I wrote a few weeks ago about the health unit I'm doing with my Grade 2 class, exploring technology and how we can use it safely in our lives. Well, our second lesson was delayed by a snow day, so I've only now gotten around to lesson two, and it was a doozy! In our previous class, we did some brainstorming about what sorts of technology the kids use at home. For homework, I had them keep a log for two days—a school day and a weekend day. In this week's lesson, the first thing we did was tabulate the results. The students averaged...

As my school's technology coordinator, part of my job is to explore the different ways our students use technology, and how that's working for us. Are there tools we are under-utilizing? Tools we are over-utilizing? Are there concerns parents have over how their kids are interacting with technology on a daily basis? I learned recently, not to my surprise, that the answer to the latter question was a resounding yes. Children are exposed to so much technology these days, and it is so compelling for them. How can we make sure they're using it responsibly? Most of my students have parents who...

By Kirk Hiner & Bill Stiteler | Technology Tell Apple has been highlighting features of the forthcoming iOS 6 for many months now, and new we finally get to see some features of the newest device to run it. The iPhone 5 is being unveiled today at 10:00 am PT (1:00 ET), and this link will take you to Technology Tell's live blog of the event. Live blog entries at TechnologyTell.com (click here) will update every 20 seconds. ...

Kindle for the iPhone/iPod and iPad has been updated: ...

From the App Store: iBooks 1.5 adds the following new features as well as some stability and performance improvements:• Nighttime reading theme makes reading books in the dark easier on the eyes.• Full-screen layout lets you focus on the words without distraction.• iBooks now features an improved selection of fonts, including Athelas, Charter, Iowan, and Seravek.• Beautiful new classic covers for public domain books.• A redesigned annotation palette makes it easier to choose a color for your highlighted text. ...

Ten years ago, the original iPod came out, changing Apple inexorably from a snooty little computer company whose best days were seemingly long behind it to one of the greatest powerhouses of the consumer electronics industry. Today it seems likely Apple is going to kill off the last vestige of that original hard-drive-and-music-player-only device. Yesterday Gizmodo took a look at some of the complaints and erroneous predictions of low sales surrounding the original device, and pointed out a CNet review by Elliot Van Buskirk predicting that descendants of the iPod might replace the PC. The funny thing is,...

On CNet, Donald Ball surveys a number of suggestions for what Apple can do to improve the iPod Touch, Apple’s “forgotten” iOS product. I’ve long held that the iPod Touch is Apple’s true “game-changer”. Maybe it doesn’t get as much press as the flashier iPhone and iPad, but it’s essentially a phoneless iPhone, containing most of the desirable features without the obnoxiously expensive contract. I have an 8GB 1st-gen iPod Touch that continues to be very useful for many purposes—I can whip it out to check my email anywhere there’s wifi, even if I don’t have my laptop or iPad on me,...

The latest chapter in the saga of patent troll Lodsys has come to light today. Despite having been told by Apple that it did not have grounds to sue developers for infringement, based on those developers' use of Apple’s in-app purchasing technology, Lodsys decided to go ahead and file lawsuits against seven developers. It actually filed three days ahead of its original deadline, in response to what it characterized as "Apple's threat." Not surprisingly, Lodsys claims that Apple has it wrong when it says that Apple's own agreement with Lodsys should cover those third-party developers: ...

For anyone looking for a highly pocketable ereader, Woot is selling a refurbished 8GB iPod Touch (current generation) for $170.  Aside from the locked-in iBookstore, the Touch can use apps for the Kindle, Nook, Kobo and others as an excellent ereader.  I read on my iPhone all the time and it shares the same Retina display as the Touch...

Here’s What’s Included in Today’s Update (via OverDrive Blogs): OverDrive Media Console for Android (v2.2) Sepia display option for eBooks Screen-dimming override for eBooks Faster EPUB performance Sleep timer for audiobooks OverDrive Media Console for iPhone/iPad (v2.2.1) Orientation lock for eBooks Night mode and sepia display option for eBooks Screen lock override for eBooks Improved range of font size settings In-app library “Website Finder” Via INFOdocket.com ...

Oregon school kids really seem to like iPod Touches (or should that be “iPods Touch”?). Two different, unrelated projects have come to light over the last few months using them to boost kids’ reading abilities. In the Canby School District, every third and fourth grade student has been issued an iPod Touch, which they use for reading and math exercises. Reports are that they do so quite well, too: In presentations, [district technology coordinator Joseph] Morelock has shown that several classrooms using the iPod touches generated better test scores than the district average. He...

On our sister blog Appletell, Charles Moore has a great article on why buying refurbished goods from Apple is actually a pretty good idea. I’ve long suspected this—I got my first iPod Touch as an Apple refurb—but it’s interesting to see it fully explained. Moore explains that refurbished products actually go through a more extensive quality testing process than new units before being offered for sale, and come with the same one year warranty and AppleCare eligibility as new units. The only real difference is that it’s cheaper and sometimes an older generation of hardware. (In fact, refurbished is...