MLTI 2013 Included Software

The MLTI MacBook Air rollout at the high school this year is going to include a ton of software packages to use in your classroom. One of my goals for the year is to help you get familiar with what comes on your computer and how it can be helpful to you and integrated in to your classroom with relative ease.

Below is a list from the state with descriptions of the software to get you started:

Software Included

The following list of software titles are preloaded onto the MLTI MacBook Air Teacher & Student devices.

• FaceTime: Make video calls from your Mac to iPad 2 or later, iPad mini, iPhone 4 or later, iPod touch, or other Intel-based Mac users to easily communicate through sign language without the need of other devices.
• Airdrop: With AirDrop, you can send files to anyone around you wirelessly — no Wi- Fi network required. And no complicated setup or special settings. Just click the AirDrop icon in the Finder sidebar, and your Mac automatically discovers other AirDrop users within about 30 feet of you. To share a file, simply drag it to someone’s name. Once accepted, the fully encrypted file transfers directly to that person’s Downloads folder.
• Reminders: Organize your life on your Mac. Make as many to-do lists as you need and easily add to them. Set due dates and you’ll get alerts as deadlines approach. Set a location from your Mac, and your iPhone or iPad will remind you when you get there. And to be sure you don’t forget anything, iCloud keeps your reminders up to date on your Mac, iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.
• Safari: The world’ s fastest web browser for the Mac, Safari now boasts built-in RSS support. Scan the latest news, information and articles from thousands of websites in one easy-to- read, searchable article list using Safari RSS. Safari also uses strong 128-bit encryption when accessing secure sites.
• Preview: Preview is a Document viewer that supports many file types such as: PDF, JPEG, TIFF, RAW, DNG, EPS, PNG, PPT, and many others. Preview allows quick and efficient viewing and mark up of PDF files.
• Quicktime Player: QuickTime Player’s advanced architecture provides state-of-the-art multimedia technologies that enable everything from high-definition audio and video playback to the creation of immersive environments.
• Notes: A great idea could strike at any moment. Before you lose it, jot it down in Notes. With iCloud, all your notes stay with you on every device you use. So you can think of Notes as the keeper of anything important or anything, period.
• Calendars: Keep track of your busy schedule and share it with others using Calendar. Create separate calendars—one for home, another for school, and so on. Calendar also works with iCloud, Yahoo!, and Google. iCloud also features calendar sharing, which can be a powerful tool for teachers to track test dates and field trips, and for students engaged in collaborative project work.
• Keynote: Apple’s simple-to-use, cinema-quality presentation software lets students create stunning presentations to share their work. And Keynote will open PowerPoint files saved in Microsoft’s .ppt and .pptx file formats as well as save files into those formats.
• Numbers: Build spreadsheets on a flexible, free-form canvas complete with tables, charts, graphics, and text. Numbers will open Excel documents saved in Microsoft’s .xls and .xlsx file formats as well as save spreadsheets into these formats.
• Pages: A streamlined word processor with easy-to-use layout tools, Pages allows students to choose from hundreds of templates to create professional-looking newsletters, reports, and more. Students can use Pages to create all sorts of documents that combine text with supporting images, videos, graphs, charts, and more. And Pages will open Word files saved in Microsoft’s .doc or .docx format, and can save files into these formats as well.
• GarageBand: The easy way to record audio samples on a Mac. GarageBand provides access to music composition and seamless podcasting capabilities. With GarageBand students can create voice recordings to document progress over time.
• iMovie: Bring lessons to life through video, sound, and pictures. iMovie lets students focus on content in ways that can be easily shared. In fact, teachers tell us that it is their most effective tool to support challenge-based learning.
• iPhoto: iPhoto is a 21st century show and tell. iPhoto provides students with engaging alternative methods of demonstrating their knowledge and abilities through photos, text and audio. This visual storytelling provides a way for students with auditory processing difficulties to express themselves.
• Bento: Bento is the leading personal database. Now you can organize contacts, track projects, plan events and manage lists — the fast and easy way! Get started in seconds and be infinitely more organized. Bento includes 25 templates that are ready to use at work, home, school, and in your community. 
• iBooks Author (Teacher MacBooks Only): Available free on the Mac App Store, iBooks Author is an amazing new app that allows teachers to create beautiful Multi-Touch textbooks—and just about any other kind of book—for iPad. With galleries, video, interactive diagrams, 3D objects, and more, these books bring content to life in ways the printed page never could. 
• Xcode: Xcode is Apple's powerful integrated development environment for creating great apps for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Xcode includes the Instruments analysis tool, iOS Simulator, and the latest OS X and iOS SDKs.
• Adobe Digital Creations: Offers an engaging way to view and manage eBooks and other digital publications. Use it to download and purchase digital content, which can be read both online and offline. Transfer copy-protected eBooks from your personal computer to other computers or devices. Organize your eBooks into a custom library and annotate pages. Digital Editions also supports industry-standard eBook formats, including PDF/A and EPUB.
• Daum Equation Editor: is designed to quickly and easily provide many types of formulas.
• Grass GIS, Grapher: Commonly referred to as GRASS (Geographic Resources Analysis Support System), GRASS GIS is a free Geographic Information System (GIS) software used for geospatial data management and analysis, image processing, graphics/maps production, spatial modeling, and visualization. GRASS GIS is currently used in academic and commercial settings around the world, as well as by many governmental agencies and environmental consulting companies.
• SketchBook Express: SketchBook Express starts you out with a full color palette, a great selection of brushes (including two erasers, four pencils, two brush tips, and a technical pen), and three layers.This app puts professional level digital art tools at the user’s fingertips. Users can move, scale, and rotate layers, create text with a variety of fonts, colors, sizes and placement, and export finished work to the Photo Library.