Jump to content
Storyist Forums

The Apple Tablet Event?


Steve E

Recommended Posts

Plus, the iPad isn't just one book, it can be all your books--or that stack you bring with you to the beach or on vacation.

 

I think he does address that:

 

I've had people tell me ... they love carrying their entire book library around with them. ... most people will not read two or more stories at once. Novels typically involve multiple story lines, characters, and settings; at best, reading more than one novel at once will distract from the stories of the novels, at worst, doing so will confuse the reader outright. So while carrying your entire library with you is nice, once you begin a book, chances are you'll see it trough to the end and not flit from one novel to the next. Besides, the average person takes two weeks to read one book. Books are not like music, movies, and magazines -- they take much longer to consume. Unless you're on a round the world trip, there's really no reason to have your entire library with you because you won't be using it.

 

And I agree, no paperback tells you which way is north. :D

 

Orren

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 528
  • Created
  • Last Reply
I think he does address that:

Yes. Thanks for the correction.

 

And I agree, no paperback tells you which way is north. :D

Unless you're reading it at the South Pole. Then, no matter where on the horizon you point it, it is pointing north. A little trick I learned at my South Pole Book & Muffin Club.

 

Now, what color is the bear?

- Thoth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So this thread has out posted the Milestones thread. Does that make it the most posted to topic?

 

I'm still debating an iPad...... I am currently a member of both camps; "It can do what you want, get it" & "It can't do what you want, don't get it" etc. etc. I have read so many articles about the thing, my eyes might bleed.

 

Here's a question for the owners though, how long is the USB cable that comes with it? I'm guessing it is not long enough to span from the floor to a table while the thing is plugged in?

 

Here's the dilemma, or most of it anyway

 

The Good

•It would probably make a wonderful digital sketch book, with potential to make some killer art (especially if I level-up my skill. LOL)

•It is possible to dump RAW picture files on it, so if I'm out with my camera on a trip etc. I can take it to empty my card onto it and store the photos until I get back to my computer.

•It will make for a great portfolio

•It'll save wear and tear on my laptop (which is a big deal)

•I can write on it

•Multi Tasking is coming

•Will inspire me to read more, and stay off the computer more, especially on trips

• It's really portable

 

The Can't do right now, but Apps (or software upgrades) may fill the need in the future:

• Photo Editing (not your typical add a frame, crop, etc.), which is necessary for posting images to my blog

• Replace my wacom

• Photoshop/Illustrator

• Full document creation, slide show creation, etc.

• Good File Management

• Facebook App.... seriously?

• No annotating iBooks

• Storyist! :D

 

The Bad

• Expensive, may want to upgrade to next years model anyway

• No USB

• No Camera

• Not a laptop replacement

• Will probably still need, or at least want, my laptop on long trips

• Is a consuming and not a creating piece of technology

• Limited fonts

• Limited gmail function? Not sure about this, I don't use Mail and won't. Not sure whether iPad uses mobile gmail or full version.

• Can't set mail/browser/app defaults... aka, if I click an email address or try to send mail in an app/mail a photo, I'm forced to use Mail

 

The Ugly

• No Flash..... no divx movies, flash content, flash websites, etc. As a photographer/artist/divx movie/tv watcher I come across more flash than the average user. My own website is flash and I will probably be buying an HTML mirror & better mobile site just for people with ipads/iphones. My blog has flash components as well.

• iWork apps are a whole heck of a lot more pared down than Apple let on. They also, from my research, do not import, export, or play nicely with their Mac counterparts.

• Keynote will not do all of what I want it to do, namely a custom template (to match my brand). There is only 1-3 templates I would consider using at all. It also cannot export to Power Point.

• Pages probably won't do all of what I want it to do and I know I will be incredibly annoyed that I can't make things bold/italic/tab etc. from landscape position.... there's a lot of typing, tabbing, and bolding etc. in writing poetry, which I expect to do in landscape.

• The same with Numbers, but I may or may not buy it/care.

 

I also hate Address book and don't use/don't like iCal and Mail. Does anyone have any suggestions for alternatives? I've heard of Bento, but I'm not sure that's what I'd want. Anyone have any experience with using that? Are there any good browser alternatives for iPhone/iPad?

 

Hopefully it doesn't sound like I'm being too whiney or too picky, but I figured I would toss it in here and ask the couple of you who own one your opinions and we all know Orren's a tech junkie too.. soooooo.... yea. What ya got?

- J

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't had trouble sending files back and forth between Pages for Mac and Pages for iPad. In fact, that's how I'm handling all my novel revisions while waiting for Steve to create an iPad version of Storyist (hint, hint). Usually I export a file from Storyist to RTF, read it into Word, and either e-mail it to myself as a Word doc or read it into Pages and use iTunes to transfer the file, depending on whether I need to recharge the iPad. Either way works fine, and when I'm done, I export the Pages file (or e-mail it back), and transfer the notes to Storyist.

 

The only issue is that Pages on iPad has no comments feature, so I have to edit the text in portrait so that I can indicate changes with bold. Otherwise I'd have to compare two Word docs just to find what I'd revised. And the import/export is more complicated than it should be (which is why I want to be able to read and correct the file in Storyist, even if it's a simplified version). But it works.

 

You could type the poem in landscape and then add the bold later, couldn't you?

 

On Bento, the best thing is to download the trial version (30 days) and test it out for yourself. I have used it and in fact own it, but I have yet to find enough free time to explore it in any depth. But I don't have big problems with Address Book or Mail, either. iCal is definitely challenged, but I use it anyway, because it's integrated with the other programs and I have a MobileMe subscription, so all my devices update themselves without any intervention from me. Entourage is a much better alternative feature-wise but doesn't have an iPad version, which Bento does.

 

I too am testing the iPad as a laptop replacement, and my jury is still out. But I do use it every evening (which I never did with the laptop because it was too much hassle and too geeky/antisocial for living-room relaxation time). So it makes an excellent laptop extension. Whether I take it on trips will depend on what I plan to do: read and take notes, absolutely; write—no, probably not (or I'd take the laptop, too, so I could use Storyist); work—no way.

 

"Whiny or too picky"? I think if you're going to sink $500-850 into a gadget, you'd better be sure it will do enough of what you want to repay that investment (especially when you know that it will probably cost less next year).

Best,

M

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Jools.

 

Since I'm still Tiger bound (until my CD matures and I go all splurge crazy) I must yield the floor to Lady M, who is using the iPad as it was meant to be used: as an extension of a Mac. I tend to use it stand alone and rarely swap files. When I do I use an obliging friend's Snow Leopard machine.

 

The cord: mine's the exact same length as the one that came with my iPod.

 

Bento: I assume you mean the template-heavy stripped-down version of FileMaker and not the Japanese cuisine. :D Both are tasty but I use FileMaker Pro (on my iMac). However, Bento's data sources include Address Book and iCal, and it can modify them directly.

 

"So this thread has out posted the Milestones thread. Does that make it the most posted to topic?" - J

Yep. Hard to believe but Milestones has only 351 posts to The Apple Tablet Event's 428 posts. (Honestly, I thought we'd have had put a knot in this thread long ago. Goes to show you, you never know what will be popular.) The two threads diverge wildly in terms of viewers, though. The Apple Tablet Event has had 2,993 views while Milestones has had 151,085 views. But, of course, it's been around a lot longer. (Aren't you more than halfway to your first thousand posts, Jools?)

 

So, there you have it.

Thanks for your run down on The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly. (In Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo (1966) Clint Eastwood actually played a character named Blondie.)

- Thoth

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, I forgot to tackle the cord question. You can plug in the iPad and use it at the same time, so the cord is not teeny. Depends how far your desk is from the plug, I guess, but I wouldn't call this a deal-breaker, especially since the actual battery life on the iPad is about 12 hours, even if you are using it nonstop to play videos. You can turn it off and it uses no power, or let it sleep, when it uses next-to-no power. Apple says the battery lasts 30 days in standby (sleep) mode, but since I've never gone more than 3 days without wanting to transfer or backup something, I can't swear to that. I regularly use it for three to four evenings before recharging, though.

 

I also haven't noticed any limitations in Gmail. Seems just like the desktop version to me. The iPad user guide says that the iPad can use your Contacts in Gmail and can sync with Entourage's address book and calendars; I have not tried any of those.

Best,

M

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nota bene, Julie G. The latest update to Pages for iPad makes the toolbar available in landscape as well as portrait mode. Does that help?

 

Apple hears your pain. Can anything be cuter? :D

 

Best,

M

 

P.S. Realize I never answered this one. You cannot (yet) annotate an ePub file in iBooks. Feature is coming, Apple says. You can, however, highlight a word or passage that bothers you and, if you think you won't remember why, easily add a note in the Notes app to explain. You can annotate books in the Kindle for iPad app (if you want to annotate your own books, you have to figure out where Kindle is stashing them, which I haven't done yet). And you can read/annotate .doc or .PDF files either in Pages or in an add-on app like Good Reader (cheap) or Mobile Document Viewer (yes, I finally got it to connect; the documentation is still horrible, but it does do a better job with PDFs). Either of the last two also lets you set up a folder system for your files, another concern.

 

There are various drawing apps that use the touch screen, but I have not used them and cannot comment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey

That's awesome. Definitely makes me happy. I have decided to get one after all. I am currently waiting for my skins and stylus to arrive before I go get it. Still kinda torn about buying 1st gen. This will be my first 1st gen apple product. :huh:

 

Still.. I'm excited. I've been checking out apps to get. I even found some photo editing apps that look rather promising. I may not be able to do my regular watermark via iPad yet, but, I could very well develop a mobile watermark, and I figure that putting "posted & edited on my iPad" may be something pretty cool. It doesn't appear as if there's many blogs or articles out there talking about what you can actually do on it as far as art and photography goes, so I'm hoping maybe I can produce some neat things and maybe have something to blog about for once!

 

Is the early adopters club a fun one? hehe

- Jools

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is the early adopters club a fun one? hehe

- Jools

Only if you enjoy heartache. Kidding. There is a feeling of adventure to it.

Let us know how wonderful the 3G version is so we can be green with Apple-colored technolust.

- Thoth

Link to comment
Share on other sites

LOL Apple-colored technolust. Great term.

 

The only difference I can foresee would be the ability to use it anywhere, and since I won't be buying 3G data until I actually need it, it might be awhile before I can report on that.

 

There is a slim chance it will get better wireless reception than the regular one since it has that plastic insert. I read a bit about that. I won't be able to compare them side by side until I see my friend from CT who has the base model, unless of course I run into M in Philly or Thoth in NYC. :huh:

 

Would there be any other differences?

- Joules

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Would there be any other differences?

 

I believe that only the 3G version has a GPS inside (I could be wrong on that). That should pay off in terms of location services.

 

Take care,

Orren

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's some fun DIY stuff for the iPad. I will probably be making some of my own stuff as well. I'll try to post pictures of anything nifty.

 

Stands:

http://lifehacker.com/5519262/seven-diy-ip...x-bucks-or-less

 

Feels just like holding a real book now....

http://carrypad.com/2010/04/15/turning-the...-into-an-ibook/

 

Couple repeats on this, but some other cool ideas for stands/cases

http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/04/16/the-t...-ipad-projects/

 

Here's a stand from the iPad's own packaging

http://www.maclife.com/article/news/build_..._ipad_packaging

 

Don't have a built in entertainment system in your car?

http://thedidenizen.com/2010/04/diy-ipad-c...ttern-download/

 

Here's one for the front.... don't know how safe doing this would be, but I suppose if you're using it for GPS....

http://www.ipadforums.net/ipad-diy/2799-di...-ipad-case.html

 

Here's a stand for starbucks frequenters

http://keithphilpott.wordpress.com/2010/04...rom-cup-sleeve/

 

Stand from a roll of tape

http://www.tuaw.com/photos/do-it-yourself-...-docks/#2882151

 

Oh and if you don't want to shell out for a stylus, you can always make one from a pencil/stick/anything wrapped in tin foil or anti-static sock or glue some conductive foam to the end of a stick of something... There's a lot of videos on that on youtube.

 

And if you like supporting individuals, you can always shop on Etsy and Artfire for iPad sleeves and stuff, though currently Artfire doesn't have much by wait of iPad. When they do, that's where I go though, since they get more money to the seller than Etsy.

http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?sea...h_type=handmade

 

Enjoy! (hopefully!)

- Jools

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's some really clever stuff here. Thank you. I'll probably try the "blank book" idea. I'm feeling crafty.

 

BTW I've found that my old BIC pens work well as a stylus (use the blunt end not the pointy end).

 

I knew cat butts were good for something.

- Thoth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe that only the 3G version has a GPS inside (I could be wrong on that). That should pay off in terms of location services.

 

Take care,

Orren

Only 3G has true GPS. The WiFi model simulates GPS by comparing WiFi locations.

 

Way to go, JG. My first 1st-gen Apple product, too! I am not an early adopter, usually, but this was too good to pass up. :huh:

Best,

M

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What the article does not mention is if you have to have 3G enabled (aka shell out $30) to use the true GPS. I am assuming that you do, otherwise it would be no better than a wifi model.

 

Am I wrong? It'd be nice to be wrong this time.

- Jules

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What the article does not mention is if you have to have 3G enabled (aka shell out $30) to use the true GPS. I am assuming that you do, otherwise it would be no better than a wifi model.

Am I wrong? It'd be nice to be wrong this time.

 

I'm not sure...sorry!

 

The comments in this article suggests that you can use true GPS without getting a 3G plan:

http://www.gpsreview.net/ipad-gps-navigation-preview/

But it's not clear if this is one guy's opinion/experience or the facts.

 

Orren

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmmm... I did a little bit of reading and it seems both options are being stated as fact, but it seems that the truth might be that the GPS is separate from the 3G data. If you do have the 3G data enabled, it will assist the GPS in finding you faster. I'll have to test it out when I get one.

 

My Pogo Sketch stylus got here today and I have to say I am not as impressed with it as I was hoping I'd be. It is no where near as responsive on my iPhone/MBP as my finger, takes quite a bit of pressure, and being an OCD person it is entirely too hard for me not to pick at the foam tip, which I thought was rubber from the pictures. :huh: It will be better than nothing for drawing on the iPad though I'm sure. I think I will design my own stylus though. Too bad Steve Jobs is so anti stylus.....

- Jools

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmmm... I did a little bit of reading and it seems both options are being stated as fact, but it seems that the truth might be that the GPS is separate from the 3G data. If you do have the 3G data enabled, it will assist the GPS in finding you faster. I'll have to test it out when I get one.

 

My Pogo Sketch stylus got here today and I have to say I am not as impressed with it as I was hoping I'd be. It is no where near as responsive on my iPhone/MBP as my finger, takes quite a bit of pressure, and being an OCD person it is entirely too hard for me not to pick at the foam tip, which I thought was rubber from the pictures. :huh: It will be better than nothing for drawing on the iPad though I'm sure. I think I will design my own stylus though. Too bad Steve Jobs is so anti stylus.....

- Jools

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmmm... I did a little bit of reading and it seems both options are being stated as fact, but it seems that the truth might be that the GPS is separate from the 3G data. If you do have the 3G data enabled, it will assist the GPS in finding you faster. I'll have to test it out when I get one.

 

My Pogo Sketch stylus got here today and I have to say I am not as impressed with it as I was hoping I'd be. It is no where near as responsive on my iPhone/MBP as my finger, takes quite a bit of pressure, and being an OCD person it is entirely too hard for me not to pick at the foam tip, which I thought was rubber from the pictures. :huh: It will be better than nothing for drawing on the iPad though I'm sure. I think I will design my own stylus though. Too bad Steve Jobs is so anti stylus.....

- Jools

 

What I don't get is why it the tip so broad? I want a tiny tip. Surely this can be done. I mean use a battery if need be to help with the electrical signals.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe that the tips of most capacitive stylus (styli? styluses?) are broad, because the screen ignores small areas of touch or because a small amount of foam is not going to interfere with or connect enough of the components that detect touch for it to register. If the tip was made out of metal, then I think a smaller tip would be possible. The problem with metal is of course scratching the screen. I'm going to look into it all more, since I want to try to make one of my own.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yet my old BIC pen works. Not great but not bad. Its being detected as a touch. Perhaps the material they use is a static absorber?

 

Steve, M, if you can (and want to risk it) try it out.

- Thoth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not having an iPad, I assumed that you could simply drag all your ePub files from Stanza to iBooks, but I guess it's a bit more convoluted. I follow Wired on my RSS reader, and ran across this article. For anyone who has wanted to move books from Stanza to iBooks and hasn't figured it out, this article outlines the steps the author took: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/05/how...books-for-ipad/

 

Orren

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeesh! I'm glad I don't have many books in Stanza now......only 1 I think, and that's Alice In Wonderland, which I think I could find for free without having to go through all that.

 

I hope iBooks will support PDFs in the future, even if they're a bit clunky. I have a bunch of ebooks a friend gave me, but they're all pdf. Oh well.

 

- Jools

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...