*The Best Planner App*

As some students might have noticed at the beginning of the school year, students are no longer given a planner. However, many apps in the app store can replace these paper planners (and some are even better). However, the app myHomework seems to be the most common digital planner throughout the school. myHomework is a very organized app that has a format that is pretty similar to Haiku. Students can set up their schedule by time, blocks, or periods. This is extremely useful as the Tampa Prep schedules miss one to two classes each day. Users can see their schedules through the Home page: their class overview, the schedule for the day, or tomorrow's schedule. From any of these three tabs, users can see all of their homework.

Adding assignments is extremely quick and easy. You simply press the plus button, write a short description/title, choose the class, set a due date (myHomework with automatically set the due date as the next time you have the class). myHomework also gives you the option to set the type of assignment such as homework, test, project, etc. You also have the ability to give an assignment priority from low to high. If you choose, myHomework can send you a reminder at a time you choose. The Homework page organizes your assignments into three sections: completed, late, upcoming.

myHomework also comes with a Calendar view. From this page, users can see the schedule and due homework (denoted by a dot) on any day. Assignments can also be created here so that it will be due on the day the users selects on the calendar. Calendar view also can be viewed by month or week.

Best of all, myHomework is completely free. Although, for features such as themes and attaching a file to assignments requires a paid upgrade. Besides that, the free version is completely functional and has everything you would need. Instead of attaching a file, users can simply write a note to themselves when creating an assignment to download the file from wherever it might be.

Conserving iPad Battery Life

As a student in an academically rigorous preparatory school, it is essential to conserve the battery life of an iPad for it to last the entire school day. With the new iOS 8 update, the iPad consumes much more power than it did previously. In this blog I will present numerous ways to conserve battery life on your iPad.

1. Turn off WiFi

• Turn off your WiFi when you don’t need it, such as when driving to school because even though your iPad isn’t connected to a network it still uses power when trying to find them.

2. Reducing iPad Brightness

• When inside a classroom, you might not always need to have the brightness turned up all the way. Reducing your brightness conserves power.

3. Turn off Location Services

• When not needed, go to settings and turn off location services to conserve power.

4. Close Unused Apps

• When you finish using an app, close the app completely by swiping with four fingers first, then simply swipe up on the desired app you want to close.

5. Turn on Auto-Lock

• By turning on auto-lock you can make sure you don’t accidentally leave your iPad on, wasting power.

6. Turn off Bluetooth

• Turn off Bluetooth when you’re not using it, it consumes a lot of power and you only use it when air dropping and connecting to external devices.

7. Turn on Airplane Mode

• When you enable airplane mode you disable most of the functions listed above.

8. Turn off Auto App Refresh

• By turning the Auto App Refresh function off in settings, the apps are no longer allowed to constantly refresh in the background.  Although this function allows apps to be reopened faster, you can save power if you disable it.

9. Turn off Auto App Downloading

• When apps download updates they consume large amounts of power as they connect to the download server.  When you disable Auto App Downloading the apps wait for you to update them, that way you choose where and when you update. For example, you can have updates download when you are at home and plugged into a power source.

Online Blog- iPad Accessories: Stylus

A stylus is a tool used to write or mark on an iPad or tablet. They come in a variety of colors, tips, and sizes. The most popular and most effective styli are created by Wacom, Belkin, and Griffin. Price and the type of stylus you are looking for will help narrow your search down to what you specifically need. A stylus can range anywhere from one to one hundred dollars. The higher end styli are more expensive but will give you a run for your money. I have probably gone through about six styli since I purchased my iPad last year. I thought that all styluses were the same so I bought thecheapest stylus I could find on Amazon. 


A couple of weeks after I began using my stylus, the tip of the stylus left residue on my iPad, began ripping off of the rest of the base, and would not write on my iPad. This happened to all of the styluses I bought. Once I ran out, I decided that it was time for an upgrade. I went to Target and bought the cheapest stylus I could find, which ended up being thirteen dollars. I bought a Belkin F5L097btPUR and I could not be happier with it. It is sturdy, writes well, and I have not lost it yet.

Most people who create art on their iPad recommend Jot Pro. Jot Pro is the most expensive stylus, which can run up to one hundred dollars for one stylus. However, it is definitely the most precise.

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Two of the best drawing and painting apps for iPad (Paid)

Two of the best drawing and painting apps for iPad (Paid)

Procreate

Procreate is an outstanding drawing and painting app created by Savage Interactive. The app is available for $5.99, the price is debatably high, but the application is well worth the money because of the extensive features which allow you to conjure the perfect piece of artwork. Procreate comes with a large selection of pens, pencils, brushes, and also various textured brushes. Furthermore, Procreate gives you the ability to create custom brushes to fit every artistic need you have. One of the few things that I dislike about the program is that there are no shape tools such as a straight line, circle, or square tool which allow for perfect lines or shapes. All in all, I rank Procreate as being one the best drawing applications available for download on the iPad.  

Sketchbook Pro

Sketchbook Pro is a magnificent drawing and painting app created by AutoDesk, who is well-known for CAD programs. Sketchbook Pro is available on the App Store for $4.99. Although the price may seem high for an app, this application is definitely worth every last dime. Sketchbook Pro comes equipped with a full arsenal of brushes, pencils with different softnesses, and other textured brushes. One feature that sets Sketchbook Pro apart from the others is the ability to record the screen and create a timelapse of you actually drawing your drawing. The one problem I have with the app is that you can only have six layers for each drawing. This really limits the potential for each piece of artwork because you can only draw so much before you run out of layers. Along with Sketchbook Pro, Autodesk released Sketchbook Express which is sort of a demo version of Sketchbook Pro, that allows you to test the app before purchasing it. Sketchbook Express is available for free, but it does limit your selection of brushes and your are only allowed three layers per drawing.