Thursday, August 30, 2012

Back to School Some new technology items I have in my room this year is I finally got a smart board. I orginally had a regular white board I modified into a smart board using a wii remote. One program I love to use is: One Motion painting program to create a class mural for the beginning of the year.

Other items is my family upgraded iphones to iphone 4 so now I have more iphones to use during class and most apps still work on the iphone 3. Another item I have found I really like is the android touch screen netbook. It looks like a mini computer but the screen is touch screen so it is great multi tech tool. I got three for a test program to play with in my room through a mini grant and love them. I plan to get more since they only cost $100 I can pick up 4 of these compared to the ipad.

Though I really like ipads I steal my daughters since she can't take it to school and use it during the day. I have found that since the new ipad 3 came out you can get some good deals on the original version. I also think you will find some good deals on later in fall when the new ios6 comes because the 1st generation ipad will not upgrade. That is a plus but also I find the older ipad/iphone/ipod are still very functional in the art room. I am still using a few of the 1st generation ipods that doesn't even have the camera, yet they still work fine with many drawing apps.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

iphone and ipod covers that can handle the art room

 

School will be starting shortly and over the summer my husband and I have upgraded iphones to the iphone 4. Bought them through cowboom.com which is part of bestbuy so it comes from a reputable company. $259.00 iphone 4 with no scratches and works great.

Now I will just move my old phones to my class collection. But I decided I need some cover that can handle being dropped etc. I had a few close call last year and my son is constantly dropping mine as well. So I went on a hunt for a affordable rugged case. I started with Otterbox which is the high end case about $25 a case. Though I have seen them for about $10 for the iphone 3. My friend whose husband is a construction worker has one and has dropped it from 3 stories, ran it over with the truck. Only thing that did kill his phone was leaving it on the tread of a bulldozer, then it drove off with it still on the tread.

 OtterBox Impact Case for iPhone 3G/3GS - Black

I don’t think the kids can be as hard as a bulldozer on them, hopefully. So I asked around and the next best and very affordable is Body Armor cases. Like Otterbox has a semi-heavy

Body Armor for iPhone 4 / 4th Generation - Yellow & BlackVery affordable at $2.50 – $10 through amazon have tested it and though otterbox is probably better, this is the second best I have found. I bought a set of 8 for $24 and free shipping.

If you have ipods I found that if you have a hard skin case you can insert the ipod with case on into the iphone 3 size case, but you will need to purchase a full plastic cover separate for $0.72 because the cut out one that comes with the case doesn’t fit well with the ipod.