Envy

Gawd, I really wish the iPad Dictation worked as well for this poor Dane as it does for this guy. I could really use it, and it seems a cruel twist of fate that an accent so slight that it hardly ever bothers humans, is a fatal stumbling block for this dumb software!

Up-rez your web content??

There's a lot of talk recently that the high resolution of the iPad 3 has suddenly made all older pictures and videos obsolete and terrible-looking. It's simply not true. I'm a webmaster, and not only that, my business is selling web pictures! And I have looked at my site on the iPad 3, and it still looks just as good as it always did.
Sure, there *is* a noticeable difference in some aspects, but it's not a difference which leaps out and slaps you in the face. And to me that difference is much more important with text than with images, and with text, the upgrade is automatic, since most text on the web is not bitmapped, but scalable.
(Besides, I don't think there are protocols in place which will prevent images from being way too large for ordinary screens, if we quadruple the area-measurements of them just for the sake of the iPad 3.)

Post-PC, we need bigger tablets

There does not seem to be much call for larger tablets. Sure, they will be less portable and holdable, but many people already use the iPad on a stand in just one place. And I think they are needed for graphically rich books of all kinds.

Furthermore, it occurs to me that if tablet are seriously going to replace most of the laptops for production uses, then... well, we need a bigger one. A ten-inch touch-screen is of course better to work on than a seven-inch one, but let's get real, for serious work you need something bigger. In fact, if some production uses become *actually* better to do on a tablet than on a mouse/keyboard device, then the biggest desirable size becomes anybody's guess. A 30-inch screen may be a bit hard to swing your hand around on, but probably a 21-inch one wouldn't be too much for, say, video editing.

Omniverse iPad case

I'm amazed that this quality iPad case is only $40.
Shop.

I prolly won't get one for myself, though. Because when I want to bring my iPad, I probably also want to bring a small umbrella (this is UK after all), a compact camera, a such small practical items. And I put my iPad in my aCase (even more amazingly cheap) which also functions as a stand.

Free education

This is another of those amazing benefits of the Internet I hadn't seen coming: free education, and in quality too! Here's a new example. It's a wondrous world.

The linked article is about the iPad app Khan Academy. Lots of free educational videos on many levels and subjects.  So far what I've viewed in it was very nice, interesting and seemed knowledgable. And probably the number of videos and subjects will expand rapidly. I don't know who pays for it, but it's very kewl. Just found their web site.

Amazon’s Electronics Trade-In Program: Goodbye, iPad 2!

Amazon’s Electronics Trade-In Program: Goodbye, iPad 2!, article.

Apparently Amazon will pay $380 for a mint iPad 2 (including original packaging etc). I don't know how the heck they make any money on that, since Apple now sells that product from new at $400! (OK, it helps that payment is in gift cards, but if you're a regular customer that's all the same.)

So beyond eBay, there are now some other interesting options for selling used gear. Amazon US trade-in, Amazon UK trade-in (so far limited to books and video games), and Gazelle.

Hitchcock would have been so pleased

Hitchcock would have been so pleased: Angry Birds are taking over the world.
They are just everywhere now.

I generally don't get games, they bore me. But if I'd have to guess at the world's most popular game, I really doubt Angry Birds would have come up. To me it's as interesting as a game of hammering a nail into a board would be. I don't get it. I simply don't get it.
I have tried  it. It held my interest for about 90 seconds, and that was it.

Chinese iOS & Android Activations Now Greater than U.S.

Chinese iOS & Android Activations Now Greater than U.S., article.

Be afraid, be very afraid.
Alternatively: be delighted, be very delighted. The future of the global economy no longer depends on a handful of blindered and sociopathically  greedy suits on Wall Street, NYC, USA.

iPad file management *stil* sucks

So the author of the book mentioned in the last post was kind enough to send me an ePub copy.
I remembered that if you plugged in the iPad, and dragged the file into the Library area on iTunes, it would turn up in ebooks automatically. Except it didn't.
So I tried via Dropbox. Then I downloaded it in GoodReader on iPad. Well, GR could not read the file. Sigh.
So I tried the Dropbox app on the iPad. It could not open the file nor suggest an app to open it with (a normal ePub). But I was offered to copy the link.
So I tried Safari. And downloaded the file. And Safari downloaded it, and suggested that iBooks may open it. I clicked OK, and lo, it opened in iBooks! Zippidy doodah. I don't know what I did right. This is ridiculous, which non-geek would know to try all those options?

Short of the long: after two years I still think iPad file management really sucks.

And this is not even taken into consideration that after last big software updare, several important app have had all their local files wiped! GoodReader, Kindle App, DC Comics...
I know there's been changes in where app are allowed to keep their files, but seriously, Apple, this kind of thing is really *not* okay. In most cases I can re-download the files, but that's a waste of my time. And what if I got the file from a place which no longer exists, one way or another? (And no, the files are not in the backups. It seems that if they're gone from the iPad, backup assumes they should be gone. (Not that I have any clue how to look at the backups directly).)

Sooo many reading apps!

There's a book which has mysteriously disappeared from my iPad (and the Internet, apparently) (Why Is This Hill So Steep, a book about the history of ebooks by Steven Jordan), so I looked through various apps trying to find it. And it struck me how many apps I have for reading. It seems to indicate some of the complexity still current in e-reading, since I have basically only the apps I needed in order to read something specific, plus a couple of ones which seemed to have something special.
Here's what I have:

For ebooks: 

• Amazon Kindle app
• iBooks (Apple)
• Google Books
• GoodReader
• Kobo app
• MegaReader
• BlueFire Reader
• eBookMobi
• Kindle Cloud Reader
• Ibis Reader

For comics: 

• Comix
• Marvel
• DC
• Image
• Dark Horse

For web RSS reading and such: 

• Zite
• Safari
• Instapaper
• Readability
• Zinio
• Flipboard
• Web Comics Du Jour (great selection)
• Pulse 
• Reeder
• TapTalk

And those I haven't used in a while:

• Atomic Web
• NewsRack 
• ReadleDocs 
• StumbleUpon
• VoiceReaderWeb
• eBookSearch
• Currents
• vBooks
• NetNewsWire
• Mr Reader 

Wow! Exhausting just to think about. I don't even keep apps I'm pretty sure I won't need anymore. And I had none of it two years ago before I got the iPad 1!

Comics on iPad 3

I still think we need a bigger tablet for art-rich books, but doubtlessly the high-res screen of iPad 3 (sic) has made it less urgent, 'cuz you can see more detail.

All of the views below are of about 1/4 of the screen, area-wise, 1/2 length-wise.

iPad 2, photograph:

iPad 3, photograph:

(Click for bigger pics, on all.)

iPad 2, screenshot:

iPad 3, screenshot:

(In the screenshots, the higher resolution translates to size on the computer screen. You'll have to click on them to compare the size.)

One can easily live with the iPad 2's screen, for sure. But equally sure, the screen of the iPad 3 is the future, it's like being there.

Got it today

I got my iPad 3, woo-hoo.

A cool little change is that you can use the iPad while it's being sync'ed. Very good.

Here's an interesting thing: I can read better (for fine text) on my iPad two if I change my regular glasses for my reading glasses. So you would think that with my regular glasses, the higher resolution of the iPad 3 wouldn't look any different, no?

But this is not so, even without the reading glasses, I can easily see that the screen is better. (How much it benefits me I'd not like to speculate yet.)

This fits with a datum I got from photography expert Ctein (K-tein): unless a lens is hopelesly out-matched, you will get higher resolution (more detail) if you get more megapixels in a camera, even if the lens has less resolution.

Or in other words, you would think that either the lens or the sensor has the highest resolution, and only improving the other one would improve the results. But that is not so, improving either one will improve detail, unless the gap is really huge.
I find this very interesting.

Alternative uses

Tommy found this funny video, How Do You Like The iPad We Got You, Dad? 

iPad camera sample

Thanks to TMO. 

Sample from the camera in iPad 3 (naming dictatorship be durned). I'd say that's very good for a camera which fit in the very tight space in the thin iPad. Fully good enough for  almost any online purposes (for normal people, not photo freaks.    :-)

And here are some screenshots from the iPad Retina Display. Dang nice. (Save an open to see at full size.)

Pressure sensitivity, Galaxy Note 10.1

I was just talking a couple of days ago with my old artist friend Umbra (our read Ganesha Games) about pressure sensitivity on tablets. We ended up not being very optimistic about seeing it soon.
But lo and behold: Samsung has announced that the upcoming Galaxy Note (not Tab) 10.1 will include Wacom's pressure sensitivity technology!

I honestly don't know if it means anything to the average user, but for artists this might be a big deal, if it works well for a reasonable price. Wacom's screen tablets are wonderful but costly, and have to be plugged into a computer with monitor connection and USB, making them quite clumsy.

Admittedly we also need good art software which works with that pressure sensitivity, let's hope that comes. (It's Android of course.)

The Note 10.1 will also support side-by-side apps, for apps optimised for it.