Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad

A few weeks ago I did a review on a keyboard cover I got for my iPad. I was looking to attach a keyboard to my iPad because I often type and blog on the go. Last week, the USB charging port on that keyboard broke. So I was once again on the search for a new keyboard. I had heard great things about the Logitech one but was not ready to spend the $100 the first time I picked out a keyboard cover. In hindsight, if I had spent the extra $30 in the beginning, it would have cost me a lot less in the end.

Yesterday I stopped at Best Buy and picked up the purple keyboard (it comes in white, black and purple). It is very thin and quite easy to set up. The hinge on the back is magnetic and puts the iPad to sleep when the cover is closed (like the iPad Smart Cover). A third of the way down the keyboard there is a groove where you place the keyboard when you want to type. This groove is magnetic as well and allows the keyboard to stay in place while you type. So far I find that it works quite well and my iPad has not slipped out. When it is propped in typing mode, you get a 60 degree viewing angle which is quite comfortable for both typing on a table or on your lap. I have only had the chance to use this keyboard for a day but I have done quite a lot of typing with it. They keyboard feels quite sturdy and is very responsive. The only thing I have heard people complain about is the fact that it needs to be pulled off its hinge each time it is used. I don't find that to be an issue. In fact, I find that it allows for this case to be quite thin and easy to carry around. It looks quite stylish when the cover is closed. Logitech has matched their outer cover to the brushed silver backing of the iPad. This gives it the look of a mini MacBook Air. I am really hoping that this keyboard lasts a little longer than the other one. So far I am impressed.

Great iPad Keyboard/Case

I picked up this case for my iPad today because my Apple Smart Cover was nearly destroyed. My intention was to pick up another Smart Cover/Case but for 54$, I figured I could get something more functional. That is when I came across the Verbatim Slim Folio Keyboard case. At 69$, it is not only a full case, but it has a bluetooth keyboard built in. So far I am loving it! I am actually using it right now to write this post on my iPad.

Click here to see some of its cool features!

Some things that I found unique about this particular keyboard case (there are many out there):

- the keyboard is held in by magnets and is easy to remove so that you can either type more comfortably or remove some of the bulk from the case when traveling
- the plastic grips that hold the iPad in place swivel so that you can view the iPad in both landscape and portrait mode when typing.
- the keyboard has quite a few neat shortcut buttons (screen lock, zoom, closing window, copy and paste), which makes it quick to do those simple frequently used tasks
- the case is quite stylish. It has a magnetic enclosure on the outside which keeps everything secure. As far as I know, it comes in black and gray (I have the gray one)

Tuesday Tech: Samsung Galaxy S3

I have decided to change Tuesdays posts from Tuesday Teachables to Tuesday Tech. I have noticed that most of my Tuesday Teachables posts have been geared toward tech talk, so I figured that I would be able to cover more by sticking to tech.

This week I want to review the Samsung Galaxy S3

I have been an apple girl for a long time. I have a macbook, various iPods, an apple TV, an iPad and up until recently, an iPhone. So why did I make the change from iOS to Android? The truth is, I was getting a little bored with the iPhone and rather than take a step forward this year, I feel as though apple took a step back when they introduced iOS6. With that upgrade, the maps were lost, the original YouTube app disappeared and my WiFi no longer worked on my phone. I am very directionally impaired and the new maps that were introduced were horrible. Ever since the update, I constantly got lost. I know that google will be releasing an app for maps for the iPhone in the next month or so, but I started to feel some of the limitations of the iPhone. Now, before I continue, I must say that I love my iPad and my macbook. For blogging and gaming and writing and reading, they have been wonderful. But for how I used my phone, I felt I could get more out of an android phone.

So...I sold my iPhone 4s and picked up the Samsung Galaxy S3. Having used an iPhone for quite a while, I am still getting used to this new phone but so far I am loving it. I figured the easiest way to review it would be to make a list of pros and cons.

The Pros:

- Great battery life. I find I can get a few more hours than I did with the iPhone
- Customizable screens. You can add widgets to your 7 screens to personalize your phone (I have post it notes, weather, alarm clock, picture frame, calendar, flipboard)
- You can download files from the internet and store them on your phone.
- Java! All the websites that didn't work on the iPhone due to the java restrictions work on the Galaxy.
- LED notifications. I love having the blinking light telling me when I have a message instead of having to turn on the screen to keep checking.
- Great 8 megapixel camera
- Phone is super light and super thin.

The Cons:

- Sometime some of the apps seem a bit sluggish (I notice this most with the texting)
- I am disappointed in the plastic feel of the phone. I think that Samsung could have made the phone feel a bit more sturdier than it does.

Obviously the pros outweigh the cons. I am loving this phone and loving how easy it is to customize it and keep myself organized. It is very simple to use and definitely recommended if you're looking to get into the Android phone market.

Monday Reads (Part Two): eReaders vs Books

After posting about my new ereader purchase yesterday, I thought I would write my thoughts about ereaders vs books. I am not new to ereaders. I have had a few ereaders since they came out a few years ago. When they first came out, I promised myself that I would never buy one. I loved my books too much. But then when I actually held one and got to use it, I was intrigued. I eventually caved and bought my first ereader. This did not mean that I stopped buying books. I am, to this day, still buying many hard copies of books and filling up my bookshelves. So why do I have an ereader? And why, if I enjoy reading on an ereader, do I keep buying hard copies of books?

If you were born in the 70s or 80s, you remember cassettes. I remember buying my first music tapes and playing them on the big tape player at home. Now, those tapes are pretty much obsolete. You cannot buy them from a store and playing cassette tapes you already have is difficult if you don't have a working tape player. Technology is advancing at such a quick pace that it's hard to know when one thing will be traded for another. Tapes became CDs and then CDs became mp3 files. This is why I still buy real books. Books that I read and I love and want to read over and over again, I buy hard copies of. I am terrified of where all the ebooks will end up years from now. Maybe they will be lost in cyberspace somewhere. So I make sure to try my best to collect all my favourite books in hard cover so I can take them with me, grow with them and eventually pass them on to my kids.

So then why would I even bother buying an ereader? There are a few advantages. The new ereaders, the ones with wifi, allow you to preview samples of books that you are interested in. I keep a list of books that I am interested in buying. With an ereader, I can download a free sample of the book and read a few chapters before I decide to buy it. Also, ereaders are now allowing you to borrow books from the library. Since I like to read in bed, I don't often like bringing books home from the library, especially when you do not know where they have been. There are thousands and thousands of free books that you can download. And the books that are not free are usually much cheaper than the physical book. I recently read a book on my ereader that was 34.99 in hard copy but only 12.99 as an ebook. Carrying an ereader is a lot easier than carrying a book when you're on the go. And if you're going on vacation, your ereader can hold up to a 1000 books so you don't have to be picky about which books you are going to bring with you.

That being said, I will always love my books. I will always love the smell of them, turning the pages, making my own mark on my books. So I always collect hard copies of books by my favourite authors as well as series I love. My ereader allows me to discover new books, to download books I know I won't read again and the ability to carry around my own personal library.

So if you own an ereader, that does not mean you're giving up on real books. It just means that you are taking reading to a new level.

Monday Reads: a review, kobo and a new book

11th Hour by James Patterson

Review: This weekend I finished James Patterson's 11th installment in the Women's Murder Club mystery books. I have read each and every one of this series and have been enjoying them. I can't say that after 11 books that they still have that "wow" factor. The formula is getting to be repetitive. I can usually guess within the first half of the book who the bad guy is. With mystery novels I like there to be some kind of twist that I was not expecting. The last few books in the series have been lacking that. Why do I keep reading them? I love the four main characters who make up the Women's Murder Club. I feel like they are close friends of mine and that I have grown with them. I have stopped reading the books for the mystery aspect and I now read them to get to spend more time with some of my favourite characters. If you have been following this series, I would pick this book up. If you have never read any of these books, start with the first and read a few. The first five books in the series were fantastic!

This weekend I also bought a kobo! I have had a Sony ereader for quite a while now but it's been dying on me. After sending it for repair, the battery still drains super fast. I have been searching for a new ereader for a while but wasn't desperate to get one since I often read on my iPad. The kobo was on sale this weekend for $89 so I HAD to pick one up. I read one book and started another on my new ereader and am loving it. A bonus? It has wifi so I can download books on the go. And also, my eyes are not straining after a few hours of reading. Loving it!

The book pictured on my kobo is the one I just started yesterday. So far I am really enjoying it and ended up staying up til 1am reading it. Of course anything set in NYC will attract my attention. The fact that it's short love stories about people who met and fell in love in NYC is what sold me on this book!

Heart of the City by Ariel Sabar

Synopsis: The handsome Texas sailor who offers dinner to a runaway in Central Park. The Midwestern college girl who stops a cop in Times Square for restaurant advice. The Brooklyn man on a midnight subway who helps a weary tourist find her way to Chinatown. The Columbia University graduate student who encounters an unexpected object of beauty at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A public place in the world's greatest city. A chance meeting of strangers. A marriage. Heart of the City tells the remarkable true stories of nine ordinary couples--from the 1940s to the present--whose matchmaker was the City of New York. Intrigued by the romance of his own parents, who met in Washington Square Park, award-winning author Ariel Sabar set off on a far-ranging search for other couples who married after first meeting in one of New York City's iconic public spaces. Sabar conjures their big-city love stories in novel-like detail, drawing us into the hearts of strangers just as their lives are about to change forever. In setting the stage for these surprising, funny and moving tales, Sabar, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, offers a fascinating look at the role of place in how--and whether--people meet and fall in love. Heart of the City is a paean to the physical city as matchmaker, a tribute to the power of chance, and an eloquent reminder of why we must care about the design of urban spaces.

Tueday Teachables: Prezi

I am a big fan of using technology in the classroom. Out with the worksheets and in with the interactive programs kids can either use at the front of the class or individually on laptops. I few weeks ago I started using a really cool presentation site with my kids to help them create more interactive oral presentations. This site is very easy to use and allows students to creatively display their work. Prezi is known as the zooming presentation tool because it allows you to put all your information on a template and then zoom into the different components during the presentation. It's a little bit hard to describe without seeing it so definitely check out the "explore" link on the homepage to see some examples.

Click here for the website.

A new guilty pleasure

I must admit that I am very addicted to GeekBeat's blog (http://geekbeat.tv) and their YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/geekbeattv). They post blog articles and videos about new gadgets. Being a bit of a tech geek, I am loving this very much.

A nifty little invention

Fun iPhone/iPad app

I usually don't download games on my iPhone because once I start playing (if it's a good game), I will have a hard time stopping until I have completed all levels. Yesterday I found a game called Big City NY. NY is what caught my eye and I ended up downloading it. It is a pretty simple game but is quite addictive. You travel around the city and visit famous landmarks and have to find hidden object in each location. It's kind of like a find Waldo game but better!

It's a school night...I should really put the phone down and go to bed.