During the late 1950's in the early days of ARPA (the Advanced Research Projects Agency):
"..Herbert York...was given the job [of chief scientist] and moved to ARPA from the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. When he arrived on the third floor at the Pentagon, York promptly hung a large picture of the moon on his office wall. And right beside it he hung an empty frame. He told visitors it would soon be filled with the first picture of the back side of the moon."
( From Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet )
York's placing of the empty picture frame on his wall was a great way to distill his goals down to a single representative product.
Telling visitors what would ultimately be in that frame was a great way to publicly put himself on record for that exact same goal.
As we look to our current and future goals in education, should we put an empty picture frame on our office wall?
If yes, what should we ultimately seek to put in our empty picture frame?
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Apple TV Reflection
Introduction
When trying to get audio and video from an Airplay-capable device to some type of display, one leading option is software-based (Reflector, originally known as Reflection) and another is hardware-based (Apple TV).
Reflector is a piece of OS X and Windows software that, when installed, allows the computer to receive audio and video from Airplay devices through a wireless network. That audio can then be played out of the computer and the video can be shown on a larger display or projected.
Apple TV is a small (about 4"X 4"X 1") box that will receive audio and video from Airplay devices (also through a wireless network) and then relay them through HDMI to a larger display or projector.
Which of these is the best solution in a classroom environment?
Cost
Reflection wins here. A single license is only $12.99 and the price per unit drops $2 more if five are purchased. An Apple TV is $99 plus another $60 or so if your display or projector does not have an HDMI input. In that case some type of HDMI to VGA converter, such as a Kanex ATV Pro, is necessary. If cost is your only criteria, download a copy of Reflector and purchase a license. $13 is much less than the $99 to $158 you would need to spend for Apple's solution.
Capabilities
Apple TV wins here. Reflector pretty much just does what was previously described; take Airplay signal and allow it to be played through a computer. Period. The Apple TV does that as well as several other capabilities that may or may not be useful to the classroom teacher. The Apple TV provides a good interface to use Netflix, which has a nice library of educational documentaries (consult with your lawyer as to whether or not this violates copyright law and Netflix's terms of service). Apple TV also provides a nice interface to control and play contents from an iTunes library, which could potentially be stocked by a teacher with a variety of educationally relevant audio or video. Apple TV simply has more options than Reflector, although the value of some of these may be questioned by some educators.
Performance
I think that this is a tie. Both of these solutions are subject to the idiosyncrasies of wireless networks, some of which see Airplay traffic as a threat to their ability to perform their job. An unreliable or unwelcoming wireless network probably won't discriminate between these two. Neither Apple TV or Reflector wins here.
Interface
Minor "win by a whisker" victory for Reflector; though each aspect of the rationale is up for debate.
When Reflector displays the video content coming from an Airplay device, it frames it with an image of the source device. This is really pretty cool, especially if your goal is to demo or teach about the "reflected" device itself. The Apple TV does not provide this device "context", but instead only displays the video content itself. Some might find this singular focus preferable to the flashier, shall we say, "eye candy" that Reflector provides.
Reflector is, by default, much simpler to use. This is largely a function of the absence of the additional features that the Apple TV offers. The extra Apple TV capabilities mentioned earlier make a more complicated interface necessary. If the Airplay mirroring is the only feature in which the teacher is interested, once the device is initially set up Airplay is quite easy to use and is quite competitive in the simplicity derby.
Reflection a hotly debatable winner in the interface category.
Efficiency
This category is a definitive win for the Apple TV. Reflector takes a teacher's powerful, multi-use computer and reduces it to a single-purpose utility, an Airplay conduit. This means that while that computer is being used for Reflector, the teacher is not able to do anything else with that computer. For example, no monitoring of a backchannel during a student presentation, no recording of feedback on a student project, and no additional research in response to a student's question. Sorry, teacher, you're out of luck---your computer is occupied. This sacrifice of power is extraordinary inefficient and is extraordinary significant in my mind.
My Conclusion
In my mind, the Apple TV is the overall winner for classroom use. The middle three of the five categories--Capabilities, Performance, and Interface--are all very closely competitive. Only the initial (Price) and final (Efficiency) had decisive winners. In my mind, however, the Efficiency component outweighs the Price component. This is largely because of that hidden cost of Reflector, the removal from normal service of a multi-facitied computer to merely be an Airplay conduit. That is too much of price to pay.
Let me know what you think. I am on Twitter as @pdlindgren.
When trying to get audio and video from an Airplay-capable device to some type of display, one leading option is software-based (Reflector, originally known as Reflection) and another is hardware-based (Apple TV).
Reflector is a piece of OS X and Windows software that, when installed, allows the computer to receive audio and video from Airplay devices through a wireless network. That audio can then be played out of the computer and the video can be shown on a larger display or projected.
Apple TV is a small (about 4"X 4"X 1") box that will receive audio and video from Airplay devices (also through a wireless network) and then relay them through HDMI to a larger display or projector.
Which of these is the best solution in a classroom environment?
Cost
Reflection wins here. A single license is only $12.99 and the price per unit drops $2 more if five are purchased. An Apple TV is $99 plus another $60 or so if your display or projector does not have an HDMI input. In that case some type of HDMI to VGA converter, such as a Kanex ATV Pro, is necessary. If cost is your only criteria, download a copy of Reflector and purchase a license. $13 is much less than the $99 to $158 you would need to spend for Apple's solution.
Capabilities
Apple TV wins here. Reflector pretty much just does what was previously described; take Airplay signal and allow it to be played through a computer. Period. The Apple TV does that as well as several other capabilities that may or may not be useful to the classroom teacher. The Apple TV provides a good interface to use Netflix, which has a nice library of educational documentaries (consult with your lawyer as to whether or not this violates copyright law and Netflix's terms of service). Apple TV also provides a nice interface to control and play contents from an iTunes library, which could potentially be stocked by a teacher with a variety of educationally relevant audio or video. Apple TV simply has more options than Reflector, although the value of some of these may be questioned by some educators.
Performance
I think that this is a tie. Both of these solutions are subject to the idiosyncrasies of wireless networks, some of which see Airplay traffic as a threat to their ability to perform their job. An unreliable or unwelcoming wireless network probably won't discriminate between these two. Neither Apple TV or Reflector wins here.
Interface
Minor "win by a whisker" victory for Reflector; though each aspect of the rationale is up for debate.
When Reflector displays the video content coming from an Airplay device, it frames it with an image of the source device. This is really pretty cool, especially if your goal is to demo or teach about the "reflected" device itself. The Apple TV does not provide this device "context", but instead only displays the video content itself. Some might find this singular focus preferable to the flashier, shall we say, "eye candy" that Reflector provides.
Reflector is, by default, much simpler to use. This is largely a function of the absence of the additional features that the Apple TV offers. The extra Apple TV capabilities mentioned earlier make a more complicated interface necessary. If the Airplay mirroring is the only feature in which the teacher is interested, once the device is initially set up Airplay is quite easy to use and is quite competitive in the simplicity derby.
Reflection a hotly debatable winner in the interface category.
Efficiency
This category is a definitive win for the Apple TV. Reflector takes a teacher's powerful, multi-use computer and reduces it to a single-purpose utility, an Airplay conduit. This means that while that computer is being used for Reflector, the teacher is not able to do anything else with that computer. For example, no monitoring of a backchannel during a student presentation, no recording of feedback on a student project, and no additional research in response to a student's question. Sorry, teacher, you're out of luck---your computer is occupied. This sacrifice of power is extraordinary inefficient and is extraordinary significant in my mind.
My Conclusion
In my mind, the Apple TV is the overall winner for classroom use. The middle three of the five categories--Capabilities, Performance, and Interface--are all very closely competitive. Only the initial (Price) and final (Efficiency) had decisive winners. In my mind, however, the Efficiency component outweighs the Price component. This is largely because of that hidden cost of Reflector, the removal from normal service of a multi-facitied computer to merely be an Airplay conduit. That is too much of price to pay.
Let me know what you think. I am on Twitter as @pdlindgren.
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