Posts Tagged ‘apple’

• 18 Apr

  

  Posted by
  mizidy

  
  

  Category

  • Web Tech

  2 Weeks With an iPad

  0

  Two weeks ago I got an iPad the day it came out and I have held off writing about it because I didn't want to comment on it before I really had a chance to use it. I could go on about how fast it is, the great display, etc, but instead I would rather tell you what I like and don't like about it which is likely more useful for you if you are deciding on whether to get one or not, so let's jump in!

  Reading

  Reading books on the iPad is a joy, and i can honestly say that it would be tough to have me go back to the printed version of books. That being said, I much prefer the Amazon Kindle app to iBooks with the primary reason being selection. There are so few books on the iBooks store compared to the Kindle, and when you add in the fact that you cannot disable the goofy page turning animation the Kindle app hits a home run to iBooks double.

  In addition to reading books, and maybe more important, browsing the web on the iPad is the best way I have ever seen to browse. Being able to position the Internet where you want, then zoom in to just the content makes it absolutely amazing. Using a desktop or laptop browser after the iPad feels like using ancient technology, that is that impressive. Oh, and I don't miss Flash one bit.

  Writing

  The portrait keyboard is pretty much useless. The keyboard is too big to thumb type, but too small to use all of the fingers. Landscape is a different story. While it isn't perfect, it is pretty darn good for writing, especially short notes. I am writing this entire post on the ons screen keyboard and while it isn't great, I can get it done. Drawing apps are also a blast on here, and I was able to diagram something really quick on it.

  Apps

  While the apps are more expensive, it makes sense to me. The iPad apps are much closer to desktop apps than the iPhone, so the price should be closer to. The Netflix and ABC apps are killer first generation apps, along with the iPhone classics like Instapaper make it a good start, but really makes me excited for what the next generation of apps will be. My only gripe is there isn't a great Google Reader app yet, that is reasonably priced and not called NetNewsWire.

  Overall, I love the device. It has caused me to try not having a laptop for work since I can do so much of what work I would do at home on it now. If you haven't tried one out yet, head to an Apple store or Best Buy and give it a whirl. You might not buy one, but you will definitely be impressed

• 28 Jan

  

  Posted by
  mizidy

  
  

  Category

  • Web Tech

  First Thoughts on the iPad

  8

  Imagine this scenario:

  You wake up in the morning and notice your digital photo frame. You sit down to eat, check your email and read the news. You commute into work and read a book on the bus or carpool in. You head to a meeting at work and take some notes, then email them out after. Over lunch you take a break and watch a video, then check your schedule. On the evening commute, you decide to listen to some tunes and play a video game. As you go to bed, you lay down to read a novel.

  That could be a pretty typical day that has all sorts of things involved. Your laptop, book, video game system, folio, etc. Now imagine if you could have one device to do that all. That could be the iPad. That is why I think it is going to be a huge deal. The biggest thing for me, is that it doesn't have to do all of the things I described well, it could do three of the things, like playing games, checking your email and reading a book, and it would still be worth it.

  When the iPhone came out, it was a big deal because it condensed my phone, iPod and digital camera into one device. The iPad has a chance to do that again, but with more things around the house and office. And again, it doesn't have to do all of those things well to be valuable. But the awesome part is, it very well might do all of those things well!

  Changes the Web

  I see the potential for all of the things the iPad can change, but from my web tech perspective I am even more excited. The iPad puts the web on the same playing field as print media finally. If you want to argue that the laptop was fine for viewing the web, go ahead. But in my experience, reading a magazine to read an article was nicer than trying to read a lengthy article on the laptop or smartphone. With the iPad, the web is now on equal footing with size and ease of reading.

  The other huge thing is the fact that Webkit continues to support leading edge web standards that web designers and developers want to use. This means designers have the ability to mimic magazine article layouts and now have a platform to present them in a similar fashion. Imagine seeing an elaborate design, now in the ease of reading like a magazine.

  Oh, and no Flash is no problem for me. For me, 90% of the things you see in Flash on a website can now be done with Javascript and HTML5. I want the open standards supported, and if the iPad gives the web standards more of a nudge forward, that is fantastic!

  My Apps Just Work on it?

  As much as I hate the whole App Store approval stuff, I will give Apple credit on keeping a tight lock on how apps get developed. By using the tools Apple provides, almost all apps will work on the iPad without any changes. The biggest reason for this is the common set of UI elements that developers have in creating their app. Now, when the apps get doubled in size on the iPad, all of the UI elements that Apple provides will increase in an elegant way. This isn't to say that you would design an app for the iPad to look like a doubled in size iPhone app, but the fact that day one apps will work, that is impressive and throws a bit of a bone to App Store developers. And for the end user, the apps you have will work with no extra cost.

  I realize that I am labeled as a Mac fanboy, so you might just throw all of this away as Mac hope. Sure I want to see the iPad succeed, but I also think this is going to honestly be a gamechanger with how some folks interact with technology. The ease of use with, that size screen and a decent weight means people will be able to do things more efficiently and with a pleasant experience. Will it be perfect? No, but I think it will be well worth the $500 entry price.

• 01 Oct

  

  Posted by
  mizidy

  
  

  Category

  • Music

  iTunes/Amazon Showdown

  0

  I am finally getting around to testing out the Amazon MP3 store, as referenced by Techory (among lots of others) last week,  and figured it would be best to compare experiences with iTunes as well. For this I am planning on purchasing 2 albums, one from the iTunes store and one from the Amazon store. Pricing, availability and features will determine which I buy from which. The two albums are

  • Chicane - Far from the Maddening Crowds (chosen by recommendation of Ben Arnold)
  • Immaculate Machine - Fables (Chosen because allmusic.com says they are similar to The Shins)

  Chicane - Far from the Maddening Crowds

  I decided to start with iTunes and did a search for Chicane. I did not find the particular album I was looking for from the artist, so I tried a search on the album name, also to no avail. I then tried the Amazon store and also did not find the album. iTunes did have a number of Chicane albums, whereas Amazon only had one song, so in availability, iTunes does win, however no music purchased.

  Immaculate Machine - Fables

  I searched Amazon first, hoping to give it a win, however Amazon could not find the artist at all. I then tried iTunes and we had success finding the album for$9.90 for 10 tracks. Note, I didn't buy it because I listened to some of the 30 second samples on iTunes and didn't care for it. Sorry Immaculate Machine.

  Since the first two attempts were wins for iTunes, I figured I should go for something for sure on Amazon.

  Office - A Night at the Ritz

  I searched for Office and was successful in finding the band, however Amazon didn't have A Night at the Ritz in mp3, just a CD purchase for $12.99. To be fair, I then checked iTunes and found the album right away at $7.99 for 14 tracks. I did buy this cause it was a deal, and after entering in my password to iTunes, the album was bought.

  Determined to try the Amazon store, I decided to browse their selection of Indie& Lo-Fi to find something to get. After some searching, I decided on

  A Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns, Fifteen Winters

  for $8.91, the same as iTunes. I should note that previewing music was a piece of cake from the Amazon interface, just as easy as iTunes.

  I tried the 1-Click download and had to install the Amazon Downloader, which I did. I was pleased to see that the instructions worked with Firefox and not just Safari. I downloaded the .amz file and it automatically opened in the Amazon Downloader and started downloading.

  As each file completed, it was automatically added into iTunes for me. One disappointing part is that it also didn't get added to the Purchased playlist. After added, I checked the ID3 tag info and it was all there, at least as much as iTunes includes. It also has good quality artwork, important in this Cover Flow world.

  Conclusions

  I have to say that with my small sampling of albums, I was rather disappointed by Amazon. Their interface is not bad, and the lack of DRM is nice, however for someone like me who has drank the juice from Apple, it just isn't as nice as the iTunes Music Store experience. I was actually really surprised at this because I had really high hopes for the Amazon store, but when it doesn't have as much music as iTunes and it doesn't integrate quite as nice as iTunes, it will be tough for them to knock down Apple.

• 05 Jul

  

  Posted by
  mizidy

  
  

  Category

  • Personal

  Crappy Phone is Less Crappy

  1

  I don't like my cell phone that much, a Motorola v220, however I have another year of it due to contract stuff. One of the things I hate is the address book. It is a pain to enter phone numbers in it and I can't categorize them well. The phone is also a couple of years old and when I got it, I had a bear of a time trying to sync it with my Windows laptop. I have had my MacBook for almost a year now and didn't think to check Apple's site to see if the v220 works with iSync before today. Much to my pleasure, it does work with iSync! Now I can sync with the iMac at home and have lots and lots of phone numbers I am missing on my cell phone. Kudos to you Apple, my cell phone is just a little less miserable.

• 08 Jan

  

  Posted by
  mizidy

  
  

  Category

  • Web Tech

  The Not So Happy Face of Microsoft

  0

  Over the course of the next 72 hours or so, the world of digital entertainment will change somewhat. This started last night with the keynote of CES being done by Bill Gates. He introduced a bunch of new stuff from Microsoft, which I will get to in a moment. The other big news comes from Steve Jobs doing the keynote to Macworld tomorrow morning. Rumors continue to swirl before the event, however one device that will be featured is the iTV (or whatever they call it after tomorrow). I will comment more about the Apple stuff after the keynote tomorrow, so for now I will tackle the Microsoft announcements.

  The biggest release that I can see is the Windows Home Server. It appears to be a standalone device that allows for sharing of content between different computers and backups of the data as well. This sounds like a wonderful device, however I have some skepticism about the ease of use knowing how difficult it is to network two Windows machines on a home network. That being said, the most troubling thing that I took from the announcement is the following quote from Gates, "It's plug and play?Äîthe software automatically sees the new storage and moves the data around." No offense, but I don't want my data just moving around wherever. I know this probably isn't the case, but if there is any sort of "data movement" without the user's knowledge, how can that be a good thing? I typically put my data where I want it, not where the computer wants it to be. There is one major exception to this, and it shows some of the differences I see between Microsoft and Apple.

  Apple does move some of my data around for me. iTunes is the offending program that moves stuff around without me asking. I will admit that I was a bit of a neat freak with Winamp about keeping my music directories clean. Then when iTunes came out and made everything fit it's lifestyle, I got pretty upset. I balked at first, then settled down to realize it wasn't a big deal and now I like that I don't have to think about folder structure for my music. But the bottom line is that Apple never really told anyone about this until after installation and iTunes did it's thing. Some people still don't use iTunes to this day because they are mad at Apple for this. I actually think that Apple is smart for doing this. Apple saw this as something that might peev some people, but did it anyways, knowing that the end product is going to make more people happy than piss them off. Now Microsoft comes out and tells me that it is going to start moving my data around. By telling me upfront this, I am not going to buy it initially. Sure it might make things easier in the future, but I am apprehensive about letting other devices move my data, just as I was with iTunes after I found out. With iTunes it would have taken a lot of work to go back, so I left it and tried out Apple's way. With Microsoft, I have the knowledge ahead that my data will be moved, and so I won't get the device. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, and if Microsoft had said nothing about moving data around, I would have been much more inclined to look at that server.