. http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/08/active-textbook-turn-pdfs-into.html

A Collection Of Useful Recently-Published Interactive Maps & Charts http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2013/08/21/a-collection-of-useful-recently-published-interactive-maps-charts/

To help learn more about the 3 Branches of Government play these two games: http://t.co/RtvlfaW8cT    http://t.co/JEGOt0d4GI #sschat #nebedu   (Notice this one came from Twitter!  Are you following the great EDU hash tags for your educational area??????

10 Useful History and Geography Apps http://t.co/z31lQJw9Xb

Embed Voki on Google Site http://blog.voki.com/2012/11/13/tip-of-the-week-embed-voki-on-google-site/ Not sure what a Voki is??? it is a FREE service that lets you Create customized avatars. Here is a YouTube on creating a Voki. 

10 Techy Icebreakers for The 21st Century Teacher ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/04/10-techy-icebreakers-for-21st-century.html

GeoGebra Tablet Apps - Apps for both Android and IOS

Short 5 minute or less videos on a variety of tech topics. Videos by educators with tips, tricks and ideas.  http://eduslam.me/

More great websites!  Cool Web Tools For School http://t.co/MX3YMuKeQz  

Huge list of digital learning tools:  http://t.co/pENmKAdiZK

3D Cad through a Browser? 

Want a nice Simple 3D CAD type of browser based app. Then 3DTin is for you!  http://www.3dtin.com/

Here is their Chrome App. (Pretty much just a link to their website.)

Apps: 

My 2 fave app discoveries at #ADE2013 - - Spreaker DJ and Touchcast -- portable recording studios+!

A Handful of Free iPad Apps for Creating Videos | iPad Apps for School

http://ipadapps4school.com/2013/08/28/a-handful-of-free-ipad-apps-for-creating-videos/  (This is a great list. As of 9-3-13, the Loopster App added some premium features for a fee.)

Word Clouds on the iPad http://appsineducation.blogspot.com/2013/09/word-clouds-on-ipad.html

Discover free apps and find other apps with..... well.... another app of course!  http://appsfire.com/#discovery

5 iPad Hashtags Teachers should Know about via Educational Technology

and Mobile Learning

App Craver is a site with many app lists, reviews, and more. Here is their list of top free apps for your iPad: http://www.appcraver.com/top-free-apps/

Great classroom web tools, apps, free eBooks and more! 1-7-13

Some great web sites and web 2.0 tools for your classroom:

Use the free service Class Charts for data-rich seating and behavior management charts: classcharts.com

How I learned to say, 'Hi, Google Docs; bye, MS Word' - CNET News article

2012's Top Educational Tools- I totally agree with this list, many of these tools ROCK!  How many have you used, or are familiar with?? 

You may have already seen this site, but still pretty cool. Historical newspapers: chroniclingamerica.loc.gov 

Using Evernote?  Here's one for you... 5 Apps That Let You Do More With Evernote: bit.ly/kFF8Ff 

Google Sites

Need help with Google Sites? Here is a nice Google Sites tutorial: edutraining.googleapps.com/Training-Home/…

Google Chrome Extensions

If I could only have one Chrome extension this would be the one -Email Checker Plus http://goo.gl/s940K <--- Get it now, and step-by-step directions!

iPad apps and tips: 

Amazing Screencasting and Class management apps -some free for limited time! http://goo.gl/lUVsx   <--- Personally reviewed by your's truly. :) 

Only one iPad in the classroom? Make the most of it with these tips bit.ly/y3PmkN 

A+ Pro is a nice flash card app with Quizlet integration. Free for a limited time.  itunes.apple.com/us/app/a+-flas…

Some free technology eBooks

If you are at Norris, I have already downloaded these PDF eBooks  and put it in with our other ebooks on the network. Located here: O:\eBooks 

Effective Mobile learning 50+ quick tips, programs and resources. -Free ebook(PDF format)

Thanks to Charlie Hutzler for this great resource. The eBook on Scribd can be found here. 

Great Google+ resource/free ebook. 

Free copies of What the Plus! Google+ for the rest of us, courtesy of Google. http://goo.gl/eRy6z This is a PDF/ebook with some great Google+ information. Thanks to Evan Lee for this great resource! 

Amazing Screencasting and Class management apps for your iPads

Updated - 3-1-13:

There are some great apps out there that turn you iPad into a great teaching tool. Screencasting/Whiteboard types of apps are one segment of those.  Here are a few great apps to get you started!

Note: In the education arena you will hear about ScreenChomp and ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard but those do not have the features that the following apps have, so they did not make my list.

Note- The descriptions of these apps are taken from the developers descriptions in the app store.

Educreations Interactive Whiteboard  By Educreations, Inc FREE
Description
Educreations turns your iPad into a recordable whiteboard. Creating a great video tutorial is as simple as touching, tapping and talking. Explain a math formula... Create an animated lesson... Add commentary to your photos... Diagram a sports play... Offers multi-page recordings without clearing the screen each time to add new content. You can add images from the camera roll, the web or Dropbox. Upload videos to your own classroom space online at Educreations.com.  App in iTunes


Doceri By SP Controls, Inc  FREE (has an in-app purchase.)
Description
Combining screencasting, desktop control, and an interactive whiteboard in one app, you’ll never have to turn your back to the class or audience again. Doceri does it all! Multiple backgrounds can be selected from a built-in library or you can create your own custom background. There are also lots of drawing tools available. Finished recordings can be sorted into folders, saved to the camera roll, or shared to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The desktop control will only work if your computer and iPad are on the same wireless network.
NOTE from the Doceri Team: So that you can fully try out all of the features that set Doceri apart, we've created this app with a watermark that will be added to the images, PDFs and screencast videos that you share. You can remove or customize this watermark with an in app purchase - we believe that you should be able to try all of Doceri's features before you decide to buy. App in iTunes


Doodlecast Pro By zinc Roe $3.99 As of this posting, the DoodleCast Pro app is free for a limited time!
Description
The app records your voice as you draw to create quick presentations. Doodlecast Pro saves videos to the camera roll making it easy to import them into popular video editors or presentation tools such as iMovie, Keynote, or iBooks Author. Perfect for teachers, students, business people and anyone needing an elegant way to share ideas. App in iTunes

Teach By Knowmia FREE
Description
Knowmia Teach is a new free lesson planning and recording tool for teachers. This is different from the others in that it is aimed solely at teachers creating content, and not students. (Flipped classroom app use.) It helps you create short video lessons on any subject and publish them on Knowmia.com so your students and the public can find them. Knowmia Teach makes it easy to bring in visual aids from multiple sources, organize them in steps (like slides in a presentation) and use your own voice and fingers to bring your lesson to life. You can design each step in the lesson, record illustrations as you draw them, and create sophisticated animation sequences with a simple stroke of a finger. We also give you the ability to describe your lesson in a way that makes it simple for any student who is interested in the subject to find your video. App in iTunes

ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard 
Their Website
Description
Turn your iPad into your personal interactive whiteboard! ShowMe allows you to record voice-over whiteboard tutorials and share them online. It’s an amazingly simple app that anyone can use, no matter how young or old!
App in iTunes

The nice thing about the next two apps is that you get the actual video that you create. (Is is saved to a location of your choice.)  It is not hosted on a developers web site in the cloud.


Explain a Website By MorrisCooke $.99
Description:
Explain a Website is an iPad screencasting tool that allows to record interaction with a website within the iOS web browser. You can export the project and video ( MP4 format) to Dropbox, Evernote, your photo library or publish on YouTube. It features a marker, draw tool and laser pointer. You can mark and draw in 3 different colors and use two different styles for the laser pointer. All the annotations stick to the web page (and scroll with it). This 99 cent app gets great reviews for what it does. App in iTunes.  Vimeo video of app in action.

Explain Everything By MorrisCooke $2.99
Description
Explain Everything is an easy-to-use design tool that lets you annotate, animate, and narrate explanations and presentations. You can create dynamic interactive lessons, activities, assessments, and tutorials using Explain Everything's flexible and integrated design. Use Explain Everything as an interactive whiteboard using the iPad video display (via Airplay/cable).  App in iTunes  Website and Video of app.

Simple screen drawing tools. Some with collaborative features:

Whiteboard Lite: Collaborative Drawing By GreenGar Studios App in iTunes

Doodle Buddy for iPad – Paint, Draw, Scribble, Sketch – It’s Addictive! By Pinger, Inc. App in iTunes

BaiBoard - Collaborative Whiteboard By LIGHTPLACES LIMITED App in iTunes

Jot!  (Free)  ”Jot! is a simple, fast whiteboard that lets you sketch out your ideas and share them in real time. Draw, take notes, or wireframe on your iPad quickly and easily as soon as ideas come to you. Share your ideas via email or save them as photos. Collaborate in real time over the internet with Live Sharing.” App in iTunes

These apps are ones that you draw or display pics on your iPad and classes can connect to them through any web browser. (iPad and computer must be on same wireless network, similar to AirPlay with Apple TV's.)

Air Sketch Free By Qrayon, LLC (For drawing on screen.) App in iTunes

Air Projector Free By Qrayon, LLC (For displaying pics and docs.) App in iTunes

Not Screencasting apps, but some similar classroom management iPad apps that I have to tell you about!

Showbie - Effortlessly assign, collect and review student work on your iPad. Just OK, it really depends on the app files you want to distribute.  (Techy note: Distributes them via webdav.) App not for everyone. We are not using at in our school, but if we used KeyNote or other related apps, I am sure we would be using this.
Here is what I received from their support department about the product cost: 

Showbie for teachers and districts is free! At some point we may add some additional premium, paid, features or options - but they will not take away from the free capabilities.

Once you apply for your free district account here we will approve the request shortly after and here are the instructions to add your teachers:

District setup: Inviting teachers (fastest)

If you sign into Showbie via the web you will then be able to invite your teachers to your district account by following these instructions. It is very easy and you can now even invite many teachers at a time with their email addresses:
http://support.showbie.com/knowledgebase/articles/135620-managing-an-account

App in iTunes

Nearpod - Control you class iPad and deliver lessons as a teacher. (Would be great for class with iPad sets or schools with 1-1 iPads.) Free plans and ujpgrades.
The Nearpod platform enables teachers to use their iPads to manage content on students' iPads, iPhones or iPods. It combines presentation, collaboration, and real-time assessment tools into one integrated solution. How It Works:
· Teachers use Nearpod to share content with their students and to manage the flow of the lecture.
· Students use Nearpod on their iOS devices to receive multimedia content and to participate in engaging assessment and collaboration activities.
App in iTunes

GoClass aids the instructor in delivering rich content effortlessly and effectively. (Currently in Beta. Free during Beta testing.) 
Description:
GoClass is a cloud based teaching and learning platform designed for connected mobile devices in the classroom. This App allows you to use several GoClass services and features on Apple iPads, iPhones and iPod Touch devices. 


Ask3 By TechSmith Corporation Their website
Description:
Ask3 allows teachers and students with iPads to easily share knowledge and collaborate via threaded, video conversations.
By recording your voice, drawings, and images, Ask3 helps you create videos that can be shared directly to your class. Students can watch the videos you create using Ask3 and can quickly ask and answer each other's questions.
App best suited for 1 to 1 iPad environments.
App in iTunes

Miscellaneous Educational Resources 12-31-12

Educational Web sites and great web 2.0 sites

Interactive math problems - lots of them! math500.com

Educational technology cheat sheet for teachers: bit.ly/12kfkIQ 

The World Wonders Project is a Must-Bookmark Site ow.ly/gmVHV

The Best Bits Of Bing - Google may be the king, but Bing has some great tools too! Greater Than Google: The Best Bits Of Bing

2012's Top Educational Tools ow.ly/gmVcy

Animaps - Create Animated Google Maps http://goo.gl/sXwXN 

30 Great Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers goo.gl/fb/64x3n

InfuseLearning is a breakthrough virtual learner response solution.

A Digital Citizenship Guide from Edmodo and Common Sense Media ow.ly/gk8Pi

The Best Sites For Online Photo-Editing & Photo Effects http://goo.gl/DRuYP 

Many Books - 29,000 Free eBooks http://goo.gl/0yUVW 

Google Apps and tools

gClassFolders will automatically set up a Class Edit, Class View, and Dropbox folder for your classes. Excellent for using Google Apps in your classroom! 

No phone needed: Make calls from Gmail or Hangouts http://goo.gl/Ihq45

IOS (iPhone and iPad) programs and tips!

50 Of The Best Resources For iPads In Education - http://goo.gl/e6WQW Amazing lists!

Scrollshow - A Nice Free Alternative to Keynote for iPad wp.me/p2XL8j-4c

Use Little Story Maker to Create Custom Books on Your iPad ow.ly/giAIb (A nice free app!)

Quick iPhone Tips for Google Maps 

Snapguide is now available on iPad: iTunes link. 

iPads in Education: 2 Tricks that Every Teacher Should Know! 

10 Great Apps for a Teacher’s New iPad http://goo.gl/lbpoJ 

Android tools and Tips

Google Play Books Update Includes a Read Aloud Feature ow.ly/ggXVd

Edmodo - one of the best classroom tools available for free. 

Edmodo just went from good to really good. Workflow & the iPad classroom buff.ly/12kzwdK

Miscellaneous Educational Resources 11-26-12

Google+ just released! Our early Thanksgiving present to EDU.

Google+ is now open for K-12 Google Apps. We have enabled it for all teachers here at Norris. (We can enable it for students if staff have a need for their students to use this service, but that will come at a later date for our Norris Google Apps.) I just put together a quick overview in this blog article: http://goo.gl/Vsn7b  We will be putting together a few inservices for this in the next several weeks, so watch your emails! 

Some great websites and tools for education. 

• Free Technology for Teachers: 7 Resources for Developing Typing Skills 
• Z-Type - A Fun Typing Game
• Free Technology for Teachers Two Tools for Reading ePub Files in Your Browser 
• Apple - iTunes U - Learn anything, anywhere, anytime.
• Google Takes You On A Tour Of 100000 Stars -  Home Page  Nice short article about the experiment
• Read & Write - An Accessibility App for Google Docs http://ow.ly/fpQVZ 

IOS apps anyone? Some more great apps for your IOS (iphone/iPad) devices. 

If you have not seen the Nearpod app, now is the time! Check out this nice article: How The Nearpod iPad App Changed An Entire School 

Some Android tools for your Android Phones or Tablets:

• Smart Tools for Your Android Device - Check them out. (Hey I have an iPhone 5, but I still miss many things about my Android device!)
• Jump Desktop: Access your desktop from an Android tablet Free and Paid versions. 

For the more advanced Google users ....  here  is a script to manage student projects in Google Docs. Doctopus. youpd.org/doctopus 

A couple amazing web 2.0 tools you have to check out!!!

I may think I may of saved the best for last in this posting, these are amazing!!!! 

• Remix web content - video, maps, links, text, etc. using PopcornMaker: popcorn.webmaker.org Check out the TED video to watch it work 
• Dynamic,math,paper,graph,interactive,teacher,tools from Illuminations by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics -- Check it out!!! (Does not work from an iPad) 

Miscellaneous Educational Resources 11-7-12

Web sites and resources for staff and students

 Good math website for young pre-algebra learners thirteen.org/get-the-math/ 

GmapGIS is a free tool for marking and drawing on maps without having to create or use a Google account: gmapgis.com

Another nice feature from Diigo - make a slide show from websites and embed your RSS feed: ictmagic.visibli.com/share/CWzqpj

50 Apps Students Will Be Using In Your Classroom - Edudemic Article

Using Twitter???  TeachThought-- The Complete Guide To Twitter Hashtags In Education  

Are you teaching kids tech skills? If not... you/we are probably failing them.  Do not make assumptions, many of us find are finding this true! The Fallacy of Digital Natives. 

6435 Free PowerPoint Templates and Backgrounds by Presentation Magazine.  But Wait! We do not have PowerPoint anymore.  Well, these dowload as PPT files, but remember OpenOffice as well as Google Docs will use and/or convert these to their formats as well. 

Free Graphing Calculator anyone?

This baby works through a web browser, and works on iPads, Chromebooks, etc.... New features added to free Desmos online graphing calculator; great for your BYOD program: desmos.com  (The Chrome app is here).

Speaking of Graphing calculators -- Google Is Now a Graphing Calculator! 

Split Google Chrome into two windows with Tab Scissors - Ghacks Technology News dlvr.it/2R6mYl

20 Little-Known Web Resources For Teachers edudemic.com/2012/03/20-web…   It includes... SumDog for math games,  SumoPaint - Amazing drawing tool right from your browser, AWW (A free Whiteboard), and More! 

Some nice IOS (iPad/iPhone) apps, tips, and more!

A list of 10 iPad resources and 5 Smart Phones (Mobile Learning Devices) resources from The Mobile Native blog, by Scott Newcomb.  His list includes these gems and more: TCEA's list of resources.    This includes their list of iPad Apps Separated by Subject Area. (We have shared this in the past!) 

These are some amazing bookmarklet to add to your iPhone/iPad.  Useful Bookmarklets for your iPad and iPhone. Make sure you read the directions to get these to work properly!!!

A free iPad App for the day!

Free IOS App for a limited time: 

Coin Math http://bit.ly/Xgfznw  Great for teaching kids Money Counting skills and math. 

And something to Ponder... 

I follow an assistant professor at Iowa State, Scott McLeod (@mcleod), who recently put this tweet out, hopefully none of us fall into this category at Norris.  "Majority of Teachers Take No Responsibility For Lack Of Student Classroom Engagement bit.ly/SOxpvj" Interesting short 2 minute read. 

The best thing about the New iPad for education may be the $100 off the iPad 2.

Well, after spending a day with the New iPad,  I am finding some pro's and con's to Apples latest offering.  The step from the original iPad to the iPad 2 was huge in my mind, but the step from the iPad 2 to the "New iPad" (What's up with that name!) is much less...especially for education. There are some nice new features, and depending on your needs may be critical but I don't see it for educational needs.

The better rear camera is great, and for a consumer will be a welcome update, but for education do we really need a better camera with larger files? Is HD video necessary for class projects given the extra problems associated with larger files? My conclusion is no.

The display is nice, but so was the iPad 2's display.  I can see a few differences, but to be honest... they are slight for what I am doing with my iPad.  I even have a few apps updated for the new Retina display, and still no wow factor for me. I really do not see the need for our classroom uses at the current time.  Yes, it will stream video at 1080p, but most of our videos we use in school are not high quality and very few will have the new Apple TV to accommodate the 1080p let alone a big flat screen TV with 1080p.

The faster processor may be needed in a few years, but right now each app I used side-by-side with my "old" iPad2" showed no speed difference. By the time any of us need the speed, there will be another new iPad on the market. (Not to mention the extra heat given off by this increase in processor speed.)

The hot spot sharing and  4G LTE could be a killer feature for the consumer or mobile warrior, but for most of our educational needs we are just ordering wifi only models.

It was a welcome surprise that Apple kept it's same pricing structure for the New iPad including it's similar battery life. (That's especially impressive with the 4G LTE models.)

What do I think is the best thing about the New iPad for education?  It's that the price on the iPad 2 16 gig units were rolled back $100 to $399. That's a bargain for what may be the best iPad for schools at the moment. I do wish they would still produce the 32 gig iPad 2 units as well, but it looks like that is not going to be the case.  Don't get me wrong, the New iPad is now the best tablet on the market and continues to push the boundaries, but I think the best news was that the iPad 2 just got more affordable for schools and kids.

Your thoughts...........????

Just a few misc. resources for staff and check out Lucid Charts too!

Working in education and technology is awesome and seeing all of the great resources that are available to teachers and students is one of the more compelling aspects of this job.  Each week I share numerous resources with our staff via staff emails and my Twitter feed, but sometimes I like to share a few in the blog as well.  Here it goes... 

Top 10 Sites for Creating a Chart or Graph http://goo.gl/Dg068  (Notice Lucid Charts is one mentioned.  We already have that installed in our Google Apps, and you will read a little more about it later in this entry.) 

PBS has a great site with videos and a ton of other resources.  You can sign up for a free account too.   http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/  

Free iPad Math App- Elem.

Addition UnderSea Adventures: This colorful and visually stimulating app will dazzle your child as he explores the under water world with math. Children reveal puzzles of underwater scenes by solving simple addition problems. Puzzles increase in difficulty, each with a new scene to reveal. (FREE)

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/addition-undersea-adventures/id386107435?mt=8

Free iPad Math Game App- Elem.
Island Chase Subtraction is free in the App Store for the month of March. Go get it if you haven't done so already!  (Courtesy of Barb Bentzinger  Thanks Barb!) 

10 Recommended YouTube Edu-tainment Channels. This is a nice list for starting your YouTube subscriptions. Check out the list here.

Google Apps

I love this product, and all of the companies that tie into Google apps.  

This week, Google just added the ability to label and/or star your email messages before you send them.  What a nice feature to be able to remember to followup on those important messages you send.  Read more about it here. 

We just added Lucid Charts to our Google apps this week, and this product is awesome!  This is a great product and this company offers their product free for school to use.  Thanks Lucid Charts for not only making a great product, but they allow us to use it with our students at a cost we can afford! 

iPad not connecting to wireless?

Here are just a few quick notes we share with our staff:

If you are having trouble with wireless, you can simply turn it off, and then turn it back on again. This often fixes the issues. 

http://its.uiowa.edu/apps2/support/article/1468

When you close an app on the IOS devices, it really does not close.  Normally that's OK, but sometimes you will want to close all of your apps if one is giving you a problem.

http://www.simplehelp.net/2010/11/29/how-to-close-open-apps-on-your-ipad-iphone-or-ipod-touch/

Many teachers do not realize, that hitting the sleep button does not really shut the iPad down. 

http://ipod.about.com/od/ipad/qt/turn-off-ipad.htm

Reset device. (Does not cause loss of data.)  This will solve many problems!

http://ipod.about.com/od/ipad/qt/restart-ipad.htm

A Windows 7 Desktop and MS office all on the cloud, all free, with this cool app for your iPad!

• Imagine an app where you can run a Windows 7 desktop right from your iPad.  
• Imagine having Office 2010, media player and other apps on that desktop.  
• Imagine 2 gig of free storage on that virtual Windows 7 machine. 
• And one more thing... can it be free?

Wow, that's a long list, but that day has arrived!

onlive.com offers this and more.  I heard about this app a couple days ago, but did not get a chance to try it out, so this morning I took a few minutes, setup my account, downloaded the app, and kicked the tires on this baby. Being in the tech business, I keep current with technology and trends. I see a lot of things that would of given us cardiac arrest five years ago... but this app may just do that anyway.  It' amazing what can be done virtually anymore and all from the cloud... and the heart stopper.... the free plan has some great features.

A couple days ago, I tried the CloudOn product, which has a few similarities with it's own pro's and Con's.  Right now, that product is free, but they do not have their pricing structure and plans in place, so that scares me a little bit. There are some things I really like about this product too, so you will want to check it out on your own. (The online keyboard is much better.)

In short, you have a  Windows 7 desktop on your iPad that has Microsoft Office, Media Player, and a few other tools all on the start menu for you to use.  (Make sure you try out the Microsoft Surface Collage program on this desktop as well, it pretty cool. ) You save your files to the "My Documents" folder, and then those files are also available on a website (Similar to DropBox and other cloud services) where you can upload or download files from. With the free plan, you have 2 give of free space.

Right now, tablets are awesome media consumption devices, but can be a little cumbersome with media creation.  (Maybe an external keyboard would help with this, but I do not lug one around.) Right now, this is the only downside to using the onlive.com product.  The problem is compounded a little because they do not use the iPad on-screen keyboard, but instead you have to use the on-screen pop-up Microsoft keyboard, that I find even more cumbersome. (Maybe an external Bluetooth keyboard would be a must for using this product all the time.)

It's not perfect.  Just like any tech guy, I have a wish list, but for now it's a short one:

• Offer a desktop app that will sync a folder locally from your computer to the onlive.com storage space on the cloud. (Similar to Dropbox's program.)
• Offer the capability to use the iPad's on-screen keyboard instead of the Microsoft one. 
• Keep it free for the 2 gig, so I can continue to promote the product. (Dropbox, Sugar Sync, and others have... so hopefully these guys will too.)

Visit this site to learn more.  Signup for your account, download the app, and get started. http://desktop.onlive.com/

Remember... Keep in mind, there are many Cloud products and services that are offering some great free features, but proceed with caution. This time in the tech world reminds me of the 90's and all of the free services and new tech innovations that we see coming out daily.  When I went to Comdex in the late 90's I saw a lot of cool tech start-up and a lot of great vaporware that never made it to market.  Wow did they give away the t-shirts, pens, and more, but the the Bubble burst.  So... what is my point? Some of these services are here to stay. (Dropbox, Evernote, Google Docs, etc...)  But some of these companies may not make it, so always keep backups of your files in another location when working with some of these "start-up" companies and products. Use them, they have great features that you can put to use today, but I would not create my only resume on one of these new services and never have a copy somewhere else. 

Techy note:  For those of you managing a network, you need Port 443 open as well as ports 16384-16640 for UDP traffic out.  

Over all... 4.5 stars for this one.  Amazing technology and amazing feature set in the free product.  Thanks onlive.com!

The SkyDrive IOS app and 25 Gig of free storage make this app a winner for everyone.

I have mentioned a lot of Cloud Services that offer free space, but sometimes it comes down to the convenience of the app and service.  Back in April, I talked about keeping all of your files in the cloud, and mentioned Microsoft's Sky Drive.  Today, I want to expand on that service, and tout it's 25 Gig of free storage (Yes, 25 Gig!) that comes with Microsoft's SkyDrive. There are no services or products that you must own, all you need is a free account.

With the release of Microsoft's IOS app for the iPhone (And you can use it on the iPad), the SkyDrive and it's 25 Gig of free storage just became that much more usable. This app allows you to easily upload and download files from your iPad or iPhone right from this 25 gig of storage in the cloud. The app itself is allows you to easily add a photo or video from your device to the SkyDrive.  You can also play any music or videos that you have on your SkyDrive right from your IOS device. I even clicked on a text file in my SkyDrive and it opened up on my iPad for viewing. I like the way DropBox integrates it's IOS app right from your camera, but with 25 gig of space and it's integration with the Gladinet program... the Microsoft SkyDrive product has it's benefits as well.

Many people do not realize, that if they already have a Microsoft Live account (If you have a HotMail account... you have one!) you already have a SkyDrive and your 25 Gig of space is waiting for you. I am hoping that they come out with an app specifically designed for the iPad, but the iPhone app running on my iPad is not bad either. If you really want to add more functionality from your computer, Gladinet has you covered.  If you have not used the Gladinet product http://gladinet.com/, it's worth looking at especially if you have a lot of Cloud storage services and want to access them easily from your computer.  (Look for an upcoming blog article about this program in the future.)

Learn more about Skydrive, and signup if you do not have an account: http://explore.live.com/skydrive-get-started
Get the IOS apps for SkyDrive here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skydrive/id477537958?mt=8

This app doubles the value of an iPad in the classroom.

Splashtop's remote desktop tool allows your iPad tablet to control your desktop computer directly from your iPad. This allows a teacher to move around the classroom seamlessly while controlling their desktop computer, which in many classrooms is connected to an LCD projector.  It also allow's you to bring up flash content and other applications that normally could not be displayed on an iPad. 

As a technology coordinator, I appreciate how easy this application is to deploy and how seamlessly it works on the desktop computer and iPad. Currently a district can purchase this application for $2.99 so it's really an application that should probably be purchased for every staff member. (Which is what we are currently doing at Norris.)

Installing the desktop streaming software can be done on multiple computers, so a tech-savy teacher could even install it on a home computer that they could access from anywhere. (This would involve port forwarding on their home router, so this is why I say they would need to be tech-savy.)

This is a five star app for it's price and I really think it doubles the value of an iPad for a teacher in their classroom. 

Best resources for keeping up with iPads apps... Read on.

With so many iPad applications, how is a teacher to stay current with what's available?  That's a tough question, and there may be numerous good answers, but here are a few sites to keep an eye on:

• Tony Vincent's Learning in Hand site is great, and has a specific section for iPads
• PadGadget's site has a lot of info, including a great listings page where you can sort apps by criteria.
• Our own Nebraska ESU TAG group has a nice iPad page with some great info.
• Appadvice.com has a nice site, with news, app listings and more.
• appolicious.com is a must for your list, and includes Android sections too!
• appannie has a nice listing of apps
• www.iear.org/ a nice site that reviews apps for education
• Make sure you add the flipboard app (free) to your iPad and subscribe to the Apps content. (This is a great app... and the Apps content news will keep you current with iPads, apps and more.)

Are the iPads a great one-to-one device? My answer is no. (For reasons I will not go into for lack of time and space.)

Are the iPads a great tool for education? My answer is yes, they have a lot of potential in the hands of capable educators.

Happy app shopping!