iOS Update 6.1.2? How Do I Install It?

While an iOS Update feels like Christmas morning to Tech Heads everywhere, for some people it can be intimidating. If you are new to iOS software updates, iPhones, iPads, or iPod Touches, don’t feel alone. Every single day thousands of people put down their old flip phones or Blackberries and move into the world of All Things Apple. Follow these simple steps to update your iOS device (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) to the latest and greatest software.

First select the Settings icon on the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch (or iDevice) Home Screen.

Select General>Software Update

Select Download and Install

Agree to the Terms and Conditions

Make sure your iDevice is plugged in to a power supply to keep the battery from depleting in the middle of the update.

You should see this kinda cool gear graphic while it is downloading the new software.

Before your iDevice installs the new software, it will verify one last time.

After your iDevice powers itself off once, you should be running the newest iOS software available. Congratulations! You did it!

Tech Predictions for 2013 from A Seventh Grade Teacher’s Perspective

Stock analysts regularly rake in six figures for predicting trends in technology, but in 11 years of teaching, I have discovered that if you want to know what is going to be big in the future you just need to ask a 7th grader. I remember the shock I felt back in 2003 when I first started hearing students talk about iPods. I was astounded that parents were spending $200 – $300 for these little digital music devices. And I was even more shocked when the iPod quickly became as ubiquitous as the wrist watch among my students. Every kid in my school either had or wanted to have an iPod to listen to on the ride to and from school on the bus. Oh! If only I had optioned out of my 401K and put it all in Apple stock at that time. But let’s focus more on the future.

Apple vs. Google -

Don’t be fooled by prognosticators predicting the demise of Apple. The iPhone is BY FAR the most wished for and cherished device for 7th graders. Even though they were only 12 years old last September, my students looked forward to the introduction of the iPhone 5 as much as I used to look forward to Christmas morning. They had read the blogs so much that they were experts on Apple’s newest flagship device. Pity the poor kid with an Android device that spends most of the time defending his or her device. Even though their parents may have told them that an Android phone is better than an iPhone, all of the kid’s friends translate that into “cheaper,” and think “Oh! His parents can’t afford to buy him an iPhone.” And an iPhone is so important to them that they don’t just argue the importance of owning an iPhone in my class, they also argue the importance of owning the latest iPhone – “Awwwww, Mr. Whatley! All I have is this crummy iPhone 3GS!” And the ones whose parents aren’t ready to bite off the financial responsibility of a “required” data plan either own or want to own an iPod Touch or iPad. Some do have Kindles or Kindle Fires, but I don’t see any Nexus tablets in the hands of my students. I know a few Fandroids out there will chime in with comments referring to “Lemmings, Jelly Bean, and 5″ displays,” but those things just aren’t important to 7th graders. So based on impressions I get from the 12 year olds in Room 209, Tim Cook can expect many more multi-million dollar bonuses in the coming years.

Cases –

This one is just about as important to 12 year olds as the iPhone vs Android vs dumb phone argument. Kids in my class firmly believe there is only one smart phone case worth owning. Almost as important as which phone you carry in your pocket is which case you use to protect that prized device. The overwhelming winner in this category is the Otterbox Defender series in bright colors of pink, orange, and green for girls, and basic black for boys with an occasional lean towards a college football or Realtree camouflage design. Obviously, this choice is much more important to the girls than the boys.

Social Networking -

This category is always surprising to me. In 2008, when I was asked to sit on a committee to learn more about Social Networking use among our students, Myspace was king in the category. By the end of that year though, Facebook was outgrowing it by such huge amounts that co-creator Tom Anderson sold it to NewsCorp for $580 Million. Today Facebook has over a BILLION users with over 600 Million using the site on mobile devices. I don’t think Mark Zuckerberg is worried about paying any bills in the future, but I do hear and see some trends in this channel. Originally only an iOS exclusive app, Instagram now has become VERY POPULAR with 12 year olds. They would rather snap a picture of themselves and their friends than type up a creative, humorous or thought-provoking status update. I’m sure now that Facebook saw this coming when it purchased Instagram for $1 Billion last year. They can follow their friends’ and their favorite celebrities’ Instagram posts as well. I don’t see Facebook going the way of Myspace anytime soon simply because adults like me have adopted it as their main form of communication, but I do see Instagram growing and changing from its image-only model to a more verbally driven communication tool in the future. Twitter surprisingly doesn’t carry nearly as much weight with 7th graders. They really don’t see the point. To me, Twitter has replaced my evening newspaper; I follow sports personalities, bloggers, and news journalists to get the latest developments in sports, technology, and politics, and regularly follow links posted in tweets to get my news updates, but kids just don’t care about those things yet. It shouldn’t really surprise me as they are a much more visual generation than any I have taught so far.

So celebrate the coming of 2013 in confidence. The country might fall over the fiscal cliff, global warming might suprise us with another super storms, and Americans might seek a change to the 2nd Amendment, but at least you will know what to expect in the Tech world. And remember you read it here first straight from the mouths of babes (or 7th graders).

Brewster: It Just Keeps Growing on You

Brewster Everybody

Two months ago I read a blog somewhere written about a contacts management app with a strange name. It seems like I read that Brewster was the app creator’s high school, but I wouldn’t swear to that. I will swear to one thing – Brewster will definitely change the way you look at your contacts and relationships.

Currently only available for iOS, there is a slightly tedious installation process required. You have to decide which of your contact lists you want to include. It can be as simple as your iPhone’s native contact list, or you can incorporate your facebook, twitter, Linkedin, gmail, and Foursquare accounts. When you combine all of these different contacts, you tend to get duplicates. There is the ability to merge the multiple contacts, but it is rather tedious especially if you’ve added all of your twitter and facebook friends and followers.

The Brewster app is visually impressive utilizing the different profile images from your contacts. After selecting a few “favorites” that move to the top of the screen, it becomes easy to reach the people you contact the most.

Brewster Favorites

The app also offers an Updates ticker that informs you of your contacts’ birthdays, when your contacts are making connections, or even when contacts seem to be losing touch.

Brewster Updates

The Brewster algorithm creates intelligent lists to organize your contacts. This is probably the most helpful of all the features because with over a 1,000 contacts gathered from my different social networks, it can be a nightmare sometimes to track down someone’s contact information. The smart lists created include Everybody, Trending, Losing Touch, Frequently Contacted, Most Mutual Connections, and Friends. The app also gives you the ability to create your own lists like Drinking Buddies or Cycling Pals.

Brewster Lists

There are those that are rightfully very concerned about privacy. Anytime you let an outside entity gain access to your contact information you have to be careful, but I haven’t had any problems is the two months I’ve been using Brewster. I find myself looking forward to checking the Updates ticker to see who’s having a birthday soon, or if I’m losing touch with anyone on my contact list, but I really like to see the way it sorts my friends by contact frequency more than anything else. Business Insider even included Brewster as one of The Top 25 Most Disruptive Apps of 2012 for giving users the ability to “more easily manage contacts in a beautifully designed app”. So far I am in complete agreement.

Week 12 SEC College Football Review Or You’re Not in Kansas Anymore

 

You’re Not in Kansas Anymore

A week full of out of conference cupcake matchups was overshadowed by two major upsets in the Big12 and Pac12. Just a week ago, Oregon and Kansas State were looking down on the world of college football, but upsets at the hands of Stanford and Baylor respectively have thrust Georgia and Alabama back into the title race. Shame on you Kansas State. I wanted to believe you were having a magical year, but evidently it was just another cakewalk through the defenseless Big12. I wanted to pull for Coach Bill Snyder even though I remembered KSU collapses back in the 90s. But Baylor?? Really?? On the other hand, I never for one minute thought Oregon could beat Alabama. I remembered how every sports writer outside of the south was pumping them up in 2010. I remembered all those boasts about “how many plays they could run in a game” and “how many million yards they had gained in the Pacifist Athletic Conference.” I remembered how Auburn’s leaky defense completely blew up their offensive line holding them to only 19 points in the BCS Championship Game. Oregon better hope they don’t sneak back into the picture because an Alabama -  UO matchup wouldn’t be pretty for the Ducks.

The Contenders – Alabama and Georgia

As hard as it is to believe Alabama is definitely back in the hunt to defend their BCS Championship. A victory over arch-rival Auburn and a win over Georgia in the SEC Championship Game and the Crimson Tide will be favored to repeat. Is it an automatic that Nick Saban’s squad will make the final two? No exactly. But I expect them to be six point favorites over the Bulldawgs in Atlanta. Does Auburn stand a chance to upset the Tide? About as much chance as Alabama has of coming down with a massive team-wide stomach virus as they’re dressing for the game. It wasn’t just the Murray household that was celebrating at 11:30 Saturday night when Stanford kicked the winning FG to knock another team from the unbeatens. Dawgs across the southeast celebrating in the realization that they are only three straight wins away from their first national championship since a guy named Herschel was running over the world of college football. As I said last week, the SEC Championship Game won’t be an easy win for the Tide. Aaron Murray is an accurate passer, and we have all seen what less accurate signal callers (Mettenberger and Manziel) have done to the Alabama defense.

Almost Need A Miracle – Florida

If Notre Dame lays an egg at struggling USC, Florida has a very slim chance of slipping into the BCS Championship against Alabama. I say Alabama because I don’t think anyone outside of the states of Georgia and Florida want to see a Bulldawg-Gator rematch, but Alabama and Florida did not play this year. That matchup might be enticing enough for the Gators to climb the BCS ranks. If Georgia upsets Alabama, I expect the Dawgs to face off against Oregon.

The Rest of SEC Bowl Candidates – Texas A&M, LSU, South Carolina, Miss State

The Aggies, Bayou Bengals, Gamecocks will be bowling throughout the holidays.Texas A&M and LSU will be definitely be celebrating on New Year’s Day, but South Carolina and Mississippi State’s bowl destination dates are still in question. New Year’s Eve at the Chick-fil-Bowl is not a bad gig.

Need To Win in The Clutch – Mississippi and Mizzouri

Ole Miss still needs a win against Miss State to qualify, but I think that will come against a reeling group of Miss State Bulldogs that are already bowl eligible. Coach Hugh Freeze has done a great job with this team. They have lost some close games, but I like the way they fly around the field.  Missouri has a much tougher test awaiting in Texas against Johnny Football and a confident group of Aggies, but if we learned anything this week, it was that upsets occur usually without anyone expecting them.

Done! Done! Done! And Then Some! – Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky, Tennessee

What can you say? Two of the four (Kentucky and Tennessee) have already fired their coaches with games still left on the schedule. Arkansas knows they are in the market for a new head man, and Auburn is just letting Gene Chizik enjoy another week where he won a national championship trophy just two years ago. Kentucky has always been a lower tier SEC football program, but they have always had the upper hand on the hardwood. Arkansas, Auburn, and Tennessee however are in rare situations. With the players, facilities, fans and revenue bases these programs have, it is ridiculous for them not to qualify for bowl consideration. The last games of this dismal season for these teams will be much of the same. Auburn travels to Tuscaloosa to take on the reigning and possible repeating national champions, Kentucky travels to Rocky Top in a battle of mediocrity, and Arkansas hosts LSU. Three of these four underachievers have already won their final games of  this dismal year.

Week 11 SEC College Football Review

Johnny Football (Manziel) made believers throughout the country yesterday afternoon with a performance that launched him to the forefront of this season’s Heisman Trophy race.  Obviously some of the hype repeatedly heaped upon this year’s Alabama squad was premature. To hear the ESPN pundits and CBS’s Verne Lundquist you could have assumed the Crimson Tide would have given the ’72 Dolphins a run for their money. Certainly Alabama is an extremely talented and well-coached team, but with a narrow escape the week before against a merely slightly better than average LSU team, it was only a matter of time before the Crimson Tide was tripped up along the way to their second consecutive national championship.  The Bayou Bengals would have beaten Alabama if not for some idiotic play-calling from the Mad Hatter. In the last two weeks, Alabama’s defensive backfield has struggled trying to stop the passing games of LSU’s Zach Mettenberger and TAMU’s Manziel, so Coach Mark Richt and the very accurate passing Aaron Murray must be licking their chops as they make long term preparations for the SEC Championship Game.  Don’t get me wrong; Alabama will be a focused football team for the rest of the season, but Georgia’s squad is peaking at the right time.

While not as mobile as TAMU’s Johnny Football, Aaron Murray is currently the most accurate passer in the conference, and Tavares King is an NFL caliber receiver that can create separation from defenders and make the most difficult of catches anywhere on the field. The Dawgs’ Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall (Gurshall to the Bulldawg faithful) give Georgia a running game that will put pressure on the Crimson Tide linebakers and safeties throughout the game.Combine this versatile offensive attack with the tough, hard-nosed defense that includes pass-rushing sensation Jarvis Jones and ball-hawking strong safety Baccari Rambo, and you have the kind of  well rounded football team that could send the reigning national champs to the Capitol One Bowl instead of the Sugar Bowl.

Granted the SEC CG could go either way. Alabama is powerful for sure. A.J. McCarron is solid at QB for the Tide, and receiver Amari Cooper may be the 2nd coming of Julio Jones. Eddie Lacey may be a stronger runner than Mark Ingram or Trent Richardson. While backup T.J. Yeldon may have the brightest future of any Alabama ball carrier in the Capstone’s  illustrious history, the talented teenager is still just a true freshman capable of making game-changing mistakes like the one he made last night when he fumbled the ball inside the TAMU 10 yard line.

So what does it all mean? It means once again that negotiating an SEC schedule unscathed is an almost miraculous feat that only comes along on very rare occasions.  Since the split of the SEC into two divisions and the inception of the SEC Championship Game, it has only happened six times: Tenn ’98, Bama ’09 & ’92, and of course Auburn in ’10, ’04, and ’93. Going undefeated in college football’s best conference requires meticulous coaching, relentless preparation, talented play-makers, and a lot of just plain old-fashioned luck. Does this mean that this year’s winner of the SEC Championship Game couldn’t win the BCS Championship? Not at all. But without an undefeated record, this year’s champion and all of its supporters will need some help in order to have that opportunity. Standing between a BCS berth and this years conference champion are Oregon, Kansas State, and Notre Dame. All have difficult tests left on their schedules, and all three could stumble. If any of the two stub their toe  against the likes of USC, Texas, Stanford or Oregon State, then the SEC Champion will be waiting in the wings for a chance to defend its six consecutive national championships.

Georgia vs. Auburn: A Family Affair

While some of my best friends are Georgia fans, my daughter Janie is my favorite BullDawg. Tonight she will be marching with the Redcoat Marching Band in the stadium where she watched Auburn do battle from the time she was three years old until she moved to Athens the summer before last. I’m absolutely certain that sometime during the night she will look up fondly and find in the western upper deck Section 53, Row 5, Seats 1 & 2 where she, her brother Hill, and I squeezed into two seats for all those years to watch Auburn beat the likes of Tennessee, LSU, FSU, Alabama, and on more than a few occasions Georgia.

If tonight’s game ends as most prognosticators predict, Janie and the Redcoats will be returning to Atlanta for second consecutive shot at an SEC Championship and possibly (although improbable) a shot at a BCS Championship. I would love for her to be able to experience these things while she is in Athens, and in a year like this, Auburn really wouldn’t get much out of an upset win other than the personal satisfaction of being the spoilers of Georgia’s championship dreams. So with all things considered, an Auburn victory tonight is not as important to me as in other years. So just for Janie and all my red and black wearing friends best of luck and GOOOOOO DAWGS! BUT if Georgia doesn’t play their best, if they somehow allow Auburn’s young offensive line with its true freshman QB to hang around within striking distance, and if they somehow let a struggling Auburn defensive unit build the confidence that elevates them to a level of play above their means, I will be pleading and shouting at a volume level even you, your 325 redcoat-wearing brethren, and all their instruments will not be able to drown out. WAR DAMN EAGLE!

Maps in iOS 6?? Come On MAN!

My blog entry Wednesday night was pretty glowing of iOS 6 and its new features. But after some kickback from the apple users around the world, I looked closer at Apple’s new Maps app. Man! Was I disappointed! The maps looks cheesy. The lettering for the roads look like something a kid would have done. The pictures are not detailed at all, and don’t even try to scroll around in a picture like you could in Google Maps. I know the Maps app is pretty useless for navigation purposes except as a last resort, and even the old Google Maps app was nothing compared to a dedicated GPS device like Garmin or TomTom, but Apple is supposed to be a cutting edge company, an innovator. Sorry Tim, but the new Apple Maps app falls way below everyone’s expectations.