Photos – First Look

With the most recent iOS and OS updates, Apple has replaced iPhoto with Photos. Here are some initial impressions after a short period of experimentation. The Photos editing tools are impressive and a drastic improvement over iPhoto.  I have one complaint in this area. Perhaps the things I do most with photos is to crop and then adjust image size for use outside of the Apple environment. I cannot figure out to adjust size beyond one kludgy 3 size option adjustment I could make when emailing an image. I keep thinking I must be missing something, but I don’t think so.

photosediting

 

 

Apple assumes we want to access our images across devices and store these images in the cloud. We tend to use multiple devices and in at least some cases even with cross-device access we would prefer not to save the image on the device. This makes some sense. However, Apple is not keeping up in the storage wars. Apple offers 5 GB free with Photos, but the first price point beyond 5 GB would be approximately $12 per year for 20 GB. Flickr offers a terabyte at no cost and my $25 per year pro account gives me unlimited storage. I suppose $12 a year would satisfy the needs of most individuals and you could then take advantage of the convenient access from any Apple device feature.

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Ed Tech Developer’s Guide

The Department of Education has released an Ed Tech Developer’s Guide (download the pdf here). The document attempts to identify “opportunities” for resources that will have an impact (evidently there is a concern that designers tend to limits their efforts to providing information). In addition to identifying the opportunities, the guide attempts to make the case for why each opportunity is important. There are a few examples and guidelines explaining student privacy issues.

This might be a useful document for students interested in graduate instructional design programs. Some of the design processes are simplistic unless you are a tech type with little exposure to instructional design, but an examination of the document offers useful links for even experienced ed tech types. As far as I can tell, this is not a document guiding government funded work. The assumption seems to be that there are “edupreneurs” out their who would benefit from a more productive focus.

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Wikipedia on 60 Minutes

The most recent 60 Minutes included a nice segment on Wikipedia. Comments from Jimmy Wales are included.

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Tech in the city

We have moved from North Dakota to the Twin Cities. I will not say I am fond of the traffic, but I do enjoy the diversity a more metropolitan area provides.

This advantage extends to our tech interests. Specialization is an advantage of larger population areas. I had a hard drive go out on my iMac. A trip to an Apple store did not result in a fix because the computer was 5 years old and Apple stores no longer provide service.

The techs at the Apple store did direct us to a Micro Center. The service center installed a new drive at what I thought was a low price. We had a great time just browsing. This store may be my new favorite – all tech, all the time.

So, for educators or hobbyists, there are kits and kit add-ons of all types – Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and Little bits. I understand you can purchase these items and have them delivered to any place the post office or Fedex can reach. Still, there is something better about exploring the goods on the racks.

micro3

 

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Block hot and recommended

This is a follow-up to my previous post on Hot and Recommended content in Google+. This video explains how to prevent content not generated by those from your circles appearing in your content stream.

 

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What is hot and recommended?

Google – I thought the idea of Google+ circles was to allow uses of Google+ to allow users to control the individuals with whom they would interact. The inclusion of “What is hot and recommended” posts contradicts what I thought was the original philosophy and often seems to focus on political posts that are inflammatory and the comments on these posts which are worse. By reversing the original plan, you have encouraged this type of unpleasantness. I appreciate productive controversy, but this is not what you have created and I would prefer to use a service that allows me to debate with those I know will not resort to name calling and profanity.

You can change the default that displays these posts. Select the “explore” heading. You should then find a page with the label “Explore Google” and within this box a “What’s hot” link. The what’s hot link will reveal another box with the label “Whats hot”. The header for this box should include a gear icon. Selecting the gear icon should reveal a check box for “show posts in home stream”. Uncheck. Wasn’t that easy (he said sarcastically)?

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