Growing our Family

My wife and I are excited to add Ethan to our family during the month of May. Our girls love him and we have had a good time as a family bringing him into our lives. We praise God for a safe delivery and that both baby and mom are healthy.

Time Machine

If you have an Apple computer and are not using Time Machine, you are missing out. Time Machine is part of the Mac operating system (OS). Each day I come into my office, I just plug in my external hard drive. It automatically reads it and records any files that have changed. It will use up all the available memory on the hard drive and then delete the various versions so that it maintains a monthly, weekly, daily, and hourly backup. While plugged in, it will automatically backup each hour. The one caution as with however you back up, don’t carry the external hard drive with the laptop because if you bag gets stolen or lost, they both go.

Although this is a fantastic way to backup your machine, I was extremely impressed last week when I changed to a new computer. Again, a program within the Mac OS called Migration Assistant helps you setup a new computer. I simply selected setup machine with data from my Time Machine external hard drive. I started it up and let it run while I did some other things. In about 2 hours, the laptop was completely setup including my system preferences, account logins, printer and wireless settings, and even the desktop background. I just made a couple clicks and it was done. Very impressive.

My advice...use Time Machine if you have an Apple.

iPad Followup

I posted April 22nd and said the iPad was a gamechanger. Since then, 1 million devices have been sold. Rupert Murdoch spoke about the impact of the device on media subscriptions. A recent Mashable article showed the steep decline in netbook sales since the introduction of the iPad. I have had personal conversations with people that describe talks between Apple and the healthcare industry among others. Keyboards are not allowed in operating rooms because of contamination. However, an iPad provides a sealed device which can be sterilized and wiped down. Some have said there are many uses from healthcare to delivery/logistical services that do not want a camera, thus the reason for not including a camera on the first model.

In my opinion, all evidence that my previous statement holds true. The iPad is a gamechanger. It's not the device itself but the power and potential of the platform. Don't get me wrong. This doesn't mean I'm headed out to buy one. I am just confident I will at some point in the not-so-distant future.

Singapore APD Training 2010

I had the opportunity to attend Apple Professional Developer training in Singapore this weekend. As always, I am reminded that international educators in the Asia region are superb. My fellow APDs are excellent educators and a great reminder of why we have chosen to implement Apple at our school. In addition to the benefits of the equipment and software, we get access to a great network of educators that are willing and able to consult and support other schools. I look forward to working with these colleagues to continue growing the Asia region.

As with the Apple Distinguished Educator training that I went to last month, I feel that great things happen when the synergy of like-minded people come together. Although diversity was present in terms of schools and educational backgrounds, we shared the same goals and philosophy underpinning our work. During this weekend, we shared many tips, tricks, and dialogued about best practices and ideas. It was authentic, dynamic learning taking place, and I believe we all walked out with something to show for it. It's like the roads below converging to form a flow of traffic that benefits student learning. It's powerful and exciting to be a part of it.

I look forward to continuing work with my new colleagues.