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Presentation Tips - keep it simple

Pretty amazing and nailing it down! Most presentations show too much, go to deep,

and do not satisfy the audience (your customers!). 

In fact, you are giving them a burdon to take along!

http://www.slideshare.net/ethos3/simplify-simplify-simplify?utm_source=slideshow&utm_medium=ssemail&utm_campaign=weekly_digest

Helps you to keep it all simple, and be more effective!

(Made by the people at Ethos3)

Transfer music from an iDevice back to a Macbook (or laptop)

iTunes will allow you to get Music from your Macbook to your iDevice, such as your iPad. 

Great! But now: how to get music of your iPad, back to (any) other laptop?

This way around is much more complicated. (Due to Apple's concern of illegal copying of music from those small devices).

There are quite a few software programs that can do the trick for you, but they all cost some money. 

There is an option: use Senuti  which allows to download up to a 1000 songs for free (during the 30 day trial). That will do in most cases, right!

It will ask a few details, basically where you will want your music to appear.

Just tried it, and it saved a few songs for me. Highly recommended!

Have Google Trends as a Screen saver (and some other RSS screen saver options)

This is basically a fun one:

Google tracks and monitors all searches that people perform, obvious!

They now have a nice graphical interface developed, that will show those latest Google search/trends.

Head over to http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends/visualize?pn=p3

and you can (try fullscreen!) display the trends, and even select a specific country.

Here is a recent -  typical :-)  - example for Canada:

You can - for Mac 10.9 + only - download a screensaver program, that will give you the same look and feel

as the website (the trends come in bright colors, and are 'typed')

TIP

Here is another Goodie:

If you would like to have your Mac display a certain RSS feed (like these Google trends, or news, or . . .)

in the screensaver, that is possible!

Go to your System Preferences, Screensaver, and then select RSS Visualizer: 

Now you can add the RSS feed link into the options box (where it states 'Feed URL'):

Here are a few you could go for (source: Richard Byrne from http://www.freetech4teachers.com/ ):

Feeds directly related to education:
A Geeky Momma's Blog
Dangerously Irrelevant
iLearn Technology
Instructify
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day
Moving at the Speed of Creativity
The English Blog

Feeds targeted toward the tech early adopter audience:
Killer Startups
Mashable
The Official Google Blog

Or, maybe, just a fun one like this:  Jumbo Joke – provides some great humour to brighten your day, or

Or, one that will keep you busy: Del.icio.us Hotlist – It gives you the websites that are getting the most attention/bookmarks on Delicious at the moment

Embedding Flickr Photos - as a slideshow - in your blog

Flickr has changed a few things. Apart from giving us 1 TeraByte free storage (which is awesome)

they made it harder to login (soon only Yahoo accounts will be possible. However, you can make one easily actually).

Another side effect: it's no longer an easy step to embed Flickr photo slides shows in your blog or on your website.

Well, there is always a solution:

Checkout

http://flickrit.com/index.php

They make it possible again!

Just follow the prompts on their website. For an album to show, you would need to copy/paste the 

album ID-number (formerly known as set) into the parameters. You can easily see that number in the 

album URL (website address). It's a pretty long number (digits only)

After doing so, you will be presented with the embed code, for this album it would be:

You just paste this iFrame code into your blog post (choose text or html mode), and you will get

a beautiful slideshow with all (100 max.) images of the album.

Pretty easy, and slick for sure!

iPad and Macbook mirroring/display solutions

I sometimes get the question "how can I display/mirror my iPad/Phone and/or Macbook to my classroom projector?"

Luckily there are various options:

Use a Document Camera:

An obvious one, although sometimes forgotten! You could, if you have a stand, use your iPad for this, 

it will show very decent footage actually.

Via a Cable:

The most direct and simple way: connect to the projector via an adapter on the VGA cable (some call that a dongle).

You can have them for iPad and Macbook, and they look different, depending on the age of the computer and projector.

The adapters connect to the VGA video cable (that connects to your wall plug/projector).

If you can use an HDMI adapter (check the projector), it will carry the audio as well. In that case, you might need to plug some amplified speakers into the projector (as those speakers are usually not very powerful). 

Ask your tech department for a longer VGA connection cable, if you want to be a bit more mobile.

Wireless from iPad/Mac <-> Mac:

Apple uses the "AirPlay" wireless protocol, which is supported by a number of devices (iPad2 and higher).

Macbooks prior to 10.9 need some software to make them "Airplay" capable.

Reflector is such software that you run on your Mac, and it will allow any iPad in the network to connect to that Macbook.

You connect your Mac (as usual) to the projector.  On your iPad you would use the "connect to airplay devices" option,

choose your Mac, and voila: you can show/mirror your iPad that way wireless on the projector.

And yes, you can set a password for the connection possibility, preventing that 'strangers' can connect to your Mac. Of course, 

you might just want that, to allow any student in the classroom to display his iPad on the big screen!

That goes very fast, and allows a nice workflow, e.g. a student could easily show how he/she did the math equation to all . . .

Here is the bonus: Mac's with 10.9 (Maverick) installed, have Airplay features baked in. Meaning, they can connect to other Airplay

devices as well. Hence, that way one can connect iPads and Macbooks wireless to a class projector.

Here is the link:  http://www.airsquirrels.com/reflector/  The latest version allows multiple connections (side-by-side) of more devices, 

e.g. 2 iPads at the same time. 

There is competition from a new player:

http://www.x-mirage.com/x-mirage/

Has some very cool features like multiple iOS devices at the same time (comparing work, designs, both teacher and a student iPad at the same time, recording, etc.). It works pretty well, and there is no noticeable lagging.

And AirServer is a pretty good product as well:   http://www.airserver.com/

Wireless from iPad/Mac <-> AppleTV:

Airplay connection is also a feature of the Apple TV's. You can (only) connect them with a HDMI cable to a projector (or TV/Monitor).

What does that give you?

* 10.9 Macs and iPads can connect to it (wireless) using Airplay. That way, you can wireless show and present.

* It can play video (+audio) from those devices, allowing a kiosk/display setup

* The Apple TV can play from sources such as Vimeo, Flickr etc. as well. It just needs WiFi connection for that.

Great for a classroom that has (a mix of) iPads and Macs. Anybody in the room could - instantaneous - show his device on the big screen!

No HDMI capable projector? Kanex allows you to connect an Apple TV to an older projector that doesn't have those slick HDMI inputs!

http://www.kanexlive.com/atvpro

With a setup like above, one could try to use an iPad as a "mobile whiteboard"

What do you need for that?

Basically an App, that allows to draw/write/annotate/compose on the iPad, and later has options for sharing the content via the web, export as movie, pdf etc. Most Apps will allow you to record your actions on the iPad as well, ideal for creating flipped-classroom materials.

Some notable Apps:

Whiteboard: the basic (and free) one, you should have it installed!

ScreenChomp Education: free, and awesome! Records your actions easily

Zamurai: this one (pretty new) has a substantial amount of icons/objects/diagram structures etc. built-in. Basic = free, has InApp purchases

Doceri: this one is a professional one, and used the most by those who miss the actual 'real' interactive whiteboard in their classroom

Explain EveryThing: an excellent App, for much more than 'whiteboarding' only. Not free, but worth every penny. Is on all our iPads!

Tony Vincent made a pretty slick overview in a diagram, here is a link:

http://learninginhand.com/s/7-Ways-to-Mirror-iPad.pdf 

Of course, in this document we are missing the - recently announced - Google ChromeCast.

It basically is a smaller version of the Apple TV, see another post.

http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/chromecast/

__________________________________________________________________________________

Now what if your School/Environment does not support/allow Airplay connections? (Some networks will not support this)

Then, if that is allowed :-), you could create your own network: take along an Airport Express (Apple) router, and you are set!

You could also try to connect via BlueTooth, for some that works pretty well.

Or, your phone (if you have an unlimited data plan) could be used to setup your own HotSpot network.

If you are willing to invest a small amount, you could opt for a device that

connects via WiFi (not Airplay), such as the Prijector (www.prijector.com)

This device creates a network itself. You need to be in a reasonable distance. (5 meters or so).

The advantage of Airplay: it is part of Bonjour, meaning it would work in the whole network,

and distance would not matter! You could connect from an iPad to anywhere in your network environment!

That way, one could easily create kiosk/bulletin board setups in a school.