Best new iMovie feature

iMovie has always been a fabulous app. When people ask what apps they need to buy, iMovie is always the first one I mention. Last year, movie trailers were added to iMovie to make it so much better. For those of you who are new to iMovie, trailers are a fast and easy way to create professional-looking trailers. But there was one issue that was a pain to deal with: you couldn't import still images to the trailer. In order to use stills, you had to create a regular iMovie project using the stills and then export it to your camera roll. Then you could use them from the movie. Inconvenient. 

Now it's all changed with the newest version available with iOS6. In the iMovie template, you can now choose to import stills right alongside the video. Once you drop the image into the desired spot, you can pinch to zoom the image. There's also an easy way to change the "Ken Burns" effect (the dramatic slow-motion panning) to find the perfect start and end position.

So if you haven't played with the newest version yet, give it a shot. And if you have an iPad but don't have iMovie, you need to go to the App Store now and download it. It's a steal at $4.99

Yes, there is a right way

One question that continually pops up: how do I hold my iPad when I'm taking pictures or video? Well there is a correct way. 


Always hold the iPad horizontally with the home button on the right side. That puts your rear-facing camera on the upper-right as it's facing the subject. If you do it this way, your images won't be upside-down when you view, export, or use them in another app. 

Evernote at TAWL

I'm looking forward to presenting tomorrow at the Mid-Missouri TAWL conference. Our group will be looking at how Evernote can be a powerful tool for reading conferences. If you are new to Evernote or haven't used Evernote for anecdotal records, you can access my presentation below. It's not a step-by-step guide because I'll be presenting from it, but maybe it will spark some ideas about how you could use Evernote to support your teaching. 

Mid-Missouri TAWL Conference Presentation

App Review: 270 to Win

In the midst of feeling American after the recent debates, I went to the app store to purchase an app I'd see a year ago. At the time, it didn't seem worth it to purchase "270 to Win" because the election was so far away and I'm not a political person. However, I realized after purchasing it that I was wrong about the timeliness of the app. It's actually an app that could be used at any time by teachers who cover government. 

Let's start with data. And there's lots of it. This app has a great resource they call "the history". There you can find the election results of every presidential contest since...well, every single one. This feature shows a map of the US with a slide bar on the right to toggle between elections. States are shown with color to distinguish how they voted and includes the number of electoral votes at that time. They also include some basic information about the election that includes issues of the day, major events, and specific voting information (like in 1868, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia did not participate. I wonder why?). This would be a great resource for students to study history and voting trends. 

Another section shows detailed voting information for each state. Number of electoral votes per year, voting history, and state history are included. It also shows whether or not the state voted for the eventual winner. Again, very easy to navigate and obtain information quickly.

This last section is the best feature of the app. "The Library" offers templates for the current election. You can choose a template based on 2012 projections from NBC, University of Virginia, swing states, and Cook Political. There are templates for "same since" (states that haven't swayed since a certain time), "Other" (final results from each election), "all or none" (all democrat, all republican, or blank), or "2008 or 2004" (detailed maps from each election). Once you choose a template, you can rename it and then start making your own predictions for the election. Click on a color and then touch a state to mark it on a scale from "safe" to "undecided". As you mark the states, you can see the electoral votes added to that party's total. You can create multiple maps and share your predictions via email, facebook, or twitter.

I really like this app. Again, I think it's one that should be advertised better because it could be used in non-election years. Obviously, it's very relevant now because of the upcoming election. But the historical information is an awesome resource to discuss voting trends and how historical events and elections are intertwined. If you have $.99 cents sitting around, go ahead and take the plunge for "270 to Win". 

App Review: Zite

I attended a Digital Writing Conference last week and walked off with a few good app ideas. The one I've use the most so far is Zite. If you are a fan of web-based readers, you need to check it out. It's free and really easy to use.

When you open Zite, it starts by asking you to check different categories that you enjoy. It also allows you to integrate with your Twitter or Facebook accounts. Once you make all your selections, it sends you to your personalized magazine. There's a handy section guide on the sidebar to quickly navigate to your favorites. Or you can simple swipe left to reveal stories. Find one you like? Press on it and it takes you to the article for more information.

Zite gives you some great personalization options. Inside articles, you can choose whether or not you liked reading the story. You can find more information about the topic or the publication. And you can share the article via Twitter, Facebook, Pocket, Instapaper, Delicious, Evernote, Google Plus, or email. Lots of options.

If you are fan of Flipboard, you might be turned off by the simple interface. But I like the ability to easily see articles and navigate to ones I want to read. It's a neat app, so check it out.

iOS 6 - To update or not?

Most people were pretty excited to learn about the new update to iOS 6 that came out last week. I admit that I would have been much more excited if I owned an iPhone 4s/5 or the new iPad. Sure, there are some cool things in the new software. The offline reader in Safari is neat. The "do not disturb" function could be useful from time to time. The system app and iTunes looks different. I guess if I bought tickets to events, then the Passbook app would be useful. The shared Photo Stream capability is pretty cool, especially for busy parents. And there's a new clock.

But the biggest change when you move to iOS 6 is what's missing. Because of the well-publicized feud between Apple and Google, you will no longer find the handy YouTube app or Google Maps on your iPad: if you update. Instead, Apple replaced those popular features with its own maps and no YouTube app.

For me, having the YouTube app missing is no big deal. I'm not a big YouTuber. You can easily access YouTube through Safari or Chrome or any other web browser. After doing a bit of research, I was pointed to an app called Jasmine. It's a nice app that connects you to YouTube content. And it's free, so that's nice.

Losing Google Maps will be the bigger blow. I don't do much traveling, so for me, it's not going to be that huge. But I've already heard from people who have been left without direction because of Apple's primitive maps. One media specialist said her husband was lost in Canada for two hours. Canada? OK, primitive might be a strong word, but Google has been doing its map-thing for a decade.

So should you upgrade? If you are worried about losing those two big things, then maybe not. If you are a user of iWorks (Pages, Keynote, Numbers, iMovie), then you probably will have to upgrade to use those apps eventually. But I foresee a large number of Apple users who are going to be pretty upset by this change and wait until Google releases a new Maps and YouTube app.

Some cool NASA Apps

Science teachers everywhere! NASA has some great free apps out there to help your students learn about space exploration and NASA. I'm going to fill you in on three of those apps today. 

The first is just called "NASA". It's a great place to start. The home screen is a shot of our solar system. Click on any object and you get detailed information about that planet, star, or moon. Along the top of the screen are some great options: launch services, maps of NASA centers, NASA's launch schedule, and details about satellites. The bottom has several options for news, NASA TV, videos, tweets, and my favorite, NASA's radio station (Third Rock).

Another app to try is NASA Viz (Vizualization Explorer). This apps offers the stories behind NASA's exploration. It highlights new discoveries through the satellites and far-reaching exploring vehicles. Each slide offers details about the mission, images, and videos. I especially enjoyed the story called "Cruising with Curiosity", the story behind the Mars explorer.



Finally, check out NASA TV. It is an app that offers real-time viewing of NASA TV (which can be pretty boring sometimes because you watch a lot of control centers). The best part is the on-demand viewing. Choose to watch short clips of testing videos, interviews, and updates on projects in development. A nice way to keep up-to-date with NASA.

I hope you get a chance to try these out. Did I mention they are all free? Happy exploring!