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By coscooper
iPad and iPhone (and a MBP) are part of my everyday technical life, so you would think I’m some “fan-boy” or something, sorry, “fan(person)”, a term I hate BTW, but I’m not. I just like good solid technology to get things done, not worry about either being “hacked” or things falling apart in my hands, (okay, my iPad is just WiFi on purpose and I did have to put a new glass face on my iPhone). I’m also not enamored by the inflated number of applications “available” on those “other” smart-phones who “they” claim a huge number of programs, which according to my limited research, are mostly half baked, low quality and riddled with security issues, hacks and other such reminiscent “windoze ilk”. Android aside, I digress. While the latest iPhone isn’t in my possession, I do have one that is about a year old. With the new release of iOS4, I anticipated taking advantage of a few new features, knowing full well that most wouldn’t be supported, but some would. My anticipation was met with disappointment.
After several hours of waiting for the upgrade to process, I also didn’t see that one coming, I finally got to dinking around with the new system after dinner last night. Armed with the feature list, I poked through the various settings looking for the new features. It all acted, behaved and frankly looked no different than the previous version. I found nothing compelling that made me think, “Boy am I glad I upgraded!” Instead, I yawned pushed a couple of apps together into folders, about the only thing worth the upgrade and moved onto the next few features. Photo zooming, didn’t happen; home background, still black; tap to focus video, I have a 3G only phone, so that was a bust. Finally, I fired up the iPod application to make a new Playlist, underwhelmed and continued down the list. Gift apps, whoopity doo; spell check, —yawn; Bluetooth keyboard, don’t have one, man, this upgrade was a waste of time all around.
Basically, I did my “dinking” for about thirty minutes, placed it on it’s charger and haven’t picked it up since. Instead, as usual, I opted for my morning reading with the iPad, not thinking twice about what I can do with my old, reliable, beater iPhone. I’ll make a call later, I guess, as long as AT&T doesn’t drop me. Then again, I rarely use the calling feature on my iPhone, so I suppose I’ll stick the earbuds in and take the dog for a walk, I am “underemployed” after all.
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By coscooper
I just started the IOS 4 upgrade on my one-year-old 3G phone. I am not in the market to upgrade to the latest & greatest iPhone at the moment, but I figured I’d at least go through with the upgrade and see what new features I am able to take advantage.
Installation & Upgrade: easy to get started, simply plugged it in for a sync, was presented with the obligatory, “You’re not running the latest version, blah, blah, blah…” and I didn’t go for it at first. I was doing some house cleaning and trying to get some new music uploaded first. Then, I decided to go for it after about thirty minutes of futzing with the apps, syncing some music and an iCal appointment. I also realized that if the install screwed it up, all this would be in vain and I’d have to re-sync anyway. But, alas, that didn’t happen. What did happen… time ticked by, that’s what happened.
After selecting yes on the first screen, I was presented with a “this could take a while, do not interrupt it or everything will be wiped into obliteration” screen. Okay, it didn’t say that literally, but alluded to that being a possibility. As a side note, the wording stated that it could take up to an hour, or perhaps longer. Seriously, it stated this without an estimate or any more specifics, just a nebulous, an hour or more. So, deciding to just press on, I hit the button of no return at exactly 2:55pm this afternoon.
So far, iTunes presented a dialog window that said it was “backing up” my iPhone, the blue bar was about an 1/8th of the distance across the window, then it stopped. To not get frustrated or blow my iPhone into oblivion, I turned to my, (groan) DELL Inspiron with the 23” screen and started working there glancing back at the MBP every few minutes to see if the bar had moved. It had not.
Finally, after loosing track and getting absorbed into my “research” on the XP box (using Safari), I stole a peek and saw that the window had changed to “installing”. The iPhone flipped to some activation screen and iTunes started activating. That sat seemingly froze the progress for at least another hour.
Now, it’s exactly 5:18pm and it’s been “Restoring” on iTunes and/or “Sync in Progress” on my iPhone for some time now, I’m loosing track of exactly what happened when, still hours have creeped by. Two hours and twenty two minutes later, the entire progress is still going. iTunes has moved onto restoring my music, but it’s still going. Dialogs are moving, but very slowly.
So, I’m going to post this blog entry anyway and will follow up later with the exact length it took to do a full upgrade. Needless to say, set aside a lot of time if you’re upgrading. My intent was to include initial “Newness” experience, but I’ll save that for another day.
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By coscooper
My morning pretty much starts with a set of common rituals I’ve done for years. During the week, I like to catch up on news, read about new technology and get ready for the day. Right now, that ritual includes my iPhone, but… the screen is too small.
In the old days —well about two years ago — after pouring my morning coffee, I’d plod out to the driveway, rain, snow, shine or cold and retrieve the paper. After grabbing the paper, I’d make some breakfast, update my coffee, sit at the table and read through my favorite sections. Of course, to be honest, I started with the comics, THEN went to the real news, or what ever the local paper had decided to pick up from AP and local happenings. After finishing the paper and breakfast, I’d track down my laptop and fire up my email, check through the evenings spam, then move to the important stuff.
That was then, this is now. First, I bought an iPhone last year. Second, we canceled the paper. I had to go looking for other ways to get my morning news. That was one thing about the paper, it didn’t cover all the things I like. Today, I read a lot more about subjects I’m interested, feeling that I’m more informed than before.
Today, I start my day with that cup of coffee, that wont ever change, then I pick up my iPhone, first thing. Starting with the AP application, I sift through their top reports reading what looks interesting. I also like USA Today. Same thing, I sift through their top reports, sports and then tech sections to hit the highlights. All the while, I’m making breakfast, but I’m not as compelled to sit at the table anymore. Now I sit at the bar or in the family room. Kind of anywhere I plop. My last stop on my iPhone is All Things Digital, which is extremely focused on the tech industry with such articles about who’s buying who, new gadgets, what Apple employee left a new iPhone at a bar, new startup interviews, plus they have videos at current conferences and more. I then pop open an aggregate news tool called Fluent News. It pulls in feeds from CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX and others, which I use to fill in any gaps missed by my favorites.
More… so, once the world news and technical news is up-to-date, I’ll check the weather, even though I can see what it looks like outside, it’s still good to know what’s going to happen. Next, I switch to email, usually quickly review due to the screen size. Final stop is Facebook and LinkedIn to see if anything interesting is going on there. Finally, I end my morning with OmniFocus. Since I try to adhere to the GTD strategies, OmniFocus is for planning my daily todo and projects.
That’s pretty much my morning most days. I rarely fire up my laptop until I’m ready to get going with projects and other activities. So, why did I title this blog “I want an iPad!” — well, I do a lot on the iPhone and since I use it more of a mini-computer than a cell phone, an iPad would do all of this better, I think. In fact, since I hardly fire up my laptop until later in the morning, I could probably do just about everything on the iPad. I primarily use Pages, Numbers and Keynote, so since those are available on the iPad, I’m nearly there. I also use OmniGraffle, OmniFocus, a web browser, a writing tool (Scrivener) and dictionary most days. So, looking at what I primarily do, an iPad would just about do it all for me.
My problem is: I just purchased a new laptop last fall, like most, I just can’t justify an iPad no matter how much I’d like to have and use one. While I’m not advocating ditching a laptop or desktop (yet), I’m advocating that 80% of what I do on a daily (morning) basis could be done on an iPad. I still use Fireworks, Photoshop on occasion and many other activities that crank on this laptop, but my morning would be easier if I had an iPad. I WANT AN IPAD!!
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By coscooper
I am one happy camper today!! Why, you might ask? Well, after 3 long months with a cracked screen, I finally got it fixed yesterday. Now, I can catch up on so much lost time with my iPhone. Whawhoooo!
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By coscooper
Web site building is technical work and something that comes easy to me. However, I’ve noticed a trend amongst clients.
“Make me a web site, have all of the content magically show up and have it do exactly what I want all with very little input or work from me.”
This client ideology is both frustrating and can lead to lengthy deployments. Every client so far has some notion that if they “pay” me to build a web site that I will magically understand everything they want and to somehow come up with the exact message and content that makes sense.
Truth is, it just doesn’t happen that way. I’m a technician, not a mind-reader, nor do I fully understand every detail and nuance of my clients business. While I do get things rather quickly and do grasp the high level overview of a given business, I am by no means an expert. So, I have to rely on the client to actually communicate and review the site(s) for content and appropriateness.
Well, this tends to drag-on and by extension, makes the process really drag on. Therefore, I DO NOT do it full time. If I built sites full time, my family and I would die of starvation.
Enough ranting… I have to finish another site for a “family member”…
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By coscooper
I’ve been feverishly working on several web site concepts and am finding the process of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) a bit complex. Not that I don’t understand it, but that while attempting to sort out all of the articles, density and keywords, search engines seem to take for ever to crawl the sites. I’ve read tons of information about “Content Is King”. Well, that’s fine except that it’s kind of hard to write content specifically targeting keywords and trying to keep “density” in mind.
I’ve also noticed that on some sites, namely my own personal blog, here, that it moves all over the place on Google. One day, it’s top 5, then a few days later, I can’t find it to save my life. I’ve found that if I slack off and don’t post anything for a few days, it drops like a stone in water. Go figure. But, then there’s a few “Shane” sites that haven’t been updated in months and it stays on top. It’s kind of hard to figure out frankly.
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By coscooper
Have you ever woke up early in the morning say on a Wednesday or Thursday looking up at the ceiling thinking, I have responsibility! What the heck happened? One day not long ago, I would have woke up trying to figure out what I’d be doing this coming weekend, or I was staying up late hanging out with friends and listening to rock music or going out just because. Then you realize that same morning laying there thinking, it’s the next day, mortgage, family, kids and oh a job where everyone’s looking to your guidance and leadership on a ton of projects.
Wait, I’m 40-something and still listening to rock music, I wear jeans and shorts to work, wear Crocs to the office every chance I get, I’m driving an open-air jeep and still trying to figure out what I’m going to do this coming weekend. Granted, I’ll probably do “productive” stuff this weekend, but still, I may not. The best part about being this age with the mind-set of youth is that you can “afford” to do things now. Well, okay, my wife says I can’t afford things, but I believe I can. Anyway, while doing stuff, I listen to rock music, drive fast while heading over to Home-Depot to get my supplies and generally goof around while working on my chosen project. I’ll typically take a break and catch a Simpsons episode my son or watch any one of his other favorites.
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By coscooper
Well, after messing around with the iBook for like an hour, I decided to look into getting my own laptop. So, I trucked over to the new Apple Store at Flat Iron Crossing and purchased a spanking new MacBook Pro. Didn’t get the top of the line, that was Jodi and I’s compromise, but still. Can’t complain.
It’s not perfect, but it’s working well. Wireless and heat are the primary issues. Wireless was (appears to be) fixed by running the latest MacOS 10.4.6 update manually, not through the built-in update tool.
Heat is still controversial, so, I’ll just wait for Apple to figure out what the “official” fix is and send mine in. I think. No, wait, I think I think I like nice warm soothing heat on my palms. Hm… maybe it’s a feature?
Shane
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By coscooper
I’ve run across the coolest web site. If you’re into music at all and would like to discover unknown bands or try other music genre’s, then you have to try out this site.
Go over to Pandora.com. It’s a “radio” site. However, the way it works is, you start with a favorite band or song. From there it streams similar music based upon the band and specific sound of the song. It’s simple to use and best of all, for a few ads popping up, it’s free. For a detailed explanation on how they derived at how music is selected, they’re core business is part of the Music Genome Project.
I’ve use it now for two purposes.
One – to get an idea of some new bands I might like
Two – as a radio at work or home. So, while ads may pop up, the songs still stream along in the back-ground.
Enjoy – Shane
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By coscooper
You see it all the time. You hit what sounds like the site you’re looking for, only once you hit the link and the site pops up in your web browser, it looks like something from 1993. It looks like someone figured out how to use Paint they found in the Accessories directory and suddenly thought, ew, Im a graphic artist, cool! Next, they figured out how to copy/paste it into a word document, do a little fiddling with the copy and the picture, usually all centered copy, and then they must have saved all of the files in to an HTML format and posted them on a server.
Typically, these turn me off right away. In some cases, they may actually have some very useful information, but I just cant get past the horrid look and feel. Its like seeing that crappy car in the used car lot that has one corner hanging down low about to touch a tire, 1 red fender, white hood and a blue rear end. The sign says, strong reliable engine. Well, it may be, but theres no way on this green earth I would drive it or rely on it. Okay, I have to admit, back on the web page, there are rare occasions I’ll look around and read if it’s at least easy to get around AND the information is very helpful.
I HATE THESE KINDS OF SITES! In fact, if there was any way that a law could be passed that enacted legislation that disallowed such crap, I’d be in heaven. Then of course, the government would have to create the Web Site Design Police. Well, then again, I suppose they’d be a sub-division of the “Fashion Police”. 
Boycott such sites no matter what!
-Shane (JMHO)
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