Took a little while to iron out the details, but of course it works, and it works well. Not sure of the load on the server. But if loads get too high, easy enough to move to Podcast, QTSS formats, or increase Web server capacity.
http://webportalmaster.com/index.php/eng/eZ/Advanced/Embedding-iPad-Capable-Video-into-eZ-Publish
Another interesting way to serve video to the iPad is to simply create a directory structure at the Web server root, set the directory index listings to display, then browse straight to the desired content in the form of the original file.
Also interesting, grabbed this shot straight from the iPad device, no itunes sync required. Just use the image capture utility built into Snow Leopard.
Image Capture App for easy iPad screen shot transfers.
The bookshelf on the iPad starts off looking rather empty, just a "Winnie the Pooh" unless other books were previously downloaded in iTunes.
Stocking the Shelves
Project Gutenberg has about 30,000 titles, most of them free as in price and free as in freedom to use as you see fit.
Download a favorite in ePub format, drop the file on the iTunes icon on the dock. If not there already, a "Books" category will appear in the iTunes library, the book is available on the iPad after the next sync.
Huck Finn from gutenberg.org
Convert PDF to ePub
If, like me, you have information in pdf format scattered all over the place, this is a prime opportunity to make them more useful, and stock the shelves of your iPad at the same time. Simply convert the pdf files to epub format using calibre.
Converting pdf to epub is not strictly necessary to use them, just a nice way to flesh out the iBook shelf. Goodreader* will read pdf files and a whole lot more just fine without the need to convert anything to epub.* http://www.goodiware.com/goodreader.html
Print to PDF is standard in OS X, so it is easy to stock iBookshelves with information while saving the trees.
Calibre by Kovid Goyal
Calibre is a free and open source e-book library management application developed by users of e-books for users of e-books. Download it here.. http://calibre-ebook.com/download_osx
Install it and start it.
1. Drag a pdf file from finder and drop it on the calibre icon in the dock. This inserts the file into the calibre library.
-------2. Click the "Convert eBooks" icon at the top, be certain epub is listed as an output format, then clickOK to do the deed.
-------3. Next, select Save to Disk from the toolbar at the top.
The pdf file is saved with the author name serving as the top level folder structure.
Beneath that folder structure is the book name and an .epub file for the book.
Drag the .epub file to a running iTunes instance in the dock. The book appears immediately, with a nice cover page, in the Books library in iTunes. If a Books LIbrary is not already displayed, it is created by the drag and drop of an .epub file.
Just that simple.
iBooks Library - Shelf View
iBooks Library - List View
"I've used it to take notes at events, record interviews (one area in which it simply excels), write my articles and columns, and break the ice with nervous interviewees."
--Austin Leeds, Lowendmac.com
Don't know who Austin Leeds is, or where he goes to school, but nice of him to share his real world experiences. He is replacing a 10 year old powerbook with an iPod, so some "fan boy" would be expected. But he sticks to the facts and throws in some interesting analogy.
"..If computers were writing surfaces, desktops would be writing desks, laptops would be folding tables, the iPad would be a clipboard, and the iPod touch would be a reporter's notebook." -- emphasis mine
His article is the best real world practical, on the ground, rundown of iPad features and faults that I have seen to date. Hopefully the 3G models have started shipping so I can find out for myself soon. I had never thought about the speakers which he says are great, was pretty sure printing would be no problem and glad to see that confirmed. A nice informative rundown from a practical point of view.
Full Story..
http://lowendmac.com/reviews/10rev/ipad-here-to-stay.html
UPDATED
Make that TWO content producers..
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/05/ipad-dj-rana-sobhany/
Updated again
Soon to be too numerous to count, the iPad is a game changer.
Jason Seiler -- http://jasonseilerillustration.blogspot.com/2010/05/ilove-ipad.html
SketchBook Pro, yes that sketchbook pro -- http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sketchbook-pro/id364253478?mt=8
Walt Mossberg review for the Wall Street Journal gives a low hype, good detailed view of what to expect from the iPad.
Using an iPad to accomplish as much of his tech as possible, he finds:
- the landscape keypad is useful enough, works great for email
- battery life while watching movies 11 hours plus
- HD video format is not compatible with screen resolution, black space or cropping are choices
- No tabbed browsing in Safari
- Speedy
- Can be used as digital picture frame
- Weather, clock, and stocks, popular iPhone apps are missing
- "by far the best implementation of the newspaper I have ever seen on a screen"
Writing long documents, and viewing flash videos were the two things that would make him pick up one of his notebooks, a lenovo or a mac.
Full article..
Which makes it perfect for many, if not most, business uses.
Apple took over music distribution, by innovating digital technology and giving people what they wanted, before people even knew they wanted it. They will now do the same thing for too many business uses to count.
Add walkie talkie capabilities to a note pad or clipboard. That way people need not run back and forth to exchange information. No papers to shuffle, lose or file. Just simple two way communications that anyone can use. Text, pictures, video, a digital paper trail. Any more would make it less powerful. People will realize soon enough, this is what they wanted all along.
We may get to see that paperless office soon. After twenty years of hype, it is about time.
Touch an album, review and play songs. Touch a toolbox, see all the tools in the box. Touch a tacklebox, see all your lures.
Instead of files and folders, viruses and firewalls, user accounts and all that stuff, just hand it out and let people use it for precisely defined needs. Just like iTunes, everything is already in place to make it happen, it was just waiting on the right tools combined with the right designs.
Fancy display of inventory for a Walkie Talkie, Touch to drill deeper.
iPad widely disparaged by pundits as an oversized Touch.
http://aaplinvestors.net/stats/ipad/ipaddeathwatch/
The same crew who lambast every Apple innovation that simplifies users interfacing with digital tech. It is a bad thing, doomed to failure, when users can interface without humbling themselves.
iTunes would never work, the iPhone doomed to failure, the Touch a useless toy, the app store too self serving, now the iPad is not enough of this or that. How many billions of all that stuff will it take to convince them? Have they noticed the satisfaction ratings of these solutions versus old tech solutions?
The Paperless Office Then
The paperless office crew is stuck in a time warp. In twenty years they have failed to fulfill the original promise of office automation. They instead created legions of geeks and techies who exist solely to service the great and mighty facade that tech is difficult. And another legion who write about it. Bells and whistles proclaim the next step forward.
They fail to realize there are greater legions, users, who after two decades of waiting, now want something that works. We have had it with the hype. Tech nirvana is near, the next great thing coming soon. Maybe it has arrived, it is just buried in a mountain of features we don't use? Hire a complexity consultant to sort it out, or get simple tech.
The Paperless Office NOW
The oversized Touch is exactly the market Jobs and Apple target. 40 million or so tiny versions of this device and OS in circulation in the course of a few years. Kids with their Touches get it. They are already paperless. The trees thank them.
Us old timers with fat fingers and tired eyes may now enjoy the top feature of the Touch, simplicity. The tiny keypad and tiny screen are transformed into something anyone can use. Simple on the big screen is the Main Feature.
Apple, Yet Another Failed Product
Actually they now are proclaiming, finally, an Apple mistake.
Make no mistake. The iFlop will be the same dismal failure as iTunes. 10 billion served. Users flock to tech that combines simple with useful.
More..
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Some manufacturers see possibilities for a table style device. Maybe a few of these will be the loaded version that suits the bells and whistles mentality..
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/03/ipad-could-see-50-tablet-rivals-this-year/
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/03/hands-on-with-the-terrible-stantum-slate-pc
It has been reported that when Bill Gates first saw it, he remarked "it needs a stylus".
The 10 percent who get Apple realize that the top feature of the iPad is lack of feature bloat. The question at each step of development and design had to be "What more can we leave out?" Apple is beyond caring about price points. They have plenty of money. They need more users. They now reach out to users:
- who fear tech
- who think that tech is mostly a geeky waste of time
- who find that cell phones are all the tech they need, but would like a bigger screen and typing surface
Why Grandma Wants an iPad
Her world has always been touching something tangible to create a visible connection that makes something happen. Pictures of grandkids are not getting developed to paper any more. How to interface her into the digital media option?
Digital picture frames were a big hit a few years ago. The familiarity of the frame was the schtick. Yet getting new pictures into it, getting interactive with it in any way, required reading a manual and learning something new. Grandma didn't do that. It just sat there running with the initial loving preload, on the default timer schedule, until it became embarrassingly outdated or stopped working. Nobody knows for sure.
If pictures of grandkids is all she ever uses an iPad for, that is enough. But likely she will gradually find her way into more offerings from the digital age. Push a big help button in case of emergency. Push a picture of the grandkids faces to summon a video chat session, stuff like that. http://instinctivecode.com/favorites/
No More Time for Geeks
Curmudgeons may remember the promise of the paperless office. Today, it takes a computer, $300 worth of software, ongoing training, and a laser printer to generate the paperwork grandma once typed up by replacing a ribbon once in a while.
Defragmentating while under attack by evil forces, always studying the next greatest solution which is oh so near, that is the 90 percent solution. Keep a paper trail just in case. Not sure anyone understands it, but small wonder nobody has time for grandma any more.
Cell Phone Simple
Cell phone simple is all the tech most need. It is also the hotbed of tech innovation. For simple needs, get a simple phone. Complex needs, more powerful phones. All require streamlined interfaces to work on the tiny screen.
The more is more crowd have choices that offer multitasking, even on a cell phone. Ubergeeks can load the system until it croaks, then hunt solutions to their problems. The iPad will remain a mystery to them.
The iPad retains less-is-more simplicity, while moving the cell phone experience beyond peering into a tiny screen and tapping tiny keys. Simple comes to the big screen. A very satisfied 10 percent "get" that.
Update:
Mike Elgan at Computerworld agrees: http://www.macworld.com/article/147090/2010/03/ipad_paradox.html
As if the iPad references to hygiene products weren't bad enough.
But seriously, the iPad allows people to interact with Information Technology while completely vertical. Or above their heads. On your back, or just about any position imaginable. Mobility, interfacing info on the move, is enhanced, dexterity requirements reduced, visibility greatly improved versus the Touch and traditional mobile devices.
The iPad creates entirely new categories of ways to do IT. About anywhere a pencil and paper worked, the iPad will work. Clipboards and running versus iPad and wifi.
At the Restaurant
Can your server type in an order to the kitchen on a netbook? I guarantee restaurants can copy the "push the Big Mac icon" fast food interfaces and extend the concept to their own menu items. Speed and accuracy both benefit. With the smooth, easy to clean surface, restaurants may want to attach these to a table or wall and let patrons order direct. With a couple of taps on the big screen, diners may split the bill exactly, calculate exchange rates and tips, review local attractions of interest. All from the comfort of their booth or table. Extend hospitality through technology.
In Hospitals
Remember the first time you saw a keyboard in the form of a notebook computer come in to the exam room, and thought "yeach"? Maybe it is just IT people that fully comprehend, but keyboards hold the distinction of being some of the dirtiest places on earth. Toilet rims are clean in comparison, because they can be cleaned. Start prying keys off an old keyboard to get an idea of how "nasty" accumulates over time in hard to reach places.
Health care workers now have the "clean" alternative. Plus they can interact with information while on the move. No need to sit, squat, or hunt down a flat surface. Talk about a time saver.
On Your Bicycle
Stationary bikes and big screen TV at the fitness club may keep you in shape, but no fresh air. Now you can watch movies, catch up on family photos, review presentations, follow twitter streams, while pumping away out on the open road. Could it be done with a netbook? Maybe kind of. But with a big touch screen, and a standard form factor for accessories manufacturers to target, IT mobility becomes simple.
Classrooms, Waiting In Lines, Shop Floors, anywhere you have to be able to do IT Standing Up.
Mobility, dexterity, screen size. Never before anything like it. Now Apple needs to cut the Air in half along the axis of the hinge, so it can be slipped into an inside jacket pocket, and there will not be much left to conquer in human interfaces for information access.
From the iPod Shuffle which weighs less than an ounce and can talk, right on up to some of the most powerful multimedia servers on earth, Apple has the hardware part of the human interface to technology covered. And their operating system seems to be doing a good job of keeping up.
UPDATE:
Accessibility options include voice over - making text talk to you. Ding, email is received. Then with automation, the iPad can read the message to you while the device is still in your pocket. http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/accessibility.html
----------------------------------------
More..
http://seekingalpha.com/article/187725-apple-s-ipad-for-business-is-being-underestimated
Rising Above the Legacy of Complexity with Toaster Simple Tech
Apple and Jobs laser focused on utility for the masses at a price point for the masses. This should force netbooks and cheap laptops to get cheaper still, for those who prefer cheap.
Users may now choose to do 95 percent of technology with panache, at what formerly passed for budget prices. All forms of data consumption are included, in state of the art interfaces. Twelve applications:
- Web surfing. In ways that roughly 60 to 80 percent of users have never witnessed. Changewave or similar for more precise numbers. Users of the most popular browser of our day, even if recently introduced to newer versions, are not accustomed to many of these features. A lot of people are going to be a lot amazed by modern browser technology. It is about a decades worth of fast forward.
- Email. Reading and responding, pics, etc. With essentially a full size keyboard in landscape mode.
- Photos. Not necessarily iPhoto? A camera adapter option, no built in camera. Bluetooth and wifi for sharing.
- Video. No 1080p (1920x1080), but 1024x768 is plenty immersive for the form factor. Good enough for youtube HD.
- iPod. iPod as an app? iTunes as a separate app? Looks more like iTunes is becoming the store, iPod the player. iTunes on either a Mac or a PC is required to use the iPad. The nomenclature is getting rather confusing.
- iTunes. See Above.
- iBook Will Jon Shipley, the Delicious Library, in some form or another is now iBook. In full form it is more than just a cool Library (iBook) app. Will it be hamstrung on the iPad? Will it be full featured hookable from the developer SDK? In the Delicious version, organizing "stuff" is graphically enhanced in ways that astound newcomers to OS X.
- Maps. 3G models via assisted GPS or cellular location will have practically HUD for local attractions. If AT&T comes through on $30 per month unlimited data, virtual reality becomes an option for tourism and hospitality industries. Expect lots of apps to complete the VR/HUD experience on the big (bigger than iPhone) screen.
- Notes. Entering simple notes of course. It also has a mic to record audio notes. Speakers and the ability to read out loud included. Does the processor have the oomph for voice-to-type in real time? Apps already available for tracking direction and pressure of at least 10 fingers touching the screen.
- Calendar, Contacts, Search. Less is more
Surprisingly to me, the iPad still requires a mother ship and iTunes. Probably still does not true multi-task. The advantages are that security remains Touch simple. Re-purposing and re-provisioning equipment to users is Touch simple.
Simple is the biggest blessing and achievement.
Simple - no Geeks Required
The anti-problem-ware solutions vendors are piling on top of each other lately. A barrage of advertising corresponds to the release of a new version of the worlds most popular operating system. The catastrophe potential of trying to engage COMPLEX technology without the "value added" wares is well advertised, widely acknowledged.
75 million iPhones and Touches have so far managed to survive, even thrive, in the real world without the confusion. Apple can barely build the Touches and iPhones fast enough.
Complexity lovers can still multitask with the iPad - buy two, or several. A fanfold of four iPads would weigh less than most bargain priced 17" laptops. Mix and match Touches and 'Pads to get as complex as requirements dictate.
No need for squads, geeks, wares, confusing and contradictory claims. Toaster simple is what people prefer in tech. Apple has proven that with the Touch. The iPad provides a bigger pallet to engage information streams, and a usable typing surface. Trying to cram in "more" would detract from the value equation. Simple is the breakthrough.
The legacy of More..
Two factors limiting the utility of the iPad are onboard storage and connecting to legacy data sets.
For more storage, connect to a server. That is simple enough to understand, and implement. The Mini Server introduced 4 months prior to the iPad fits the bill perfectly. The unlimited client license on the server also makes it a great mothership for a fleet of Touches and 'Pads.
Connecting to legacy systems is the only part that remains to be simplified. Legacy systems are often mired in complexities. Many of the 140,000 applications developed for the iPhone and Touch address methods of connecting legacy data. But when every situation is different, how to determine which, if any, of these 140,000 apps best suit a specific need?
To make information technology toaster simple at the organization level requires full spectrum knowledge and understanding core information technology principles. Over 1,000 members of the Apple Consultants Network have made that commitment.
Apple Certified Consulting in Southwest, MO doug.brethower@lakedata.net 417-327-6673