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Showing posts with label iPhone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iPhone. Show all posts

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Recommended Apps - Awesome Note


Teachers return to the classroom shortly and will soon be neck high in homework to read, copies to correct, tests to mark, phone calls to make, emails to send and some might even have blogs to write (go on - get blogging with your pupils this September). All this means that busy teachers will need to get organised and Awesome Note is a brilliant app for the iPhone that will help you do just that.

Awesome Note is an innovative note taking application and "to-do" manager that allow you to combine notes with to-do flexibility. Users are able to customise how they want their notes categorised by creating different folder icons, which can be further customised with colours, fonts and backgrounds. The app is very versatile allowing you create simple scheduled notes to notes with photo attachments, To-Do's to organise your day and post-it style quick "memos" to quickly jot down your thoughts. You can even send notes with photos as emails to friends and colleague and synchronise your notes to Google Docs or your Evernote account. Awesome Note allows you easily jot down your ideas, thoughts and memos, and create daily diary, travel diary, email box, checklist, shopping list, to-do list, scheduler and anything else you want and sort them into custom categories. You can even protect some folders using passwords (I have a very handy PIN's & Passwords folder).

To download Awesome Note click here. The full version costs just €2.99, but you can download a free "lite" version to trial. Click here to download the "lite" version. Awesome Note is an excellent, simple but powerful app that works for me and hopefully it will work for you too.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

The Appliances of Science

The article below, written by yours truly, also appears in the Science Today section of today's Irish Times 

The development of Apple’s iPhone has revolutionised our perception of the mobile phone. But how can it help us learn more about science?

Since its release, the iPhone’s potential as a multi-purpose device has been realised with the development of applications or apps, software programmes designed specifically for your mobile phone. Last year, there were 2.5 billion app downloads worldwide and this is expected to rise to 4.5 billion this year, 82% of which will be free.

The development of apps for the iPhone led other mobile phone manufacturers to alter the way they structured their operating systems and recently developers have expanded their apps to serve Nokia, Blackberry and Android Smartphones. And now, with the imminent release of Apple’s latest offering the iPad, apps are about to get bigger and better.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Recommended Apps - Dropbox

Over at the Frog Blog I have been posting on recommended iPhone apps for science teachers, pupils or enthusiasts. But there are loads of other great apps that are available to download now for your mobile device, which are not science related, but would be extremely useful to the busy teacher. First up, in what I hope will be a series of posts, is Dropbox.

Dropbox is an excellent app which is available for iPhone, iPad, Android and, very shortly, your Blackberry. It provides an easy way to sync, store or share documents, presentations, spreadsheets between computers and mobile devices. All you have to set up a free account at Dropbox.com, install Dropbox on your PC or laptop, then on your mobile device and away you go. To use, just drag a file into the Dropbox folder on your PC or laptop and hey presto - it's also on your iPhone or Android phone! Have all your frequently used files on your mobile when you need them! You can also access your files on any computer in the world! It is an absolute essential for the busy teacher! And best of all - it's completely free!

Click here to download Dropbox for your iPhone, here for iPad and here for the Android version!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Why I Love My iPhone ... and its apps!

I've had my iPhone for a few months now and it has changed me! Sounds dramatic I know, but I think it has. I must confess - I love my iPhone. My previous phone was a HTC Touch - a powerful Windows mobile with everything I needed - email, Internet, calendar. So I thought I didn't need an iPhone - no one needs an iPhone - but it has made my life so much easier. What makes the iPhone brilliant is the abundant supply of apps - apps for everything. Simple apps like Awesome Note, Calendar, the new Irish Times app, Evernote, Skype and the brilliant Quick Office make everyday easier, especially in work. When I'm bored I play Touch Physics or Angry Birds. When I want to be informed I click on the Guardian app, RTE News, the Telegraph, Treehugger or the ITN app. When I feel like connecting I open up Facebook, Tweetdeck or Blogpress. I'm never off the damn thing. And then there my role as a science teacher - oh yeah nearly forgot that - and the iPhone offers plenty to keep me occupied here too. To be a good science teacher you need to be informed about what's happening in the world of science and there are plenty apps which let me do that. The picture over shows some of the science related apps on my iPhone, I emphasise the "some". NASA has become cool again (at least in my eyes anyway), the Hubble app mesmerises me with wonderful images from deep space, the Planets app has given me a sore neck from looking up at the night sky, Discovery News lets me know when a new frog species has been discovered (I'm kidding), Speed Anatomy makes sure I know my arms from my elbows and Science Dump contains brilliant videos from YouTube of scientific interest - all great. Then there is the amazing Sky+ app, which makes sure I will never forget to record that documentary on the BBC when I'm out again! The iPhone is here and here to stay and with the new software update making it easier to use, it's getting better. But the iPhone didn't arrive empty handed - it has brought loads of wonderful apps to play with. Never to bored, misinformed or disorganised again!