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Posted: 08/25/10
It’s like clockwork. Each year as summer winds down, students across the country bid adieu to leisurely days and late nights to once again populate the hallowed halls of their various educational institutions. Only this year, some students are nixing the traditional textbooks and trading up for a more dynamic alternative: the iPad.
New technology—developed by Inkling to turn textbooks digital—is more interactive than platforms offered by traditional screen readers to date, allowing educators to highlight and leave notes for students in the text, administer pop quizzes, and even utilize 3D figures to better explain complex concepts in areas like science and math. Similarly, students can leave commentary for their professors and share notes with peers. And with the iPad maxing out at mere 1.5lbs, a full day of classes is no longer an exercise in manual labor.
While some question the cost of requiring iPads for class—the most basic model still starts around $500—proponents of the technology note the cost of physical texts is surging past $1,100 annually at many U.S. colleges and universities. Additionally, Inkling’s technology allows students to download single chapters at a time (which is extremely cost-effective, especially if teachers want to pull certain chapters from various textbooks to offer the best possible curriculum).
If the price of going digital is comparable to that of paper texts, adopting the iPad for school seems like a logical step. Happy learning!
Posted: 08/12/10 by Mobile Future Team
This week marks the beginning of Ramadan, and this year mobile is making it easier than ever for Muslims to nativgate this important observance.
From yesterday's Washington Post article by Samantha Henry:
The most ancient traditions of Islam are going high-tech, with a slew of modern offerings for those observing the holy month of Ramadan, which begins this week. Cell phone applications such as "iPray" or "iQuran" offer a beeping reminder of requisite prayer times, while the "Find Mecca" and "mosque finder" programs help the Muslim traveler in an unfamiliar city find the nearest place to pray.
Posted: 08/05/10 by Mobile Future Team
Gone are the days when forgetting your cell phone was an insurmountable crisis. This faux-problem has been reduced to the now ubiquitous phrase, “There’s an app for that”. The app du-jour is from Vonage and allows users to call their facebook friends for free using the iPhone, Android devices, iPod touch and, in a few weeks, even the iPad. Users can contact any of their Facebook friends provided that both people have downloaded the app.
Concerned about getting a call from facebook “friends” you don’t actually know? A call-block feature is set to be added in future updates. Also in the future, Vonage plans to bring the app to Blackberry users and to add an SMS (texting) service!
Posted: 07/28/10 by Mobile Future Team
The Walt Disney Corporation has come a long way since audiences first saw Steamboat Willie in command of his river-boat vessel. These days the company behind heartwarming, animated classics is forging ahead into the mobile revolution. Piggy-backing off success of the latest release in the Toy Story franchise, the Toy Story 3 application was downloaded 1.7 million times in its first month (box-office projections foresee over $900 million in revenue for Toy Story 3, the film).
In addition to creating its own content, Disney has also moved into the mobile acquisition market with its recent purchase of Tapulous, the developing engine behind the successful iPhone series Tap Tap Revenge. With almost $1 million in monthly sales, it’s easy to understand why 30% of iPhone and iPod touch users have downloaded the musical game since its release in 2008.
With new content being developed for the iPad, it is clear that Disney intends to stay relevant as technological advances bring more media into the mobile space. The mobile future looks bright for Disney and its future generations of captivated audiences.
Posted: 07/23/10 by Jonathan Spalter
Lost your home to flooding, a tornado or other disaster? If you have a smartphone and a wireless connection, help just got a lot easier.
This week, the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) unveiled an addition to its mobile site allowing disaster victims to apply for assistance directly from their smartphone. FEMA's rationale is clear: In a life-threatening emergency, seconds count. Residents are more likely to have a mobile phone on their person, or may have just enough time to grab one before heading to safety.
"More and more, I think we are reorienting our focus... to really developing tools that are useful to you in a mobile environment," FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate told Politico's Morning Tech.
(You can watch him run a demo of the new mobile site on multiple PDAs here.)
Fugate added that FEMA is exploring additional ways to deliver services via mobile and GPS technology. The agency already processes an average of about 40 percent of disaster applications online; this seems like a common-sense way to further streamline FEMA's operations.
Furthermore, FEMA's announcement is a timely reminder of the lifesaving capabilities of mobile communications. Five years ago next month, Hurricane Katrina slammed into Louisiana. The government's disjointed response in assisting the maintenance and repair of mobile communication links contributed significantly to the extended chaos.
Three years later, look at the improvement: During Hurricane Gustav, wireless technology provided real-time communication links vital to the rescue efforts. Among the examples, Tulane University kept more than 10,000 students aware of storm developments through Twitter. Mobile users accessed Gustav-related pages on social network sites such as Ning for real-time news alerts, on-site posts, and videos.
Looking to the future, mobile platforms are already linking voice, video, IM, and other data for first responders at federal, state and local levels. Just think how first responders could use mobile phones and GPS to organize a large-scale rescue operation with a location-based networking application (example: BrightKite), which would allow authorities to divide a region into smaller areas, directing volunteers in each one as necessary.
This would be particularly helpful in the aftermath of a serious earthquake. As reported last week in The Orange County Register, a new early-alert system in the O.C. could give residents up to 70 seconds warning of a major San Andreas earthquake. Through the use of mobile apps, that would be enough time to slow high-speed trains, shut down power plant generators and take other precautionary steps.
The augmented incorporation of mobile technologies into government-led relief efforts is already saving lives and resources. In the five years since the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, wireless has grown up as an industry, with the government recognizing the powerful organizational capabilities immediate access to mobile technology affords Americans stuck in disaster areas. FEMA's recent addition to its mobile site is one of many demonstrations that the government takes seriously the positive ramifications of amplifying its use of mobile devices, which are now inextricably linked with the day-to-day lives of Americans.
This article was orginally published on Huffington Post.
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Tags: Apple, Applications, Consumer Benefits, e-reading, Education, Mobile Applications, Wireless Devices