Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Multitasking, wireless printing come to iPad

The new software update includes a printing option and the ability to multitask.

Apple Inc. released new software on Nov. 22 that lets users of its iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad devices print wirelessly over Wi-Fi networks. The software addresses what has been a key complaint about the iPad to date—that users can’t print their documents from the tablet—and ed-tech observers say it could help spur more widespread use of the device in schools.

Apple first described some of the new features in iOS 4.2, the latest operating system for the Apple gadgets, at a media event in September.

The iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad don’t have ports for hooking up with printers, which makes the AirPrint feature one of the biggest advances for all of Apple’s gadgets. With the new software, the gadgets can find printers on home or school networks, then send text, photos, or graphics directly to the printer over Wi-Fi. To start, iPads, iPhones, or iPods with AirPrint will only work directly with certain Hewlett-Packard Co. printers.…Read More

Review: iOS4.2 software on iPad brings welcome features, unwelcome snags

Apple’s eagerly anticipated iOS 4.2 mobile software upgrade finally reaches the iPad today. The free upgrade addresses shortcomings in Apple’s otherwise prized tablet software and will feel familiar to iPhone 4 owners who can already exploit some of the latest stunts, reports USA Today. (Today’s update also brings new capabilities to the iPhone and iPod Touch.)

As on the iPhone, you can now organize iPad apps into folders to reduce screen clutter and make them a cinch to find. For example, you can put all your music apps in one folder, all your movie-related programs in another and so on. The iPad also catches up on multitasking, meaning you can run numerous apps simultaneously and easily switch among them. I listened to the Pandora and Slacker music apps in the background while I surfed the Web, read email and played games…

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