I downloaded the iOS 5 software update last night and wanted to make the most of the features the first place I looked was the Apple site. This is their video explaining iOS5 features and what some of the major upgrades are. Enjoy!
P.S Allow a good hour for the upgrade - especially if you are doing both your laptop and your iPad.
Apps for Handwritten Notes
How many times have you been in a meeting or a conference and just wanted to jot down an ideas or sketch. You don't want to become totally distracted by typing reams but you do want to record it so it doesn't get lost. The following apps allow you to do just that. You can write with your finger or use a stylus if that is more comfortable. These apps will let you record, organise and then share these musings. Great for your classroom or students as well.
Many of these apps are excellent in their own right. They do exactly what the developers say they will. They are note taking apps, but, one or two do a little more. The Soundnote app I have blogged about before and is an interesting take on multimedia notetaking. It is something that I have used to keep digital voice recordings as minutes to meetings.
It is great to see app developers continually improving their product and looking for ways to improve the educational outcomes of the students who use their apps. iStudious is well worth a look
Many of these apps are excellent in their own right. They do exactly what the developers say they will. They are note taking apps, but, one or two do a little more. The Soundnote app I have blogged about before and is an interesting take on multimedia notetaking. It is something that I have used to keep digital voice recordings as minutes to meetings.
iStudious
Another that I think offers more than expected is iStudious. It's a complete note taking app designed for students and performs in a similar way to other apps. You can create notebooks for each class and organize the notebook by lectures etc. iStudious is, however more than just another note taking app. After you have spent the time organising your notes you can then turn them automatically into flashcards that help you study the information you have just recorded.
Another that I think offers more than expected is iStudious. It's a complete note taking app designed for students and performs in a similar way to other apps. You can create notebooks for each class and organize the notebook by lectures etc. iStudious is, however more than just another note taking app. After you have spent the time organising your notes you can then turn them automatically into flashcards that help you study the information you have just recorded.
This is the major difference between iStudious and other apps. It is a note taking app that includes an integrated flashcards feature. This added feature turns iStudious into an app that delivers the ability to record and then study your notes within the same app. It is also possible to import sets of flashcards from Quizlet another app I have used with some success with my classes. You also have the added ability to handwrite or solve an equation on top of flashcards - really good for those cards that you continue to stumble on.
This note taking app not only offers smooth fluid handwriting capabilties for note taking but it offers multiple options with pen sizes and colour options - great for organising your notes so you use different colours for different components of your course. The app also offers rich text formatting for those people who are visual learners and like to organise their notes graphically. I like the approach that the developer have taken on this app. It is a student centred tool designed to allow the students to optimise their own learning.
It is great to see app developers continually improving their product and looking for ways to improve the educational outcomes of the students who use their apps. iStudious is well worth a look
What other apps are available that allow you to use your own handwriting to record notes, diagrams or voice recordings. Here are a selection;
WritePad: $10.49 AU
WritePad lets you take handwritten notes with a stylus or even your finger. The handwriting recognition software will adapt and learn your style of writing. You can use simple gestures to select text, cut, copy, paste, and insert special characters. It has a spell checker with its own custom dictionary, auto-corrector, and a Shorthand feature that fills-in words. WritePad lets you save and transfer files over Wi-Fi from your iPhone or iPad to another iPhone or iPad.
Penultimate: $1.99 AU
The original handwriting app now includes photo annotation. It gives you the fast, tactile gratification of writing on paper, with digital power and flexibility. Take notes, keep sketches, or share your next breakthrough idea -- in the office, on the go, or home on the sofa. Store your thoughts in separate notebooks for each project. Penultimate can manage as many notebooks as you can create. You can browse quickly through all pages, or insert, delete, duplicate, and reorder them.
Notetaker HD: $5.49 AU
Note Taker HD is a powerful app for writing and organizing handwritten notes, diagrams, etc., on the iPad. It can shrink your writing so you can easily fit a lot of text on a page. You can read the reduced-size "ink" as if you had written those letters with a very fine pen. Documents are flexibly organized by tags, date/time last modified or favorites. You can email one or more pages as a single PDF file, "Open In" other apps like Evernote and Dropbox, or, if your iPad supports it, print.
Notes Plus: $5.49 AU
Notes Plus is a note-taking tool that supports handwriting, typing and audio recording. It offers close-up writing mode for small text, stroke smoothing, vector shape auto-detection, palm handling, complete folder structure, PDF exporting, emailing, Google Docs uploading, and more. Hand write comfortably with your big finger, your text will show up as fine as with pen and paper. 2010 Best App Ever nominated in both categories: Best Productivity and Most Innovative.
Noteshelf: $5.49 AU
Noteshelf is the handwriting note taker that features super natural digital ink, a stunning UI and a comprehensive toolset that will increase the benefits of owning an iPad by leaps and bounds. Neatly organize all your notebooks on the shelf, each with a cover and title of your choosing. Group related notebooks together and label the groups appropriately for better organization. Password protect groups of notebooks on the shelf for privacy. Rearrange pages within a notebook to reorganize your notes.
Adobe Ideas: $6.49 AU
Adobe Ideas is an ideal companion for the design applications from Adobe that you love, including Adobe Illustrator® and Adobe Photoshop®. Easily sketch using vectors, and choose and save color themes. With the option to purchase additional layers within the application, you can enjoy 10 drawing layers plus a photo layer for each sketch as well the ability to transform layers- control specific layer opacity and move, rotate and scale
each layer independently.
Note Taker makes it easy for you to quickly write down and organize names, phone numbers, addresses, shopping lists, notes, and more. You write directly on the screen with your finger. It's like having a stack of note cards and a pencil always with you. Pages are flexibly organized by date/time last modified, tags, favorites, and more, with thumbnail images of part of each page to help you find them later. It automatically shrinks your writing and Note Taker automatically adds new writing next to the old.
UPAD: $5.49
Equipped with an excellent handwriting/drawing engine, UPAD will surprise you when you start to write on it with a stylus pen or your finger – because it brings a feeling very close to writing on an actual paper! UPAD promised smoothness and speed, on top of countless differentiated features from other similar apps. Let us enlighten you with what UPAD can do. 3 in 1. UPAD is the answer ! This is an Note taking app, a PDF annotating + reader app as well as a Photo editor.
Use your Handwriting Gold: $0.99 AU
Have you ever wanted to write fast, beautiful notes with no length limit and without having to use the popup keyboard? How about just using your finger on your iPad’s gorgeous screen? Use Your Handwriting (UYH) is a simple way to organize and express yourself. Instead of typing items in, Use Your Handwriting lets you write them by hand (well, by finger) - and with its unique graphic rendering engine, makes what you write look like your actual handwriting!
SoundNote: $5.49 AU
SoundNote is the best way to take notes in meetings, lectures, and interviews. It tracks what you type and draw while recording audio, so you'll never worry about missing an important detail. During playback, just tap a word: SoundNote will jump right to the proper time in the audio. SoundNote is perfect for students or journalists. When you're done, share your notes via email, or transfer them directly to your PC. Audio notes are recorded in standard M4A format:
10 Animation Apps
I have blogged previously about the power of apps that tell stories as an educational activity. It stimulates higher order thinking skills, it provides opportunities for reflection and it enriches the learning experience for our students. So here I have listed apps that allow your students to create animations. I love the simplicity with which animations allow difficult concepts to be easily explained. These apps provide you with another set of tools to enhance your students learning.
Animation Studio $0.99AU
Why take the time to create your Animation if you can't add a Soundtrack or Export as a .mov File? Animation Studio allows you to create and share your animations!. Anyone can animate. You can easily create your own animated movies, add characters and a soundtrack w/ voice, music + text to speech, then share with anyone, anywhere in HD via .mov file export, email, YouTube, or broadcast on Apple TV via AirPlay™!
Animation Desk for iPad $4.99AU
Animation Desk for iPad is a mobile app that allows users to create hand-drawn animations on iPad. The drawing interface provided by the app resembles the real working environment of a professional animator who completes each frame of an animation on a specially-designed desk, the animation desk. Despite its professional design, Animation Desk for iPad is easy and intuitive to work with.
Toonastic $1.99 AU
Making cartoons is as easy as putting on a puppet show - simply press the button, move characters, and tell your stories through play. Once you are done, Toontastic will playback your animation and voice asa cartoon for you to share with firends and classmates. Toontastic teaches key storytelling principles that help to promote Creativity at a young age. Its drawing tools bring kids’ wildest ideas to life alongside virtual sets chock full of characters and settings to spark the imagination.
Kids Animation FREE
This free version of the successful 'Animation Studio' App provides all the tools you need to create great Animations on your iPad! Paint, draw, add Fun Stamps and even your own Soundtrack! For Help, Tap the "?" Button and check out our full In-App Tutorial! Easy! The 'Kid' Series Apps are built for Kids of all Ages to be Wholesome Entertainment and Family Safe. Advertisers have even been asked to be considerate of Ad Content!
Animation Creator HD $1.99
Animation Creator HD allows your creativity to come to life on your iPad and iPad 2! You are the director! With simple, yet powerful drawing tools, color palettes, color sliders, and easy to use frame management, you're only limited by your imagination! Animate till your heart's content. Your animations will look smooth and life-like with the high frame rate playback of Animation Creator HD! This is an really cool app.
PuppetPals: FREE + $2.99
Create your own animated stories. Simply pick out the characters, drag them onstage and tap record. Movements and audio are recorded for your performance. You get to be a silly as you like making funny voices to match your characters. If you get the Directors Pass for the extra charge you can act out a story of Pirates on the high seas, fight scary monsters or play the part of a wild west bandit. It is more expensive but gives you heaps more options for the budding animator.
Flip Boom Lite: FREE
Draw and animate cartoons on your iPad with FlipBoom Lite from Toon Boom Animation! A light version of ToonBoom's award-winning software Flip Boom Classic, this fun and intuitive drawing application makes it easy to doodle and create simple smooth-looking cartoon animations. FlipBoom Lite is ideal for learning how to sketch and animate your drawings to create cartoons.
http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/flipboom-lite-free/id385135145?mt=8
Flickmation Lite or Flickmation $4.49
Create hand (finger?) drawn animations on your iPad and bring life to those stickmen. Flickmation lets you create animations (flickbooks or flipbooks) on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You draw each frame and then play through the frames bringing your creation to life. When connected to a WiFi network you can copy your animations and stamps to and from your computer. FlickmationHelper, a Java application for your computer, makes this simple and easy to do.
iAnimator $0.99
iAnimator allows you to create animations based on photos you have taken on the camera or photos you have loaded onto your ipad from itunes. Select up to twenty images to create an animation. Take multiple photos in sequence then load them into the app in the order you require. Them adjust the speed and frequency of the animation with the slider bar and the loop counter. Once you have setup your animation you can select play to view your animation.
Doink Animation $5.49 AU
This has been one of the most fun apps I have played with for some time. This was another app I could not get near because my 12 year old commandeered it for the whole day after I downloaded it. She had her first animation up and running in under 5 minutes. I was impressed! She was impressed! This is always a good sign from a tech savvy kid who is aware of what will and won't work with her peers at school. I liked the way the app can be operated with simple gestures.
DoInk Animation is also a member of Moms with Apps, a collaborative group of family-friendly developers seeking to promote quality apps for kids and families.
As an art teacher this is the type of app that really excites me, not only for what we could do with it in art but because we could showcase the possibility of an app like this to other subject areas as well. Being so easy to use was one of the things that immediately struck me with DoInk. I love the concept. The ghosted image of the previous drawing means that sophisticated gestures and movements can be obtained even by the youngest of kids. The older students would really take this to the next level. Using a stylus does give you a better experience but it is not really needed.
Storytelling as an educational activity is experiencing strong support at the moment from educationalists. The higher order thinking skills needed to analyse a situation and then illustrate it to a perceived audience is one which many teachers and parents are looking to emulate. The storytelling aspect of a tools like this is excellent.
As an educator I am all about making information entertaining as well as educational. So many times in my classroom my students have achieved the most stunning outcomes when they have not realised they were involved in the activity of learning. DoInk looks like an excellent app for replicating this learning. Check out the youtube clip from the guys over at iPadCreative. I have directed you to these guys before because they have some really cool stuff on their website. They are also generous with their time on evaluating apps for education. Enjoy!
Animation Studio $0.99AUWhy take the time to create your Animation if you can't add a Soundtrack or Export as a .mov File? Animation Studio allows you to create and share your animations!. Anyone can animate. You can easily create your own animated movies, add characters and a soundtrack w/ voice, music + text to speech, then share with anyone, anywhere in HD via .mov file export, email, YouTube, or broadcast on Apple TV via AirPlay™!
Animation Desk for iPad is a mobile app that allows users to create hand-drawn animations on iPad. The drawing interface provided by the app resembles the real working environment of a professional animator who completes each frame of an animation on a specially-designed desk, the animation desk. Despite its professional design, Animation Desk for iPad is easy and intuitive to work with.
Making cartoons is as easy as putting on a puppet show - simply press the button, move characters, and tell your stories through play. Once you are done, Toontastic will playback your animation and voice asa cartoon for you to share with firends and classmates. Toontastic teaches key storytelling principles that help to promote Creativity at a young age. Its drawing tools bring kids’ wildest ideas to life alongside virtual sets chock full of characters and settings to spark the imagination.
This free version of the successful 'Animation Studio' App provides all the tools you need to create great Animations on your iPad! Paint, draw, add Fun Stamps and even your own Soundtrack! For Help, Tap the "?" Button and check out our full In-App Tutorial! Easy! The 'Kid' Series Apps are built for Kids of all Ages to be Wholesome Entertainment and Family Safe. Advertisers have even been asked to be considerate of Ad Content!
Animation Creator HD allows your creativity to come to life on your iPad and iPad 2! You are the director! With simple, yet powerful drawing tools, color palettes, color sliders, and easy to use frame management, you're only limited by your imagination! Animate till your heart's content. Your animations will look smooth and life-like with the high frame rate playback of Animation Creator HD! This is an really cool app.
Create your own animated stories. Simply pick out the characters, drag them onstage and tap record. Movements and audio are recorded for your performance. You get to be a silly as you like making funny voices to match your characters. If you get the Directors Pass for the extra charge you can act out a story of Pirates on the high seas, fight scary monsters or play the part of a wild west bandit. It is more expensive but gives you heaps more options for the budding animator.
Draw and animate cartoons on your iPad with FlipBoom Lite from Toon Boom Animation! A light version of ToonBoom's award-winning software Flip Boom Classic, this fun and intuitive drawing application makes it easy to doodle and create simple smooth-looking cartoon animations. FlipBoom Lite is ideal for learning how to sketch and animate your drawings to create cartoons.
http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/flipboom-lite-free/id385135145?mt=8
Create hand (finger?) drawn animations on your iPad and bring life to those stickmen. Flickmation lets you create animations (flickbooks or flipbooks) on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You draw each frame and then play through the frames bringing your creation to life. When connected to a WiFi network you can copy your animations and stamps to and from your computer. FlickmationHelper, a Java application for your computer, makes this simple and easy to do.
iAnimator allows you to create animations based on photos you have taken on the camera or photos you have loaded onto your ipad from itunes. Select up to twenty images to create an animation. Take multiple photos in sequence then load them into the app in the order you require. Them adjust the speed and frequency of the animation with the slider bar and the loop counter. Once you have setup your animation you can select play to view your animation.
This has been one of the most fun apps I have played with for some time. This was another app I could not get near because my 12 year old commandeered it for the whole day after I downloaded it. She had her first animation up and running in under 5 minutes. I was impressed! She was impressed! This is always a good sign from a tech savvy kid who is aware of what will and won't work with her peers at school. I liked the way the app can be operated with simple gestures.
DoInk Animation is also a member of Moms with Apps, a collaborative group of family-friendly developers seeking to promote quality apps for kids and families.
As an art teacher this is the type of app that really excites me, not only for what we could do with it in art but because we could showcase the possibility of an app like this to other subject areas as well. Being so easy to use was one of the things that immediately struck me with DoInk. I love the concept. The ghosted image of the previous drawing means that sophisticated gestures and movements can be obtained even by the youngest of kids. The older students would really take this to the next level. Using a stylus does give you a better experience but it is not really needed.
Storytelling as an educational activity is experiencing strong support at the moment from educationalists. The higher order thinking skills needed to analyse a situation and then illustrate it to a perceived audience is one which many teachers and parents are looking to emulate. The storytelling aspect of a tools like this is excellent.
As an educator I am all about making information entertaining as well as educational. So many times in my classroom my students have achieved the most stunning outcomes when they have not realised they were involved in the activity of learning. DoInk looks like an excellent app for replicating this learning. Check out the youtube clip from the guys over at iPadCreative. I have directed you to these guys before because they have some really cool stuff on their website. They are also generous with their time on evaluating apps for education. Enjoy!
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