Monday April 25, 2011
The Charleston County School Board is considering a measure that would put an iPad into the hands of every student in two of the county's schools. The program is considered a test before expanding it to every student in the district next year, and it has already received approval by the Audit and Finance Committee.
Since the days when computer education classrooms were filled with the green-and-black displays of Apple IIe computers, Apple has done a great job of marketing to educational institution. Last year, they extended this to developers, starting a program where apps could be sold in bulk at discount prices to educational institutions.
Last year, the Illinois Institute of Technology joined other colleges in offering a free iPad to incoming students. Colleges are continuing this trend with the iPad 2, and earlier this year, a kindergarten in Maine jumped on the bandwagon by purchasing an iPad 2 for every kindergartner in the district.
The iPad has the ability to offer something for everyone. While the kindergartner learns his letters by tracing them out on the touchscreen, the college student uses her iPad to reduce the number of bulky textbooks she must lug from one classroom to the next. The iPad has the ability to introduce audio and visual aids into textbooks, even adding interactive elements to keep students engaged. It also provides a great way to allow students to learn at their own pace.
But some parents view the programs with concern, especially those aimed at younger students. With no studies of the long-term effects of using an iPad as a teaching aid, some worry that children will have a difficult time focusing on their teacher with the distraction of an iPad at their desk. There is also some concern about how iPads in the classroom could impact the development of social skills.
Follow me on Twitter: @DanielNations
Friday April 22, 2011
Who doesn't like free stuff? Especially free apps that show premium movies... for free.
Crackle, formerly known as Grouper, has been around on the web for a while. But earlier this week, Crackle made its debut on the iPad. Similar to Netflix and Hulu Plus, Crackle streams premium movies and television to your iPad. This includes movies like Stranger than Fiction and The Da Vinci Code and television like Seinfeld and Doctor Who.
But unlike Netflix and Hulu Plus, Crackle is free. That is free as in no cost to download the app from the app store and free as in no subscription fees to get access to the content. You will need to sit through advertisements while watching a movie or TV show, but even these are less intrusive than you would see on your actual television set.
How do they do it? Crackle is owned by Sony Pictures, so the movies you'll be watching are those from Sony's library of films. And while they will give you a nice taste of television, they do have some restrictions, such as not being able to put the entire Seinfeld series up for your viewing pleasure.
This sounds like a smart move from Sony. At a time when other companies are getting into courtroom brawls to keep their content off the iPad, Sony is finding a way to turn it into a brand new revenue stream.
Check out more great apps for streaming movies and TV
Wednesday April 20, 2011
During the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII on January 22nd, 1984, Apple introduced the Macintosh computer to the world with an iconic commercial featuring a large screen with a nameless 'big brother' speaker being taken down by what appeared to be a track and field athlete throwing a large hammer. The commercial ended with the following words on the screen: "On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like '1984'."
While 1984 may not have turned out like the book, 2011 is starting to seem eerily similar. Researchers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden have made a discovery about how the iPhone and iPad 3G records the localization information and backs it up on your home computer. This data can then be used to track a person's (or at least an iPhone's or iPad's) whereabouts over a long period of time.
There is no indication that Apple actually uses this information, and it is the same information that is tracked by cell phone companies. However, a court order is needed to unseal it from a cell phone company, whereas the information being backed up to your PC isn't even encrypted unless you've turned that feature on in iTunes. (Find out how to keep your iPhone and iPad secure and encrypt your backups)
I don't think we are at the point where Apple can be called Big Brother, but this is a sure-fire slip up considering how much emphasis is being put on the idea of online privacy these days. Interested in getting more juicy details? Ars Technica has a great write up about the issue.
Watch the 1984 Apple Commercial.
Monday April 18, 2011
The iPad has been called many things, but Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. may be the first to name it a job killer. Speaking before Congress, Jackson pointed out that people no longer need to go to the bookstore because they can download books on their iPad. He also noted that colleges are giving out iPads with tuition in an effort to eliminate textbooks and predicted a time when we no longer need libraries.
Jackson stated the iPad is killing American jobs from employees at bookstores to the publishing industry and pointed out that the iPad is made in China. "The Chinese get to take advantage of our [first amendment value], that is to provide freedom of speech through the iPad to the American people," Jackson said. "But there is no protection for jobs here in America to ensure that the American people are being put to work."
Jackson is using the iPad as a specific example in a longstanding debate over how the global economy interacts with the American economy, but perhaps he could have used a better example. To blame the iPad specifically for the elimination of the publishing industry is not only blaming a specific product for an inevitability -- it was easy to predict we were heading towards a more paperless society a decade ago -- and misunderstands the role of the publishing industry -- which is more about writing, editing and advertising than it is about printing and delivering.
Absent from the rant is any mention of the number jobs spawned by the App Store ecosystem, which has allowed the individual developer and the small software company to compete on even ground with larger software publishing giants on semi-equal ground. In terms of the debate on the global economy, the iPad might be the perfect example for the other side of the argument, providing jobs outside the U.S. in the manufacture of the product while providing "better" jobs inside the U.S. in the development and distribution of software on the product.
Watch the video on YouTube.
