Find my iPhone/iPad

With the advent of mobile technology that is appealing to the masses wouldn't it be nice to be able to track your devices if they were to go missing or be stolen?  Apple kindly is now offering an app which does just that, Find my iPhone locates your missing iPad, iPhone, and I believe your iPod touch.
The app uses the devices built-in wifi and 3G access to pinpoint on a may your device.  Providing your device is on, you can wipe data, send a message or lock the screen.  The service is provided through Apple's mobile me platform and is free when you purchase a new iPad or iPhone.  You can also enable older devices as long as you have a new device to start the account all you need is iOS 4.2.  Also you don't need to be a member of mobile me to use the service which is a bonus.

Here are two links to get you started; For the iPad and For the iPhone  Look at the app in action.

Good luck and hopefully you will never need to use the app, but it is fun just to play around with!

Ideas (Videos) Worth Sharing

You can spend hours, days, weeks, or even the entire year looking at videos online.  One of the better collections of videos are presentations from the TED conferences.  You can search them on the TED.com site or via their podcasts or videocasts in the iTunes store.  Here some of my personal favorites from the collection of talks.


Barry Schwartz on our loss of wisdom

Derek Sivers: Keep your goals to yourself

Make Way for Ducklings Liquid Galaxy

The projection table

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Liquid Galaxy project using Google Earth but I had yet to teach using it. Well last week I finally had my chance.  Using the last school day before vacation as my excuse, I set up my version of a LG rig and gave it a test.  The setup included: 3 Mac Minis, 3 projectors and a MacBook Pro as the master controller.  All of the computers were using wired ethernet connection.

The Setup #1

The Setup #2

The first test was using the book Make Way For Ducklings with a kindergarten class.  The plan was to read the story to them first, then give the students a tour of Boston following the events of the story.  The story went well, the students loved it, and we made sure to point out landmarks in the story that would be later referenced in Google Earth.  Before we left to go to the viewing area, we told the students that they were about to go on a trip to follow Mr. and Mrs. Mallard adventure. Once the students left the storytelling room and saw the big screens set up, you could just see their eyes light up. Many of them got very excited.  The tour of Boston and Make Way For Ducklings  was courtesy of GoogleLitTrips.  We began our guided tour with a closeup of our school building and then “flew” to Boston and began hopping around to the different locations.  The students loved seeing the locations from the book in the real world.

After the success of the first test, I really began to see the potential using LG and Google Earth to take students on virtual field trips. One of my school’s principals came in during the class and was thoroughly amazed by what she saw during the class.  I had  told her earlier in the morning that I was going to be taking the students on a virtual trip using Make Way For Ducklings, what I didn’t tell her was that I was using such a big setup.  The kindergarten teacher commented, as she picked up her class, that we essentially brought an imax theater to the school.

Overall it was a great project and lesson and I believe that the students loved their “trip” to Boston. What a great way to spend the day before vacation at school.

It's That Time of Year

Just a short post this morning about a nice tradition that has taken on a new life on the internet. Many government agencies spend more money than I care to know about tracking things that fly through the air.

One agency, NORAD, has continued a tradition that began as a misprinted phone number. Almost 60 years ago SEARs created a promotion for children to call Santa. Unfortunately to the children calling the number it wasn't a direct line to Santa but the hotline number to a red phone at the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD), which later became NORAD. The person at the other end instead of hanging up voluntarily started tracking Santa for all the children who called. Thus began the tradition of tracking Santa at NORAD.

Over the last ten years, NORAD has taken the tracking online and provided video for children all over the world to watch and track Santa on Christmas Eve.  It's a great way to share the travels of the Christmas spirit as it travels around the globe, not to mention teaching some geography! You can view Santa's track on the website or even Google Earth.

Happy holidays to you all and best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year.

Unleashing Your Cameras Hidden Tricks

Over the last few months I have been testing the limits of my old Canon PowerShot SD400. It has been a great camera for me over the last few years, but I wanted to see if it could do more for me.  A few months ago, I read an article about some MIT students who took some pictures of the atmosphere using only a couple of hundred dollars worth of supplies.




While reading the article I learned about the Canon Hack Developers Kit (CHDK).  This application lets you take full advantage of all the power that is hidden inside of your Canon camera. This idea really intrigued me and I began to think of the projects that students could do with these new found camera abilities.

One of the basic, simple projects I thought of doing with students was using time lapse photography.  I think this could have great applications especially in science classes.  I know this is possible but the idea of repurposing your camera to do more than it was intended is a cool idea.

For this project you need a Canon camera (make sure your Canon is on the list of cameras on the CHDK website) and QuickTime Pro.

First you need to install the CHDK on your camera's SD card.  Directions are fairly straight forward on the CHDK site. There is an installer script to correctly format your SD card for Mac computers which helps. Take your time and you should be fine.

Next Install the Countdown Intervalometer Script, I use this one with some success on both my SD400 and A480. Once you have downloaded the script you need to copy it to your SD card manually, placing it in the scripts folder.

Once you load the CHDK and script on your camera you can select from a multitude of options for your time lapse photos. Options include number of shots and frequency.

Now find a nice place to set your camera down and let it take a some pictures.  I would suggest 150 pictures or more.

Once all your pictures are captured transfer them to your computer and collect them into one folder. Using QuickTime Pro you can assemble all the pictures into one movie. From the File Menu, choose “Open Image Sequence”.  Browse to the folder where all your pictures were stored and open the first  file.  QuickTime will allow you to enter a frame rate. Select the number of frames per second you wish to use for the movie. I used 6fps in my demo video. QuickTime will then load all of the images in that folder into a movie file.

Once the movie has been created it will be shown on the computer screen. If your image files were too big for the screen, the movie file will be too big for the screen. You can make the movie appear smaller by choosing half size or other options in the View Menu. You can play your movie now and see how it looks. This is a sample video of some snow the other day.

Now go and have some fun with time lapse photography and the hidden features of your Canon camera.

Tracking a lost pet

Just a few days ago a friend of ours was in a severe roll-over car accident. She was bringing her dog to the dog park when her car was hit. After the collision, her car skidded and ended up on the roof. Passersby got her out of the car, which allthe windows were blown out of, and she was then able to coax her scared puppy out of the car.  Thankfully no one was seriously hurt, but the whole situation got me thinking of what would have happened if her dog ran away from the car after the accident? Our friend was taken to the hospital to be checked out and because we live close we were able to quickly pick up the dog, who was in a police car at the accident scene, and bring him to the vet to be checked out. The puppy was scared but happy to be with some one he knew.

Thankfully, the puppy stayed with the car, but what would happen if ran away. Here ways that I have increased the chances of my dog Daisy of being return to me if she ever was lost.  First, she has all the proper licenses and dog tags on her collar. Secondly, our Vet micro-chipped her using a RESQ chip.  This microchip is inserted under her skin between her shoulder blades and emits a ID number when scanned. I have added my contact information and information about Daisy on Petlink.net Most Vets, animal control officers, and rescue facilities have the ability to scan a microchipped animal.  The microchip and registration cost about 30 dollars, well worth it especially if you travel often or your animal sheds is collars like Houdini.

The most recent addition has been adding Pet Hub ID tag.  The ID tag has the pet's name and a website on one side and on the other side has a QR bar code on the other.  The QR barcode could be scanned using software that is available on many smart phones, based on other recommendations I use Neoreader there are others as well.  The URL and QR barcode point to a website that can be easily updated once a pet is lost and more contact information can be provided. The Pet Hub ID tag is currently in beta and during that time period they are giving away 2,000 FREE tags.  Now in all honesty I haven't received my tag yet, I just signed up for it this morning, but I will let you know how it all works out when it arrives in 2-3 weeks. 

Photo Credi: Pethub.com

There are other sites and technology that offer the safe return of your pet as well.  I dread thinking about a time that my pet is lost but I believe I have at least taken steps to ensure her safe return.