My new toy - iPod Touch
Wednesday, October 8, 2008 at 08:20PM While I am not in league with "Gadget Girl" Kathy Schrock, I am a sucker for new toys that blink and beep now and then. After an Apple demo at a tech meeting last week, I just happened to be in a mall's Apple store this weekend and bought my first iPod. Looks like this:
It is just the weenie 8 Gig model, I'm afraid.
After playing with the "funnest iPod ever" (the cutsie grammar nearly kept me from buying it) for a few days, here are some observations:
It really is simple to use. Even for a tech director.
Apple makes it really easy to buy little apps. Too easy maybe.
The wireless connectivity works great. (My IT guy tells me the lack of an individual MAC address will soon prohibit us from using this with our HP wireless router security system though.)
The games are actually pretty fun - especially the ones that take advantage of the device's tilt sensor. I love MonkeyBall.
The little story in e-book format I downloaded was surprisingly easy to read.
The photos display beautifully. Now I have a way to bore people with pictures of my grandsons.
The on-screen keyboard works OK. I have been typing everything with my left thumb. I'm not planning to write any novels on it soon however.
Oh, it plays music.
The biggest downside is that it has been a bugger getting my Entourage 2008 calendar to synch. Good thing I keep good back ups since somehow I managed to lose my laptops's calendar at one point. Why in God's green earth does getting things like calendars to synchronize ALWAYS have to be so darned hard?
Do I jailbreak the machine? (Crack the system so non-Apple approved software can be loaded.) I would sure be fun to be able to use Skype on this. The blogs seem to be divided about jailbreaking the 2.0 operating system.
Do we recommend this as a PDA for our school staff? Seems a better solution than the Palms and such I've used in the past.
Advice?
Reader Comments (13)
Unfortunately, calendaring is inherently complicated, and thus calendaring interoperability standards are horribly complex, and nearly impossible to implement consistently. SchoolTool wandered into this territory, and it sucked up a huge amount of time, and there are always 10 more things you haven't even thought about implementing (events that begin in one time zone and end in another! etc...).
Check out an app called "Fring" for Skype calls over Wifi.
I wouldn't jailbreak it, since most of the apps that you would jailbreak it for are now in the App Store (and no longer available on the jailbroken Installer / Cydia)
I had the same issues getting the calendar to sync with my new iTouch. I ended up finding a solution here: http://www.ace-on-tech.com/2008/08/05/natively-sync-google-calendar-with-iphoneipod-touch-yay/ Good luck.
Doug,
Bite the bullet and get a me.com account. Everything from Mac mail syncs without a hitch and I assume Entourage can be made to work as well. And Fring allows you to use Skype without jailbreaking, as long as you are in wireless environment (which, of course, for the Touch is the only way anyhow! On the iPhone, it does not work over ATT, but only with the 802.11x connection.)
Glad to see you moving ahead!
Kathy
1:1 laptop initiatives are great, but for those schools who have not jumped on board with the 1:1 laptops I think we will very soon see students drive that initiative with devices like the iPhone and your new iPod that clearly do many of the things we want in a 1:1 laptop program. Give it a few years, watch the prices decline and the product get better. Schools will soon have to address this issue. 1:1 classroom computing will not be a district led initiative for most but a reality teachers will have to address in their classrooms.
oooo I want one.
OMG I so want one! My principal got one, and now she says she really wants an iPhone. Sigh. It's on my Christmas wish list. So, should we expect a BlueSkunk Podcast soon?
I just got the touch as well - it is awesome and is a game changer in terms of computing devices. I was actually planning on getting the iPhone 3G, but the closed market pricing of Apple/AT&T is just crazy (IMHO). I totally agree with Carl - 1 to 1 is on the near horizon, and the issue is not how districts will afford it - it is how we will manage the devices coming in the door!
Doug:
I convinced my wife to let me purchase the iPhone 3G two weeks ago. It is amazing the flexibility of the device. I have been thrilled with the use of the Google tools - including my Reader and Calendar tools. I have developed some forms using Google Docs for tracking informal classroom observations and I keep thinking of other ideas.
Back when the Palm stuff was the rage, I always struggled with the screen size. The iPhone/iPod Touch screen is big enough where I can easily read the Blue Skunk, The NY Times, and other publications I read on a daily basis. I was pleasantly surprised.
Fun stuff!
Hi Tom,
Thanks for the insight. I always just assumed my own brain was lacking the logic required to figure this out!
Doug
Hi K,
Just downloaded Fring and will give it a shot so I don't have to jailbreak.
Thanks for the recommendation,
Doug
Hi Scott,
Thanks for the link. I will check it out!
Doug
Hi Kathy,
I never assume Entourage plays well with anything, but I will look into the .me.
Others recommended Fring as well. Do you have a microphone you prefer?
No iPhone for me, mostly because we don't get a good ATT signal here on the lake.
Thanks!
Doug
Hi Carl,
I couldn't agree more. See:
http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/columnists/johnson/johnson018.shtml
Great minds think alike!
Doug
Hi Susan,
Start saving your nickels!
Doug
Hi Cathy,
I've yet to become enamored of podcasts, I'm afraid. Some day, perhaps.
Just go out get one of these things. You deserve it. You KNOW you do.
Doug
Hi Michael,
I expect schools will need to adopt more of the same approach that Starbucks or other retailers who provide wireless access do. For us, anybody can have access to our filtered side of port 80 (just the Internet). As more of our school apps are available from remote application service providers, internal network security will be less a factor as well.
Some interesting changes ahead,
Doug
Hi Matt,
Beneath that thing administrative veneer is your inner geek. Admit it!
And yes, I like this screen size as well. I would not want it to be my only computing device, but it works surprisingly well for many things.
All the best,
Doug
Doug,
The only microphone that I am sure is supported by the 2G iPod Touch is the earphone/mic combo sold by Apple.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB770
Apparently that bit of info was omitted from the keynote by Jobs, but the part states it supports the second generation Touch.
Kathy
My son went off to University, and his grandmother bought him a Mac. The Apple store were giving away an iTouch if you purchased a Mac, but since my son already had one, he gave the new but smaller (8Gb) one to me.
Allthough I am VERY comfortable using technology, I find myself preferring my Palm Pilot. I've used the iTouch for about two months now, but STILL keep the Palm with me all the time. I don't like the touch keyboard. It feels awkward. I keep waiting for the day when I will suddenly realize using it is no longer awkward, but I haven't hit that day yet!
This is the first time I've felt like I might be on the "OLD FOLKS" side of the Generation Gap!!! I prefer having a stylus to touch the screen, but because it is controlled by temperature, you can't use a stylus on an iTouch.
I'll keep trying to get used to it though, because I do love how easily it syncs to my computer.
Pay the $100 and get a me.com account. It's great, and your calendar syncs automatically with no trouble.
(Have you tried going to an Apple store and just asking them to help with the Entourage thing. I find the Apple support people VERY VERY helpful.)
Hi Janice,
One of my techs feels the same way about the onscreen keyboard. (She has long fingernails that don't work at all on it!) I am just the opposite and could never master the little mechanical keys on my Palm! Different (key) strokes for different folks, I guess.
I am tempted by the .Mac account, but a big part of my getting one for these is to see if they would be a good solution for other educators in the district and I can't ask them to get a .Mac account. It has to work with our district infrastructure. Happily, it seems that going (transparently) through iCal, the calendar is synching correctly now. Knock wood.
Thanks for the comment!
Doug