I'm a PC

Below are three free apps that try to bring a few more windows to the iPad.

• PocketCloud - Pocket Cloud lets you access your work or home Windows PC via Remote Desktop. There are several other apps in the Apps Store that offer this functionality but for a fee. When you need to get to your computer using only an iPad, PocketCloud does the job nicely in a touch environment
• CloudOn - CloudOn is an interesting new app that allows you access to the files in your DropBox account so you can edit them in a virtual version of Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. The service was simple to set up but I did find editing documents to have a bit of lag.
• OnLive Desktop - The OnLive Desktop app takes virtual computing a step farther for iPad users by giving you an entire Windows desktop (Start menu and all) to play with. OnLive Desktop gave me the smoothest transition back to the Windows world. Creating an account (and waiting for it to activate) took longer than I expected but it came with 2GB of free storage for all my Windows files. Editing documents in MS Office was much smoother than CloudOn and I found this app to be a great way to show off PowerPoint presentations.

I should be clear about one thing. None of the apps above will replace your Windows PC. You won’t have an iPad that runs Windows too. The apps above are close but some things are are just not the same in a touch environment. If you’re an iPad user who also runs Windows, all three apps above are worth taking a look at but don’t throw out your PC just yet.

With only a few more weeks before the start of school, this reminds me of that ever so important first day of class.  Since first impressions are important in almost every environment, I like to kick-off the year with an activity. I want to capture the spirit of the course and send the message that my class is about laboratory investigations and working together.

Some teachers choose to take care of the nuts and bolts of their course by passing out forms to be signed, assigning seats and going over those dreaded classroom rules.  Don’t get me wrong, I think clearly stated classroom expectations are important, I just don’t think you should start off with that as your introduction.

I was so surprised to see Apple, who I thought was the master of first impressions, make this mistake.