Category Archives: iPads

iPads, Student

iPad: What’s that “Other” thing taking up so much space?

Much of this information is taken from https://www.macworld.com/article/232651/iphone-other-storage-what-is-it-and-how-do-you-delete-it.html

If you have ever checked your ipad [or iPhone] storage by going to
Settings –> Other –> iPad Storage
you will have seen the space taken up by apps, documents, video, audio, etc. — and then a mysterious “Other”.

The mysterious “Other” category

The “Other” category can be anything from a system update that has been downloaded but not installed, to web browser caches, logs, Siri voices, Messages, and many other odds and ends.

If your “Other” category has become bloated and taking up too much room on your iPad, here are some tricks to try and reduce it.

1] Do the iPad reboot dance.

2] Clear your Safari caches by going to Settings –> Safari –> Clear History and Website Data

iphone safari history

3] Change Messages to save fewer old messages.
Settings –> Messages –> Message History.
Change it from “Forever” to “30 days”.

4] If all else fails, and you don’t have enough room to install the system update – bring it to the ARC. We have other options there to help.

The article above has some additional options to explore if you are reading this article, trying to fix your personal device. Take a look!

Apps, iPads, More, Student

Cool Stuff in Notability

Drawing doughnuts? Record Audio? Scan Documents? Convert handwriting into text? [well, maybe not the Computer Curmudgeon’s handwriting….] Read on……

Some Amazing things you can create in Notability

Sources for this article include https://notability.medium.com/useful-how-to-tips-in-notability-2fdf1c6aa11a

🍩 Create perfect shapes. Draw any shape and hold the ink for a moment; watch as the shape snaps perfectly into place. You can also erase perfect shapes! Try this: Draw a circle, hold the ink down, then erase a circle from the center. Wa-la you’ve made a donut. Now add sprinkles!

🎧 Listen to audio at the right pace. Adjust audio playback speed for your listening style. Audio speed options are: 0.7x, 1x, 1.25x, 1.5x, 2x.

Want to know more about audio recording in Notability? CLICK HERE!

🔎 Find anything in your notes. Search your handwriting (and convert it to text)*, typed text, pdf text, image text, and note titles (in 23 supported languages)!

📸 Scan paper documents to import. It’s easy to scan and digitize your paper documents into PDFs or images by simply snapping a photo! Text in scanned documents and images is also searchable!

📥 Import GIFs, photos and more! Simply drag and drop GIFs, photos, and web clips from other applications like Safari or easily add media from the Notability note view.

🎨 Create custom colors. Use the color picker to find and save your perfect shades and create your ink palette (you can save up to 32 custom colors).

🔧 Edit audio recordings. Trim, merge, split, reorder and rename audio recordings. Fine-tune audio by adjusting equalizer in playback mode or Voice Boost. Voice Boost allows you to amplify distant voices that may otherwise sound muffled.

There is even a PRESENTATION MODE – use your notability document like a Slide deck. CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS.

Work on multiple notes at the same time with Multi-note and note Switcher. CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS.

📝 Take notes alongside another app. When Notability is open, drag and drop another app from the iPad dock onto the screen to view both apps side by side.

Apps, iPads, More, Student, Students

Aleks –> what to do when it doesn’t work on your iPad

When Aleks refuses to work, here are some things to check.

See the source image

FIRST

Aleks provides a “check your setup” screen to help in checking these settings.  Click on the link below to have Aleks review your settings.

https://www.aleks.com/support/troubleshooting

You WILL NEED to click on the RED button found at the bottom of this screen to complete the check of your iPad.

BOTTOM LINE – all circles should be GREEN, including the pop-ups.  Alex will not run correctly with any red circles with x’s in them.

SECOND: COMMON ERRORS

Error with CACHE

  • Go to the home screen.
  • Click on the settings icon.
  • On the left side, scroll down and find SAFARI (about halfway down) and click on this setting.
  • On the right side, scroll down and find “Clear History and Website Data” and click on this setting.
  • (Initially the text in this setting will be blue in color, after you click on it, it will turn gray)

Error with POP-UPS

  • Go to the home screen.
  • Click on the settings icon.
  • On the left side, scroll down and find SAFARI (about halfway down) and click on this setting.
  • On the right side, scroll down and find Block Pop-ups – make sure the button to the right is gray.

ONCE YOU HAVE MADE THOSE CHANGES:

  • Logout out of Aleks. 
  • Double click on the home button and swipe out of all open apps (INCLUDING ALEKS). 
  • Press and hold the hibernation button (upper right) until the “slide to power off” screen appears.
  • Swipe to power off.
  • Wait 5-8 seconds.
  • Turn on iPad – press and hold the hibernation button until you see the Apple logo. 
  • Enter your passcode to move to the home screen. 
  • Load ALEKS to start again!