Ipad 2 Delivery Delays
http://www.geeksmack.net
Why are we waiting longer for the delivery of our iPad 2 devices? The frustration of loyal Apple consumers is being worn thin by repeated email notification pushing delivery dates back further and further with little if any explanation.
Some customers are reporting delays of close to 7 weeks from initial ordering to actual delivery dates, while others are uneasy over emails that push out the dates time and time again. In one case we are aware of this occurring 3 times.
A company that in the past has been ultra conservative on delivery estimates - one would assume so as not to create dissatisfied disciples, seems to have been caught short both by the insatiable desire for the product and their supply problems.
There has been a general census that at least 5 different components for the iPad are sourced in Japan and that last month's earthquake has caused delays as Apple attempts to meet demand for their new tablet device.
It is not so much that the suppliers have had facilities damaged but rather more general logistical problems; shutting down of production lines, sourcing local materials and shipping the finished products. Some of the more delicate procedures in the manufacturing processes, such as semi-conductor lithography have also been disrupted due to interruptions to the electricity supply.
Although some of the component can be sourced elsewhere, it is unfortunate that so many of the individual components are sourced only from Japan.
Apple are still suggesting on their website today that shipping time is between 1 and 2 weeks. They do acknowledge, if you speak to someone in the Retail Stores that is it probably closer to 3 to 4 weeks. The reality for the purchaser, however, is closer to 5, 6 or even 7 weeks.
Related Articles:
http://www.smh.com.au/Apple fans livid as ipad 2 sells out 2011
http://ipad.blorge.com/2011/04/21/the-excellent-ipad-2-backlog-debacle/
http://www.tuaw.com/2011/05/06/quality-issues-with-lg-manufactured-panels-to-blame-for-ipad-2-s/
http://www.tuaw.com/2011/04/22/ipad-2-production-shortfall-cause-lcd-and-speaker-issues?
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22 Basic but Useful iPad Tips
A very useful article by Jeff Carlson over at http://db.tidbits.com/
As many companies have discovered, you can't successfully slap a desktop operating system onto a tablet device. The iPad uses Apple's iPhone OS, which, although based on the guts of Mac OS X, was designed with a touch interface in mind. And when you're designing something from scratch, there are numerous opportunities to enhance the experience.
Now that I have an iPad in my hands, I've discovered some new techniques and hidden shortcuts, and also found myself making heavier use of existing iPhone shortcuts (including a few I didn't realize were there).
Small Swipes for Large Actions -- No doubt the iPad's biggest selling point is its large screen, especially compared to an iPhone or iPod touch. But it can also feel like a liability at times.
In the Home screen or the Photos app, for example, you'll be tempted to swoosh across the entire width of the screen, which is what I've always done on the iPhone. Instead, only a small swipe motion is required. For example, to advance images in the Photos app, position your left thumb at the left edge of the screen (where it likely is if you're holding the iPad with your left hand supporting its weight) and just flick the thumb half an inch right-to-left or left-to-right.
(This tip also applies to the iPhone and iPod touch, but the small size of the screen makes it less useful.)
Add Up to Six Apps to the Dock -- The iPad ships with a basic iPhone layout, which includes four apps on the Dock that appears at the bottom of all Home screens. Take advantage of the extra screen size and add up to two more. Tap and hold an app you want to add until all of the apps begin jiggling. Then drag the app to the Dock. Press the Home button when you're done.
Unfortunately, you can't put more than 20 apps on a screen, but there are 11 screens. This will change with folders in iPhone OS 4.
Jump to the Top -- This behavior was introduced on the iPhone, but you need it more on the iPad's large screen. Tap the status bar at the top of the screen to jump back to the top of the page or window you're viewing.
I wish there were a similar action for jumping to the end of a page (such as when I want to read comments at the end of an article, for example). The closest there is to a workaround is Vais Salikhov's free End of Page app, which is actually a clever bookmarklet that works in Safari. (He also has a similar Find in Page app that enables searching inside Web pages.)
Lock That Rotate -- This may not qualify as much of a secret, since Apple promotes the feature, but in my early experience, it's terrifically useful. Flick the switch above the volume controls to lock screen rotation. The iPad is quite sensitive to orientation, and rotates its screen with little provocation. Locking rotation means sticking with the view you're in, even as you shift position, or place the iPad flat on a surface.
Quick Mute -- With that switch repurposed for rotation lock, what happened to the iPhone's capability of using it to mute the volume? On the iPad, press and hold the volume down button. After about two bars of volume, the iPad's volume jumps to zero. (Take Control author Sharon Zardetto gets credit for pointing out this tip.)
Use Spotlight to Launch Apps -- Again, this is something not unique to the iPad, but I never used it on the iPhone. Once you've accumulated a bunch of apps, it can take a while to flip through several home screens to find the one you want. Although there's no equivalent to LaunchBar for the iPad (believe me, I'd buy it in a heartbeat), here's the next best thing.
When you're on a home screen, press the Home button to get to the first screen, then either press the button again or swipe to the right to expose the Spotlight search interface. Tap the Search field and start typing the app name; you'll see that Spotlight also grabs everything similar, including Mail messages, song titles, contacts, and events, as well as the app. Then tap the one you want to launch.
The iPad returns results on this page enormously faster than on an iPhone 3GS or current iPod touch.
Type an Apostrophe from the Basic Keyboard Layout -- The iPad's onscreen keyboard approaches the dimensions of a full-size keyboard (in wide orientation, at least), but accommodations still had to be made to get it to fit. One of the most maddening is the lack of an apostrophe key. I keep hitting the Return key with my right pinkie finger when I mean to type an apostrophe. You need to tap the ".?123" button to reveal the correct key, which itself is in an odd position at the bottom of the layout.
Instead, press and hold the comma key. A pop-up variation appears with an apostrophe, and it even appears highlighted, which means you don't have to move your finger to select it. Simply tap, hold for a moment, then release to create the apostrophe.
Type Curly Quotes -- Similarly, tap and hold the single or double-quote key to get a selection of real quotes (the curly kind) as used in major languages that use the Roman alphabet. This feature is in the iPhone, too, and I'd never discovered it, probably because I didn't notice typography as much on the small screen. When putting together a Keynote presentation, however, those curly quotes make a big difference. (Straight quotes - disparagingly referred to by typographers as "typewriter quotes" - often indicate the person is a graphics amateur.)
The onscreen keyboard hides all kinds of other goodies, too, which seem more useful in extended typing on the iPad than on the iPhone or iPod touch. For instance, hold down the period key on some keyboards, and a list of domain extensions (like .com and .org) appear.
Access Alternate Characters -- This tip isn't specific to the iPad, but it's worth remembering. Touch and hold a character on the onscreen keyboard to view related characters. For example, holding the E key brings up accented E characters, or holding the $ key brings up other currency symbols. (Thanks to reader "Arthur" for the reminder.)
Better Word Suggestions -- This one isn't so much a tip as it is an observation. I've noticed that the iPad's word assistance is better than the iPhone's. When I miss the space bar while typing (especially now as I'm just getting accustomed to the onscreen keyboard), the iPad automatically suggests that something like "feellike" should be "feel like".
Practice Good Typing Form -- I never realized that I rest my hands on the keyboard when I type until I started using the onscreen keyboard where every contact on the screen creates an action. Keep those fingers and palms up as you type.
Zoom Way, Way In -- The Zoom accessibility option that's in the iPhone OS is even more helpful on the iPad than on a smaller device because of the additional screen territory. You can turn this on from Settings > Accessibility > Zoom by flipping Zoom to On.
The Zoom screen explains the three options: double tap with three fingers to zoom in; drag with three fingers for panning around the screen; and use three fingers to double tap without releasing, and then drag up or down to zoom in or out.
Use an External Keyboard -- When you want to do some extended typing, pair the iPad with a Bluetooth keyboard or plug it into Apple's iPad Keyboard Dock. In addition to better ergonomics, this setup gives you access to common keyboard commands like Copy (Command-C) and Paste (Command-V), and lets you make selections of text by holding down a Shift key and using the arrows for navigation. You can also delete words with Option-Delete, and entire lines with Command-Delete.
It's also helpful for navigating a document. Press Command-Up arrow to jump to the top of a document (like a Home key), or Command-Down arrow to jump to the end (like an End key). Option-Left arrow and Option-Right arrow move the insertion point by words, as you'd expect.
Manage a Bluetooth Keyboard -- If you've paired a Bluetooth keyboard, be sure to turn it off or disable Bluetooth when you're not using it. If you enter any editable text field that requires text input and the keyboard is within range, the onscreen keyboard won't appear.
You can press the Eject button on the Bluetooth keyboard to toggle the appearance of the onscreen keyboard. But it's easier just to turn off the external keyboard when you're not going to use it for a while, or taking the iPad to another room.
To turn off the Apple Wireless Keyboard, press and hold the power button for a few seconds. The status light will come on; wait until it goes out. Then the keyboard's power is off, and the iPad will resume using its onscreen keyboard.
You can also go to Settings > General > Bluetooth and set the Bluetooth switch to off, which both reduces battery usage and disables any other paired Bluetooth connection.
Master Shifting -- The iPad has territory enough to offer a Shift key on both the left and right sides of the keyboard and for your hands to lie flat on the screen. This lets you take advantage of a feature found in the iPhone OS, but not quite practical to use on the iPad's smaller siblings: you can hold down the Shift key while typing a letter to a get a single capital letter, then release, as with normal physical keyboard touch typing. This can dramatically increase your typing speed. You can still tap a Shift key, which turns blue, and then tap a letter to get a single capital letter.
I've actually disabled the Caps Lock key on my MacBook Pro because I hate accidentally hitting it and TYPING IN ALL CAPS, but there are times where turning on Caps Lock is helpful (such as writing about topics with lots of acronyms like AVCHD, HDCP, HDTVs, or TANSTAAFL). You can do this in the iPhone OS too, though I never felt the need for it when typing on those devices.
Go to Settings > Keyboard > Enable Caps Lock and set the switch to On. Then, when you're typing, double-tap one of the Shift keys. The entire key becomes illuminated in blue, with a white arrow in the middle, to indicate that caps are locked. Tap a Shift key again to exit the Caps Lock mode.
You can also hold down either Shift key and type letters to create a series of capitals.
Easier Text Selection -- This feature is also not unique to the iPad, but it's worthwhile and something I never knew about until a few days ago. Double-tap and hold a word to select it to circumvent the need to tap the Select button that appears, and then drag to extend the selection to additional words. It works on both sides of the selected word; when you're moving just the selection handles, that's not the case.
Replace Text -- When you select a word, the familiar pop-up options appear: Cut, Copy, and Paste. The iPad adds a new option: Replace. Tap it to view alternate spellings or corrections.
Use the Spell Checker -- The iPad includes a built-in spell check feature that acts the same as the one in Mac OS X. If you misspell a word, it appears with a dotted red underline. Tap the word to view suggested spellings. (Thanks to reader "Rivka" for pointing this out.)
Watch iTunes-Purchased Movies on an HDTV -- Movies in the iTunes Store are wrapped in Apple's FairPlay DRM, which uses HDCP to ensure that only devices that support HDCP can play the video. If you bought the iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter and hope to play video on your recent HDTV, you're out of luck because it won't carry the digital signal. If your television has component connections (red, green, and blue cables), buy Apple's Component AV Cable kit and hook your iPad to the TV. Voilà! It's like having a portable Apple TV with you at all times.
Always Show Bookmarks Bar in Safari -- I use MobileMe to sync my Safari bookmarks to the iPad, and keep my most-used bookmarks handy by storing them in the Bookmarks Bar on my MacBook Pro. Safari on the iPad also features a Bookmarks Bar, but it's hidden by default. In fact, the only way to make it appear is to tap the Address field to position the cursor there. Instead, go to Settings > Safari and turn on the Always Show Bookmarks Bar setting to make the bar appear at all times.
Two-Finger Zoom for Web Video -- Reader "Joe" pointed out that when you encounter a video on a Web page that the iPad can play, touching it with two fingers and expanding (the opposite of the pinch gesture) zooms the video to full-screen mode.
iBooks Easter Egg -- I haven't heard of any Easter eggs - hidden programming surprises that developers sometimes include in software - in the iPad's software, but I did discover something similar. In the iBooks app, touch and hold the shelves that display your library, then drag down as far as you can to reveal a little surprise hidden behind the faux wood.
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Killer Apps: Eighth-Grader's Addictive Games Selling Well
A great good news story from http://www.fluency21.com/
Orange Middle School eighth-grader Brian Gorham displays one of
his games, Doodle Shapes, on an iPad. Gorham taught himself how to
write code to create the downloadable game and three others.
(SNP photo by Brett Nuckles)
You'd better, if you want to climb higher in Cloud Jump, a touch-screen video game you can play on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.
The game challenges players answer scientific trivia questions to climb higher and higher into the sky on bouncy clouds. A wrong answer will send you back to the start.
The educational game didn't come from a computer software company -- it was designed single-handedly by Orange Middle School eighth-grader Brian Gorham.
Gorham developed the game for a science class project on weather and precipitation.
While his classmates toiled away on informational posters and PowerPoint presentations, Gorham got out his Mac computer and started coding.
"I thought it would be a fun way to learn about the topic, and it was a lot more fun to make," he said.
Gorham, 13, loves games -- but his on-the-go lifestyle, filled with long bus rides for travel baseball games, made it hard to find the time for them.
He played games on his calculator, but the graphics were simple and the controls clunky. That's when he decided to take the plunge and learn to make games for his touch-screen iPhone.
The young tech buff wasn't dismayed when he saw that programming classes didn't fit into his budget.
"I thought, 'Why not just teach myself?' " he said.
Gorham programs the games using special software on his laptop computer and collaborates with other game-makers online to perfect the graphics and sound for his games.
Since Cloud Jump, he has gone on to develop and release two new games, which can be purchased and downloaded for 99 cents each in the App Store on any iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.
In Miner Escape, players take the role of an unlucky miner who must dodge falling icicles in a frozen cave. In Doodle Shapes, players roll from one ascending platform to the next to avoid getting crushed at the top of the screen.
Miner Escape is fun and pretty challenging," said Gorham's classmate, T.J. McCabe, 14. "I could play it all day if I didn't have to stop and go to school."
Christopher Deis, who teaches technology at Orange Middle School, said he is most impressed by his student's initiative and inventiveness.
"This is the epitome of self-education," Deis said. "The challenges and concepts that are involved in coding like this are very high-level. It's not something you typically see from a 13-year-old."
Gorham's games already have racked up about 5,000 free downloads, and about 100 more since they went on sale.
He currently is learning more complicated programming languages, and even has plans to port his games to Android smartphones this spring.
For now, he is hard at work on Ice Sled, a high-speed action game featuring a sledding polar bear -- and he said his days as a developer are just getting started.
"Programming can be frustrating, but I think it's fun," he said. "Right now I just want to keep learning, improving my skills and making new games."
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The Future of e-books
This is the type of e-textbook I want in my class. An excellent showcase for the use of mobile devices in schools. This is also the type of e-textbook that will convince the most ardent of naysyers about the benefits of technology and interactive touch devices in the classroom. Talk about engaging your learners, this would get even your most recalcitrant students investing in their own learning.
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App Updates for May
image from www.appconsumer.com
- English Apps,
- Art Apps,
- HSIE Apps,
- Music Apps and
- TAS Apps for updates so far.
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iPads Increase Learners Motivation in Education
Written by Greg Swanson @ AppsinEducation
iPads are cool, they are sexy to look at, they feel great in your hands and they are fun to use. Why is it that so many people in the education community do not want to acknowledge this, when if fact they should be taking advantage of their student's intrinsic motivation to utilise these devices.
iPads are a piece of genius, not because of the design aspects per se but because of the 'all consuming' nature of the iPad package - the marketing, the hype, the anticipation, the carefully targeted demographic users. I am not saying we should buy into the whole commercial aspect of what is 'Apple' but these iPads are an extremely good product. At the moment there are very few mobile devices that are viable alternatives and that offer the same universal coverage. If we know that every child with access to a television has been swayed by the slickness of the Apple machine then why not take advanatge of this fact and harness this enthusiasm for learning. Let learning be fun!
iPads are Intuitive:
By their very design iPads are intuitive to use. Give an iPad to any three year old and watch them navigate the device like they have owned one for ever. They have been exposed to the 'slide to access' concept from a very early age. We are all able to negotiate the pinch and squeeze of the touch screen, most people can zoom in on an image. People can work out the iPad environment with ease and with minimal instruction, there is no extra up-skilling required. People are actually looking for ways use them.
Mobility of the iPad:
The size and weight of the iPad make this an ideal mobile device. The connectivity of the top models allow students to be in the classroom, in the schoolyard or even in the field. This means that often students can go into the real world and not just open a limited window into it for education purposes. Thus putting education into context.
The mobility of the iPad also extends the school day. It allows students to have access to resources, research and revision 24/7. The beauty of this is that this extended learning environment does not need to impinge on the non teaching time of the teachers. Students can search, add to favourites, bookmark, or email each other about topic or concepts initially discussed in class without direct teacher intervention. Learning becomes a co-operative exercise.
Ipads are Collaborative:
The large screen of the iPad actually encourages collaboration and sharing with other people. The iPods were just too small. They, in fact did isolate individuals as the screen was of such a size that it became an individual portal only. The iPad screen is big enough that it allows for the sharing of images, photographs and videos with small groups. This sharing needs to becomes the imperative 'educational' moment. How we as teachers direct this interaction directs the quality and depth of the learning that takes place.
The iPad 2 camera or two cameras also becomes a collaborative tool. Face Time allows for a return to the social skills that have been somewhat lost by the use of email. It will only be a matter of time before a new start-up company develops a Face Time App for Conference Calling on the iPad 2. Student group projects just got a lot easier. Everyone can participate from geographically diverse locations.
Price:
There has been a psychological barrier for good quality laptops. Anything under a particular price and it was considered inferior quality. This has changed only slightly in the last couple of years. We do need to remember that the iPad is not an either or option with a laptop. It is a totally new type of device with different strengths and limitations. But, having said this, they do start at under $500.
This is one of the biggest considerations for iPad uers, especially school groups. Now that we are starting to acknowledge that the iPad can be just as powerful as a creation tool, we can have another type of device that allows more people into the mobile market. If we also acknowledge the vigour with which the youth market are adopting the iPad we would be silly not to embrace this technology for the advancement of education. If we had any other tool that was as ubiquitous and pervasive as the iPad we would have done so already.
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