RSS
 

Posts Tagged ‘iPad’

IOS 4, Yawnsville

23 Jun

wpid-apple-iphone-in-hand1-2010-06-23-10-46.jpgiPad 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.

 
2 Comments

Posted in Gadgets, iPhone, Reviews, Software, Software, Technology

 

Living in the Cloud, sorta!

10 May

I made a strategic decision this past week. I’m going to attempt to work “in the cloud” for a few weeks and months to see how it goes. And… so… I purchased an iPad for the trip. I settled on the 32gb Wi-Fi version as I have an iPhone and do not need another monthly bill.

While I have a powerful new MacBook pro with all the goodies, it’s a bit overkill for my current situation. Limited employment. It’s going to be for sales soon, hint-hint, but in the mean time, I’ve switched everything to my old Macbook —which I’ve had issues in the past, like crashing consistently over-heating, but generally reliable— like our Infiniti, it’s paid for, has seen better days and is “functional”.

What’s up with the “cloud” thing? Unless you’ve been living in a cave, technically speaking, cloud computing is a term that seems to be getting traction at all levels of discussion. Rather than store everything down on a local laptop, work exclusively on a local computing device, doing and working “in the cloud” is the future. It’s currently riddled with lots of speed bumps, curves and dead ends, cloud computing is am emerging technological direction that’s unavoidable.

If you happen to be reading this post and sniggering, think about this; everything you post on Facebook is “in the cloud”. All of your Google email, is “in the cloud”. If you work for a company that uses “SalesForce”, you’re working “in the cloud”, and so it goes.

Therefore, I’m moving as much as I can to this ethereal “cloud” and going to attempt to live and work online from the iPad for the most part. There are still obstacles, road-blocks and curvy roads ahead to be sure, but I believe I’ll be able to accomplish what I currently need without a full fledged “laptop” or heavy duty computer.

What I do today:
- I read the news, online of course.
- I check my email, respond and look at links in emails.
- I write, a lot actually. Like I’m working on a book, have several blogs that keep me busy, write articles and other freelance work.
- I’m networking, ie… looking for full time employment.
- I go to seminars, meet ups and sit in on webinars (take notes)
- I research all kinds of things
- I check Facebook and LinkedIn every once in a while.
- Sort through my contacts and build a spreadsheet or two.
- Fulfill my duties as president of our HOA. (IE… write letters, go check on maintenance work and send e-mails.)
- Generate great documents, export them to PDF for others.
- Keep my Resume updated.
- Apply for jobs online.
- Read PDFs

… so, for the most part, these activities do not take a powerful computer. Just access to email, gmail, writing tools & spreadsheet tools (ala Pages, spreadsheets, ala Numbers) and a web browser.

And, that’s about it.

Things I don’t do:
- Write code. (Although, I’ve thought about it and have a few iPad & iPhone ideas kicking around in my head.)
- Tinker with the OS any more, like the old days, well, of course if I used XP or Win7, then I’d be tinkering all the time, frustrated, throwing things etc…, but I don’t, so that’s over.
- I don’t play games. Well, I do mess with a few freebies, but it’s not a core care or concern.
- Build web sites, or ones that take a lot of effort.

Things I think I’ll miss.
- Photo management – I’ll work something out, but it’s not highest priority, just a nicety. I love iPhoto, but with only 32gb of storage, not going to keep my collection on the iPad. Old Mac will work, i think.
- Graphical design application, Fireworks – I love this application, but use it only when I need. Not a show stopper. I’ll push myself to explore this more once I “need” to. Probably look at a few editors on the iPad.
- Scrivener – I use a great little application for my creative writing. This is the single biggest stumbling block I’m having, but it’s more mental than actual, because everything can be done with Pages files. (Good iPad application is floating around in my head on this one.)

(BTW… this entire post was written on the iPad using the free WordPress tool and the docking keyboard, I also purchased with the iPad.)

… stay tuned.

 
No Comments

Posted in Future, iPad, Technology

 

I want an iPad!

29 Apr

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!!

 
No Comments

Posted in Gadgets, iPad, iPhone, Personal, Technology

 

Personal Computing

26 Apr

Looking at over all trends and the big picture, it seems to me that personal computing will be shifting in the near future. First, let me define what I believe personal computing to be.

It’s more than the ability to have a full fledged computer sitting on your desk or lap. While this is typically what’s believed to be the definition or one of the defining aspects of personal computing, it’s not. These are just two types of “devices” we use, not the experience of personal computing.

Personal computing is the ability to have access to computing technology for augmentation the human experience. In essence, it’s the use of a computer to get things done. Today, we get things done on desktop and laptop computers. The experience of having that kind of computing power has radically changed over the years, but at the core, these have been available to us now over the past 10 years or so.

Quick history – early computing capabilities were centralized. Some of the first “electronic” computers were the size of buildings and rooms. Humans only had access through terminals and simple screens for input. Access was limited to a small percentage of the population, therefore making it unavailable to the masses.

In an effort to provide computing technologies to the masses, companies like Apple and IBM began the modern day, Personal Computer. Over the past thirty years, personal computing has changed radically giving us computing power at our finger tips that has surpassed the early systems. It’s gone from a ‘centralized’ system to having decentralized systems on our desks and laps.

Shifts in what personal computing “is” is about to start. Laptops and desktops are ubiquitous. We’re now so use to them, we don’t give them a second glance when we’re in public areas. They are just there.

With the internet and more specific, the web, we’ve moved from doing everything on our personal computing devices, desktops and laptops, to doing things on the web. Some sites are simply there for the sake of it, not providing any real value, but that’s for a different discussion. The underlying principle of being able to do things outside the confines of ones “personal computer” has begun to change how we use computing.

Next steps: While the personal computer has been a major step in humans augmenting their ability to get things done, they’re a stop gap on the way to something much more far reaching. Star Trek and other SciFi ideologies are becoming more reality every day.

Mobile computing is getting us into the “next step” realm, but, it’s more inline with mass adoption than final end-all. It’s another stop gap to full computing power.

Mobile devices, like the iPad are moving us into the new world. While not perfect, far from it, it’s more inline with the evolution of personal computing.

Far out there: in the near or distant future, personal computing will not be sitting down at our desks with a keyboard or sitting on the couch with our laptops. It’ll be accessing a computing “environment” that is custom tailored to our needs. We’ll subscribe to a computing service whereby we’ll choose the tools, applications (applets) and or “things” we’ll need to do something. With “cloud” computing, it’s not to difficult to conceive of the notion that we’ll be doing this kind of “personal computing” in the near future.

 
No Comments

Posted in Future, Technology