The first item I purchased was the miim Samsung Chromebook 11.6 Inch Slim Shoulder Bag. I have a carry case for my laptop (Macbook Pro 15 inch), but it is just too big if I only want to tote my ChromeBook (CB)...and maybe my iPad and iPhone. I love it because it is adequately padded, has two compartments to keep my iPad and CB separately padded, and has several pockets for smaller gadgets. It has a nice zipper top and velcro closures for the side pockets. It also comes with a shoulder strap to carry like a messenger bag. I would have to say the only down side I see so far is it took over a week to get here. It cost me $26.99 on Amazon and I have a feeling it will earn that money back in no time!
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| miim with the shoulder strap |
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| plenty of room for other gadgets and cables |
The second item I bought was the nootle iPad Tripod Mount by grifiti. This bad boy will be going with me into classrooms! It is basically just an iPad protector with a mount attached so you can screw it onto any conventional tripod. Think of how much easier it will be to take pictures and video with your iPad attached to a tripod! grifiti also sells the dootle, which is a combination iPad holder and notepad holder. It just makes sense then that they would also make the TAGTool Stylus. This is a stylus and writing instrument in one. I don't have either of these items...maybe for Christmas.
I paid $16.98 on Amazon for my nootle.
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| That's me taking a picture of the setup |
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| this is what it looks like from the back |
The third, and coolest gadget I bought is a Maxell Airstash with 16GB SD card! I am so excited to use this next school year with my teachers that have multiple iPads or other devices. So what is it, you might be asking?? (I hope you are) This little guy, smaller than a pack of gum, is a wireless storage device. It allows you to store videos, photos, and documents. But that's not all...you can share stuff (not apps) between devices, even if the devices don't have any accounts in common! The first thing I did when I got it was put a video and a Google Presentation on it. Then, I grabbed Mike and made him a geek for a few minutes (that's all he can stand). We were both able to watch the video (not simultaneously...we started it at different times) and were able to open the Google Presentation!
I had this device up and running in about a minute. I haven't pulled out the little manual yet! It is so simple; turn it on, go to your settings on your device and connect to it (AirStash), press your home button and launch the AirStash+ app (FREE). Well...there is a little bit more to it...read on...
The AirStash has a USB connection to connect to your computer and a slot to insert an SD storage card. When you connect it to your computer, it is like a flash drive. You can store music, videos, photos, and files on it. I put a video (6.4 MB QuickTime file), two songs (1 .mp3 I ripped from a CD and 1 .m4a I bought on iTunes) and a Google Presentation.
Once you have the files on it, you unplug it from your computer. Then from any device that you want to use it with, you use the AirStash+ app to get to the files. The video and music stream so you don't take up any room on your device (LOVE IT). For photos, you import from the AirStash or export to the AirStash. What a beautiful way to share photos out to multiple devices, or collect from multiple devices (Teachers, are you listening?)
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| My iPhone and iPad connected. It looks the same on both |
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| Here I am streaming a video to both my iPhone and iPad |
When you launch the AirStash+ app, it appears like any storage device and you can create folders to organize your content. When you want to open a document that is stored on the AirStash, just tap it from the list. When I tapped on my Google Presentation, a message popped up that told me my device might not be able to read the file, and asked me to download it (so files are transferred to your device). Dropbox, Google Drive, Bump, Evernote, email and copy were the options for using the file for me on my iPhone. I had more choices on my iPad because I have more apps there.
You can use up to 128GB SD cards to expand your storage, share files with up to 8 devices and share movies with up to 3 devices simultaneously. You charge it by plugging it into your computer so there is no need to carry extra batteries with you. I haven't read to see if you can charge it with an outlet plug.
One thing you have to be aware of is when you are connecting to the AirStash, you are using your wi-fi connection, so you lose Internet. You just need to either turn off the AirStash or switch wi-fi options in settings to get back on the Internet. I bought this for $139.70 on Amazon.
I will be bringing this (and all my other gadgets) to the 2013 MCCE Summer Tech Summit in August so be sure to find me and we can share summer pictures! I will have had time to play with them all by then and hopefully will have a massive amount of ideas for uses. I am hoping you already have ideas forming!
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