www.ADASTRASOFT.COM

1) Will my existing purchases of AdastraSoft software work on Apple iPad?

Yes. There is no need to make additional application purchase neither. Simply sync your Apple iPad using the same computer you used to sync your iPodTouch/iPhone device(s).

Majority of our pictures are in high resolution and will display even better on iPad.

2) Should I choose iPodTouch or iPad?

In hardware terms, iPad is a far superior device than iPodTouch per our evaluations. In fact, our applications are designed with the size of iPad in mind, but our original design vision could not be realized until now. Users will find the screen controls much easier to use, for example, using iPad's bigger screen.

We do want to mention a caveat that the size and weight of iPad could be of concern to users with low muscle tone, or having substantial issue with fine motor control. Our recommendation is try visiting your local Apple Store and let the target user to get a feel of the device first.

3) Is there any manual available?

Please go to each product's individual page to download user guide in Adobe PDF format. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required (http://www.adobe.com).

4) How may I record my voice on iPodTouch?

For starters, please search Amazon.com using "ipod touch" and "mic" as keywords. There are large numbers of third-party earphones w/ integrated microphones out there that work with iPodTouch. They are considerably cheaper ($2-$25) than the one offered by Apple ($45).

Our test bench shows no noticable difference between third-parties' and Apple's.

5) How much does it cost to get the latest updates?

Generally, maintenance updates are available free of charge through Apple's AppStore. Since our applications are quite large, it is strongly recommended to get the free updates using your computer's iTunes first, then sync the updates to your devices.

6) The software closes by itself suddenly for no reason. Why?

Usually an unexpected application termination is due to (low) memory condition. Since our applications are extensive checked for memory leak, it is extremely unlikely that our applications would crash due to lack of memory.

Typically, restart your device would resolve this issue.

Another possibility is that the downloaded copy is corrupted. In this case, delete the copy on iTunes and your device, then go to AppStore to re-purchase the product. The download process will detect that you have already made the purchase, and thus will allow you to download the fresh copy for free.

If the issue persist, please email us the detail description of the issue.

7) I have an iPodTouch and want to import pictures from my iTunes library. Does the picture resolution matters when choosing the digital camera?

It does. iPhone/iPodTouch's screen resolution is 320x480 pixels (roughly 150,000). All our applications would display zoom-in view at 320x320 pixels (roughly 100,000).

For Apple iPadTouch, resolution of 690x690 (less than 1/2 megapixels) is used.

Even our applications will scale down your pictures if they are too big, this process does put strain on memory usage. iPhone/iPodTouch devices typically have only 60Mb of usable memory for applications. Therefore, it is simply overkill and waste of memory if you are using pictures with 10 or 12 megapixels, when the iPhone/iPodTouch hardware could display only 1/6 to 1/10 of a megapixel.

So, if you plan to buy a digital camera to take pictures for use with our applications on iPodTouch, 2 to 3 megapixels camera are more than enough ($55-$85 at Walmart or Amazon.com). There is no need to spend hundreds of dollars to get fancy 10-15 megapixels cameras.

8) How do I add item in the customization page?

In the EDIT ITEM section, click on the square box button (it is showing a green square -> a green square + a black square). The new item is always auto-selected (showing an orange frame), and is always after the currently selected item. You may then use the blue up and down arrows to re-arrange items in your list.

9) How do I customize my existing items list?

StepStones: Drag up (or down) the customize activity schedule icon (note: your customize activity icon always has a light green shadow)

Expressionist: Click on the "+" button when it is visible (note: only expressions that allow drill-down would have that button displayed)

HaloTalk: Go to "customize" tab bar button at lower-right of the screen

iPACS: Click on "customize" button at lower-left of the screen

10) How do I backup and restore my customizations?

The easiest way is simply backup your iPhone/iPodTouch using your computer's iTunes. Alternatively, MobileMe services allow more flexible backup/restore. Note that, if you are using iPhone's camera to take pictures for customization, it is best to take them using Apple's default camera application first, then import them from our application.

11) Is there any way your application would allow photo editing?

The better solution is actually free: Please download Adobe's Photoshop Mobile for iPhone/iPodTouch. It is free as of Oct 2009. This application allows you to edit the pictures in the photo albums. Better yet, you may crop the picture to square-size, which is the optimal aspect ratio for all of our applications.

12) Is there any way to transfer customizations between devices?

At this time, the only way to transfer customizations is
a) make an device backup using iTunes
b) restore that backup to other identical devices (if you backup the iPodTouch, you may only restore to iPodTouch, etc)

Many teachers report success using the above method to clone the customizations onto many devices.