Over the last two years of owning the iPad, I have downloaded lots of different apps, some of which were free and a fair few that cost hard cash!
At the recent JISC RSC SW TurboTEL event in Taunton I delivered a ten minute presentation on my favourite iPad apps.
Here are the links to all the apps in the iTunes App Store as well as a brief description of what the app is about and why I like it. Continue reading A few of my favourite things…
London Mini A-Z – iPhone App of the Week
This is a regular feature of the blog looking at the various iPhone 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. Though called iPhone App of the Week, most of these apps will also work on the iPod touch.
This week’s App is London Mini A-Z.
This map is a digital rendition of the famous “London A-Z Mini Atlas” and covers an area from West Hendon in the North West to Grove Park in the South East. Add this application to your iPhone or iPod Touch and you will have instant access to all 352 pages of the London Mini A-Z printed map.
Covering 141 Square Miles (367 Square Kilometers) and with more than 32,000 streets and additional places of interest. This map is drawn by real cartographers with the detailed care and human touch of emphasis and colour that A-Z are famous for. Internet maps are OK but you really can’t beat the genuine article.
With the maps installed on your device there is never any need for an internet connection enabling you to access the map anywhere and at anytime.
£5.99
If you are as old as me you may recall buying maps rather than using Sat Nav or Maps on your iPhone.
One of the things I use to buy a lot were A to Z books of various places I went to as either the provided maps were useless or I was. More often then not I would forget them the next time I was in the city and would buy a second (or even third copy). You would think I could just pop into the newsagents and flick through the A to Z and
This app is bascially a virtual recreation of those A to Z books. With the advantage that as it is on your iPhone it will be lighter and easier to carry. You can locate yourself using the phone’s built in GPS which is helpful; and you can use multi-touch to zoom in and out as well.
So why not use the built-in maps function? Well that App as good as it is, does depend on having a good internet connection. You would think in central London that this wouldn’t be a problem and most times it isn’t a problem however of course when you do in fact need it for real, is when the 3G network will let you down.
So for the iPod touch, the App starts to make even more sense with its dependency on WiFi and no 3G.
Now this is a useful app if you travel to lots of different places in London and want to ensure that the maps are on the device. If you only visit the big smoke now and again, I suspect the built in Maps app will be more than sufficient.
Fancy some free maps?
Ordnance Survey is now providing a selection of free, downloadable, basic small-scale maps of Great Britain for you to use for your own purpose. GB outlines with and without administrative boundaries are available in EPS, TIF, PDF, GIF and WMF format; download the style and format of your choice to use in your word processing, presentation or graphics application.
If you like what you see but require more detail, Ordnance Survey produce a range of large format, full colour OS Wall maps that may be of interest. The free GB coastline and administrative areas map is derived from the United Kingdom Administrative wall map, a wall map ideal for business or educational use.
Download them from Ordnance Survey.
Perfect for when creating handouts that require an outine of the UK.
BBC News is reporting on how Nokia want you to replace your paper maps with a map on yur mobile.
Nokia has launched navigation tools designed to make the paper street map obsolete for pedestrians.
The firm’s next generation of digital maps gives real-time walking directions on the mobile phone screen, just like sat-nav systems which guide drivers.
“Nokia is taking navigation services out of the car so it can always be with you,” said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, president and CEO of the firm.
“Struggling with oversized paper maps will become a thing of the past.”
Photo source.
The new upgrades to the iPod touch do make it much more useful to learners who want to use it to “learn while mobile”.
It’s the best email you’ve ever seen on a handheld device. View rich HTML email with graphics and photos displayed inline, as well as PDF and Microsoft Word and Excel attachments.
Whether it’s the best is down to personal opinion…
However now that it can receive and send e-mail (outside webmail) and view Word and Excel attachments (no mention of PowerPoint) and PDFs (okay save that presentation as a PDF) means that it is now possible to read more stuff on the iPod touch then you could before.
I quite like the idea of the Maps feature, whether it will actually work in practice is a different story.
As you can e-mail notes this means that learners will be able to send their tutors answers to questions, etc…
Currently downloading and installing the 165MB software update and then I might buy and install the new apps.