I set out to determine if purchasing an Ipad for use in a college classroom would have benefits over a regular notebook computer. The one major hangup everyone from the “fanboys” to the Mac newbies has is in the area of presentations / powerpoint usage.

The complaints range from weirdness with Keynote importing to lack of fonts to “deletion of speaker notes” under certain circumstances. It does seem to work fabulous via gmote or another app if you want to use your Ipad as the remote presenter and your Macbook is hooked up to the projector with your presentation on it. That is not an option for me. (See this article for a balanced look at these limitations http://theappleblog.com/

Also, I have a lot of very nice Koine or Biblical Greek powerpoint presentations. Not being able to use them due to font incompatibilities is a deal-breaker for me.

How and Why to Jailbreak Your Ipad (College related)
http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Confessions-of-an-iPad/25387/
Also, you will need a copy of something like Winscp available at http://winscp.net to connect to your Ipad once you have opened or performed the jailbreak.

Adding Fonts for Your Presentation
http://blog.gauravgiri.com/
http://blog.gauravgiri.com/2008/08/tutorial-adding-extra-fonts-to-iphone/

Ipad Specific Instructions
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=911039

Plist Editor for Windows
http://www.filetransit.com/download.php?id=77101
www.ipodrobot.com
http://www.icopybot.com/blog/free-plist-editor-for-windows-10-released.htm

Being a great mobile browser, email beast, Kindle replacement, app machine, etc. are great reasons for buying and keeping an Ipad. However, I need to justify the cost as it will help me to not lug around a notebook computer for 15 hours of teaching a week. So, for right now I will wait until the Ipad is more user-friendly for what I need it to do.

Test Post

Just a little new paint, some varmint rustling, and a new desire to write and blog …

Good feature article with great ideas for communicating with others in ministry. I use this program all the time. I love being able to talk to my family when I travel. Check out the article.

On a mission with Skype – Skype in the US

Tags: skype missions communication

I am REALLY excited about this product. Take the tour and see for yourselves.

Screenshot Tour: Consolidate Your Phones with GrandCentral

Screenshot Tour

Consolidate Your Phones with GrandCentral

Good article from one of the kings of computer use. The more I use Gmail, the more I like it.

PC World – Six Easy Ways to Conquer Gmail
Six Easy Ways to Conquer Gmail
There’s much more to Google’s free e-mail service than an inbox. Here’s how to turn Gmail into a major productivity booster.

Scott Spanbauer
Thursday, December 13, 2007 10:00 PM PST

After a long courtship, I recently pledged my everlasting love for Gmail, forsaking all other e-mail systems (well, almost) in favor of Google’s free, Web-hosted service. But as in any relationship, my passion for Gmail is constrained by practical concerns. Though it possesses many excellent qualities, Gmail is far from perfect. Fortunately, I’ve uncovered some strategies that will give my walk down the aisle with Gmail a good chance of yielding a happily ever after.

I have most of these (with the exception of the last one and I concur wholeheartedly!). This is a great list of stuff to have for improving your computing experience.

PC World – The 15 Best Downloads of the Year
The 15 Best Downloads of the Year

Our downloads guru selects the 15 best utilities, productivity tools, and other apps of 2007 from PC World’s vast Downloads Library.

Preston Gralla

Monday, December 24, 2007 10:00 PM PST

As a frequent downloads reviewer for PC World, I look at lots of downloadable software every year–more apps than I care to count. As a result, each week, I encounter and test-drive the great, the not-so-great, and the feeble.

Every once in a while, a piece of software so clearly outclasses its peers that it deserves special commendation. For this article, I’ve assembled my 15 favorite dowloads of 2007, selected from a wide range of categories–everything from antivirus and security tools to system tweakers, from media managers to system speedups.

Among them you’ll probably find some old favorites, but also plenty of unfamiliar apps that you’ll grow to love.

Tags: gralla download software best 2007 year

PC Pitstop Research

50 Tips for a Super Fast PC

It’s that time again. Rid yourself of all the old junk piling up on your hard drives and make sure your settings are where they belong.Follow these suggestions to keep the old trusty box in good shape and start the New Year off right.

SIW Download

System Information for Windows
Everything you want to know about your PC.

Before I moved, DSL was fine. Now it is WOW!

Rick Warren’s Ministry Toolbox

Why pastors need to embrace technology
by Manda Gibson

Brad Powell – senior pastor of NorthRidge Church in Plymouth, Mich. – says that ministers must be driven by two things: revelation and relevance. And he says few churches get both right.

Revelation has to do with God’s truth, and he says that most churches do a good job of communicating truth. But almost all churches struggle with relevance, he says.

“For me, revelation is the value, but it’s only valuable to people if they understand it,” he said. “Relevance deals with speaking the language of the culture; it’s the conduit through which all communication takes place.”

For Powell, a major part of being relevant is being savvy about technology. The language of today’s teens and 20-somethings is MySpace, Facebook, iPhones, and iPods, he said.

“We are in a technologically based culture,” he said. “If we don’t learn to embrace technology, we will never be able to communicate to this culture and generation.”

FlexMail 2007 on PocketGear.com

THE Email program for Windows Mobile Phone. With HTML mail support and customizable POP checking, this is the end all mail program. Now 50% off.

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