Today was the first traditional day of work with the iPad. I found if it's going to be the device I carry - There is going to have to be some additional pieces hit the app store before it can be my mobile machine. However, I have found it's great when the machine is busy and I need to write an email or make a note about another project. I've even gotten comfortable with the keyboard so I can type almost as fast as I can on my book.
It's the perfect companion for my grandson. It has some wonderful learning games.
Things that I would never consider doing on the iPhone I wouldn't even think twice about doing on my iPad. The iPhone's screen is just to small for reading a book. I love the iPad for that. I read the first chapter of Winnie the pooh to Riley. He loved turning the pages. I can do a blog entry, a lengthy email and surf for those last minute additions to a web page. I've tried to make all of my pages scaleable and I use very little flash, but I need to find something that will either play flash here or start using more java. I've had some issues with my java code being choppy in HTML5, so I started using more flash. That's something I need to think about. As things move on, so shall we.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Deeper into the iPad
Here are some additional observations from my delve into the iPad. This is a great device for the young, two to eight or nine. It has some great learning games, some terrific skill level and process level thinking that it teaches the kids. It's great for internet research and basic papers with iWorks it makes it the perfect elementary school companion. The one problem that Riley has is he wants to use both hands at the same time or when he sits, his tummy touches the screen which causes some issues with the touch screen. However, it's taken less than a day to get past those issues. The young learn so quickly.
It has some basic graphics programs, allows you to move photos from your computer or with the camera adapter, pull photos in directly from your camera. The serious photographer doesn't have enough space to use it as a place to put pictures, but it's the perfect preview size to go though your photos on your camera. The other draw back here is editing. Although there are some very good photo editors available for the iPad. Space is the number one drawback.
It's also the perfect device for those who like to play solitaire, tetras, memory games and need something to surf the web and do email, but don't do those things in great measure. My dad is the perfect example of this. And does the app store have some great games from free to 19.99. Most of the good basic ones that those of us that aren't hard core gamers cost about 5.00 a piece.
Although you can turn it sideways and type comfortably, my problem is the number of passwords and user names that I have. This was a two fold problem. 1) the iPad doesn't really do multi-tasking. You can however flip between applications leaving them in place and accomplish the task. Not something I would do daily as I've gotten really comfortable with multiprocessing since we left Mac OS 9. 2) because of the magnitude of the number of passwords I have, I keep them in a password, 128 encrypted FileMaker file. FileMaker hasn't come out and said they supported the iPhone or iPad yet. However, I've found a third party app from FMTouch that works really well and is worth the 29.99 that they charge you. It even allows you to encrypt your data and sync it back to your original file. It takes about 30 minutes to set up and you have to have FileMaker Advanced or you have to use a service that lets you create a DDR File that connects to your file. They also have a version that will work with your server, if you need data on the go. So this problem was solved, but takes some time to set up.
I'm still fighting with printing all of my stuff. I can print the contacts, notes, pictures and calendars or cards from eprint, but it doesn't do and of the other documents. There are a couple of options here as well, but I'm not finding any elegant solutions.
I originally thought, no flash, not a problem - problem. Even the small little websites have flash or small pieces of flash on them. Although, I've found three or four ways to access flash, it's not simple and it doesn't always work.
I still have four or five other things I'll check before I finish, and not all the solutions are elegant and clean - but today is the second day it's on the market. So the fact that there are solutions (most coming from the iPhone) gives us great hope that these will be much cleaner the more devices Apple sells.
It has some basic graphics programs, allows you to move photos from your computer or with the camera adapter, pull photos in directly from your camera. The serious photographer doesn't have enough space to use it as a place to put pictures, but it's the perfect preview size to go though your photos on your camera. The other draw back here is editing. Although there are some very good photo editors available for the iPad. Space is the number one drawback.
It's also the perfect device for those who like to play solitaire, tetras, memory games and need something to surf the web and do email, but don't do those things in great measure. My dad is the perfect example of this. And does the app store have some great games from free to 19.99. Most of the good basic ones that those of us that aren't hard core gamers cost about 5.00 a piece.
Although you can turn it sideways and type comfortably, my problem is the number of passwords and user names that I have. This was a two fold problem. 1) the iPad doesn't really do multi-tasking. You can however flip between applications leaving them in place and accomplish the task. Not something I would do daily as I've gotten really comfortable with multiprocessing since we left Mac OS 9. 2) because of the magnitude of the number of passwords I have, I keep them in a password, 128 encrypted FileMaker file. FileMaker hasn't come out and said they supported the iPhone or iPad yet. However, I've found a third party app from FMTouch that works really well and is worth the 29.99 that they charge you. It even allows you to encrypt your data and sync it back to your original file. It takes about 30 minutes to set up and you have to have FileMaker Advanced or you have to use a service that lets you create a DDR File that connects to your file. They also have a version that will work with your server, if you need data on the go. So this problem was solved, but takes some time to set up.
I'm still fighting with printing all of my stuff. I can print the contacts, notes, pictures and calendars or cards from eprint, but it doesn't do and of the other documents. There are a couple of options here as well, but I'm not finding any elegant solutions.
I originally thought, no flash, not a problem - problem. Even the small little websites have flash or small pieces of flash on them. Although, I've found three or four ways to access flash, it's not simple and it doesn't always work.
I still have four or five other things I'll check before I finish, and not all the solutions are elegant and clean - but today is the second day it's on the market. So the fact that there are solutions (most coming from the iPhone) gives us great hope that these will be much cleaner the more devices Apple sells.
The iPad is here
From my experience, the iPad launch went pretty smoothly. There were still people at the Apple Store at 9:00 pm last night purchasing product. Not all stores had all three models, but they could be found. The one thing that I'm not sure I like is you have to have a machine with iTunes and the internet in order to even boot your iPad. A little annoying if you aren't going directly home to set it up or carrying your machine with you. But not a major problem.
Setting it up was easy. If you have an iPhone/iTouch and want to move apps from the phone/touch to the iPad, be sure to sync it first. You don't have to sync all your iPhone/iTouch apps to the pad or all of your pad apps to the iPhone/iTouch. If you'd played with the interface for an iPhone or iTouch the iPad interface is very much the same and easy to get around. Don't forget to hit apply when you make changes.
The iWorks app is very nice and easy to use. With the free app, NetPortalLite, you can move files back and forth from your pad to your computer or server quickly and easily. The downside is you have to know the IP your machine resides at. They have a more robust product that allows you to share more information and connect to more devices/computers. The free one is working well for me right now. Don't forget ePrint. That allows you to print to your epson printers. It's very easy and works much like the Printer dialog box on your computer. You don't even have to know the ip address. Bento is a nice addition for quick things like video libraries and things you need when you are out shopping, it works well on both the iPhone/iTouch and the iPad. They also have a third party product that will do FileMaker Pro databases. I haven't gotten there yet.
So far I'm liking the pad and it's doing more than I anticipated. The one think I haven't tried is a presentation. Something else to play with on this Easter Morning. :-) Have a great day!
Setting it up was easy. If you have an iPhone/iTouch and want to move apps from the phone/touch to the iPad, be sure to sync it first. You don't have to sync all your iPhone/iTouch apps to the pad or all of your pad apps to the iPhone/iTouch. If you'd played with the interface for an iPhone or iTouch the iPad interface is very much the same and easy to get around. Don't forget to hit apply when you make changes.
The iWorks app is very nice and easy to use. With the free app, NetPortalLite, you can move files back and forth from your pad to your computer or server quickly and easily. The downside is you have to know the IP your machine resides at. They have a more robust product that allows you to share more information and connect to more devices/computers. The free one is working well for me right now. Don't forget ePrint. That allows you to print to your epson printers. It's very easy and works much like the Printer dialog box on your computer. You don't even have to know the ip address. Bento is a nice addition for quick things like video libraries and things you need when you are out shopping, it works well on both the iPhone/iTouch and the iPad. They also have a third party product that will do FileMaker Pro databases. I haven't gotten there yet.
So far I'm liking the pad and it's doing more than I anticipated. The one think I haven't tried is a presentation. Something else to play with on this Easter Morning. :-) Have a great day!
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