Children and Technology: "A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter With An iPad"

Handing his daughter a new iPad, the daddy says, "We have a new toy. Are you ready for a new toy?!" Of course she's ready!


Info from Todd Lappin's YouTube Channel:

"A fascinating UI experiment. My daughter likes playing with my iPhone, but this was her very first encounter with an iPad. As you'll see, she took right to it... although she too wonders why it doesn't have a camera! More critical comment on her user-interface test here: http://laughingsquid.com/a-2-5-year-old-uses-an-ipad-for-... PS: The spelling apps she uses in the video are FirstWords Animals and FirstWords Vehicles. They're great... except for the fact that the splash screen UI is non-intuitive for her. ;-)" -Todd Lappin (the dad in the video)

RELATED

Todd Lapin's Laughing Squid post: A 2.5 Year-Old Uses an iPad for the First Time

"If you’re good at understanding kid-speak, you’ll also notice that she immediately saw its potential as a video-display device. She lamented the lack of a camera, and wondered about its potential for playing games"

CHI 2010 Course 

New Methods for Designing for and with the iChild: Strategies for Today's Mobile, Social, and Internet Technologies

I took this class when I attended the recent CHI 2010 conference. We worked in groups and I was assigned the role of a 7 year-old child, designing an iPad app for "kid reporters".  It was fun.  Note:  For the iPad to be used this way in education, it really needs to have a camera/video camera.

The Children of Cyberspace

(Brad Stone, New York Times, January 9, 2010)

"...But these are also technology tools that children even 10 years older did not grow up with, and I’ve begun to think that my daughter’s generation will also be utterly unlike those that preceded it.   Researchers are exploring this notion too. They theorize that the ever-accelerating pace of technological change may be minting a series of mini-generation gaps, with each group of children uniquely influenced by the tech tools available in their formative stages of development."... “People two, three or four years apart are having completely different experiences with technology,” said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project. “College students scratch their heads at what their high school siblings are doing, and they scratch their heads at their younger siblings. It has sped up generational differences.”..." -Brad Stone

... (more info)  

WIRED's Gallery: Eight Tablets That Aren't Made by Apple; HP Slate video teaser)

The following thumbnails are from a recent article in WIRED:
Gallery: 8 Tablets That Aren't Made by Apple
Priya Ganapati, Wired, 4/16/2010



Web, Flash & Air on Slate Device from HP:



The HP Slate would be very useful in education, especially for students working in pairs or small groups during activities such as digital storytelling, "kid-reporting", and so forth!

Interactive Alice in Wonderland Book for the iPad

I missed this one!

Alice in Wonderland Interactive Book for the iPad

NY Time's David Pogue: iPad Town Hall Video

My daughter called me this morning to let me know that one of her house-mates has a brand-new iPad. So stay tuned. If I get a chance to play with it, I might do a hands-on review!

Here it is. The Apple iPad Official Ad on YouTube.

If you haven't yet seen it, here it is:



Lots of potential for education, from what I can tell from the video. I wonder if Apple has tested it out with kids....

iPad Alternatives, Anyone?

-Lenovo

Taking a break from report-writing, I had the urge to find out more about iPad alternatives. Many reviewers aren't happy that the iPad has fewer features than expected. So what are the alternatives?

Here is a video about Lenovo's hybrid tablet/laptop. It's a little fancier than the iPad, has more features, and most likely will be more expensive:

IdeaPad U1 Hybrid Notebook


The IdeaPad gives you a tablet and a PC/laptop, it is 3G and Wi-Fi enabled, and is basically two systems in one.  When the tablet is connected to the laptop base, it provides the full power of a PC. The touch screen is resistive touch, not capacitive touch, but apparently it acts as if it is a capacitive touch system, if the reviewers are correct.


The HP SLATE
Brief Intro


Interview


RELATED
Pixel Qi might function like an e-reader, but is rumored to be touch-enabled in future versions.

-Thomas Ricker, Engadget 12/7/09

Pixel Qi:  The LCD Screen That Could Finally Kill Paper for Good
-Lauren Anderson, Popular Science, 1/12/10


How Pixel QI works:

-Popular Science, Graham Murdoch


Previous post:
Mary Lou Jepsen, Inventor of Pixel Qi Technology, Discusses Screen Technologies & Multi-touch Tablets

Know HTML & JavaScript? Open source PhoneGap lets you easily create apps for the iPhone and other platforms. (Update: Including the iPad.)

I found what I plan to use to develop my first iPhone app, and since I know HTML and JavaScript, it won't be a chore to get up and running. I'm not sure if it plays well with Apple's iPad.

Update:  PhoneGap CAN be used to develop for the iPad, if the information in the following article from O'Reilly Radar is true!  
Web developers can rule the iPad

PhoneGap. Overview:


 Information from the PhoneGap website:

"PhoneGap is an open source development tool for building fast, easy mobile apps with JavaScript. If you’re a web developer who wants to build mobile applications in HTML and JavaScript while still taking advantage of the core features in the iPhone, Android, Palm, Symbian and Blackberry SDKs, PhoneGap is for you."

"As simple as HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Software development is hard work. Device integration should be simple so you can focus on the application you are building instead of authoring complex compatibility layers. PhoneGap aims to solve device integration by web enabling devices native functionality with open standards."

Comment: Why does the video give me the impression that development is still a boy's club?  It looks like no women were involved in the PhoneGap code camp.  This is 2010, not 1985, and I'd expect to see more young women involved in this sort of development.

iPad multi-touch gestures for iWork, page navigator tool, fast data entry & infographs, on-touch form creation, iPad wall.(Updated 1/30/10.)

Update 1/30/10
Know HTML & JavaScript?  Open source PhoneGap lets you create apps for the iPhone and other platforms. (Update: Including the iPad.)
Update 1/30/10
According to Brian Chen's Gadget Lab post, Apple recently made a change to enable the iPhone and iPad function as web phone:
"ICall, a voice-over-Internet Protocol (VOIP) calling company, said the latest revisions in Apple’s iPhone developer agreement and software development kit enable the iPhone to make phone calls over 3G data networks. ICall promptly released an update to its app today, adding the 3G support...Because the iPad includes a microphone and will run iPhone apps, that means the tablet will gain internet telephony, too." Read More http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/01/iphone-voip/#ixzz0e5aErE6q

Interactions in Apple's iWork Applications for iPad


RELATED
Interesting iPad Interactions  -Craig Villamor
New Multi-touch Interactions on the Apple iPad - Craig Villamore & Luke Wroblewski
The iPad's Actually New UI and Gestures -Matt Buchanan, Gizmodo
-Multi-finger multi-touch
-Popovers
-Media Navigator
-"Long" touch and drag
-Layered UI elements
iPad.org Forum


ClarkeHopkinsClarke iPad Wall Concept for a Library

iTablet, iSlate? No! It's called the iPad. (Updated)

Update:  Wired's coverage of the iPad event.

I would have to take a week off from my regular day job to follow up on the iPad chatter, which is not possible. In the meantime, here are a few links for those of you who want to be on top of the iPad brouhaha:

Editorial:  Engadget on the Apple iPad -Nilay Patel
Would You Buy and iPad?  Wired Readers Weigh In -Priya Ganapati, Wired Gadget Lab
The iPad and publishers: a survey of early reaction -Mat Slocum, O'Reilly Radar
iPad Technical Specifications -Apple
iPad Design -Apple (you can access the iPad video from the iPad Design page)
The iPad and publishers: a survey of early reaction -Mat Slocum, O'Reilly Radar
15 reasons why the iPad is no game-changer -Davey Winder, DaniWeb
Apple iPad First Hands On -Gizmodo
Update 1/28/10 5:50 PM:
Checkmate: Apple's iPad and Google's Next Move -Mark Sigal, O'Reilly Radar

Apple Info
iPad Technical Specifications -Apple
iPad Design -Apple (you can access the iPad video from the iPad Design page)
iPad Features -Apple
Steve Wonsiak Talks iPad (Video) via TechCrunch
"I don't see it having a role in video editing or music production"- Steve Wonsiak

Hopefully the iPad would support basic video editing and music production, since I use digital video storytelling/social stories and music in my work with students who have autism or other complex special needs. Some of my students help to create content, and despite their limitations, can understand and use storyboarding in this process.

Comment:  There are quite a few jokes circulating around the web about the name of this new product.  For the males (I'm assuming) who named the iPad, I'll give you a hint.  Half of the population knows that "pad" is what we call an important feminine hygiene product.