ipod touch – D’Arcy Norman dot net

subretinal

D'Arcy Norman — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 02:24:03 +0000

the display on my 2nd Gen iPod Touch, after a rock-related mishap on a fishing trip with The Boy™. It’ll be nice to retire this screen for one with fewer prismatic distractions…

presenting

D'Arcy Norman — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:08:29 +0000

Me, presenting the “Identity in the Open Classroom” session for the From Courses to Dis/course: Exploring the Future of Courses online conference. I picked a topic that I’ve been thinking about, but hadn’t done much with, so it gave me a chance to pour through research and writing on the subject and put together a presentation. I think it went OK, and there was great discussion.

Blackboard Learn on iPod Touch

D'Arcy Norman — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:39:43 +0000

I tried the promising new iPhone / iPod Touch app “Blackboard Learning” hoping to have a cool and efficient way to connect to Blackboard from my pocket computer. No such luck. There’s always something in the way of making the LMS experience fun…

Error

Your institution is blocking Sync for the iPhone.

Doh.

I don’t know if this is a version mismatch – are we running the wrong version of Blackboard? – or if it’s just a new building block that needs to get rolled out on campus. Either way, frustration.

apps on my ipod touch

D'Arcy Norman — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 05:11:27 +0000

here are the current apps on my ipod touch, itemized for George:

main app bar:

music
videos
photos
byline (GREAT native app that provides an interface to google reader)

the remaining apps are loosely arranged by age or amount of use – I really wish there was a better interface to manage a whole bunch of apps without having to drag them around on the iPod Touch interface itself. Tedious…

Applications page 1:

safari
mail
calendar
contacts
weather
maps
clock
settings (so I can toggle wireless easily)
calculator
notes (I’m using this a LOT lately. man, does it need some love by Apple…)
app store
darkslide pro
facebook
wordpress
omnifocus (living in this lately. great app that syncs to the desktop version)
twinkle

page 2:

monkey ball
sol free
bejeweled 2
solitaire city
scrabble
bskieslite
linerider
cro-mag
asphalt4 (great racing game. my son is quite good at this)
r.thunder
fastlane (more realistic, but harder, racing game)
x-plane (addicted to flight sims. wish it had more maps…)
pinball rc
tetris
crash kart

page 3:

vegas pool lite
cradle
holdem
izengarden
cube runner
labyrinth le
enigmo
slant
brainchallenge
pocketguitar
guitarist
theriminator
digilite
minipiano
band
tap tap revenge

page 4:

countdown
flixster
i.tv
checkplease
airportstatus
currency
seismometer
air sharing
easywriter
photoframe
flickr (bookmark)
a free level
molecules
aim
wifinder
ilava

page 5:

weathereye
remote
google earth
wikipanion
stanza (books)
classics (books)
pterm (ssh client)
sketches
led football
instapaper (offline versions of web pages)
google
sb2 lite
fieldrunners
touchphysics
brothers in arms (WWII shooter game)
alpha squadron

page 6:

rc physics
google talk
dice
tictactouch
cooliris
night stand
light
bubbles
wurdle
zippo lighter
lightsaber
sudoku
simcity
koi pond
mmv
motochaser

page 7:

stocks
itunes
youtube
lux touch
tapdeluxe
pcalc lite
google reader (bookmark)
flycast
eyetricks
topple
dropship
fs5 hockey
rick free

yikes. that’s a lot of apps. I don’t even want to think about how much that cost me…

there’s a theramin in my iPod!

D'Arcy Norman — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 03:57:16 +0000

I just found a new Coolest iPod Application. Theramin-ator. A multitouch theramin. On my iPod. Fracking awesome. I just spent the last half an hour playing with it, and it’s pretty sweet. Especially once you start getting the hang of the multi-touch controls. You drag a finger (or fingers) around on the “control pad” to simulate moving through the theramin’s fields. Horizontal axis is frequency, vertical is volume. Frequency ranges from a skull-rattling 40Hz to a brain-melting 2000Hz. Volume goes to 11, natch. And you can tweak the properties of the theramin while playing – pitch range, waveform, etc… Very cool.

It’s probably a good thing that it doesn’t record the sounds because I’d have to start an @dnorman Theramin Music Hour Podcast, full of wacky Star Trek theme music and transporter sound effects…

ps. yeah. I get how lame I am for playing with a theramin simulator for half an hour on a friday evening, then blogging about it…

Retro LED Football

D'Arcy Norman — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 04:07:05 +0000

Oh, man does this take me back! I spent hour after hour playing the original handheld LED football game – working on my offensive fake-out and hammering the arrow keys into dust.

Now, I can play the game on my iPod Touch. Sure hope I don’t put my finger through the touch screen…

WordPress and iPhone / iPod Touch

D'Arcy Norman — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:00:28 +0000

Now that I’ve updated ucalgaryblogs.ca to WordPress MultiUser 2.6, the cool new native iPhone and iPod Touch blogging app will work. Just point it to your blog(s), give it login credentials, and you’re off and running!

What’s cool is that now all of my blogs can be managed via my iPod Touch using a native application!

For example, I used dlnorman.ucalgaryblogs.ca as the blog address, and gave it my login info. It will work with multiple blogs, too – but each blog needs to be configured separately.

iPod Touch keyboard add-on

D'Arcy Norman — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:09:04 +0000

Real keyboard, connected to iPod Touch via USB through iPod Camera Connector accessory.

I want this. Well, maybe with a slimmer keyboard. Possibly a foldable version of something the size of the Apple Wireless Keyboard (pictured below). Doesn’t have to actually BE wireless, though. I’d be FINE with a USB cable, and even with slapping rechargeable batteries in the keyboard to prevent an additional power draw from the iPod Touch…

Apple Wireless Keyboard - perfect companion to my iPod Touch? Please?

This would make the Notes app much more useful. And the WordPress app. And email. etc… etc…

Web-based student response systems (ala clicker?)

D'Arcy Norman — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:11:46 +0000

I’ve been looking for something to fill this need for awhile now, but haven’t found a decent solution.

We’ve got students coming to class with web-enabled devices (laptops, iPod Touch, iPhone, smart phones, etc…) and it makes sense to take advantage of this stuff wherever possible. Instead of making students buy and lug around yet another piece of gear, I’m looking for an effective way to provide assessment and response functionality via a web browser.

I don’t care if it’s a custom app that needs to be installed on a server, or a third party thingamawacky. Just that it’s accessible by a browser, and can be used in the context of a class (so, One Big Shared App would need to have rooms or classes or something to help organize the communication). The web interface for the student responses needs to be lightweight – no java, no flash – so that it can run anywhere (or as close to anywhere as is physically possible) and must be easy to use.

Ideally, the web app should do handy things like collecting stats from responses, charting the breakdown of the responses, letting people ask questions to be answered by the class, etc… It should be displayable on The Big Screen from a computer so the class can see the results in a presentation format. Bonus points for storing the responses for later use as well, and providing a downloadable dump of the data for crunching if needed.

Has anyone found anything that serves this purpose?

16GB just ain’t enough

D'Arcy Norman — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:48:09 +0000

When I got my 16GB iPod Touch, I knew I’d run out of room. I just didn’t realize how soon I’d do it. Moving from my previous 30GB iPod Video, I had trimmed my music collection – purging all files of questionable origin – and was able to fit everything quite comfortably within 16GB.

But now, with a bunch of TED Talks, some movies, presentations, a schwack of podcasts (I think that’s metric. or is it imperial?), and a bunch of photos, I’m starting to hit the ceiling. 16GB just isn’t enough.

It should have been a sign, when the week after I bought my 16GB iPod Touch, Apple released a new model sporting 32GB of storage. Sigh. I’ll go through my music collection and trim some of the old crap I never listen to (or just set it not to copy to the iPod). Hopefully that’ll give me some more breathing room. I have a feeling I’ll be needing some free space once the apps built on the SDK are released, all wanting some room to store stuff…

Oh, and don’t get me wrong – I love my iPod Touch in a way that is entirely unhealthy. Perhaps unholy. It’s like my own minitiature Clarke Monolith, but with wifi and web browsing built in. Love. It. I’d just like some more room for my stuff on it, that’s all…