Skype for iPhone Now with Video Calls

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I could remember back to 1964 at the New York's World Fair being transfixed as I spoke to my mother an father and was able to see them on the video phone in the ATT Pavilion. It sure has taken a long time for the idea of video calls to take hold. But if there is one prediction which will really take hold in 2011 it will be how we begin to make more and more video calls on our mobile phones. Apple lead the way this year with their  application FaceTime running on the iPhone 4 and iPod Touch, allowing users to have video conferencing calls on the go when they are within earshot of a Wifi network. Skype today announced the release of Skype for iPhone which is free that will allow users to place video calls over a 3G or Wifi network.

With Skype, you can:

• Make video calls to people on their computers as well as other iPhones (details below)
• Make free audio calls to anyone else on Skype
• Make great value calls to landlines and mobiles around the world

The new app is compatible with the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and iPod touch 4th generation with i0S 4.0 or above. You can also receive video calls on the iPod touch 3rd generation and iPad. Calls can be made between devices using the new Skype for iPhone app and desktops including Skype for Windows 4.2 and above, Skype for Mac 2.8 and above, Skype for Linux and the ASUS videophone.

So enjoy the New Year and reach out and touch someone with Skype for the iPhone!

Dragon Dictation 2.0 Released for the iPad

One of the truly marvelous apps for the iPad has to be Dragon Dictate from Nuance. I have been using Dragon Dictate since I got my iPad and it is hard to believe how accurate it is for transcribing your voice to text. What is more amazing is that there is no need to do any training of the sort. Using cloud based processing Nuance is able to capture your voice file process it in the cloud and return your transcription back to the application in seconds. If you have not tried it out on your iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone you should definitely download it and give it a try- the price is right. Right now the app is free! Nuance just released version 2.0 of Dragon Dictate which now lets you quickly send your text to Facebook and Twitter from a small drop-down palette in the program. I tried out this feature just yesterday evening and it works like a charm.

Tools like Dragon Dictate open up all kinds of possibilities for students with learning disabilities and as I work with more and more students with writing disabilities I now have my iPad available to see how well it can work for them. I recently worked with a 6th grader who happened to be using an iPhone and we installed Dragon Dictate to see how well it would work. The beauty of Dragon Dictate is that there is no training involved. The student opened up Dragon Dictate on his iPhone and began to dictate and within seconds text appeared on the screen. I was amazed how accurate it was for this particular student. I have tried it with other students where the transcription was not that accurate. So if you have access to an iPhone or iPad give it a try when you are assessing students and see what happens. I would be interested in your experiences using Dragon Dictate 2.0 with the students you work with. It is incredible to think how far this technology has come in such a short amount of time and how we can harness this technology for the students we work with with learning disabilities.

Microvision SHOWWX Pico Projector

One of the products that generated a lot of buzz at the Consumer Electronic Show 2010 (CES) was the Microvision SHOWWX pico projector. Several companies have announced and are delivering pico projectors and the market. I'm sure this market will explode with these devices that we can hook up to netbooks, laptops, iPods, and Smartphones. I for one would enjoy the day when I can drive my presentation from my BlackBerry Curve alongside a small projector. Rounding out the solution will be a pico projector that I could carry in my shirt pocket. Having a portable solution would be ideal and I look forward to being able to review some of these new pico line of projectors.

The Microvision SHOWWX pico projector is unique in that it uses three different lasers to generate the image. Becuase of the use of the lasers there is no need to be concerned about auto focusing since the image is always in focus. My understanding is that the Microvision SHOWWX pico projector has an output of 10 lumens which should be sufficient in a small darkened room. This solution is ideal for board rooms or for projecting in small classrooms where you have control of the ambient lighting.

According to the Microvision Website here are some of the projector's features:

• Always in focus: you never, ever have to adjust focus
• Sharp and clear images on any surface from 6 inches or less to 200 inches or more
• Rich and vivid laser colors amplify your photos, videos and presentations
• Wide projection angle delivers a big image (1:1 throw ratio)
• High resolution (WVGA 848x480) brings out every detail
• Widescreen (16:9) aspect ratio enables you to experience content
  the way it was meant to be
• Sleek contours feel great in your hand; slim enough to put in your pocket
• Plug-n-play compatibility enables quick and easy operation with your device
• Movie-capable battery that lasts 90-120 minutes on a single charge

For more information click here.

PS: Microsvision if you are reading this post, please know that I am interested in reviewing the Microvision SHOWWX projector when it is released.

Technology Predictions for 2010

I guess this is the time of the season to look into the crystal ball and make predictions about the year ahead. Certainly 2009 has been an exciting year for all types of technology and in 2010, I predict we will begin to see even more rapid developments. One of the really exciting development has been in the area of mobile handsets.

With more people connected to the web via their smartphones we need to take a look at this factor and plan accordingly. With Apple raising the bar with the iPhone we have seen a flurry of development and new smartphones are being released on a weekly basis. This year we saw the release of the BlackBerry Storm 2 as well as the Motorola Droid featuring the Android operating system from Google. This has certainly been a hotbed of development and the apps for these mobile devices continues at a furious pace. Next year we will continue to see huge developments in the mobile handset market which will play out well for us in education. The real tipping point for this technology will be the ability to run Flash applications on these handsets. From what I have been reading Adobe is working hard with Research in Motion (BlackBerry) and Google to build Flash into their development tools. Once Flash becomes standard on these devices you will see incredible applications that can deliver on the promise of these devices for learning. In many cases the students we work with are carrying very powerful computing devices which could be used as an educational tool to advance their learning. So next year look for smartphones to play a larger role in the area of classroom and mobile learning. I am already beginning to see a number of companies that are developing accessories or companion products to work with smartphones which could really propel this whole arena. So next year might just be the year of mLearning- that is mobile learning opportunities from anywhere on your smartphones.

As much all of us are used to starting up our applications from our hard drives - we will continue to see a shift to the cloud at even a faster pace of adoption. I recently had a conversation with my nephew who is in his early twenty's who had just purchased a new Windows laptop. I asked him if he had purchased a copy of Microsoft Office to install and he looked at me and said "there is no reason to, I am now using GoogleDocs for all of my work." So yes there is a huge shift happening and as we move forward we will begin to see more and more students and educators adopt the cloud to do all of their work. I suspect that as I speak to educators, that many schools will jump on board in 2010 and will sign up for Google Apps for Education. In doing so, both teachers and students will recognize the quantum leap in collaboration and learning that just wasn't possible with standalone applications. So look for 2010 to bring about huge shifts in collaboration and moving to the cloud for our personal computing.

We have also just begun to witness the movement from the printed book to the digital book and 2010 is going to be a banner year for ebooks as it explodes into the market. If it is any indication, Amazon reported that their sales from downloaded books to the Kindle outpaced that for printed books for the 2009 Holidays! With this in mind we will see a number of new players in this market with their own spin on the feature set. During the 2009 holiday season we saw the release of the Nook from Barnes & Noble which was an instant success. We also have Sony in the market touting not one but three different Sony Readers. Competition is good, and I suspect we will see a host of other companies making announcements about their branded eReaders at the Consumer Electronic Show come this January in Las Vegas. In any case- it is clear that ebooks will evolve over time and will play a much bigger role in schools. As we saw in the Kindle 2- having access to text to speech built-in can make a world of difference for students who need accessible curriculum material. Having consumer products that are designed with assistive technology from the beginning helps to keep the costs down and make it a universally designed product from the get go.

I hope you have a wonderful and Happy New Year! I would appreciate hearing about your predictions for 2010- so feel free to add your comments.

Interesting Uses of QR Codes for Educators

Many of us are used to seeing those familiar UPC Codes on products that can be scanned at the check out counters to look up the price and product name. While attending the DevLearn 09 Conference I came across another type of bar code called the QR Code. While I had seen them in different venues I did not at first grasp how they might be used during a conference or in an educational setting. At the DevLearn 09, QR Codes could be found on the signage of every workshop that when read by a QR Reader on a smartphone would take you to a web site for additional information about the presentation. While QR Codes have been popular in Japan, they are just beginning to gain popularity in the United States and Europe. I obtained this information from Wikipedia about QR Codes which I though would be of interest to you:

A QR Code is a matrix code (or two-dimensional bar code) created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994. The "QR" is derived from "Quick Response", as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.

QR Codes are common in Japan, where they are currently the most popular type of two dimensional codes. Moreover, most current Japanese mobile phones can read this code with their camera.

With the rise in the number of smartphones (Android, iPhones, Blackberry) in use, QR Codes become a great way for "tagging" physical information that links to a URL. With a QR Reader installed you can simply point your camera phone at the QR Code and be instantly taken to a website to provide your viewers with additional information. You can embed text, RSS feeds, and URL's in a QR Code. Imagine printing the code on lectures, notes or study guides so that your students can be supplied with supplemental information. Or how about adding QR codes to physical objects in your environment and have your students learn more about the topic. The use of QR codes are endless! So give it a try and let me know what you think. So download a QR Reader to your smartphone and give this QR Code a try! To generate and print out a QR code go to the Kaywa website. So point your smartphone camera at the QR Code below to see what happens!

One Sentence Summary Created with Context Organizer With a QR Reader installed you can simply point your camera phone at the QR Code and be instantly taken to a website to provide your viewers with additional information.

What's Apple Up to Now?

There is a great deal of speculation as to what Apple will announce tomorrow at their news conference. It seems from what I have been reading that it is most likely a new generation of iPods. Just like everyone else, I will throw my hat in the ring and try to be a prognosticator. If I had to speculate, I would think that with all the press regarding the iPhone that the new iPods will incorporate some of the new technology found in the iPhone. Imagine for a second an iPod with that cool touch screen interface, that not only plays your music but allows you to watch those videos on that crisp screen. And why not add in WiFi into the picture giving us instant access to the web and the ability to download music from iTunes. You see who knows, we just could be getting an iPhone without the phone. Having access to the largest library of music, and videos, in addition to having access to the internet and email from the device could be a match made in heaven- or at least in Cupertino! So hang on to your hats as the countdown to tomorrow's announcements are made. Let's see what the magic of Steve Jobs turns up this time. I for one can't wait!

IPhone

John Gruber in his blog Daring Fireball talks about is first impressions with his new iPhone. It is a frank and well done piece that bears reading.

Apple iPhone- The Future is Now

If you are involved in education technology then you know that we are living through some really exciting times. Can you imagine any other time period where a telephone could get so much hype. Yes, Steve Jobs keynote at MacWorld 2007, left a lasting impression not only on devout Mac users but on mainstream USA. It wasn’t long before every major mainstream media organization had picked up the story about the iPhone and made predictions about Apple’s entry into the telecommunication industry. It should be noted that in many ways Apple Computer is well aware of what is in store for us as companies begin to manufacture electronic tools that embody increased functionality. Imagine all that power in the palm of you hands.

Apple understands what tomorrow will bring and to reflect this, has officially dropped the word ‘computer” from their corporate name. Well we will have to wait and see just how good the iPhone is until some time in June 2007, the future is clear. All of us will eventually be touting powerful multifunction communication tools that are housed in a small package we call a phone. The iPhone will be just one of many portable phones that can play music, videos allow us to chat and even run applications so that we can do our word processing or surf the web. We will no longer have crippled programs but applications that work very much like those the we have on our desktop. In the perfect world all of our devices will synchronize so that our email and contacts can be shared among the various devices and computers that we use. It is in this spirit that I applaud Apple and trust that their design and interface will be a catalyst for ingenuity in this marketplace so that others can benefit from small portable computing devices that can be used wherever and whenever.