Thursday, January 29, 2009

Teacher Observation Program

The iPodTouch/iPhone version is now available.



http://shop.pesoftware.com

Standards-Based Record Book

For use on the iPod Touch/iPhone is now available!

Check it out at http://shop.pesoftware.com

Fitness Report

For use on the iPod Touch/iPhone is now available!

Check it out at http://shop.pesoftware.com

Monday, January 26, 2009

Heart Monitor Report/Pedometer Report

For use on the iPod Touch/iPhone is now available!

http://shop.pesoftware.com

Locker System

Is now available and works on IpodTouch and iPhone.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

FITT Rx and EXER Rx

For use on the iPod Touch/iPhone is now available!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Artificial LIfe touts 2009 iPhone game Slate

Mobile technology and applications developer Artificial Life announced it plans to introduce at least a dozen new iPhone and iPod touch products in 2009, following up on the success of its first iPhone game, Amateur Surgeon. Artificial Life's 2009 slate includes a series of three racing games developed in conjunction with an unnamed German auto manufacturer as well as a real-time, first-person shooter game and real-time airplane racing title, both in 3D. In addition, the firm will publish games including Solo Backstreet Soccer 3D, Verminator, Scorched!, Space Bumpers, Junkyard Skeet Shooter and Going Postal. Artificial Life adds it will also roll out business apps for iPhone users, including Mobile Diab (a mobile health monitoring system) and Mobile Property (a real estate application).

Read more

Monday, January 12, 2009

AT&T, Dell push $100 laptop with built-in HSPA link

AT&T Mobility and Dell are offering the Inspiron Mini 9 for $100, after a $350 mail-in rebate and a two-year LaptopConnect service contract, which costs $60 per month.

The device features Wi-Fi and HSPA connectivity to the carrier’s broadband network, a nearly 9-inch display, an Intel Atom processor and Windows XP Home Edition.

The offer is good through Jan. 31 direct from Dell.

Read more.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Teachers' lessons go virtual on education video Web site

Thousands of teachers are sharing lessons through Teacher Tube -- a Web site similar to YouTube that launched in 2007 and now has about 54,000 videos and averages 800,000 users each month. "It is allowing teachers from all over the world to share with each other and learn from one another," said Jason Smith, the co-creator of Teacher Tube and superintendent of a Texas school district. "We want to create a grassroots movement in transforming how teachers teach and students learn."

Read more

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

iPod Touch/iPhone Physical Education Software

Here is the most recent update from FM Touch:
"I continued to explore this issue throughout the day today along with a number of other issues we are investigating. I appreciate your patience and shortly we should be able to help you resolve this issue once and for all."
FM Touch

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

iPod Touch/iPhone Physical Education Software

Still waiting to hear from the FM Touch developers. However, we have completed the directions so that we can move quickly once we have their answer.

E-books Catch On With Children

It's scary to think that print media could really disappear. There could be a day when students don't even own paper, pencils and textbooks. Their worlds could really be digitized: only typing and reading on an electronic device. Alana Semuels from The Los Angeles Times reports about the sales decline of print books and the increase in e-book purchases -- largely driven by digital natives.


After he's finished his homework and his chores for the day, 8-year-old Skye Vaughn-Perling likes to read Dr. Seuss. He's a particular fan of the hijinks that ensue when the elephant Horton hears strange voices emanating from a dust speck in "Horton Hears a Who."

He doesn't read from a dog-eared copy of the children's classic, though. Skye, who lives in Agoura Hills, Calif., often reads on his computer, pressing the arrow button when he wants to turn a page. Sometimes the characters move around on the screen like animated cartoons on TV. If he wants, Skye can have the computer read a book to him while he's curled up in bed.

"It's a whole new level of exploring the books," said his mother, Victoria Vaughn-Perling.

Readers and publishers alike are embracing a digital future. Electronic-book sales increased 73 percent in October compared with the same month last year, according to the Association of American Publishers, while sales of adult paperbacks decreased 23 percent and children's paperbacks declined 14.8 percent. Sales of higher-education books, including textbooks, fell 443 percent.

The jump in digital sales is strongly related to the increased popularity of the Amazon Kindle, the Sony Reader and even the iPhone. Once readers have bought the hardware, digital books are much cheaper than hardcovers or even paperbacks. For example, you can buy a hardcover of Wally Lamb's "The Hour I First Believed" for $17.97 on Amazon.com, but it costs only $9.99 on the Kindle. And "100 Words to Make You Sound Smart" is $5.95 in print but only $2.99 in Apple's App Store.

Today's kids have grown up around technology and don't think twice about learning from computers and sleeping with their iPods. In some cases, watching a book on a computer might even make them enjoy reading more, publishers say.

Businesses are starting to focus on the children's market. Kidthing, a Los Angeles firm, makes the digital player that lets Skye read "Horton." Speakaboos, a New York company, offers children's classics that are read by actors as pages are displayed on the screen. Now publishers are rushing to put content online and create games, and in some cases, whole virtual worlds, about different books.

For many, it's a way to generate revenue and shift to a format that in the long run isn't as expensive as print to produce. But it's also recognition that children live in their own wired world, and that digital releases can goose print sales.

Read full story.

More and More, Schools Got Game

Lifelong gamer Russell Alford, 15, usually has to wait until his homework and chores are finished before he can play Call of Duty 4, but this semester he got to play another video game at school. His finance class at Marshall High School in Fairfax County designed avatars and saved a virtual city from an oil spill -- earning points for teamwork, research on the world's water supply, business ethics and negotiating skills.

As Net-generation teachers reach out to gamers, classrooms across the country are becoming portals to elaborate virtual worlds. Business and science classes from Woodbridge to Frederick are sampling sophisticated software that allows students to try out potential careers, practice skills or explore history through simulated missions in national parks, ancient cities or outer space.

Teachers have long yearned for the rapt attention students lavish on mutants and aliens, but stereotypes of video games as violent or brain-numbing have slowed their entry into schools. While the military and even medical schools are turning to "serious games" or simulations for training, the Software and Information Industry Association estimates that instructional games make up only a tiny portion of the $2 billion-a-year educational software industry.

But lately, researchers and educators say sentiment toward gaming is changing. Advocates argue that games teach vital skills overlooked in the age of high-stakes tests, such as teamwork, decision-making and digital literacy. And they admire the way good games challenge players just enough to keep them engaged and pushing to reach the next level.


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LG Debuts Sunlit LCD Panel At CES

Seoul, South Korea — LG’s display division has developed a 14.1-inch LCD panel for notebooks that is illuminated by sunlight instead of the backlight when used outdoors.


LG said its backlight data signal switching technology uses selective reflection plates in existing backlight panels to enable the switch from reflective mode in sunlight to a “transmissive” mode indoors and at night. The switch can be performed with the touch of a button.


According to the company, the display consumes about one-fourth the amount of energy in its sunlight mode than it does when it uses the backlight, which increases battery life.


Read more

Monday, January 5, 2009

iPod Touch/iPhone Physical Education Software

Well the Fm Touch folks took off for the holidays - but they are back today and working on the last issue we have. I will update you every day this week as to the status.