I just came across a nice simple little quiz creation/hosting site that offers a basic but useful tool that could be worth remembering.
It's called Quiz Revolution and below, I've knocked together a very simple test to show the sort of thing it can do. To really shine, it would need video or images creating rather than the plain text I've put in, but it gives a little flavour of what it's like:
I particularly like it's emphasis on a small little form factor, locked to 380x400 pixels (although with a choice of a couple of looks), suitable for embedding in other things, such as this blog post.
(I just hope it works posted here as I'm writing this on the iPad quickly and can't check it first)
- Posted using BlogPress from mobile device
2011/01/11
2010/12/25
3D TV - my perspective (pun intended)
Prompted by this article saying 3D TV is a flop http://is.gd/jp44u (via @Splodge360 on twitter), my thoughts on the future of this tech:
Personally, I'm not impressed with how things look on current 3D TVs, although I have only seen the demos in stores so far. However, I believe this time around, 3D will stick and slowly become the norm.
There are a few key reasons why I think this. First, the TV sets themselves need no special expensive additional hardware and the glasses themselves are relatively simple too (although many carry a high premium yet). This means when it comes to buying a new TV, there will soon be very little premium above buying a non-3D capable set. Thus the barrier to adoption of the tech in the home is removed (for new purchases at least).
Next, with the ever increasing use of CGI in film making, it becomes trivial to render the images in 3D. Related to this, the technology needed to record live action in 3D is hardly more expensive for film makers either. Also, unlike the older 3D red/green or film based polarised systems, the technology is in place to make the whole pipeline from film making to cinema to home movie set up trivial. Thus the barrier to creation of content is removed.
What is currently missing to drive consumer adoption is compelling content; content that really has to be seen in 3D. At present, 3D content is "enhanced" but is equally compelling in 2D (I'm thinking of Avatar in particular in this as I felt it worked as well as needed in 2D on bluray).
So, I believe movie content will be increasingly created "3D ready" even if it is down shifted to 2D because there is little reason for it not to be. I believe there will be a slow trickle down of 3D ready TV sets in the homes as all new model TVs will have the tech included even if it isn't being used.
But, while people have to pay a premium to access those 3D capabilities, it's unlikely to create a storm...except if/when the tech taps into the driving force behind the uptake of many new technologies - sex.
The connection between sex and tech uptake has been widely noted and documented previously. The most common cited case in recent history has been the take off of VHS players when porn started to become available.
I suspect therefore that if/when porn producers and distributors tap into 3D, we'll see it really take off.
Even if that doesn't tip things, I think 2012 with the Olympics might. Although, I have read that rapid motion of sports does not lend itself to active glasses 3D TVs due to the halving of the effective frame refresh rate.
There are a few reasons I think it may 'fail' though.
First, the need for glasses. Need I say more?
Second, the current tech could be a flash in the pan - a precursor to a much better tech just around the corner. There have been proof of concept demos of various other 3D tech already that would not require glasses - true holographic displays with colour for example.
Lastly, the TV is quickly being overtaken by the Internet as the entertainment focus for many families, with the TV demotes to background noise. Thus, the driver for the purchase of new screens generally is shrinking. However, with large cheap 3D capable screens becoming the entry level purchase, this probably won't be enough to prevent it in my view.
So what do you think? Have you seen 3D TVs yourself? Did they impress you enough to want one or just thought M'eh (or worse)? Will 2011/12 be the year 3D TV takes of or flops?
- Posted using BlogPress from my phone
Personally, I'm not impressed with how things look on current 3D TVs, although I have only seen the demos in stores so far. However, I believe this time around, 3D will stick and slowly become the norm.
There are a few key reasons why I think this. First, the TV sets themselves need no special expensive additional hardware and the glasses themselves are relatively simple too (although many carry a high premium yet). This means when it comes to buying a new TV, there will soon be very little premium above buying a non-3D capable set. Thus the barrier to adoption of the tech in the home is removed (for new purchases at least).
Next, with the ever increasing use of CGI in film making, it becomes trivial to render the images in 3D. Related to this, the technology needed to record live action in 3D is hardly more expensive for film makers either. Also, unlike the older 3D red/green or film based polarised systems, the technology is in place to make the whole pipeline from film making to cinema to home movie set up trivial. Thus the barrier to creation of content is removed.
What is currently missing to drive consumer adoption is compelling content; content that really has to be seen in 3D. At present, 3D content is "enhanced" but is equally compelling in 2D (I'm thinking of Avatar in particular in this as I felt it worked as well as needed in 2D on bluray).
So, I believe movie content will be increasingly created "3D ready" even if it is down shifted to 2D because there is little reason for it not to be. I believe there will be a slow trickle down of 3D ready TV sets in the homes as all new model TVs will have the tech included even if it isn't being used.
But, while people have to pay a premium to access those 3D capabilities, it's unlikely to create a storm...except if/when the tech taps into the driving force behind the uptake of many new technologies - sex.
The connection between sex and tech uptake has been widely noted and documented previously. The most common cited case in recent history has been the take off of VHS players when porn started to become available.
I suspect therefore that if/when porn producers and distributors tap into 3D, we'll see it really take off.
Even if that doesn't tip things, I think 2012 with the Olympics might. Although, I have read that rapid motion of sports does not lend itself to active glasses 3D TVs due to the halving of the effective frame refresh rate.
There are a few reasons I think it may 'fail' though.
First, the need for glasses. Need I say more?
Second, the current tech could be a flash in the pan - a precursor to a much better tech just around the corner. There have been proof of concept demos of various other 3D tech already that would not require glasses - true holographic displays with colour for example.
Lastly, the TV is quickly being overtaken by the Internet as the entertainment focus for many families, with the TV demotes to background noise. Thus, the driver for the purchase of new screens generally is shrinking. However, with large cheap 3D capable screens becoming the entry level purchase, this probably won't be enough to prevent it in my view.
So what do you think? Have you seen 3D TVs yourself? Did they impress you enough to want one or just thought M'eh (or worse)? Will 2011/12 be the year 3D TV takes of or flops?
- Posted using BlogPress from my phone
2010/08/11
National Fireworks Championship, Plymouth 2010
As usual, I was out taking firework photos for the National Championships held in Plymouth. I must have thousands of firework photos by now.
Anyhow, friends had decided on Queen Anne's Battery as the spot to be this year, which wasn't going to be my choice for taking photos this year, but it is a great spot to watch them from.
I don't think I managed any really "good" firework photos, but this one is the nearest I got to being happy with one as it includes some context with the fort on the left which is somewhat iconic of Plymouth, although not as much as the lighthouse I included in the pictures last year.
Anyhow, friends had decided on Queen Anne's Battery as the spot to be this year, which wasn't going to be my choice for taking photos this year, but it is a great spot to watch them from.
I don't think I managed any really "good" firework photos, but this one is the nearest I got to being happy with one as it includes some context with the fort on the left which is somewhat iconic of Plymouth, although not as much as the lighthouse I included in the pictures last year.
2010/06/23
Conference in Edinburgh - UCISA : Reducing Costs Through Technology and Infrastructure
Sitting in hotel room before the conference tomorrow and thought I'd make a few notes before attending.
The subject of saving money in HE is a hot topic at the moment obviously wi the cuts expected over the next few years likely to make the "tight budgets" of the last few years seem like we've all been wallowing in money. Figures like 25% cuts in government funding in HE have been banded about, and while government money is not the only source of income for (most?) HEIs, it is a very large part and cuts of that depth will not be possible with minor changes to working practice or even reorganisation/mergers.
From my point of view supporting the use of IT I know there is huge scope for IT to be used more effectively to streamline business processes - although translating such efficiencies to cost savings would be another matter that is much more complicated and not technical.
The keynote starting the day tomorrow is "How to save money - best practice in contract management, asset management and procurement" by Gartner UK Ltd. Since UoP is currently looking to renew it's fleet of leased PCs this should be interesting.
The next session "Smarter, cheaper, Greener" is perhaps a statement of the trinity looked for with IT, where each is follows from the former. Since UoP gained the top spot in the recent People an Planet green league table I clearly think we're doing pretty well on the green front already, but there is still huge scope for improvement (eg we have yet to master the power management of the fleet to allow us to realise the extra power/cost/environmental impact savings we had aimed for - with vPro being a little too new in the fleet we took on and needing a lot of kinks ironing out) and there is certainly much scope for working smarter.
Next is a session looking at outsourcing e-mail. I've seen presentations on this before at JISC/UCISA events over the last few years and I've been sold on it as probably the right solution for at least a year and I'm glad that this has now been approved to move ahead with in UoP recently - again, it should be interesting and timely.
"Printing your own money" looks to be about the savings possible by better printing management - which is another hot topic at UoP, and one that has historically caused much debate. I recently visited Cornwall College to see how they had implemented their lean print strategy (using Canon's Uniflow solution), and in particularly how they had "solved" the resistance from the grass roots to having small local printers removed. Unfortunately, the main answer to that question seemed to be that they started with a very flaky old unreliable fleet of small local devices such that users were generally happy to have larger consolidated devices as they worked! Since we're not in that position at UoP I'm not sure we can translate their experience usefully, but the product itself does look very useful. I look forward to seeing if this session introduces any new approaches we'll be able to learn from.
The final session is "Redefine your technology strategy" - I'm not sure of the details of this right now (I didn't copy the outline to the iPhone to check while writing this on the iPad), but I can see that an IT strategy needs to be focusing on delivering real business efficiencies and cost savings ahead of developments of new services.
Edit: checking the programme, it appears this last session has been dropped and the earlier sessions given more time - with one session less, the cost/benefit of attending this conference so far from Plymouth is looking even less clear! :(
(photo is taken from the hotel window as sun set over the city - "enhanced" using a few apps on the iPad...not very subtly :)
- Posted using BlogPress from mobile device
2010/06/13
iPad apps review - RDP
This is another app I had already on the iPhone which added a "free" improved version for the iPad, RDP is very useful to be able to remotely access my work PC laptop when I need to do something that can only be done on a PC or where I only have the data on the laptop hard disk. As such, this app alone make it much more practical to use the iPad as my sole computing platform (OK, the only one I have to actually carry around with me!)
This app works very well, although I wish it had a way to automatically enable the VPN connection before trying to connect as that little detour into the iPad settings before launching the app is something I'm always forgetting until it fails to connect and then it dawns on me why.
I have also needed to install a little app from no-ip on the laptop to publish it's IP to whenever it changes as for some reason, the DNS entry for my machine on campus fails to work. I suspect this is due to my over zealous firewall on the laptop rather than any short fall of this app :)
What else do I need to say about this app? Oh, it has a bit of an odd way of dealing with keyboard entry and mouse events. The keyboard will work with the external Bluetooth keyboard with the iPad, but delete is always very slow on both the external and virtual keyboard. Normal typing is fine and keeps up, but delete takes almost a second to register and drops rather than buffers the key presses. The mouse foibles are dictated by having a touch screen with no mouse over or right click, so the app provides an icon to toggle the mouse behaviour accordingly. This also includes a "wheel mouse" mode for scrolling, but I've never actually used that to know if it works.
The pro version of this app allows keyboard macros to be set up and connection details for oodles of devices to be added and then chosen from a list. I can't actually remember how many as I've only ever needed 2, but it's a screen full of slots :)
The app only allows a choice of 8bit or 16bit graphics for the connection, and it would be nice to be able to tell windows to fall back to a simpler presentation without wallpaper etc as the RDP client in Windows allows, but with a decent wifi connection, or even 3G, the lag dealing with the better graphics isn't too bad so this isn't essential unless you needed to use GPRS - in which case, you probably need a terminal service instead. :)
If you need to access machines running different OS too, you probably also need to use VNC rather than RDP, in which case it would probably be best to install that on any PCs too, so again, this wouldn't be the app for you.
Summary - does what it says on the tin, but only right if you need what's in the tin :)
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iPad apps review - BlogPress
BlogPress was my preferred app for editing and posting blog posts on the iPhone and is one of those apps that includes the improved features for the iPad in a single app, which means I effectively get the better interface on the iPad "for free". I had expected more of the iPhone apps to work this way, but have been disappointed and now resigned to having to pay for the better versions in most cases.
The editor in BlogPress is very simple, providing very few tools to help composing posts (no bold, italic etc shortcuts) instead relying on the author to include any HTML mark up needed. The only concession it does make it to include a tool to add images which can be scaled to a thumbnail with a link to the original with both thumbnail and original uploaded and the link added.
So what features do I like? Well, mostly it's the number of different blog formats it supports which critically for me includes both Google's blogger and Wordpress. (if anyone knows a tool that works with Sharepoint blogs behind custom HTML authentication then that would allow me to post to my other work blog too).
Is that all it's good for I hear you ask? Well, no. It also allows the images to be uploaded to a whole range of services, uploading video to YouTube, Twitter and Facebook notification integration, local drafts for composing offline and easy access to meta data like tags as well as setting a publish date/time.
There are probably better wysiwyg editors for blog posts, but i haven't spotted another with this range of services supported so it keeps my vote so far.
- Posted using BlogPress from mobile device
iPad apps review - iRepton
I loved Repton back in the 80's on the BBC micro, and the idea of playing it on the iPad appealed to me (see my earlier blog post about which retro games I'd like to see ported) so I was delighted to stumbled across this little gem with a search of
the app store for the word "retro". It's perhaps humbling to realise that ones teenage years are now seen as retro, but any how...
Anyone who's plays rubble trouble or any number of similar games will know the idea behind Repton. Move your character around a 2d map collecting gems with gravity acting on certain object such that they fall down the screen if nothing is supporting them. Repton includes eggs which break to hatch into monsters that chase you and can only be killed by either dropping a rock on them or pushing a rock into them horizontally. It also includes keys which turn safes into gems. Where safes have a flat top and rocks can rest on them, rocks will slide off the top of gems unless soil or something else is in the way. Thus, getting a key can trigger rocks or eggs elsewhere in the map to fall.
The other thing to know is that with a rock on your head, you can do the "Repton shuffle" to quickly step aside and back to allow the rock to fall AND push it to one side - vital for many of the puzzles in the maps.
This implementation of the game can use the same mode 5 graphics of the BBC micro as in the screen shot or updated 'better' graphics. The new graphics add nothing to the game play and defeat the retro object of the game for me so are rather wasted, but I guess might appeal to people for whom this is a new experience.
The game also includes the same old music and sounds or updated versions of these too. The music was good for it's time on a home computer in 1984 ish but even then, it quickly became irritating and thankfully there is the same option to disable it that I always used back then!
The first set of maps are included from the old game (Repton 3 maps I think it is rather than Repton 1, but I can't be sure of my memory on that), but also additional new levels and further additional levels are available as in app purchases.
It doesn't appear to include the level editor which made this game so compelling for my mother and I - creating levels to challenge each other, and I doubt it's likely to see me dreaming in Repton graphics which I often did back then, but it is a welcome addition to the casual games I can pick up and play for a few minutes on the iPad, and for that it's worth the asking price :)
- Posted using BlogPress from mobile device
the app store for the word "retro". It's perhaps humbling to realise that ones teenage years are now seen as retro, but any how...
Anyone who's plays rubble trouble or any number of similar games will know the idea behind Repton. Move your character around a 2d map collecting gems with gravity acting on certain object such that they fall down the screen if nothing is supporting them. Repton includes eggs which break to hatch into monsters that chase you and can only be killed by either dropping a rock on them or pushing a rock into them horizontally. It also includes keys which turn safes into gems. Where safes have a flat top and rocks can rest on them, rocks will slide off the top of gems unless soil or something else is in the way. Thus, getting a key can trigger rocks or eggs elsewhere in the map to fall.
The other thing to know is that with a rock on your head, you can do the "Repton shuffle" to quickly step aside and back to allow the rock to fall AND push it to one side - vital for many of the puzzles in the maps.
This implementation of the game can use the same mode 5 graphics of the BBC micro as in the screen shot or updated 'better' graphics. The new graphics add nothing to the game play and defeat the retro object of the game for me so are rather wasted, but I guess might appeal to people for whom this is a new experience.
The game also includes the same old music and sounds or updated versions of these too. The music was good for it's time on a home computer in 1984 ish but even then, it quickly became irritating and thankfully there is the same option to disable it that I always used back then!
The first set of maps are included from the old game (Repton 3 maps I think it is rather than Repton 1, but I can't be sure of my memory on that), but also additional new levels and further additional levels are available as in app purchases.
It doesn't appear to include the level editor which made this game so compelling for my mother and I - creating levels to challenge each other, and I doubt it's likely to see me dreaming in Repton graphics which I often did back then, but it is a welcome addition to the casual games I can pick up and play for a few minutes on the iPad, and for that it's worth the asking price :)
- Posted using BlogPress from mobile device
iPad apps review - Weather Pro HD
Weather pro was my preferred weather app on the iPhone and the new version for the iPad looked sumptuous from the screen shots so I decided to try it. Quick summary - it's OK but...
The source for the forecasts is vital for a weather app to be useful and MeteoGroup seems fine for this app and has certainly been pretty accurate in my experience. However, the things which made this app for me on the iPhone was simple access to both radar data and satellite images so I can make my own judgement on the forecasts, and this is where this app currently lags slightly behind the iPhone version.
On the iPhone, if you pay a little extra you get additional image frames for both the radar and satellite views and also some 'predicted' frames for the future for the radar. Although the premium account is transferable to the iPad, the app currently doesn't provide these additional features, although it does increase the resolution of the other forecast data (windspeed/temp/rainfall/humidity/sunshine) to be hourly instead of 3 hourly.The interface uses multiple pop over frames in line with most iPad apps compared to separate screens on the iPhone which works nicely (see screen shot).
Summary: nice, accurate, but just slightly disappoints.
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2010/06/04
Retro games I'd like to see on the iPad/iPhone
One of my more random blog posts, but inspired by a tweet from @andytuk:
These are games from the BBC micro, C64 and other retro machines I would like to see either emulated or re-coded into new versions to play on the iPad/iPhone - in no particular order:
C64 versions:
Impossible Mission
TrollyWally - for the music more than the game
Little Computer People
BBC versions:
Thrust
Sentinel
Arkanoid
Llamatron
Hampstead
HHG2TG
The Hobbit
Repton 1, 2, 3
Airlift
Arcadians
Starship commander
Elite (this was the game mentioned that started me thinking)
Exile
Thunderstruck
Citadel
Manic miner
Jet set willy
Castle Quest
Alien 8
Nightlore
Sabre wolf
Uncle Claude
Imogen
Chuckie Egg
Frak!
Cholo
Others:
Speedball
Gobbiins 1, 2
Barbarian
Tempest
I'm very aware (having played many of these recently on emulators) that they would really need sprucing up to stand up today, but they all had that "just one more game" element to their gameplay that many more visually polished modern games lack.
Ah, e by gum an' by 'eck, I remember when all this was fields...or Mode 2 graphics. :)
- Posted using BlogPress from mobile device
These are games from the BBC micro, C64 and other retro machines I would like to see either emulated or re-coded into new versions to play on the iPad/iPhone - in no particular order:
C64 versions:
Impossible Mission
TrollyWally - for the music more than the game
Little Computer People
BBC versions:
Thrust
Sentinel
Arkanoid
Llamatron
Hampstead
HHG2TG
The Hobbit
Repton 1, 2, 3
Airlift
Arcadians
Starship commander
Elite (this was the game mentioned that started me thinking)
Exile
Thunderstruck
Citadel
Manic miner
Jet set willy
Castle Quest
Alien 8
Nightlore
Sabre wolf
Uncle Claude
Imogen
Chuckie Egg
Frak!
Cholo
Others:
Speedball
Gobbiins 1, 2
Barbarian
Tempest
I'm very aware (having played many of these recently on emulators) that they would really need sprucing up to stand up today, but they all had that "just one more game" element to their gameplay that many more visually polished modern games lack.
Ah, e by gum an' by 'eck, I remember when all this was fields...or Mode 2 graphics. :)
- Posted using BlogPress from mobile device
2010/05/31
Thoughts on an iPad - so far
Prompted by a question on twitter from @jamesclay @markpower I thought I'd take a moment to record my feelings about the iPad having used one now for a few days.
First the obvious - it is a big iphone/ipod (could be either depending if you get the 3G or not and if you count the iPhone 'phone' features as relevant). That's fine for me as this was exactly what I was looking for and it's certainly working as a casual web surfing/tweeting/etc platform while watching TV.
Also obvious to anyone who's held one - it's heavy. Thin, well made and satisfying to hold but certainly heavy. Ideally for me it needs to be less than half the weight to allow me to hold it comfortably for long periods of web browsing, but the stand held, as does adopting strange postures resting the weight on different parts of the body.
I had anticipated all the existing iPhone apps I'd invested in (even the free ones requiring an investment of time to get used to) to work, and so far I've not been disappointed. However, the native iPad apps taking advantage of the drastically improved screen space put the iPhone apps to shame and so I've ended up hunting down many native iPad versions/equivalents for the same apps instead. I doubt many people would want to put up with the scaled up graphics of iPhone apps when there are native alternatives as the improvement is dramatic.
Some of the first new apps I invested in were the Apple office productivity apps, Pages, Numbers and Keynote as demonstrated in the keynote launch as I have in mind using the iPad in work - and also to be able to advise colleagues on their utility. I'm pleased to say they seem very useful, although I have yet to really try them in earnest for real work. The key for me will be how easily I can adopt a working practice which will give me access to the docs I need to refer to in meetings and create notes at the same time. I suspect it will remain a compromise compared to a "real computer" at least until OS4 and some semblance of multi-tasking.
The next app I tried was the Apple iBooks as I know a lot of people are interested in the iPad as a new publishing revolution. The apps seems OK as reader apps go, although it doesn't appear to allow annotation of the books which is a major omission for me. The book store seems slick and easy to use - yet again Apple making it very easy to part you from your money - but the book prices are excessive in my view. If e-books are really going to work, they need to offer either a significant saving over the physical versions, or provide valuable additional content/features. The Alice In Wonderland Book app is an example of how the platform can add a whole new level of involvement and 'magic' to books, but unless that is replicated with other books, personally I'd prefer a paperback to reading on the iPad screen and paperbacks are much nicer to hold to read than the too heavy iPad.
Before I reflect on the other apps I've tried, a few notes on the additional peripherals I've got.
The wireless bluetooth keyboard works very well. Its a standard Apple device designed for the Macs primarily and as such, it lacks a few of the dedicated iPad keys which the dock keyboard includes (home button in particular). This is slightly irksome, but not a show stopper. I've not been able to replicate the issue I'd read on the net of losing the onscreen keyboard if you don't "unpair" the wireless keyboard first. Once paired, I've found I can just switch off the keyboard and the iPad makes the onscreen keyboard available again.
The dock - simple but effective. It is a pity you can only dock the iPad in portrait orientation though, particularly as the nice photo frame feature means the majority of the photos are scaled down and only use a fraction of the screen.
The Photo connection kit - I've only tried the SD card reader so far which works OK but has crashed frequently when selecting more than only a few photos to selectively import. I haven't found a pattern to this yet but my guess is a memory leak in the built in app.
I haven't tried the VGA out converter yet but I have previously used the composite video out cable on the iPhone and I'm expecting it to just work. In case anyone didn't realise, this doesn't replicate the whole device onto the external video. It is only certain apps which support it.
I haven't yet configured the SIM I bought to try the 3G network to judge that aspect. I only got the 3G version for the few times I'll be out of wifi signal range so this hasn't been a priority.
Wifi reception seems OK although not quite as strong as the iPhone in my flat. It is much quicker however, boasting approx 80% quicker downloads according to Speedtest.net app.
The Apple default carry case is best described as 'functional', but I suspect I'll be investing in an alternative quite soon.
The built in apps have all be improved over the iPhone versions. Perhaps the most important such app for me is the Mail. This no longer has the modal approach and presents the choice of e-mails/folders alongside the current open e-mail. The spell checker now built into the OS certainly helps too (which the iPhone will have with OS4).
The App store emphasises iPad specific apps much more than I had expected. It's actually quite difficult to just browse iPhone apps now and although they do still show up in search results, they have been depreciated to a bottom separate list. The app store is more irritating to browse than the iPhone version as it's slower to move from page to page in the results and loses it's place in a long list frequently when returning to the list after looking at the details of an app. With long lists that are slow to scroll through, this makes older/less popular apps almost impossible to stumble upon.
iTunes however is a much improved experience. It presents the information more clearly and works quicker.
The calendar app is a joy compared to the iPhone. It's like opening a real diary compared to trying to use one through a keyhole. Its still (currently) limited in the same ways as the iPhone app - only able to connect to one Exchange account, unable to configure which calendar appears in which colour, incorrectly shading whole days for all day events even when the events are flagged to be "free" etc, but it's a big improvement.
Other apps:
RSS reader choice - News Rack. I used and liked MobileRSS on the iPhone, and while this still works on the iPad, it's only in scaled up graphics form so I looked for a native iPad equivalent. I wanted something that would sync with Google reader in particular and settled on News Rack. It offers integration features with InstaPaper, Twitter, Facebook, email etc. can provide downloaded cached reading and offers a simple toggle between RSS and web view. There may be other apps which are better as I haven't tried others, but I did read all the blurb and reviews on all the RSS apps before making my choice. I was tempted by the Star Trek inspired LCARS Rss reader app, and I may go back to have that just as a gimmick as using the iPad does feel very Star Trek :)
Blogging - BlogPress which I already had for the iPhone also provides a native iPad experience and so I'm sticking with it.
Twitter - Twitterific. I prefer SimplyTweet on the iPhone, mostly for giving me an indication of how many unread tweets there are in my stream so I can adjust the depth to which I read or skim according to how much time I wish to give it, but there doesn't appear to be a native iPad version of this so far. The iPhone version works, but the text suffers a lot from the scaling. I've also tried Tweetdeck which works well too but I don't like how that scrolls to the most recent tweets on start up - I prefer starting at the oldest unread tweets and moving forward in time.
Office apps - Office2 HD. This seems a well featured MS Office like tool with reasonable compatibility (some reports of issues with older Office docs). I basically got this as a backup for the Apple apps and because it offers loading/saving to google docs / mobileME and other WebDAV storage options, which could be more convenient than the Apple sync through iTunes approach.
Note taking - Daily Notes. I like the look of this app for keeping reflective journals under different categories which I think will prove useful. Time will tell.
Remote Desktop - RDP. I've used this app for a while on the iPhone to access my Work PC when I really need the software only available on it and I'm delighted with the improvement the same app provides on the iPad. It effectively gives me a full Windows 7 experience in my hand. If only it was able to automatically start the VPN connection needed rather than having to start that manually.
Fun Stuff - I haven't tried many iPad specific games (yet), but here's a list of entertainment type apps I have tried:
WeatherPro HD - I've used the iPhone equivalent to this for a while and I like the radar and satellite views as well as the detailed breakdown of expected weather factors. It's apparently possible for me to transfer the paid for in app purchase of more detailed info I have on the iPhone to the iPad too, but it's not supported directly within the app yet but I will do this eventually.
F1 Timing '10 CP - if you like watching F1, this app makes it much more engaging, but it's not cheap. It only lasts one season and it works out about £1 a race, but the detailed track view with real time tracking of the cars, detailed timing screen and live news feed works well as an accompaniment - particularly on the races with little overtaking when the exact gaps on track for pit stops / traffic etc are all invisible but vital to the result.
IMDB - yes, the web site works but this app makes searching and navigating the info much easier and quicker.
SketchBook Pro - a 'mini-photoshop' complete with layers, blending effects etc. Again, I've used the iPhone equivalent of this for a while and it's drastically better on the larger iPad screen. Anyone who thinks the iPad is just for consuming content should try this app. (they should also note this whole post was created on the iPad :)
Flickr Photos - makes browsing flickr as easy as the local photo albumn
Web Albums - the same for Picasa. What would be great is an app that worked as well as these that also worked with Flickr/Picasa/MobileMe etc albums, but for now I need separate apps.
Wikipanion - obviously a Wikipedia browser that works well.
Plane Finder HD - anyone who looked at the images of the empty skies due to the ash cloud on the web/flash based site will recognise this. Its the same experience but without the flash. I don't really have a use for this except passing interest but it works well and might be useful for frequent flyers.
That's it for now. I've only had a few days with it so my views my change. I'd be interested to hear how others get on :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
First the obvious - it is a big iphone/ipod (could be either depending if you get the 3G or not and if you count the iPhone 'phone' features as relevant). That's fine for me as this was exactly what I was looking for and it's certainly working as a casual web surfing/tweeting/etc platform while watching TV.
Also obvious to anyone who's held one - it's heavy. Thin, well made and satisfying to hold but certainly heavy. Ideally for me it needs to be less than half the weight to allow me to hold it comfortably for long periods of web browsing, but the stand held, as does adopting strange postures resting the weight on different parts of the body.
I had anticipated all the existing iPhone apps I'd invested in (even the free ones requiring an investment of time to get used to) to work, and so far I've not been disappointed. However, the native iPad apps taking advantage of the drastically improved screen space put the iPhone apps to shame and so I've ended up hunting down many native iPad versions/equivalents for the same apps instead. I doubt many people would want to put up with the scaled up graphics of iPhone apps when there are native alternatives as the improvement is dramatic.
Some of the first new apps I invested in were the Apple office productivity apps, Pages, Numbers and Keynote as demonstrated in the keynote launch as I have in mind using the iPad in work - and also to be able to advise colleagues on their utility. I'm pleased to say they seem very useful, although I have yet to really try them in earnest for real work. The key for me will be how easily I can adopt a working practice which will give me access to the docs I need to refer to in meetings and create notes at the same time. I suspect it will remain a compromise compared to a "real computer" at least until OS4 and some semblance of multi-tasking.
The next app I tried was the Apple iBooks as I know a lot of people are interested in the iPad as a new publishing revolution. The apps seems OK as reader apps go, although it doesn't appear to allow annotation of the books which is a major omission for me. The book store seems slick and easy to use - yet again Apple making it very easy to part you from your money - but the book prices are excessive in my view. If e-books are really going to work, they need to offer either a significant saving over the physical versions, or provide valuable additional content/features. The Alice In Wonderland Book app is an example of how the platform can add a whole new level of involvement and 'magic' to books, but unless that is replicated with other books, personally I'd prefer a paperback to reading on the iPad screen and paperbacks are much nicer to hold to read than the too heavy iPad.
Before I reflect on the other apps I've tried, a few notes on the additional peripherals I've got.
The wireless bluetooth keyboard works very well. Its a standard Apple device designed for the Macs primarily and as such, it lacks a few of the dedicated iPad keys which the dock keyboard includes (home button in particular). This is slightly irksome, but not a show stopper. I've not been able to replicate the issue I'd read on the net of losing the onscreen keyboard if you don't "unpair" the wireless keyboard first. Once paired, I've found I can just switch off the keyboard and the iPad makes the onscreen keyboard available again.
The dock - simple but effective. It is a pity you can only dock the iPad in portrait orientation though, particularly as the nice photo frame feature means the majority of the photos are scaled down and only use a fraction of the screen.
The Photo connection kit - I've only tried the SD card reader so far which works OK but has crashed frequently when selecting more than only a few photos to selectively import. I haven't found a pattern to this yet but my guess is a memory leak in the built in app.
I haven't tried the VGA out converter yet but I have previously used the composite video out cable on the iPhone and I'm expecting it to just work. In case anyone didn't realise, this doesn't replicate the whole device onto the external video. It is only certain apps which support it.
I haven't yet configured the SIM I bought to try the 3G network to judge that aspect. I only got the 3G version for the few times I'll be out of wifi signal range so this hasn't been a priority.
Wifi reception seems OK although not quite as strong as the iPhone in my flat. It is much quicker however, boasting approx 80% quicker downloads according to Speedtest.net app.
The Apple default carry case is best described as 'functional', but I suspect I'll be investing in an alternative quite soon.
The built in apps have all be improved over the iPhone versions. Perhaps the most important such app for me is the Mail. This no longer has the modal approach and presents the choice of e-mails/folders alongside the current open e-mail. The spell checker now built into the OS certainly helps too (which the iPhone will have with OS4).
The App store emphasises iPad specific apps much more than I had expected. It's actually quite difficult to just browse iPhone apps now and although they do still show up in search results, they have been depreciated to a bottom separate list. The app store is more irritating to browse than the iPhone version as it's slower to move from page to page in the results and loses it's place in a long list frequently when returning to the list after looking at the details of an app. With long lists that are slow to scroll through, this makes older/less popular apps almost impossible to stumble upon.
iTunes however is a much improved experience. It presents the information more clearly and works quicker.
The calendar app is a joy compared to the iPhone. It's like opening a real diary compared to trying to use one through a keyhole. Its still (currently) limited in the same ways as the iPhone app - only able to connect to one Exchange account, unable to configure which calendar appears in which colour, incorrectly shading whole days for all day events even when the events are flagged to be "free" etc, but it's a big improvement.
Other apps:
RSS reader choice - News Rack. I used and liked MobileRSS on the iPhone, and while this still works on the iPad, it's only in scaled up graphics form so I looked for a native iPad equivalent. I wanted something that would sync with Google reader in particular and settled on News Rack. It offers integration features with InstaPaper, Twitter, Facebook, email etc. can provide downloaded cached reading and offers a simple toggle between RSS and web view. There may be other apps which are better as I haven't tried others, but I did read all the blurb and reviews on all the RSS apps before making my choice. I was tempted by the Star Trek inspired LCARS Rss reader app, and I may go back to have that just as a gimmick as using the iPad does feel very Star Trek :)
Blogging - BlogPress which I already had for the iPhone also provides a native iPad experience and so I'm sticking with it.
Twitter - Twitterific. I prefer SimplyTweet on the iPhone, mostly for giving me an indication of how many unread tweets there are in my stream so I can adjust the depth to which I read or skim according to how much time I wish to give it, but there doesn't appear to be a native iPad version of this so far. The iPhone version works, but the text suffers a lot from the scaling. I've also tried Tweetdeck which works well too but I don't like how that scrolls to the most recent tweets on start up - I prefer starting at the oldest unread tweets and moving forward in time.
Office apps - Office2 HD. This seems a well featured MS Office like tool with reasonable compatibility (some reports of issues with older Office docs). I basically got this as a backup for the Apple apps and because it offers loading/saving to google docs / mobileME and other WebDAV storage options, which could be more convenient than the Apple sync through iTunes approach.
Note taking - Daily Notes. I like the look of this app for keeping reflective journals under different categories which I think will prove useful. Time will tell.
Remote Desktop - RDP. I've used this app for a while on the iPhone to access my Work PC when I really need the software only available on it and I'm delighted with the improvement the same app provides on the iPad. It effectively gives me a full Windows 7 experience in my hand. If only it was able to automatically start the VPN connection needed rather than having to start that manually.
Fun Stuff - I haven't tried many iPad specific games (yet), but here's a list of entertainment type apps I have tried:
WeatherPro HD - I've used the iPhone equivalent to this for a while and I like the radar and satellite views as well as the detailed breakdown of expected weather factors. It's apparently possible for me to transfer the paid for in app purchase of more detailed info I have on the iPhone to the iPad too, but it's not supported directly within the app yet but I will do this eventually.
F1 Timing '10 CP - if you like watching F1, this app makes it much more engaging, but it's not cheap. It only lasts one season and it works out about £1 a race, but the detailed track view with real time tracking of the cars, detailed timing screen and live news feed works well as an accompaniment - particularly on the races with little overtaking when the exact gaps on track for pit stops / traffic etc are all invisible but vital to the result.
IMDB - yes, the web site works but this app makes searching and navigating the info much easier and quicker.
SketchBook Pro - a 'mini-photoshop' complete with layers, blending effects etc. Again, I've used the iPhone equivalent of this for a while and it's drastically better on the larger iPad screen. Anyone who thinks the iPad is just for consuming content should try this app. (they should also note this whole post was created on the iPad :)
Flickr Photos - makes browsing flickr as easy as the local photo albumn
Web Albums - the same for Picasa. What would be great is an app that worked as well as these that also worked with Flickr/Picasa/MobileMe etc albums, but for now I need separate apps.
Wikipanion - obviously a Wikipedia browser that works well.
Plane Finder HD - anyone who looked at the images of the empty skies due to the ash cloud on the web/flash based site will recognise this. Its the same experience but without the flash. I don't really have a use for this except passing interest but it works well and might be useful for frequent flyers.
That's it for now. I've only had a few days with it so my views my change. I'd be interested to hear how others get on :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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