Picks from the App Store, April 2009

I hosted "Picks from the App Store" on Ustream.tv on April 29, 2009. The broadcast was recorded live and you are certainly welcome to watch the archive version below or at ustream.tv/recorded/1445088.

The best part about the broadcast was the associated chatroom. Unfortunately, the chatroom was not archived with the video. During the hour-long workshop, I demonstrated and talked about a variety of apps. Here are the App Store links:

Lemonade Stand Oregon Trail Dictionary Word Warp MadLibs Nonsense Lite

Comic Touch Star Walk Airport Mania Flight Control iClean

In addition, after the show I learned that you can indeed search within the iTunes Store for only free apps. After initiating a search, click Power Search and select Applications. You'll see a checkbox that says Search for free applications.

Note: Unfortunately, the recording did not pick up the audio or video from David's call--another reason to watch live.

Web Directories for Apps

Whether you're browsing in iTunes on your desktop or in the mobile App Store on your iPod touch/iPhone, you can get lost in more than 35,000 apps. But, you should know that iTunes isn't the only place to find apps to download. Let me tell you about three websites that offer alternative ways to sort through all those apps. Although these are websites outside of iTunes, when you find an app to download, they link to the details page in iTunes so you can download the app.

Mobclix keeps detailed data about the App Store. I like that it allows filtering apps by category and price. This way I can narrow my browsing and searching to free apps in the Education category. I can sort the results by rank, average rating, or release date.

AppShopper also makes it easy to browse by category and free vs. paid. You can also browse just new apps. Unfortunately, AppShopper's search option can't be limited to just free apps.

Educational Apps Review has video reviews of a couple dozen apps. The growing number of reviews are tagged by grade level and subject. Simply click on the tags on the left side of the page to see the reviews. The site is run by educators and they are organizing a community around the site with a Ning and a wiki.

You can access these sites on your desktop computer or in mobile Safari. When using mobile Safari, the download links actually launch the mobile App Store where you can download and install the app. (Unfortunately, Educational Apps Review's videos won't play in mobile Safari.)

Last week the billionth app was downloaded from the App Store. Apple recently said they have sold 37 million iPhones and iPod touches. That means that there has been an average of 27 apps downloaded for each device sold. That number will only increase as the App Store gets more and better apps. Next time you want to browse and search for apps, I highly suggest visiting the online app directories above--you just might find your next favorite app!

"Picks from the App Store" Live Workshop 4-29-09

Please join me on Wednesday, April 29th for Picks from the App Store! This is the first in a series of free workshops for SIGHC members by SIGHC members. Even if you know nothing about SIGHC, you're still welcome join in. Here's the description of the online workshop:

The hottest handhelds today are Apple's iPod touch and iPhone. In addition to being great audio and video players, the iPod touch and iPhone run a mobile platform with over 25,000 software applications available from the App Store. With thousands of apps listed in the Education section of the App Store, it can be hard to find the very best apps for teaching and learning. SIGHC member Tony Vincent shares his educational app picks on Wednesday, April 29th at 3PM PST on Ustream.TV. Tony will present the first half-hour and the second half hour is reserved for participants to share their own picks and to ask questions. You can participate by joining the chat room on Ustream.tv and by calling in your picks via webcam at www.ustream.tv/channel/tony-vincent.

Before the beginning of the workshop, sign up for a free Ustream account so that you can pick out a username for the chat. To create a new account, simply click Sign Up, which is located in the top-left of each Ustream.tv page.

Participants are encouraged to have their webcams and microphones ready so they can talk about their own App Store picks and so they can ask questions. While the workshop will most likely be recorded and archived, I really hope you can join us live.

Oregon Trail for iPod touch

The original The Oregon Trail was released in 1971. If you have a hankering for the Apple II version of Oregon Trail, you can play it online--with old time graphics and sounds--at Virtual Apple 2. Students probably won't appreciate the ancient-looking game. The original version has a lot of text and unimpressive graphics.

What might impress them is the new iPhone/iPod touch version of Oregon Trail from The Learning Company. Available for $6 from the App Store, the Oregon Trail is quite fun to play. Here's the description of Oregon Trail from iTunes:

Westward, Ho! Your favorite pioneering adventure game is back and takes you to an exciting, historical side-scrolling adventure entirely rethought to fit the Touch experience of your iPhone / iPod touch.

• All of the decision-making and problem-solving fun of the original game, plus additional parameters to take the Oregon Trail experience even further than you've played before.
• 8 skill-based mini-games, including 2 accelerometer-based challenges: hunting, fishing, river crossing, rafting, wagon repairing, telegraph, berry picking, and gold panning.
• Random events (disease, bandits, hitchhikers, etc.) faced by real pioneers increases the challenge.
• Side-missions add more excitement to your journey, affecting your westward trek.
• Prepare for your departure: Select the members of your party, choose your departure date and purchase supplies.

Oregon Trail shares information like what clothing to wear, how much oxen weigh, and which is the best seat in the wagon. Of course, by playing students get to practice map skills, conserve resources, and develop a strategy. Teachers using this in school will enjoy teaching students about dysentery (and other historical diseases) as well as having students compare the game to the real struggles pioneers had traveling across North America.

Oregon Trail is getting rave review in iTunes. I've had a blast playing it and I know youngsters who were born after the 80s will too!

Besides Oregon Trail, the there's Westward in the App Store. This $5 game is a strategy game where you "control the destiny of the Wild West by building thriving towns, exploring uncharted plains, dense forests and rocky canyons and guiding settlers to safety and success." Westward is rated 12+ for mild profanity, fantasy violence, and tobacco and alcohol references.

iPods Episode #17: Favorite iPod touch Apps

Learning in Hand: iPods Episode #17: Favorite iPod touch Apps was recorded live. It was supposed to be a call-in show, but no one called in. Fortunately, there were live listeners in the chat room who asked great questions.

Besides sharing some useful information about the App Store and installing apps, listen for information about the Google Moderator series designed for educators to vote for their favorite apps. You can find the series at tinyurl.com/edapps. Please contribute your own and please vote!

Tune in for all 16 minutes of Episode #17 to hear all about some of the great software the App Store has to offer. Note: This is an edited version of what was recorded using TalkShoe. If you want to listen to the entire live broadcast, go to this page.

Ranking of Favorite iPod touch/iPhone Apps

iPod touch and iPhone Apps in Education is a Google Moderator series where educators are encouraged to vote on suggestions for educational apps and to submit their own suggestions. The apps suggestions are ranked so when you visit the list, the apps that netted the most votes are listed first.

With over 15,000 apps currently in the App Store, there are lots for teachers to sort through. Perhaps this list can help us find apps that would otherwise be lumped in with the hundreds of apps in the Education category of the App Store.

When submitting, please list the name of the app, a short description of how it could be used in education, and the price (if it isn't free). In order to vote or submit, you'll need to sign-in with your Google account information (or sign up for a free account). Unfortunately Google Moderator doesn't allow for linking to the apps. So, if you read about an app you might want to download, search for it in the App Store.

Kick YouTube

YouTube does not provide a way to directly download videos from their site. That's probably because they want you to visit their ad-supported webpages.

Why would you want to download videos from YouTube? Well, there are lots of great educational videos there. YouTube is blocked in most schools, so teachers who want to use these videos in their classrooms have to download them from home and bring them to school. Also, in order to view a YouTube video on an iPod or other portable player, you'll need to have it downloaded.

The videos on YouTube are in Flash format (those are videos that end with the .flv extension). So, even if you manage to save the .flv movie file, you have to either convert it to a different format or find software that will play it. After a video is downloaded and converted to the proper format, you can sync it onto an iPod or put it in PowerPoint slide shows or edit/remix it using video editing software like iMovie or MovieMaker.

I often use Zamzar.com to download videos from YouTube and convert them into the MPEG-4 format that iPods and QuickTime love so much. In four easy steps you paste the YouTube URL into Zamzar.com, select the video format (likely .mp4), and input your email address. After clicking Convert, Zamzar will put your request in a queue. Once it has processed your request (usually between 15 minutes and 2 hours), Zamzar will email you with a link to download the converted movie.

Another way to download videos from YouTube is using software. Some are free and some are pay and you can find software for both Mac and Windows computers. There is freely available software that you might already have on your computer that can download YouTube videos and that's RealPlayer. You might already have RealPlayer installed--you'll need version 11 and it's free. RealPlayer 11 actually enables you to download videos from websites, including YouTube. Unfortunately, when used to download YouTube videos, RealPlayer does not convert it from the .flv format, so you'll need to convert the file if you want to use it in other places other than RealPlayer. (As a Mac user, I've installed Perian which enables QuickTime to play those Flash videos.)

Now there's a new site that is even simpler than Zamzar. It's called KickYouTube.com. You don't need to copy and paste the video's URL, install any software, or wait for an email. Here's how it works.

1. Find the video you want to download on YouTube. Many videos on YouTube are now in High Definition. If the video has a "watch in HD" link below it, click it so you'll be downloaded the larger video size.

2. In the address field, type kick in front of youtube.com and press Enter.

3. You are taken to the KickYouTube site, showing the video from YouTube. Across the top of the page are download options: FLV, MP4, HD, AVI, MPG, 3GP, iPhone, PSP, MP3, OGG, and GIF.

4. MP4 is almost always my choice, so I click it. Then I click the Go button where I get this message below. So I just right-click (or Mac users can Control-click) that green Go button and save the video file to wherever you want on your hard drive.

Now the video on is on the hard drive. It can be put on a flash drive, burned to a DVD, imported into move editing software, put it in a slide show, or whatever you like to do with video files.

Very similar to KickYouTube is PWNyoutube.com. Just add pwn in front of youtube.com when viewing a video and it will take you to a page where you can download that video.

With YouTube in their URLs, I'm guessing that Google (the company that owns YouTube) won't stand for their trademark being used in other web addresses, so KickYoutTube.com and PWNyoutube.com services may not be around for long.

YouTube may one day offer downloads directly from their site. In fact, a "Download this video" link can be found on pages for President Obama's videos. When clicked, the link will download an MPEG-4 video to your hard drive. If this becomes an option on all YouTube videos, services like Zamzar and KickYouTube or software like Real Player and TubeSock won't be necessary for downloading videos.

Please note that downloading videos from YouTube may go against YouTube's Terms of Service. Also, the video creator's copyright should be respected and acknowledged at all times.

Live Call-In Show 1-28-09: Favorite iPod touch App

I'm planning a call-in show for the next episode of Learning in Hands: iPods. The topics is Favorite iPod touch Educational Apps. These can be apps that teachers and/or students use for teaching and/or learning. With over 10,000 apps in the App Store, there are certainly lots to choose from. The show will be recorded live on Wednesday, January 28th at 8:00 PM Eastern time.

We'll be using TalkShoe, a free service that lets anyone record an audio program where listeners can call in by phone or by computer. On the 28th, you'll need to click here to listen live, call in, and join the chat room.

If you're not familiar with TalkShoe.com, I suggest heading on over there and checking out some of their programs that are currently live. You can join any live show without talking--just go in and have a look and listen so you are ready for our show on the 28th. I suggest you sign up for a free account and then download TalkShoe Pro so you can use your computer's microphone to call-in. (You can also call-in using Skype--TalkShoe will give you a VOIP number to call.)

I'm nervous that I'll host a call-in show and no one will call in. So please mark it on your calendar and consider participating. Even if you don't plan to speak, you can listen live and participate in the associated text chat. If you can't join us, please email me (tony@learninginhand.com) with your favorite apps and their uses and I'll talk about them during the show. Thanks!

Is 8GB Sufficient in an iPod?

I'm often asked how much memory should an iPod for classroom use have. In the typical classroom, the 120GB iPod classic is overkill. Whenever I can, I ask to see classroom iPods to check how much storage is actually used. In most cases, it's one or two gigabytes. Now, in classrooms that are using iPods to store dozens of videos from TeacherTube, YouTube, and United Streaming, several gigabytes are used. In almost all cases, 8GB is going to be plenty. The 8GB iPod nano retails for $150.

What about the iPod touch? The lowest-priced touch is $230 with 8GB of storage. Besides storing audio and video, that 8GB also has to have room for all of those wonderful software applications from the App Store. I have my iPod touch loaded up with hundreds of songs (1.7 days worth), several podcasts, 1.9 hours of high quality video, and 571 photos. Besides all that media, I have 89 apps installed.

As you can see from the Capacity Graphs above, I still have plenty of room on my iPod touch. And surprising to me is that although I have it loaded with 7 screens of apps, they only take up 604MB. That's an average of 6.8MB per app. And since you can only load up to 9 screens of apps (for a total of 148), a touch full of apps only needs about 1GB (1,006MB) reserved for that. That leaves 6GB remaining for media, which I think is plenty for classroom use. For personal use, 6GB may not be enough to hold your entire music collection--but I'm talking school use.

Unlike many handhelds and MP3 players, iPods don't have an expansion slot. So when you purchase an iPod, you have to make sure you get the right amount of memory. If you don't get enough gigabytes, you will have to carefully manage what gets put on the iPod through iTunes. If you get too capacity, you end up overpaying (a 16GB iPod touch is $300 and 32GB is $400).

If you want to see how full your iPod is, connect it to your computer. In Tunes, click the iPod in the Devices sidebar. On the Summary tab, scroll down to the bottom of the screen. You'll see a Capacity Graph like mine above. Click the graph to change among number, size, and length of items.

Help iPod touch Find Its Location

Unlike iPhone, iPod touch does not have a GPS chip. But, it can still estimate your location. Your current location is used in map apps, including Google Maps. If you've used an iPod touch, you've probably tapped the location icon in Google Maps to zoom right into your whereabouts on the map (well, at least within a couple hundred feet).

Instead of GPS or cell towers, iPod touch uses the Skyhook Wi-Fi Positioning System. Skyhook's location services work indoors, which can't be said for GPS, which usually needs line-of-sight with the sky. In fact, iPhone also uses Skyhook's services in combination with cell tower signals and GPS so that your device can locate you just about anywhere.

Skyhook has referenced over 50 million Wi-Fi access points in the United States and Canada. Currently that covers about 70% of population centers. Skyhook continues to add the locations of Wi-Fi access points to expand its reach and improve its precision.

You can add the locations of Wi-Fi access points to Skyhook's database to make it even more inclusive and accurate. Let's say that iPod touch doesn't accurately report your location when you are at home (or says that your location cannot be found). Go to Skyhook's Submit a Wi-Fi Access Point page and place a pin on the map with your home's precise location. You'll also have to provide your Wi-Fi router's MAC Address (this has nothing to do with Macintosh computers, by the way) and your email address. After up to 7 days, Skyhook's databases are updated so iPod touches and iPhones near your access point can triangular their current locations more precisely.

If it seems iPod touch isn't giving accurate locations when at other places, say at school or at favorite hotspot, you can submit other access points to Skyhook as well--you'll just have to be able to provide Skyhook with the MAC Addresses. Follow instructions on this page to determine an access point's MAC Address.

Even without a GPS chip, iPod touch can triangulate its current location thanks to those millions of Wi-Fi routers that are registered with Skyhook. Submitting your router and other routers improves Skyhook's positioning services for everyone.

12 Days of iPod touch and iPhone

Happy Holidays! Here's a listing of my 12 Days of iPod touch posts: Palm vs. iPod touch iPod touch and Comics iPod touch and Math Practice Installing iPod touch Apps iPod touch and Animations iPod touch and Podcasts iPod touch and Microphones iPod touch and Games Linking to iTunes and App Store iPod touch and Quizzes iPod touch and Homepages iPod touch Tips

iPods Episode #16: iPod touch Tips

Learning in Hand: iPods Episode #16: iPod touch Tips is online. In this video podcast I share some of my favorite tips and tricks for Safari, text entry, and the Home screen.

In the video I do not attempt to show you the basics of using iPod touch. Mostly because Apple.com has a great iPod touch Guided Tour video and 116-page User Guide. Instead, I share tips that I hope are at least partly new to even experienced iPod touch and iPhone users. Here's a quick list:

Safari

• Tap the time to skip to the top of the page
• Double-tap a column or image to zoom in
• Save an image by tapping and holding
• Tap and hold a link to show its URL
• Add a bookmark icon to the Home screen
• Use bookmarklets to find text on a page, find similar pages, look up words, skip to the end of the page, and more
• Turn iPod touch horizontally before entering a web address or search to get a larger keyboard

Text Entry

• Double-tap Space for a period, space, and capitalization of the next word
• Type "im" and "cant" and let iPod touch autocorrect to "I'm" and "can't"
• Move the cursor by tapping, holding, and dragging
• Enter student names into Contacts to add them to the auto-correct keyboard dictionary
• Reset the keyboard dictionary in Settings > General > Reset > Reset Keyboard Dictionary

Home Screen

• You can have up to 9 pages of apps for a total of 148
• Tap the bottom right or left corners to move between pages
• Tap and hold one icon until they all jiggle to rearrange them
• Push the Home button to go to the first page of icons when on any other Home screen page
• Put commonly used icons on the first page
• Put most accessed icons in the dock
• Download Backgrounds free from the App Store for thousands of images to use for wallpaper

Watch all 18 minutes of Episode #16 to see these tips in action!