The New iPad and Me
When Apple released the first iPad in 2010, I wished I had one but didn't want to jump into it, knowing that the next version will be much better. Indeed, the iPad 2 was more like it with the advanced chipset and increased RAM in a prettier body. For various reasons had to wait with the purchase, then tech rumors made it clear that the 3rd generation model will be much better for my needs with its high resolution display, as mostly I wanted to use it for reading... Still, I spent the past 6 months whining to Leslie about how much I want an iPad whenever we saw one in the store. Now the waiting is over, I ordered one shortly after it was released. It took a while for Apple to ship it here directly from China (while, as it turned out, I could have walked into Best Buy to grab one, unlike last year) but never mind.
I guess I got the ideal setup with a white 64GB Wi-Fi model, housed in a white CaseCrown faux leather case in the style I always imagined for my iPad. It's very pleasant for the touch and even if the device was too warm during average usage (it isn't), I don't feel it at all. I don't need a 4G model, mostly I use it around the house, or if I really have to, I can utilize my phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot. The 64GB storage feels like a bit of a waste right now, but it will come handy in the long run when I travel to Europe and carry movies and TV shows on it, while leaving my laptop home. Also, I don't plan to replace it for several years, unless something happens to it, so it should be somewhat future proof.
I work from my home, so my main goal was increasing productivity by moving all the usual distractions, such as news and blog reading, Twitter etc to this separated device which I don't bring into my office. Normally I leave it in the bedroom or in the living room, so when I sit down in front of the PC, that's dedicated work time. It feels like a good solution so far.
I love reading on the iPad, the screen is amazing, but as I can't really compare it to the previous generations, I just like it on its own. I was afraid that my monitor will look worse afterwards, but it's still lovely, no need to run to buy a new one. :) I use FlipBoard for RSS feeds, the only downside is that I had to set up Google Reader for it, but every desirable feed reader app seems to use that anyway. I bought only a few apps so far, like Garage Band and Solar Walk above the usually free necessities. I'm certainly not going crazy with checking out games and other stuff, meh... Somehow I just don't care much about them right now, but I bought some new Kindle books that I hope to read soon. I might be skeptical but I don't believe in iBook apart from being a nice PDF reader; I won't buy books from Apple. It's not their main profile and primary source of revenue (compared to Amazon) so they can say anytime that this experiment didn't work out, closing shop, nothing to see here... I believe in the future of the Kindle and Amazon can always bring out a better reader app for iOS. Not to mention that Leslie has a Kindle eBook reader and we share books, so it's kind of a no brainer anyway.
Perhaps the only problem I can find with the iPad is that it's bugging me constantly to redesign my website and support high resolution images, so it's definitely on my to-do list. :)
Goodbye Steve
Apple Keynotes in Full Screen
Yesterday Apple held their usual keynote to start off the WWDC 2011 conference, unveiling lots of sweet stuff. I won't go into it as it's not an Apple news coverage attempt, I just want to share a trick with you. Alas recently the Quicktime plugin Apple uses to stream the keynotes and other videos on their site no longer allows us to put the content on full screen. It's a major annoyance because I like to watch these in the living room and it's just stupid to run them in the middle of a window there. Also somehow the video streamed this way might have a lower quality, or just the incorrect sizing makes it somewhat ugly, but it's not the ideal setup either way.
Luckily I can watch these in full screen. How do I do that? Quite easy... For the current keynote, go to this URL: WWDC 2011 which will redirect you to the streaming page. Open the source of the webpage and look for this section near the top. The referred paths and filenames are way longer so I shortened them for the purpose of this example.
/*snowLeopard url*/
var slURL = "http://qthttp.apple.com.edgesuite.net/(...)_vod.m3u8";
/* non-snowLeopard url*/
var nonSlURL='http://stream.qtv.apple.com/(...)_350_ref.mov';
/*Windows url*/
var windowsURL = 'http://stream.qtv.apple.com/(...)_350_ref.mov';
/*iphone url */
var iphoneURL = "http://stream.qtv.apple.com/(...)_iphone_vod_ref.mov";
/*ipad url*/
var ipadURL= "http://stream.qtv.apple.com/(...)_ipad_vod_ref.mov";
Select the Windows url which is currently this:
http://stream.qtv.apple.com/events/jun/11piubpwiqubf06/11piunpaiubsdvadibvas06_350_ref.mov
Start Quicktime (the application), select File -> Open Url... and paste the link in there. There you go, you can stream it like in the browser, but you can put it on full screen with ease. The only issue with Quicktime is that it doesn't prevent your display from going to sleep on Windows after a while, but the browser plugin doesn't do that either so carry on with your usual mouse pushing methods time to time while enjoying the show. :-)
