A technology shift is underway. The PC’s promise to transform how learning happens in the classroom is being realized by Apple’s iPad. Students and teachers in grade school through higher education are using the iPad to augment their lessons or to replace textbooks.

The iPad is especially helpful for students with special needs. Its simplified touch interface and accessibility features help these children learn more independently; aftermarket accessories assist in making the iPad more classroom-friendly.

In March, I wrote about how my mother learned how to use her iPad for basic stuff–like checking e-mail and browsing the Web–without ever having used a PC in her life. Students at all grade levels are finding it just as easy to use.

Jennifer Kohn’s third grade class at Millstone Elementary School in Millstone, NJ, mastered the iPad with minimal training. For the most part, the students didn’t need to be taught how to use their apps, Kohn says.

Kohn uses the iPad when it’s meaningful to enrich, extend, or introduce what students are learning in the classroom. Her class has used their iPads to interact with storybooks, brainstorm ideas for creative writing, and to learn mathematics. Math Bingo, an app that teaches kids math through gaming, is one of the top selling iPad apps  for education.

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Apple’s iCloud announcements last week were very focused on the consumer electronics industry, but Apple has the opportunity to create an offshoot for business customers.

The iPhone, and more recently the iPad, are becoming standard corporate issue within large companies. iCloud services will need to be adapted to meet rules and regulations that govern data.

Cloud computing is most commonly used to offload back-office applications from IT staff; e-mail and other non-proprietary data is hosted in public clouds such as Amazon Web Services or Windows Azure. In theory, that gives IT staff more time and flexibility to focus on services that make the business more competitive.

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I’ve often wondered why people who use their PCs for basic stuff–like checking e-mail and browsing the Web — are required to buy hardware that’s far more powerful than what they really require. With that power comes the complexity of operating systems preloaded with applications and utilities that many people will never use, making PCs unapproachable for people who aren’t tech savvy.

That’s all changing–first, with the introduction of netbooks, and now even more so with the iPad. Apple’s tablet brings appliance-like simplicity to light computing needs, and brought my mother, who is in her early 60s and had never used a computer before, onto the Web. I’ve documented her fresh perspective on the iPad in this interview.

–David Worthington

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Demand for smartphone game developer Rovio’s Angry Birds plush toys has been so great that order fulfillment is flying past the holiday season, and customer service is in the pigpen.

Angry Birds has taken smartphone gaming by storm, so much so that it is even drawing comparisons to the venerable Pac-Man franchise. Rovio has been a savvy marketeer of its feathered protagonists with holiday themed editions of the game, and, most recently, plush toys.

Enter Murphy’s Law: Rovio has dramatically underestimated demand. Customers are reporting having paid with the expectation of shipment during the holiday season only to be told that their expectations have flown the coop. Orders will not be fulfilled until January.

Customers that contacted Rovio received this e-mail, “Due to unforeseen demand for Angry Birds plush toys, our logistics and customer service have been overwhelmed and we have not been able to respond promptly to all queries. If you have already contacted us regarding your order, our staff is working on the case to resolve any problems and you will receive a reply at the earliest opportunity.”

Let’s hope that its customers don’t own any human-sized slingshots.

Social networks threw the order of the inbox into disarray. Now, a start-up is seeking to encapsulate every interaction–regardless of where it occurs–into a unified search engine.

A private beta of Introspectr launched last Wednesday following its demo at NYC Tech Meetup that Tuesday night. I was there, and liked what I saw.

Introspectr indexes your Gmail, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. It also pulls in content from external URLs such as Bit.ly links embedded in Tweets.

Co-founder Simon Murtha-Smith demonstrated finding a lost apple crisp recipe. The recipe was not named; it was simply referred to as “AC” in a message, followed by a URL. Introspectr still managed to locate the recipe.

The idea is not exactly new, but something like Introspectr could become a necessity for those of us who have an active social life. Gmail solved the e-mail search problem, but e-mail only captures a fragment of today’s conversations.

Google’s Buzz was an attempt to pull social networking into Gmail, but from my perspective it was an oddball addition that didn’t fit. Introspectr is what Google’s inbox should behave like today. It’s simple, and it works.

Internet TV is threatening to turn cable TV’s subscription model on its head with on demand programming and rentals, but there is a key component that’s missing: content discovery. There is still no better way to find out what’s on than to flip through channels.

Apple TV, the Boxee Box, Google TV, Hulu, Roku, and a sundry of desktop (and now mobile) applications comprise a compelling alternative to traditional cable TV service. My colleague Harry McCracken has them all pretty well covered.

I know many people who have “unplugged” themselves from the shackles of costly year-long contracts. Why pay for channels that you don’t watch? Those people are typically more technically savvy than most of the population. I just recently upgraded my mother’s 1980s big screen TV to an HDTV.

My mother and I find what’s on TV in much the same way: we channel surf or use a “guide.” There are more than a few shows that drew me in by happenstance. AMC’s “Breaking Bad” is my favorite “accident.” Internet TV is surfing with a net, keeping us in the familiar, and not venturing out into the unexplored.

Sure, Internet TV has media guides that showcase featured content, but where does that leave programs that aren’t already in the spotlight? Would Internet TV allow me to stumble onto a “Twilight Zone” rerun at 3 AM? Sometimes randomness is nice – I don’t always like to know exactly what I’m looking for.

Internet TV is better suited for enabling a user to watch what they want when they want. I’m keeping my cable, but will be buying a Boxee Box as an alternative to Time Warner Cable’s on-demand services.

Four New York University students have mobilized to produce a decentralized and open source alternative to Facebook called Diaspora that they say will give users full control over their privacy.

Today, Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) general counsel Karen Sandler told me that Diaspora was inspired by a lecture that Eben Moglen, director-counsel and chairman of the SFLC, gave in February. The organization provides legal services to open-source projects and organizations.

During his talk, Moglen cautioned that cloud computing has moved control over privacy far out of users’ hands, and that privacy laws vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. “The architecture is begging to be misused,” he said.

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Kudos to Apple for developing a more energy efficient charger for reusable AA batteries, and introducing it today along with the new Magic Trackpad. I’d glad that the company is advancing its environmental record by making less toxic products, but at the risk of sounding overzealous– it’s about time. Apple’s stylish wireless keyboard and mice are needlessly sending heaps of batteries to the landfill.

I bought my iMac early this year, and felt awful at the idea of having to burn through disposable alkaline batteries. A plurality of fanboy friends told me that my Magic Mouse was “pretty awesome,” but “ate up” its batteries. My solution was to purchase some Sanyo Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries and the accompanying charger.

I’ve gone through at least four charge cycle for my Magic Mouse; the keyboard batteries only had to be recharged once. Had I not taken it upon myself to be more environmentally responsible, they would be at least as many batteries sent to wherever Manhattan’s trash goes. My question is: Why didn’t Apple use rechargeable batteries in the first place?

Most of Apple’s customers wouldn’t have minded paying a few more dollars in their Mac’s sticker price. Apple sold 3.472 million Macs last quarter. Not all of those Macs shipped with wireless peripherals–for one thing, the majority were notebooks, not desktops–but many did. While Apple could have been more forward thinking then, it has the technology now. I’d like to see it begin to bundle greener batteries with its products.

There is a lot of speculation about what the agreement announced today between chip designer ARM and Microsoft actually means. Some pundits predict that it is a signal that Microsoft intends to deliver Windows or Windows Phone OS tablet and slate devices, while others foresee an overdue overhaul of the Xbox’s architecture.

I’m keen on the idea of a tablet based upon Windows Phone 7. For too long, Microsoft has relied upon grafting Windows onto smaller form factors: “Oh wow, a stylus.” The success of Apple’s less feature-rich iPad proves that it was the wrong approach. Customers want an operating envrionment that works well for their devices, meaning it should be designed with the device in mind. A tablet-friendly version of Windows Phone 7 would fit the bill.

Microsoft very boldly hit the reset button and abandoned all elements of Windows with the Windows Phone OS’s “Metro” interface. I’ve used it, and like it very much. Metro was compelling enough that I was tempted to see whether I would actually give up my iPhone if I started to a use Windows Phone powered device.

If Microsoft focuses on Windows Embedded Compact instead of Windows Phone, it will be making a big, big mistake. It’s time for a consistent and quality mobile experience from Microsoft. That means apps that work across devices and an interface that works. Windows Phone uses SIlverlight; those apps should work on Windows tablets with little adjustment on the part of developers.

The glaringly obvious problem with that scenario is that I can buy an iPhone today, and Windows Phone 7 is still many months away from production. Let’s hope Microsoft learns from past mistakes,. I just hope it’s not too late .

Secunia, a security service provider well known for tracking software defects, has ranked Apple as having the most reported vulnerabilities for its platforms during the first half of 2010. The majority of the flaws reside in OS X applications.

I’m not surprised. As malicious operating systems have become more hardened, exploiting vulnerabilities has required increasingly sophisticated attacks. End users are updating their systems, using antivirus programs–at least Windows users do–and have deployed firewalls. Hackers have to look for holes in applications.

Secunia reports that vulnerabilities were found in Apple applications such as iTunes, QuickTime, and Safari, and in the apps of third parties including Adobe and Oracle. Today, we reported that Safari has a vulnerability that could allow someone to delete your address book.

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Yesterday, the Supreme Court handed down a long awaited decision on a patent case that could have changed how or whether software patents are granted. Ultimately, little changed, except that the Court’s decision was at odds with 150 years of patent law, says a legal expert.

The Court’s Bilski v. Kappos decision could have invalidated many software patents had it accepted a Federal circuit court’s “machine or transformation” test for what is patentable. Proponents of the lower court’s decision had hoped that the high court would finally bring an end to excessive patent litigation and eliminate questionable patents that they say can slow the pace of innovation in technology.

The Bilski case involved a patent claim for a business method for hedging risks in commodities trading. The Justices affirmed the lower court’s decision that the Bilski patent was too abstract and therefore un-patentable. However, it did not accept the machine or transformation test, thus failing to provide any guidance to government patent examiners, defendants, or patent filers.

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Windows enthusiast Francisco Martin got his hands on portions of a secretive “Windows 8″ presentation, and posted some of the slides on his blog today. Microsoft allegedly presented the slides to computer manufacturers to preview the next version of Windows.

Microsoft wants OEMs to build PCs that rapidly wake up from sleep mode and are aware of their surroundings. The PCs should leverage hardware including Webcams and proximity sensors to recognize users and sense when those users are nearby their machines. It’s a logical step–not an innovative one so much as a necessary one.

The era of light computing has begun. Apple’s iPad is only the first among a new class of devices that turns on instantly, and gives the user access to the workflows that they want. The industry has been overselling hardware; most people don’t utilize their PC’s full capacity. Surfing the Web, writing an essay, or sending e-mails doesn’t require the latest and greatest hardware. The iPad’s popularity is an indication that people’s needs weren’t being met by the traditional PC paradigm.

That is not to say that the PC is going to be unseated any time soon, but its kingdom will be diminished. So, Microsoft has a challenging problem to solve: It needs to get Windows users to sit at their desks when more and more of their computing activities are happening with smart devices. “Always on” doesn’t fit that criteria; the iPad does that better than Windows can and did it first. The Windows interface also needs some work to work well on “slate” devices that it was not designed for. Don’t give me an elephant and call it a donkey.

There is however potential for an intelligent PC to really “know” its user and its environment, and it’s neat that Microsoft is looking into that. Windows 7 is selling well, and Microsoft has plenty of cash in its coffers. Windows Phone 7 demonstrated that the company is capable of fresh thinking. There is a similar opportunity with Windows, if Microsoft has the courage to press the reset button and try something new.

Sometimes it is difficult to discern whether complaints are coming from actual users or are a product of blogosphere hyperbole, as was the case yesterday when the iPhone 3G didn’t get all of the new features available in the iOS 4 upgrade. One thing is for certain: had those customers received those features there would be real cause for complaints.

iOS4 performance on the iPhone 3G is a mixed bag, according to tests compiled since its release. That’s without all of the bells and whistles such as backgrounds and multitasking. When a Gizmodo reader e-mailed Apple CEO Steve Jobs asking why backgrounds were not included in the update, Jobs replied, “The icon animation with backgrounds didn’t perform well enough.” If that’s the case, just imagine the performance hit that multitasking would take.

The iPhone 3G’s hardware is substantially less powerful than the 3GS and iPhone 4. Had Apple chosen not to omit those features, many more people would be complaining about bad performance and being “forced to upgrade.” A phone should be snappy– not slow like an old PC overloaded with new software. Anything less is unacceptable. Apple did the correct thing by its customers.

Were  many people complaining about not having wallpaper before yesterday’s free upgrade? Absolutely not. If you liked your iPhone yesterday, there are no fewer reasons to enjoy it today. If you don’t like your phone, sell it, and find something that better meets your requirements. You can get good money for it on trade-in sites.

I don’t play many games on my iPhone, but occasionally come across one that proves compelling. A game called Toy Physics is my latest fixation. It drew me in, and is a great example of a multi-touch platform being put to its best use.

Toy Physics involves drawing flat or sloping lines to halt, accelerate, or slow falling toys. The objective is to steer the toys into moving bins. Varying objects make the toys’ fall less predictable, requiring the player to devise a different strategy to pass each level. It would not have been possible to really enjoy the game without the iPhone’s touch screen interface; it was a natural fit. The game is available for just a dollar.

Other iPhone games just don’t fit with the interface, and are better played on the desktop. (I stopped playing SimCity on my iPhone after the first play). Games should take advantage of the hardware, not simply be ports of the same old thing on a smaller scale. Perhaps Apple has a point in rejecting applications that weren’t designed with the iPhone in mind.

The retirement of Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices (E&D) division, made some waves today. Bach’s resignation, along with the departure Xbox lead designer and senior vice president J Allard, has inspired talk of palace intrigue within the halls of Redmond. I don’t believe that the reorg was inspired much by politics–Microsoft is responding to the iPad.

Earlier today, I spoke with Directions on Microsoft director of research Robert Helm. Helm believes that introduction of Apple’s iPad raised the threat level to Windows so much so that the company required a new management team to formulate a clear response. “The primary mission of the Entertainment and Devices division has been to protect the Windows PC from threats by low-end consumer devices like game consoles and smartphones,” he explained.

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Trying to choose between Microsoft Office and Google Docs? Why not use both? Memeo Connect is a utility that brings Google Docs to the desktop. I’ve been kicking its tires for several weeks now using an account provided to me by Memeo, and have become a regular user.

I appreciate being able to access and share my documents on Google Docs, but still prefer to work in Microsoft Office. There are just too many advanced features that Google suite still lacks for me to take the plunge to a Web-only workflow. That is where Memeo comes in.

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