I thought I'd look back on 2009 by sharing what technology and technology-related products I purchased during the year (inspired by David Pogue's blog post). Yes, it does add up to a pretty penny. I'm thankful for eBay and the ability to easily sell my purchases when I replace them with newer and shinier ones.

Hardware

iMac 27" Quad-Core
I moved up from a 3 year old 24" iMac to a brand new 27" iMac. I love having the extra screen space. The display is extra wide, making it perfect for having two windows open side-by-side. This is the most powerful computer I've ever used. It actually has four processing cores (most Macs have 2 cores). Although most software doesn't take full advantage of the processing power, that will be changing. I have really enjoyed editing video on this machine. The iMac's included touch-sensitive Magic Mouse is pretty nice too.

Acer AZ5610 Touchscreen All-in-One Desktop PC
I'm not just a Mac user. I'm really digging Windows 7 and I'm fascinated by touchscreen computers, so I bought an Acer desktop computer with a touchscreen. It's like using a giant iPhone. Although the screen does get smudgy, it only bothers me when the display is off because that's the only time I see fingerprints. Compared to the iMac, the Acer AZ5610 has a cheap feel and a loud fan.

iPhone 3GS
I've owned all three versions of the iPhone. Yes, I stood in line to buy the original iPhone in 2007. I upgraded from the 3G to the 3GS because I wanted the extra processor speed and video camera. The 3GS feels snappier and apps launch more quickly. Just last week there's a new app that allows older iPhones to take video. However, the video quality is very poor, especially compared to the 3GS's.

I sold my iPhone 3G 16GB on eBay for $315. You might wonder why someone would pay that much when they could get a new one for $99. That $99 price is with a two-year contract. For those that don't want a contract, are already under contract, or have lost or broken their phone, it's cheaper to buy a used phone than to pay the full $399 price tag.

iPod nano with Video
My Flip video camera broke this year. I was going to replace it. Instead, for about the same price, I bought an iPod nano. The newest nano sports a built-in video camera and microphone. The quality is nearly as good as my Flip (not HD) and it also has the advantage of being an iPod. (I know what you're thinking--I have an iPhone 3GS that already takes video. I really bought this iPod for when I conduct workshops about iPods.)

MiFi
I've used a USB wireless connection card to connect to the internet for a couple of years. Since I travel so much, I like being able to go online no matter where I am. It's also nice to have a backup for the few occasions my cable internet goes out at home. The trouble with a USB card is that you can only use it with one computer at a time. While MiFi can connect to a computer with a USB cable, it's main feature is that it creates a Wi-Fi network where up to five devices can connect at once. This has been useful for going online with an iPod touch.

Nikon D60
The D60 is digital SLR camera, which is a higher-end camera with a removable lens. A point-and-shoot camera is more compact, but an SLR gives you more control over the image. Even though I've had the camera for nine months, I have yet to watch its instructional DVD. I need to view this because I know I could be taking better pictures with this camera.

CableDrop Multi-Purpose Cable Clips
As you might image, I have lots of cords and cables draped around my desk. I have lots of gadgets to plug in. The problem is that when I unplug a device, the cord annoyingly falls behind my desk. This happened a lot with my laptop power cord. Not any more now that I use a CableDrop clip. It adheres to the back of my desk and keeps my cable in place. Unlike the my previous masking tape solution, this one looks better and allows the cord to slide up and down.

5 Outlet Squid Surge Protector
I bought two of these recently when they went on sale at Buy.com for $10 each. (If you follow me on Twitter, I like to share when I find exceptional deals.) When not on sale, they're twice that price. Unlike a typical power strip, the Squid's outlets are separate so large power adapters never take up more than one outlet. I've learned that not all power strips are also surge protectors, but this one is.

Monoprice Accessories
I have made several purchases from monoprice.com. I wrote about the site's selection of iPod and iPhone accessories in August. Their cases are less than $2, wall chargers are $4, and external battery packs are $9. I've also bought MacBook video adapters and HDMI cables from Monoprice. These prices are a fraction of what I would have paid at retailers like Apple, Best Buy, and Amazon.

Software

iPhone Apps
I've spend over $100 in the App Store in 2009 (but my free apps far outnumber my paid apps). Some that I bought this year include TomTom USA, CNN Mobile, Sketchy, Red Laser, ESPN Spelling Bee, ReelDirector, and The RAG.

Airlock
Airlock is Macintosh software that allows the computer to lock itself when I am not nearby. How does Airlock know if I am near? It senses if my iPhone is in proximity using Bluetooth. Since I always have my phone in my pocket or in my hand, my computer essentially knows if I'm nearby. I work in all sorts of locations with my laptop. So if somehow my laptop is swiped, at least my data is locked down. If I'm a classroom teacher, Airlock would be a very convenient method of locking nosy students out of my computer when I'm not around.

ScreenFlow 2.0
ScreenFlow is Mac-only software for making screencasts. I bought ScreenFlow a couple years ago and loved it so much I paid for the 2.0 upgrade that came out a couple months ago. I've used ScreenFlow to make informercials and how-tos. I also use ScreenFlow in combination with iMovie to create video episodes of the Learning in Hand: iPods podcast.

Snow Leopard
I shelled out $29 to upgrade my MacBook Pro from OSX 10.5 to 10.6. There really aren't that many differences. Supposedly my computer is faster, but I can't tell.

iLife '09
The iLife '09 suite of Mac software was released in January. iPhoto has the most useful new features for me, including facial recognition and publishing to Flickr and Facebook. iMovie '09 brings back many of the options that went missing in iMovie '08. In fact, I have almost stopped using iMovie HD (from 2006) because iMovie '09 is now meeting more of my needs.

Labels: tonyvincent

My favorite software from GoKnow, Sketchy, is now available in the App Store for iPod touch and iPhone! Sketchy has been around for years on Palm handhelds and Pocket PCs, and it has been enjoyed by thousands of students. They have a yearly contest and you can view example animations from my former students. The process of creating a flipbook-style animation is incredibly educational. When students of any age make an animation about any subject, they learn a lot during the process, and they have a final product that they view over and over and over.

Here's GoKnow's description of Sketchy for iPhone:

Get started now with Sketchy - the easy to use drawing and animation app. You can use different drawing tools, photos from your library or direct from the camera, and even text to create frame based animations (or flipbooks).

Features:

• Simple user interface
• Import right from the camera or photo library
• Paint brush, eraser, rectangle, filled rectangle, oval, and filled oval tools
• Select tool - double tap to select all
• Text tool - annotate your photos and drawings
• Many colors to choose from
• Adjustable drawing width
• Cut, copy, paste, and delete
• Undo function
• Duplicate frames

Quick How-To:

• Start drawing right away with your finger
• Use + button to add new frames - including from the camera or photo library
• Tools button lets you change the drawing tool, width, and color
• With select tool, double tap to select whole frame
• Edit button brings up Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, and Undo
• Files button to create new animation or open previous animations
• Tap frame number to jump to another frame

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone and iPod touch Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later

Sketchy ($0.99) for iPhone is really quick to learn. Popular animation apps, Flipbook ($4.99) and Flipbook Lite (Free), are more complicated in comparison to Sketchy because Flipbook has many more features. The most important feature that Sketchy lacks is a way to share animations. There is not a way to export the animation for viewing online or on other iPods and iPhones. In contrast, Flipbook projects can be saved as an MPEG-4 videos on the flipbook.tv site (read my previous post about the Flipbook app). Another similar app, Animation Creator ($0.99) can export to YouTube. I hope an export feature is added to Sketchy soon because everyone loves to share their animations.

After working with Sketchy, Flipbook, and Animation Creator, Sketchy is the most simple. Animation Creator has a good balance of features versus ease-of-use. Flipbook has the most features and is the most complicated to learn. Sketchy has one very important feature the others do not: a text tool. It's so much better to annotate a drawing when you can type on the screen. Handwriting on an iPod touch or iPhone is difficult and usually looks sloppy.

It's great that we have options when it comes to animation apps. Whichever app you use, drawing with a finger can be challenging. You might look into a stylus for drawing.

Labels: appstore, iphone, ipodtouch, sketchy

The K12 Online Conference is an annual event where presenters share about various topics in education and technology. Most presentations are in video format and are freely available to educators around the world. The conference, run entirely by volunteers, began November 30th and is ongoing through January 9th. I'd like to point you toward two presentations about iPhones and iPod touches.

Just a "Touch" of Leadership – Using the iPod touch/iPhone in Administration
Andy Crozier and Mike Amante in Cedar Rapids Iowa and New Hartford, New York show you apps and success stories from administrators in the field that are using iPod touch/iPhone for data collection, organization, creating a mobile office, and personal professional development. Links to apps and resources mentioned in this video can be found at the Apple Learning Interchange. (Audio in the video below is not working correctly. Click here for a better version.)

 

The iPod touch in the Classroom
Kern Kelley from Newport, Maine shows some of the basic uses for iPod touch. Kern first takes you from unboxing the iPod to syncing with iTunes. After showing some basics, he shares a dozen of his favorite apps and they are listed here.

 

You can download the above videos in iTunes since the 2009 K12 Online Conference is available as a podcast. You might be interested in other sessions so check out the 2009 schedule.

Labels: events, iphone, ipodtouch

Dragon Dictation is a new iPhone app. It's a straight-forward voice recognition application from Nuance, the same company that makes Dragon NaturallySpeaking for desktop computers. Simply launch the app and tap the record button. Speak into the microphone. Tap Done when finished and Dragon Dictation sends your audio to their servers for processing. Within seconds, the servers send back the text created from your speech.

You will need to say punctuation marks you want to include, like "period" and "comma." In my testing I found that Dragon Dictation made fewer errors than I expected. It's easy to tap the keyboard icon to correct the text. After the text is the way you like it, you'll probably send it to the clipboard so you can paste it into any application. There's also the option to start an email message with the text or to send as a text message.

Voice-to-text is an exciting use for a handheld, particularly for students learning to write or those with writing or typing challenges. Unfortunately, Dragon Dictation will not install on an iPod touch. I see no reason why an iPod touch with a microphone attachment can't run this app, so I hope Nuance Communications updates the software to install on iPods soon. In the meantime, those with iPhones can find lots of uses for Dragon Dictation, especially since the app is free of charge (for a limited time).

Update: Dragon Dictation now works on iPod touch. You will need a microphone since iPod touch does not have one built-in.

Labels: appstore, iphone, ipodtouch