File transfer between multiple devices - Red Halo

At Handheld Learning last year, I came across a company called Red Halo. I've seen them around before but it never twigged how useful their offering was until MoLeNET came along.

Basically, you set up an account on their server, then download the Red Halo application to your device (I have it running on my HTC Touch and Q1 Ultra. They will soon have one for the Asus eee). Press the sync button on your Red Halo Application and voila, files go up to the server, and files come down to your device.

The idea is that a teacher can set up student accounts, put files in them (could be learning content, audio files, video files etc) and these would then be pushed onto the learners' devices when they sync. I haven't tested large video and audio files so will have to find out more about this. Also, I envisage that it would work best in a wireless environment, or if the learners have a flat rate data plan so they are not charged per Mb of data transfer.

At the same time, student files are sent from the device up to their student area: so photos, videos and audio they have created, notes and drawings etc are all uploaded and the teacher can view them and add a comment to them.

The Pro version also comes with some software to add functionality - The Windows Mobile bundle for PDAs and smartphones includes RedActivity, Inspiration, PhatPad, Pocket Painter, Photo Explorer, Opera, Red Media Composer, RedFlipper and Calligrapher. Sounds worth it for the software alone, never mind the 5Gb storage space you're given online!

You can contact them to sign up for free accounts at the moment. Anyone who has a lot of devices to sync should try it. Nothing to lose! www.redhalo.com

How many things to put on?

That's another advantage of working with pdas or pda-phones: you don't have to put what seems like thousands of bits of software on the thing before you can get all the bits to work!

On a pda, you still have to load on Flash player 7, mp3 recorder software, Mylearning package, add useful tools like Remote Display Control, but that's about it unless someone wants to send me more things that are useful to put on. (Would make a good list for all colleges using pdas - I'll put it up on the Moodle.)

On a umpc, you have the same issues as any pc that comes through the institution door: you have to put on Office, upgrade Flash, Acrobat, Windows Media Player, put on anti-virus, ensure you can get it to connect to your network for file sharing and printing, access to the internet...(Any more requirements, send to me and I'll add to the list.)

For the ESOL and Train to Gain learners who may not be as IT-confident, I would always recommend the pda-route! I think the umpcs are best for the full-time students who may be in the best position to take advantage of all that it has to offer.

Or implement a progression path from pdas to umpcs...

Video conferencing with the umpc

I was on MSN with my sister in America on my pc, so I switched to the umpc, started a webcam conversation and then battled with technology for a bit. The refresh rate on the video didn't seem too good - very stuttery. The microphone wasn't automatically picked up for web-conferencing - how strange. So I'll have to give that another go some time. Ideally, I would like to be able to switch between cameras as well while mid-msn, but I suspect this isn't going to be possible! I gave my sister a little tour of the house until I went out of wireless range and lost her! Might as well have video-d (how do you use that noun as a verb in the past tense?) the thing and sent it to her on email!