iDevice Bookmarklets

If you’re a fan of bookmarklets (as I am) and also have an iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch (which I do), this may interest you!

First, what exactly are bookmarklets?

A bookmarklet is a small JavaScript program that can be stored as a URL within a bookmark in most popular web browsers, or within hyperlinks on a web page. Because Microsoft Internet Explorer uses the term favorites instead of bookmarks, bookmarklets are also less commonly called favlets or favelets.

Bookmarklets can be saved and used like normal web page bookmarks. Therefore, they are simple “one-click” tools that can add substantial functionality to the browser. For example, they can:

▪ Modify the way a web page is displayed within the browser (i.e., change the font size, background color, etc.).

▪ Extract data from a web page (i.e., hyperlinks, images, text, etc.).

▪ Jump directly to a search engine, with the search term(s) input either from a new dialog box, or from a selection already made on a web page.

▪ Submit the page to a validation service. [via wordiQ]

If you sync your bookmarks from Safari onto your iDevice, you can simply add the bookmarklets that way.  For those of us who do not sync Safari bookmarks, technologist Chris Bray has a solution.  From his site:

I took a few minutes to copy the Javascript from all my bookmarklets and made this iPhone/iPad formatted page with all the Javascript in a selectable textarea for each bookmarklet. This way I could open up the page on my gadgets, and in about 5 minutes have all of my important bookmarklets loaded into Safari on both my iPad and my iPhone.

I know this is far from ideal, and even further from anything resembling a solution, but until some smart person comes up with a way around this, or until Apple adds some better bookmark management or add-on capabilities to mobile Safari this will have to do for now.

To access the javascript and read the step-by-step instructions, visit his webpage using Safari on your iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch:

http://static.chrisbray.com/bookmarklets/

They are relatively easy to add and will always be available until you delete them.  This way, you have an incredibly easy way to share a page on Facebook, add a note to Evernote, or shorten a URL with bit.ly!

Eight Great Tips for Traveling with the iPad

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg works on an iPad in a lounge at Newark airport, Wednesday April 14, 2010, before his flight to Oslo from the United States was diverted to Spain because of the cloud of dust from a volcanic eruption in Iceland hanging over northern European air space. (AP Photo/The Prime Minister's Office, ho)

The iPad is an almost perfect travel computer. It’s easy to carry, works as a guide, a map, a book and it’s crazy-long battery life will let you sit back and watch another movie while your laptop-toting companions search for a power outlet. But as convenient as it is, a little preparation will make things even smoother. Here are some things you should do before you leave the house.

Go Offline

A 3G iPad is a wonderfully useful machine, but outside of your home country, unless you’re willing to pay extra for roaming or a new, local micro-SIM, you’ll be back on Wi-Fi. Get ready for this by preparing a few apps.

i>clicker!

ISS is pleased to announce the adoption of a new student response system, i>clicker, which will replace the Qwizdom system as of Fall 2010. i>clicker is a flexible, user-friendly and reliable system that works on both Macs and PCs and will allow instructors to incorporate websites, media and virtually any other type of application. Check out the story in the University Record.

ISS will be conducting workshops on how to use this new system throughout the summer. Faculty can sign up for one of these workshops at http://www.umich.edu/~teachtec.

To register as an i>clicker user for Fall, please sign up on the Instructional Consulting page.