Outline: The Education Apple - episode 17

“The show that discusses Apple technology in the formal Classroom as well as in the classroom of our daily lives”

1. The Cast

• Barrett Mosbacker, Superintendent of Briarwood Christian School, publisher Christian School Journal

• Bill Brazeal, Technical Architect, Technology Specialist and Principal - ezNet Solutions

2. Week in Review

• iOS 7: Thoughts and Questions

• Layers - “Flat” is really 3-D - architecture that is a good example of how software and hardware can work together to create a more “vital” experience that feels “human”

• New parallax effect for the Home screen, which enables icons and other GUI elements to “follow your eyes” as you tilt a device.

• Transparency - Essentially every element that is layered on top of others is translucent, so that you’ll be able to get a hint of what’s underneath

• System keyboard is slightly redesigned and can hint at what is below it with a bit of transparency

• Motion - New animations and gestures based on the principle that motion conveys information

• tapping an icon doesn’t simply bring up an app – iOS “zooms” into an icon to get to the fullscreen app view

• Close an app with the Home button – the system zooms out and you’re back to the Home screen

• Multitasking tray is gone, leaving room for a swipeable gallery of recently used apps - As you double-click to switch between apps, the current app zooms out, and you’re presented with a horizontal list of app icons and previews of how you left them; the Home screen is always to the leftmost side of the switcher

• New Functionality:

• Notification Center has been enhanced with three separate tabs (Today, ALL, and Missed)

• Control Center - Option Buttons: Airplane Mode,Wifi, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb, Orientation Lock; Brightness slider; playback controls for audio; Airdrop settings; Airplay; Bottom Buttons: Flashlight, Clock, Calculator, & Camera

• Hopefully Control Center will be modifiable!

• Siri changes - new look with soundwave animation (but no textual siri like google voice); New voices; inline web searches provided by Bing

• New Siri data providers - Wikipedia and Twitter

• icon anomalies seen in demo - should be corrected in final version
  

• Will FaceTime audio bring VoIP calling into regular, everyday smartphone use?

  • By adding audio only calling to FaceTime, Apple has created their own Skype. Opens up VoIP to the masses

  • No third party app or additional user ids needed, built right in to iOS so everyone that has an iPhone has the service

  • Basically indistinguishable from a regular phone call

  • This could be a very similar hit with users as iMessage has been

  • What effects will this have on carriers?

  • Skype just announced Video Messaging
    

• Google acquires mapping service Waze

  • Its a community based service that crowd-sources traffic and road information in order to keep its maps up to date

  • Based in Israel, Waze offers iOS and Android users free turn-by-turn navigation

  • Waze uses community-shared gas prices to help drivers save money at the pumps

  • Google claims that “for now” the Waze team in Israel can operate as a separate entity

  • Can we expect to see many of Waze’s defining features popping up in Google Maps over the next few months?
    

• Apple to Release New Version of Final Cut Pro Alongside New Mac Pro

  • Confirmation comes from none other than Phil Schiller himself

  • The Final Cut Pro team is hard at work on a version of Final Cut Pro X that will support all the performance and graphic capabilities of this machine

  • The new FCPX will support 1080p video editing and output, as well as support for the powerful new graphics chips in the forthcoming Mac Pro

  • Likely that Apple will address long-time complaints over Final Cut Pro X, such as the removal of features

Very Interesting Category

• AT&T Pushes Emergency Alert Update to iPhone Users

  • AT&T began pushing an update to iPhone users over the weekend that adds support for Wireless Emergency Alerts  -  “Carrier Setting Updated”

  • WEA (Wireless Emergency Alerts) system sends text messages to smartphone owners alerting them to physical threats like earthquakes and tornados, man-made disasters, AMBER Alerts, and Presidential alerts

  • Once installed, alerts will appear as special text messages and are delivered based on your location. For example, if an AMBER alert is issued for a missing child and you're in the same city, you'll see the notification

  • In Settings → Notifications at the very bottom the AMBER and Emergency Alerts can be turned off

  • No option to turn off Presidential Alerts!

Update - Fun Category (Kickstarter)

• Spinpod: Seamless panoramic & motion time-lapse photography

• A motion control unit for your iPhone, Android and Camera that is fun, simple-to-use, and fits in your pocket

• It take seamless panoramic pictures and dynamic motion time-lapse videos

• Less than two weeks ago campain was at $32K

• Currently over $65K with 12 days to go (only $10K away from goal of $75K)

• Dolly system add-on (looks like a roller skate without the shoe) - The Dolly System is an add-on for the Spinpod which allows you to take linear and curved time-lapse videos

• Just add $75 to any reward tier to have the Dolly System included in your pledge

3. iWork in iCloud: How it may affect my syncing strategy

• Apple says iWork in iCloud is a browser-based, but fully functional version of the iWork suite

• It’s a feature rich, and, apparently uncrippled version of each of the apps. Apple’s Roger Rosner demonstrated features like adding pictures and animations to a Keynote file

• Apple did say that the iWork suite will get updated “later this year,” but offered no details on what features it might have

• It may be that people were not more interested in this presentation because they were anticipating the iWork suite overhaul

• Implications are big for the online version as it breaks down the wall between Windows and Mac users

• No mention of collaboration tools (such as Google Docs)

• This could be a big help to our students using iPads. They can presumably use a desktop at home (PC?) to work on iWorks documents even if they don’t have a Mac at home--just an iCloud account.

4. Future podcasts to cover Mavericks and iRadio in more detail

• One thing from each of these announcements that caught our attention

• Bill:

  • Mavericks: Multiple display support and Apple TV included

  • iRadio: Free with no ads for iMatch subscribers

• Barrett:

  • Mavericks: Tagging and Tabs in Finder

  • iRadio:  

     

5. Wrap up and closing remarks...

Don’t forget to follow us on the Internet

Bill: Twitter - @billbrazeal         Web - http://billbrazeal.com

Barrett: Twitter - @BMosbacker

Blog:  The Christian School Journal http://christianschooljournal.com/

Thanks for listening in, be sure to tell your friends, watch for our next episode coming in two weeks.  So long for now.