Category Archives: apple

apple, iphone, nokia

Nokia working on iPhone’esque mobile phone

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Nokia has confirmed it is working on a new phone which it hopes will match and exceed the functionality and capability of Apple’s iPhone.Nokia working on iPhone-esque mobile phone

The Register reports

Nokia has confirmed that it’s developing a touchscreen-equipped handset to take on the Apple iPhone, and has shown off pictures of the upcoming phone to drooling onlookers.

It looks like it will support Java and Flash and include a DVB-H digital television tuner as well.

It seems like every new phone released with a touch interface is touted as the iPhone killer, however nearly all (well all) don’t live up to the hype.

My experiences with the LG Viewty certainly demonstrate to me that it is not an iPhone killer, it will be interesting to see if this Nokia “Tube” can meet the challenge.

apple, iphone, ipod touch, m-learning

University of the future?

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Abilene Christian University (ACU) have announced that they would be issuing iPhones or iPod Touches to incoming freshman for use in their college courses and day to day lives.

At ACU – the first university in the nation to provide these cutting-edge media devices to its incoming class – freshmen will use the iPhones or iPod Touches to receive homework alerts, answer in-class surveys and quizzes, get directions to their professors’ offices, and check their meal and account balances – among more than 15 other useful web applications already developed, said ACU Chief Information Officer Kevin Roberts.

YouTube Video Links

For those who have inadvertently blocked YouTube

Mobile Learning – Abilene Christian University

What might a university look like with a fully deployed program of converged devices like the iPhone? Connected is one possible vision. This fictional day-in-the-life account highlights some of the potential benefits in a higher education setting when every student, faculty, and staff member is “connected.” Though the applications and functions portrayed in the film are purely speculative, they’re based on needs and ideas uncovered by our research – and we’ve already been making strides to transform this vision of mobile learning (mLearning) into reality.

Links

ACU first university in nation to provide iPhone or iPod touch to all incoming freshmen – Abilene Christian University

An Apple iPhone or iPod touch will become a central part of Abilene Christian University’s innovative learning experience this fall when all freshmen are provided one of these converged media devices, said Phil Schubert, ACU executive vice president.

Apple Working to Deploy iPhones at Universities – Mac Rumors

Abilene Christian University (ACU) announced yesterday that they would be issuing iPhones or iPod Touches to incoming freshman for use in their college courses and day to day lives.

apple, iphone, ipod touch

New Apple products announced

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Those who know me will know that I am a bit of a fan of Apple products, not exclusively, but I do like good design and stylish kit.

Yesterday in San Francisco at MacWorld Expo, Apple announced some new products and upgrades for the iPod touch and iPhone.

Key new product announced at the keynote was the MacBook Air, a small light MacBook.

New Apple products announced

I do like small computers, great fan of the 10″ Sony VAIO laptops, however this is slightly bigger than I would like, and I can’t see how that would survive travelling by air or train.

Don’t get me wrong I think it’s very stylish, well designed, but doesn’t meet my needs for a small portable computer for use at conferences, on the train and in coffee shops.

No rumoured touchscreen, nor a Blu-ray drive either (actually no optical drive, though cleverly you can use your other Mac’s drive wirelessly, which is a very clever piece of software and something I would like to use with Windows UMPCs).

There was also upgrades for the iPhone and iPod touch announced which provide additional applications, annoyingly free on the iPhone and a £12.99 upgrade for the iPod touch.

Huh!

Probably worth it for the e-mail and notes applications which make the iPod touch a more interactive device.

Also announced was a new Airport Extreme base station which comes with a 500GB or 1TB drive for Time Machine backups.

On the Americans get the opportunity to rent films, here in the UK we don’t.

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iTunes U, now more than University

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Apple have expanded their iTunes U service to cover other educational broadcasts beyond Universities.

iTunes U

Ars Technica in their reporting say:

Apple has now created an entire new section of “the U” just for you active learners, however. In a section coined “Beyond Campus,” Apple has begun hosting podcasts from educational sources other than academia. In a Chronicle article Apple VP of iTunes Eddy Cue says that lots of people are happy to share this educational content, but that they just didn’t have a means until now. 

Looking like their could be some more useful content available.

apple, iphone, ipod touch

SDK for iPod touch too

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Yesterday I mentioned that Apple were going to allow third party applications for the iPhone. What is nice is that they are also going to allow developers using their software developers kit (SDK) to create applications for the iPod touch as well.

Apple in their press release said:

P.S.: The SDK will also allow developers to create applications for iPod touch.

Excellent, this means that developers will be able to create applications for the iPhone and the iPod touch.

Thanks Gary.

apple, iphone

Apple to allow iPhone third party applications

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Anyone who has been following the iPhone (despite it not been available in the UK until November 9th) will know that one of the complaints about the iPhone was the lack of third party applications.

iPhone

Now some clever people managed to “hack” the iPhone to allow third party applications, this was recently broken by an update from Apple.

It is now been reported that Apple have announced that they will be allowing third party application development.

Apple boss Steve Jobs has said that outside developers will now be allowed to make add-on software for the iPhone.

“We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users,” said Mr Jobs.

This will be useful for those who are interested in using the iPhone for educational purposes as now educational or learning applications could be created.

I wonder also if such applications could work on the iPod touch, I am guessing no.

Photo source

apple, audio, ipod touch, nokia, psp, video

BBC Review Four Wifi Media Players

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The BBC has published a review of four of the top wifi capable media players currently on the market.

The Sony PSP, the Nokia N800, the Archos 605wifi and (of course) the Apple iPod touch.

Gadget lovers are spoilt for choice when it comes to portable media players, with an increasing number offering web access through wi-fi connections. We take a look at four different players – Sony’s PSP Slim, Archos 605wifi, Nokia’s N800 and the Apple iPod touch – and assess their strengths and weaknesses in different categories.

Their winner, well it’s only fair that you check out the article, but it doesn’t surprise me.

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University students using Macs more

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It would appear that the market share of Apple Macs amongst University students is on the rise (well in the US anyway).

According to Macrumors, 40% of Princeton’s students and staff are using Macs compared to 10% just four years ago.

The Princeton University newspaper reports that Princeton’s Mac marketshare has been rising dramatically, with 40 percent of students and faculty currently using a Mac as their personal computer. This number is up from only 10% of Mac users on campus only 4 years ago. And this number could still be growing. This year, the University’s Student Computer Initiative reportedly sold more Macs than PC’s, with 60 percent of students choosing a Mac, up from 45 percent just last year. Students were offered a choice of Dell, IBM and Apple computers.

To be honest this doesn’t surprise me, when you consider that the new Intel Macs can now all run Windows (either through Parallels or Boot Camp for example) then you can get a Mac and still use Windows when you need to.

I do wonder though if this growth is reflected over here in the UK.

In the UK I have noticed at e-learning events with a predominantly HE prescence, I have seen many more Macs then I use to, I can recall when I was the only person with a Mac.

At FE dominated events, there are fewer (if any) Macs about.

So are you using a Mac?