I want this app to be the One. It is beautiful, it makes Twitter and Facebook a joy to peruse, not to mention news feeds. It is the best app on my iPad, for now. But... I have to load Reeder to get the functions I want, namely to share the things I read with people in my social circle. The sharing function on Flipboard needs a lot of work. Instapaper is there, but not Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc. I use Flipboard to post on Twitter, but it could do so much more for me.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Tumbler Blog Expedient
http://exechobo.tumblr.com The recent Blogger debacle left me upset. It was the motivation I need to change platforms. As soon as I have some time behind my MacBook Pro, I am going to go with a hosted Wordpress blog that will combine my two blogs. In the meantime, it is tumble for me.
Mexpedition Battery Case- iPhone pouch
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Lonely Planet writes about Exechobo Life
In this article questions are posed that are the fabric of an Exechobo. I read it and realized that the life I lead is not normal, even if I like it just fine.
Travel vs career: does it have to be all or nothing?
http://inside-digital.blog.lonelyplanet.com/2011/01/12/travel-vs-career-does-it-have-to-be-all-or-nothing/
(Sent from Flipboard)
Sent from my iPad
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
iPad setup day!
The first thing out of the box, I plugged my iPad2 into my MBP to register and sync it. Nothing to it. It did what it was supposed to do, as did I.
Then it was time to start making selections from the apps I have on my iPhone.
Setting up apps was kinda like hard, having to type in all sorts of user names and passwords for the new device. I shoulda set up 1Password first maybe. Then we ran into a couple of speed bumps. Echofon was not signing into Twitter. It kept telling me that my signature is invalid. A bit of online research revealed that I had to tweak a setting. Thanks Internet bloggers!
I wanted to document the whole experience for http://exechobo.com but alas, when I began using Blogger, I found it was a bit obstreperous. It kept telling me my network is not ready to post, but it had no problem showing me posts online. I tried the usual shenanigans to no avail. Blogsy was downloaded for a trial. But to no avail- this was a Blogger issue that grew to be a fiasco. More on that elsewhere.
I continued working through apps. Beehive is the chat client I use on my phone. I anticipate that chatting will be a function with iPad use, but not with Beejive. My first non-iPad iOS app. Quite disappointing. Delete. A second one is Exependiture. This app is a beautiful balance of form and function on the iPhone, but not so on iPad. And there is no synch forth database. It has to live on one or the other. Delete. Facebook app same thing. Delete. Pulse news reader- Delete. Games- Fruit Ninja, Jumbline, WordWarp, and so on- Delete. On and on, if the app is not iPad optimized, it is gone.
This start left me with a stark set of apps, all on the iPad for a reason, a perfect beginning!
While i had few apps to move around, I organized the workspace.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Smartphones-the hot idea- pre iPad
I recently "discovered" a new blogger who writes well and make me think a bit. In a good way. Here is a piece he wrote in 2009 that is worth considering today. Read it with an awareness that it is written pre iPad. This blogger is going on my follow list for certain!
The Smartphone is the Computer | brian s hall
http://brianshall.com/content/new-working-class
(via Instapaper)
The Smartphone is the Computer | brian s hall
http://brianshall.com/content/new-working-class
The Smartphone is the Computer
Submitted by brian s hall on 22 February, 2011 - 22:57
[Brian: This was originally written July 2009. One of the very first posts of the original site.]
We are in the midst of the global smartphone wars. Smartphones and the real-time "smart social mobile web" are permanently remaking business, learning, work, play, wealth, power and everything everywhere forever. What I term the Smart Social Mobile Web — the convergence of virtually free, infinitely scalable, globally accessible devices, databases, platforms and technologies — enables any-time, any-where collaboration between any individual, group or machine. The smart social mobile web has already begun to transform business, commerce, competition, philanthropy, learning, play, culture, wealth and power. As it (rapidly) gains force, the smart social mobile web transforms everything. Nothing will be like ever before. No industry, no market, no company, no product — no job — will be safe. None.
The building blocks of this smart social mobile web include:
How much land does Google own? Why is Facebook worth more than America's auto industry? When did Twitter alter the balance of power within non-democratic governments? Why is Apple on the cusp of becoming the most valuable company in the world? Is it possible that, thanks to the smartphone, a small family owned shop on main street can take on Amazon and win — every time? Yes.
And these are only the beginning. What you are teaching your children, what you prioritize, the way you work, how you value time and input are all wrong. Because they are relics of a world that is rapidly dying. All thanks to the smartphone. This site will provide sanctuary. But you must act. Every product, business, philanthropy, industry, community and social order is undergoing forced permanent transformation. Every individual holds the same power. Every business can compete with any other. Every nation has equal access. Anyone, anywhere, in any industry can become a competitor. Or an equal. This is a global revolution.
Some of the fundamental business models that are estroying the world as you kmow it are, simultaneously, creating unprecedented worldwide opportunity. Understand them, seize your chance, and lead the re-configuration of the planet!
God bless!
Brian S Hall
We are in the midst of the global smartphone wars. Smartphones and the real-time "smart social mobile web" are permanently remaking business, learning, work, play, wealth, power and everything everywhere forever. What I term the Smart Social Mobile Web — the convergence of virtually free, infinitely scalable, globally accessible devices, databases, platforms and technologies — enables any-time, any-where collaboration between any individual, group or machine. The smart social mobile web has already begun to transform business, commerce, competition, philanthropy, learning, play, culture, wealth and power. As it (rapidly) gains force, the smart social mobile web transforms everything. Nothing will be like ever before. No industry, no market, no company, no product — no job — will be safe. None.
The building blocks of this smart social mobile web include:
- Web
- Smartphone
- Social Media
- Location-based services
- Meta Search
- Real-time rich communications
- Instant machine-based decision-making
- our expectations
- our views
- what we learn
- how we work
- the policies we support
- children's education
How much land does Google own? Why is Facebook worth more than America's auto industry? When did Twitter alter the balance of power within non-democratic governments? Why is Apple on the cusp of becoming the most valuable company in the world? Is it possible that, thanks to the smartphone, a small family owned shop on main street can take on Amazon and win — every time? Yes.
And these are only the beginning. What you are teaching your children, what you prioritize, the way you work, how you value time and input are all wrong. Because they are relics of a world that is rapidly dying. All thanks to the smartphone. This site will provide sanctuary. But you must act. Every product, business, philanthropy, industry, community and social order is undergoing forced permanent transformation. Every individual holds the same power. Every business can compete with any other. Every nation has equal access. Anyone, anywhere, in any industry can become a competitor. Or an equal. This is a global revolution.
Some of the fundamental business models that are estroying the world as you kmow it are, simultaneously, creating unprecedented worldwide opportunity. Understand them, seize your chance, and lead the re-configuration of the planet!
- Free is the new black! Your service or product can be delivered for free. Don't believe me and someone else will make it happen.
- Here. Now. The only place is here. The only time is now. Distance is not relevant. Delays do not exist.
- Think locally. Scale globally. Hyperlocal is hyperglobal. In a globally connected world, where you are at the time is more important than ever:
- Information wants to be monetized: Data + access + analysis + aggregation + socialization = wealth.
- Values = Profits. Anyone can get anything anytime from anywhere. Counter-intuitively, this makes values-based businesses more important than ever.
- The virtual is the real. As we move the virtual into our reality – rather than the long-presumed opposite – opportunities for prosperity and permanent disconnect with others take root.
- Young brown woman child. The largest market ever could in fact be the biggest market ever.
- The spice must flow! When the entire planet is undergoing dramatic, permanent change, then government becomes the planet's biggest growth industry.
- Boring is Death. Schools, work, play, shopping; everything must be fun, exciting, adventurous. Or it will not survive.
God bless!
Brian S Hall
(via Instapaper)
Best Advice for a Blogger
Patrick Rhone is a blogger who is a writer. He also is a podcaster, and that is where you meet his personality. I like his work. This piece should be read by everyone, whether they write or not. It is also good advice if you talk. What do I mean? Sometimes we all communicate with our brains and mouths. That is a fail. It is only half the process. You have to connect when talking, and to do that you have to listen and engage. Learn, understand and give. When you do, you know it. We all have good conversations every day, fulfilling ones that leave us with a sense of having discovered something deeper than gossip. Try to make those conversations more frequent and you are winning. The Conversation
http://patrickrhone.com/2011/05/05/the-conversation/
(via Instapaper)
http://patrickrhone.com/2011/05/05/the-conversation/
The Conversation
The Conversation 05.05.2011
The other day I was having lunch with a friend. My friend has a business. He is a realtor. This business, like most, would benefit greatly from the use of a blog and social tools to both communicate to current clients and capture new ones.The problem: He thinks he doesn't have anything to write about. He says he gets there, logs in, but does not know what to say. He sweats over the details. The words. The subject. Everything. He tells me this, seeking my help.So, here is what I told him and the secret I'm going to give you:Every conversation you have contains something to write about. If it's interesting enough to have a conversation about, it's interesting enough to write about and, if it's not, you should not waste your time talking or writing. I'm not talking about idle chit-chat here (though that could be great too). I'm talking about conversations where real value and information is exchanged. Casual or not. The post is right there, waiting for you to capture it, share it.
For instance, here are the things I learned in the five minute conversation we had when I asked him, "How's business going?":
- In this market, you can get a 2,500-3,000 square foot house with three bedrooms and two baths for under $200,000. Compared to even a couple of years ago, it's a bargain.
- There are plenty of great house deals like this and plenty of people to buy. The problem is the bank's willingness to loan. The problem in getting a loan is easily solved with the right Mortgage Broker. He has a guy that has relationships with 30+ banks and can get a loan for just about anyone.
- Part of his job is, up front, assessing if he and the client are the right fit. He wants to be your guy. Therefore, he asks a few up front questions of perspective clients. Like, what's their name. Many people don't even want to give that. They are afraid that will somehow make a commitment. That he will be looking them up and cold calling them every five minutes. In fact, that is the last thing he will do. Why would any reputable business person want to start a relationship with someone who does not want to. How can he even know if he can get you the right house if you won't even give him your name?
Guess what I told him? In five minutes he came up with his first three blog posts. Information that would be valuable to any current or perspective client. Ideas that can then be promoted with a single tweet or status update. Also, if we could come up with that in five minutes just think of what we could come up in an hour long lunch. A meeting. A phone call. Especially with a colleague or client.
Do you also see something else? It's hiding right in front of your eyes…
This post. This post is from that same conversation. I start with "nothing to write about" and in five minutes of casual conversation I have something to share. It's like magic. But it's not. It's called writing.
(via Instapaper)
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Blogger is screwed
It is now 4 days later. My work from the 11th and 12th is gone. Thanks to Blogger. So it is likely i will " migrate" ro Wordpress hosted on my Direct Nic account. Aggravating. What ia am doing- writing offline while I travel. Then i will figure out alteratives when home, and move.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Blogger Fail
This afternoon Blogger claims to be back in business. Well, mostly. I can publish, and i can see posts from the morning of May 11. I am hoping that the work I did the rest of that day and the 12th is restored.
In the meantime, when i get time, I will be investigating Wordpress on another domain. And inwill continue to write offline, holding posts till Blogger demonstrates it has its act together.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
iPad travel
Some little things amaze me. If you take them for granted, you aren't really thinking about them. This morning I fired up my iPhone, clicked on a link in an email, and was shown where my iPad is going to spend it's day.
On a plane.
This is a minor, amusing bit of tech fun that is convenient to shipper and customer, and keeps tabs on the billions of dollars worth of products that are in what was formerly the limbo world of "in transit". Shipping.
Another thing about this that amazes me is that we move goods all over the globe in a clever puzzle of adding value and connecting markets to raw materials. If only I could trace the bauxite in my iPad's case...
On a plane.
This is a minor, amusing bit of tech fun that is convenient to shipper and customer, and keeps tabs on the billions of dollars worth of products that are in what was formerly the limbo world of "in transit". Shipping.
Another thing about this that amazes me is that we move goods all over the globe in a clever puzzle of adding value and connecting markets to raw materials. If only I could trace the bauxite in my iPad's case...
Flipboard and Instapaper apps as your newsmagazine
This post from TightWind is a good take on how we use these great apps. Buit for now we have to manually search for articles to populate them. Why does an algorythm not exist to learn what I read, and take over the chores of editor for me?
In this post, he talks about why old media doesn't want to turn curration over to the end user. He fails to mention that this change would force writers and media to compete on quality. Not likely to happen. Like major league baseball, content delivery expansion has outstripped the talent pool.
TightWind
Flipboard can quickly become the distributing model of choice. Consider its already great UI, and connectivity with Facebook, Twitter, Google Reader and RSS.
Content creation is already outsourced, why not create an open marketplace for users to view aggregated content previews and pay per article, or per subscription?
I think there's a lot of potential here. I wrote about this last week:
Perhaps we need new intermediaries, like Flipboard and Instapaper, that can aggregate content from different sources and charge users, then pay the content creators for their work. This takes care of the central issues: one, it gives users access to a multitude of news sources in well-designed user experiences and two it creates paying users.
Large news organizations are understandably hesitant to give up their "relationship" with their readers, both because they lose control of the reader's personal information and because they are putting their survival in the hands of others, but I don't think they have much choice. If they would like to be paid directly for their content, rather than just through advertisements, they're going to need intermediaries like Flipboard and Instapaper. People want to read a variety of content sources, not a single one or a few, and intermediaries allow content from all kinds of sources to be combined, read and paid for together in a great reading experience.
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Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Oil, Battery, Coolant- travel tech grist
Prepping for a road trip, checking systems, my maintenance log showed a need for an oil change, new batteries, and a coolant top off. Simple. But in a world of retail stores proudly trying to replicate Walmart's just in time inventory management, lining up all these items in one location is not possible. Even at Walmart. So I made 5 stops to get what I needed.
All my parts are super high tech. Mobil 1 Synthetic oil? Some amazingly advanced chemistry, hydro and thermodynamics are built in. The product is amazing. Too bad the marketing and management has made the brand a joke. They have more products that go into and out of availability than Taco Bell. The battery? Not a gel-cell, but nonetheless, this basic lead and acid contraption is the same tech that powers a Prius or Leaf. And I need two for the big-ass diesel I drive.
The coolant? Not your grandfather's anti-freeze. It is a chemical brew that is more environmentally friendly, thank god, and more effective at not only improving engine cooling, but withstanding pressure and temp the old '57 Ford only experienced when on fire. It also inhibits corrosion, a very good thing in an engine that needs to run for 250,000 miles over 15 years.
A big day, and I hope to hell I am done with maintenance this year. But those tires are kinda checked...
All my parts are super high tech. Mobil 1 Synthetic oil? Some amazingly advanced chemistry, hydro and thermodynamics are built in. The product is amazing. Too bad the marketing and management has made the brand a joke. They have more products that go into and out of availability than Taco Bell. The battery? Not a gel-cell, but nonetheless, this basic lead and acid contraption is the same tech that powers a Prius or Leaf. And I need two for the big-ass diesel I drive.
The coolant? Not your grandfather's anti-freeze. It is a chemical brew that is more environmentally friendly, thank god, and more effective at not only improving engine cooling, but withstanding pressure and temp the old '57 Ford only experienced when on fire. It also inhibits corrosion, a very good thing in an engine that needs to run for 250,000 miles over 15 years.
A big day, and I hope to hell I am done with maintenance this year. But those tires are kinda checked...
The Queen has an iPad 2 on order
Really, she read it was Exechobo Approved, and that I have one on order. We do this all the time. We have a nice side bet on who's arrives first.
And what of that BB Playbook, Lizzie? Made in Canada, ya know. Not so easy to use, is it?
TiPb: The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch blog
The Queen has instructed her staff to get her an iPad 2 after being shown the Apple tablet according to The Sun newspaper. Prince William and Harry took theirs along to Buckingham Palace and gave The Queen a crash course and she was immediately hooked.
According to a royal insider, The Queen, who is now 85 years old, was said to be very impressed and particularly with how easy it was to use.
"For a woman of her age, she is very switched on. It was only a matter of time before she asked someone to go and get her one." They added: "The Princes think it is hilarious. They love the fact that their Gran wants an iPad and think she's really cool."This of course will not be the first Apple product that The Queen will own, she already has at least one iPod; one of which was recently given to her by President Barack Obama.
How long will it be before we see The Queen signing up for the TiPb forums and getting her royal jailbreak on?
[The Sun]
The Queen has an iPad 2 on order after being impressed by its ease of use is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog
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Landmines? There's an app for that
I make it a rule to not travel to locations that have been sown with landmines. Sadly, the territory left open to me is dwindling as mini-wars escalate and the sociopathic douchebags who prosecute them don't care about humanity. I could go on, but you get the picture.
So any news about cleaning up this most toxic of pollutions is good news (first the mines, then the Sociopathic Douchebags). Since this tech applies to iOS, Android and Windows Mobile Device OS 7 for Phones and Stuff operating systems, why not have Apple, Google and Microsoft kick in a few hundred thousand devices to move it along? If it doesn't interfere with say, buying unprofitable businesses at ridiculous valuations, BALLLMER?
TUAW -- The Unofficial Apple Weblog
Trained and experienced operators can tell by the beeps coming from their detectors the size and shape of objects found. Harvard researchers take these beeps and map them onto a smartphone screen, such as an iPhone, to better visualise what's been found. The PETALS (Pattern Enhancement Tool for Assisting Landmine Sensing) researchers have shown that inexperienced users are up to 80 percent more efficient using their technique, which could save a lot of lives.
Using existing devices like iPhones makes the system potentially very cheap to deploy. Researchers hope that users already familiar with their smartphone interface should find it simple to use.
Using an iPhone app to test for landmines originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 10 May 2011 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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iPad 2 apps list
What will I want installed on my new tool? I have been building a list of apps for a couple of months, and looking at it tells about my intended use for it.
First, Zen Brush, an app that seems completely worthless except to make me happy.
I own Quickoffice. Getting the iPad to work with Excel and PowerPoint is essential to classifying it as a toy or a tool. If the current project can be worked on a iPad, it is justified and certified for work.
News access apps are also in abundance on my list. Instapaper is first, but what RSS aggregator? Reeder? Flipboard? Zite? And which social media apps work best on the iPad? Load and see.
Then I have a bunch of writing, note taking apps with particular focus on those that integrate handwriting recognition. If I am to use the iPad for meetings and interviews that is a key function to explore.
I already have the Camera Connection Kit, so that and a thorough exploration of the Photo software native to iPad is warranted.
Loading the apps I use on my iPhone will be a process of triage: apps that work or don't; apps that make sense or don't; apps that I will use or not. For example, I may use a chat app, but prolly not a GPS Running app.
Then I begin exploring apps to take advantage of the unique tablet properties that I currently don't understand.
All I need are the essential games.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
First, Zen Brush, an app that seems completely worthless except to make me happy.
I own Quickoffice. Getting the iPad to work with Excel and PowerPoint is essential to classifying it as a toy or a tool. If the current project can be worked on a iPad, it is justified and certified for work.
News access apps are also in abundance on my list. Instapaper is first, but what RSS aggregator? Reeder? Flipboard? Zite? And which social media apps work best on the iPad? Load and see.
Then I have a bunch of writing, note taking apps with particular focus on those that integrate handwriting recognition. If I am to use the iPad for meetings and interviews that is a key function to explore.
I already have the Camera Connection Kit, so that and a thorough exploration of the Photo software native to iPad is warranted.
Loading the apps I use on my iPhone will be a process of triage: apps that work or don't; apps that make sense or don't; apps that I will use or not. For example, I may use a chat app, but prolly not a GPS Running app.
Then I begin exploring apps to take advantage of the unique tablet properties that I currently don't understand.
All I need are the essential games.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Skype sold to Microsoft
The acquisition wave keeps rolling. Tech is continuing to create news for the financial world, and this is a big one. No one seems to know why it's big, except that Microsoft is involved. But they seem to have long passed the stage of knowing what they are doing.
Some think this is a pure defensive move to keep Skype away from Google, or more pointedly to counter the weird Google Voice. Some think it works into the enterprise business that fuels MSFT profits. Or it could be another attempt to enter social media. Who knows? Steve Balmer has already established his lunacy, so that reason is moot.
We who use Skype, for whom it has become a verb meaning "to call overseas", or "to conference call" will wonder what is next.
Could it be that this rather old startup is just a profit engine waiting to happen? Or is Microsoft trying to make itself untouchable as a buyout target? Or is all that cash just too much for Balmer to resist spending and he hates dividends?
I know, none of this makes sense.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Some think this is a pure defensive move to keep Skype away from Google, or more pointedly to counter the weird Google Voice. Some think it works into the enterprise business that fuels MSFT profits. Or it could be another attempt to enter social media. Who knows? Steve Balmer has already established his lunacy, so that reason is moot.
We who use Skype, for whom it has become a verb meaning "to call overseas", or "to conference call" will wonder what is next.
Could it be that this rather old startup is just a profit engine waiting to happen? Or is Microsoft trying to make itself untouchable as a buyout target? Or is all that cash just too much for Balmer to resist spending and he hates dividends?
I know, none of this makes sense.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Monday, May 9, 2011
iPad 2 would have bested 1990s-era supercomputers
We don't hear much about supercomputers anymore. I suppose it is passé to be impressed by things so hard to comprehend, and their star power has been worn down by familiarity. But I think it is cool that my iPad2 will be able to beat the supercomputers of the 90's. Consider that most countries in this world are running their governments and universities on less. Awesome.
TUAW -- The Unofficial Apple Weblog
If you want to know which supercomputer is the fastest in the world, you check the Top 500 list. The keeper of that list is Dr. Jack Dongarra, who teaches at the University of Tennessee.Dongarra is one of the authors of the Linpack computing benchmark, introduced way back in 1979. With this benchmark, supercomputing sites can rate computers' relative performance at solving a set of linear equations.
Dongarra's group has ported Linpack to the iPad 2 to see how fast it really is, according to the New York Times. Tests on the iPad 2 have so far only been run on a single core of the A5 processor, but Dongarra estimates that a dual-core Linpack run will yield performance of between 1.5 and 1.65 gigaflops -- that's up to 1.65 billion floating-point operations per second. That raw performance means that the iPad 2 would have remained on the list of the world's speediest supercomputers until about 1994.
The single-processor tests of the iPad 2 matched the Linpack results of the four-processor version of the Cray 2 supercomputer (pictured). Back in 1985, the eight-processor version of the Cray 2 was the fastest computer in the world.
Yeah, the iPad 2 is a 21st century device, but its comparable benchmarks to supercomputers of the past are still pretty impressive when you consider it's thinner than a notebook and is cooled by plain old air. Most of the old supercomputers it rivaled required specialized cooling, custom-built enclosures and raised flooring. Just think: in 20 years or less, the power of today's fastest supercomputer could be in an iPhone.
Of course, if you want to build a supercomputer out of Apple hardware, it's easier to start with the bigger ones.
Thanks to Brian for the tip.
iPad 2 would have bested 1990s-era supercomputers originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 09 May 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Waiting for iPad
Along with an iPad2, I ordered a Smartcover. It is perched on the refrigerator, patiently waiting for an iPad to get within pouncing distance.
I thought I would go leather, but the reviews did not praise the material quality. If you're gonna kill baby cattle, at least turn their hides into Apple accessories! That would be their highest calling, after scaloppini. Anyway, I went plastic. A more sustainable solution, right? And I went orange. If I ever take the iPad hunting I want to be sure it doesn't become the prey of some drunken hunter. (Same thing for the iPhone, an orange bumper.). And did you know it's made of the same stuff they make SPACESUITS out of? Damn, NASA is smart, so the Smartcover? Smart.
The Smartcover is kinda cool, but really, it just sits there. I think its smart cause it hangs with an iPad. It gets the smart glow, and you can't tell which is smarter. Good tactic.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I thought I would go leather, but the reviews did not praise the material quality. If you're gonna kill baby cattle, at least turn their hides into Apple accessories! That would be their highest calling, after scaloppini. Anyway, I went plastic. A more sustainable solution, right? And I went orange. If I ever take the iPad hunting I want to be sure it doesn't become the prey of some drunken hunter. (Same thing for the iPhone, an orange bumper.). And did you know it's made of the same stuff they make SPACESUITS out of? Damn, NASA is smart, so the Smartcover? Smart.
The Smartcover is kinda cool, but really, it just sits there. I think its smart cause it hangs with an iPad. It gets the smart glow, and you can't tell which is smarter. Good tactic.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Why I Apple over Android
My favorite son and I have a lot of talk about tech. He keeps me aware of what is going on beyond my provincial existence. One of our ongoing discussions is about the wonder of Android's open possibilities, and his guilty desire for Apple products.
I like Apple. I wish Android was to my liking too, but it is not. Let me make an analogy. Pretend I have that resto-mod 1966 Mustang. It's purpose is to give me something I can take apart, understand, add cool things onto, make better, and generally spend time tinkering with to meet my ever-changing idea of what a car should be.
The car I take to get the parts to add to the '66? An F-150. Quiet, comfortable, hauls an engine in the bed, pulls the trailer with the Mustang on it to get an awesome paint job, runs to Napa to get the one last stainless steel bolt I need to get the frame on the Mustang braced up. It enables me to do stuff. I appreciate it for how good it looks, how reliable and comfortable it is, how well it does whatever I can think of doing with it.
The F-150 is my Apple anything. iPhone, MacBook Pro, iPad, iPod. They just let me do what I want to do, with minimal fuss.
I like Apple. I wish Android was to my liking too, but it is not. Let me make an analogy. Pretend I have that resto-mod 1966 Mustang. It's purpose is to give me something I can take apart, understand, add cool things onto, make better, and generally spend time tinkering with to meet my ever-changing idea of what a car should be.
The car I take to get the parts to add to the '66? An F-150. Quiet, comfortable, hauls an engine in the bed, pulls the trailer with the Mustang on it to get an awesome paint job, runs to Napa to get the one last stainless steel bolt I need to get the frame on the Mustang braced up. It enables me to do stuff. I appreciate it for how good it looks, how reliable and comfortable it is, how well it does whatever I can think of doing with it.
The F-150 is my Apple anything. iPhone, MacBook Pro, iPad, iPod. They just let me do what I want to do, with minimal fuss.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Mickey Mouse waffle
Recently we served a week in Orlando. Not for pleasure. But I did get a smile out of Mrs. Exechobo when I battled my way to the waffle machine at the hotel and made this for her:
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Otterbox Defender- Looooong term review
It was June of '10, the season when our area gets deep into spring. Fishing was on my mind, and I had a new iPhone 4. The first case I put my iPhone 4 into was the Defender. The idea was to protect the phone while on the water or in the woods. As I wrote last summer, it did just fine. My iPhone came out of the case a couple of months ago, almost as perfect as it went in. There was some scuffing on the AWESOME stainless steel antenna, where the case lining trapped dust and it rubbed. But no other ill effects.
I stopped using the Otterbox Defender because the silicone cover was doing what it always does, getting soft and sloppy. No jokes, please. It got to the point that whenever I took the phone out of the rugged belt clip, I peeled the case away somewhere. No biggie, tuck and push and its back in place. But not good. It now feels like it has a coat of oil on it.
I put the iPhone back in the Defender as halibut season rolled around, for it is the best protection I have for my phone, that keeps it usable. However, I am beginning to look for alternatives, as the Otterbox won't last much longer.
The conclusion? If $50 per year for a case(s) seems a lot to you, this case is probably not going to make you happy.
I stopped using the Otterbox Defender because the silicone cover was doing what it always does, getting soft and sloppy. No jokes, please. It got to the point that whenever I took the phone out of the rugged belt clip, I peeled the case away somewhere. No biggie, tuck and push and its back in place. But not good. It now feels like it has a coat of oil on it.
I put the iPhone back in the Defender as halibut season rolled around, for it is the best protection I have for my phone, that keeps it usable. However, I am beginning to look for alternatives, as the Otterbox won't last much longer.
The conclusion? If $50 per year for a case(s) seems a lot to you, this case is probably not going to make you happy.
Comic book pirate? Who, me?
TUAW put up a post today that puts the issue of iPad (and when they arrive in attractive form, other tablets), "content demand vs copyright conflicts" into perspective.
Comparing the content starved tablet device market to the iPod/ MP3 player market of 10 years ago seems to make sense. Now that I have one scheduled to arrive, I am looking for content. Magazines, comics, newspapers, websites, movies. All stuff I want to have and carry around. Where do I get it legitimately? I know, iTunes! Not really. My experience with their over-zealous DRM is all bad. Amazon may be the answer.
In my view the music business was laughably stupid in it's approach, and movies are following suit. Will print and comic books do so too?
TUAW -- The Unofficial Apple Weblog
In other words, once people had the hardware for consuming digital music, the record industry failed to give listeners the digital music they wanted at a reasonable price and in an easy-to-access centralized location. The same factors that lead to mass music piracy are now in place to disrupt another flavor of media -- comic books. The excitement and media attention around Free Comic Book Day yesterday shouldn't deceive anybody about the fact that there's trouble around the corner.
Why is the comic book industry set for a piracy tipping point? After all, people have been able to illegally download comic books on the web for years. Why should it suddenly accelerate? One factor: The iPad.
Before the launch of the iPad, people who illegally download comic books read them on their computers -- compared to a printed comic book, a decidedly inferior experience. However, with the advent of the iPad and the tablet form factor that closely mimics a comic book, Apple's tablet is liberating illegal comic book downloads from the computer monitor and allowing them to be consumed in a much more appealing and natural way.
I first noticed this last year when I was talking to a friend who was complaining that his local comic shop was out of a specific issue of a comic book he wanted. I suggested to him that he buy it through Marvel's iPad app. However, Marvel's app didn't offer the issue in question. That's when another friend asked what issue the first friend wanted. The next day, friend #2 emailed him a CBR (Comic Book Archive) file containing a pirated copy of not only that issue, but every Marvel comic that shipped that week.
Continue reading Publishers' choice: Will the iPad be the hero or villain of the comic book industry?
Publishers' choice: Will the iPad be the hero or villain of the comic book industry? originally appeared on TUAW on Sun, 08 May 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Better Bing Maps for developers?
I really like Bing, but the map app is a bit slow, and not as intuitive as the Google Maps based native iPhone App. I use maps alot, and anytime we get better, faster maps, travelers win. There is a lot of data in map apps, so speed is an issue. I look forward to seeing how well Bing does with developers.
Macgasm: An Apple blog dedicated to Apple news, tips, and tricks ...
If you want to keep up, you've got to be at the forefront with your SDK. Lagging behind in the tools you provide developers usually gets you passed by and dropped from third party applications. Microsoft is not about to let that happen, they've just announced a refresh for the Bing Maps iOS SDK.
The update brings with it new Objective-C classes that will help developers integrate Bing maps into their applications. While most developers rely on Apple's Map framework in iOS, this could be a good excuse to try out something else entirely.
While I'm aware that running a 3G iPhone is a problem in and of itself, using the Maps application on the device is downright stress inducing. It pretty much renders my phone useless.
If the maps application is running, or location services are active, my 3G iPhone dies pretty much instantly. Before you get up in my grill, I plan to upgrade with the next iPhone refresh, but until then, if Microsoft's claims are true, the Bing Maps SDK could cut back heavily on resources and provide a quicker, more responsive option for developers. If that's the case, we can't wait to take some Bing powered apps for a spin.
Article Via the Bing Maps Blog
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Flipboard triples daily usage and doubles user-numbers within two months
As I wait the arrival of my iPad, I am compiling a list of apps, and Flipboard is on that list. Reading that it is growing fast strengthens my interest, especially of it comes to iPhone and Mac, as Macgasm is reporting. I "build" my own newspaper everyday with Instapaper, and Flipboard looks like it takes that to a higher level.
Macgasm: An Apple blog dedicated to Apple news, tips, and tricks ...
Flipboard, the number one app when it comes to generating your individual news magazine, just revealed that the daily usage of the app is three times as high as it was just two months ago. CEO Mike McCue said that they see up to nine million page views (Flipboard calls those "flips" because they describe the number of page turns), per day.
In the same time span, the start up has also doubled the number of users, although a concrete number was not given. According to McCue, the high increase of users and daily "flips" is based on the recent improvements of the app itself as well as the speed improvements that Apple managed to roll out in the iPad 2.
The Palo Alto-based company is currently working on an iPhone version, which will be, according to the CEO, aimed at power users:
The iPhone version will be catered to power users more so than the iPad app, said McCue.
Besides an iPhone version, there are also rumors about a coming Mac version, as we reported a while ago.
Article Via All Things Digital
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Saturday, May 7, 2011
Six Months Of Tech-4-Travel
Early in November, I started this blog, focusing it on the kind of tech normal business travelers may use and benefit from, based on my experience.
In the ensuing 6 months, I have seen page views ramp up to over 1000 per month. With this, the 340th post, I am finding my writing is improving, and that it is not very good at all. But I keep honing.
I enjoy adding my context to a few stories each week that resonate with me- what the story means to me, how I agree or disagree, or what my experience has taught me. I hope that a few people read my writing and take a look at how they can travel better with technology.
I have changed the look of the blog repeatedly, seeking a better experience for people who look at it. This leads me to consider platforms other than Blogger, but I don't know my ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to web design, so even Wordpress scares me. One thing is sure, the Google ads I put on the blog are not paying the bills. I have a plan, and there is a specific goal for the Google ads- a certain amount of income within a certain timeframe. So far, I am not quitting my day job.
In the ensuing 6 months, I have seen page views ramp up to over 1000 per month. With this, the 340th post, I am finding my writing is improving, and that it is not very good at all. But I keep honing.
I enjoy adding my context to a few stories each week that resonate with me- what the story means to me, how I agree or disagree, or what my experience has taught me. I hope that a few people read my writing and take a look at how they can travel better with technology.
I have changed the look of the blog repeatedly, seeking a better experience for people who look at it. This leads me to consider platforms other than Blogger, but I don't know my ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to web design, so even Wordpress scares me. One thing is sure, the Google ads I put on the blog are not paying the bills. I have a plan, and there is a specific goal for the Google ads- a certain amount of income within a certain timeframe. So far, I am not quitting my day job.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Why I pulled the trigger on an iPad2
I was hoping to see some good tablet OS from Google to run on some good hardware from Motorola. I was even hoping for something concrete from Amazon soon. What I think will realistically happen is that we'll see those things in a year. So I ordered an iPad2, and will use it for a couple of years before considering a move to a different platform. By that time, will my investment in time and money in workflow and iOS apps have me anchored to Apple once more?
Fixing in Post
http://carpeaqua.com/2011/05/01/well-fix-our-platform-in-post/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBrooksReview+%28The+Brooks+Review%29
Fixing in Post
When Microsoft released Windows Phone 7 last November, the reviews generally said it was a good first effort but many features were missing that smartphone users have come to expect.
Joshua Topalsky writing then for Engadget:
Don't get us wrong: there's a lot to like or even love in WP7. Microsoft has done an outstanding job with lots of aspects of this UI, particularly when it comes to navigation and ease of use — but there are holes here as well. It still feels like the company is a good year behind market leaders right now, and though it's clear the folks in Redmond are doing everything they can to get this platform up to snuff, it's also clear that they're not there yet.
That review was posted on October 20, 2010. Between that date and today Microsoft has officially shipped two updates. The first update was a minor update to allow the larger NoDo update to successfully occur. The NoDo update, which was released to AT&T subscribers two weeks ago added rudimentary copy-paste support and adjusted the Windows Phone Marketplace to only return app listings in search results rather than apps, movies and music.
Of the major holes in Windows Phone 7, only one has been patched since launch. There is still not native support for other social services like Twitter, Flickr or LinkedIn. The copy-paste support isn't as ubiquitous as it is in iOS or Android. The browser still runs a variant of Internet Explorer 7 whereas the desktop version is already up to version 9. Running apps in the background either the Android or iOS way? Not possible.
Microsoft claims many of those features are coming in the next update to Windows Phone 7 that is due this fall.
Google and Motorola released the Xoom in February of this year and it received similar reviews to that of Windows Phone: good start, but missing functionality. Ryan Paul of Ars Technica reviewed the Xoom:
Although the Xoom has a lot to offer, the product feels very incomplete. A surprising number of promised hardware and software features are not functional at launch and will have to be enabled in future updates. The Xoom's quality is also diminished by some of the early technical issues and limitations that we encountered in Honeycomb. Google's nascent tablet software has a ton of potential, but it also has some feature gaps and rough edges that reflect its lack of maturity.
The Xoom launched in mid-February and in that time it has seen one direct update from Motorola to fix bugs in the tablet's original software. In terms of feature updates to the Honeycomb platform, there have been none. For an OS that Engadget described at "buggy and unfinished" that doesn't bode well.
That brings us to Blackberry's Playbook tablet. This Is My Next had this to say about the Playbook in their review:
But the PlayBook isn't hitting home runs just yet. The OS is still buggy and somewhat touchy. Third-party apps are a desert right now, if not in number, then certainly in quality. The lack of native email and calendar support hurts. The worst part, however, is that I can't think of a single reason to recommend this tablet over the iPad 2, or for that matter… the Xoom. And that's what it really boils down to here; what is the compelling feature that will make buyers choose the PlayBook over something else? I don't have that answer, but that's not what's troubling me — what troubles me is that I don't think RIM has the answer either… and they should by now.
If ever there were an incomplete platform it would be the Playbook. It's missing native email and calendaring clients. Blackberry is the email company. Moreover, the promised Android app player is not due until this summer. Desktop sync support for the Mac? Not due until this summer. A native SDK for the Playbook so developers can use C and C++ is coming this summer. Has a company promise more in a three month span than RIM?
The Playbook has only been out a few weeks, but given the pattern we have seen from Google and Microsoft, I wouldn't anticipate frequent software updates to patch the holes in their platform either.
Apple has a year head start on their competition in tablets, and the slow rate of updates coming from their competition does not make me believe the lead shrink in the future. Releasing software is hard, but Apple seems to be the only one that can release half a dozen updates over the course of a year that both fix bugs and add functionality to users existing tablets and phones. Microsoft continues to release major updates as giant service packs that seemingly will come out twice a year. Google's not saying much about their Honeycomb improvements and how or if they will even be distributed to existing tablet owners. If anything, RIM's eighteen CEO's keep it interesting by promising everything they can dream up.
To make a dent in Apple's market lead, Google, Microsoft, Blackberry and HP (eventually) need to focus less on the hardware specs or openness of their platform, and more on getting software updates to their existing user base on a regular basis. Hardware specs are porn for the gadget blogs, but software and apps are what sell tablets and phones to regular users. iOS is not without flaws, but I can't think of any gaping holes in the platform that make it hard to justify an iPad or iPhone to someone. I would run out of fingers if I had to list all the holes in the Xoom or Playbook.
(via Instapaper)
Instapaper- class act, great app
I loves Instapaper. I use it every day, and with each use I appreciate it more and more.
The developer, Marco Arment, is a gentleman, a coffee lover and a fine thinker and writer. So his little diatribe about app ratings is worth reading. Between the lines I found a developer who believes he can, and should win by making a better experience, one people will pay for. Capitalist Pig!
For this alone you should buy Instapaper. Do. It. Now.
Far too many apps seek your public praise with in-app alerts asking you to take a moment to review the app on the App Store. Of course, doing so interrupts your flow and would require that you exit the app completely. If I like an app enough—or dislike one enough—I'll write a review without further prompting.Actually, you probably won't, but it doesn't matter. More reviews and higher ratings1 can drive sales, but a highly satisfied customerbase drives a lot more.
When someone has spent $4.99 for my app, they're entitled to a hassle-free experience. I wouldn't feel right shoving a dialog box in their face a few days later asking for a time-consuming favor when they're trying to read.
To me, once you've paid that $4.99, you get a first-class, luxury experience. I want you to feel great about having bought the app. And every time an update comes out that adds a bunch of features at no additional charge, I want you to feel like you can't believe how much more value I'm giving you.
People who feel that great about having bought the app are the ones who tell their friends, or the internet public, to go buy it for themselves. And that's far better for my sales than any App Store review will ever be. If you're searching for the app by name because you heard it was great, you're probably already going to buy it, and it doesn't really matter what someone says below the screenshots.2
Creating more of those devoted customers by giving them a great product is a far better investment in your app's future than annoying and interrupting them with a dialog that makes you appear cheap and desperate.
- I have to wonder how good the reviews tend to be when they were prompted by an annoyance. Do a lot of people really go leave positive reviews, who otherwise wouldn't have done so, when they see these dialogs? ↩
- On the iPad 2's launch day, due to an iTunes Connect glitch, there were no screenshots in Instapaper's listing in the App Store, and the top few reviews were horrible because of a minor bug in the previous version. Yet it was one of my highest sales days ever, because even a $4.99 app with no screenshots and bad reviews is appealing if your iDevice-owning friend has been raving about it to you for months. ↩
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For Sale
And speaking of tracking our children...
But after thinking about it, why aren't we selling our kids? Instead we live in hope and fear of them. We hope they will figure out how to salvage our economy, and fear they will cut off our social security. Why not monetize them now? Sell the little bastards' (information), to Google. After all, unlike ourselves, Google is pledged to do no evil. What could possibly go wrong?
Forkbombr
Apple's latest ad wants you to buy a $500+ tablet computer to run App Store apps on. Apple wants to sell you shiny things to make money.
Google's latest ad wants you to store personal details about your child's life, from birth, on their servers. Google wants your data so they can sell it (aggregated and anonymized, of course) to others to make money.
Taken in that context, Apple's ad might be obnoxious and highly commercial, but Google's is downright creepy.
I'm increasingly uneasy about Google.
[via Gruber]
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TweetDeck for iPhone updated
With the Twitter buy-out of TweetDeck done, I am wondering about the future for one of my favorite twitter clients. This update comes so soon after the deal that it was certainly teed up and ready to go, regardless of the Twitter negotiations.
I use TweetDeck off and on with Echofon, and I hope Twitter keeps developing it as a premium twitter client to go with their Tweetie. Of course I still need mute and better Instapaper integration to make it my only one.
By the way, congrats to the blokes behind TweetDeck. I have given them my fair share of criticism, but they have launched better and better apps for many platforms, and managed to hit the jackpot with the Twitter buy. Good one for a small shop not in favor with the hip young Apple writers association.
TUAW -- The Unofficial Apple Weblog
TweetDeck, whose fate is currently up in the air, just received an update. Specifically, version 2.0.1 for the iPhone adds the following features:
- Support for image uploading via Twitpic and Mobypicture.
- Added the ability to create a column with your own tweets and edit the title of custom-made columns.
- Various bug fixes
TweetDeck 2.0.1 is a universal app and is now available via the App Store. TweetDeck 2, the major overhaul of the app, was released in late April.
Twitter has apparently purchased TweetDeck for a tidy sum estimated to be between 40 and 50 million dollars. The app has a loyal following across platforms. We'll have to wait and see what the future holds for the popular app.
TweetDeck for iPhone updated additional image uploading options originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 05 May 2011 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Location tracking- more creepy or cool?
What is it with people wanting to track themselves and others? It's not for me. Even when I blog my travels over at http://ExexHobo.blogspot.com I do so consciously avoiding a day by day, real time track log. Is my paranoia is evident, or is it weird to feel compelled to tell others where we are?
OK, I guess I get it for kids. But no, I don't. I don't have the paranoia about that. But exploring all that goes into parenting and relationship development. Another day.
TUAW -- The Unofficial Apple Weblog
Although Apple has caught a lot of heat lately over the location-tracking issue that was recently resolved with the iOS 4.3.3 update, there are several apps out there that do track where you are with amazing detail. They range from Find My iPhone to apps such as Footprints.
Footprints for iPhone and iPad runs in the background with minimal battery drain and tracks your movements in real time. Once you go through a quick setup process and permit someone to see your movements, they can trace wherever you go. There's a parental control feature that prevents kids from disabling the tracker.
Using Google Maps, you can see where the person you're tracking is and how long they've been at that location. Call it Google Latitude for the very paranoid. However, unlike the location-tracking data issue with Apple, you must grant permission to people who want to view your data. The app's developers tout it as not only a way to keep track of kids and spouses, but employees as well.
Footprints is a free download, and the first 60 days of the service are free. After that, you can do a 3-month subscription for USD$0.99, yearly subscription for $2.99 or 2-year subscription for $4.99.
Footprints tracks your movements and who they're shared with originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 05 May 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Android Market get some love
The Android system is gaining momentum, and this year the lead in apps that Apple's App Store enjoys will disappear. The fact that Android tablets should actually, really start being seen in users's hands will help drive Android app growth as well.
I, for one, am liking forward to see what Amazon will mean in this market. If the quality of Android apps keeps going up, and Apple keeps responding by raising their bar, we lucky consumers will enjoy a couple of years of app/tablet nirvana prior to the inevitable consolidation.
TUAW -- The Unofficial Apple Weblog
However, the store with the most apps doesn't necessarily translate into the store with the most downloads. A few days ago, iSuppli issued a report stating that Apple will snag 76 percent of the app download market in 2011, and even by 2014, Apple will command 60 percent of the market with Google a moderate second. For anyone who remembers the shareware scene (Mac vs. Windows) in the 90s, it also doesn't mean that "more" means "better."
In the early years of app stores, the number of apps the store had was seen as the most important factor, as it enticed consumers to by hardware for which there were a large number of apps. However, as app stores mature, it's likely that the paradigm will shift, and quality will be seen as the guiding drive behind app store-supported devices. Indeed, Apple already seems to be moving in that direction, removing "sexy apps," eliminating potentially fake reviews and ratings garnered from app promo codes and banning pay-per-install apps. That's not to say quantity isn't important, but once a store has a few hundred thousand apps, the quality of those apps really becomes the deciding factor in what makes one app store superior to the other.
Android Market could surpass App Store in size this year, research suggests originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 05 May 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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