We're incredibly excited to introduce our newest application, iWriter. iWriter allows teachers and students to create study tools for the iPod in minutes, then share those tools with (other) students, colleagues and friends - instantly. See it in action here. Several of us here at Talking Panda are the offspring of teachers, so we used our built-in focus group to design iWriter very carefully, with the particular needs of educators (and those being educated) in mind:

• Ease of use – iWriter is NOT geared toward highly skilled technologists, but real teachers and students at almost any level of education

• Speed of use –

we know that educators and students face serious time constraints and heavy workloads already; iWriter is intended to create fun and functional iPod applications from existing lesson plans/materials, hence minimizing the time required to create engaging and fun study tools that can be instantly distributed

• Accessibility – iWriter can be used by Mac and Windows users and on most versions of the Apple iPod. In addition, iWriter-generated study tools and resources can be accessed not only via iPods, but also via the Web. Creators of iWriter projects can share their projects (for free) via their web sites, email, or for Mac users, .Mac accounts.

After testing the tool with a select group of teachers - not just our relatives, but real teachers with no vested interest in us from around the world - we’re releasing the public beta of iWriter today. One teacher who tested an earlier version of the beta wrote, “ am really blown away by it.” iWriter is available for free as a 15-day trial starting today. Give it a shot and see if you and/or your students don’t find fun and functional ways to use it. And please, let us know what you think! Email iwriter@talkingpanda.com to give us your feedback, tell how you use it, and what you’d like it to do in future versions.