Category Archives: Make Tech Easier

Apps, iPads, Make Tech Easier, More, Student, Students

Kindle App – how to use

amazon-kindle-app

Here is some info from the web
on using the Kindle app.

 

 

To download titles your device must be connected to a wireless or data network, but you do not need to connect your device to a wireless or data network to view titles that you have already downloaded.

View all content in your Kindle library:

Tap the Menu icon and then tap All Items.

Switch between content stored in the cloud and on the device:

While in a content library, tap the Cloud and Device option at the bottom of the screen.

Check for recent content:

Tap the Menu icon and then tap Sync.

Remove content from your device:

While in a content library, press and hold an item, and then select the Remove from Device option. This does NOT delete the document from your account – it can be downloaded again later.

Sort content on your home screen:

  • Sort by content type:
    Tap the Menu icon to sort content by All Items, Books, Newsstand, Docs, or Collections.
  • Filter by title, author, or recent:
    Tap the Sort icon to sort titles by Recent, Title, or Author.

Change the display of your content:

  • Display title covers in a grid: Tap the Grid icon.
  • Display the title covers in a list: Tap the List icon.

 

CLICK HERE to learn more, including how to

  • change font/size/etc.
  • Add bookmarks
  • Change locations in the book
  • Explore the book with X-ray [may not work with all documents]
  • Add highlights
  • Add notes
  • Look up words in a dictionary
iPads, Make Tech Easier, Student, Students

Sending a Keynote file to your teacher

“Why” explained below. First, “How”:

You’ve created a Keynote presentation, and need to get it to your teacher in a way that can be viewed on their laptop [which does NOT have Keynote installed]. Here is how to make sure your presentation can be viewed [and thus graded!]. Click any picture below to see a bigger version.

  1. On your iPad, open up the presentation.
  2. Click the “Share” icon – square with arrow coming out of it.
    14
  3. If you want to email the file, see #4 below.
    If you want to upload a PDF or Powerpoint file to Drive from your keynote presentation, see #5 below.
  4. Select “Send a Copy”
    15B

    1. Pick a file format – PDF or PowerPoint. Ask your Teacher if you don’t know which to use.
    2. Select “Mail”.14B                        Fill out the email, and send it.
  5. Select “Open in Another App”
    15

    1. Pick a file format – PDF or PowerPoint. Ask your Teacher if you don’t know which to use.
    2. Select “Open in Drive”.
      16
    3. Drive will open, and ask “Would you like to upload filename.pptx to My Drive?”
    4. YES, you do!17
    5. After the file has uploaded you can email it, share it with your teacher, view it online, etc.

 

 

What’s this all about? [Some details]

The principle here is dealing with file formats. In this case the students are creating files that the teacher needs to read, but that app is not available for the teacher’s computer [Keynote is a Mac only app, and most MDS teachers have Windows machines].

So how do you deal with the situation where you are creating in one app and need to open it in another?

Here’s your
One Word Explanation:
EXPORT

Find a file format that both sides of the equation can use. Export the file from your app, and the recipient can open it in the app of their choice.

Some file types that commonly transfer nicely include

  • Word processing: rtf, doc, docx
  • Graphics: jpg, png
  • Spreadsheet: csv, xls
  • Video: trickier, because it involves not only the “container” [mp4, mov, avi, wmv, m4a] but also the “codec” [how the video was prepared]. Export the same file a few different ways and see which one works.
  • Text & Graphics: PDF

In the list above, you are walked through the steps of taking a keynote presentation on an iPad, exporting it as either a PDF or PPTX [Powerpoint] file, then uploading it to Drive. The teacher can then open the file up in a PDF reader or Powerpoint.

Make Tech Easier, More, Students, Video

Virtual Light Lab – make a movie

[4/14/15 update: added section about getting your video into iMovie on your iPad, at the bottom.]

Virtual Light Lab is installed in all the ARC computers. It allows you to design stage lighting and experiment without all that mucking around with electrical cables and gobos and such.

After you have created your show, you can save it as a quicktime movie [which can then be plopped into your Google Drive and viewed on your iPad]. Here’s how:

[Click on each graphic to see the bigger version]

1. Call up the SlideShow

VLL 1

2. The instructions give you an overview of the process.

Basically you give a save location and filename, set some parameters, and then manually step through your slideshow by clicking the play button.VLL 2

3. IMPORTANT: Make sure you add .MOV to the end of your filename. The program tries to add .moov, and quicktime doesn’t know what that is. [Neither dfoes anything else.]

VLL 4

4. Next up: parameters [aka settings]. Here is what I suggest.

VLL 5Greater frames per second = less jerky motion but bigger filesize.
Better compressor quality = better quality images but bigger filesize.

You might try using “low” quality, or even least, to see if they are good enough.

5. Notice the record button is green.VLL 66. Click the PLAY button.

The RECORD button will turn red, and behind the scenes a movie file is being created. YOU determine the length of each scene by how fast you click through. VLL 7

WHEN DONE, CLICK THE RECORD BUTTON AGAIN.

 

7.  You may see this dialog after clicking record. Click Yes.VLL 8

8. Then your movie will open and you can see if you like the results.

vll movieIf you don’t like them, switch back to the slideshow and record again. You’ll have to redo the settings each time.

If you DO like the result, then you can email the file, stash it in google drive [drive.google.com], trash it, etc.

 

Once those files are in Drive, how do you get them into iMovie on your iPad?

 

Summary:

  1. Fire up the Drive App
  2. Navigate to the desired file – I suggest starting with the VIDEO file first.
  3. Click the “I” icon, on the right.
  4. Click “Open in….”
  5. Click the 2nd “Open In….”
  6. Select “iMovie”
  7. iMovie loads the file.
  8. Go back to the Drive app.
  9. Select the “I” icon for the audio file.
  10. Click “Open in….”
  11. Click the 2nd “Open In….”
  12. Select “iMovie”
  13. iMovie asks if you want to create a NEW movie, or to add it to the “Last one edited”. Select Last one Edited.
  14. The audio is placed in the project.