Category Archives: Mobile notes

But, why did you unfollow me?

February 5th, 2013

Please do not be alarmed if you’ve noticed that I have unfollowed you on the Twitter. It isn’t because I do not like you. It is, again, because I’m refactoring the way that I handle Lists on Twitter.

The unfortunate consequence of this most recent refactoring, though, is that if you have a private account I may no longer be able to follow you on Twitter. Twitter does not currently allow me to add your account to a list if we don’t follow each other.

Update: Why am I refactoring? This is why.

On the iPad

June 12th, 2010

After using the iPad exclusively for 10 days (that’s right, I haven’t used my Macbook Pro yet) I am getting a pretty good feel for the iPad. I figured I’d jot down some notes in no particular order.

The great

The utility of the iPad exceeds a laptop in so many ways. And I believe this will only increase. I have been able to use it to read books and blogs, watch video, take notes, write (like, actually write by drawing letters), draw and paint, create mind maps, etc. The list goes on and on I assure you. The iPad is a geek’s Swiss Army knife.

For all of the above tasks that I mentioned the iPad is the best possible device for many of them. Besides typing, which I’ll get into in the “not so great” portion of this post below, the iPad is far better at getting the above done than any other device I’ve used. It is arguably better than a book, better than pen and paper.

Battery life on the iPad is nothing short of amazing. I find myself checking the battery indicator expecting to see it be drained. However, I haven’t seen it below 50% after using the iPad for many hours. In my use I can’t see ever draining the battery.

Watching video in the iPad is much nicer than I could have ever expected. It doesn’t beat watching a Blu-Ray movie on my HDTV with surround sound – but it is much nicer than watching video on a desktop or laptop computer. Certainly much more convenient than both.

The not so great

Forcing the iPad to connect to iTunes before you can use it is just weird. I have a really nice laptop so this didn’t affect me much. But I want to recommend the iPad to anyone looking to get a new laptop and I can’t. Apple touted the iPad as a device that fits between the laptop and the smart phone – and it is – but for some it could be a full replacement for the laptop. And they should make that possible.

Like the iPhone typing on the iPad is an exercise in patience and practice. I’m fairly quick already (this post only took me a few minutes to tap out). However, I find the iPad itself, not the software based keyboard, is what makes typing difficult. Right now I’m sitting on my couch with the iPad on my lap. It slides around a bit, there is no palm rest, and it sits a bit too close to my gut to make this easy. Today I’ve ordered a case for the iPad that will hopefully help with this.

I might be alone here but I accidentally hit the Home button on the iPad when it is in landscape mode. There is more than enough room in all sides if the iPad to rest your thumbs but, for some reason, my right thumb gravitates to the Home button. I’ve tried holding the iPad so that the Home button is on the left but the result is the same. I only hold the iPad in landscape for a few things – most notably for watching video and using Reeder. I’m hoping my fingers can learn to stop hitting the Home button.

I never once wanted to have multitasking on my iPhone. But I find myself wishing I had it for the iPad. Being able to quickly go from the iPod to Twitterrific to Reeder (even though the iPad is incredibly fast) can sometimes be a pain. Happily many conscientious developers have made it so that switching applications is pretty painless – by having the state of the application saved so that you start where you left off – but not all of them have. I’m hoping that iOS 4 is released for the iPad in short order.

The iPad has transformed the way I get things done. I prefer to use it rather than my iPhone and my laptop for most tasks. I envision it becoming my most used device over the next few years.

From the iPad

June 2nd, 2010

I’m typing this on my brand new iPad courtesy of my lovely wife Eliza. If this isn’t the future of computing, I don’t know what is.

When Steve Jobs said, at the D8 conference, that the next era of the personal computer was just around the corner (whether it was the iPad or not) and that most of the “long timers” would be uncomfortable about it – now I know what he was talking about.

I’m reluctant to see the PC go but if this is what replaces it – bring it on.

Using 7 Scrabble tiles

January 27th, 2010

Playing Scrabble this evening this rule came up. How many points does a player get if they use all 7 tiles if some of their tiles fall on premium squares?

“If a player uses all seven of the tiles in the rack in a single play, a bonus of 50 points is added to the score of that play (this is called a “bingo” in Canada and the United States, and a “bonus” elsewhere). These bonus points are not affected by premium squares.”

Well, that settles that.

Mobile Facebook wishes…

May 26th, 2009

I have a few simple wishes for Facebook’s mobile offerings. I access Facebook on-the-go using my iPhone – though I believe that these wishes will help more than just iPhone users.

iphone.facebook.com

One of the very first web apps for the iPhone and one that Apple has promoted during it’s Keynote addresses – Facebook had a good start in providing a great experience for iPhone users. The only problem is that they haven’t updated it in forever. This interface is lacking so much I’ll simply have one wish. Update it please!

The Facebook iPhone application

Without a doubt the Facebook iPhone application is one of the best designed iPhone applications available. It was also one of the first. Overall it is a fantastic way to access Facebook on the iPhone. However, here are my suggested additions:

  1. Likes and comment notifications should link to the appropriate item. As it stands the app let’s you know that someone commented or liked something you’ve shared – but it doesn’t tell you which thing they like or commented on. Annoying.
  2. Facebook’s “like” feature needs to be accessible from the app.
  3. Support for Pages, Groups, and Events would be nice.

Facebook proper

While I’m jotting down my demands, I might as well put these few things in:

  1. Referencing people on Facebook is simply not possible. I suggest that Facebook add the ability to add your Twitter username to your preferences. That way @cdevroe would actually be linked to my Facebook profile on Facebook and my Twitter profile on Twitter.
  2. An obvious future feature is search. Not just people, event, group, and app search (that is already there), but searching through public status updates, wall posts, links, etc.

You have to wonder if Facebook was a more open platform, like Twitter is, from the beginning would some of this work have been done for them?

(Yes I typed this entire post on my iPhone.)

Taking a Brightkite break

April 8th, 2009

I’ve decided to take a short Brightkite break. I have a laundry lost of things that I would love to see Brightkite do (search my site for Brightkite) and it has been a while since they’ve done any updates. Presumably because they’ve been in the middle of a business deal (which is understandable).

I have another reason though. I’m getting tired of typing everything into Brightkite on my iPhone only to open TwitterFon to check Twitter. I’ve been doing it for a long time now.

So, a break. I’ll be using Twitter exclusively (and here in my blog).

Using the WordPress iPhone admin plugin

March 19th, 2008

I’m writing this on my iPhone, using the WordPress plugin that changes the admin from its default style and layout to one that works on an iPhone.

A few things that become apparent quickly is that the interface is pretty heavy, making load time a bit annoying. The interface is usable, but slow. Also typing a link to anything is really tedious. With the iPhone not having copy/paste (yet?), and the characters needed to write an HTML link hidden beneath the iPhone’s keyboard layout hierarchy – I am not sure I’d ever bother to link to something.

A possible fix for this could be a button to create a link. Or, I could use Safari Mobile’s built-in email link feature and post to my site that way.

I’m still figuring all of this out, but as always I’ll try to report my findings. Next up, mobile photos.

Update: Edited to include links now.