Saturday, April 20, 2024

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Outline: The Education Apple - episode 18


“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

  • Apple 'Aggressively' Hiring for Smart Watch Project, Looking Toward Late 2014 Launch

    • Suggesting that the company needs additional expertise to tackle the project's challenges

    • raises questions over the ability of its own engineers to develop wearable technology

    • Indication that the endeavour involves “hard engineering problems that they’ve not been able to solve”

    • Earlier this month, it was revealed that Apple has hired Paul Deneve, formerly the CEO of fashion house Yves Saint Laurent, to work on "special projects"

    • Apple has been filing trademark applications on the iWatch name in a number of countries, something the company typically does relatively close to its product launches, but it appears in this case that Apple may still have significant work left to do before it can bring its smartwatch to market

  • AT&T’s Leap Wireless deal is yet another sign of the sector’s consolidation

    • AT&T, the second largest US mobile carrier, has agreed to acquire smaller competitor Leap Wireless for $15 a share in cash

    • Leap, the sixth-largest wireless carrier in the US, relatively small carrier

    • Need to expand spectrum to  improve their networks due to increased video sharing on mobile phones

    • Block some of T-Mobile’s spectrum expansion - 60% of Leaps spectrum is in band where T-Mobile has a major presence

    • Leap Wireless, whose network covers approximately 96 million people, is best known for its Cricket brand in the United States. AT&T says it plans to retain Cricket and expand the familiar brand to additional cities in the US

    • The deal also has big implications for AT&T's spectrum holdings: the carrier says Leap's PCS and AWS bands are "largely complementary to AT&T’s existing spectrum licenses" and that it will "immediately" put all unused spectrum gained in the deal towards its growing 4G LTE network

  • Started from the bottom, now we’re here: $YHOO earns $1.1B in Q2

    • Seven percent decline year over year from Q2 2012 revenues of $1.2 billion

    • Ad revenue was $472 million for the second quarter of 2013, a 12 percent decrease compared to $535 million for the second quarter of 2012

    • Yahoo’s stock rose around 12 percent for the quarter, continuing a remarkable comeback trend for the company (up 74% over 365 days ago when Mayer took over)

    • Share price run-up largely due to its stake in Alibaba Group (China’s largest e-commerce company)

    • Focusing more on mobile - new apps Weather & Mail, overhauled News, Search and Flickr

    • Killed off products - AltaVista, RSS Alerts, Axis

    • Acquired Astrid (to-do app), Qwiki, Bignoggins (fantasy sports app), Flickr

    • Mayer is responsible for 17 or 83 mergers and acquisitions in Yahoo history (20%)


  • Microsoft Forced to Slash Surface RT Prices Despite Vigorous Anti-iPad Ad Campaign

    • Microsoft is dropping the prices of its Surface RT tablets by $150

    • Likely the result of lackluster sales

    • Microsoft had sold just 1.5 million Surface RT and Surface Pro tablets since they debuted in October of 2012

    • The Surface pricing change comes just after Microsoft announced a restructuring of the company, aiming to enhance collaboration and unify its product lineup

    • With the discount, Microsoft's pricing will be as follows:

      • Surface RT 32GB: $349.99

      • Surface RT 64GB: $449.99

      • Surface RT 32GB with Touch Cover: $449.99

      • Surface RT 64GB with Touch Cover: $549.99

  • Google Announces All New iOS Maps App – Coming Soon, Complete With iPad Support!

    • Google just announced that they will be revamping the Google Maps app unveiled last May, adding support for both Android devices and Apple’s iPad, as well as adding a number of new features

    • Enhanced Navigation: The app will also include a new feature alerting you of bad traffic conditions, and directing you around potential traffic jams, closures, or detours, and more (Picked up from Waze?)

    • Explore: Explore is a fast and easy way to visually browse and discover new places without even typing

    • Designed for tablets: A dedicated tablet design brings all the features of this new app to Android tablets and iPads

    • Reviews, Zagat and Offers: There’s a new 5.0 star rating system that gives you a quick read on how your friends and others rate places like restaurants, bars and cafes

  • YouTube's massive Los Angeles studio helps creators make better videos, for free

    • Google has been focused on making YouTube more than just a source for homemade, user-generated videos

    • Google is now colliding with Hollywood in yet another way: last year, the company rented a huge, 41,000-square-foot building in Los Angeles

    • Not just anyone can show up and make a video here — according to YouTube, creators will need at least 10,000 followers, a consistent publishing schedule, over 100,000 views per month, and a number of other requirements

    • Studio includes elaborate sets, green screens, visual effects stations, make-up rooms, and more — professional-caliber facilities that don't cost anything to use

    • Another interesting Google business model - but the more Google can raise the quality of YouTube's content, the more advertisers it can attract, and the more it can charge for those ads


Fun Category

  • When I Say Jump … Marissa Mayer Gives Yahoo Employees Up Fitness Bands

    • 11,000 employees to receive a fitness band

    • The trendy wrist devices, track movement, sleep patterns and other data and also allows you to share information with a group of friends about your activity

    • Giving staffers new smartphones and free food are typical benefits at Internet companies in Silicon Valley but they were not at Yahoo pre-Mayer

    • The bands cost $129.99 retail and come in a range of colors

    • The gesture makes sense, since Mayer recently joined the board of the San Francisco startup, Jawbone, which makes Up


3. Going Paperless - Barrett’s experience

  • http://christianschooljournal.com/?p=1154

    • Why

      • Increase productivity by being able to find any document or message from any device, anytime, anyplace.

      • Have one central “inbox” for everything that I receive so that I can quickly process it.

      • Become more efficient by speeding up my workflow.

      • Improve the ability to collaborate with my colleagues and associates anywhere in the world.

      • Have automatic backups of all of my documents, communications, research, and books in the event of hardware failure, fire, or natural catastrophe.

      • Be able to take notes in my many meetings and instantly have them saved and available for retrieval and sharing as needed.

      • Be able to easily convert meeting notes into tasks for myself or others.

      • Manage people and projects so that nothing falls through the cracks and to ensure that I am on top of all projects.

      • Manage my calendar and schedule so that it does not manage me.

      • Have an archive of all documents and communications for future reference should they be needed for projects or legal matters.

      • Reduce the cost of printing, filing, and mailing.

      • Eliminate filing cabinets and free up space.

      • Reduce paper to be more environmentally responsible.

      • Have a clutter free low stress work space.


  • What I use:

    • Hardware: Mac, iPad, iPhone, Logitech Fabriskin Keyboard for iPad,  Fujitsu scanner

    • Primary Software

      • iWorks (Mac/iPad/iPhone)

      • iLife (Mac/iPad/iPhone)

      • Google Docs and Drive (Mac/iPad,iPhone)

      • Google Hangouts (Mac/iPad,iPhone)

      • Skype (Mac/iPad,iPhone)

      • Byword (Mac/iPad,iPhone) using Markdown (Markdown is a lightweight markup language, originally created by John Gruber with substantial contributions from Aaron Swartz, allowing people “to write using an easy-to-read, easy-to-write plain text format, then convert it to structurally valid XHTML or HTML

      • Scrivener (Mac)

      • Papers2 (Mac)

      • TextExpander (Mac/iPad,iPhone)

      • Dropbox (Mac/iPad,iPhone)

      • Evernote (Mac/iPad,iPhone)

      • OmniFocus (Mac/iPad,iPhone)

      • OmniOutliner (Mac/iPad)

      • PDFPenPro (Mac/iPad,iPhone)

      • 1Password (Mac/iPad,iPhone)

      • iBooks (iPad/iPhone)

      • Kindle App. (Mac/iPad,iPhone)

      • Flipboard (Mac/iPad,iPhone)

      • Zite (Mac/iPad,iPhone)


4. Apps and Followings (please update your picks below when you have determined what you will cover)

  • Barrett -

    • App pick (Rename it)

    • Twitter pick (ReadWrite) @RW 1,309,000 followers. One of the most widely read and respected tech blogs in the world.

  • Bill -

    • App pick 1 ( Instagram ) - Free

      • Just released new version that allows for 15 second video clips

      • 15 second video trailer of the Steve Jobs movie

      • square shaped photos and video

      • Launched in October 2010

      • Purchased by Facebook for $1 Billion on April 3, 2012 just before FB went public

      • As of Feb 2013 - 100 million active users

    • Twitter pick (@iphonehackx) - Unlock the potential of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch

      • Lots of information related to how to better use your iPhone

      • website is iphonehacks.com

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:  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.