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In the world of  tablet technology the warring dividing lines very quickly became the choice between Apple and Android mobile devices. The research began. The comparisons between apps and general capacity for varied uses were central (see my earlier blog posts), but also crucial was the cost. The question, 'why pay for the premium Apple iPad product in a time of fiscal austerity in education?' is obvious. Is the capacity so much better to justify paying extra, or is the iPad a triumph of advertising hype?

Blog Post from Tom Whitby who is concerned about the apparent lack of learning by many in the teaching profession. Provocative, but much to challenge us.

"... despite how crucial GitHub is to the developer toolbox, I'm constantly wondering why the platform is limited to just code. It's not a stretch to imagine the usefulness of a similar platform for non-developers - authors, teachers, students - though as much as I search, I can't seem to find one. So I'm building it myself. I'm building a GitHub for everyone else."

"It's the iPad's versatility, portability, camera, app selection and user-friendliness that keeps it ahead of the others for education but it's the approach taken by the teacher to learning within the classroom that realises these benefits, not the iPad alone. Worry first about what you are asking of your students and how much they are reliant on the teacher."

"Google forms are fabulous for gathering information, but sometimes, the data in the spreadsheet can be difficult to view. In this post, I'll share a simple-to-implement formula that will make it much easier to deal with (and even print) form-fed data!"

"Sharing data is hard. Emails have size limits, and setting up servers is too much work. We've designed a distributed system for sharing enormous datasets - for researchers, by researchers. The result is a scalable, secure, and fault-tolerant repository for data, with blazing fast download speeds."

"Map of the Internet - First of its kind on such a scale, this map aims for succesful compendation of The Internet to scale suitable for standartized online navigation. This project is still underway, new versions of this map will be available in ulterior months. Due to the immense size of the Net, only a miniscule portion of it was chosen to represent it on the map.  Otherwise, this map would be unreadable and probably undrawable in entire lifespan of average human being. This poster includes one full map of the internet, 4 minimaps showcasing NSA surveillance, most used social networks, most used internet browser, and worldwide internet penetration, list of Alexa Top 500 websites, quick timeline of the Internet History, top software companies and much more! By Martin Vargic/Jay Jason Simons"

An interesting discussion about email and its future.

How much is my old mac worth?

"What does 2014 hold for your online life? If you're young, it probably won't involve Facebook that much. This year marked the start of what looks likely to be a sustained decline of what had been the most pervasive of all social networking sites. Young people are turning away in their droves and adopting other social networks instead, while the worst people of all, their parents, continue to use the service."

"If you go by the headlines, the iPhone 5S and Google Glass were the big technology stories of 2013, and Twitter's IPO was the event of the year. The coverage of Glass focused mostly on its privacy implications - not its ability to change the world. And iPhone and Twitter were just more of the same. So we could end the year really disappointed because nothing dramatic seems to have happened on the technology front. But look again, at the stories we missed. So much happened, in fact, that I believe we have set the stage for the transformation of entire industries"

"Look, I love SAMR as much as the next person, but when something comes along that is easier, that's better, right? RIGHT."

"Introducing the UP Mini 3D Printer, the much anticipated follow-up, to our highly acclaimed, flagship 3-d printer, the UP Plus 3D Printer.  The all-new UP Mini 3D Printer, with its full metal,heat retention enclosure and groundbreaking price."

"Advocates of the learning style theory argue that instructors can achieve much better results when they take their student's learning style under consideration and create a course that best fits this exact style. The adversaries of the learning style theory say that this concept is misunderstood and not scientifically proven, and they argue that learning styles do make instructors understand what motivates and cerebrally stimulates their students, but they can't guarantee a successful outcome nor predict it. So where is the truth in that and where lies the Learning Styles myth?  "

"Edmodo recently released a new look for their website. Many times when a website changes. there's a ton of confusion about old features, new feature, and where everything is now located. Not with Edmodo! The simple and clear design makes it easy to navigate between all of the tools. So there shouldn't be too much confusion for existing users, and teachers who want to learn how to use Edmodo for the first time are met with a sleek and simple interface."

Canada's economy added 93,000 jobs, including 52,000 new private-sector jobs.Much of the gain came from "business, building and support services," which has seen a 14 per cent increase so far this year.

"So basically, if I had established a more rigid structure for acceptable wand use, obtained more spells (not just free ones because you get what you pay for), and provided concentrated "how do I inspire learning with wands?" training, then things would have gone much better our first year. What implementation advice do you have to share? Please tell us in the comment section below."

"Facebook made a startling admission in its earnings announcement this month: it was seeing a "decrease in daily users, specifically among teens". In other words, teenagers are still on Facebook; they're just not using it as much as they did. It was a landmark statement, since teens are the demographic who often point the rest of us towards the next big thing."

"Canva gives you everything you need to easily turn ideas into stunning designs. Create designs for Web or print; website banners, presentations, Facebook covers, flyers, posters, invitations and so much more."

via @rmbyrne

Electronic portfolios are gaining so much popularity among teachers and students. Their easy accessibility and availability anywhere anytime make them really worth trying. There are actually several web tools that you can use to create digital portfolios and I have already reviewed some of them in this post, however, today I am sharing with you an excellent video tutorial from EdTechTeacher on how to use Google Drive as a portfolio solution in iPad classroom. Check it out below