Technology: modern day’s evil necessity

In today’s society, everyone is linked in to the Internet at all times. iPhones, laptops, iPads and tablets are taking over our lives and although they increase productivity at work, I am a trustworthy source to advocate that they also heavily decrease our efficiency. I just got back from a long weekend in Taos, NM with a group of friends from college. I was reminded about this when we were all cramped into a cabin in the woods with zero cell service or Wifi. We were forced to have face-to-face communication, make plans before leaving the house and enjoy each others company with no mobile distractions (Oh no!)…and it was amazing! It forced me to realize, however, that there are positive and negative sides to the influx of technology readily at our fingertips.

 

The Great:

People staying connected. That’s what it’s all about. Nowadays, social media like Twitter and Facebook connect you with just one click to people from high school, friends from college and family members, and allows you to see what they have been up to. Technology lets you to do more with less. You can have face-to-face discussions over video chat with your grandma on the east coast, that lucky friend of yours all the way in Switzerland or, if it’s business you’re into, the board meeting you couldn’t make.

Technology has been proven to help toddlers develop their fine motor skills better than ever before (there’s an app for that), helps parents get more done, allows for better attention to detail in business and production realms and can even help save users money and time when arranging travel plans.

The Bad:

All this instant communication and instant gratification can’t be good for us. My friends and family will be the first to tell you that my iPhone is my constant companion and ruins many dinners, late night catch up sessions and at-home movies. The first step is admitting you have a problem, right? People have stopped communicating with those around them. Next time you’re out to dinner, look around you and see how many people are avoiding the person across from them to linger on their bright screens. Kids are discovering Internet and television earlier and parents have started using technology as the babysitter. Sure, toddlers are honing their fine motor skills, but their gross motor skills are taking a hit. Staring at a screen and sitting on your laurels for hours isn’t good for young children. Production and business aspects are flourishing with the helpful hand of technology, but all the new developments mean less of a need for humans and human jobs.

The key to keeping a balance between the beneficial and damaging characteristics of modern day technology is limitation. Especially when it comes to children, the less screen time the better. It’s important to realize we don’t have to be connected 24/7. It’s time to put down the phones and enjoy the human company of the person sitting next to you at the coffee shop.

What are your opinions on good or bad features of technology today? Sound off in the comments, we’d love to hear your thoughts. 

 

Tally McCormack

Tablet Claw (Idea Harvest, LLC) 

Tablets in Education:

More schools are beginning to transition iPads into the classroom as a tool to get younger children to participate in learning games, hands-on activities and to spur creativity in the classroom. Not only are these schools finding room in their budget for this new and exciting technology, but they are encouraging the use inside and outside of the class. Universities are pushing tablet use in the classroom as well, including Lynn University. The site of the 3rd presidential debate is now making headlines for integrating iPad technology. In the fall of 2013 all students will have to purchase an iPad mini that will come fully loaded with reading assignments and curriculum course work. It will save the students money on textbooks and they will be able to keep the device for personal use as well.

Tablets now have the ability to completely replace textbooks and help schools become paper free. With textbook apps readily available, distributing and buying those heavy and pricey books is easier and cheaper for both students and teachers. iPads essentially have become the liaison between teacher and student with capabilities for submitting homework and assignments electronically as well as holding digital portfolios and grades of the students work. Students can track their assignments, take notes and study for finals while teachers can give lessons and presentations, monitor student progress and keep grades organized.

The Tablet Claw is the best iPad and tablet holder for this novel and fresh incorporation into education. The kickstand is great for students to prop up on their desk and it allows them to maintain eye contact and focus on the teacher, but also still have access to the endless information the tablet provides. The teachers will love the ringlet because it offers them the ability to walk around the classroom, check on their students and showcase what their presenting up close as well as far away and not have to worry about a slip or drop.
Let technology mold the classroom and mold minds. Utilize tablets in education and keep them safe from imminent death with a Tablet Claw.

Tally McCormack

Tablet Claw (Idea Harvest, LLC)

Present Fearlessly with a Tablet

We found this great blog article on presenting with an iPad. We would like to add one suggestion, present fearlessly with the Tablet Claw securely attached to your tablet and remove all doubt or anxiety of dropping your tablet.

http://tabletcrunch.com/2013/01/15/tips-ipad-sales-presentations/

Enjoy!

‘Prezi’ – Our review of an amazing new Presentation software

 Prezi is the latest and greatest in interactive presentations. It brings your demonstration to life in a way that Powerpoint simply cannot. If you haven’t had the chance to check it out, I would highly recommend you discover all it has to offer; right now!

Not only is it very easy to use but, there is an inbuilt ‘Tips’ activation that pops up as you use the software, suggesting how to improve the look, feel & interactivity of your presentation! Its easy to get started, you can choose from one of their themes or create one of your own – my personal choice; its always good to make your presentation/pitch stand out, remember you could be 1 in 4 pitches seen in any given day by your target customer so be smart and use the creativity on offer here to your full advantage.

My favorite feature is the ability to zoom in or out as much as you want making it easy to hide words. Imagine demonstrating your product/service visually via your presentation and then all of a sudden ZOOMING OUT to reveal your shockingly low price!? – A beautiful and innovative little impact feature indeed. This program is ideal for any sales professional looking to make a difference in order to close the deal!

Be mindful of spelling however because there is no spell checker. Attention to detail is primal when in a sales pitch and the slightest error, even a misspelling can plant a seed of doubt in your target client’s faith in how much you really want their business.

Other than that my only small frustration was the inability to edit your project on the iPad. The App is ideal for presenting once finished or if you just need to move an object or edit typing but you cannot create a whole presentation from within it.

Overall Prezi is changing the way people present for the better! The interactions are much more fun to watch than traditional presentation programs (up there with Keynote) and truly help to keep your audience captivated during your production. The combination of Tablet Claw and the Prezi iPad app will arm anyone well enough to ‘Present Fearlessly!’

Never used Prezi before? Check out our example! Tablet Claw Prezi

Paige Parker

Tablet Claw (Idea Harvest LLC)

Engadget – Site review by Idea Harvest (Creators of the Tablet Claw)

 

Engadget is a constant buzzing hive of activity and is without question one of the heartbeats to the technology online-body. We love Engadget for one reason; you simply cannot get bored with it due to the sheer volume of engaging content! Ranging from a perpetual news feed that bleeds videos, articles, photo’s & opinions to a treasure trove of information stored in their podcasts, there is literally something here for everyone.

They have a graet ‘HUB’ section devoted to a plethora of products such as: Apple, Samsung, CTIA, Blackberry – which covers everything from products to current and ongoing events.

There is a fantastic Gallery which showcases professional snaps of all of the new gadgets on the block – which is great for visual people like myself (I never read the captions, a picture paints a thousand words!)

I love the video section of this site. Personally, I always learn more from watching a video rather than reading something. Their video site has some great content ranging from demonstrations of the latest iMac, Samsung galaxy tablet and Apple iPads/iPhones, to great keynote speeches from corporate giants such as Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer. A great place to spend a couple of minutes per day!

The podcast section is full to the brim with endless Engadget podcasts. This is a MUST for anyone interested in all things technology related. Why not pop onto the  podcast section while on the train to work in the morning?

We love their Review board the most though – it is a review focal point for all of the newest gadgets on the market from phones, to headphones to MP3 Players to laptops. You want to buy a gadget?… Theres a good chance there is a thorough review in here to tip you one way or the other so be sure to check it out!

You can also buy Engadget merchandise which, unlike a number of self promotional site merchandises, are actually very cool & quite trendy. Ranging from T-Shirts to posters to downloads, there is a great selection on show here and products/services of rare great quality.

All in all Engadget is one of our favourite online tech-communities. It provides an answer to almost all tech related questions if it doesnt, hey, just drop them a line and they’ll tell you! We feel its up there leading the way with providing valuable technology information, news and content in a fun and engaging way! We love Engadget here at Tablet Claw! 

Check em’ out at http://www.engadget.com/

Declan Greene – Engagement Leader 

Tablet Claw (IDEA HARVEST LLC) 

The Best “Made in USA” Websites and Blogs

 

Our Mission at Idea Harvest is to bring products to market that are Made in the USA as well as promote the organizations and people who are dedicated to this same effort. Buying American made products isn’t the easiest thing to do all the time, but these websites and blogs make buying from the stars and stripes simple and fun! 

Made in USA Challenge : Sarah Mazzone is a writer, mom and nurse living outside of Philadelphia. Our favorite thing about this site is her frequent giveaways ranging anywhere from artwork to bags; because everyone loves free stuff!

Keep America : Their master list of products that are Made in USA is impressive! Not only do they have a ‘Deal of the Week’, they are also donating all of their profits to battling cancer until July 4th. Get to this site, support American made ingenuity and help battle cancer.

 

USA Love List : This blog is tailored to women wanting to buy American made products. Not only does Sarah have a master Made in USA product list, but you can also connect with her through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest to make sure you are never missing out on the newest and best products!

 

A Continuous Lean – The American List : This is our favorite Made in the USA designed list and site we’ve seen but, if you venture off ‘The American List’ you may find yourself buying products from China. Their products range from Accessories, Bicycles, Flags to large selection of American made bags and clothes; making this list ideal for the stylish USA shopper.

 

Burgeons USA : Our favorite thing about this site is the diversity of products they have in comparison to the others; mainly the selection of NCAA football gear including some of our favorite teams like the Alabama Crimson Tide and Texas Longhorns.

 

 By America for America : This blog was started by a grandmother who was looking for American made toys for her grandchildren with little success and is now a haven for all things Made in the USA! Go Granny! 

Made in USA Product Store : Tons of products and easy to navigate; making it ideal for quick shopping. The categorization of their product listings is much simpler than most.

 

Made In USA : One of the more popular USA product blogs with multiple posts per month containing new products.

 

American Made Products : Lots of unique products can be found here; making it a really fun site to look through!

Paige Parker

Tablet Claw (Idea Harvest llc)

tabletclaw.com

Top 5 Game Apps for iPad

 

The iPad/iPhone has changed the way people game today. Casual gamers have become increasingly popular in todays society over more serious gamers. It seems that now people can’t sit still and watch TV (or doing pretty much anything for that matter) unless they are doing something on their phones. This growing trend has encouraged our second entry to our series to focus more on pleasure than business – Games! 

 

Angry Birds HD $2.99 – Obvious first answer, we know, but it really is addicting. Many gamers started off flinging those crazy birds on iPhone’s but we must admit the experience is amplified on the iPad. Between the Original game, Seasons, Space, and Rio it’s almost impossible to ever get tired of playing.

 

Solitaire FREE – An oldie but a goodie, because who doesn’t love a good game of solitaire? It’s on almost every electronic device but, it never gets old; especially when you can compare yourself to everyone else through the leaderboard.

 

Mega Run – Redford’s Adventure FREE – We recently downloaded this game but we can’t put it down! It’s a mix of the original Mario Bros game and Temple Run. “Redford” runs through a maze where he has to escape monsters in order to survive. As the game goes on you unlock more powers and characters to increase speed and ability in order to earn more money. We just can’t get enough! 

 

Bejewled HD $3.99 – One of the best strategy games around. Bejeweled has been on the iPhone forever but just recently became available for the iPad. Not only did they add more games and levels than before but it is tailored for The New iPad through its amazing graphics for the retina display.

 

Fruit Ninja HD $2.99 – Who knew that slicing fruit could be so fun? As the game goes on more fruit comes across the screen in larger and faster portions along with bombs. An added bonus to the game is the ability to challenge friends in the ‘Zen Duel.’ Fruit Ninja will entertain gamers at any age and promises to keep you on the edge of your seat at all times. 

Paige Parker

Tablet Claw (Idea Harvest, LLC)

tabletclaw.com

Top 5 Productivity Apps for iPad

 

With so many Apps available now for your iPad that its hard know which ones are really worth your money and/or download. Each week we will be digging into a different section of the App store to pick out our top five must have Apps. So, to start off our new blog series we begin with Productivity!

Keeper FREE – This App is unanimous favorite for Idea Harvest employees. Between all the social media and different accounts we have today it is almost impossible to remember them all. Keeper stores all of your information safely between your iPhone and iPad to make sure you never forget another password again.

Keynote $9.99 – Keynote on iPad is so easy to use & engaging that you may you may never go back to power-point on a laptop or desktop.

Evernote FREE – Quite possibly the easiest way to write up an article on your iPad with the ability to link shared notebooks for in office collaboration. It also allows you to add photos and make voice notes in your notebook.

Skype FREE – The world is getting smaller and it’s important to connect with people around the world all the time. Skype not only allows you to have a face to face conversation across oceans but also allows phone calls.

Prezi Viewer FREE- Prezi presentations are the latest and greatest competition for PowerPoint. The Prezi Viewer App makes it easy to present instantly from your ipad in order to land that big deal you’ve been waiting for!

Paige Parker

Tablet Claw (Idea Harvest llc) 

tabletclaw.com

Tablet Claw Helping Teachers Get A Grip On Their Tablet

 

With more and more iPads making their way into the hands of educators from the K-12 level and into colleges all over the country, the need for a protectant, ergonomic case becomes more prevalent. For educators and professors, standing over 8 hours a day, presenting lessons on white or chalk boards and having everyone turn to page 32 is leaving students out of the loop. The iPad helps keep them engaged and interacting with the lessons, however, the physical iPad—and other tablets—tend to be slippery and hard to keep ahold of. Add slipperiness with Butterfingeritis, and you get a sweet piece of technology fallen on a hard cement-backed linoleum floor and the slight embarrassment of a presentation fail.

Many cases out on the market offer solutions to the issue of handling the iPad and other tablets, but almost all of them wrap the tablet in some kind of material, be it leather, polymer, plastic or canvas, covering up the unique design of the tablet and shrouding it in stylized ambiguity. Protection is the name of the game for most cases and covers while utilization is a distant third—to customization.

Both customization and protection are very important, but it seems that the end user’s comfort level with actually USING the iPad or other tablet isn’t much of a priority. Idea Harvest seeks to prioritize ergonomics and utilization with their Tablet Claw.

The Tablet Claw is a case without the case. It slides snuggly over the screen of the iPad and other 10.1-inch screens and holds it in place. On its back is the patented ringlet and  disc. Your ring and middle fingers slide into the comfortable ringlet, allowing the tablet to be an extension of your hand. Additionally, the Tablet Claw rotates a full 360 degrees and can stand in both landscape and portrait positions, as well as rest at a nice typing angle.

With the Tablet Claw, educators can really take advantage of the apps the iPad and other tablets have to offer and no longer will it be so cumbersome or slippery to have this power literally at your fingertips. The ergonomic fit of the Tablet Claw brings with it a feeling of limb extension as you and your students interact with the iPad and each other by way of sharing and presentation, leading up to discussions that so often frame our learning and critical thinking. 

Alexis Poole

Tablet Claw (Idea Harvest, LLC)

Tabletclaw.com

Five Tablet Claw Apps to Teach and Entertain Kids

 

We all know the iPad and other tablets have revolutionized the way our kids think and learn through thousands of apps aimed at teaching science, language, math and more. This has proven useful to parents who need an entertainment solution for their kids that doesn’t involve mind-numbing television, and pairing any 10.1-inch tablet with the Tablet Claw ensures the safety of your tablet and allows your kids to use it while typing on it or just viewing it in a landscape position.

Here are five apps to keep kids entertained, learning and out of your hair.

Stack the States and Stack the Countries—$.99 each

These two apps will challenge both you and your kids, testing your knowledge of capitals, countries and abbreviations. Getting questions right will drop a state or province onto your platform where you then rotate them to fit like puzzle pieces. Great for grade school and beyond!

Ladybird: I’m Ready for Phonics—$6.99

Where Hooked on Phonics failed, this app picks right up and teaches kids the synthetic-phonics method to learn pronunciation, letters and even the tricky words that can’t be sounded out. There are 12 levels aimed at ages four and up and each level must be passed in order to move on to the next, ensuring your child really learns and not just figures out how to beat the challenge.

Juno’s Piano—$.99

What better instrument to unleash your child’s creativity than the piano? However, unless you were bequeathed a baby grand, chances are you’re not ready to invest hundreds of dollars into any kind of instrument. The Juno’s Piano app lets your kids learn a song by following along with Juno and spending time creating in the “free play” section. This app saves you money by helping you gauge your child’s interest in the piano before you invest money in something they’ll let gather dust.

Scribble Press—Free

If you’ve got a kid with a huge imagination, encourage them to illustrate and write their own book with Scribble Press. Scribble Press includes 50 fill-in-the-blank style templates that allow you—ahem! I mean, your kids…right— to fill in and illustrate. Or they can write original stories and use more than 500 tools to draw pictures or even upload their own photos. That sounds awesome enough for an adult, so you know your kids will enjoy it!

GazziliScience—$1.99

Perfect for the inquisitive kid that wants to know answers to perplexing questions (“Daddy, why is the sky blue?”), GazziliScience features activities that teach basic science facts to inquisitive minds, perhaps sparking even more curiosity. Hearing-impaired children can even follow the narrator’s words on the screen. If you like this app, GazziliWorld makes tons of apps aimed at teaching kids cool stuff.

All of these apps keep kids happy and entertained and you free to finish your work, or tending to other parental matters. As always, the Tablet Claw keeps your 10.1-inch iPad or tablet securely with your child and allows it to be viewed from many other angles as well. Happy learning!

Alexis Poole

Tablet Claw (Idea Harvest, LLC)

 

(Source: tabletclaw.com)