An Education Accessibility Seminar

An Education Accessibility Seminar
Thursday, August 11th
Westchester Institute for Human Development
Cedarwood Hall
Valhalla, NY 10595

The Apple Education Accessibility Seminar for K-12 gives education leaders the opportunity to experience the many features built into Mac, iPod, and iPad devices that accommodate special needs students.

Every Mac comes equipped with dozens of assistive technologies, and now with the development of universal access features for iPod, iPhone, and iPad, Apple is taking these technologies - and the opportunities for all learners to succeed - to a new level.   See the ease of use and quick customization for individual needs and learning styles. Explore how you can stretch your dollars and accommodate the needs of more students.

Presenters:

David Niemeijer, founder and CEO of AssistiveWare, will showcase Proloquo2Go and various products for special needs students.

Sarah Herrlinger, Senior Manager, Apple Education, will examine how accessibility features can be used to address the needs of those with sensory, learning and other disabilities.

Who Should Attend?
Administrators, Special Needs Personnel, Technology Directors, IDEA Coordinators, Teachers and Parents.

To Register:
Please go to  http://edseminars.apple.com/event/5015

Check out Macworld's guide to Google apps:

http://www.macworld.com/appguide/browse.html?collection=8986

How to Access Your Dropbox Account in iWork for iOS

An interesting article from Maclife, although you'd have to pay $5 a month to do it...

http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_access_your_dropbox_account_iwork_ios

Best Case Scenario: Smart Cases for your Smart Cover

Got a Smart Cover? Check out this article:

http://www.maclife.com/article/columns/best_case_scenario_smart_cases_your_smart_cover

How To Get Photos or Videos Back On Your iPad Camera Roll

Check out this article from MacLife:

http://www.maclife.com/article/news/how_get_photos_or_videos_back_your_ipad_camera_roll

How to Print from iOS Devices Directly to Dropbox

Check out this article from Maclife:

http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_print_ios_devices_directly_dropbox

Developer Website:
http://www.ecamm.com/mac/printopia/

Sign Of The Times: iPad Now Bigger Than The Mac

From MacLife:

You’ve probably heard by now that Apple Inc. had another boffo quarter, with plenty of facts and figures to prove it -- not to mention record revenue of $28.57 billion. But one of the most interesting numbers shows how the iPad has overtaken the Mac in less than a year and a half.

SplatF has posted an interesting analysis of one key component of Apple’s Q3 2011 financials on Tuesday: The company’s iPad, which is less than a year and a half old, has already passed Apple’s 27-year-old Mac business in revenue.

In the last three months, the company sold 9.2 million iPads, racking up $6 billion in revenue. By comparison, Apple sold 3.9 million Macs and “only” made $6.1 billion in revenue. “Apple even admitted that some of the iPad’s success was at the Mac’s expense,” comments Dan Frommer.

”We do believe that some customers chose to purchase an iPad instead of a new Mac during the quarter, but we also believe that even more customers chose to purchase an iPad over a Windows PC,” explained Apple COO Tim Cook during Tuesday’s financial report with analysts.

Posted 07/20/2011 at 5:46am | by J.R. Bookwalter 

(Image courtesy of SplatF with Dan Frommer)

How and Where to Rent E-textbooks

Check out this article on Maclife:

http://www.maclife.com/article/features/how_and_where_rent_etextbooks

Rumor: Apple May Buy Barnes & Noble

From MacLife:

BGR reports that an "unproven source" delivered a tip that Apple is considering buying Barnes & Noble for approximately $1.5 billion. Interesting idea, as Apple could absorb B&N's vast ebook library into iBooks, and possibly convert several of the retail stores into new Apple stores.

Apple certainly has the money, could this be one of the "strategic opportunities" Steve Jobs was alluding to? A move like this makes a lot of sense and would tie in nicely with growing the iBooks platform, particularly if it would expand the capabilities to buy and rent textbooks.

Again, BGR makes it clear that the source is unproven, but is allegedly someone claiming to have knowledge of discussions within Apple regarding this deal.

Posted 07/29/2011 at 1:48pm | by Adrian Hoppel 

InClass App

An app for students, InClass aims to be a universal go-to app for high school and college kids. Featuring a calendar, assignments with classes attached, also viewable from the calendar, an in-app notetaking tool with built-in voice recorder, InClass may very well be the right fit for many students who don't want to bother with three or four separate apps.

There's a Backup feature for InClass which will allow you to pack up your data and move it to another device, as the app is available for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

Take a look at the demo below.

iTunes Link:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/inclass/id374986430?mt=8

Developer Website:
http://www.inclassapp.com/

Demo:
http://video.aol.com/aolvideo/tuaw/tuaw-app-demo-inclass/1042620242001

The iPad's incredible effect on the PC industry is only beginning

From TUAW

We already know based on Apple's latest quarterly earnings report that the iPad is pretty much eating the PC industry's lunch. Writing for Forbes, Bob Evans points out that as impressive as the iPad's effect on the industry has been thus far, we've only begun to see the sea change Apple's tablet device is triggering.

Evans offers five reasons why the iPad seems to be taking over the industry, and in each case he believes the iPad's real disruptive potential has yet to be realized. First, he repeats Apple COO Tim Cook's remarks from the last financial call, where he stated that while Apple was seeing slight cannibalization of Mac sales because of the iPad, the effect was relatively small compared to the devastation present in the rest of the PC industry. Mac sales were up 14 percent last quarter, but growth in the rest of the industry is a far smaller 2.6 percent.

It's not just everyday consumers driving the iPad's growth, either. Multiple studies have come out showing how eagerly businesses are adopting the iPad for enterprise applications, and the recent launch of Apple's B2B volume purchasing program is likely to drive even greater adoption of the iOS platform. As Evans points out, part of the reason enterprise adoption of the iPad is so high is that businesses are finding uses for the device that Apple never expected.

Apple's retail stores are another reason Evans offers for the iPad's success. Apple Stores arguably made the Mac, iPod, and iPhone more successful than they would have been otherwise, and it's no stretch to say the same is true of the iPad.

Perhaps the most important predictor of the iPad's future success is iPad use by children. Young kids in particular are growing up in a world where touchscreen tablets are a fact of life. I grew up with the Apple II already part of the toolset in my kindergarten, so it's almost impossible for me to comprehend a world without personal computers. Will today's kindergarteners feel the same way about hardware like the iPad? It's entirely possible.

As Evans says, the iPad has been on the market for less than a year and a half. We're only seeing the beginning of its effects on the industry. Think back to the mid-80s, when the Mac first came out, and consider how long it took before GUI-based computers became a home appliance every bit as "necessary" as the T.V. Or think back to the early 2000s, and how many years it took before the iPod supplanted both CD players and other mp3 players as the king of the portable music player industry. The iPad has already had a huge impact, but it's only the beginning.

By Chris Rawson
Jul 27th 2011 at 1:30AM 

Google updates its search page for the iPad

From TUAW:

Google is rolling out an update to its google.com search page that'll make it even more tablet-friendly. Text, buttons and other page elements are now slightly bigger and easy to touch with those big, fat fingers. Like it or not, the page now shares that Google+ look as well. The improved interface is available for the iPad and Android 3.1 tablets across 36 different languages. It's a rolling update so if you don't see it at first, keep checking back.

By Kelly Hodgkins
Jul 29th 2011 at 5:00PM

Apple’s App Store Downloads Top 15 Billion

From Apple press info:

CUPERTINO, California—July 7, 2011—Apple® today announced that over 15 billion apps have been downloaded from its revolutionary App Store™ by the more than 200 million iPhone®, iPad® and iPod touch® users worldwide. The App Store offers more than 425,000 apps and developers have created an incredible array of over 100,000 native iPad apps.

“In just three years, the revolutionary App Store has grown to become the most exciting and successful software marketplace the world has ever seen,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Thank you to all of our amazing developers who have filled it with over 425,000 of the coolest apps and to our over 200 million iOS users for surpassing 15 billion downloads.”

“We sparked musical magic when iPhone users experienced Ocarina three years ago,” said Dr. Ge Wang, a Smule co-founder and assistant professor at Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics. “And now with iPad, we’ve created the Magic Piano and Magic Fiddle apps. Who could’ve dreamt an iPad would make its way into the San Francisco Symphony?”

“iPad provides us with an unparalleled mobile device for creating gorgeous, immersive games,” said Mark Rein, vice president and co-founder of Epic Games. “Infinity Blade has been a runaway hit with customers around the world and we couldn’t be more excited about our success on iOS devices.”

“We’re bringing Martha Stewart, Angelina Ballerina, Sesame Street and many more of the world’s most popular books and magazines to iPad,” said Nicholas Callaway, CEO of Callaway Digital Arts. “We knew the iPad was going to be a revolutionary storytelling device, but never could have anticipated it would become so popular, so quickly.” 

More than 15 billion apps have been downloaded from the revolutionary App Store and more than 425,000 apps are available, including more than 100,000 native iPad apps, to consumers in 90 countries. Users of the more than 200 million iOS devices around the world can choose from an incredible range of apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, education, sports, health, reference and travel. Apple has paid developers over $2.5 billion to date.