Retro Macbook refit project

The Project

I was looking around for the perfect laptop to take into schools, portability and usefulness with enough features but not expensive or ‘precious’ so kids could get hands on. Having a first gen iPad I thought this would be ideal but quickly found it limiting without internet access. Also, there were times I needed to create and edit Word and Excel files never mind open existing Powerpoints for teaching purposes. So I started looking at Windows netbooks – many have a dual boot feature t cut down linux flavours for quick booting. Also, I thought very cost effective at around £250. My previous use of a netbook was a little disappointing as not as well made and durable but then you get what you pay for. As I went into the store to buy, the salesman (obviously eyeing up a more lucrative sale) rubbished the model I wanted saying how the keys would easily flip off and the screen was tiny etc etc. Needless to say, he was probably right so I went to eBay to look at retro macs… I have bought quite  a few from eBay in the past mainly for my kids to use. After two days of bidding I ‘won’ a 2007 Macbook (above) for exactly £261 with the following spec.:

80gb HD, 1gb RAM, OSX 10.4 Tiger

… and three generous cracks in the keyboard case. This was one of the infamous ‘crackBooks’ that Apple promised to replace if still under warranty, so the cracks must not have bothered the previous owner or not appeared until after warranty expired.

The Refit

I used bathroom silicon sealer to fill the cracks as you can see above; a little rubber residue marked the top but the flexibility of the silicon means any pressure to those parts of the case doesn’t reopen the cracks. Then the internal refit:

320gb HD, 2gb RAM, OSX 10.5 Leopard plus Bootcamp partition of 100gb Windows 7.

Ok, so it isn’t just a netbook but it’s no so precious as a new mac and does have the dual use of both OS and advantages of iLife software. The positives are that the previous owners really looked after the mac and it came to me cleaned and in good working order. The negative is that a battery from 2007 is only one third effective and I get about 2 hours charge (on a good day). The cracks are superficial but costs of replacing the case and a new battery would add another £200 to the cost.

Twins (70/366)

Broadcasting the Curriculum

The Broadcast Curriculum allowed us to demonstrate the wider benefits of media technologies in enhancing learning and motivating students. At ks3 and 4 BB is not subject specific; we supported maths, science, ICT, PE, geography, history and english regularly and languages, art & design and media on other occasions with 8 of our local schools. At primary level (mainly ks2) creative freedom allowed specific TV Shows on anti-bullying, Bollywood dancing and thematic activities tying in with weather, story or history-based topics. Teachers could use the embed codes to re-use the video content in web pages and the school’s VLE. Conferences and staff training were streamed live over the Internet with marketing via social media. All the output distributed by DVD or archived into a dedicated password-protected web site.

The advantage of the CLC was to use professional equipment in a simplified TV Studio setting; the right tools can make a difference to the quality of the final product. Our studio was used with learners as young as 6 right up to adults such as teachers making content for the classroom. Much of our work in the last year of the CLC involved NEETs (Not in Employment, Education or Training) and was a fabulous engager and motivator particularly in our fame hungry get rich quick times.

Unfortunately, funding streams for this kind of activity have ceased so the CLC Studio is due to close in a few months. So what can school teachers do to utilise the Broadcast Curriculum?

Gold option

If your school, academy or federation is feeling flush and BB is a high priority, then Planet PC have several solutions in portable boxes that have great potential. The Movie Box 3 cost around £8k – full details here. There are cheaper and dearer options from the same company. Contents include*:

• Apple MacBook – software includes iMovie’09 and Final Cut Express
• Storyboarding software
• Stop motion animation software and web cam
• High end camcorder with professional tripod
• Hand held interview microphone, tie clip microphone and boom microphone
• Live chroma keyer
• 2.1m x 2.1m pop up reflective chroma key screen and accessories
• Reflective chroma key flooring
• Reflective chroma key material props pack
• Full Lighting kit with floor stands and backdrop clip on lights
• Webcam and stop motion software

*This is a contents list based on when our movie boxes were acquired in 2010

Silver option

Much of the same functionality can be achieved with the following items for under £3k:

• Apple iMac – software includes iMovie for free
• Set of cheap photographers lights (redheads)
• DV camera & tripod
• Stop motion software (eg. I Can Animate) and recommended I Can Present too!
• Tin of Chroma key paint

Obviously not the same effect as the full kit but a fraction of costs however, a dedicated wall of a room is needed for the Chroma paint.

Bronze Option

The very least you could use to set up a mini studio is a Macbook, camera and tripod and this will be less than £1.5k.

None of the ideas above exclude Windows machines, indeed there are several tutorials on You Tube suggesting ways of chroma-keying/green screening using Windows Movie Maker. The popularity of the Khan Academy and the Flipped Classroom suggest there is even more mileage to screen recording video casts (a function built into Mac machines but freely available for PC) but I suggest a blended approach to avoid merely video recorded lectures.

Good luck with your broadcasting adventures!

iPad for learning

The Apple iPad occupies a new space somewhere between the functions of a large screen phone and near-to (but not quite) a netbook. Described by Steve Jobs as ‘magic’, it is actually a device occupying the space between the mobile and portable/laptop spaces that for schools means non-networked and personalised for the individual learner. There are tons of great articles and web sites about the iPad and its’ use as an educational tool and I will provide links below. This is a summary of my experimentation and thoughts after a three week loan. Here are the users during this period:

A three year old

An eight year old

A thirteen year old

A 25+ student of Business and Marketing

A university lecturer

Two teachers.

This is relevant because this review is based on my observations of others’ iPad use as well as my own.  Initial reactions from all but the youngest two users were of ‘Wow’ and “That’s so cool” etc but after using for a day or two these comments subsided to things like: “Oh, I can’t access my USB or Google Docs” etc. Interesting that the three and eight year olds just shrugged at it and used it like they would a book, access to a web page or any other game. I spent less than £25 on apps, some intentionally game-based, others directed toward kid’s math/maths, literacy and still more culinary, news or productivity.

Here’s the findings:

Digital inclusion

Lightweight and very portable, pinch zoom on words and pictures really provides an accessible interactivity.  With one of the kids on an iPad and another on a Macbook, instantly on due to iOS means the iPad got a ‘like’ comment, information was accessed quicker (possibly due to mobile versions of web pages) and shared with others in a room simply by picking up and holding up in the same way as a drawing on card.  The same info on the Macbook looked tiny on it’s web page and more of a faff to share with others. A great equaliser in terms of the users as far as the 8 and 13 year olds were concerned. Learning games for the laptop not so easy to find or as cheap as these mobile apps either. For older users, the lack of embedded video proved frustrating at times although You Tube’s own site was fine. Perhaps adoption of HTML5 will help in future. Also, Flash conspicuously absent and we know why that is but hard to explain away to less techie friends.

Teachers and Innovations

Both the teachers and lecturer found instant web page access and apps that allow doodles quick and easy to employ as potential teaching tools. Other ways of show and tell are a reasonable expectation on the iPad – course you can do the same on any laptop or tablet PC but the fact you can sit outside the museum and switch instantly between apps and an e-reader adds a bit of kudos to your apparent depthless knowledge. The tactility of passing around the iPad with the info on a famous photographer whilst viewing her work is delightful (but still achievable on a smartphone in an albeit smaller scale). This use alone ticked both boxes for dynamic practice and enhancing one’s own PD or professional knowledge. Incidentally, the exhibition wasEngaged Observers: Documentary Photography since the Sixties at the Getty Center in L.A. and I seemed incredibly knowledgeable thanks very much!

Learning Spaces

There is so much out there on mobile learning and its introduction as an extended learning environment but anyone experimenting with mobile tools have to put up with so many limitations. Cost, screen size, input method — the list goes on.  The important thing about the iPad is that any space becomes a learning space and the activities involved transform the environment especially with a good mix of information consumption and games as rewards or learning in their own right. Creating on the iPad isn’t so straight forward as yet; POW as comic strip designer integrates photos you upload to iPhoto and then there are the Pages/Keynote/Numbers apps that I haven’t yet invested in.  My iPhone version of QuickOffice worked fine for making short notes (this post in fact) although I did struggle to edit a wordpress blog and resorted back to my Mac. Brushes is a neat creation app appreciated by all ages and easy as doodling with your finger. In my opinion the next gen iPad needs two cameras – front and rear facing to take snaps and iChat with.

Overall experience: great integrated technology especially viewing web, photos or using specific apps. Not a wonderful e-reading experience as glossy screen unreadable in bright light or headache inducing in anything but twilight. An invaluable casual learning tool that will add to your toolkit not replace any of it; needs to be a third cheaper before wider adoption especially when the wow factor wears thin.

Select links:

http://teachwithyouripad.wikispaces.com/

http://www.ipadineducation.co.uk/iPad_in_Education/Welcome.html

http://www.palmbeachschooltalk.com/groups/ipadpilot/

A collaborative Google doc to share ideas on the iPad in schools.

Please don’t release an Apple Slate, Mr Jobs…

I’m an Apple fan (ok, I admit it) and I really like 90% of the designs and products put out in recent years. BUT, I really hope they don’t release a hybrid iPod/Slate/tablet thingy at the event on 27th January.

It’s not that I don’t think they’ll make sense of the form factor (look at all the fake designs that have sprung up and the professional mock-ups) or that it will create a versatile gadget with a gazillion un-dreamt uses. What I really don’t like is the sheer manipulation of the market and it’s users. In much the same way Cameron’s movies have redirected the money tree back towards the monopolisers, this ‘new newton’ will do the same thing. I’ll expand on the metaphor; independent cinema gets it’s best ever plaudits in 1996 (The English Patient, OSCARS galore) next year it’s uber-budgetted, mainstream, Hollywoodland, studio factory based Titanic. Lately, we’ve seen an amazing expansion of creative, international films (Slumdog Millionaire) vs. parts 5 and 6 of franchises or even reworked comic book heroes. Then, cameron does it again with style over content, studio life-force enhancing Avatar. Course it will win all the OSCARS this year! See what I mean? No… well look at this:

[Diagram removed from web by owner]

This shows falling prices of laptops and desktops in the US, one of the cheapest places in the world to buy hardware (only Hong Kong has cheaper Macs than USA). Netbooks, although limited in use and capacity have stolen the buyers! And there’s less profit margin in a netbook.

“Tight credit and economic concerns have certainly taken a toll on PC shipments in the last couple quarters, but the move to portables, fueled by mininotebooks and falling prices, has mitigated the impact,” Loren Loverde, IDC’s program director for Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, said in a statement. The netbook surge this holiday season, limits Apple’s options. The company could slash prices to compete, but that would sap margins without guarantees of market share regains. Apple has no netbook to sell, so it’s cut out of the margin-sapping market segment. An analysis of it’s policy:

“Survivors of the recession will adapt to the new economy. No matter where or when the recession ends, it won’t be where it started. The old economy is gone, massive spending with it. Apple already does this. Years ago, the company reduced the number of products it sells and simplified its remaining product lines. Product refreshes are fairly infrequent compared with other technology companies. Apple maximizes the production/development cost-to-margin ratio for as long as possible. The process reduces manufacturing and distribution costs. Product A releases with got-to-have features or design for which early buyers are willing to pay a premium. Typically, the big desirable feature is unique, meaning not common from competitor products. Over time, Apple upgrades select components, either offering more for less or reducing prices. Eighteen to 24 months, or more, later, Apple releases a fresh, redesigned new model and restarts the process. For the iPhone and iPod, the new models come about once a year.”

So when the current markets are exhausted, you have to create a new market! Roll on Apple’s Avatar… people will rave and adore it even if it is all just style over substance.

Virtual Apple Mac museum

This is one of many Mac photo pools – the difference is mine is meant for obsolete designs only! It’s starting to grow now with items from all over the world. Pay a visit to:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/apple_e-museum/pool/

Check out what enthusiasts spend their time doing. I started this pool and have now moved them due to Flickr’s restrictions to 200 photos per free account. I did have a pro account but when I didn’t renew they removed my pix! I didn’t get to choose which ones and lost some I’d uploaded off someone else’s camera. My advice is try Picasa instead.

Cheapest “mac” – eeePC? Attack of the new clones?

Anyone who remembers the clone macs of 1990s will recall how unreliable some of them were. The hardware wasn’t standardised like today’s macs and there was a great need for school IT technicians! There has been controversy recently with a Brazilian (?) company putting OSX on their own hardware and selling via ebay. What about this I came across this on You Tube:

http://web.archive.org/web/20100929080436/http://www.youtube.com/v/arxdlBGolTE&rel=1&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1

3G iPhone giveaway

So there will be a 3G version of the iPhone anytime soon – and by the looks of things a shockingly poor battery too. No surprise or usefullness as either a web surfer, phone or GPS. May be ok as an iPod though I wouldn’t call myself a movie fan if I watched ‘em on tiny-weeny screens.

What a hypocrite I am – I’m desperate to get an iPhone asap. Alright, I won’t use to watch movies. Happy?

New iPhone design

A great way to get involved with the new iPhone design is to create your own widget badges for the applications on your Phone. Use this handy tutorial to help:

http://tutorials20.com/design/design-your-iphone-widgets/

Colours return to Mac?

iPhones available in many colours? http://www.colorwarepc.com/company.a…showNowInColor can pimp your iPhone now so don’t wait for candy colours to return..!