brislink
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How I use my iPhone...
iPhone at Work article
Without blushing too much, I am a self-described Renaissance Man inasmuch as I am a high school teacher (TV Production, Audio Engineering, Electronic Music?and Algebra) and also run a recording studio and label out of a small barn in the back of my property. (I also do abstract painting and write?but that?s another story altogether.) All of my endeavors utilize the iPhone to keep me organized, informed, and inspired. Lemme ?splain.
On any particular day, there are a number of apps that I have come to rely on quite heavily. One that is essential to how I start my day is WeatherBug Elite. Being able to check the weather as soon as I?m up lets me know what vehicle I am going to take that day (no rain ? the bicycle, late afternoon storms ? the Vespa scooter, rain most of the day ? the truck.) If I ride my bicycle, I keep track of the workout using RunKeeper Free, which also gives me an idea of how many calories I?ve burned getting to school.
Once at school, my day is pretty much divided between using Pocket Informant, Evernote and DropBox. My daily teaching schedule is set and does not vary for the entire school year, so keeping track of what I teach isn?t as important as keeping track of the mass of meetings that occur. Between after-school activities/groups, two different types of learning community meetings, parent conferences, faculty meetings, department meetings?you have to stay organized to a fault. Pocket Informant, with its rich blend of calendar and to-do activities, allows one to stay on top of the myriad of obligations for which the typical teacher is responsible. It also allows me to sync to Google Calendar and ToodleDo to access my schedule and lists on any computer I?m near, both at school and at home. And since everything for any particular day can be seen in one place on my iPhone, I?m not bouncing between apps trying to keep track of what I?m supposed to be doing.
For my class files (Word handouts, PowerPoint presentations, and a slew of websites for demonstrations), I keep everything I teach in DropBox and in Evernote. I can access my files in DropBox from anywhere, so it again doesn?t matter if I?m working from home updating lesson plans or at school or even in the parking lot of my dentist?s?I can access my files and work. Evernote has become such a great organizer since I can quickly capture websites to peruse later for classes, or just keep production notes on what we are doing for any particular student project. When we were producing three different music videos last year, it was imperative that I keep track of what we were doing for each one when we were in the field. Even standing on the roof of the school (we were recreating rooftop concert from the Beatles? movie ?Let It Be?), I was able to take and make notes about the video in a timely manner without having to lug my notebook computer with me. And the mere fact that both are free is just icing on the proverbial cake.
After teaching all day, I have my other duties to attend to for my recording studio and record label. I keep track of clients and their musical progress using a set of databases that run in Bento both on my MacBook and iPhone. It allows me to quickly take notes of tracking sessions while the client is in the studio and transfers to my computer as soon as I both applications on my network. I even occasionally use the iPhone as an instrument for a session; I recently added a weird synth part to a song by using Bebot instead of trying to find a sound on one of my synthesizers. It was just faster and had a better sound to it since I was gliding from one note to the next.
Granted, I still use a ton of other apps on my iPhone; Password Wallet, Groups, Zenbe Lists, IMDb, ZenGrader?but the core apps are the one I described. I?ve used handheld technology since the first Newton?but the iPhone really has integrated so much better than anything that I?ve ever used.
iPhone at Work article
Without blushing too much, I am a self-described Renaissance Man inasmuch as I am a high school teacher (TV Production, Audio Engineering, Electronic Music?and Algebra) and also run a recording studio and label out of a small barn in the back of my property. (I also do abstract painting and write?but that?s another story altogether.) All of my endeavors utilize the iPhone to keep me organized, informed, and inspired. Lemme ?splain.
On any particular day, there are a number of apps that I have come to rely on quite heavily. One that is essential to how I start my day is WeatherBug Elite. Being able to check the weather as soon as I?m up lets me know what vehicle I am going to take that day (no rain ? the bicycle, late afternoon storms ? the Vespa scooter, rain most of the day ? the truck.) If I ride my bicycle, I keep track of the workout using RunKeeper Free, which also gives me an idea of how many calories I?ve burned getting to school.
Once at school, my day is pretty much divided between using Pocket Informant, Evernote and DropBox. My daily teaching schedule is set and does not vary for the entire school year, so keeping track of what I teach isn?t as important as keeping track of the mass of meetings that occur. Between after-school activities/groups, two different types of learning community meetings, parent conferences, faculty meetings, department meetings?you have to stay organized to a fault. Pocket Informant, with its rich blend of calendar and to-do activities, allows one to stay on top of the myriad of obligations for which the typical teacher is responsible. It also allows me to sync to Google Calendar and ToodleDo to access my schedule and lists on any computer I?m near, both at school and at home. And since everything for any particular day can be seen in one place on my iPhone, I?m not bouncing between apps trying to keep track of what I?m supposed to be doing.
For my class files (Word handouts, PowerPoint presentations, and a slew of websites for demonstrations), I keep everything I teach in DropBox and in Evernote. I can access my files in DropBox from anywhere, so it again doesn?t matter if I?m working from home updating lesson plans or at school or even in the parking lot of my dentist?s?I can access my files and work. Evernote has become such a great organizer since I can quickly capture websites to peruse later for classes, or just keep production notes on what we are doing for any particular student project. When we were producing three different music videos last year, it was imperative that I keep track of what we were doing for each one when we were in the field. Even standing on the roof of the school (we were recreating rooftop concert from the Beatles? movie ?Let It Be?), I was able to take and make notes about the video in a timely manner without having to lug my notebook computer with me. And the mere fact that both are free is just icing on the proverbial cake.
After teaching all day, I have my other duties to attend to for my recording studio and record label. I keep track of clients and their musical progress using a set of databases that run in Bento both on my MacBook and iPhone. It allows me to quickly take notes of tracking sessions while the client is in the studio and transfers to my computer as soon as I both applications on my network. I even occasionally use the iPhone as an instrument for a session; I recently added a weird synth part to a song by using Bebot instead of trying to find a sound on one of my synthesizers. It was just faster and had a better sound to it since I was gliding from one note to the next.
Granted, I still use a ton of other apps on my iPhone; Password Wallet, Groups, Zenbe Lists, IMDb, ZenGrader?but the core apps are the one I described. I?ve used handheld technology since the first Newton?but the iPhone really has integrated so much better than anything that I?ve ever used.