iPad on tour – Photo Management

July 27, 2010 | Comment

Continuing the theme of ditching the laptop and using only the iPad, at least on holiday, today looking at the iPad as an amateur photographers best friend.

With its massive, bright, screen the iPad is perfect for viewing photos and coupled with the camera kit it is unbeatable. I have been able to hook up a number of cameras using both the USB and SD connectors, including getting pictures off the iPhone. The iPad has recognised them all and imported successfully. This process is painless and then using the existing photo app it is possible to view and enjoy. Unfortunately … Read the rest

iPad on Tour – Blogging

July 25, 2010 | Comment

As I said in my previous post I am currently away on holiday and have only brought with me my iPad, rather than a laptop of some description. Over the next couple of posts I am going to look at the apps that I have been using for various different tasks, starting with blogging.

I have a couple of blogs and post to each on an irregular basis. When I am at home I use Windows Live Writer which, in my opinion, is the best blogging app by far and is the only reason I continue to run parallels on … Read the rest

Call that Multi-tasking?

June 29, 2010 | Comment

Maybe it’s me but I just don’t get iOS4’s “multi-tasking”. Multi-tasking is supposed to be a time saver not a confusing pain in the arse.

With the introduction of iOS4 you get (limited) support for apps running in the background. Correction! You get support for certain features running in the background, such as streaming music or uploading a file. For anything else the app is put into suspended animation. These apps are put into, well what can only be described as a system tray. Double clicking the home button now brings up a display of all your running apps.

After … Read the rest

Sainsbury’s Does Great Moleskine Copy

June 7, 2010 | 1 comment

If you have been a regular reader of this site you will know that I am a BIG fan of the Moleskine notebooks and always have one close at hand. However, their biggest and probably their only issue, is that they are expensive. When the exchange rate was more favourable I used to stock up on my trips to the US but that is no longer cost effective and so I am faced with a £10 bill each time I need a new book.

Enter Sainsburys who have started to stock what can only be described as a Moleskine clone. … Read the rest

An App Addiction

June 2, 2010 | Comment

I saw an interesting post on JKontherun today that I thought summed up how I feel about applications for the iPhone/iPad exactly. I had intended to post about it using the dedicated WordPress application which I thought would be fitting, however, I quickly discovered that it is pretty hopeless. Not only is there no way to apply any formatting you also cannot put any links in as the paste facility doesn’t work. Instead I have resorted to using the website via the browser on my iPad which does work.… Read the rest

Hands on with the iPad

April 23, 2010 | 1 comment

So, yes, I know that the web has been full of this over the last few weeks (with only a minor diversion for the next iPhone) and I am late to the game but I only got my first opportunity to get my hands on an iPad today. To be fair there aren’t that many of them in the UK at present. So here it is – my thoughts and pictures of my next gadget.

On seeing it it really does look like an overgrown iPhone. The two are almost identical in design and anyone that has an iPhone … Read the rest

Upgrading a Three mifi

April 19, 2010 | Comment

Since getting my mifi device last October it has become an indispensible device going everywhere with me. It also recently kept my son connected on a three hour car journey, so is worth the small amount I paid for it for that alone.

But one of the things that has always puzzled me about it is the software that is supplied and the relative lack of options available with it. Actually, I guess I am not that puzzled. Three are taking the sensible approach that in order to keep down the number of support calls the device should be as … Read the rest

Google Street View Star

March 15, 2010 | 1 comment

Last May I wrote about working from home and seeing the Google Street View car pass my house. Now, some ten months later, the results are in and the pictures have been uploaded and there I am at our window, standing like some shadowy Norman Bates.

You can quite clearly see that I am holding a cup of tea but it also looks like I have positioned it to protect my genitals! Maybe I misunderstood those articles about Google taking your privacy and thought they meant privates!… Read the rest

Clipping to Evernote from iPhone Safari Browser

January 17, 2010 | Comment

One of my favourite tools is Evernote, the note taking application. I regularly find snippets of information on the internet that I want to retain and come back to later. Evernote provides a number of tools that sit in the browser allowing you to clip directly to your account. This is enormously helpful and I have always wished that I could do the same from the browser of my iPhone. Well, I discovered this weekend that you can. Rather than repeat the tip you can go here to see what you need to do.

Perfect Evernote bliss has finally been … Read the rest

Business Card Reader for iPhone

December 3, 2009 | Comment

Like so many people I still get plenty of business cards and despite many attempts to replace them with something a little more up-to-date nothing has succeeded so far (and won’t in my opinion until there is a common standard). Actually I like business cards but entering the details from them into my contacts can be a bit of a drag.

In the past I have used a service called ScanR and, in fact, it made the services I use and recommend list a while back, however, that could be about to change with the release of Business Card Reader … Read the rest