Chris and I watched the iPad mini event today on our departmental Apple TV.  It only occurred to us belatedly that we should have made it an open event for anyone wishing to attend in room LL-111.  But then, you never know.  Sometimes the events are chock full of meaningful new products and insights into Apple’s ongoing strategies, and other times they are a lot of noise about not much.  Today’s event was more the former.  The big news was the iPad Mini—about which more below—but there were significant announcements related to the iBook app and store, Macbook, iMac, and a surprise...

As many faculty are already aware, there is a Blackboard Mobile Learn app available for iOS and Android devices. That isn’t news, as the app has existed for a couple years now. What is news relates to a change in the way that app is licensed. Previously the app was usable only by certain devices using certain connections, in a fashion that was confusing to explain. Unless, of course, the institution you were attending actually purchased a license, in which case everything just plain worked. That last is still true, that the institution can purchase a license to use the Mobile Learn app…...

How does progress happen?  That is the initial question that greets users of IBM’s free THINK app for iPad (the app is also available for Android).  For those who love technology, science  and the history of both, it is the entrée to a fascinating collection of resources put together in an engaging, thought-provoking display. The presentation begins with the 10-minute Think film, which can be downloaded to the iPad (161MB) or streamed (from YouTube—the far better choice if your connection allows it).  The video is a split-screen, multi-camera piece provides a glimpse into four problems that were...

I like infographics.  I subscribe to the feed for visual.ly, which brings me ten to thirty new infographics each day.  The site itself is a repository of more than 2000 infographics, and growing.  Good infrographics are strong on impact, good at simplification, and well documented.  I can’t say that many of the infographics at visual.ly are strong on documentation.  You need a high powered magnifier to read the tiny print in which the URLs are shown at the bottom of infographics.  And if you do figure out what they are, visiting those sites often does not inspire confidence and sometimes proves...