It's true that most iPad cases that you buy today can also double as an iPad stand. Usually the cover flips around and forms some sort of stand so that you can prop up your iPad to watch content or read. However, the cases usually will only allow the iPad to stand in portrait or landscape mode, not both. This is the reason that I use iPad stands. I actually have a couple of favroites:
My travel stand
My favorite stand for travel is the Arkon Portable Foldup Stand for iPad and other tablet devices. It's lightweight and folds up nicely to fit in my computer bag. It's also very adjustable to get the pefect viewing angle.
You can get it here for under $13.
My second favroite stand is the Stump
This simple design is great for allow you to place your iPad in 3 positions both horizontally and vertically. I like this one too for the 1st postion you see in the image above where the iPad is slightly elevated instead of lying flat. If your organization is looking for a cool give-away item you can even order these with your company logo on the back.
You can get the Stump here for about $30.
I'd like to take this opportunity to wish Steve Jobs a Happy Birthday. And, to add good vibes out into the universe for his recovery.
Like millions of others, I have been touched by or benefited from Steve Jobs' vision, commitment to his ideas and tenacity.
My Mac and Apple devices have brought me great joy over the years. The iPod literally lit up my life. It has brought a world of music to my ears that I never imagined, yet alone, thought possible. In the old iPod commercials where you see the persons shadow dancing while they actually may be just sitting, standing or walking…oh, yeah, that's me.
Some devices have enhanced my life greater than I could have imagined and some have even changed it altogether. I wasn't even into computers. I took a look at a, funny-looking, Macintosh 128K computer, and wondered, "What will that thing ever do for me?" Two years later I was doing CAD drawings, yes CAD, on a Macintosh SE. It was a clinic in scrolling, but, I have been a Mac lover ever since.
So just like the light bulb, the automobile, the telephone; my computer of choice is happily, just as ingrained in my day to day existence. The saying still applies, "I love my Mac."
So, thank you Mr. Jobs, Happy Birthday, and wishing you the best of health.
CH
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When I wander about the house these days, I tend to use my iPad (and sometimes iPhone) rather than pick up the laptop if I just want to check the web or mail. I have an AirPort Extreme (or, as the sportscasters say these days, EXTREEEEEEEEEEM!) to get to my network. Nothing too interesting about any of that, right? Right. But the past few days, I noticed that Internet access was verrrrrrrrry sloooooowwwwww. Annoyingly so, in fact. In addition to having trouble getting mail and web pages, I was having trouble with my iScore app timing out while syncing with the cloud.
I went to my favorite speed test, at Speakeasy, from my desktop (since the test is Flash-based) and everything looked fine – I was getting pretty much what I was paying for. Then I tried one of my favorite speed tests on my iPad and iPhone, named, oddly enough, Speedtest, available free from the App Store. It was consistent across both devices – I was getting about 1/5th the speed I had gotten in past tests. (One of the things I like about Speedtest is that it keeps a history of previous tests.) So why?
Since the problem was on both the phone and the iPad, I tried rebooting the Airport Extreme. Nothing changed – still horrible speeds. Then I tried rebooting each device – still no help. Then I happened to look at the switch that the Airport was plugged into – it was connected at 100 Mb, even though both the Airport and the switch support gigabit connections. Now, 100 Mb is still much faster than my Internet connection, so at first I didn't think much of it. But then I took a look at the cable – it was obviously pretty old, and looked like one I had gotten with a portable Ethernet card a long time ago. So was sure it wasn't Cat 6 (gigabit-rated) – but still, 100 Mb should have been fine.
I decided to replace it anyway with a Cat 6 cable (I have plenty of spares so it's not like I needed to run out and get one). Not only did the connection go to gigabit, but my connection speed returned to normal on the iPad and iPhone.
Now that cable had been in place for years – it was on my older Extreme that I used for several years before I upgraded. It had obviously been fine before, because the old speed tests showed I was getting what I would expect. The last check was a few months back, and I've had the new Extreme longer than that – so the only conclusion I can come to is that the cable went bad. It's a rare occurrence, but it does happen – maybe one of the times I moved it out of the way (it sits next to some other equipment) to work on something I stressed it enough to make it unreliable. Who knows? The point I'm making today is that cables do go bad, so don't overlook that as a reason for a problem.
Let me start by saying I don't own an iPhone. It's not that I don't like them, but I don't use my cell phone enough to justify the monthly charges. My $30 a month cell phone is my lifeline if my car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. My cell phone let's my family find me in an emergency ('cuz I'm never home!). That's it. I am not a phone person. Never have been. I can go days without ever touching my house phone. I talk to my sister, cousins and niece via email and Facebook.
So… a couple of weeks ago AT&T started bugging me to replace my phone. Seems my old SIM card will become obsolete on May 15th. Yes, it's that old. Hey, it works. My old Motorola was a sweet phone. Good camera, no problem syncing with my Address Book (well, with a few little quirks), easy to use. I even had my own MP3 ringtones.
After a letter, a text message and finally a recorded phone call to my landline, all in less than a week, I broke down and ordered my new phone. Had my choice of 2 free models, and while I had to choose a new rate plan, no new contract. New phone is a nice compact little Pantech Breeze II. Had no problem setting up Bluetooth recognition with my iMac, and it loves my old MP3 ringtones. And my custom wallpapers. What doesn't it like? The thing I most needed — Address Book sync. AT&T's workaround? Why, you can sync the address book with your AT&T web account address book. The web account says, just import your data from a tab-delimited file. The only problem? It must be exported from Outlook, and not Outlook for Mac but the Windows version of Outlook. Why not a plain old tab-delimited file? Or Comma-delimited? Or a plain old .dif file? Nope. At least I have my iPod touch, so I can at least look up numbers.
One of the current iPhone rumors floating around is that there will be a bare bones iPhone that will (Surprise!) function as a voice-only phone, but will need wifi for the other features. Sort of a glorified iPod touch cell phone that wouldn't need a data plan. If they produce it, I'll buy it in a minute, even if it does mean going back to being locked into a 2 year contract. At least I'd be able to have my address book back.
End of my rant. Here's Rob Paravanian's "Pachelbel Rant."
Last week I did a post where I asked Apple to Lose the Sync cable for syncing media to iOS devices. This week I have the pleasure of reviewing a software solution that in my opinion does what iTunes should do natively. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that the developers of SuperSync have a great product on the market and have filled the gap, but honestly there shouldn't be a need for this product in the first place.
The Need
Let's start with the problem. I have all of music, movie, podcasts, TV shows, etc. in iTunes on a dedicated iMac in my home. Let's call it the iTunes Server. This is the computer that we sync all of our iOS devices to for music, and other media content in my home. This is also the iMac that feeds our Apple TVs. This setup works great and keeps us from having to store the same songs, movies, etc. on multiple computers. As long as we're in the house we can stream content from the iMac to just about anything. There is one glaring problem with this setup and that is there is no easy way to "Sync" this media to another Mac (or PC) for those few times when we want to take this content with us on a laptop. Sure Apple gave us "Home Sharing" in iTunes 9, but while Home Sharing lets us drag and drop media from one computer to another, it has no automatic syncing abilities. It's a completely manual process. What I simply want to be able to do is have the same level of syncing that iTunes provides from computer to iDevice, from computer to computer over the network. I would love to open up iTunes on my MacBook Pro and use Home Sharing to sync my 5 favorite playlists over to my laptop. I own the content. I have the two computer authorized with the same iTunes account. Technically there is no reason why iTunes shouldn't be able to do this other than Apple hasn't built it in as a feature of iTunes. Even if you drag stuff over manually via Home Sharing, there isn't even a warning of duplicates. It will let you drag the same song over 3 times in a row if you don't pay attention. Let's say that you're willing to drag over your favorite songs and build the same playlists manually on your other computer, the minute you make a change on the 1st computer the 2nd computer is now out of date.
SuperSync to the rescue
SuperSync is a separate application that you run on your two or more computers (you'll need a license for each computer). You can set either one or both up as "servers". All of the media on one computer's iTunes library will be displayed on the other computer in SuperSync. At that point you can pick and choose which media to copy over or more importantly which ones/playlists to keep in sync. This is actually is not my first time trying this applicaiton. I tried it a while back but it was missing one important feature back then that stopped me in my tracks. I have 3 favorite playlists that are "Smart Playlists". Back when I first tried this App SuperSync couldn't deal with Smart Playlists and therefore it was of no use to me. I happened to walk by their booth at Macworld Expo and listened to their pitch. I saw on the literature that Smart Playlists were now supported so I upgraded on the spot!
How does it work
The day of days. Yes it is Friday!
Sorry but this week I will not be writing. On the road and too many demands. To make it up to you I offer this.
This month's Macgroup meeting is this Sunday Feb 20th, 2011. The main topic this month — Vola! "Backup".
So, you can either go to the meeting to get your backup fix or wait for the video podcast and view the meeting online.
Details at http://www.macgroup.org.
Your choice.
Musical Selection
They used this with the Doritos ad during the Superbowl 2011 but by far it's a great high energy video…. Enjoy!
Road update via iPod touch.
It;s 12:30 AM EST. Just decided to call it quits for driving. Rolled up 700 plus miles. Did a backup before shutting down my computers and leaving. Just in case their would be problems on power up upon my return. While the iPod touch is workable, challenge for lots of typing. – C YA!
Be back from the road next week.
I've been spending a lot of time looking into the iPad drawing and sketching apps in the app store. It is mind-boggling just how many there are and what each is purported to do differently than the other.
Some apps are totally amazing in how they've incorporated present technology and ran with it to produce a great user experience. Others are still on the drawing board when it comes to robust features, but may do what little they do very well.
There have been a few times when I have really been anxious to try an app after reading or hearing about it. Recently, one such app was "Learn to Draw Digital Sketchbook by Walter Foster."
It was the name Walter Foster (Art Instruction), that made me anxious to try this app.
Many years ago I won the software "Dabbler" in a user group raffle. (Can you guess which user group?) And I was totally in love with it from the moment I launched the program. Dabbler was produced by Fractal Design, whose stable of original products included Painter, Poser, Sketcher and Detailer. Dabbler cost around $40, but produced the punch of software costing much, much more.
Dabbler, a learn to draw program which contained drawing lessons from Walter Foster, was extraordinary and amazing for it's features, ability and timing. I actually think that Dabbler was ahead of its time. And, the tutorials were some of the best I'd come across for it's time and even for today.
But all of that, like many other softwares have vaporized or moved on through acquisitions. Though, "Walter Foster" is still here going strong.
So, when I saw a new drawing app from Walter Foster in the app store, I was anxious to see what was in store. Or better, in-app.
"Learn to Draw" has easy-to-follow interactive sample tutorials to get you started. You can even download more drawing lessons from within the app.
Or you can bypass the lessons and just start drawing. Drawings you create through lessons or on your own, are saved in a library, where you can retreive them.
What endeared me to this app was simplicity and feel. Sketching should not be something that is labor intensive or disruptive when it comes to selecting the tools you use and how you use them. This app reminded me of the simplicity of drawing on pad an paper with pencils and erasers laid out beside me. Pick one pencil up, draw, put it down, pick up the other…
The interface lays the tools out in plain sight. Most importantly, the right tools. Sketch pencil, Shading pencil, Detail pencil, and Eraser. Select the desired tool, adjust the settings, draw. With no hidden tool screens to have to jump back and forth to.
This program affords you to only draw in portrait mode and there is no color palette available. While I was sketching, I didn't seem to miss either. Not to say that those wouldn't be welcome features, they would. Though, I could change the texture of my pages.
This app works great with my Dagi Stylus.
I really look forward to seeing the development of this app. Not suprising that a company like Walter Foster developed an app with an actual real-life pencil drawing feel; much welcomed.
Learn to Draw Digital Sketchbook by Walter Foster, from Medl Mobile, is a free app from the iTunes app store.
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Jawbone recently came out with a new Bluetooth headset called the Era. This is a follow-on to their last headset, the Icon. It's supposed to be a new and improved headset, with some added features – a couple of which in particular I was very interested in, so I ordered one.
This is my third Jawbone headset. I had the original, and was disappointed in it. The headset worked ok, not great, but it was very difficult to charge. It had a proprietary 4-pin connection that was very fragile, and lasted me only a few months before it broke. Even before that, I had to place everything just so to get a charge, because it was that touchy. I went back to my original Apple headset which, while not great (and the battery life was getting somewhat short), did at least work. It also showed the charge left right on the iPhone when connected.
The different Icon cases
I've had the Icon for the past year and it's served me pretty well. Like the Apple headset, it too will graphically show you battery life on the iPhone when it pairs up. I don't know if any other headset manufacturers do this yet.
But the Era has a couple of features I really wanted – the main one being caller ID. Instead of reading off the phone number, like the Icon, the Era will read off the caller's name – much handier, because there are very few numbers I have memorized (why should I – they're in my Address Book!). Also, Jawbone claims better audio (the Icon audio is always kind of mediocre but usable). The claimed battery life is better (5.5 hours of talk time vs. 4). Also, Jawbone added an accelerometer to the Era, so you can shake it to pair the device (big deal) and tap it twice to answer a call. I really didn't think much of either, but have warmed up to double-tapping to answer – I don't have to find and hit the button, which occasionaly I had trouble finding, or would sometimes hit too quickly. The slight double-tap is easy and seems to work pretty well.
The Era cases
We did have an odd problem with FaceTime calls. If she called me it was fine, but if I called her, we got no audio until I switched to the phone speaker and then back to the Era. We didn't have any trouble with the Icon in that regard. Oddly, I did hear the ringing in the headset, but when the call connected, nothing. Hopefully, Jawbone will fix that in a firmware release.
Yes, both the Icon and Era have firmware – I have updated both a couple of times now, sometimes for fixes, sometimes (for the Icon) new features. So these headsets aren't standing still.
Jawbone is still selling both the Icon and the Era, for $99.99 (here for less than $60)
I love my iPad. You could probably say that I'm addicted to it. It was love at first touch, but I've never been happy with the finger smudges that seem to accumulate, no matter how clean my hands. Going all the way back to my first Palm Pilot (remember those?) I've tried various screen covers/skins, but have never been happy with them. No matter what I do, there is always at least one nasty bubble between the screen and the skin, and a couple of dust motes. They also seem to make the screen less touch sensitive. Well, it looks like I've finally found one I can live with — and recommend.
The moshi iVisor is not cheap (list $30.00), but it will probably be the last screen cover I have to buy for my iPad. There are two versions for the iPad, the AG (non-glare) and the totally clear XT. (And yes, there is one for the iPhone 4). What sets this apart from the others is the fact that it is fairly rigid and has a silicone adhesive only on the edges that cover the black border around the screen. No sticky stuff in the middle to trap air bubbles and bits of dust. Installation was a breeze, and I was able to reposition it a couple of times to position it perfectly. No more fighting floppy skins that want to flip over and stick to themselves. If you carefully remove it, it can also be washed, and once it's dry you can reinstall.
Sensitivity — WOW! It's just as responsive to touch as it was without a cover. I tested my styluses with it, and it only liked my Pogo if it was perpendicular to the screen. No edges, please. My homebrew stylus was better, but the best results came with my iFaraday stylus. It works as well as ever.
Smudges — I'm in heaven! It seemed like I was cleaning my screen 3 or 4 times a day, and there were still always smudges. I've had my iVisor AG in place for more than 48 hours now, and I still don't need to clean the screen. And lest you think I only read email or books on this thing, I will admit to being hooked on Saqqarah HD at the moment, and my grubby fingers are all over that screen. The non-glare surface is not matte, but it does reduce glare without sacrificing clarity. With the iPad off and light at the right angle, you can see a slight moiré pattern where the cover touches the screen, but I don't notice it when the screen is on. All in all, I'm happy with my iVisor. Check it out.
The 1st iPod was introduced in 2001. Yes that was 10 years ago. It was revolutionary in many respects. Although the original model included a Firewire cable and was Mac Only, Apple followed up with the now standard iPod "dock connector" model in 2003. The dock connector has been great and widely adopted by peripheral and car manufacturers. While the dock connector is cool, I ask the question do we really need to plug in a cable to sync our iOS devices today?
Let's lose the cable!
Of course Apple still makes iPods that don't have built-in WiFi. These low cost models obviously need some way of connecting to your computer to sync the media. For those models the sync cable still makes sense. However, for iOS devices that have WiFi (the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad) I wonder why we still "need" to plug in a cable to sync media? Don't get me wrong, given a choice I'll gladly plug in a cable when I have several gigabytes of data to sync to a new device over doing it via WiFi any day. Yet that doesn't mean that I should have to plug in a cable for day to day syncing.
- Apple TV streams Gigabytes of Movies Wirelessly
- MacBooks, iMacs, Mac mini's, etc all can backup Terabytes of data Wirelessly
- iTunes allows Home Sharing via WiFi
- iOS devices can download Gigabytes of data/media direclty from the iTunes store via WiFi
Still waiting for my dream to come true
I remember having a day dream when I got my first car with an iPod connection built-in that some day I would pull into my garage, reach into my glove compartment and press a sync button on my iPod (or iPhone) and my device would connect to my computer in the house and sync the latest playlists, podcasts, etc. via WiFi. I'm still waiting for that dream to come true and technically there is no reason why it shouldn't be a reality today. My iOS devices have WiFi. Apple already allows you to download gigabytes of data (movies and apps) from iTunes via WiFi directly to these devices . Why not allow us to do it from iTunes to iOS device? Hey, it's 2011: I shouldn't even have to press a sync button. The device iOS device should just auto sync (via a preference) when I enter my WiFi zone!
FAQ
Whenever I bring this up to my gadget buddies, someone always has a "but what about ______" objection. I can usually shoot these down pretty easily so let's go through the common ones.
Q. Isn't WiFi too slow?
A. Yes and no. I'm not saying that you shouldn't be able to use a cable if you want to. I'm just saying that we should have the option to do it wirelessly. Also remember that Apple already lets you download gigabytes of data directly to your iOS device via the internet. My Navigon App weighs in at 1.52GBs and I can download it direclty to my iPhone today from the App Store via WiFi.
Q. What if you were doing a OS update via WiFi and your connection died or battery died?
A. OK, what happens today if you accidently unplug the cable during an update? In other words there are problems that can happen today even with the cable. If Apple were truly worried about this they could require you to use the cable for OS updates or provide the same warnings they do today when updating a MacBook/MacBook Pro when you're not plugged into to power. Lastly Apple could do it more like they do it on the Mac. Let the iOS update download first to the device before installing. If the download/sync were interupted then there would be no harm.
Q. Users would complain that syncing takes too long.
A. Yep, they probably would. Apple could easily pop up an alert stating that syncing more than XXX amount of data may take a while over WiFi. Let me make that choice and of course disable the alert.
The Bottom Line
Beyond the first sync of all your media onto your iOS device, there is little reason that you shouldn't be able to sync via WiFi from that point on. Apple let's me backup my entire 500GB MacBook Pro drive via WiFi to a Time Capsule. Yes, it takes HOURS, but they allow it and even sell devices to do allow you to do it. If I wanted it to go faster I could always plug in an Ethernet cable. Syncing a WiFi enabled iOS device via WiFi wouldn't take nearly as long even if the device were empty. Apple can we please lose the cable? It's 2011!
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