Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Episode 48: Blast to the past

Hi Everyone,

Okay, a lot of you have been asking questions we’ve reviewed in the past and I know we have some new users out there, so I’m dedicating the next few “TOD’s” to some of my favorite Tips of the Past.

Here’s one of my favorite Tip: Where did I put it?
Okay, I’m guilty of this one too. How many times have you found yourself staring at your screen wondering where did I put that app, or how did I list the person in my contact? Use “Spotlight” on you iPhone or iPad to quickly find a contact, app, docs and more. You don’t have to open your contact, and then scroll through the names to find them. From the “Home” screen sweep to the left or press your home once. From any other screen, slowly press your home key twice (if you press it quickly, to takes you to the multitask bar) and type what you’re looking for.


Fun app to the classroom or meeting: eClicker Presenter
Here’s another tip for your meetings/presentations/trainings. Do you have meetings/presentations/trainings where you would like to poll, quiz or even evaluate the session? Typically, you print out the forms and pass it around the room for everyone to fill out. You then gather the forms, then tabulate and enter the answers into another program. Maybe you use an online survey, which requires a subscription $$, and have you’ve seen the length of the links. If you don’t embed into a web page, or email the link, it is almost impossible to read off the link (http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/web23402039723_and_so_on).

There’s a simple app out there that you can use to poll/quiz your audience. Try eClicker Presenter ($14.99 now, sorry was on sale earlier for $0.99) and eClicker Audience (Free) at the app store (iPhone/iPad). Any internet enabled device (iphone, ipad, android, blackberry, laptop, etc.) can be used to answer the questions. Simple enter the provided URL (ex 10.99.32.44:8080) to take the poll/quiz.

Looking for a sale: App Price Drops
Are you a bargain hunter or like me and spent waaaaaay too much money on apps and should have waited for a sale. Try App Price Drops by Apple Sliced. If you want to try an app and you want to wait for the price to come down. Set a price alert with this app and it will email you when it reaches the price you selected. I wanted to try eClicker Presenter by not at $14.99. I got it at $0.99.
Note: when looking at the screen shots in this app, you can swipe through the screen shots. You don’t have to click on the next button.

Remember, if you have a great app or tip, pass it along.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Episode 47: Meetings & Presentations, who's controlling the laptop

Hi Everyone,

Here are some tips for your next workshop or meeting. I’m also adding some updates to previous TODs (Tips of the day).

Remote Desktop (iPad)
This is a tip for the techs out there. Do you have meetings with multiple presenters (multiple PowerPoint, Keynote), or a presenter that may need a little help with technology? Try remote desktop support. You can sit at the back of the room an monitor or control the presenters laptop from your iPad. You can switch to the next PowerPoint without having to go the laptop, pull up a webpage and more. There are several apps out there (Splashtop, LogMeIn, etc). If you have a GoToAssist subscription, the GoToAssist app is a great tool.

Meeting Agenda (iPad)
Have you been to a meeting and the person next to you is highlighting or making notes to the agenda on their iPad? Try emailing your agendas in a PDF format, then users can use any of the PDF apps to take notes on your meeting. Looking for a PDF app, try GoodReader, iAnnotate or PDF Expert. Like with any app, check the review, email the group or ask another user.

Camera: smile for the camera  :- )
I see you out there, taking pictures of the event/conference on your iPhone (this is an update to Episode 37 & 41). Remember, you can use the volume up button to take pictures. Okay, now you have to email them from the conference. Here’s a couple things to remember. When you email your photo, you are limited to 5 at a time. If you select more, the email option will go away. Here’s another thing. If you send several emails with 5 photos in each email, each of the files will have the same file name (photo1.jpg, photo 2.jpg, etc). Let the person know that they will have to rename the file before they import or copy the next group.

Keyboard Shortcut (iPad)
Here’s a quick tip for your iPad. Need to type an apostrophe or quotes? Instead of switching your keyboard by pressing on [.?123] button, try holding down the [ , ] button for apostrophe and [ . ] for quotes. Remember the other shortcuts as well. The [.com] button and the [ . ] in the email keyboard (when you see the @ symbol) has net, org, com, us & edu. Did you know that you don’t need to type .com when surfing the web on you iPhone or iPad? If the domain name is any of the other .net, .gov, etc, you will need to type it out.

Here’s a new app to try. “SayHi Translate” (on sale $0.99). It’s a translation app with a voice interface. You can almost carry a conversation with this app.

Hope you’ll enjoy the tips and remember to pass on your must have apps and tips.