iPhone Configuration Utility 3.4 - PROXY!

YEA!!! 3.4 is here. I just knew someone would listen... especially with iOS 5 and OS Lion out. Really, the only thing I cared about in the new iPhone Configuration Utility was the ability to add a proxy to the WiFi part. Now it is available. As you are configuring your profile, simply change your proxy setup to manual, then add your proxy settings. This is a good thing for Wake County Public Schools and other schools that are behind a proxy setting.

.epub - The Electronic Book Format

No, .epub is not the best place to get your favorite electronic cocktail.
Yes, .epub is the industry standard for the electronic book format.
And yes, you can create your own electronic book without going through a publisher. Using the .epub format will let that document be readable by apps such as iBooks on the iPod Touch or iPad and other eReaders. I discovered this information here. Basically, you make your "book" in Word or better yet, Pages (for Mac). There are some formatting issues that you may want to look into such as floating pictures or ones that move with the text. Anyway, save the file as a .doc or .docx. If you are using Pages, there is an export feature that will automatically save it as a .epub. If you have a .doc file, go to http://www.2epub.com/ and convert your file there. There is a 25Mb limit, but that shouldn't be a problem. I did a trial run with Pages and it was soooo easy. Give it a try.

Swiffy - Flash for iPod Touch / iPad

Swiffy - a Google tool that converts .swf to html 5 and makes it viewable for the apple mobile devices. I tried it with something that I created, but I made it with Action Script 3.0 instead of 2.0. It mostly worked. I may try to switch it to 2.0 sometime soon and see if that works better. Otherwise, I've heard good things about it so far.

A New Kind of Paperback

Your regular old paperback book, just get a 21st Century upgrade as you begin to paste these newfangled QR Codes in them. If you haven't checked out QR Codes, you can learn about them and create your own codes at QRstuff.com. So you take any book, find some closely related video clips, websites, question set, or some other multimedia enrichment activity and make a QR Code for that. Print your code, after shrinking it of course, and paste it in your book on the page that you want some enrichment. I can't claim to have created this idea. I give credit to this article that I read by Cyndi Danner-Kuhn. Thank you for sharing this great idea.

Make an App link directly to the iTunes Store

If you have ever wondered how to create a link that takes the user directly to the iTunes store, go to iTunes Link Maker. Here, you can find the App, Audiobook, Music, Podcast, or whatever you are looking for. Once you find it, there will be some basic information about it and a link. That takes you to a page where you can copy an paste the direct link, or create a small/large icon or just the text. Then all you have to do is cut and paste that information and use that on your website.

Find my iPhone

Do you worry about these little $200+ devices slipping out of sight? Well I do and here is a partial solution that I found. Ok, so it is a little late since iCloud is right around the corner, but you can use Find my iPhone to track your iPod Touch's. Go to Settings (or straight to mail if an account hasn't already been set up)/ Mail, Contacts, Calendars. Then click Add Account... and choose MobileMe. If you have iOS 4.2.1 or later, it will ask for you username and password. I put our school iTunes account information in and that worked. Then it prompts you to turn on Find my iPhone. Say Yes. Now go to any computer and go to https://me.com/find. Use the same iTunes account to log in and voila! You will see a map with pretty accurate details as to where your iPod Touch / iPad is. You can do this for several devices at once. I have about 20 so far and no problems. The device has to hit WiFi for it to be tracked. If nothing else, it could be a very good deterrent for sticky fingers in a school. Enjoy.

iOS 5 just around the corner

I just read a nice article about the new iOS 5 coming this fall. It seems like some helpful items for the classroom my be in store as long as the network and proxy's will cooperate. Being able to upgrade and sync straight from the device may remove that extra step which can be confusing if you've never done that before. Although many of the updates are phone specific, it does seem that there will be a new chat feature that could be used for some collaboration... your in the classroom and you student wants to go to the library. Well, send them a chat that it is time to come back ; ) Ok, maybe not so good for bathroom breaks. My favorite update on the list... click and hold any word - anywhere - and access its definition. I can be typing in notes, click on the word that I just typed and get the definition to see if that is the word I really wanted to use... fantastic! I hope there is a thesaurus attached. There are some new Twitter integration aspects that might be nice. There could be a tweet job for a student(s)... "Just learned about subtracting fractions - don't forget to have common denominators." Tweet a quick picture before the teacher erases the board and your golden! The iOS 5 TBA is this fall of 2011.