I've been doing a lot of writing lately, on a very big project, and I've found a writing tool I really love: Scrivener 2. Word felt too much as if it were "in my way" and didn't provide me with tools to facilitate a big writing project. I've used Scrivener many times before, but now that I've used version 2 for a while, I love it so much more than any of the numerous writing applications I've tried through the years.

Things I really love about Scrivener 2:

• The binder concept makes organization a snap and very versatile. I use a Manuscript folder with chapter subfolders and a Research folder with chapter subfolders. Easy. Clear. A Clippings folder contains anything I highlight and save to clippings from a quick right-click.
• I simply drag and drop or clip info into my research folder: text, pictures, audio, video, web pages... You get the idea.
• I can write in small chunks and later re-organize those chunks with simple drag and drop.
• I love the cork board and note cards. They feel comfortable and make reorganizing the writing so simple. I organize the project so each written chunk is a notecard when I'm in note card view.
• The outline mode is helpful and provides quick access to lots of information.
• The full screen writing mode focuses my attention on the writing. No tools, no distractions—just write.
• While writing, I can open anything in the manuscript, research, or clippings folders in a floating window to inspire my thinking. I can open as many things as I need.
• The amount of meta information I can use, notes, comments, footnotes, annotations, etc. that can be added is incredibly powerful and easy.
• I can split my window, have my cork board with my note cards on one side and my writing area on the other. Actually, you can put anything you want in either of these sides or change it to top and bottom, and add floating windows, and...
• The finished project can be compiled in numerous formats (Word, PDF, Manuscripts, Proof Copy, Open Office, Final Draft [scripts and plays], webpages, ebooks [Kindle and iOS], etc.
• I can remain in sync across multiple devices using the cloud.

I could go on and on. This program is incredibly powerful and flexible without adding a lot of complexity to using it. Scrivener works well in a personalized work flow. Use as much or as little as your writing projects demand.

Here's a screenshot of one of my workflow windows.

Several videos about the software are available. May I commend these:
1. A Quick Overview of Scrivener 2
2. Numerous other video tutorials
3. An author's (Yuvi Zalkow) overview of his use of Scrivener

Scrivener has won numerous awards and certain should. I highly recommend it. (And no, I am not getting anything from Literature and Latte for this recommendation. I doubt they even know I exist over here on this side of the pond. It's simply a tool I use and love and therefore recommend freely.)

UPDATE: Trouble viewing these below? Try viewing them on my YouTube channel: iUpgradeTV or my Podcast series at the US iTunes Store, iUpgrade.

Everyone is so excited about tethering the iPad 2 to a projector, admittedly very cool, that we have missed something else at least as good if not even better! Go all the way: make the iPad 1 or 2 into a complete interactive whiteboard solution!

If you already own an iPad, computer, and projector, this can be done for less than the cost of Apple's new Digital AV Adapter for the iPad 2. Ok, full disclosure: this solution only costs 2 cents less than the adapter. But for tethering with the Digital AV Adapter, you also have to purchase an HDMI to VGA cable too!

I just recently figured this out—last Friday to be exact. I confess, it was an accident, actually. Now, I'm not talking about just drawing on your iPad and projecting that drawing in front of the class, and I'm not talking about using the iPad2 to connect directly into a projector and show what's on the iPad.

I'm talking about using the iPad as a control surface to actually control your computer desktop, write on your computer desktop, and project all of that in front of the classroom just as a regular interactive whiteboard does. The only difference: no interactive whiteboard is needed, and you can do this wirelessly using the first generation iPad as well as the second, and that's correct, without tethering your iPad to the projector or the computer with wires.

This will work on both Mac and Windows machines. So, no matter what kind of shop your classroom runs, this should work if you have an iPad.

I made a 4 part series of rough and ready quickcasts to take you through the entire concept and process. They are linked below the list of what each quickcast covers.

This isn't difficult and offers an affordable solution for the classroom.

1. Part One: What You Need (2m.22s)
2. Part Two: The Setup Process (12m.07s)
3. Part Three: The Demonstration (6m.20s)
4. Part Four: Current Limitations (6m.11s)

The iPad is a powerful computing device, and with the introduction of the iPad 2 (cameras, a powerful iMovie app, tethering), it is ideal for the classroom setting. Apple hit another home run.

I hope you find these useful. They are also available for download at the iTunes Store in my podcast series, iUpgrade.

UPDATE: Now published in HD on YouTube. Here is the link to my YouTube channel. The videos below are in the correct aspect ratio but are lower quality.

Wow. I had no idea this would be so popular with everyone. My server has been slammed. To make the videos more easily available to everyone around the world, I've uploaded them to YouTube.

I've received numerous awesome ideas (from people all around the world) that address some of the limitations and make using the iPad as an IWB even better. I hope to get at least one more quickcast up this weekend to share those ideas. And finally, I'll republish the YouTube videos in HD this weekend as well.

Thanks for all of your feedback. I hope this is a practical and affordable solution for educators everywhere!

I don't use a CDN service as they are out of my price range. And I had a few emails from people on the other side of our world who were having issues getting this series of quickcasts to play. Too many hits. Such great distance. One little server that tried.

So I've uploaded all of these iPad as an IWB quickcasts to YouTube in HD. Because I recorded them all in the 4:3 aspect ratio, they look stretched as 16:9 HD videos, but the visual clarity of the HD uploads is so improved, I thought everyone would just deal with the stretch. (The only way to prevent the stretching would be to redo the quickcasts in 16:9. Just not happening. But any future screencasts I make and upload to YouTube will be specifically prepared for YouTube 16:9 HD from the beginning.)

At any rate, because everyone has offered so many awesome suggestions, I'm releasing 4 more quickcasts with updated information (most of which came from your numerous emails) and one solid gold nugget! I really appreciate everyone sharing your ideas with me.

Update 1: General Updates (7m:08s)
Update 2: Splashtop Remote (9m:08s) <--the must have!
Update 3: xTag Wireless USB Mic (2m:54s) Previous post w/ audio here at drTT
Update 4: Updated Limitations & Advantages (6m:20s)

These are best viewed on YouTube in fullscreen HD but are squeezed in here for those in a rush. Here is the link to my YouTube channel.

Comments are open at the bottom of this post, so feel free to add your voice.

OK, I'm going to really geek out here in this post. You have been warned.

A few weeks ago I came across a solution being used here in LA for wirelessly, over WiFi, streaming 1080 HD video from HDSLRs (digital SLR cameras that shoot full frame HD video, like the Canon 5D Mark II) to HD monitors. TV Producers and movie makers are using this setup in Hollywood so the Director of Photography and/or the Director can see what the camera operator is shooting in real time. (Oddly enough, this is actually what got me to initially start thinking about using the iPad as a wireless interactive whiteboard. Admittedly a convoluted train of thought... More could be said on that; but, I digress...)

The setup is really pretty cool, and the idea of wirelessly streaming that much digital video content in real time amazed me. The solution: the Teradek, a display device, and a wireless network. After watching a video demo of the technology, I was stunned to see that Livestream* and Teradek have already teamed up to allow users to stream HD video over the Verizon 4G network in real time. Watch the video below for a quick overview and amazing demonstration. (In the still poster image for the video below you can see the regular handheld HD video camera, the Teradek Cube sitting on top of the camera, and the Verizon 4G card plugged into the front of the Teradek Cube.)

This will be a game changer.

News organizations, video production houses, schools, anybody, can now broadcast live, in real time, their own HD internet TV station. High Definition! In real time! Using affordable HD video cameras. And the price is affordable for a school or district account that might broadcast concerts, games, board meetings. Production houses can stream their dailies in real time to the execs in LA or NYC on a secured Livestream channel. This has numerous possibilities. (And beware: Teradek claims their Cube will tunnel through any firewall even if you're using a private IP address to get to the Livestream servers. Hmmm...)

But that's really not what this post is about. That's just the setup for where my thinking is about to go.

After figuring out how to turn the iPad into an IWB, I've been wondering why tether the iPad 2 to the projector to stream a mirrored, real time HDMI video out of the user's interaction with the iPad. Well, the answer is cost. The Teradek Cube solution is too expensive for typical classroom or presenter use.

But, it didn't take too long.

Eric Govoruhk and Kelly McAteer have created a homemade solution to wirelessly mirror the iPad 2 in real time HD to a projector or HD TV. The cost: about $250.

I think he is using the HP Wireless TV Connect and a USB battery pack/charger for a cell phone—all purchased at Fry's.

Now, the solution isn't elegant. It's a hack (that does not involve changing the iPad 2 in any way). And it works—apparently with zero lag time. My prediction: it won't be long before similar devices appear on the retail market. Apple should have been a step ahead of this with their own accessory, at the least. And, maybe they are. Perhaps AirPlay, an accessory of sorts, will contain this feature in the not-too-distant future.

Imagine, streaming everything you do on your iPad 2 wirelessly to your projection device. The next logical step would be having IWB software for the iPad itself, so the teacher can write directly on the iPad screen, on apps, on the web browser with no need for a classroom computer.

Way cool! It's going to happen. As my grandmother would sometimes said, "I can just feel it in my bones."

*If you don't know Livestream, Ustream, and similar services, I encourage you to explore those possibilities. Think, "broadcasting your IWB lesson in real time" and a whole lot more.

For all of my educator friends who use Blogger, Google is about to introduce some significant enhancements to the blogging platform. Apparently competition in the blogging space is heating up a bit.

Google will be releasing 5 new dynamic templates that look really cool—see the video below. Users will be able to use and customize each template. These new templates use the latest in web technologies: AJAX, HTML5 and CSS3, to make all of their interactive goodness happen.

Google has set up a help center article about these new templates, and you can also preview them at: Flipcard | Mosaic | Sidebar | Snapshot | and Timeslide.

Finally, below is an introductory video from Google that highlights the new templates. You can see them in action.