Apple changing eduction with iBooks 2 & iBooks Author
It seems that the Steve Jobs legend lives on, and Apple today announced something I believe will change the future of eduction in our lives & our children’s lives forever.
Earlier today Apple announced a new version of their iBooks app (version 2) which now allows you to use and display interactive content in the book, paving the way for text books to be fully interactive in the class. Coupled with this announcement was a new FREE Mac app called iBooks Author which now allows you to create these books & publish them for FREE !!
Imagine the possibilities !!??
Also included in the announcement was a new app specifically designed for iTunesU, the “University” section of iTunes which allows educational institutions to publish course in iTunes and make them available for download. The app now gives you a dedicated interface into that part of the store.
To get an idea of the goodness of these game changing apps, do the following:
- Download or update to the new version of iBooks. The update is more geared towards the iPad though.
- iPad Only – Download the FREE interactive text book called – Life on Earth. Here you will get an idea of what the new capabilites of the app are
- Download the FREE iBooks Author app from the Mac App store. Here you can design and publish your own Textbook. If you that way inclined :)
I can’t wait to see if South African schools will pick up on this.
Rural Areas – iPad - 3G – Free Text Books – Interactive – Apple TV – Airplay —> BOOM ! :) *Just Imagine*
Buy iTunes music & movies in South Africa
One of the more frequent questions I get through my site is, “How can I buy music from the iTunes store ?” Because the current South African iTunes store doesn’t allow you buy music, due to regulations in South Africa, you need to get a US iTunes account.
Getting a US iTunes account is fairly quick & simple, and you need to follow a couple of easy steps to sign up for one. I have posted this before, specifically on how to get apps from the US iTunes store, but you can also use the account for music as well.
You can download the step-by-step guide by simply tweeting about the guide, with a “pay-with-a-tweet” option
Or, you can simply download the file directly from -> http://iguy.me/u4XhE1
Once you have your account, you will need to top it up using vouchers. I have used a couple of providers in South Africa, and I can say, all of these below are great, and they all deliver the codes instantly
- iEverything – Instant EFT, Credit Cards, Moneybookers
- WildTwig – PayPal
If you have any issues signing up for the US iTunes account, you can leave a comment below, and I will try and help where I can.
5 cool iOS5 Tips & Tricks
So, today is iOS5 day. I have been using iOS5 for a couple of weeks now, and I can promise that this update is probably the best I have seen of all the updates. There are loads of new features included in this release, and definitely make life a lot easier.
So, here are a couple of cool tips & tricks I have found over the last few weeks on how to make the best of iOS5. Some of them are a bit different and not your standard stuff. If you want a complete list of over 200 new features & changes, I highly suggest checking out this post on Techzoom.org – iOS 5: Complete List Of 200+ New Features or 15 iOS 5 tips from Cnet.
1. Keyboard shortcuts
Hidden deep in the new OS is a nifty feature called Keyboard Shortcuts, which will help you save time when typing the same message over & over. So like an email signature, or twitter hashtag. As an example, I have setup “omw”, which expands to “On My Way!”. This pops up in the same way as an auto complete.
To turn this feature on: Settings -> General -> Keyboard -> Keyboard -> Add New Shortcut. Very cool :)
2. iMessage
iMessage is an awesome new addition which allows instant messaging between iDevices. This also means iPod Touches, iPads & iPhones. For the iPad & iPod Touch you can set an email address (your Apple Account) as your contact address, while the iPhone works with Telephone number & email.
To make sure iMessage is turned on, go to Settings -> Messages -> iMessage -> On. To add an email address or phone number scroll down on that page, you can also add additional email addresses under the “Receive At” menu
3. WiFi Sync
Another cool feature is WiFi sync, which allows you to sync your phone over your WiFi network, ensuring you don’t need to plug it in every time. I can promise you this is a HUGE time saver, and syncing your phone becomes so simple. Apparently the phone also automatically syncs when it is plugged into a power source, although I haven’t used this yet. Another feature is you can now use your iDevice in the background while it is busy syncing. No more waiting hours to finish a sync.
To set up WiFi Sync, you need to ensure you have ticked the “Sync This iPhone over WiFi” check box in iTunes. You can do this after updating to iOS5 and your phone is still plugged in with a cable.
To do a manual WiFi Sync from the phone you need to do the following: Settings -> General -> iTunes WiFi Sync -> Sync Now. It will also show you the computer name you are trying to sync to.
4. Custom Vibrations
Ok, might seem like a bit of a silly one, but cause I have a bit of a hearing problem in 1 ear, this has def helped me quite a bit. You can also assign a specific vibration pattern to a specific contact. So if my wife phones me, it vibrates differently to other contacts. Soon you can pick up the differences :)
To set Custom Vibrations on you need to do the following
Settings -> General -> Accessibility -> And turn Custom Vibrations -> On (Another really cool tip here is to turn LED Flash for Alerts on, so your Camera LED flashes every time you get a call, message, or alert. Aka BB)
Once you have turned your Custom Vibrations on, you need to go to: Settings -> Sounds -> Scroll right to the bottom to Vibration Patterns. Click the Vibration button and You will see a list of predefined vibration alerts. You can create your own vibration pattern by tapping “Create new Vibration” And tap your new vibration sequence out. Loads of fun :)
To assign a Custom Vibration to a contact, go into contacts and edit, and then set the Vibration alert (about halfway down the page)
5. Notifications
Probably one of the best features in iOS5 is the new notification centre, which allows you to see any notifications you have received.
When you receive a notification for any app, missed call or voice mail, you can simply swipe from left to right on the home screen and it will take you directly into that app.
If you need to see all your previous notifications, on any screen in the phone, you simple drag the top bar (where the time is) down. This will bring up all your notifications from all your apps. And you can clear these by clicking on the x above each app. Tapping on a notification will open that app
You can also select which apps display on this screen by setting individual alerts under Settings -> Notifications -> And tapping on each app. You can then select a banner alert (top of screen) or Alerts (old style alerts) You can also set how many alerts per app you want to see, or turn the alerts off completely.
And that is my top 5 tips & tricks. Of course there are LOADS more. Any cool ones you have picked up on ? Leave a comment below.
Setup iTunes wireless syncing & see purchased songs
With the release of iOS5 & iCloud earlier today by Apple, a new feature called Automatic Downloads was introduced & it seems that the iTunes syncing & ability to download purchased songs is now available. This means that if you previously downloaded a song, app or book on your iPhone, it will now be available on the iPad & vice versa.
(Big thanks to @yash0505 who pointed this out to me.Thanks :) )
To get this set up follow these steps:
- On your iPhone or iPad go to Settings -> Store
- You will see a new menu, called Automatic Downloads appears which allows you to turn on what you want to sync
- Then go into your iTunes app, and you will see a new tab called “Purchased” appears. Here you will see all your previous music that you have bought.
- You can re-download this music to your device.
- If you buy any new music, on either device, it will automatically sync to the other
- Same goes for apps, and you will now see a purchased tab under the update menu on either device.
This is a huge step up, as previously you could not download your purchased music to another device. Thanks Apple :)
[Press Release] Apple introduces iCloud
SAN FRANCISCO—June 6, 2011—Apple today introduced iCloud, a breakthrough set of free new cloud services that work seamlessly with applications on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and automatically and wirelessly push it to all your devices. When anything changes on one of your devices, all of your devices are wirelessly updated almost instantly.
“Today it is a real hassle and very frustrating to keep all your information and content up-to-date across all your devices,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iCloud keeps your important information and content up to date across all your devices. All of this happens automatically and wirelessly, and because it’s integrated into our apps you don’t even need to think about it—it all just works.”
The free iCloud services include:
• The former MobileMe services—Contacts, Calendar and Mail—all completely re-architected and rewritten to work seamlessly with iCloud. Users can share calendars with friends and family, and the ad-free push Mail account is hosted at me.com. Your inbox and mailboxes are kept up-to-date across all your iOS devices and computers.
• The App Store and iBookstore now download purchased iOS apps and books to all your devices, not just the device they were purchased on. In addition, the App Store and iBookstore now let you see your purchase history, and simply tapping the iCloud icon will download any apps and books to any iOS device (up to 10 devices) at no additional cost.
• iCloud Backup automatically and securely backs up your iOS devices to iCloud daily over Wi-Fi when you charge your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Backed up content includes purchased music, apps and books, Camera Roll (photos and videos), device settings and app data. If you replace your iOS device, just enter your Apple ID and password during setup and iCloud restores your new device.
• iCloud Storage seamlessly stores all documents created using iCloud Storage APIs, and automatically pushes them to all your devices. When you change a document on any device, iCloud automatically pushes the changes to all your devices. Apple’s Pages, Numbers and Keynote apps already take advantage of iCloud Storage. Users get up to 5GB of free storage for their mail, documents and backup—which is more amazing since the storage for music, apps and books purchased from Apple, and the storage required by Photo Stream doesn’t count towards this 5GB total. Users will be able to buy even more storage, with details announced when iCloud ships this fall.
• iCloud’s innovative Photo Stream service automatically uploads the photos you take or import on any of your devices and wirelessly pushes them to all your devices and computers. So you can use your iPhone to take a dozen photos of your friends during the afternoon baseball game, and they will be ready to share with the entire group on your iPad (or even Apple TV) when you return home. Photo Stream is built into the photo apps on all iOS devices, iPhoto on Macs, and saved to the Pictures folder on a PC. To save space, the last 1,000 photos are stored on each device so they can be viewed or moved to an album to save forever. Macs and PCs will store all photos from the Photo Stream, since they have more storage. iCloud will store each photo in the cloud for 30 days, which is plenty of time to connect your devices to iCloud and automatically download the latest photos from Photo Stream via Wi-Fi.
• iTunes in the Cloud lets you download your previously purchased iTunes music to all your iOS devices at no additional cost, and new music purchases can be downloaded automatically to all your devices. In addition, music not purchased from iTunes can gain the same benefits by using iTunes Match, a service that replaces your music with a 256 kbps AAC DRM-free version if we can match it to the over 18 million songs in the iTunes Store, it makes the matched music available in minutes (instead of weeks to upload your entire music library), and uploads only the small percentage of unmatched music. iTunes Match will be available this fall for a $24.99 annual fee. Apple today is releasing a free beta version of iTunes in the Cloud, without iTunes Match, for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users running iOS 4.3. iTunes in the Cloud will support all iPhones that iOS 5 supports this fall.
Apple is ready to ramp iCloud in its three data centers, including the third recently completed in Maiden, NC. Apple has invested over $500 million in its Maiden data center to support the expected customer demand for the free iCloud services.
Pricing & Availability
The iCloud beta and Cloud Storage APIs are available immediately to iOS and Mac Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iCloud will be available this fall concurrent with iOS 5. Users can sign up for iCloud for free on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 5 or a Mac running Mac OS X Lion with a valid Apple ID. iCloud includes 5GB of free cloud storage for Mail, Document Storage and Backup. Purchased music, apps, books and Photo Stream do not count against the storage limit. iTunes Match will be available for $24.99 per year (US only).
iTunes in the Cloud is available today in the US and requires iTunes 10.3 and iOS 4.3.3. Automatic download of apps and books is available today. Using iCloud with a PC requires Windows Vista or Windows 7; Outlook 2010 or 2007 is recommended for accessing contacts and calendars.
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 has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.
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