2014年11月30日

Eye Phone? Your Next Eye Exam Might Be Done With Your Phone

Getting an eye exam typically involves big complicated machines. But eye doctors are trying to get the big and complicated out of the equation by using smartphones and tablets instead. That way, they figure, eye exams can be done just about anywhere — even a village in Nepal.
That's where Dr. Chris Johnson and his colleagues are using IPAD 4 CASE  to test people for glaucoma, a disease that often has no symptoms until it has irreversibly damaged eyesight. That's because it nibbles away at vision at the periphery of the visual field.
Finding that out usually involves sitting in front of a big machine and staring at a screen while gray dots appear and disappear.
Instead, Johnson tested an off-the-shelf free app called Visual Fields Easy to screen about 200 patients in Nepal. "I was skeptical at first; we did some tests and calibrated it."
The app was very good at identifying people with moderate to severe disease, less so at screening out people with normal vision. "It works much better than I expected," Johnson, who specializes in developing diagnostic tests, told Shots. He and his colleagues are now expanding the tests to India, with the aim of refining it. "I know I can make it better."
Visual field testing usually requires an expensive machine. This man in Nepal helped test an OTTERBOX IPAD 4 CASE  app.i
Visual field testing usually requires an expensive machine. This man in Nepal helped test an iPad app.
Dr. Suman Thapa/Courtesy of University of Iowa
Johnson presented his data Monday at the meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in Chicago, and he was far from the only one tinkering with mobile tech. A number of researchers presented devices that clip onto iPhones to turn them into diagnostic tools.
Dr. David Myung, chief resident at Stanford University Hospital, wanted to come up with an easy way to photograph an eye inside and out. A big ophthalmology practice would have a machine that does that beautifully, but it costs tens of thousands of dollars and requires specialized training. Myung wanted something that a harried ER doctor or nurse could use on the fly. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DZJ2DZI
"We wanted to find a low-tech way to do it," Myung told Shots. So he and his colleagues came up with a plastic arm that snaps onto an iPhone, holding an ophthalmology lens in front of the camera at just the right distance. "The plastic arm is about as low-cost as it gets."
To get around the fact that the photographer isn't an ophthalmologist, it's designed so that people take videos or multiple photos. "It's a little like trying to take pictures of your kids, and they're moving around all the time. If you take 10 or 15 photos, one of them going to be in focus."
Depression and chronic pain are associated with dry-eye syndrome, a British study finds. And it's more likely as you age.
Shots - Health News
Dry, Scratchy Eyes? Staring At Screens Is Driving This Trend
The gizmo is also being tested to see if it can reliably screen people at a public hospital for diabetic retinopathy, and Myung and colleagues are applying for FDA approval, since it's a medical device. "We originally developed this for ophthalmology work in developing countries," Myung says. "People do have smartphones and digital capability. We think it could be very useful there."
And maybe closer to home, too.
Since the goal is cheap, simple tests using available technology, couldn't I just do my eye exam at home skip the two hours sitting in the waiting room with my eyes dilated? There are plenty of eye tests apps ready for download right now. But it's complicated, Johnson says.
"Did they get a bad result because they didn't do the test right, or is there a change in their visual status?" Johnson says. He's worried that people will skip an eye exam, then get frightened by a false negative result to a home test. "I think having that as a screen that's available for people who don't have good access to health care is the first thing. Home testing will require some additional things to make it bulletproof."

Eye Phone? Your Next Eye Exam Might Be Done With Your Phone

Getting an eye exam typically involves big complicated machines. But eye doctors are trying to get the big and complicated out of the equation by using smartphones and tablets instead. That way, they figure, eye exams can be done just about anywhere — even a village in Nepal.
That's where Dr. Chris Johnson and his colleagues are using IPAD 4 CASE  to test people for glaucoma, a disease that often has no symptoms until it has irreversibly damaged eyesight. That's because it nibbles away at vision at the periphery of the visual field.
Finding that out usually involves sitting in front of a big machine and staring at a screen while gray dots appear and disappear.
Instead, Johnson tested an off-the-shelf free app called Visual Fields Easy to screen about 200 patients in Nepal. "I was skeptical at first; we did some tests and calibrated it."
The app was very good at identifying people with moderate to severe disease, less so at screening out people with normal vision. "It works much better than I expected," Johnson, who specializes in developing diagnostic tests, told Shots. He and his colleagues are now expanding the tests to India, with the aim of refining it. "I know I can make it better."
Visual field testing usually requires an expensive machine. This man in Nepal helped test an OTTERBOX IPAD 4 CASE  app.i
Visual field testing usually requires an expensive machine. This man in Nepal helped test an iPad app.
Dr. Suman Thapa/Courtesy of University of Iowa
Johnson presented his data Monday at the meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in Chicago, and he was far from the only one tinkering with mobile tech. A number of researchers presented devices that clip onto iPhones to turn them into diagnostic tools.
Dr. David Myung, chief resident at Stanford University Hospital, wanted to come up with an easy way to photograph an eye inside and out. A big ophthalmology practice would have a machine that does that beautifully, but it costs tens of thousands of dollars and requires specialized training. Myung wanted something that a harried ER doctor or nurse could use on the fly. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DZJ2DZI
"We wanted to find a low-tech way to do it," Myung told Shots. So he and his colleagues came up with a plastic arm that snaps onto an iPhone, holding an ophthalmology lens in front of the camera at just the right distance. "The plastic arm is about as low-cost as it gets."
To get around the fact that the photographer isn't an ophthalmologist, it's designed so that people take videos or multiple photos. "It's a little like trying to take pictures of your kids, and they're moving around all the time. If you take 10 or 15 photos, one of them going to be in focus."
Depression and chronic pain are associated with dry-eye syndrome, a British study finds. And it's more likely as you age.
Shots - Health News
Dry, Scratchy Eyes? Staring At Screens Is Driving This Trend
The gizmo is also being tested to see if it can reliably screen people at a public hospital for diabetic retinopathy, and Myung and colleagues are applying for FDA approval, since it's a medical device. "We originally developed this for ophthalmology work in developing countries," Myung says. "People do have smartphones and digital capability. We think it could be very useful there."
And maybe closer to home, too.
Since the goal is cheap, simple tests using available technology, couldn't I just do my eye exam at home skip the two hours sitting in the waiting room with my eyes dilated? There are plenty of eye tests apps ready for download right now. But it's complicated, Johnson says.
"Did they get a bad result because they didn't do the test right, or is there a change in their visual status?" Johnson says. He's worried that people will skip an eye exam, then get frightened by a false negative result to a home test. "I think having that as a screen that's available for people who don't have good access to health care is the first thing. Home testing will require some additional things to make it bulletproof."

NPR slideshows reach iPad browsing, API

We're making a major upgrade today to all of NPR's slideshows. Our slideshows are now iOS-friendly and available in our API.
Previously, NPR.org slideshows played in Flash, which iPhones and IPAD 4 CASE  couldn't display. The lack of API distribution also made these slideshows unavailable to our mobile apps and member station sites. In late fall, we began to change our production. We created a new slideshow experience in our NPR Music live event pages, which included a new player and distribution process.
In today's move, we expand the use of that technology to all of NPR.org. We are upgrading more than 2,000 slideshows: those from news stories, music stories and our Picture Show blog.
These slideshows include more than 30,000 images. If you browse NPR.org on your OTTERBOX IPAD 4 CASE , you can now view all of these images, swipe between images and tap for captions. We've improved the slideshows' buttons and behaviors for a better experience — wherever you seeing them. We plan to display slideshows across many more NPR platforms in the future.
If you use the NPR API, you can access many of these images.
More than 13,000 images, including more than 3,000 NPR images, are available to local station sites immediately. NPR's Digital Services division, which works with local stations, already has NPR.org slideshows flowing into the Core Publisher platform and plans to optimize the experience further in the future.
For all API users, more than 8,000 images are now available.
To find details about using slideshows from the OTTERBOX IPAD 3 CASE , read the second half of this previous Inside NPR.org blog post, under "Collections." Every story that has a slideshow should have a collection marked as type "slideshow." An update to the earlier post is that the output is available in NPRML and now JSON.
Keep in mind NPR slideshows use images from a wide variety of sources, and we don't have rights to distribute all of our images. But we continue to work toward as much distribution as possible.

iPads In Special Ed: What Does The Research Say?

This week, NPR Ed's Eric Westervelt visited a special education classroom in New York City where iPads are being used in a novel way. Students with a range of severe disabilities, including developmental, mental, physical and autism spectrum disorders, are using apps alongside traditional instruments to help express themselves through music.
An iPad in a classroom. So what?
Teachers there saw improvements not only in students' musical knowledge and performance skills but also in their motivation, communication skills and the strength of their social bonds. The changes showed up in everything from little things, like saying hello to each other, to big things, like dreaming of a future as a touring musician.
The story was a lovely ray of light in a perpetually dark news cycle. It also fits into a common genre these days; we'll call it the "Optimistic Take on the Power of the Classroom iPad." I've done one myself. Just last year, I reported on a classroom in Los Angeles where an iPad had replaced a $15,000 custom assistive technology setup, enabling a student with control over only one finger to communicate.
Eric, of course, noted in his piece that the evidence here is mostly anecdotal. But we wondered: what do researchers say about whether the IPAD 4 CASE  is contributing meaningfully to kids' classroom experience?
The first widely marketed touchscreen tablet computer, the iPad is still relatively new. It was introduced in the spring of 2010. Over four short school years, 8 million of the tablets have been sold to classrooms worldwide. During Apple's most recent quarterly earnings call, CEO Tim Cook claimed iPads have 95 percent of the classroom tablet market — a market Apple essentially invented — and that this is a crucial market niche going forward, as it represents more than $1 billion in annual revenue.
"The focus in education is on penetration, is on getting more schools to buy and my belief is the match has been lit, and it's very clear to the educators that have studied it is that student achievement is higher with iPad in the classroom than without it."
But we should hardly take Cook's word for it. Let's go to the literature.
The published studies of classroom OTTERBOX IPAD 4 CASE  use – in special education, specifically — are eye-opening. But not because they're "clear." Because they're all so... tiny. The number of studies is small. Their sample sizes are miniscule. And the measurable effects are pretty small too.
I reviewed a dozen published research studies on the use of iPads with special ed students. iPads are being tested with students from kindergarten through the college level both as basic communication devices for students with limited verbal skills, and to teach math, science, reading, and other subjects.
To understand just how limited these studies are, keep this in mind: 6.4 million students in the U.S., aged 3-21, have some kind of learning disability. That's about 13 percent of all public school students. Yet most of the papers now being published look at fewer than ten students. One "surveyed" a dozen special education teachers. This small sample size matters because special education students vary so widely in their needs and abilities. There is no typical or representative learning disabled student.
The other takeaway, as I said, from looking over these studies is that the advantage found from using the iPad was often small or mixed. It's hard to talk about statistical significance when the sample size is in single digits. One study of just five elementary school students compared the use of an OTTERBOX IPAD 3 CASE  communication app to a simpler, less expensive system using picture cards. Some students did better with the iPad. For others there was no detectable difference.
One word shows up a lot in these iPad studies: "engagement." Simply put, introducing an iPad into a classroom seems to get kids excited and focused. According to one study, "results were mixed for math skill development but indicated an increase in independent task completion as demonstrated by a decrease in noncompliant behaviors and teacher prompt levels." In other words, students didn't necessarily learn more but acted up less and stayed on task.
But it's not clear if this kind of bump in engagement is unique to the iPad. It could easily be true of just about any nifty, new gadget. It's also not clear if the bump lasts once the gadget's newness has worn off.
And is that bump – perhaps lasting, perhaps short-lived — a big enough benefit for school districts to invest in tablet computers en masse? Anecdotally, of course, reports like Westervelt's show: in the hands of gifted teachers, iPads, like other technology, can bring real advantages to students. But the gaps in the literature, at this point, make it hard (and dangerous) to draw any broad or meaningful conclusions about the iPad's place in our schools.
In future What Does the Research Say? posts, NPR Ed will continue to take a critical view of the state of the art in educational research.

Minnesota Uses iPad Gambling To Help Fund New NFL Stadium

Minnesota gamblers no longer have to rip paper pull-tabs to see if they've won cash: As of this week, they can use iPads to play, and play again, at the click of a button. The venture was sparked by the need to help pay for a new Minnesota Vikings football stadium, which will cost an estimated $975 million.
In addition to replacing the old Metrodome, backers of the electronic games say they'll make it easier for groups of people to play together and will lure younger gamblers, as well.
The Minnesota system, which seems to be the first of its kind in the United States, received final approval from the state's Gambling Control Board this week. The agency's approved IPAD 4 CASE are already available at a handful of bars, where patrons can play at their own table or at the counter. The games have titles like "Treasures of the Jungle" and "Big Money Heist."
On an iPad, "electronic pull tabs" can look a lot like a slot machine: Fruits, numerals and other symbols appear at random, and players win cash when they land in the right pattern. Gamblers can place bets of either $1 or $2; boxes at the bottom of the screen keep a running tally of players' cash reserves and how much they've won.
In St. Paul, the Pioneer Press's Tad Vezner breaks down how the games' proceeds are distributed:
85 percent goes back to players
3 percent to charities
5.4 percent to the state
2.25 percent to the bar
4.35 percent to rent the OTTERBOX IPAD 3 CASE  from gaming companies
Vezner also spoke to a patrons of O'Gara's Bar and Grill, one of the first places to get the machines:
"'I fully believe it is rigged for you to win today,' said Mike Monfort, who won $28. 'Pull-tabs out in Michigan, you very rarely won. Everybody seems to be winning today. Come tomorrow, let's see how they do.'
"Next to him, Pat Lynch said he didn't think so. 'It's so regulated.'
"'How long does it take?' asked Chris, another O'Gara's regular who declined to give his full name.
"'It's pretty quick,' Monfort replied.
"'Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. I'll be broke in two months.'"
In the pull-tab system, each bar receives a pool of games — presumably to guarantee an even playing field. Tim Nelson of Minnesota Public Radio calls the new system "the biggest expansion of gambling in Minnesota in a generation."
Nelson explains a bit more about how it works: "The iPad-based devices run software from a Minnesota based server. Internet connections and dedicated Wi-Fi networks bring the games to gamblers in real time."
A video from local KARE-11 show the games in action.
Booths that sell paper pull-tab games like this one have new competition in Minnesota: electronic pull-tab games played on iPads. The games are meant to help pay for a new football stadium in Minneapolis.
"The Minnesota network is designed to operate with 25,000 electronic pull-tab terminals," according to the website of Acre 4.0, a Nevada-based gambling firm who developed the first pull-tab games being used in Minnesota.
"All the accounting and gaming activity occurs on a central server," says Warren White, Acre 4.0's vice president of engineering, "and is accessed by the clients" — in this case, the tablets at the bars or clubs. The devices are limited to serving as gaming platforms.
In addition to pull-tabs, patrons at Minnesota bars, restaurants, and American Legion posts will also likely be able to play bingo — a game that has already become a big money-maker on the iPad, even without real cash payouts. White confirms that there is "certainly a lot of interest" in bingo on the iPads.
As Tech Crunch reported last week, bingo game maker BitRhymes is on pace to bring in $45 million in revenue this year, on the strength of its Bingo Bash game for mobile and Facebook.
BitRhymes CEO Sumit Gupta believes "there looks to be a huge opportunity here in terms of transitioning from online social gaming to real-money casino play," Tech Crunch writes.

NPR Music Launches New iPad App (With A Little Help From The Shins)

Our new NPR Music iPad app is out, and it's a beauty. It's the perfect way to watch our Tiny Desk Concerts, read original reporting and commentary, and listen to brand new albums, the All Songs Considered 24/7 music channel or our station streams.
Enjoy dozens of public radio music stations from across the country. Browse by genre and program favorites.
Enjoy dozens of public radio music stations from across the country. Browse by genre and program favorites.
NPR
To celebrate, NPR Music will present live streaming audio and video of an exclusive in-app concert on March 7 with The Shins, performing songs from their anticipated new record Port of Morrow. (Fans of the band in New York City should be on the lookout for an opportunity to attend this show.)
 On March 7, The Shins will perform an exclusive live concert webcast you can watch via the NPR Music app. (The concert will be replayed on NPR.org starting March 8.) i
On March 7, The Shins will perform an exclusive live concert webcast you can watch via the NPR Music app. (The concert will be replayed on NPR.org starting March 8.)
Enjoy dozens of public radio music stations from across the country. Browse by genre and program favorites.
Our own NPR team built this app, and we're proud of it. I think it shows off the flood of amazing stories about music that makes its way to our site from our member stations and our staff.
One cool feature allows you to filter by content type (read articles, watch videos, listen to programs) or genre (rock, jazz, classical, folk, hip-hop/R&B, world or electronic/dance). You can build a playlist by dragging and dropping, and then save it for offline listening. You can listen while running other apps on your IPAD 4 CASE  or send it over Wi-Fi to your home stereo. And if you don't know where to start, a special feature in the playlist will suggest NPR Music features based on the artists already in your iTunes library.
Create your own playlists and save them for offline listening with the new NPR Music OTTERBOX IPAD 4 CASE  app.
Create your own playlists and save them for offline listening with the new NPR Music iPad app.
Create your own playlists and save them for offline listening with the new NPR Music iPad app.
NPR
There is even an entire section devoted to All Songs Considered. You'll find our weekly shows, a live concert archive, the Tiny Desk Concerts, new music exclusives and video premieres.
Filter by genre or program, including All Songs Considered.
Filter by genre or program, including All Songs Considered.
NPR
For non-iPad users, we are turning our attention to the mobile Web with the goal of making sure everyone can access our features on the go, no matter what device you own or system you operate.
NPR is not developing an Android app specifically for NPR Music.Because the Android universe is so diverse we thought the best way to serve all Android users would be to optimize all that we do on NPR music for mobile platforms in general. This approach would also help users of other smart phones as well. You can see that in our new browser-based live events platform. The Tiny Desk Concerts page is a good example of that. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DZJ2DZI made it possible to watch a live video stream and participate in a live chat at the same time and it works on mobile devices including Android and the desktop. So an Android app or Blackberry or a Windows apps is not in the cards for now, but making all that we do work on the devices that are popular is the goal. If you do own an Android you should know that some of our music coverage can be found in the NPR News app for the Android. thanksBob

iPad Program At L.A. Schools Needs Fine Tuning

Steve Inskeep talks to Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy about the district's $1 billion iPad initiative, which aims to put a tablet in the hands of every student over the next year. The plan has prompted questions about the role of technology in the classroom, and the extent to which it can enhance teaching and improve student achievement.
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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep.
A news item last week got us thinking about how American schools are changing. Many high school students in Los Angeles now have school-issued iPads. Some hacked the security on the iPads to surf forbidden sites on the Internet. School superintendent John Deasy weathered some awkward headlines and tried to turn this into a teachable moment.
JOHN DEASY: Met with the students, collected the devices, and began a conversation about so, you're smart, but we need you to be responsible.
INSKEEP: The incident was one of the bumps as John Deasy rolls out the plan, under which L.A. is spending $1 billion to eventually put an iPad in the hands of every student - 650,000 of them, grades K through 12. L.A. is not the first school system to try something like this, but is by far the largest.
Of all the things that you could do with your district budget, what made you think that an iPad for every student ultimately would be a thing that you'd want to do?
DEASY: All students should have access to technology. And all students should have access to live digital curriculum. I mean, what we would want for the most privileged students, it's our obligation to make sure that students who live in circumstances of poverty have exactly that.
INSKEEP: When you say live digital curriculum, are you essentially saying that the textbook is an IPAD 4 CASE  now, or you're heading in that direction?
DEASY: I think that's fair enough to say. I mean, the textbook is information that's static. So, like most people would assume, I know of no school district - and certainly not here in Los Angeles - where there is information in our textbooks about the Arab Spring, a very important part of understanding world history and our own history. Live digital content is constantly updated so that students could understand the Arab Spring.
INSKEEP: You know, help me think through some of the implications of having the text on an iPad instead of in a book. I'm thinking about issues in recent decades in education in which there is a national textbook market and we discover that if Texas, for example, sets a particular standard for its textbooks, it can influence the books that end up in the entire country, because a publisher wants to make sure the textbooks are acceptable everywhere.
I would imagine that, for better or for worse, that when your text is on an OTTERBOX IPAD 4 CASE , you could make it specific to a state, specific to a county, specific to a school.
DEASY: That's a very, very - I think, a very good insight, which means that the monopoly is no longer there around a largest state driving the textbook. In the Common Core for English Language Arts, for example, we're moving to a balance of 50 percent of the material being what would call traditional fiction text, like Shakespeare, and 50 percent being what we would call nonfiction text, like Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
You could have taken that in California and talked about the comments that Cesar Chavez made after breaking his fast and using that as an exact piece of nonfiction text. And that does not have to be the same in every state in the Union.
INSKEEP: Oh, the advocate for migrant workers, you might have included that in California.
DEASY: Absolutely.
INSKEEP: At the same time, I think about the flipside of that. It makes me wonder if, as this technology spreads, we might end up in a situation where there is a red state history of the United States and a blue state history of the United States, that takes different facts or things that aren't even facts, and could even make them specific to particular parts of states that are politically inclined one way or another.
DEASY: I think that that is a possibility. I don't think I'm equipped to make that judgment, will it happen. But you raise a point that is, I think, very legitimate.
INSKEEP: Can technology replace teachers?
DEASY: Oh, absolutely not. Absolutely not. We know both through the psychology of education and the sociology of education that the ability to learn is deeply, deeply dependent upon having an expert side-by-side coaching us, helping us make sense of information, helping us scaffold information, which is taking pieces we know and growing to a place which we don't know. That cannot be done through technology.
INSKEEP: We had an interview with Diane Ravitch, an education expert and author, who's very much a critic of a lot of changes in education in recent years, on the program a few days ago. And one of the things she said was this: That she's concerned that corporations are selling education technology, that ultimately that comes at the expense of teachers' salaries.
Could you envision a situation where there's more and more education that is automated, in effect? And you can do - not do without teachers at all, but reduce the number of teachers, increase the class size?
DEASY: I mean, I can't envision that. I don't find that to be a responsible direction to move in. I think that Ms. Ravitch's concerns are ones that she's expressing of the present, and she's a historian. So I would imagine we faced these things in the past: the monopoly on textbooks, the monopoly on school transportation, the corporate monopoly on buildings and chairs.
I mean, we certainly have seen this in the past. Every student seems to have to sit down in a chair. And those companies who had the monopoly on that was a corporation. And one could have made the same comments 50, 75, 25 years ago.
INSKEEP: John Deasy is the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Thanks very much.
DEASY: Thank you very much. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DZJ2DZI

Morning Shots: Lois Lane Has An iPad, And Linda Gray Has A Story About Her Leg

Does Lois Lane's IPAD 4 CASE  mean that Zack Snyder's approach to Superman will be fresher and more modern than people are expecting? [The Guardian]
Too much? Too little? How much information are you supposed to hand out in a movie trailer anyway? [The New York Times]
A cup of coffee.
If you're gearing up for a big Super Bowl party this weekend, don't feel alone: CBS is gearing up, too, and it's a sizable job. [The Hollywood Reporter]
Amanda Palmer and Andrew Sullivan have a fundamental philosophical underpinning in common, says Matthew Ingram in an examination of the importance of relationships with users. [Paid Content]
This bit between Jimmy Fallon and Channing Tatum was funny even before Tatum started dancing. [OTTERBOX IPAD 4 CASE ]
And finally: Linda Gray says the leg on the famous poster for The Graduate was hers. Her leg! Stunt leg! Famous stunt leg! Now that's entertainment. [The Guardian]

NPR Music for iPad

Today we are excited to announce the launch of NPR Music for iPad, a multimedia music magazine we hope will delight music lovers of all tastes and styles. The app is designed to showcase the best music content from NPR and NPR stations. This includes live concerts, exclusive first listens, original reporting and commentary. It also features quick access to over 100 NPR station streams through a persistent radio feature. The app takes advantage of the rich visual interface and tactile navigation of the iPad to present an integrated blend of text, images, audio and video.
NPR Music for iPad: Home
NPR
Users of the existing NPR News app for IPAD 4 CASE  and NPR Music app for iPhone will notice some familiar conventions, as well as a variety of new features. These include favorites and a smart, graphical playlist.
Favorites and the playlist complement each other: favorites (represented by the traditional heart symbol) are for storing station streams and stories or songs you may want to quickly return to again and again; the playlist is your listening queue, which you can now see and interact with intuitively by swiping items into and out of the queue. You can also reorder them by dragging items from one spot to another with the "sticky" bar at the top of each tile.
NPR Music for iPad: Home
NPR Music for iPad: Playlist
NPR
To help users get the most from NPR's rich archive of content, the app will surface stories we think you'll like. In the right column on story pages we'll show you other stories you might want to see based on the one you're already looking at. Just below the playlist, the app will offer you stories you may like based, in part, on the items you have in your OTTERBOX IPAD 4 CASE iTunes library (see image above).
NPR stations have some of the best music content available anywhere and one of the app's greatest strengths is its expanded stations section. It's simple to locate stations you already enjoy and add them to your favorites list. Users can also easily find new stations to try based on genre, or via a featured stations section near the top.
NPR Music for iPad: Playlist
NPR Music for iPad: Stations
NPR
NPR Music for OTTERBOX IPAD 3 CASE  is part of our larger effort to deliver NPR Music's amazing — and often exclusive — content to users as widely as possible. We recently launched a browser-based live events platform for music that invites users to watch a live performance and participate in a simultaneous live chat that works on mobile, tablet and web browsers (including Android). We universally include some music content in our news products as well, such as the NPR mobile web site and NPR News Android app.
NPR Music for iPad: Stations
A great opportunity to try the new app's live video streaming capability will be on March 7 at 10 p.m. ET, when The Shins play live their forthcoming album Port of Morrow in New York at an event celebrating the album release and the launch of NPR Music for iPad. The app will also feature extensive coverage later in March from Austin's SXSW music festival. The app is AirPlay enabled so you can watch any of the videos on a bigger screen if you have an Apple TV.
We hope you enjoy the app. You can download it directly from iTunes here.

iPads Allow Kids With Challenges To Play In High School's Band

There's a steady stream of hype surrounding the pluses and pitfalls of classroom tablet computers. But for a growing number of special education students tablets and their apps are proving transformative. The tablets aren't merely novel and fun. With guidance from creative teachers, they are helping to deepen engagement, communication, and creativity.
In a typical red brick public school building in the Fresh Meadows section of Queens, New York, one creative and passionate music instructor is using tablet computers to help reach students with disabilities. In the process, he's opening doors for some kids with severe mental and physical challenges.
On the surface, the PS 177 Technology Band looks like a typical high school orchestra. But there are two big differences. First, while they use traditional instruments, they also play iPads. And all of the band members have disabilities. Some have autism spectrum disorders.
"I'm Tobi Lakes, I'm 15 years old. I'm in ninth grade. I'm four grades away from college."
Morning sunlight pushes through large, old windows into the school's well-worn and empty-seated auditorium. On the stage, iPads on small stands sit in a semicircle. It's rehearsal time. The students mingle and chat before practice starts. Tobi Lakes, a tall, wire-thin teen with thick glasses sits at an electric piano. He taught himself to play.
Jason Haughton sings an original tune composed by the PS 177 Technology Band.
NPR Ed
High School Band: There's An App For That
"I'm very good. I like the piano. I like the keyboard. Keyboard is the best. Number one!" Tobi says with a wide smile. On his school-issued tablet computer, using a music app called Thumb Jam, Tobi also loves his iPad "guitar."
As rehearsal heats up Tobi takes the lead on rock guitarist Jeff Beck's version of Puccini's "Nesun Dorma." Tobi Lakes, iPad guitar shredder, is learning disabled. He's autistic. And he's also blind in one eye. Adam Goldberg, the creator of the PS 177 band, gets the music started.
"The first note of the second line please," he tells them. "In blue. There ya go. That's the pizzicato."
The 53 year old teacher is a classically trained pianist with a degree from the Manhattan School of Music. About 20 years ago he began substitute-teaching here while playing freelance jazz and rock gigs. He was soon offered a job at PS 177, and he's been at the school ever since.
'Sing, Sing, Sing!'
Seventeen-year-old Jason Houghton walks in a little late for rehearsal. One of his teachers says Jason is "classically severely autistic." His speech is often marked by echolalia, a communication disorder where he repeats back what you say to him. Before the band, Jason rarely spoke at all. But music helped change that. "Some people were very surprised when they could see that he could sing because some people thought that he was non-verbal," Goldberg says. "At first I kept saying 'sing, sing, sing.' And he wouldn't sing until I said 'Jason like this 'dah dah dah dah.' Then he would go 'dah dah dah dah.' And I would say 'no, do something of your own.' "
The Top Five School Music Apps For iPad
Picks from Queens, NY music teacher Adam Goldberg. He's founder of the PS 177 Technology Band in Fresh Meadows, where students with severe learning challenges and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder mix iPads and traditional instruments to make music.
ThumbJam
Animoog
GarageBand for iPad
Midi Touch
Midi Designer Pro
Goldberg says several of the students were previously non-verbal or only occasionally verbal. He eventually got Jason to hum his own notes and soon built an original song "Being Me" around that phrase. These days Jason takes 'lead' vocals on that tune. And he doesn't just echo back lyrics. He even improvises – or scat sings – in his own way.
"It was mostly persistence, you know, and the confidence that it was there inside of him. It goes back to that summer when we had some extra time. And I just kept pushing him.
I admit sometimes I push them," Goldberg says. "Not in a mean way. But I know inside there's something and I have the confidence in them that they can find a way to bring it out."
The teacher calls himself a hesitant technophile. "I'm an acoustic guy," he says. He sits at the piano and starts playing jazz, his first musical love. "I was always reluctant to get involved with technology but that was mostly because there was so much work involved to get the technology to work properly."
But Goldberg says the iPad and its apps have allowed the band to produce complex orchestral-style arrangements. With the tablets, he says, kids can play all kinds of different virtual instruments by just tapping buttons on the touch screen, instead of getting bogged down in learning technique.
"All the technical stuff that, you know, is admittedly very worthwhile," he says. "I'm coming from classical background. But for people who can't, and don't have the resources, if you give them something like this as a musical instrument you can really kind of break through barriers and teach so much of the art of the whole process of music-making. Which these guys do beautifully with that."
A New Look
Just what is it about a tablet, or the iPad in particular, that works so well with some students with disabilities and children on the autism spectrum?
Educators believe there's something about the combination of the big, bright, clear visual cues of some of the music apps, and the touchscreen that's easy to use without creating a sensory or visual overload. Beyond that, many teachers and parents aren't really sure. It's still a bit of a mystery.
"We have some really, really low-functioning students who I could never really involve in the music activities," Goldberg says.
"But the iPad has pretty much taken care of that. I can't say I have 100 percent involvement. But it's pretty close."
And educators say there's another way the tablets are proving to be game changers for special ed. They've begun to make obsolete those large and costly learning devices, allowing a student with disabilities to look like every other student.
"It has changed the way people look at people with disabilities," says Karen Gorman, the director of Assistive Technology for New York City's Public schools. For years, she said, many kids with severe autism, cerebral palsy or other serious challenges needed these large, clunky and expensive assistive-speaking devices. Some looked like small accordions, worn around students' necks. Gorman says they looked a little odd, and screamed "disabled kid."
Now the iPad and other tablets, she says, have helped level the playing field socially.
"Parents thought for the first time my child with disabilities is using something that looks very cool, and modern and current. And other kids will come over to them now and interact with them."
Once, Gorman says, other students tended to see only the disability: "Kid in a wheelchair, kid in a wheelchair," she explains. "Kid in a wheelchair with an iPad? How interesting."
Game-Changer
Tobi Lakes stands and sways rhythmically back and forth on stage, the iPad braced in a stand as he summons his inner Jeff Beck. His thumbs furiously tap the music app's buttons as the song "Nesun Dorma" begins to crescendo. "Really awesome. We're ninety-nine percent there," Goldberg tells the band with a grin. "Very good. I love doing this!"
Apple, Samsung and other tech giants certainly didn't intend for their tablets to become essential tools for students with disabilities.
"I have a feeling they had no idea" says Leslie Schect, the Director of Technology for New York City's Department of Education. "The iPad is a game-changer because it's affordable and accessible. It really opens doors. At times we don't often know what's really inside because they're not speaking. This helps give them the voice."
Shecht says there's more to these students than many people realize.
"Music is a natural way in. It just makes sense that it's something they'd gravitate to."
Still Schect and other educators are quick to point out that the tablets are just tools, not some cure-all. Students still need a creative, engaged teacher – like Adam Goldberg - to make the devices transformative.
Goldberg says a key is getting students to open up and express themselves freely, "instead of being afraid 'oh, that isn't going to sound good.' "
Schect says her department and the city have no financial relationship or get any incentive from Apple for using their products. "I wish," she says. The company is simply one of the city's vendors and suppliers, she says.
'I Love Music'
"My name is William Hernandez; I play the IPAD 4 CASE  and the piano. I love Mr. Goldberg so much."
The band works to get the sound right on the South African anti-apartheid song "When You Come Back," which they perform as a tribute to the late Nelson Mandela.
Teenagers Rachel Rodriquez and Ulysses Rivers are on backing vocals. Nineteen year old Ryan Rodriquez takes the lead. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DZJ2DZI
Perhaps even more important than the music, Goldberg says, is that the band has given students a sense of belonging, friendship and joint accomplishment.
"They all support each other. It doesn't matter who is taking the solo. They're essential to making the whole thing work. That translates to a wider idea of socialization out in the general world. And I see a huge leap in their socialization and social abilities and the fact they say hello to each other. A couple of years ago that wasn't happening."
Now, band members dream of performing for a wider audience. 17-year-old Jaquan Bostick says he wants to try to make music his profession.
"You know when we graduate we should do all start a tour, like a world tour" he tells the band. "That's what I've been thinking about a lot. I've been thinking about that a lot. Like since yesterday."
His band mates and friends nod in agreement. "Me too." "Me three." Goldberg knows from experience how tough the professional musician road is and says he's straight with the students about it. Yet, he says he'd never strip them of their vision.
"Some of these kids, you know, don't have a chance to dream," he says. "Again, it comes from confidence. It may be a very difficult dream to achieve. But it's attached to reality. They really do play music. They're not dreaming of being Superman or Spiderman."
He says the students are dreaming of something they can do where they can say to themselves, " 'I have this.' "
For Tobi Lakes – and many others here – playing in the OTTERBOX IPAD 4 CASE  band has helped him socially and creatively. "I feel excited. I feel happy. I love music," he says with a broad smile. "It feels like I'm going crazy and all the audience was clapping!"

2014年11月10日

Good Looking Ipad Cases Becoming Highly Popular among Buyers

When people buy their Ipads, they are very much happy to possess a product that is great to work with and also beautiful to look at, which they try to protect by buying Ipad cases. An Ipad is another product from Apple brand, which is a tablet and also can work as a phone. There are plenty of utilities of such gadgets because of which their popularity has soared quite high. Throughout the world, people are interested to buy an Ipad because they can use it for different purposes. They can play games, hear music, work with documents and do their office work, all while being on the move. This is the greatest advantage of having a tablet at hand.
It is important to then protect these valuable gadgets because they have a sensitive screen and side and back bodies, which can get scratched or damaged. To allow people to keep their gadgets safe, there are beautiful coverings or PAD 4 CASE cases inside which these tablets can be inserted. With new models coming up every year, people need to buy a different case by having it bought from trusted sources. Although the protective feature of these covers is quite important for people to buy the products, it is their good looks which also spur a lot of gadget lovers to buy IPAD 4 CASE.
The beauty of these cases is an important reason because when the gadgets are put inside them, the entire show is multiplied. They come in different colors such as beige, brown, black or even in lighter shades. Due to the popularity of Ipad cases, many manufacturers are coming out with various designs with engravings and of different materials. Although the rubber quality is highly popular among the buyers, there are other options of fabrics with which Ipad 2 cases are being manufactured.
People all over the world are buying these tablets and along with that they purchase the Ipad cases because they want to protect their gadgets and at the same time allow their items to look more beautiful in their hands. The very purpose of manufacturing such beautiful cases is to add to the looks of the gadgets along with their protective feature. There is a cushion laid down inside the Ipad 2 cases, which further enhances the protection.
Many people are going for these covers as they find them attractive and are going for different color combinations to make the entire thing look good. Utility is plenty when people buy the Ipad cases and their looks are also a factor in the high popularity of these items. With easy availability and good utility, Ipad 2 cases have been highly popular among people as they go for these products from different sources, due to which manufacturers are also producing these products in different varieties. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GQW7E9Q

Finally, a Truly Eco-Friendly Bamboo iPad Case and Stand from ClearMax

From leather and polyurethane treated materials to all sorts of fabrics, I thought I had seen iPad cases made out of just about everything. Everything that is until this Bamboo IPAD 4 CASE and stand from ClearMax came to my attention!
At first it was hard for me to imagine an iPad case made entirely of all-natural bamboo. When I thought about it, it began to make sense though. Just think about how quick bamboo can replenish itself. This being said, purchasing cases made from bamboo would save the environment a great deal of trouble!
Not only will this ClearMax case look outstanding, you will also find out quickly just how durable it is! Truth be told, I have a terrible habit of dropping my IPAD 4 CASE. Luckily, this bamboo case can take a lick and keep on protecting it. Also, simply look how quickly bamboo can replenish itself. Your conscious can rest easy knowing you have helped to save valuable old growth and countless animals by choosing this case.
Interestingly, when I have found a case that can decently protect an IPAD 4 CASE there have been many times when the iPad simply doesn't properly fit. From the key ports et al to the charging port and beyond, you will have total access to your device at all times. This in itself is priceless as many simply cannot offer your iPad total coverage.
Learn More about This Ipad Stand's Natural Bamboo Design!
ClearMax has certainly proved its ability to be forward thinking in using an eco-friendly self sustaining material to create this iPad cover and stand. It is a design that will look right at home no matter who decides to use it. It is rugged enough to withstand daily wear and tear while still being quite light and easy to transport.
Whether you have the 16 GB or 64 GB version, or if you have WiFi or 3G, each will fit perfectly within the ClearMax Bamboo iPad cover. The only thing you might grow tired of is the endless number of comments and/or questions you might get when people first see you with this outstanding iPad cover and stand. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DZIZ6TY

Every IPad User Might Adore Ipad Case with Keyboard

Apple IPAD 4 CASE with keyboard is your iPad's new best friend. Not only does the stylish leather case effectively protect your precious iPad, it also provides a much more efficient and convenient way to type on the IPAD 4 CASE instead of using the touchscreen keypad. Also, the case allows your iPad to stand, resulting in a great viewing angle while you are using the keyboard.
If you use your iPad type a lot of features, the keyboard may have some documents you may want to consider. This document contains some special key operation to help the various functions in the iPad. The pier will also be responsible for your iPad. IPad to easily sync your other devices with 30-pin connector, with a pier, so you can connect the camera connection kit as well as other equipment. Keyboard base allows you to use as a laptop, when your iPad, or if you need but also allows you to connect to other devices.
Apple's new ipad 2, one of the most popular sleeve case situation. Such cases makes it easy for users to quickly slip inside the device, they are moving. The set of case will prevent scratches and dirt iPad 2, but did not provide much defense knock on the door and bumps. Many stylish graphics and materials for the iPad 2 of these users have a compelling choice. Variation of this case under the zipper, it also has a similar design, but the zipper to the safety equipment.
2 cases of lower iPad is a messenger-style bag, has long been used to carry a laptop computer and the Internet. Unit shut down these cases and provide a simple sets of protection. Messenger bags have extra pockets to store the needed accessories such as headsets and power. These are sometimes made of leather belt, usually including the provision of more security and portability.
Another such cases on the market today that is waterproof, or clamshell iPad 2 silicon cases. Leakage in such cases provides good protection and other accidents. The waterproof shell is made of plastic closure of these two powerful elements away from your iPad 2 All invasive liquid shells. They also provide a layer of protection, if you have a small knock on the door around the device.
Welcome to our Espow.com ipad 2 case with keyboard marketplace. Espow.com is your online source for quality and stylish iPad protective cases. We offer a Huge Selection of Leather iPad Cases, Plastic iPad Cases and Silicone iPad Cases. You might be interested in checking out a range of IPAD 4 CASE  and Skins in our latest hubpage - hope you like it! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GQW7E9Q