Today, for the first time since “The far away tree” I lost myself in a book. I am not much of a reader at length. Most of my library is reference and I dip in and out as I need to learn but today I discovered something great. Roughly a month ago a colleague called me into his office to show me his new Amazon Kindle. Being one for gadgets and tech I was impressed, mainly considering the space I could save. I put it on the future purchases and thought nothing of it until the other day. I was browsing the Zagg website when I came across their App recommendation tool, I signed up and in my first list of recommendations was the Amazon Kindle iPhone App. Without hesitation I installed it, linked it to my amazon account and began searching for a book to test the App. After a short browse I discovered that you could send a sample of hue books to your Kindle to decide whether it’s the book for you. Very impressed I chose a couple and today on the train I spent the entire 40 minutes reading. Now this, for most is no major accomplishment bit one of the reasons I stopped prolonged reading was not by choice, I would get four pages into a book and wake up 2 hours later. The Amazon Kindle for iPhone has a function to switch the color to sepia. I found this a lot less hypnotic than the harsh black and white of a usual page. Maybe it was the time of day, maybe it was mind over matter as I was reading a book on a gadget but I know that I don’t have time to wait for my books to age to that sepia sort of color and will be reading a lot more on my iPhone.
I first encountered Copilot live 7 on the O2 XDA orbit and it managed to turn me from the Tom Tom One. The software maps, routing at the time seemed to be superior with less errors. I also liked the walking mode which pointed you in the right direction you quickly needed me to find somewhere. This allowed me time to collect my thoughts with a cheeky coke before my last job interview.
The Software
So, what does Copilot Live 8 have to offer on the iPhone. Much the same functionality but an improved map interface. The menu navigation takes a couple of journeys to get used to at first but once you know where everything is it becomes pretty easy. Copilot Live also offers a motorbike mode on top of the walking mode, I function I have not yet tested although I do have a Bluetooth helmet so fingers crossed that it works with that. I assume, lime most know it all techies, I often think I know better than artificial intelligence and go my own way. Copilot quickly recalculated the trip and displays a fairly accurate new time of arrival at the bottom of the screen. You can choose from different display modes including instructions and 3D maps, I choose the 3D maps and this also displays the directions cue in the bottom left hand corner of the screen up to 2 junctions in advance. The display can adjust automatically to both landscape or portrait and is easily viewable in both.
The software now offers various Internet functions including live traffic, live link, live weather and roadside assistance.
Interaction with the iPhone
I use Copilot while connected to the stereo in the car, this means it’s taking a charge from the connecting lead and also playing my music which is controlled with the stereo functions. I have had the software lag at bootup a couple of times but more often than not it works just fine. When you receive a call the software shuts down as you would expect, it does not effect the muting of your music and once you hang up the software relaunched and quickly returns to your planned route.
Installation is fairly straight forward, about a 250 mb download so definitely do it through your iTunes software, I have not received any updates yet but I presume ALK Technologies will iron out any bugs as and when they find them.
In summary, Copilot Live 8 is an extremely powerful app and although stuff magazine said the maps weren’t as easy to follow as Tom Toms, I personally don’t see much difference. Stuff gave it 5 stars and I do too.
USB Microscopes
Guest Blogger – Luke Ward
A ‘USB microscope’ can be an interesting tool for pupils in school. It can be used in a variety of ways including; children working in groups or individually, using one microscope for the whole class with children operating a computer package on a large screen, or simply something being demonstrated by a teacher on a large screen in front of the class. Equally as effective, the scope could be taken out doors into the field; beach, pond etc, with the use of a laptop.
Skills
The scope can help develop key skills such as critical thinking through the observing and recording of results, collection and the organising of scientific data. It can also help with communication skills through group work and possible presentations or reports of findings. Pupils will also in become more aware and be able to use appropriate scientific terminology.
The Parts and Functions
The scope simply plugs into the USB slot (hence the name) on a computer/laptop. They will come with an installation CD that will need to be loaded onto your system, so that you can view the images. They should have a ‘snapshot’ option that allows you to take pictures of the specimens and some will have a video option so that you can film it as well. Some may have an option were as you can measure the image or part of it, this will require the recording and inputting of the magnification at the point the image was taken.
Parts of the scope are pretty straight forward and normally include; the unit itself, the wire/USB, a stand, the lens, LED’s and possibly a snapshot button.
Lesson Ideas
Growing Crystals
Age: 9 to 14
Curriculum area: Separating mixtures of materials
Learning Objectives: Demonstrate that dissolved substances can be recovered by evaporating the liquid from the solution.
Activity: Pupils could make a time lapse movie of salt (or other) crystals growing as the water evaporates.
Fabrics
Age: 7 to 11
Curriculum area: How the working characteristics of materials affect the ways they are used.
Learning Objectives: Identify that textiles may be woven or knitted and that this affects their properties. Define that the properties if textiles determine their uses.
Activity: Examining the fabrics under the scope, noting which are woven and which are knitted. Examining different properties of fabrics, inputting findings into a database and then working out which materials would be best for a particular purpose, i.e warmth.
Plants
Age: 7 to 11
Curriculum area: Green Plants
Learning Objectives: Label and indentify the functions of stem, leaf, flower and root.
Activity: Take snapshots of parts of a plant, import the pictures then label the parts of the plant and identify functions.
Investigating soils
Age: 7 to 14
Curriculum area: Materials and their properties – grouping and classifying materials.
Learning Objectives: To be able to group soils on the basis of their characteristics
Activity: Examine different samples; sandy, clay – compare particle size and relate to permeability.
Pond Animals
Age: 7 to 11
Curriculum area: Living things in their environment.
Learning Objectives: Observe and describe how animals are adapted to their environment – Taking care of living creatures.
Activity: Pupils observe and photograph pond animals and record their observations.
Fur and feathers
Age: 7 to 11
Curriculum area: Adaptation to environment.
Learning Objectives: Identify and describe that the characteristics of fur and feathers are adaptations to their environment.
Activity: Examine samples of fur & feathers (down/contour), describe, draw and photograph. Look for hooks that interlock the barbules. Possibly compare with human hair.
My JVC Everio GZ-HD40 arrived the other day and I have been doing some testing and establishing some best settings for different filming scenarios. I chose the Everio for specific reasons, I wanted to move away from a tape work flow and the massive 120 gig HD provides this with a bit of future proofing thrown in for free. For personal use I wanted a compact camera that I could expand with peripherals rather than have it all on board. My largest needs were for a quality waterproof housing that would not only take a bit of a knock but also provide ease of use to film in the water and for general single person video production. The majority of housing on the Market, although are expensive don’t really do the job. If you are filming action sports it is important to know that your subject is within frame otherwise you often don’t quite get shots that don’t come about very often. The JVC WR-MG200 Everio Marine Case not only allows you to comfortably hold the camera but use the LCD display too so that even in surf you know you got the shot there and then.
So, back to the HD40. Very impressed with the camera so far. My first impression is that for a small stylish consumer camera it comes with many pro features including the 1920 PRO HD resolution and the ability to now shoot in a AVCHD format as well as to an mpeg compression, CD supplied provides quicktime codecs for editing support. Using the AVCHD codec you will expect to get 15 hrs at PRO HD resolution (XP AVC) 55 hrs at standard definition or long play (EP AVC) and 22hrs on standard play. Using an Mpeg codec you will record around 10 hrs of footage. I know what you thinking, on such a portable device what is the point unless the battery can last out. It also allows for plenty of capture time before the need to transfer across to the edit suite. I have not yet decided how I shall be archiving or keeping hold of footage as I transfer it from the camera. I shall look into the share station, but if this just compresses a viewable DVD the I shall sway towards the external hard drive or data DVD.
For those of you who like your manual settings and I know we all do, the everio will take a little getting used to. There is an auto / manual button located under the LCD display. Press and press again to switch between the two, you then control many of the settings that you may need to use immediately with the joystick located on the left hand side of the display. It is here that I discovered the tidily hidden on board lamp hidden away to the lower quarter of the lens. The rest of the settings can be found using the menu button and then choosing the option > Manual Setting. Here you will find, Adjust Brightness, Shutter Speed, Aperture Priority, White Balance, Effect, Tele Macro, Zebra and Sharpness. Enough to tweak your shot just like the pro’s.
Obviously if you intend to shoot using a Pro HD resolution you will not want your footage to be let down by the sound from the on board microphone. Although hard to see on the images, the HD40 comes with a shoe hidden under a plastic clip in plate so I invested in a Rode DVCam Directional Video Condenser Microphone which comes with a 3.5 m plug for the mic socket on the camera.
I also bought a lens hood from eBay and will soon purchase extra lenses such as wide angle, fish eye and tele macro and put the camera through its paces.
One thing that I am slightly disappointed about is the lack of iLink or firewire port on the actual camera (although this is on the dock) I was looking forward to shooting some time lapse footage using Dragon Stop Motion but will need to find and alternative camera to do this in conjunction with my Apple Macbook Pro.
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