Archive for May, 2010
May 5th, 2010 at 5:36 PM EST | by inu846W
My 22-year-old son, Kevin, is both physically and mentally handicapped. He’s a lover of technology, and has an iPod Classic, and an iPod Touch, and uses our iMac daily. The company that provides him with employment training has just applied for a grant to purchase 22 iPads for clients with various needs. I offered to do some research on apps that could be used for those with mental and developmental issues.
For Kevin’s purposes, the Calendar app will be a benefit, providing him with reminders through his day. The Notes app, or a similar journaling app, will also help.
Beyond that I’m looking for some help from the greater world of iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users. For instance, Kevin’s workday (at this point) is primarily job training, and he needs to memorize and recall certain pieces of information, such as his phone number (he got that one last month!), address (still working on it), and such things. A flashcard program would be ideal, especially one that is simple to use. Simplicity is the key – just calling my cell phone can be a challenge.
A basic database program like Bento might be helpful as well; are there any others that people have used?
I also think that a program that steps through response to emergencies would be fantastic – fire, power outages, sickness, personal safety, etc.
The apps probably fall into two categories: Learning applications to help with memorization, and Supplemental applications that allow Kevin (and others) to bypass memorization.
I would appreciate hearing from anyone with thoughts on this, or from those who are also interested in identifying apps that would make the iPad a tool for the mentally handicapped.
Thanks!
Gregory Lawhorn
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May 5th, 2010 at 3:11 PM EST | by inu846W
Having survived the crucible that is Apple’s App Store approval process, CoPilot Live HD has become the first available iPad-specific GPS application. The app is a reworking of the iPhone version of the CoPilot Live app for iPhone, featuring a revised interface that takes better advantage of the iPad’s larger screen.
The app features 2D and 3D maps of North America stored locally on the device, so users won’t need to maintain a data connection while navigating from point A to B. However, the app will need to make use of the iPad’s GPS antenna for positioning, so this is a purely iPad 3G affair. Sorry, iPad Wi-Fi users.
Read more: cnet.com
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May 5th, 2010 at 2:59 PM EST | by inu846W
That’s the word from Gawker. Ryan Tate is quoting people close to the paper who say the Apple CEO is very unhappy with the free New York Times Editor’s Choice app, mostly because it leaves out a lot of the content of the daily Times.
The trimmed-down Times on iPad stems from a reported deal that Amazon made with the paper for the Kindle. Amazon has an exclusive on the full content of the Times for e-readers. On the Kindle, you have to subscribe to read the Times, even though the full content is free and available on the web. The Amazon deal apparently allows competitors to have the full text, but not at a lower price.
Earlier this month, the New York Times raised subscription prices on the Kindle from
US$13.99 to $19.99 a month.
Read more: TUAW.com
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May 5th, 2010 at 2:53 PM EST | by inu846W
Though overall retail sales in April were a mixed bag, consumer purchases of electronics grew 9.7 percent year-over-year, thanks in large part to the successful debut of Apple’s iPad.
Released this week, the numbers from MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse show that electronics, along with luxury goods and appliances, saw an increase in overall retail sales in April when compared to the same span in 2009, according to The Associated Press.
The report specifically cited the launch of Apple’s iPad as one of the primary reasons for growth in retail electronics sales. The iPad had two separate launches in the month: one for the Wi-Fi only version on April 3, and another for the 3G-capable model last week, on April 30.
The SpendingPulse figures apply from April 4 through May 1, and the results are compared with totals from a year earlier. The MasterCard figures include include transactions in all forms, including cash.
Read more: AppleInsider.com
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May 5th, 2010 at 2:47 PM EST | by inu846W
The Dropbox team updated the Dropbox app today with full iPad compatibility and the option to choose which app will open a document. It’s a very welcome refresh for an application that many users (myself included) depend on. As usual, the app is free. Let’s look at the improvements.
First of all, the cosmetic changes. While in the landscape orientation, Dropbox offers the same split view that Mail and several others use. Pictures and documents look great and legible on the large screen. Across the toolbar are icons to jump to your favorites, adjust your account settings, email a public link to a file (or copy it to the clipboard), mark a file as a favorite and finally choose an app to open a file.
In portrait orientation the sidebar disappears and you’re left with a full-screen view of your document and a few icons at the top. It looks super.
Read more: TUAW.com
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May 5th, 2010 at 2:41 PM EST | by inu846W
Earlier today, we noted that ABC had updated its ABC Player application for the iPad to support video streaming over 3G networks and that the new version had been submitted to Apple for review.
Apple certainly didn’t take long to look it over, however, as the updated version is now live in the App Store. In addition to 3G streaming, the new version brings a number of other improvements, notably including support for landscape orientation in all screens within the application.
Read more: MacRumors.com
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