Jailbreak your #iPad and use DisplayOut

Do you wish you could show more than just the Keynote or Photos app through your projector cable on your iPad? I did!

We recently had an iPad training session and I really wanted to be able to show the live iPad screen on the projector instead of just showing them screen shots. I heard you could show the live screen if you jailbroke your iPad. So a couple of weeks ago I started looking into the possibility.

I started by talking to a few of the iPhone fans I know. They suggested trying this jailbreak:

http://jailbreakme.com

A quick note: This jailbreak will only work on iOS 3.2.1 and older. The iOS 3.2.2 update patches the PDF flaw that this jailbreak uses.

If you go to the above link from your iPad browser, it will give you the option to jailbreak it right over the web. No fancy tricks, or downloading software and messing with iTunes. It just asks you to swipe on the screen and then it starts the jailbreak. It took me about 2 minutes while it downloaded and ran the jailbreak. Then it asked me to restart my iPad. I got the little Apple logo, and some rainbow colored dots on one edge of the screen. When it restarted everything looked normal but now the Cydia app was installed. Cydia is an app store that you can download (and buy) apps from for your jailbroken device. Don't worry, you can still download/buy them from iTunes as well!

In order to get your live iPad screen to show over the projector you will also need to install an app that will make it possible. We know that iTunes doesn't have an app for that. So you have to look in Cydia. I tried three different apps. The one that worked was $1.99 and is called DisplayOut. You don't actually get an app on your home screen, it just puts a new section into your settings. You can turn the display out on or off, and change a few basic settings. You can see an image of what it looks like here: http://bit.ly/dg8g1n

This worked out great for me, and our training session was awesome! Have Fun!

EETT Funding Restored in House and Senate Bills at $100 Million

Got this email this morning:

EETT Funding Restored in House and Senate Bills at $100 Million

Earlier this summer we reached out to you about the zeroing out of the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program in President Obama’s proposed 2011 budget. To save the program, we asked you to contact your Representatives and Senators to let them know how important the program was to your school and district. And you answered that call!

Since then, over 1,700 people have sent more than 5,200 letters to their Congressional representatives highlighting the importance of the EETT program. Additionally, on Tweet for Ed Tech day in May, 700 educators sent 1,550 messages demanding that Congress fund EETT.

Because of your efforts, last week the House and Senate approved appropriations bills that continued funding the EETT program at $100 million in FY11. Although this does not mean that funding for the program is certain (both bills must still be reconciled in conference), it does mean that it is likely that the EETT program will not be zeroed out next year. In a time when many programs have been dealt funding cuts, maintaining funding for the EETT program at this stage is a big success. Thank you for your efforts!!

ETAN updates are brought to you by the Consortium for School Networking and the International Society for Technology in Education.