Apple's App Store Downloads Top 25 Billion

CUPERTINO, California-March 5, 2012-Apple® today announced that more than 25 billion apps have been downloaded from its revolutionary App Store™ by the users of the more than 315 million iPhone®, iPad® and iPod touch® devices worldwide. The 25 billionth app downloaded, Where's My Water? Free, was downloaded by Chunli Fu of Qingdao, China. As the winner of the App Store Countdown to 25 Billion Apps, Chunli Fu will receive a $10,000 iTunes® Gift Card.

"We'd like to thank our customers and developers for helping us achieve this historic milestone of 25 billion apps downloaded," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. "When we launched the App Store less than four years ago, we never imagined that mobile apps would become the phenomenon they have, or that developers would create such an incredible selection of apps for iOS users."

The revolutionary App Store offers more than 550,000 apps to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users in 123 countries around the world, with more than 170,000 native iPad apps available. App Store customers can choose from an incredible range of apps in 21 categories, including Newsstand, games, business, news, sports, health & fitness and travel. The App Store has paid out more than four billion dollars to developers.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

Vancouver City Council adopts iPads, saves 50K pages a year

From TUAW:

Vancouver Washington City Council adopted iPads in January in an experiment to test out the effectiveness of a paperless workflow. After two months, the touchscreen tablet is an early success as the Council has seen a 40 percent reduction in number of printed pages it uses for meetings. It does more than just save paper, too.

In a statement, the City Council describes how the iPad lets council members easily view documents stored on a local server. They can also visit websites mentioned during a meeting. Despite the high up-front cost of the iPad, it's saving the city money, too. Vancouver was paying US$71 per month for each BlackBerry and is now paying $43 monthly for the iPad. Between printing and data costs, the city could save up to $500 per year by switching to the iPad.

By Kelly Hodgkins
Mar 2nd 2012 at 9:15AM

iPads help special education students in Roanoke County

ROANOKE CO., Va —

Technology has the power to change a person's life for the better. That's exactly what's happening in Roanoke County schools.

iPads are helping special education students both inside and outside the classroom.

Connor Smith goes to Glenvar Middle School and he's quick on his iPad. From math problems to memory games, his iPad has it all. The games are fun but also educational.His mom, Cheryl Smith, says the iPad is easy to navigate. All Connor has to do is use his fingers."For us it's been a long journey from when he didn't move anything and then he started moving a leg then he moved his elbow," says Cheryl Smith.

Connor suffered a severe brain injury after a car crash nearly six years ago. The 13-year-old is now able to use his right arm."Part of his injury involves the loss of short term memory shortage and retrieval and learning," says Smith, "So a lot of times repetition is what's needed."

September 22, 2011

Elizabeth Harrington | Reporter

National Archives Now Available on iTunes U

The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) announced that it is now available on iTunes U, a dedicated area within the iTunes Store giving users public access to thousands of free lectures, videos, books, and podcasts from learning institutions all over the world.

National Archives on iTunes U is giving teachers, students, and lifelong seekers of knowledge access to archival documents, lesson plans, Presidential Libraries’ podcasts, and more, all available as free downloads to enjoy on a Mac or PC, iPad, iPhone or iPod. National Archives on iTunes U is launching with a selection of World War II films, Presidential historical documents and podcasts, and several “Inside the Vaults” videos featuring behind-the-scenes at the archives, and lesson plan materials, exhibit materials, and videos of public lectures will continue to be added to iTunes U.

NARA is an independent federal agency that preserves and shares with the public records that trace the story of our nation, government, and the American people. From the Declaration of Independence to accounts of ordinary Americans, the holdings of the National Archives directly touch the lives of millions of people.

iPads enter the classroom

PEORIA —
With kids of the 21st century so adept with technology and computers, why not just put the controller in their hands? That's exactly what District 150 elementary teachers are doing.

District 150 grade schools are bringing iPads into classrooms to enhance the learning experience of both students and teachers. It is an effort to provide those who most need assistance a form of help that is user-friendly and fun.

General and special education teachers are becoming more informed on how to utilize the most effective educational methods that the iPad offers. Maureen Langholf, the special education director for the district, said Wednesday there are multiple advantages to introducing iPads into the classroom, especially for students with learning disabilities.

"The goal of having iPads as a tool in the classroom is to give the students more individual access to the lessons so that they can better grasp and communicate their understanding of the material," said Langholf, who said that Apple offers more than 400,000 applications for special education instructors on the iPad.

"We want the lesson to be as individualized for the child as possible," she said, mentioning the iPad is similar to handheld devices such as phones and game systems that children today are already familiar with. "A child with autism can use pictures and voice recordings and the touch technology to communicate."

With funding received from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the schools have received iPad carts, with 20 to 30 iPads in each, to be used by the children.

Teachers will be able to categorize and file applications unique to each student that will be accessible on every iPad, making the devices advantageous to the characteristics of each student.

"It will not be the teacher always telling the student what to do, but allowing the student to choose," said Jean Chumbley, who, along with Joyce Heerman, is the third- and fourth-grade inclusion teacher at Thomas Jefferson Primary School.

"It's an interactive process of trial and error for the kids," said Heerman, speaking of the use of applications, "and that's something that the children are much better at than we are."

The iPads only will be used for a segment of the day, designed to be a spoke instead of the wheel itself.

"They're still going to be using books, pens and paper," said Lisa Kukos, one of the technology facilitators for the district. "We'll be supporting teachers by integrating technology into the lesson."

"We're striving for better ways to reach the kids," says Sidney Ross, the fifth-grade inclusion teacher at Franklin-Edison Primary School. "There's a world of possibilities in one device."

iPads the Gateway Drug for College Data Usage

From The New York Times:

Data is in demand on college campuses, and it’s putting a strain on shared school networks. The iPad is partly to blame, according to University of Missouri-Columbia IT director Terry Robb (via The St. Louis Post-Dispatch), but it’s mostly acting as a gateway drug for the real culprit: online video. 

The report from the Dispatch describes slow or severed connections that students at the University of Missouri-Columbia experienced when coming back to classes this September. At that U.S. school, the number of wireless devices active on the network at any one time maxed out at 900 last year. Already in 2011, it’s hit 8,000 devices actively using the school’s connection at once. 

The iPad is the biggest change in terms of the mobile connected-device landscape in recent years. Apple’s tablet still owns the market for that category of device, and it’s an optimal device for consuming streaming video, since it features a much larger display than smartphones, but is much simpler to turn on and hold than a cumbersome notebook computer. The iPad alone was already equal to Android’s share of online mobile video consumption back in May, and Apple’s other devices occupy a huge slice of the pie, too.
While Apple’s iPad may have multiplied the problem, iPhones and other smartphones have already significantly affected demand for Wi-Fi on college campuses. Students now expect strong on-campus Wi-Fi as one of the perks associated with going to school–it factors into their feeling of satisfaction over what they pay in tuition. Washington University’s Andrew Orstadt, who is the associated vice chancellor for information services and technology, says the demand for high capacity should be met within reason, no matter what students end up using the bandwidth for. He told the Dispatch that since students live on campus, schools should “make sure they are doing what they want to do” with their recreation time, too.
The challenge now is for schools to be able to meet the growing demand for reliable Wi-Fi with a growing population of connected devices with increasing technical specs. Next-gen devices will be able to stream higher-quality video to and from the web, and do more than one task at a time without as much of a cost on battery life or processor power. Students two years from now could likely be streaming one full HD video to their tablets while downloading another two equally high-bandwidth files in the background. 

Apple’s devices may only be fuel for the fire that is demand for college Wi-Fi Internet access, but the iPad’s success and the rise in connected-device usage seen by the University of Missouri-Columbia in the wake of its introduction is a good sign that as far as fuel goes, it’s the rocket-powering kind.

By DARRELL ETHERINGTON of GigaOm
Published: September 26, 2011

How to use the iOS Reminders app

Click here for a great article from MacWorld on the Reminders app!