I'm Mac, and so am I..

iPods, iPhones, & iTunes 9

Apple made some product announcements yesterday- iPod Nano with camera, anyone?  But no tablet Mac : (  bummer!

I'll send you to a better source than me for coverage:

http://www.macrumors.com/2009/09/09/apple-updates-entire-ipod-family-bringing-capacity-and-performance-bumps-to-ipod-touch-and-video-camera-to-ipod-nano/

http://www.macrumors.com/2009/09/09/apple-releases-iphone-os-3-1-for-iphone-and-ipod-touch/

I can think of some uses for the Nano with camera in my classroom.  How would you use it?

Want to share great student projects?

Apple has opportunities to take your class to a local Apple store for them to share their projects!  You can even do projects while you're there!  Click here for more info!

MacWorld 2009

MacWorld Conference and Expo is going strong this week in San Francisco.  The keynote was given by Apple Vice President Phil Schiller yesterday.  There were some interesting announcements!  An update to the 17 inch MacBook Pro featured a non removable battery that was eco friendly.  Interesting concept.  iWork was also updated, and a new feature in beta called iWork.com was unveiled.  It's like Google Docs, but specifically for Pages, Keynote, and Numbers files.  It is free while in beta, but they do plan to charge for a subscription.  Why not included that in the cost of a MobileMe account?

Also on the software side, an update to iLife, version '09, was unveiled.  iPhoto featured geo-tagging support and face recognition.  You can easily search your photo's for pictures of particular people's face!  iMovie saw some improvements, with the re-introduction of some features lost in the migration from iMovie '06 to iMovie '08.  GarageBand also had some new shine.  It offers to teach you to play instruments.  The instructors are what's really interesting.  How would you like to learn from Sting, Sarah McLachlan, Fall Out Boy, Norah Jones, Colbie Calliat, Sara Bareilles, John Fogerty, One Republic, or Ben Folds?  You can.  It's an additional cost, but it will certainly sell some Macs!

iTunes also saw some changes.  It won't be long before the whole iTunes store is DRM (digital rights management) free!  This is a very welcome change!  There is also some new pricing.  You'll soon see older music for $.69!  New music may be as much as $1.29.

I can hardly wait to play with iLife '09 and use iWork.com to collaborate with my colleagues!

Want to know how to....

do about anything on your Mac? Well, find out how!

The site looks helpful, but appears to be focused on new products, which may not be as helpful with most of you on iBook G4's running Tiger. For those of you on MacBooks & Leopard, what do you think? Leave me a comment!

Apple released iTunes 8

Apple released iTunes 8 today. I suggest holding off on letting any updates run for at least a few days, if not a week. I'd rather someone else be on that "bleeding edge", especially if iTunes working is critical to your lesson.

Persistence

Having problems? Connectivity issue? Beach ball spinning all day? Word crashing?

After you've done whatever troubleshooting you feel comfortable with, place a work order! It's really simple; you can call 770 426 3330, or go to: http://support.cobb.k12.ga.us/ Go to the box in the right column that looks like this:

Your user name is your badge id with the letters CAPITALIZED. No password. Click Remedy Requester, then New Request.

You'll be given a work order number. Make a note of it. Once the work order has been completed, you'll get a confirmation email. If the problem persists, call in and reference the work order number. If necessary, ask that the problem be escalated.

Our Technicians are very friendly and hard working, but stopping them in the hall really doesn't help them to help you. It's important that we follow proper procedures to get the help and support we need.

Almost time...

It's almost time for teachers to return! We've had a busy summer with our two courses, iNtegrating iLife iNto iLearning and eXtending iLife iNto iLearning and the National Educational Computing Convention in San Antonio.

Please take a look at the supporting website under the communication tab. I've added a new document on GroupWise 7 for Mac.

http://www.cobb.k12.ga.us/instructionaltechnology/mac/communication.html

Also, I've had problems releasing mail from the spam filter in GroupWise on my Mac. A work order has been placed. I hope it's a problem isolated with me, but if you are having a problem as well, please consider placing a work order. Of couse, the work around is to release mail from the web based version.

Customize Storyboards

This is a great website where you can customize the storyboard that you use for projects in your classroom.
Customize Storyboard

Here is an example of a 4-frame storyboard created from the above website.

Download 4windowstoryboard.pdf

Courses for this Summer

In response to repeated requests, here's the scheduled dates and locations for our courses this summer:

iNtegrating iLife iNto iLearning will be held June 9th -13th, 17th & 18th. We will be in session from 8 AM until around 4:30 PM daily for those 7 days. The location is expected to be
Daniell Middle School.

We are also planning to offer a second course, eXtending iLife iNto Web 2.0 again. It is a requirement that you complete the first course before you take this one. This course will be June 23-24th, and July 16-17th. It is one 4 day session with several weeks in the middle to give you time on your own to work with some of the things we show you on the first two days. It will be held at
Dowell Elementary. Class will begin at 8 AM and end at 4 PM.

Registration will not begin until regular registration for summer staff development begins, presumably in May.

Dashboard Widgets

We continue to produce materials to assist you with making the most of your Mac in the classroom! You'll find a new handout on Dashboard Widgets in the tools section of the Integrated Mac site.

Also, not only did Apple update Macbook Pro's as I mentioned in my last post, but Macbooks as well! Rumors point to another update this summer, based on progress Intel is making on chips.

We're still working on dates for classes this summer, so stay tuned!