Annotating Documents iTouch/iPhone – U.S. Historical Documents Application

Anyone that has read my blog for any amount of time knows that I am a big fan of digital books… but I am also a big fan of annotation and marking up documents and text. I especially love things that combine the two into one! That is the case with a recently released application called “U.S. Historical Documents.” (iTunes link, Website). (Cost is .99 cents). 

I have been a user of their Scriptures App for a while and am glad to see them branching out their AWESOME highlighting system to allow the ability to annotate other documents!  Here is a description from their site:

“U.S. Historical Documents contains over 100 of the most influential documents in U.S. history and they will be stored directly on your iPhone/iTouch. Quickly and easily find any text from any document with the fastest and most powerful search engine available on the iPhone. Watch the documents scroll automatically for you in both portrait and landscape mode. Create notes for each paragraph which can be displayed inline. You can even assign bookmarks to any paragraph in any document for future reference. Highlight important words or phrases using the best highlighting system available.”

INCLUDED DOCUMENTS:

  • Magna Carta
  • Christopher Columbus Letter
  • Virginia Charters
  • Mayflower Compact
  • First Thanksgiving Proclamation
  • Stamp Act
  • Declaration of Arms
  • Declaration of Independence
  • Fugitive Slave Law
  • US Constitution
  • Star Spangled Banner
  • CSA Constitution
  • Gettysburg Address
  • Emancipation Proclamation
  • World War II Documents
  • I Have A Dream
  • All Inaugural Address of All Presidents
  • State of the Union Addresses
  • 9/11 Documents
  • And many more…

MAIN APPLICATION FEATURES:

  • Auto-scrolling (both timed and tilt) - Helps me read books faster!
  • Adjustable fonts, size, colors, margins, spacing, and alignment (you can even adjust the font size by using a pinching gesture while reading!)
  • Highlighting – 12 background colors, 12 foreground colors, bold, italic, and underline  - Helps me really interact with the text!!
  • Night (low light mode) – Black background with white text
  • Application tips
  • Bookmarks and bookmark folders
  • Last location in each document is remembered
  • When re-launched, you’re returned to the exact location you were last at while reading
  • Search by words or phrases with instant search results
  • Powerful advanced search options
  • Create notes for each paragraph which can be displayed inline

This really is a GREAT app… I highly recommend it and look forward to some more releases!  As you think about eBooks and education you can really begin to see the potential for eBooks replacing traditional books. 

I’ve said it before… and I’m sure I’ll say it again.  When you can use technology to do something better than real life… that is when you really have succeeded!! This is a perfect example of that!

By Jeff | Posted on: December 17, 2008 at 9:00 am | Tagged , , , , |

Google Translate for the iPhone/iTouch

Google has been great at coming out with new applications for the iPhone/iTouch. Last night they announced a new service that I think is really useful: a specialized interface for the iPhone/iTouch for Google Translate.

With the ubiquitous ability of the iPhone, and high speed 3G connection, this is a great find for any student traveling abroad, or anyone for that matter.

Google translate has really come a long way. I highly recommend it!!

By Jeff | Posted on: August 8, 2008 at 5:48 am | Tagged , , , | Comments (3)

Back at it with Conference Proposals

Okay… It has been a couple of months, and it is just killing me. Almost every day I see something that I want to pass along, so I am going to end m Hiatus and write a couple of blog posts now and again.

I have been working on two conference proposals, so hopefully I can write some of what I am proposing here as a sounding board… because, really, what is a blog anyway… :)

Here are my two topics I am thinking of proposing:

  • “iPhone/iTouch in Education – How Location Aware, Ubiquitous Computing, Multi-Touch and Accelerometer will impact computing and Education.” – This proposal will focus on first on the capabilities of iPhones/iTouch’s and then on some of the applications that are available.
  • “Using Web 2.0 to Help Those with Learning Disabilities.” – This proposal is growing out of some workshops I have been doing for our learning disabilities group here on campus. I realized that this is a place where technology can really help students, but not much has been written about it.

What do you think?

By Jeff | Posted on: August 8, 2008 at 5:08 am | Tagged , , , , | Comments (4)