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Teaching with Facebook is a way for me to engage my students, since many of them will be on the site before, after, and during any lecture. More than engagement, using Facebook allows me to build a bridge between my classroom curricula and what my students are doing outside the lecture hall. I must admit that student expertise with digital media often exceeds my own, and my attempts at using Facebook function as a common language that sets up my classroom as an experimental space allowing students to take risks, make connections, and participate with an alternative teaching style. As much as there are a number of other Facebook educators—there is even a Facebook groups for educators—I am certain that on my university campus I am the only instructor using this social network. My university administration has accused me of subverting our institutional course management system. They are correct. Facebook may be a commercial enterprise, but I argue that students can maintain a Facebook identity after they leave university. The work done in our lecture as represented in our Facebook group is something that lasts beyond a typical university course management system. In other words, access to the information, discussion, links, and learning is not cut off once the course is over.

Take a look at your web site and search for unnecessary details that could bore the client. Very often we see the description of some products that may seem appealing at first sight but in the end they lack important information that may persuade us to buy it. Redesigning your web site is something that you should do quite often in order to make it effective for a long period of time. Updating, always bringing something new to audience, using the latest technology instead of hard-coding, brings you the company you’ve always dreamt of. As Leonardo da Vinci said best “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”.

1) Flash CS5 – At the moment is probably the most complete solution.  The packager for iOS allows you to compile apps on the windows platform.  If you’ve been using flash you can rejoice in Apple’s latest policy, it performs well, but don’t expect highest performance games, and Papervision to run in here.  No mac required. 2) Airplay SDK – The airplay SDK allows you to create games, and sign your app on Windows PC’s.  I have not tested this solution, but apparently many apps have been created this way. Both these solutions can compile to code that is native to the iPhone right on your windows PC and many apps available in the app store have been created using them. 3) Unity 3D – Game development engine and editor that utilizes Boo and C# and the editor works on both Windows and Mac. 4) Stonetrip S3D – Game develop engine and editor utilizing LUA, the editor runs within Windows. These game engines allow you to develop your apps on Windows, but you’ll need a Mac to test/compile. 3) Appcelerator Titanium – This is a good solution, and has a very popular and vibrant community.  Apps are limited in performance because while they can be compiled as native apps and sent into the app store they are html/javascript based. 4) Genuitec MobiOne – This is an interface designer that uses the Phonegap framework to deliver native functionality.  It only runs on windows.  HTML/Javascript based. These solutions allow you to create apps using web technologies (HTML/CSS/Javascript) and then run them through an Objective-C framework that responds to actions within a UIWebView, thus allowing you to access native functionality on the iPhone.  These frameworks are free. 5)Dragonfire SDK – An interesting option that allows you to develop apps using their SDK on windows.  Then you send them your uncompiled source which they compile and you download the compiled iOS application file.  I’ve been asked if this means they get a copy of your uncompiled source code.. I couldn’t tell you that, I just know that you have to upload your code for compiliation to their website — but hey you wanted to develop iPhone apps on Windows.  Overall this is a wrapper, I like the syntax and it’s pretty popular so I’ll mention it.

The main reason why HTML5 is not the obvious choice for developers now is the above mentioned lockout when it comes to hardware. An iOS device does not allow different browser engines and does not allow HTML5 to access the camera, the address book, vibration, the phone or text messaging. In other words, everything that makes a mobile device interesting for developers and very necessary functionality for Apps,” Heilmann wrote.

Keep also lets you speak to it: the service transcribes voice memos for you automatically. Since we’re talking about Google here, there’s also a “super-fast search” function so you can find the note you wrote, read it, and then either archive or delete it.

Google on Wednesday announced Google Keep, a note-taking service similar to Evernote, for both the Web and Android 4.0+ (Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean) devices. You can try the service out now for yourself at Drive.Google.com/Keep or download the Android app from the Google Play Store.

Designers love to hate skeuomorphism. It’s just decoration, they say. It’s completely useless. It will go out of style. Or as Mark Boulton, co-founder of Five Simple Steps, put it on twitter: I really wish everyone would stop making digital things look like real things. A screen is not a drop shadowed, bevelled, wooden plank. Yet Apple and many other software developers continue to use it heavily in some of their apps. Many hate without asking: Why? Why is Apple and so many others continuing down this path? They have all lost their sense of good design, surely. No?

Skeuomorphism is about communcating and reinforcing feelings – getting an application to become a memorable experience, not just a tool. It’s about communicating the purpose of a UI, not only the functions it enables.

An interface that is not only easy to use, but fun to use, engages the user and creates an experience where obstacles are easier to overcome, and thus an experience where the product is easier and more effortless to use. Done right, skeuomorphism can retain the simplicity and ease of use of an interface while empowering users to act.

Appcelerator Titanium Mobile Platforms: iPhone and Android What you need to get started: Software installed from the site Feature set: 4/5 | Difficulty: 5/5 | Reach: 5/5 To use Appcelerator Titanium Mobile, you need to be familiar with Web languages like Python, HTML and Javascript. That said, you will not need to know specific programming languages typically required to develop apps for the iPhone and Android. All you do is build the app using Web languages, and Titanium does the rest. You will need to download the iPhone SDK (which is Mac-only) if you plan to make iPhone apps. This development platform doesn't come with any tutorials - you will have to rely on the goodwill of the community and learn how to use the tools through knowledge posted on forums. There are also paid services that provide support and automation during the app-making process. If you know how to wield the tools correctly, Titanium can offer more features than App Inventor for Android. But there are limitations to being a third-party development platform - the latest features in iOS and Android OS are not guaranteed to work here. Verdict: If you are open to teaching yourself app development as a hobby, the versatile Appcelerator Titanium Mobile is a great way to start. The faint of heart need not apply.

App Inventor lets you create apps by dragging and dropping "building blocks" embedded with code that work when you drag them onto a blank canvas. These blocks let you access virtually every function of an Android handset - from timestamps and touchscreen virtual buttons to the motion sensor and GPS.