iPhone – From Devastation to Excitement

Most people sit and think “I wonder what would happen if I dropped my iPhone without a case?” The answer to this riddle is NOT good as this is what happened!

I don’t recommend it to anyone!!  This devastating event occurred on Thursday and we are getting ready to go to the “National Charter School Show” in Washington DC this weekend. I needed to have my iPhone in order to demo our iPhone/iPod Touch software; the cracked screen of my iPhone would not have made for a good demo.

This morning I got up at 4:45am on a mission, and went down to the mall near my house, and I was number 1 in line to get the brand new iPhone 3Gs. It just so happened it was released today.

There were two lines that were forming. One line if you pre-ordered your iPhone online and the second line for those who did not have a pre-order.  When they finally opened the door to the mall, there were two guys already in line, imagine that, they snuck in a locked entrance.   That was ok, since I was still number 3 in line it did not bother me much.   There were 5 of us in the “didn’t have a pre-order” line at 7:00am (when they opened the doors) and about 100+ people waiting in line for the pre-order phones.  I was in and out of the Apple Store in 15 minutes while those poor people that already purchased the phone had to wait for up to 2 hours to get theirs.   Apple did better on this release than when the iPhone 3G was released but obviously their system is still flawed!

When I got back to my office at 7:30 this morning, I opened the box, synced the phone and immediately started playing with it. The new  iPhone 3Gs is VERY fast. Our new App Store title, Academic Fitness Daily Trainer, is going to run very well on this new device.

Have you dropped or broken your iPhone? Did you pre-order one and have to wait in a longer line than those who didn’t? Did you luck out like me? Share your thoughts!

iPhones and iPod Touches get a much needed update – 3.0

Apple today, released version 3.0 of their iPhone and iPod touch Operating System. This highly anticipated release includes many updates and upgrades that make these devices even better.

The new features include:

- Cut, Copy and Paste

- Landscape View for Mail, Notes and Messages

- Landscape Keyboard for Mail, Notes, and Messages

- Support for Multimedia Messages (MMS) which will be available to  ATT customers later this summer. The date is still TBD.

- Find My Phone feature which locates a missing or stolen iPhone. This feature is integrated in MobileMe.

- Remote Wipe is now an option in MobileMe to protect your data in case the phone winds up lost or stolen.

- Turn by Turn GPS-based directions

- A new Voice Memo app has been added

- Spotlight search for contacts, emails, and media content stored on the iPhone

What does this mean for education?

As we all have either seen or heard about, the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch are phenomenal devices to extend learning on-the-go. In this age of technology, we need to embrace and utilize the tools which make teaching engaging and effective. With the latest tools available to developers, applications that run on these devices do more and make more things possible than ever conceived before. Innovative Knowledge is hard at work developing and testing the next-generation of it’s mobile learning suite and should be on the App Store by the start of the new school year.

Academic Fitness Daily Trainer is an application, set to be released on the new iPhone/iPod Touch 3.0 platform, that will provide students with review questions that tests their knowledge and ensures they are ready for tests, quizzes, and overall school success. The material is presented in an interesting and engaging way and has pictures that accompany each question in order to assist students.

Here is a sneak peek of the application:

Company’s founder took innovative route to college

By: Julio Ojeda-Zapata
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Mike Rothstein was doomed to use his hands, not his brain. This, the St. Louis Park native said, was the verdict of his high-school guidance counselor as he neared graduation in the early 1980s. Rothstein’s lifelong battle with dyslexia, a disorder that hampers reading and other commonplace skills, had left him lagging academically behind his peers. Still, he was convinced he was smart enough to make it in college. No, the counselor insisted. You’ll be a baker.
Rothstein, now 43, recalls blurting a few obscenities and stalking from the room, nearly convinced that staffer was correct but intent on trying to prove the person wrong. This set him on a path to eventually found Innovative Knowledge, an educational-software company that helps other kids attain their full school potential.

It was no easy journey. Unable to follow his friends to the University of Minnesota after high school, he settled for Normandale Community College but haunted the U’s Wilson Library in his spare time. It was there he met a nearly blind man listening to tapes – transcripts of his textbooks, as it turned out. Rothstein learned that the Library of Congress did transcription work for other blind people who requested it, so he said he was blind and got his audiobooks. (He still feels a bit guilty today about lying.)

Magically, he said, these recordings somehow helped him master printed text, too, and he finally became a reader. Rothstein was then accepted into the U’s General College, but found that taking class notes was a major challenge. Still, he was able to “keep adapting, keep finding new ways of breaking through to the next level.” He graduated with degrees in marketing and journalism and, not long afterward, embarked on his long career in software publishing. This culminated in 1999 with the founding of Silicon Valley-based Innovative Knowledge, which he says is now doing well.
Rothstein still faces doubters. Many don’t think educational software like his Innovative Knowledge titles can be a valuable complement to classroom lessons and after-school tutors. He argues his educational computer discs are different from “edutainment” platters, which he says are basically games with embedded lessons for kids. So, again, he finds himself on a stubborn mission to prove his skeptics wrong. Watch out, Rothstein says, he’s just getting going.

Mini-lessons for the Mini Crowd | St. Paul Pioneer Press

By: Julio Ojeda-Zapata
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Parents who see iPod fever as a pox may want to reconsider, says Mike Rothstein of education-software publisher Innovative Knowledge. His Silicon Valley firm has long provided hundreds of computer mini-courses for schoolkids. Now, the iPod is getting in on the fun. Almost anything found on computer DVDs, such as “Mastering Middle School” and “Mastering High School,” can now be moved to one of the Apple players for learning on the go, with only minor format changes for the tiny screen. It’s easy to pick and choose what gets onto the iPod. For example, we synced over “World Literature: Greek Mythology I” from the “Mastering Elementary School” disc. Individual lessons – including “King Midas.” “The Labors of Hercules” and “Jason and the Golden Fleece” – were then easily accessible via the iPod Notes menu, which is tucked within the Extras master menu.

Many lessons consist solely of audio, often with pleasingly mellifluous narrators, but video-based lessons also are available for those with newer video-compatible iPods. Innovative Knowledge offers nearly 500 individual lessons, which are divvied up in nearly 40 packages. But not all of these are iPod-compatible. “Preparing for Kindergarten” and “Mastering High School SAT Math” are iPod-less, for instance. About 15 packages do provide iPod compatibility, and new releases will all be iPod-ready. Material on Innovative Knowledge discs comes from several textbook publishers, the Meriam-Webster reference-book firm, teachers hired by Innovative Knowledge and the Weekly Reader, a famed series of classroom magazines and education supplements on all subjects under the sun.

As a result, content on the disks tends to be more reliable than what kids would dredge up via Google, and its age-appropriate and kid-safe, Rothstein says. It’s not intended to supplant classroom instruction, Rothstein adds, but it’s a potential cash saver for parents who might drop thousands on supplementary tutors or learning centers. “While those are great and definitely beneficial, parents shouldn’t overlook this software,” her says. “They’ll have a great tool right at their workstation.”

Academic Fitness Middle School Subject List

African American History Cultural Heritage Activists and Abolitionists Artists History Jazz Major Works Musicians Writers Organizations and Ideas The Harlem Renaissance American West Cattlemen Cowboys The Early West Explorers and Mountain Men Homesteaders Indians Movies The Mythic West The Real West Civil War Abolition Abraham Lincoln Civil War Battles Pre-war Territories Reconstruction Slavery The Confederacy The Generals The North Before the War The South After the War

Foreign Policy (1788-1933) America’s Imperial Era Non-Entanglement and Westward Expansion The American Response to WWI The Interwar Period Foreign Policy (1933-1963) America and the New Postwar World Cold War Stabilization The Early Cold War and the Korean Conflict The Interwar Period The United States in WWII The Great Depression Banks Hoover Economic Background Foreign Affairs Historical Background Labor Movement The New Deal Roosevelt Stock Market

Jacksonian Era America in the Jackson Era Economics in the Jackson Era Politics of the Jackson Era Second Bank of the U.S. The Man Andrew Jackson The States Rights Issue Social Reform Abolition and the Abolitionist African Americans and the New Deal Business Abuses and Reforms The Great Depression Historical Background The Labor Movement The New Deal Slavery Post-Civil War Reforms Franklin Delano Roosevelt Reconstruction Concepts and Ideas Condition of African Americans Events People Politics Post-Civil War

Industrial Revolution Industry Technology United States Late 20th Century Awakening Voices The United Nations and the Balance of Power A Booming America Social and Political Movements Technology and Our Future U.S. History Videos Early Explorers Early Settlers The American Frontier The Oregon Trail Native Americans Plymouth Plantation Civil War Federal Government Immigration to the U.S.

Columbus and the Age of Discovery Cradles of Civilization The French Revolution The Scientific Revolution The Late 20th Century 19th Century Nationalism Nationalism and Napoleon Nationalism in Triumph Philosophy of Nationalism The 1848 Revolutions The Birth of Nationalism The Congress of Vienna The Origins of Nationalism The Road to War The Spirit Grows 20th Century Nationalism Colonialism and Imperialism Gandhi and Indian Nationalism Ho Chi Minh and Vietnamese Nationalism Indian Independence and Partition Indian Nationalist Organizations Nationalism: An Overview Nigeria and African Nationalism Vietnam after World War II Romanticism and Revolution Introduction to Romanticism Industrial and Social Change Romantic Literature Rule vs Revolution Journey Toward Democracy The Rights of Individuals

Causes of WWI Causes of War: Imperialism Causes of War: Nationalism Geography Historical Facts and Concepts Industrial Revolution People, Places, and Dates Rivalry Among Nations Causes of WWII Beginnings of World War II Geography Historical Facts and Concepts People, Places, and Dates Results of World War I Civilization and Writing Mesopotamia and Sumeria Ancient Egypt Ancient Far East Ancient China The Americas Phoenicia and Greece Early Middle Ages The Fall of Rome The Dark Ages Religion and Literature The Rise of Feudalism The Crusades

Fascist Dictatorships Fascism Beyond Italy and Germany Geography People Hitler and Germany Mussolini and Italy Vocabulary World Events Greek and Roman World Alexander the Great Great Greek Thinkers Greek and Roman Art, Literature, and Architecture Greek City-States Life in Ancient Greece Military Maneuvers and Conquests Pre-Imperial Rome Roman Leaders The Roman Empire Victorian Era Britain Beyond the Victorian Era Britain in the Victorian Era Elsewhere in the World Geography The Industrial Revolution London and its History Victoria and Her Family

Imperialism Africa Historical Context India Latin America Industrial Revolution Britain Europe Napoleonic Era Background His Military Exploits His Political Accomplishments The Person and his Family Religions of the World Gods and Prophets Important People Places of Worship Religion and Society Religion in History Religious Beliefs Religious Ceremonies Sacred Writings

Science

What is Science? Scientific Methods Scientific Hypotheses Scientific Experimentation Scientific Models Mathematics in Science Thinking Scientifically Scientific Revolution Historical Events Important Ideas and Theories: BC Important Ideas and Theories: AD Important People Scientific Events Scientific Terms Amazing Coral Reef Animals of the Coral Reef Camouflage in Coral Reefs Coral Reef Habitats Coral Reefs of the World Defense and Protection in Coral Reefs Protecting a Fragile Ecology Types of Coral Reefs The Inner Planets Astronomers and Scientists Earth’s Atmosphere and Magnetic Field Earth’s Structure Mars Mercury Space Exploration The Solar System Venus The Moon

Cell Biology Basic Cell Biology Meiotic Mitotic Sub Cellular Structures Earth’s Natural Resources Energy Systems Future Resources Pollution Solar Energy Water Pollution Wildlife Resources Evolution Environment and Evolution Genetics of Evolution Mathematics of Evolution Reproduction and Evolution Selection and Evolution Speciation Plants and Animals Applied Biology Biochemistry Cell Division Classification Evolution Heredity Photosynthesis Reproduction Structure The Universe Ancient Ideas and Modern Astronomers Black Holes Galaxies The Death of Stars Our Solar System Quasars and Pulsars Supernovas and the Birth of Stars The Universe

Life Science Patterns A Science Fair Project A Spider’s Web From Egg to Chicken From Tadpole to Frog Growth of a Bean Ecology Food Energy Flow Forest Animals Forests Grassland Animals Grasslands Photosynthesis The Pond Community Desert Animals Desert Environments Desert Plants Man-made Communities Seashore Animals Seashore Environment and Plant Life Swamp Animals Swamp Environments Swamp Plants Genetics of Evolution Basic Genetics Exercises Genes Important People Mendel’s Experiments Mendel’s Principles Nucleic Acid Viruses The Outer Planets Jupiter Jupiter’s Moons Neptune Neptune’s Moons Pluto Pluto’s Moon Saturn Saturn’s Moons and Rings Uranus Uranus’s Moons

Microscope Early History of the Microscope Compound Microscopes of Today Magnification Getting a Good Image Magnification and Illumination Adjustments Uses and Limitations of Microscopes Kingdom Monera Oceanography Exploring the Oceans Ocean Life: Life Cycles in the Sea Ocean Life: The Open Sea The Action of Currents, Tides and Waves The Changing Ocean Floor The Study of Seawater Oceans Land and Sea Ocean Life Movement of Water Plate Tectonics Resources Sea Floor Seawater The Earth Earth History Geologic Processes Rocks and Minerals The Earth in Space Physical Features of Earth

English/Literature

English 8 Parts of Speech How to Write Punctuation Literature The Ancient World: The Renaissance A Survey of Greek and Roman Classics A Survey of Medieval Literature A Survey of Renaissance Literature A Survey of the New Testament A Survey of the Old Testament Origins of European Literature Biographies Other Authors, Artists and Entertainers Other Political Figures Reading and Writing Biographies The Life and Times of John F. Kennedy The Life and Words of Mark Twain The Life and Work of Marie Curie

Charles Dickens America in Perspective Aspects of Literature Biographical Notes English Society Historical Background Human Nature Prejudices The Biographical Dickens Views on America Ernest Hemingway A Farewell to Arms Adams: The Nick Adams Stories Background For Whom the Bell Tolls The Old Man and the Sea The Snows of Kilimanjaro The Sun Also Rises Shakespeare Elizabethan Age Elizabethan Stage Production English History Shakespeare’s Life Shakespeare’s Literature Shakespearean London Shakespearean Theater

Drama Elements of Drama Historical Trends Literary Movements Elements of Drama: Problems and Techniques Elements of Drama: Structure Elements of Drama: Terms Elements of Drama: Values Playwrights Theater Short Fiction Authors and Works: Post WWII Authors and Works: Realism Authors and Works: Romanticism Authors and Works: WWI – WWII Fiction as an Art Form Fiction as History Fiction as Social Commentary The American Short Story Understanding Poetry Interpretation: Reading and Meaning Poetry: Its Content Poetry: Its Form The Interpretation of a Poem

The Enlightenment – The 20th Century Reason and Enlightenment Romanticism and Realism The Beginnings of Modern Literature The World in Roman Times Empires in Roman Times Rise of the Roman Empire Literature in Roman Times Imperial Rome The Rise of Christianity Greek Mythology Practical Writing – The Yearling Narrative Writing – Kidnapped

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