Primary School – Page 40

Android gets turn-by-turn based navigation

Posted on April 21, 2010July 26, 2012 by primaryt

So, this might initially be a very “educationally focused” post but you have to read between the lines to understand the significance of this (even though it was somewhat inevitable) announcement.

Basically turn-by-turn is that lovely lady who tells you to “turn left in 20 meters”. We all knew it was coming to the UK but companies such as Jarmin & Tomtom have been trying to stop it. That is because they have made absolute packets of money by selling their app to iPhone fanbois and girls alike.

This may be the final blow android needed to really knock the Apple iPhone OS off it’s #1 mantel. How does this affect education you may be asking? Simple, a consumer based demand of Android handsets is inevitable now that your phone now replaces your usual Sat Nav product, and lets face it. Google will do some crazy cool stuff with turn-by-turn based navigation, already boasting an incredibly smart caching system that caches your trip so if you lose Internet connectivity you don’t lose your map or location.

As android becomes more popular and more schools grow sto adopt the platform it means less iPhone applications will be developed and more Android developers will pop up. Is this a good thing? Surely iPhone apps are better than Android apps? Yes it is a good thing. Android promotes open source and a large majority of the applications available in the market place are completely free.

So today’s announcement might not have a direct impact on Android in Education but the knock on effect should be huge and the future certainly looks bright the little green operating system and it’s place in the UK market.

As a side note its worth mentioning that most of the popular netbooks/tablets will soon run Android (including devices such as the Asus EEE)

Google’s New Ploy To Recruit iPhone App Developers For Android (androidpolice.com)
Adobe Drops Future Support For iPhone Development in Flash (mobilecrunch.com)
Google Is Trying To Woo iPhone App Makers (businessinsider.com)

Safe Search gets an earth day snail

Posted on April 20, 2010July 26, 2012 by primaryt

Today I added a snail banner to the safe search page to promote a move towards using ICT as an embedded tool and to move away from the standard wasteful paper based approach of sharing information.

Before I run into a flak of teachers accusing me of a Zionist approach to education I will say that paper has its place and that ICT shouldn’t have to be used in every lesson. I am merely trying to help promote something I believe in. It will be removed on the 25th when Earth day has finished. More information on Earth day and more information on the pledge to go paperless for the day.

Earth day – a call to photoshoppers for help!

Posted on April 20, 2010July 26, 2012 by primaryt

: Image via Wikipedia

UPDATE: This has now been done by Stuart Ridout – My thanks goes to him and Shelly Black-Plock for helping.

Hey all, because I’m stuck in Morocco I need help making a new background to go onto Safe Search tomorrow. Usually I use photoshop and design a new background.

Here is a link to some example backgrounds I use at current and in the past:
Winter 800×600
Spring 1140×713
Spring 950×713

The idea for the backgound is to encourage teachers to go paperless for the day for Earth day.

If you have photoshop and can help please create one image at 1140×713 and one at 800×600, the image should not have any content behind the search “buttons” as seen on Safe Search.

Simple tool to help educators vote

Posted on April 7, 2010September 2, 2012 by primaryt

Worried the general election might be about leaders and not policies? Not to worry, remove any external influences by simply voting on 26 educational policies. Say which you like then it tells you which parties policies you prefer. The site has no government ties or associations and only takes a minute or so.