Adobe launched a new service on their website today (Thursday, 3/27) that brings Photoshop to anyone just by being online. Photoshop Express (in beta right now) is completely web-based so anybody can use it with any type of computer, operating system or web browser.

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopexpress/?promoid=CBTVM

Of course Google and Microsoft already offer many web-based applications and it looks like Adobe is joining this trend of taking everything up into the clouds of the internets.

Happy Spring Break!

Here’s a link to Scholastic audiobooks that were just added to the iTunes store.  The books vary in price (some look expensive to me, but just thought I’d share this).

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewRoom?fcId=185342075&genreIdString=50000024&mediaTypeString=Audiobooks

May all your new year wishes come true. 

The way we learn, discover new things, get information, … is changing and has already changed for the children growing up in this informational generation.  As educators, in the form of teachers, parents, or relatives, there is a need to take on a new perspective with the way children are learning nowadays.  There’s a paradigm shift with the way children learn – from a push method to a pull method.

Consider the way individuals of older generations get information.  It may look a little like this.  You get off of work, head home, and sit down to the local news broadcast on TV.  This is the “push” method.  The information is being pushed out to you.  Some questions that can be asked now are, “Who or what determines what news you see?”  ”Who or what determines how much information you get?”  ”When does the information come?”  In this push method, the individual is passive because the news stations make all those decisions.  The individual has no control over what information is presented.  The only real control is to turn off the TV or not.  This push method is true of the newsletter being delivered to your homes too.

The children in the current generation do not use this “push” method, but rather, the “pull method.”  The current generation does not wait for the broadcast of the news or the newspaper to be delivered.  Children in the current generation go out and pull the information for themselves, at their own discretion, at their own time, at their own pace, by their own means, in multiple forms.  Children are increasingly able to do more technical tasks, multi-task, and are becoming more resourceful.  They are the ones who can surf the internet to find the latest news, not just locally, but in remote parts of the world.  They can be listening to their iPods, instant messaging a friend (often more than one), surfing for the latest YouTube video, and doing the research for a school assignment on Wikipedia all at the same time.  They know what they’re looking for and where to look for it.  And even if they don’t know what to look for and where to look for it, a simple Google or Yahoo search will give them so many results that they can pull from.  The children of this generation “pull” the information for them to learn, discover new things, get information, …

Are we, as educators, able to teach them in ways that support, fortify, affirm, and/or align with this pull method?

Mac OS X, Apple’s operating system, has many built in services that can be used with many applications (native operating system applications and some third party applications).

One service feature is speaking text.  I will use Safari, Apple’s built in web browser, for example.  While surfing online, if you come across a page with a lot of text, click and drag to highlight the selected area of text.  Click on the name of the application, in this case – Safari, select Services, select Speech, and then select Start Speaking Text.  Mac OS X will read the highlighted text.

This could be useful to allow students to hear how sentences sound, listen to pronunciation of new vocabulary words, and/or listen to news stories while doing something else. 

** One thing to note: the computer voice(s) in Mac OS X, 10.4 (Tiger) sounds very computer-like.  In Mac OS X, 10.5 (Leopard), there is a new voice called, “Alex” that incorporates a lot of new technology that makes Alex sound closer to life-like with pauses, intonations, and breaths.   

Apple’s MacBooks and MacBook Pros are built with a solid-state scrolling trackpad.  Moving one finger on the trackpad will move the cursor on the screen.  The trackpad supports two-finger scrolling when two fingers are applied to the trackpad in a window where scrolling is an option.

One additional feature of Mac OS X with the use of the trackpad is the ability to zoom into one part of the item(s) on your screen, for example, zooming into read some fine print.  While holding the control key on the keyboard, move up with two fingers on the trackpad and the display will zoom onto the cursor.  To zoom out, hold control and move down with two fingers on the trackpad. 

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300777

http://www.apple.com/education/solutions/macbook/ 

Apple’s iPhoto application, which comes preloaded on every Mac, is a very simple application that allows the user to Import, Organize, Edit, and Share their digital photos.

Some key points about each part when using iPhoto – version 6.  

While importing, you can name the roll and add a selection before you click on Import.  Once it’s done importing, the pictures will appear in iPhoto’s library.  Organize it by clicking on the plus button on the bottom left corner to create a new photo album.  Back in the library, select the pictures you want and drag them into the album.  In the Editing mode, you can rotate, crop, enhance, retouch, adjust for red eye, apply one touch effects, or adjust the picture with specific sliders.  iPhoto makes sharing photos easy with many options including creating slideshows, creating and ordering cards, calendars, books, and photo prints, emailing the picture, and creating a photo page with iWeb.

Enjoy the time importing, organizing, editing, and sharing your memories.