Monthly Archives: June 2011

app of the week, ipad, iphone

Artify – iPad App of the Week

Leave a comment

Artify – iPad App of the Week

This is a regular feature of the blog looking at various Apps available. Some of the apps will be useful for those involved in learning technologies, others will be useful in improving the way in which you work, whilst a few will be just plain fun! Some will be free, others will cost a little and one or two will be what some will think is quite expensive.

This week’s App is Artify.

Inspired by the great Impressionist painters Monet, Renoir, and Degas, Artify instantly transforms your favorite photos into masterpieces. Create gorgeous impressionistic interpretations of photos of friends, family, landscapes, or anything at all. Reveal and highlight any detail you want with just the touch of a finger.

Simple, elegant and instant:

• Take or import photos and transform them with a single touch of the “Artify!” button into impressionistic artwork
• Choose from three different styles to “Artify” with – each creates a unique look
• Reveal faces or other detail with a stroke of your finger, for a gorgeous mix of soft and sharp that will delight your friends and family
• Zoom in, Pan, Undo and Redo to get the exact effects you want, with fine detail control
• Customize and create your own unique version of a favorite pic by turning your fingertip into a small, medium or large brush
• Hit “Clear” to start again from a clean copy of the original photo
• Nothing to “learn” – Artify is instant and intuitive. One touch and your favorite photo is a masterpiece
• Share your artified pics in email, or post to Facebook or Twitter right from the app
• New photos and artified works are autosaved to camera roll for you to keep
• Create unlimited Artified versions of your pics. Each time you “Artify!” you create a unique interpretation of the image
• Artify now supports extra-large resolution images!

£1.19

Okay I like apps like this, I liked ToonPAINT for example that turns images into comics. This app turns photographs into artworks…

Well not quite…

It does certainly apply a filter to images on your iPad (or your iPhone) and make them look different.

Does it turn it into artwork?

I think not.

However the effect is quite pleasing and it’s something that might work as a presentation background.

You can partially remove the “effect” to emphasise a key part of the photo if you want to.

The real advantage of this app is that it is simple, and the one thing it does, it does quickly and easily.

Get Artify in the iTunes App Store.

ipad

iPad Apps – RSC SW Turbo TEL

Leave a comment

Last week I attended the JISC RSC SW Turbo TEL event in Bristol. In a change to previous conferences that I have attended and delivered at, this one comprised short six minute presentations and an opportunity for delegates to talk about things they wanted to.

I did a few presentations, one was on using the VLE better, based on my series here on the blog of 100 ways to use a VLE and another on iPad apps.

I did prepare a presentation, but in the end I showed the apps live through the iPad. The presentation shows most of the apps I did demo.

You can read reviews of most of them through my app of the week feature.

Update

Here is a list of the Apps I covered in the session with links to the iOS App Store.

AudioNote – Notepad and Voice Recorder – Luminant Software, Inc

Snapseed for iPad – Nik Software, Inc.

Comic Life – plasq LLC

Dragon Dictation – Nuance Communications

Eureka Sports Science – Times Newspapers Limited

Flipboard – Flipboard Inc.

GarageBand – Apple®

Keynote – Apple®

iThoughtsHD (mindmapping) – CMS

Pocket Heart by Pocket Anatomy™ : The Interactive Human Body. – Pocket Anatomy

app of the week, ipad

LIFE for iPad – iPad App of the Week

Leave a comment

LIFE for iPad – iPad App of the Week

This is a regular feature of the blog looking at various Apps available. Some of the apps will be useful for those involved in learning technologies, others will be useful in improving the way in which you work, whilst a few will be just plain fun! Some will be free, others will cost a little and one or two will be what some will think is quite expensive.

This week’s App is LIFE for iPad.

LIFE for iPad is a spectacular experience: LIFE’s legendary photo collection at a never-before-seen resolution. Download the free app to explore LIFE’s vast archives, up-to-the-minute news photos, and special features not available anywhere else.

– View high definition (HD) photo galleries featuring this enormous collection of professional, endless fascinating, and historically significant photography.
-Immerse yourself in the map-based LIFE Explorer view that allows you to find photos based on where they were taken.
-“Email”, “Facebook”, and “Twitter” buttons allow you to easily send LIFE photos to friends or post them to your favorite social networks.
– Take millions of high-resolution photos with you everywhere you go.
– Travel through this app by swiping side-to-side or using the interactive filmstrip mode.

Free

I have a few photo galley apps like LIFE on my iPad, it’s a bit like having a coffee table book you can flick through.

There are some really good photographs to be found in the LIFE app and one aspect of the app I do like is the ability to easily share the images with others either through e-mail, Facebook or Twitter.

For example, having found a great image of the Space Shuttle I can send the link to my social network or via e-mail.

The LIFE galleries cover a huge range of subjects, topics and countries.

The only downside is the odd advert which pops up, which I can accept as it is a free app, however it is somewhat discordant when going through a gallery on a delicate subject, such as war, for an advert to pop up about a celebrity magazine!

You do also need an internet connection so remember that too.

facebook, podcast

e-Learning Stuff Podcast #077: I resign as mayor!

4 Comments

GPS Status app - HTC Desire

So why has David Sugden resigned as mayor? Why do people use Foursquare and other geo-services? Is there any benefit to teaching and learning, if so what is it?

With David Sugden and James Clay

This is the seventy seventh e-Learning Stuff Podcast, I resign as mayor!

Download the podcast in mp3 format: I resign as mayor!

Shownotes

vle

Using the VLE better – RSC SW Turbo TEL

2 Comments

Yesterday I attended the JISC RSC SW Turbo TEL event in Bristol. In a change to previous conferences that I have attended and delivered at, this one comprised short six minute presentations and an opportunity for delegates to talk about things they wanted to.

I did a few presentations, one though was on using the VLE better, based on my series here on the blog of 100 ways to use a VLE.

I delivered over fifty slides with over fifty ways in which the VLE can be used to support, enhance and enrich learning in just six minutes.

The idea behind the presentation was not about substance, can you really do substance in six minutes; it was about inspiring others to think about how they could work with practitioners (and learners) to use the VLE more effectively to support the learning process. The fifty odd ideas (and the 100 ways articles) are based on how practitioners at my college (and others) are using the VLE now with learners everyday.

presentation

Prezing

1 Comment

I know a lot of people like and use Prezi, though I created an account back in 2009 or thereabouts, I have not yet managed to create even a single presentation until now.

I am delivering some training this week and wanted to include Prezi, so I thought I ought to create at least one presentation. Having planned the presentation on “paper” well using a Word Processor, I then created the presentation using Prezi.

Using the PSP on Prezi

It was quite simple to create, though I would recommend going through the tutorial. Designing the presentation takes a little more thought than the standard slides you find in Powerpoint or Keynote. But you can add images and video quite easily.

I am still a little unsure of the real benefits of Prezi, in some ways it reminds me of Powerpoint with vomit-inducing transitions. Though I do like the fact that it is possible to see the whole presentation on the screen at once and go to where you want to go in a non-linear fashion. In many ways I think Prezi works better allowing individuals to explore the presentation at their own pace, over showing the presentation to a large group. Of course if you show it first and then allow exploration later, it does work better than Powerpoint in that way.