Post 3 - This and That - Rob

Well there has been a delay from my last entry to this one due to some stressful school activity but now is well and I can move forward.

I am still heavily using the iPad for word docs in my day to day and really have not done much else. I would really like to get around to some other issues on the iPad however. I intend on downloading the Blackboard app due to one of my class using it frequently so by next Monday I should have given that a good test. Another thing I really want to do is try any of the E-book readers and see how well it performs.

Aside from my document writing it is a little hard to find more leisurely activities to do on the iPad. I have loaded a few videos on YouTube and without a doubt it is better than using my iphone to do it. I do carry it around everyday though and tend to take it out for this and that several times throughout the day either to look up information on the internet or to jot down a quick note to my future self.

I did download the oxford dictionary app for 9.99 and really enjoy the easy to use interface.

That’s really it for now. I will write again after getting the Blackboard app.

Blackboard App?

Is anyone using the Blackboard app, and if so, how do you like it? Just curious!

UPDATE 9/29/10: If you can't get in or are getting a message about UR not enabling the mobile app, make sure you have the latest update to the Bb app. Also, we're hearing that there are intermittent issues with the Blackboard's servers, so if you can't get in, try again later...

-Olivia

Week 4 - Alex W.

Let it be known that I Definitely Used My iPad Today.

I sat down in my Theories and Models of Leadership class thinking I'd use it to take notes, but the prospect of having to type that much was just too daunting.  I sighed and set it aside.

Same thing again in my Shakespeare class.

After class, I wanted to do some work pulling together a list of sources for a group research assignment for my leadership elective class on Queen Elizabeth.  I didn't feel like moving (lazy, but it's so hot outside today!) so I settled down in one of the common areas in Jepson Hall and pulled out the iPad.

In a few taps and a little bit of typing, I'd logged on to the library website and searched for the two authors whose books I needed to look up.  Twenty minutes later, I'd looked through all of the search results, and now had a list of call numbers written down that I could bring with me to the library (tomorrow) to track the books down.

I suppose if I'd thought ahead, I could have logged into my library account and just created the list and saved it--then I could just carry the iPad around as I look for the books.  You know what they say about hindsight, though.

After I'd worked on that, I realized that I had a lot of email to process.  Still too enervated by the heat to move (and not wanting to wait five minutes for a computer in the labs in Jepson to turn on), I switched over to Gmail.  Another 15 minutes and I'd read and responded to at least 5 emails (some of which involved a good bit of typing)!  Perhaps I'm a little slow on the uptake, but I finally realized that the magnifying glass that appears if you press and hold over text for a second or two actually lets you move the cursor to rest between letters, making typo-fixing MUCH faster.  Better late than never, right?

Sorry this post was a bit late!  I'll try to be more prompt next week.

Post 2 - Alex V.

Hi guys!

Sorry for the delayed second post. Like many of you, I have a had a crazy week or two. And there is no end in sight!

Like the other Alex, my iPad has, sadly, not been getting as much use lately due to my hectic schedule. I am so used to just using my laptop that I have reverted to it for quick and easy access as well as typing capabilities. I will say that when using my iPad, I miss typing on a keyboard. Although I do check my email fairly frequently on my iPad, I rarely send emails from my iPad because of the lack of a keyboard.

However, there are a few things that I am loving about the iPad, even though I'm not using it as much as I would hope. I downloaded a free French Tutor app last week, as I am currently trying to learn to speak french. Woot! This app is so cool! It lets me practice vocab and phrases through different games and practice capabilities. It also allows me to hear the words and phrases spoken with a french accent...very cool! Perhaps by the end of this I will be fluent! ;)

I also downloaded the ABC player and the Bravo player to watch tv shows. LOVE this. It is so much nicer to watch shows on the light, little iPad than my larger laptop. My roommate has also been loving watching Top Chef and America's Next Top Model on the Bravo app!

Overall, I love the iPad. I think I just need to get in a better habit of using it on occasions when I am used to turning to my trusty laptop. My iPad is definitely easier to cart around campus in my bag than my heavy laptop and in that sense, email access has been a tremendous perk. Hopefully, once my schedule becomes less crazy, I will get to spend some quality time with the iPad and continue playing around with it and finding great apps!

Hope everyone is having a good week!
Alex V.

Week 2- Nate

I'm starting to get frustrated.
Lately at least 2 or 3 times a session in which I use the internet on the ipad it just cuts out on me. I will be navigating facebook, or looking up something for class and with no warning the ipad will just decide it doesn't like me or the internet. So instead of letting me do whatever I'm doing, it decides to bump me back to the main ipad page. It isn't too annoying because whatever page I was on will reload on safari when I reopen it, but in the case of facebook I may be several pages back from the page I was currently viewing.
Other than that things with the pad are going pretty well. I used it yesterday during a group project to take notes about what we wanted to say. Today while giving a presentation with a group I pulled up our powerpoint on the ipad so that I could scroll ahead on the slides to know what was coming up next.
All in all as the fun new toy factor wears off I am starting to find things I don't like so much about the ipad but it still beats carrying a heavy computer around all day.

Post 2 - Pages - Rob

Alright, for my next blog I would just like to focus on the app pages. From the app store, this little guy was 10 dollars but I believe after a week of using it, completely worth it.

So where to start. I guess it would be good to say that Pages is simply a document writer for the iPad. Its icon is an inkwell with a pen overlapping it. Honestly it took some getting used to when I first began using it. I am not a “home-row” typist, more of a two fingered hunt and pecker so I can’t say if it is very easy to type normally since I don’t type that way. Having the iPad in the landscape and scroll locking it makes it very easy to use though. Really what takes the most getting used to is the lack of a physical buttons since it is all touch screen. At any rate I have been using it to type all of my documents and the book I am writing. Once you understand the interface and finger actions for the touch screen, it is just as easy as using MS Word and a mouse.

What really wowed me though came a little later. During the week I had to write my host parents in Japan a letter. Very quickly I was able to activate the Japanese keyboard IME but even more amazing was seeing it in action. As I typed, spell check in Japanese and Kanji translation would appear just above the keyboard and I could short cut to them, making my job so much easier. When I finished, Pages gave me the option to email the document as an attachment in either Pages, PDF or Doc file. So I mailed to my computer and copied the information into the email I wanted to send them. I could have just emailed them the file but I did not want to send them an attachment.

With the simple but useful interface and convenient options Pages is great Long story short, I love Pages.

Week 3 - Alex W.

I suppose it says something that I'm typing this from my laptop and not from the iPad.  This week was really busy and my poor iPad sat largely untouched.  I suppose since I'm more comfortable with my laptop, I'm quicker with it, and default to it when pressed for time.

I hope I don't sound like a broken record, but it did come in handy for our ballroom club.  I transferred our music from my laptop to the iPad and had considerably less to carry across campus to our meeting.  It also was much easier manipulate to get music started quickly and pause it in between practice sets.  It plugged right into the headphone jack and off we went!  I really feel that this device might be of most use to music, dance, and theater students who need portable media for their coursework and preparation for assignments.

While I don't mind reading on it, the way I take notes in my reading-heavy classes is really more conducive to using the print text.

I do like that you can search the text to find things easily (that really helps in my Shakespeare Lit class), and that you can easily highlight and copy/paste text.  Perhaps I need to make more use of those functions...