WhoDat HooToo?

This is pretty much the reaction of my students when I told them about HooToo. Who's/What's HooToo, they/you ask?

These guys are not well known. Well Duhh!!! They are a small outfit that's just a few years old out of Silicon Valley (of course), that up to this point has some USB hubs and one really interesting product.... in a couple of variations.

....the HooToo Tripmate HT-M01. That's it up there. It's about the size of an old clamshell cellphone. What does it do? Well...... what does it not do is a better question! It is a WiFi router, NAS, WiFi/Network bridge, charger and personal "Cloud". In essence; it's the answer to my geek-boy prayers! I did not buy this. It's $50.

I bought this! This is the HooToo Tripmate HT-M02 "Nano". It's the size of 3 saltines stacked together, as you can probably tell by the relative size in comparison to the USB and Ethernet cables in the picture. It was $20; well, actually $18.xx. The difference? It doesn't have a battery and has to be plugged into some source of power delivered through the micro-USB cable. So, it doesn't charge stuff, and it's power delivery is limited. However, it will in fact run a flash drive, I wanted to test the concept and it was CHEAP!

What concept? You guys might have noticed that I've been yammering about "cloud" type things for a while now. I have a need for people to access files via devices, whether tablet, phone or computer, wherever it is I'm at. My students need files from me. My children need videos from me, and my wife needs whatever comes to her mind from me. One of the things I've run into is that the majority of tablets don't have regular ports on them to read storage, no USB, no SD card reader. What HooToo does (HT-M01, Nano, Elite) is to create your own little cloud around you.

 

Kind of like Pig-pen in Charlie Brown. Plug in any USB storage and it will use it's wireless access point (with or without) internet and broadcast it out to whoever has it's Tripmate app. There are apps for Android, iOS and PC. My position on the device was that, the idea sounded cool, and I had a use for it. But it was so new that I didn't want to invest a lot of money into it and have it NOT WORK. For me; $20 is an amount that I can handle losing, but $50 would irritate me.

It showed up in the mail yesterday from Newegg and I got it working last night. Then tried it out in my classroom today. It worked exactly the way they said it would. The set up was very simple and in fact if I was them, I'd replace that large confusing manual with a Quick Setup Guide. My students downloaded the app and were instantly able to access the files they needed. You might be asking, if we have B.Y.O.D. and WiFi internet access all over the building, what is the purpose of having this thing? Isn't it redundant? Yes, we have the whole Google Drive/Google Docs thing and yes indeed, most kids have their own device and others have school provided notebook computers. However, all of this is subject to the vagaries of our heavily filtered network where files are uploaded to god-only-knows-where and back down again in the same room. Isn't that just a little perversely inefficient? Besides which, I have a number of students who for whatever reason still can't get on to the system. Don't know why. This way, I can get them what they need directly! And if you are in a school district that doesn't have those resources at all.......?

Who doesn't have one of these? With this and my Nano, I am the king of all that I survey, or at least inside my classroom anyway! "Behold; I am become the cloud".....or something like that anyhow.

And when I'm not teaching? Well; I'm completely expecting that HooToo to go on vacation with us. This will give me a way to provide files to the children in the backseat while they are on their tablets.

Now that I know that it works and I have uses for it. My plan is to buy the soon to be released Tripmate Elite which not only has a battery (that my Nano doesn't), but two higher amperage USB jacks so that it can function as the one charger for out phones and tablets, wired connection to the hotel's network via the Ethernet and provide my own WiFi Access Point as well. The best part of this $50-60 device? It'll keep me from having to buy the Corsair Voyager Air for $200!

World War "F": The Day of the Tablet

It's almost upon us....the most dreaded day of the year......Black Friday!!! This year is going to be extra dreadful. Black Friday combined with.....B.Y.O.D. That's bring your own device for the uninitiated. I'm not sure how it is in other parts of the country (but I suspect that it's about the same), schools have decided to get out of the technology hardware game and have largely embraced the B.Y.O.D. concept in some form. It's simply moving too fast for the institutions to keep up with it, plus it's so pervasive that most students either have it already or are acquiring it eminently. So even schools like mine which had been on the cutting edge by providing laptop computers are bowing to this irresistible force of technology. 

What has also become apparent is that many parents played the "wait and see" game to determine how much their children were going to need to use technology and how the schools were going to implement it before running out and buying something. Well, I'm going to bet that they've seen enough to now "make the call". So, either they, the grandparents, Santa, or whoever is going to make a major run on these things during this year's holiday buying season. 

Although, B.Y.O.D. doesn't necessarily define it's technology to mean tablets, and sometimes, that's not even the best device for the child; I'm going to bet that they will be the majority of what's purchased this year. There's a number of reasons, but this post isn't about deciding between them, although I might feel the need to write one on that later. This post is about the parameters that make up the decision making process of choosing a tablet. Of course, I'll have to put the caveat out there that the information is for what's currently out now (Nov. 2013), and of course to some degree will be effected by my philosophies and biases. That's out of the way; let's get down to it!

No; that's not me. That is of course, the great Steve. And for many who have just paid attention to their awesome ad campaigns and drank the Apple "Juice" (Kool-Aid to some), you'd think that all anyone needed to do is to run out and buy one of their Uber-Cool devices and have done with it.

Of course, I'm a technological heretic and am here to tell you, it's not that simple. In today's tablet world, there are 3 main forces in play. Apple "IOS" (iPhone, iPad, iBlender, iDryer, yada-yada-yada, ad nauseum), Android (Pretty much any non-Apple Smartphone and Tablet) and new to the game; Windows (Actually Windows 8, phones and tablets). All three, have their strengths and weaknesses and I'll go through them one by one.

There's that man again! Well; that's because he/they invented the modern category of the tablet as we know it, with the original iPad of April, 2010. First, let's eliminate that from your buying consideration, no matter how great of a deal that "Uncle Ross/Aunt Judy" is offering you for their "almost-new" one....don't buy it! This first version of this product simply won't run many of the modern apps on it's IOS 5 which can't ever be updated to a newer version...end of story. Trust me; we have one. However, the iPad 2 (oddly still in production) will run the up-to-date versions of IOS, but just slower then the newest wiz-bang iPad "Air" which has the super-duper-secret-alien technology screen. In all seriousness though, any and all iPads are technologically cutting edge, and function virtually flawlessly and get great battery life. The down side is that they are generally more expensive than others with the current models starting at $399 and going up from there. Best bet in Apples (vs. Oranges ...padump) is the iPad 2 which sells down around $350. Your kids won't be able to tell the difference in the speed of the hardware between it and the more expensive versions. Are there downsides to iPads? Yup; IOS isn't as "open" as Andriod and therefore, some APPs don't have an IOS version. So if you are getting it specifically with the intention of your kid using it in school, I'd absolutely check to make sure whether there's an IOS version of the APP that their teacher(s) are looking to use! Plus, for all it's cutting edge technologies, Apple products are not often friends with otherwise "common" ports like USB, card readers, etc. You'll have to buy a separate device to say.....connect your digital camera or flash drive. Believe me, I've felt this pain. Oh yeah, almost forgot; if you are looking for a smaller version, the iPad "Mini" starts at $280. Also almost forgot; there's a dark secret about IOS devices that they don't like to talk about. They won't run anything with Adobe Flash. What's that you ask? Well kiddies....it's those fun little videos and other automated gizmos that are on everybody's websites these days ranging from just plain news sites to (unfortunately) many educational sites as well! Not trying to Apple-bash, just lettin' you know one of the issues Apple-philes have to deal with.

The other "heavy-hitter" in the tablet market are the various Android tablets. It doesn't matter whether you are looking at a Nabi, the Kindle, or the ubiquitous Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 or 3, they are all based on Google's little adaptation of the Linux OS we all know as the Android. Let's start with the basics before it gets complicated. Don't buy the little cheap ones that you see advertised at places like Big Lots for something in the order of $50-70. Just don't do it. They often run an old, designed for smartphones, version of the OS that runs on a single core processor. An older OS, means that besides it not having the newer improvements and features, but that it also won't run some APPs. A single core processor means that it can't be upgraded to a new OS either. In general, if you are looking for a "budget" tablet in the sub-$200 range, look for an older major brand, like Samsung, Asus, or Acer with at least a "Dual-Core" processor. You won't get the nicer HD screen, or much memory, but it'll be enough to run what you want to. 

What about the next group "up"? $250 or so? In that case, you really want to start with "Quad-Core" processor and a HD screen. What does that mean? It means that you'll be able to make this tablet last a little longer, because not only will it run what's out there now very nicely, but probably the next-gen OS and APPs that haven't been released yet. And if you haven't gone to a store and held an HD screen'd tablet side-by-side with a non-HD screen'd one; go do it and see what I'm talking about. 

What about the other one? Oh yeah; Microsoft Surface, running Windows 8 or 8 RT depending on whether you paid for the expensive version. I'll say this: if you have a high school or maybe a middle school kid who wants something light and physically smaller, then consider this. It's largely because these are better for content creation (read writing papers) than any tablet, even the big ones. However, I'll also say that I'd sooner buy a used ultra-portable laptop than shell out about $500 for one of these. $200 vs. $500, real keyboard vs. membrane kinda keyboard.....you decide. 

Still confused and would like me to be more specific? Want me to make some recommendations? OK, I'll do that....along with some things to think about as well.

• Apple families; you know who you are. You've gone through several generations of iphones. Mom and/or Dad have an iPad, maybe a MacBook? I'd look long and hard a the Mini for your kid unless there are reasons which can't be overcome. Here's the deal. It may be your kid's tablet, but when they can't find something or want to change a setting, you're going to want to know where that is. When you are traveling somewhere, you'll want everyone to be able to use the same chargers...trust me on this.
• Budget driven folks; for whatever reason, you need a functional tablet, but simply can't or won't go over a price-point. The lowest price-point, I can recommend if you really can't do $225, is $175. At this price, you can buy a decent machine branded by a decent company that will be probably be there for the duration of the warranty and won't have turned into "makers" of vacuum cleaners. The older model of the Samsungs, the Galaxy Tab 2, is available at lots of places around $179. HP has a tablet about around $150 that has good specs, but it's build quality is not very good. I'd look for one of the old Asus ME tablets. You might get lucky and get one with a nicer screen. Make sure that the Android OS is 4.xx "Ice Cream Sandwich" or newer. Try to get one with a MicroSD card slot so you can put a memory card in there to augment the low amount of memory that comes with tablets in this price range (typically 8Gb).
• Bang For The Buck Buyers; look to spend $225-275. The Nexus 7 HD, whether you buy the Google version (made by Asus) or the Asus version (made by Asus) are really great deals right now. They typically sell at $229. The hardware is very nice, the screen is excellent and it's well-made. Personally, if I wasn't as price-sensitive, I'd look for one of the Asus models that has the MicroSD card readers although it's not as big of an issue here since most of these tablets will come with 16Gb of memory on board. But hey, it's always nice to be prepared, especially if you travel a lot and want to put a bunch of movies on there for your kid. 
• Beyond this price point, you are mostly paying for extras that are very user specific. These are things such as a docking keyboard, extra-super-duper fancy camera, bigger screen, other things that kids don't need. Also, buy a 7" tablet. You'll/They'll appreciate the way more convenient smaller size. You'll appreciate the smaller price as well.

But what about Nabis and Kindles!?! Here's the deal on those. I wouldn't generally recommend either of them for the same philosophical reason and different real-world reasons. I don't like products that are specifically "limited". Since Android is basically an "open" standard, manufacturers can basically do with it what they want. Some, based on what market segment they are trying to sell to, will create a "walled garden" so only certain APPs are available for their product. This is all fine and good you have a young child, but create issues if you have a school-aged kid who will have different needs as they grow. In the Nabi's case (literally), they've essentially added a silicone case to the case. That might be a good thing if you have a younger kid or a particularly accident-prone one, but I'd suspect that it would be a bit of an issue to put in the typically over-stuffed book-bag though. Both the Kindle Fire, and Blackberry playbook are really nice devices, however, they both limit their users to specific subsets of Android Apps available or worse yet, their own Apps. Just ask HP how that one worked out! Nook? See above. But in the end, what the issue ends up being is that, if their specific adaptations aren't exactly what you need, then not only do they not offer any more for your money, but end up limiting what you can do with it in the long run.

A few last notes and items to address before closing out this post. What about a phone? Your kid may campaign for one, but the simple fact is that they really don't have big enough screens to do any sort of real work on. They are also often too small to allow the user to make accurate button presses on some of the curriculum specific practice apps. Plus, since they are often tied to the data side of your cellphone plan, do you really want to trust that your kid is going to go through the extra step to make sure that they've logged on to the schools WiFi network vs. being still tied to the cell tower sucking down your data minutes? Really? You do actually know your 8, 9 or 10 year old, right? Yeah, that's what I thought.

"So, which size do I buy?" I'll make it easy. Unless you have specific needs, buy the 7" or as close to that size as possible. It's small enough to make it easy to throw in a bag, but it's big enough to read for an extended time and see things without squinting. If you can afford it, get one with Gorilla Glass, much less likely to break when your child throws it. Again, if it fits in your budget, I'd try to get one with a MicroSD card reader (memory cards are cheap). For your sanity, get them decent headphones, and a car-USB adapter (make sure that it'll support the electrical draw of a tablet though; about 2amps). Get a decent case that has a hard cover over the screen. You've seen the inside of your child's book bag, right? .....and have seen how they throw that around?

Where to buy? OK, let me start by saying that I'm not supported by any company in any way shape or form. I share with you what I do based on hard-won experience and my partially tough-in-cheek eccentricities. If there's a Micro Center in your area; print out this post and go there. They have a lot of stuff so you need to give yourself some time. Go on a weeknight or the middle of a weekday. Do not go on Saturday any time around and after noon. Same for Sunday. I like them because unlike other places, their staff seems to know what they are talking about. I like that. They also tend to hire people that actually speak good English. I also like that. But they are physically much smaller than a Fry's so they'll often get crowded. I go to Fry's sometimes, when I feel like being alone. Unless you are like me; don't go. Or expect that no one will help you. You (or they) won't be able to find what you want (the thing in the ad) since they sold both of them within minutes of the Friday ad coming out. I prefer not to go to Walmart or Best Buy for obvious reasons. Although Best Buy usually has lots of stuff out, and is a good place to just go and look at the models. Expect no useful help, unless it's a full-moon and on an alternate Thursday during a Leap-year. I'd sooner go to Walmart, although you won't think that they have what you are looking for since it won't be on display and you won't be able to see it locked behind the expanded steel-mesh cage at ankle level. The one kid who knows stuff won't be working on the day you go there. Amazon is a better bet.

 

B.Y.O.D. and Me

Let me catch you up with the rather prosaic end of my technological life, and that's as the "support tech" of my wife's burgeoning classroom computer lab. 

If any of you have been in a college classroom lately, this is about what it looks like. And that's aside from the classes that students are taking online or coursework that they are doing in an electronic format. 

So yeah..... if you aren't either taking advantage of what's available, or better yet getting the students used to (and ready) to do work in this idiom, then you probably need to wake up, 'cus this is mostly how people work these days. 

Which is why "B.Y.O.D.", or bring your own device is the prevailing trend in schools today. What happened to school providing computers? Well; two things..... shrinking budgets, and web-delivery of content. Say what? Yeah, with the trend toward content being delivered via browsers through the Internet (the Cloud), content has become more and more platform agnostic. Meaning that the hardware and operating systems are largely irrelevant! These forces have combined to make institutions create an infrastructure for the student to get to the information, and allow the students themselves to get on there with whatever device that they happen to have.... kind of like the government building roads and letting you drive on there with whatever car you want to buy.

This is all fine and good at the high school (or even middle school) where I'm at. Parents can generally see the need for them to have a computer to take to school, but what about the little ones? Here in the Bermuda Triangle of education, just above the poverty line, rising expectations, and public pressure, we have a little problem. The schools in our demographic don't qualify for the mass of grants and government aid, or corporate PR programs that are out there. Parents are having a hard enough time to buy big brother or sis a tablet/laptop, much less one for 8-year-old. With the typical budget crunch, classrooms are looking more and more like my wife's which, as of yesterday has 23 kids assigned to it. In case you didn't know; that's A LOT for 3rd graders who need WAY more individual attention than my 14, 15, and 16 year olds! Meaning that she has a far greater use for a computer that she can put a student on to do independent practice while she's working with others, than I, who's students are far more likely to have them! This is the conundrum facing us in these last few days of summer as we get closer and closer to school starting.

Although, I've talked a little about it before, but I don't think I've completely discussed my brother's role in this little adventure. So here goes: as it got closer and closer to school starting and me facing the prospect of having "BunnyNet" (our name for her computer workgroup) looking more like last years poor little collection and any real improvements. Meanwhile my brother and I started having a back and forth about some old cameras. Any of you who read me regularly have probably figured out that he and I have the same hobbies. So briefly, since I don't want to go on at length about earlier posts, I asked him if he had any old ThinkPads that he needed to clean out (since he's cleaning out anyway). As the last post discussed, these machines arrived just in a nick-of-time to save the day. Pretty cool, although, he's probably less like a super-hero than Lucius Fox who invents all of Batman's cutting edge gear! Here is how it changed our situation.

Yup. This is it. It isn't the most exciting thing in the world, but it sure does make my life a lot nicer. You say; REALLY!?! .....Windows 7! Here's the deal: 

Twelve? That's the magic number! My wife has 23 students and 24 is pretty much the most that she could have period. So half of that is 12! She figures that she can divide her class in half after a concept has been taught, and work with 12 in "small group" while the other half can practice using laptops and any number of math programs, or the kids can pair up to use them as well. 

However, my number was 6! As the summer was winding down, I had about 6 machines, most of which were the old A31, mobile Pentium 4 ThinkPads that are pretty much limited to Windows XP. Nothing on XP, but it's really old and you can't run it now without Service Pack 3 if you expect to get updates, PLUS support ends next Spring! Some of you might being saying; why can't you run Linux on them? Great! I'll just have a bunch of low SE kids most of whom don't get on a computer regularly with a teacher who has never used Linux do THAT..... Yeah, that's what I thought.... which is why that group of machines from my brother became so important.

Although most people would turn up their nose at a 7 year old computer running a single core processor, these things are a life-saver to me! They'll run Windows 7! They use DDR2 ram (read much cheaper). They use SATA hard drives (read much cheaper). They're 6-7 years old (read much newer than 10 or 11)! Just to give you a run-down, before the reinforcements showed up, I had 3 A31s (one was partially working), 1 T30, 1 T42p, 1 Z61m, and 1 T60. The "Z61" series has essentially the same guts as the "T60" series. Now, BunnyNet has that plus 2 T43p (hardwarewise, basically between the T42 and T60), another T60 and another Z61. This gives her 10 laptops, plus the 2 school provided desktops allowing her to hit the magic "12", but more important to me, I'll have 6 of the 10 running on Windows 7 (once I get that T42p reloaded)! There are still a few machine here in "the shop" awaiting various parts, and those will allow me to replace the aged A31/T30 machines before XP support ends next Spring! The world is now as it should be..... at least, until the next techie emergency hits.