From my previous columns you will know how often Apple changes the way we interact with content and media.

Last week Apple had some great news for every educator and student around the world.

Textbooks at a maximum price of about $15 (that is about R120). Yes, it includes many textbooks that are selling for about ten times the price.

The process will take some time, but if educators prescribe books from some of the larger international publishers, the textbooks will be quite a bit cheaper.

These textbooks are then downloaded to the iPad for consumption by the learner.

It may take a while for all textbooks to move from a printed format to an electronic format, but the change is coming. The cost reduction will justify the cost of purchasing the iPad in the first place.

After changes are made to the master copy of the textbook, students will be able to get an updated version of the textbook in just a few clicks.

I downloaded one or two of these books and I love the fact that video and audio files are embedded into the book. You are really drawn into the learning experience.

Apple also announced a very easy interactive textbook authoring tool that is available on Apple computers. This will give each content creator the ability to truly make their books or even class notes interactive and engaging.

If you own an iPad you should rush over to iTunes and take a look at some of the free books that are available.

We used to take what we had when we handed our little roll of film in for processing at a photo-lab. We were stuck with what we had.

Nowadays we are enhancing and cropping images and in general each photo becomes a piece of art.

But if you are new to the editing game, it could be very expensive to buy professional photo editing or graphic design software.

To help you get started, I would like to recommend free photo editing software programmes that you can download and use today.

Please note that there are many online programmes available, but following are the ones you can use without having to connect to the Internet every time. I will give the name of the programme and the address it can be downloaded.

Picasa www.picasa.google.com; PhotosScape – www.photoscape.org/; Paint.net www.getpaint.net and for those who really want a powerful free application that can do much of what most of the expensive photo editing packages can do, Gimp www.gimp.org.

Each of these programmes have different features and different levels of difficulty. Play around with them and see which will work for you.

Remember, these programmes are free so you can share them with friends and use them to improve not only your personal photos, but also to prepare images for presentations at school, at university or even at work.

It feels like only yesterday that I wrote the first one.

This year promises to be full of exciting advances in the technology space.

And according to some also the end of the world.

Connectivity will become more affordable in 2012 as South Africa is getting more undersea internet cables connecting our country to the rest of the world.

A while back prices dropped very quickly when a relatively small cable known as Seacom connected us to the rest of the world. Prices went down over night.

Since then other cables did go live, but due to financial reasons of large providers the prices were still kept high.

Some industry experts say that prices will not come down by more than about 10% to 20%, but I do believe that by the end of the year there will be significant price cuts.

The two main cables going active this year is the WACS and ACE submarine cables.

Important to also note is that these cables will provide the country with more international connectivity than we’ll know what to do with.

I am, however, worried that the internal infrastructure for both ADSL and 3G will not be able to handle this increased flow of data.

As the prices drop the demand will increase and this will put loads of pressure on the infrastructure of the current providers. With the increased supply and demand the infrastructure will need to be improved urgently.

Let us hope that 2012 will not only be a year that we all are able to connect with the world at an affordable rate, but also a year that the quality of infrastructure that provide the data to us also improves.

Locally I believe that we may expect faster, more affordable internet connectivity. In 2012 we are sure to experience the advantages of more international linkages with other continents through undersea cables and this will drive the prices of connectivity down in the latter half of the year.

Apps are starting to dominate our Smart Phones, and we will start to see them become more important and relevant on our computers and the way we use the internet in our daily lives. Apps are changing the way in which we perform tasks online and also the way in which we consume content and this will increase sharply in the next year.

I believe that from Apple we will see the release of a television set. Apple already has a device that streams content to a regular television set, but this will be a full Apple television set. The way in which we interact with our televisions will never be the same after this launch in 2012.

The last time the world was in such a recession as it is in now, we had the movement to Web 2.0. When people are faced with dark times they tend to innovate and recreate. We are again experiencing hard times across the world, especially in Europe. I believe that these hard times will stimulate another innovative online movement. I do not know what it is yet, but as with Web 2.0 I do know that we can bank on the fact that it will change our online experience and what we are able to accomplish online. I wish you all an incredible festive season and a prosperous new year. Let us hope that the technology of 2012 will make our lives richer and more exciting in every way.

Maybe it is because I love listening to podcasts or maybe I am just getting old, but I like to listen to something with more substance.

A few months ago I discovered an application on my iPad with the name TuneIn Radio. I immediately fell in love with it and even upgraded from the free version to the paid version.

The application gives you access to thousands of radio stations streaming their programming over the web. All these feeds are aggregated through this application and gives you the ability to either search by continent, country, city or even by genre.

You can then select presets of your favourite stations.

I am using a 3G card on mine, but I recommend that you make use of Wifi to ensure that you do not run out of Gigs early in the month.

If you do not have an iPhone or iPad you can also visit the website and listen there. Go to www.tunein.com. The quality of the feed is dependent on the quality of the feed being made available by the station, but I have found that the quality is very good with most of the channels I have listened to.

Before you say that I am just writing about an Apple application I can give you the great news that the application is also available on BlackBerry and Android.

The pro version is also available on these platforms and is available at a very low cost. The main advantage of the pro version of the app is that you can record the stations while you listen.

This is a great app to enjoy during the holidays and you will also be able to listen to the local stations while on holiday.

Soos ek hier rondkyk, besef ek hoe die hele kongres-bywoningsproses verander het. My ervaring dek net die afgelope 20 jaar, maar dinge het geweldig verander vanweë tegnologie.

Eerstens verskil die proses waardeur jy hoor van die kongres. Jare terug het jy ’n brief in die pos gekry wat jou genooi het, of dalk was daar ’n advertensie in een of ander joernaal. Deesdae kry jy ’n e-pos wat deur die organiseerders uitgestuur word of dalk ’n elektroniese nuusbrief wat jou inlig oor die magdom kongresse wat daagliks oor die wêreld heen aangebied word.

Die registrasie en betalings vir ’n kongres was ’n geweldige proses. Jy moes maar vertrou dat die posdiens effektief funksioneer en dat jou registrasie betyds by die organiseerders aankom. Hier en daar het jy ’n angstige oproep gemaak. Die betaling moes gewoonlik op die eerste dag van die kongres gedoen word. Ek onthou nog hoe jy dan in ’n ry moes staan met jou tjek of jou bankbetalingsbewys. Dit was ’n lang proses. Vandag registreer jy jou sommer elektronies, selfs jou betaling kan jy onmiddellik aanlyn doen en as jy vrae het, stuur jy ’n e-pos en minute later het jy jou antwoord.

Die grootste verandering, na my mening, is dat almal jare terug met pen en papier gesit en notas maak het. Afgesny van jou kantoor en gefokus op alles by die kongres. Vandag sien ek almal het hul skootrekenaars of iPads en deur die dag hanteer hulle e-posse en navrae van die werk. Almal is aanlyn en elke nou en dan sien ek iemand op Google wat meer oor die spreker oplees.

Tegnologie het werklik die bywoning van kongresse die afgelope twee dekades drasties verander.

Each year this conference draws top academics from the Universities of Technology in South Africa and also internationally.

This year the conference theme is Curriculum Transformation at Universities of Technology towards the development of new generation universities and some of the top academics in South Africa will attend and also present a number of peer reviewed papers surrounding this topic.

The conference will also inform representatives of government departments and public institutions of research and technological contributions, composition of educational programmes and expertise available at Universities of Technology in Southern Africa. Member institutions of the SATN are: the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, the Central University of Technology, Free State, the Durban University of Technology, the Mangosuthu University of Technology, the Tswane University of Technology, the Vaal University of Technology and also the Polytechnic of Namibia.

The latest resource that the SATN has made available is for anyone who needs access to sophisticated scientific or technological infrastructure. The Database of Technologies and Services provides detailed information about such access. Universities of Technology are on the cutting edge of technological advances and through this network you can now access these resources.

If you have children who will start their studies next year or even in two years time, I recommend that you visit their website at www.satn.co.za or contact them at satn@cut.ac.za to get information about options that are available to you at the member universities and the courses that they offer.

Let us take a look at some of the great technological gifts that you can give this year. I will not give long explanations, just some ideas that you can consider and research.

If you are thinking of spending R5000 plus on a special someone, I would consider an iPad 2 to be the best gift this year. You will not be sorry that you bought it. This gift is ideal for your husband or wife, not to mention the student who will be off to study next year.

The prices of digital photo frames have dropped quite a bit and if you have someone in your life who loves photos this will be the perfect gift. This is an ideal gift for mothers and also grandparents.

If you have book lovers in your family you should consider buying one of a number of eBook readers. The prices of these devices have dropped considerably and the Kindle is now also available in South Africa. You will save loads of money on book purchases if you buy them in digital format. This gift is for all members of the family.

As you can see my list consist mainly of digital content devices, due to the fact that they are becoming such a major part of our lives it is time for us to get them now. I did not include the iPhone 4S in this list because I believe it to be a device that most of us will get on contract.

Happy shopping!

You probably did not think that far ahead yet, but you will need to start looking for a job. With the high unemployment rate in South Africa it is vital that you grab hold of every single opportunity that comes your way.

You also need to not only look for work in your town or city, but also in other provinces and countries. The first few steps that your really need to follow to find that perfect job is to compile a comprehensive CV or portfolio.

Have it typed neatly and make sure that you have no spelling errors. Make sure that you have it in an electronic format. Best would be to have it in both Word format and also an Adobe pdf format.

Now make sure that you upload your CV to at least two or three online career websites. There are such a large number of these sites that I think going to Google and registering on as many as possible is the right step. Now search for jobs on each of these networks and apply.

You are not finished yet. Now you have to go to www.linkedin.com and register your professional profile on the network. This is a professional network which is for profes-sionals and if you use it wisely you will find scouts and scouts will find you.

Always keep your CV up to date and also your professional online profile current and reflecting the real you. Good luck..

Nico Baird is a new media expert and can be contacted at nico@clicksa.co.za or visit www.nicobaird.com.