UNCW MIT – Mobile App

The mobile app for my Master’s program is now available for Android here. The app was put together by two of our students via HTML. I then compiled the app via Adobe Phonegap. This is some of the cool stuff we are doing in our program!

The $38 Tablet

Yes there is an actual tablet for $38 and my initial review is that its actually not that bad. One of my students recently bought one and gave me a few minutes to play around with it. The tablet is a Ubislate. It runs Android 4.2.2. While its not very powerful, as in it has 512 mb ram, it does function as a full tablet. You have access to the android google play store and it has wifi. Honestly it looks, feels, and functions just like any other tablet. Its just has lower end components but for $38 I think its worth it. I would give this a buy for every single person that does not currently own a tablet. Also a quick note – it does ship from over seas and my student said it took her about a week to come in.

Here is the link: http://ubislate.us/

T Mobile will pay your early termination fees from Verizon or ATT

Looking to leave ATT or Verizon but stuck in a contract? Do not worry, T Mobile will actually pay your early termination fees. I think this is awesome. I personally dislike the business practices of both ATT and Verizon. Instead of competing for better prices they each just raise their prices together. T Mobile is awesome. $50 for unlimited text, data, and messaging. And they offer the best phones out of all the brands. And if you are wondering about service, their service is very good. This year alone they have increased their service significantly and its only January 8th.

Article

Cyanogenmod hits 10 million users!

Quite an accomplishment. For those that do not know what CM is, it is a ROM for android devices. What does that mean? It means that the company, cyanogenmod, took the open source operating system Android, modified it, and put it on their website for anyone with an Android phone to download and install. I have used it but I prefer AOKP.

http://www.cyanogenmod.org/

Galaxy Nexus Vs Moto X

I have acquired the moto x dev edition for verizon. My gnex is going to a good home (my father). So here are my thoughts. The main question, is it worth upgrading the gnex? Honestly, if you are buying a phone outright I do NOT think its worth it unless you care about a few new things. The gnex actually performs nearly as good as my new moto x (assuming you have rooted and customized it to). Here is my review:

I currently have 2 verizon phones – the galaxy nexus and the moto x from verizon. Here is what I have done to both phones before I give my review:

Gnex – I have rooted it and installed the latest 4.4 nightly from cyanogenmod. I have installed pacrom, aokp, etc as well and AOKP is definitely my favorite ROM but I am giving this phone to my father and think CM will be easiest for him as it updates itself through an OTA update.

Moto x – I have rooted it, installed Xposed (for gravitybox), deleted bloatware, and got it tether ready.

Reviews:

Speed/lag – I never noticed lag with my motox. Now that I have the moto x I am noticing where there was lag on my gnex. However, I dont think most people would notice it. It is not significant and doesnt make the phone perform any better/worse.

size – both are around the same size. the moto x is a bit smaller and screen appears to be the same size.

camera – i didnt notice a difference here and i dont really use the cams much either.

battery – much better on my motox. I get about 24hrs more. I think i got around 12-15 hours on average on my gnex and am getting 36+ on my moto x. i did have the 2200 size on my gnex too. this could be a breaking point for many people but i was able to go through the day and just charge each night with my gnex.

tethering – tethering was simple on my gnex. i just pushed the button and it works. it worked with a million tethering apps too. the moto x was not easy. it does not work with any of those apps. i had to go in and work in terminal to get tethering to work. i have a feeling i will need to do this with each OS upgrade too. I am not looking forward to it. It was not something a beginner will be able to easily do.

bloatware – none on the gnex. tons on my moto x. i had to delete it all but again this was easy once rooted.

active display – this is awesome. it is on both phones though. on the moto x its just automatically there. on my gnex i need to download dynamicnotifications app. i think each version (the app vs the native moto x app) each have some advantages over one another. this will be a preference thing but both basically function in the exact same way.

moto connect – Now this is new to me and I am really loving it. I can text – send and receive texts from my browser. This is really awesome as I work from home and dont alway have my phone on me. I can also take calls this way too. Very awesome. It could be worth upgrading for just this feature alone.

Dev support – tons of dev support for the gnex. it cant really be beat except for N5. Moto x seems good too just dont think it will ever be as good as a nexus device.

Company support – none for the gnex. phone is past its 18 months. seems like motorola is doing a great job with the moto x and I have a feeling that they will support longer than the standard 18 months given how they are still pushing this phone.

Overall that is my review. I dont think I really needed to upgrade my gnex. It was performing nearly as well as this new phone. I think it has another 1-2 years of life easily. If you do have the money though, it is worth the upgrade but its definitely not necessary.

Get texts, calls, and messages from your phone on your internet browser

So this is awesome. I can now get text messages, calls, and voice mail messages through my computer. I can also send them. So when my phone is in another room I can send and receive texts without having my phone near me. I love it.

Mісrоѕоft hаѕ bееn trying to bring trаdіtіоnаl Wіndоwѕ PCѕ and mоbіlе dеvісеѕ together for a lоng time, and іt’ѕ dоnе a great job wіth Windows 10.

A nеw feature that саmе wіth the Annіvеrѕаrу Update is thе аbіlіtу to раіr your ѕmаrtрhоnе wіth Wіndоwѕ 10, аllоwіng уоu to read and reply tо tеxt mеѕѕаgеѕ dіrесtlу frоm your Windows 10 device, this are great news for those companies that use the messaging service for business.

Yоu саn еvеn dісtаtе tеxt mеѕѕаgеѕ tо Cortana and thе dіgіtаl аѕѕіѕtаnt wіll note them dоwn and ѕеnd thеm.

However, if уоu wаnt еvеn more control оvеr your ѕmаrtрhоnе frоm Wіndоwѕ 10, then the Puѕhbullеt арр іѕ for уоu. It wіll show уоu notifications frоm уоur phone оn Wіndоwѕ 10, lеt уоu rерlу tо mеѕѕаgеѕ аnd ѕеnd аnd rесеіvе fіlеѕ between devices – all wіthоut removing your рhоnе frоm уоur росkеt! Rеаd оn tо fіnd оut mоrе.

Well there are a few options. The best one and one that I am using is called motorola connect and its available here:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/motorola-connect/kigmoblgooahdmdibodmcnffgnejlndh?hl=en

The only problem is that its only available via motorola phones. I assume it will be available to many more in the future.

Designing and Developing Mobile Based Instruction: A designer’s perspective

Here is my latest publication:

http://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/DATE/article/view/1877

Designing and Developing Mobile Based Instruction: A designer’s perspective

Mobile devices are increasingly being used in classrooms
and corporations as a means to deliver instructional
content. Currently, there is limited research on how to best
design and develop mobile based instruction. As a result,
the purpose of this research study was to examine
students’ perceptions of designing and developing mobile based
instruction by a) interviewing instructional design
graduate students in a computer based instruction course
who were given the opportunity to construct mobile-based
instruction and b) surveying instructional design graduate
students to uncover their perceptions of mobile instruction
design, usability, and delivery. Results of the survey and
qualitative data analysis indicated that usability was a key
issue on the mobile device. Users enjoyed quick access,
good organization, user control, single column layouts, and
large links/buttons. These findings contribute to the
literature base on the design and development of mobile
based instruction.

Instructional design app

One of my project this semester was to have my students create a mobile app. They all did a fabulous job. These were my graduate students so I expected nothing less. Anyway, here is one of them which is available on the google play store. Its an instructional design information app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.MIT._03

How to: Sell Verizon Contract and Keep your Number

Good info for those with unlimited data plans:

“OK 1st off let me make the disclaimer that I take no responsibility if this fails to work for you. Under Verizon you are 100% allowed to transfer your service to another individual, referred to as an Assumption of Liability (AOL), you can find it on the Verizon website.

With that said, I will now tell you how I was able to transfer my phone number I’ve had for 15+ years to a new provider and sell my existing unlimited data contract and make some money instead of pay hundreds in ETFs.

First thing you need to do is sign up for service with whatever new provider you want (I am assuming you are reading this b/c you want to leave Verizon and already have a new provider in mind). When you sign up for new service with another carrier it is VERY important you DO NOT port your existing Verizon number over. Porting the number over at this point will cancel your Verizon contract and you will be stuck paying the ETF.

OK so now that you have your new service with some new phone numbers, you will need to port your existing Verizon number over. To do this, call your new carrier and tell them you want to port your Verizon number over to the new service. You will need the number you are porting and the Verizon account number along with your account PIN (not your myverizon.com password, but your PIN can be found in your myverizon profile). Once your new service rep has told you the number has been ported, log into myverizon and request a new number on your Verizon phone. I’d say this step should be done about 15-30 minutes after you port your Verizon number.

While the number is being ported and your new Verizon number is being issued you will have some overlap with the devices and the numbers. For instance, if someone calls you on your new number it may ring on the new service, but you may not be able to make outgoing calls with the new service. They say the port takes about 24-48 hours for the number to fully port over to the new service, but mine was done in less than 24 hours. I was basically carrying around two phones with me until the port was completed.

OK so now that you have your number ported over to your new line of service you can sell your unlimited data Verizon account (non-unlimited data accounts are pretty worthless and I doubt you’d be able to find someone to buy it). I used eBay to do this, but there are other services like cellswapper.com. If you use eBay, search for Verizon unlimited data contract to get an idea of what your listing should consist of.

My Verizon contract consisted of an unlimited data line and a 2gig data line. I made it very clear in the listing that the winning bidder would be required to take both lines of service. I didn’t get as much money, but still better than paying an ETF.

OK so now you listed your contract online and you have a winning bidder. Hopefully, the bidder has paid immediately. So what you need to do is call Verizon and tell them you want to do an AOL and give them the phone number and the name of the winning bidder. I recommend calling the bidder and and going over the details of the steps and when they want to initiate the transfer. Once Verizon has the persons info, they will need to contact Verizon and assume ownership of the contract. If they have Verizon service already its easy, but if its new customer they will have to go through a credit check to make sure they can carry the service. Assuming they are approved for service, once they call Verizon the lines will be transferred. You will receive an email saying the transfer was in progress, but you can also confirm it went though by trying to log in to your online Verizon account (it should lock within a couple hours after the transfer. The transfer of service takes about a day or so to fully complete. Any balance on the account will be billed to or if its a credit it will get refunded to you.

There you go. You keep your original numbers, get out of your Verizon contract, and make some money.

I think I covered everything, but I recommend you read up on the AOL on Verizon’s website. If you have any questions, feel free to post them. I wrote this pretty quick so if something doesn’t make sense or you need more clarification let me know.”

Source: http://rootzwiki.com/topic/42073-how-to-sell-verizon-contract-and-keep-your-number/