Top all-time · #1231
Fraser Speirs
Personal blog · speirs.orgprogrammingproductivitycareer
Fraser Speirs's personal blog at speirs.org covers programming, productivity and career. Since 2007, 59 different Hacker News readers have linked it 65 times, most often “Can the MacBook Pro Replace Your iPad?”. No feed was found, so read it on the site itself.
Website of Fraser Speirs (not the harmonica guy).
Most-linked posts?
- Can the MacBook Pro Replace Your iPad?9 people · 9 mentions · first linked 2015-11-30
- /4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2010-09-08
- On Switching from an iPad Pro and MacBook to a Pixelbook3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2018-11-30
- On Switching from iPad to Chromebook in School2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2019-07-27
- Ambitious iOS Apps2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-11-01
- Misconceptions About iOS Multitasking2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2012-01-02
- A Year of Teaching Swift2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-06-02
- On Switching from iOS to Android – Fraser Speirs2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2018-11-21
- Thoughts on Swift Playgrounds2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-06-17
- IPad in Education: How It's Going2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2010-09-27
What Hacker News says?
Those aren't necessarily apps that remain in memory. The first few might be, but not if they haven't been used in a while. The rest of the entries are merely a list of recently used apps that are neither using processor time nor in memory. http://speirs.org/blog/2012/1/2/misconceptions-about-ios-mul...
Comment linking /blog/2012/1/2/misconceptions-about-ios-multitasking.html
on “Am I An Outlier, Or Are Apple Products No Longer Easy To Use?”Submitted Misconceptions About iOS Multitasking as a story · 205 points
HN discussionIt sounds like your IT director didn't support the teachers use of the iPads well (or the WiFi for that matter). Reading Fraser Speirs' blog ( http://www.speirs.org ) about how he did a 1:1 program for his school (he was the computer teacher and IT professional there), it's clear that you can't just hand the iPads out and that's it.
Comment linking /
on “Why Some Schools Are Selling All Their iPads”Submitted We Need to Talk About Android as a story · 195 points
HN discussion> I think once you touch the £1,000 mark you have to start proving far more worth than polished marketing. My work thankfully proved an iPhone 8, otherwise, I was going to buy an iPhone 6 or 7 [0] Fraser Spiers (famous in certain circles as an ‘iPad in schools’/productivity tools proselytizer) recently faced the same dilemma and made the switch to Android/Chromebook instead: http://www.speirs.org/blog/2018/11/18/on-…
Comment linking /blog/2018/11/18/on-switching-from-ios-to-android
on “Apple iPhone Supplier Foxconn Planning Deep Cost Cuts”Submitted App Store: I'm out as a story · 123 points
HN discussion"Quite a good move on their part if it is successful." I haven't used it, nor do I work in education, but what I have read of it, it at least is successful in the sense that those who use Apple's Swift training material find it to have good quality. For example, http://www.speirs.org/blog/2017/6/1/a-year-of-teaching-swift : "In times past the experience was that, if you were an able student in Computing, you would g…
Comment linking /blog/2017/6/1/a-year-of-teaching-swift
on “Swift's Evolution”Submitted Fraser Speirs's iPad commentary: Future Shock as a story · 82 points
HN discussionThis is just my speculation, but people might use smartphones sitting next to their laptop for a variety of reasons: - Streaming video on laptop while doing something else - You can't text message or snapchat from your laptop - It might be quicker to hit an app icon than load a webpage for checking the weather - You're on your work laptop but you get a personal email on your phone I think the author's point about a…
Comment linking /blog/2015/11/30/can-the-macbook-pro-replace-your-ipad
on “Mobile Theses”Submitted On Switching from an iPad Pro and MacBook to a Pixelbook as a story · 66 points
HN discussionThe author's original "I'm out" post: http://speirs.org/blog/2008/9/12/app-store-im-out.html What I find sad is that every issue he had with Apple is still just as bad. The only thing that has changed positively is the app store approval time. Everything else is either the same or worse. And so basically he's just saying, "Fine, you're just going to keep doing the things I find reprehensible, but consumers love you,…
Comment linking /blog/2008/9/12/app-store-im-out.html
on “Back In”Submitted Back In as a story · 44 points
HN discussionhere's the associated blog post: http://speirs.org/blog/2011/10/30/ambitious-ios-apps.html
Comment linking /blog/2011/10/30/ambitious-ios-apps.html
on “Ambitious iOS Apps by Fraser Speirs”Submitted How the iPad Wants to be Used as a story · 25 points
HN discussionFraser Speirs' iPad 1:1 deployment odyssey at a private elementary school has been fascinating to watch: http://speirs.org/blog/2010/9/23/the-ipad-project-how-its-go... At this point, all I can give you are some practical anecdotes which, I hope, will give you a flavour of the change. I picked up a ream of printer paper yesterday. It had dust on top of it. Primary 2 pupils have now memorised their passwords. That's…
Comment linking /blog/2010/9/23/the-ipad-project-how-its-going.html
on “More Schools Embrace the iPad as a Learning Tool ”Submitted The problem with deploying iPads in schools as a story · 23 points
HN discussionThey may not be there for some (maybe most) schools, but there are certainly some having success with them. See http://speirs.org/ for a blog of a guy who seems quite pleased with them at the UK school he teaches at.
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on “More Schools Embrace the iPad as a Learning Tool ”Submitted Understanding Git submodules as a story · 18 points
HN discussionhttp://www.nd.edu/~cangst/NotreDame_iPad_Report_01-06-11.pdf http://robertkozma.com/images/kozma_jrte.pdf http://www.educause.edu/ELI7Things http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practic... http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_educa... Not formal studies but great anecdotes: http://www.fastcompany.com/1727292/apple-ipad-officially-pas... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1-8OOrBi0o&fea…
Comment linking /
on “What Do Kids Say Is The Biggest Obstacle To Technology At School?”Submitted Demographics Is Destiny as a story · 12 points
HN discussionThe idea of kids using their cellphones in class brought an article that Frasier Speirs wrote back in October to mind: http://speirs.org/blog/2010/10/9/run-what-ya-brung.html He argues that there are a number of assumptions that come into play with using pupil's phones in this manner. He's worth reading, since he's involved in a project bringing tablet computers (currently iPads) into the school that he's working fo…
Comment linking /blog/2010/10/9/run-what-ya-brung.html
on “What Do Kids Say Is The Biggest Obstacle To Technology At School?”Submitted On the Flickr support in iPhoto ‘09 as a story · 11 points
HN discussionFrasier Spiers is the IT Manager for a school in Scotland that gave an iPad to every student in the school. His blog - http://speirs.org/ - covers both the shortcomings and positives of the rollout. In general it seems to be a qualified success (in particular from a management standpoint versus laptops of any kind).
Comment linking /
on “Why IT needs to stop worrying and learn to love the iPad (and other tablets)”Submitted Can the MacBook Pro Replace Your iPad? as a story · 10 points
HN discussionIf Apple are serious about this, they are going to have to provide some better management tools for enterprise. Being able to manages devices remotely is incredibly important, and an easy way to install apps is necessary. I sure hope Apple are reading this blog, http://speirs.org/ , where the IT guy is using iPads throught a school in Scotland.
Comment linking /
on “The iPad is about to steamroll into the Enterprise”Submitted On Switching from an iPad Pro and a Macbook to a Pixelbook as a story · 9 points
HN discussionHere is a list of some: http://speirs.org http://mattgemmell.com http://www.mikeash.com/pyblog/ http://nshipster.com http://www.objectivesee.com http://www.fruitstandsoftware.com/blog/ http://ashfurrow.com/blog/ http://www.cimgf.com/ http://www.cocoawithlove.com/ All of them extracted from here: http://ashfurrow.com/blog/blog-resources And some more: http://objectivesea.tumblr.com/ http://soff.es/ And finally, this…
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: What are the best iOS dev blogs?”Submitted On Switching from iPad to Chromebook in School as a story · 8 points
HN discussionSubmitted On Switching from iOS to Android – Fraser Speirs as a story · 5 points
HN discussionSubmitted Can the MacBook Pro Replace Your iPad? as a story · 5 points
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