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If you think that cell phones can't improve math scores -- check again - read this report about a pilot where algebra problems were sent to smartphones. (So much for "leaving your homework at school.) "During the 2007-2008 school year, Wireless Reach began funding Project K-Nect, a pilot project in rural North Carolina where high school students received supplemental algebra problem sets on smartphones (the phones were provided by the project). The outcomes are promising -- classes using the smartphones have consistently achieved significantly higher proficiency rates on their end of course exams. So what's so different about delivering problem sets on a cell phone instead of a textbook? The first obvious answer is that the cell phone version is multi-media. The Project K-Nect problem sets begin with a Flash video visually demonstrating the problem -- you could theorize that this context prepares the student to understand the subsequent text-based problem better. You could also theorize that watching a Flash animation is more engaging (or just plain fun) and so more likely to keep students' attention."

digital citizenship headed for the clouds...

"7 diabetes apps for your smartphone"

This infographic is an impactful one helping school boards and IT departments understand the important of BYOD environments. In 2011 70% of the workforce between 22-34 used tablets and globally 46% of the mobile workforce has a smartphone. Using, managing, and maximizing these tools is an important part of modern life. Perhaps today's issues are helping students learn to focus, but keeping them out of school is shortsighted decision that will be looked back upon as a lack of vision... that is if you can help kids focus and help teachers encourage the use of them effectively. "Smartphones and Tablet sales will soon take over laptop and desktop computer sales: Don't stick just to books - why not let students use the technology they'll need in the future?"

27% of photos taken this year were taken on smartphones. I am not sure why schools are banning cell phones and buying cameras.

online outline creator tool. links and notes can be added easily. 

Take Smart Notes: Quicklyst uses DuckDuckGo to provide you with instant access to Wikipedia and the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Study Anywhere: Take your notes with you on an Amazon Kindle, Android, iPhone, smartphone, or tablet device. We Love Science: Quicklyst allows you to use LaTeX formatting to include mathematical formulas and equations in your notes easily. Bring Your Friends: Whether they use Quicklyst or not, you can share printable study guides with a couple clicks.

With 7.5 million kids under 13 on Facebook, the idea that they are testing allowing strangers to message you for $1 is a problem. The whole COPPA/ Lie about your age to get on Facebook coupled with location based services on smartphones that don't require disclosure to parents is going to come to a head and if companies continue to pretend that lying on a checkbox absolves them of the responsbility to protect children, they are wrong.

Welcome to your new Google smarthome - not smartphone - smarthome. They've bought a smart thermostat maker - I can imagine all kinds of cool things with Google Glasses, Droids, and other Google integrations with this. This interesting article covers many of the things Google has gone into besides their traditional search box/ advertising model and it tells you about the future of our world as a major giant positions for the Internet of Things which moves far beyond our screens into the air we breathe. This will impact our schools beyond what we understand as our surroundings become smarter and able to be controlled remotely in ways we can't really understand today. These are trends I'll be discussing in my Intro to Computer Science classes. "Google Inc announced plans to acquire smart thermostat maker Nest Labs Inc for US$3.2bil (RM10.54bil), signalling the Internet company's intention to expand into a broader array of devices and bringing valuable hardware design expertise in-house. "

Phablet is the new term - a portmanteau of phone and tablet - these larger devices really look more like the devices held by star trek officers. ;-) HP is back in because I guess they realize the future is in the palm of users hands. Increasingly our handheld device is becoming our major device and finding just the right size is the holy grail of manufacturers who are fighting for market share.

If you're not already using Dropbox - you should. They had a developer conference and will likely end up everywhere in every app. Some very cool things coming. Just like Evernote - who has a powerful "trunk" features where developer work is showcased - Dropbox is going to find that opening up to development opens a whole new marketplace and ingenuity beyond what they have in house.  Some info from the wired article.  "But after all that single-mindedness, Houston and Ferdowsi now want to let their baby sing. Today, at Dropbox's first-ever developers conference, the company is officially launching a new set of coding tools designed to push Dropbox into every corner of your digital life. Not content to stay sequestered inside the box, the company's co-founders are unveiling ways for developers to meld their service with every app on every device you own. For the first five or so years of its existence, Dropbox was synonymous with its "magic folder." Save your files in the Dropbox folder on your computer, and they "magically" reappear in your Dropbox apps on your phone and tablet and in your Dropbox account on the web. Now, if developers take to the company's new tools, the service will escape the confines of this folder, fusing with third-party apps running on practically every computer and smartphone operating system. Houston wants Dropbox to become the "spiritual successor to the hard drive." He says the hard drive needs to be replaced because so many of us are doing so much computing on devices that don't fit the traditional paradigm for working with files. Users don't interact with files on iOS, Android, or the web the way they do on PCs. Apps don't have "open" or "save" options that launch a separate window where you tap through a folder tree."

Dawn Casey-Rowe hits a tough topic that is the number one complaint that teachers have. I had her on my show not too long a go and she speaks from a tough situation with lots of blocks and bans but gets it done anyway. If your complaint is blocks and bans, then take time to read this post to focus on what you CAN do. Dawn is offering a set of PD blog posts that you'll want to dig into. "This week, we're going to discuss the white elephant in the room. Tech frustration. Many teachers struggle to bring students the type of tech experience they would like because of systemic blocks and bans, or worse, feel embarrassed as students have more access to tech than teachers do. This is the issue that brought me to the tech world myself. Students continually asked the hard questions about why they couldn't utilize technology such as smartphones, laptops, and tablets, and why phones were confiscated when students were using them for educational purposes. I wanted to improve my classroom experience and give my students more, but budget was a concern. Tech access is a problem in many schools. There are legitimate reasons-the desire of administrators to protect students from the darker side of the internet, fear of the unknown, lack of wireless capacity and budget difficulties which cause insufficient numbers of computers or the inability to upgrade existing tech. Some educational leaders have overcome these hurdles, but others are still working to get to that space."

My students love the Dragon Dictation app. It is free. Learn to talk into the app and you can dictate papers and more. They were so excited when I taught them how to use this app. It is a must share because students who are more verbal often prefer to dictate papers rather than type them. When I demo this app, first I open it and dictate things - saying funny things about the class and they see the words. Then, I dictate again but start saying "period" "comma" and "new paragraph" so they see how it can add those things to the text. I always end by saying "And ____ ran out of the room today screaming quote I'm afraid of zombies exclamation point end quote." Then I stop and they see how all of the punctuation works. This is a great app and an important one for all tablet and smartphone users.

"August 25, 2011 In the U.S., as recently as last Summer, tablet and eReader owners tended to be male and on the younger side. But according to Nielsen's latest, quarterly survey of mobile connected device owners, this is no longer the case. Back in Q3 2010, for example, 62 percent of tablet owners were under the age of 34 and only 10 percent were over the age of 55. By Q2 2011, only 46 percent of tablet owners were under the age of 34 and the percentage of those over 55 had increased to 19 percent. Looking at the data by gender underlines key changes in the eReader category. Sixty-one percent of all eReader owners are now female, compared to a mere 46 percent in Q3 2010. (Smartphone owners are now evenly split between male and female and tablets remain primarily male.)"

Cool virtual reality tool. I have one my sister gave me for Savannah college of Art and design that they did with the iPhone. It was incredible. Cardboard with a smartphone inserted. It uses the accelerometer inside to really make it feel 3d. It does. You can actually get kind of dizzy. From Richard Byrne's site. "Earlier this year Google unveiled a new virtual reality program for schools. The program is called Expeditions. Expeditions uses an app on the teacher's tablet in conjunction with the Cardboard viewer to guide students on virtual reality field trips. Today, Google announced that they are bringing Expedition demonstrations and the required kits to schools all over North America, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand."

"From now, Spotify users can follow and listen to UKEdPodcast episodes directly within the app, available on SmartPhones, desktops and Smart Devices."

"Although many schools ban smartphones, the reality is that many pupils have them hidden away, or are an integral part of their lives once they leave the premises. The 'Selfy' phenomenon is clearly here to stay, but this video (created by London-based design and animation studio weareseventeen) illustrates how we can easily be distracted with our devices, missing out on the world around us - which could be useful for a discussion / assembly activity within schools when talking about online use or safety:"

"Happiness is not a warm phone, according to a new study exploring the link between adolescent life satisfaction and screen time. Teens whose eyes are habitually glued to their smartphones are markedly unhappier, said study lead author and San Diego State University and professor of psychology Jean M. Twenge."

"Hosted by @digicoled, this episode we are honoured to interview one of the founding fathers of Pixar Animation, Loren Carpenter, who charts his time as a computer scientist at Boeing, and then with Lucas Films. Listen via Soundcloud below, via the Apple Podcasts icon, or subscribe to 'UKEdChat' via your favourite podcast smartphone app."