The Tablet Takeover

Courtesy of Focus

Internet everywhere + save on an iPad 3G

Here's a way of not only saving some cash but also get a great piece of kit that's going to let you get internet access with all your wireless enabled devices.

Wi-Fi modems like this one from Virgin Mobile not only let you get internet access wherever you can get 3G coverage but they're got a built-in wireless router.  This router lets you connect up to 3 devices to it's little protected network.

That's your laptop, iPad, phone, whatever.  Just turn it on, throw it in your pocket or bag and you're online.

I have no idea why you'd want a standard USB modem anymore.  And also why you'd bother to buy 3G versions of whatever it may be.

Price-wise it will save you $20 if you buy a 64GB Wi-Fi only iPad and this device - plus you'll get 5GB included data with the Virgin offering in your first month for a $150 investment.  A no-brainer really....

iPad Camera Connection Kit Withdrawn?

Apparently there's a 'problem' with the iPad Camera Connection kit from Apple's point of view in that it allows you to connect more than just a camera to the device.  This lets you use things like a USB keyboard, Skype headsets etc, which apparently aren't 'supported devices' as suggested or provided by Apple themselves.

It also apparently allows the loading of software other than via iTunes, making Jailbreaking and running third party apps much easier.

For this reason, it seems that Apple has withdrawn them from sale (or more correctly, not currently re-supplying them to stores), until they've been 're-engineered' and locked down.

An Apple store employee told me as such yesterday and a ring around most iPad suppliers seemed to confirm the supply issue and rumour.  The Apple store online says that none are shipping for another 6 weeks.

Interesting...

iPad, the photographers friend

It's been a few weeks now since I laid hands on my iPad, and to be honest, there was a little bit of "what the hell did I just do" when I walked out of the Apple shop with my brand new 'designed in California' piece of kit.

I'm not an Apple fanboy in the traditional sense; meaning I don't own a Mac of any description. I do however have various iPods and I'm on my second iPhone, so I guess I'm more into the 'i' stuff purely cause of the geeky, gadgety, gotta have it cause Uncle Steve told me so. Plus the packaging is always cool :)

Anyhow, the reason why I was a little regretful was the fact that it really did dawn on me that I'd just slapped down a grand for what was really just a 'big phone' as my niece calls it. What could this iPhone Maxi really give me that I didn't already have on my phone? I mean pretty much every function on the iPad is identical to the iPhone - and pretty much every app for the phone runs on the pad. It's just more cumbersome and sucks up slightly more power.

In the past few weeks, I've really now learnt to love this tiny laptop. It's funny cause although it's is just a big iPhone in so many ways, I use it completely differently. Firstly it's an e-reader. I read Wired, The Australian, BBC News and ABC iPad editions every day. Although a little heavy, its big, bright screen is easy on the eyes and a cinch to use.

I also use it as an email reader, the mail application is really easy to navigate and really fast.

Of course there's a stack of games on there too, but for now they're pretty much ports of the iPhone versions. However Scrabble gets the thumbs up for its 'party play' mode that hooks up the iPhones as your tile holder. Nice.  Unlike my phone and iPod, I rarely use it for playing music.

But the single best use for the iPad for me is for photo viewing.

As an amateur photographer, I love to show off my work to family and friends. With the pad, this is now so much easier to do because of its beautiful, 1024x768 132ppi, 9.7inch screen. Photos really come alive on such a large display.

Putting your photos onto the device is really easy too, you can either use the Camera Connection kit and copy photos straight from an SD card or your cameras USB port, or you can just use iTunes. I prefer the iTunes method as you can keep your albums nicely organised. Just create a subdirectory on your PC and it will appear as a new album in the photo viewer - just like the iPhone.

By way of apps, there's quite a few good photography related apps available that do a variety of things from connecting to Flickr to manipulating images. Of these, really like Colour Splash and TiltShift Generator. The first allows you to add spot colour to a photo, the second helps you create an artificial tilt-shift for that miniature effect (check out my Flickr photo set for some examples).

When it comes to having a bit of fun, the camera sharing apps such as Duplicam do things like letting you control one or more iPhone cameras straight from the pad itself. You can even do some cool Matrix 'bullet time' effects if you have enough iPhones lying around ;)

I'm not saying that it's a replacement for a good PC (or Mac) and Photoshop or Lightroom, but the iPad really holds its own when it comes to portable image viewing, backups and quick and simple editing.  Now if someone were to develop an adaptor that allows you to use the iPad as a camera remote like Camera Control from Nikon, I think we pretty much have the perfect companion for photographers at every level.

Go iPad!

Flash & apple

There's been a lot of talk about the lack of support for Flash in mobile devices, particularly for iPhone and iPad. While security is one of the main reasons often mentioned, there's an even more fundamental reason that's rarely mentioned.

The issue is that our touchscreen devices can't (currently) cater for the mouse-over or cursor function that's so commonplace in many Flash applications.

Check out this article for more on this from the perspective of a flash developer.

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identity crisis?

My niece calls the iPad the 'big phone'.

This error message seems to support her theory...

iPad mayhem

Now that the initial burst of media crazyness (26 posts in 48 hours from Engadget alone) surrounding the new Apple iPad has abated slightly, I thought I'd take a bit more of a look at what exactly this little bundle of electronics is and why I'm told I will be a better human by owning one.

When it comes to Apple, I'll sadly admit that I'm a slave to their marketing machine.  Even though I wont ever own a Mac of any type, I'll gladly buy whatever else Uncle Steve tells me I need.

But this thing, even though it's shiny and has the requisite logo I need, just doesn't do it for me.  But Stevo tells me it's magical and revolutionary so lets see if he's right.

According to Dictionary.com, magical is 'of or pertaining to magic' and magic is defined in a few different ways.  My favourite though is this:

the art of producing illusions as entertainment by the use of sleight of hand, deceptive devices, etc.; legerdemain; conjuring:

When we look at the definition of  'revolutionary', we get:

radically new or innovative; outside or beyond established procedure, principles, etc.:

I love it!  Deceptive devices and illusions indeed!  And where exactly is the innovation here?  Where is anything being developed or produced or invented that is outside of 'established procedure or principles' when all this is is just a big iPod Touch?

As far as I'm concerned, the only thing I would have considered 'magical' about this device is it's marketing campaign, were it not for the fact that they accidentally put an 'r' in front of  'evolutionary'.

As for me, I'm happy with my iPad Nano - my iPhone :)