Why am I not using IWork on the iPad?

A new wordprocessor appeared for the iPad today - IA writer for iPad. It's a very clean, minimalistic writing tool that's meant to just get out of your way and allow you to concentrate on just creating text.

It's very good!

One thing I liked especially was the seamless integration with DropBox. Link the app with your DropBox account, create a new file and it will sync with the cloud. Want to retrieve it on my Mac and it's already there before I lift my fingers from the iPad.

Just how it should be.

This made me think about iWork for iPad.  I just don't use it.

It's not that the applications are in anyway bad (although I have to say, they are prime candidates for a ScreenCastsOnline show) it's just the difficulties of transferring files in and out of the iPad. Horrendously compromised and a huge barrier to using the apps.

Please Apple, when you're adding in AirPrinting functionality to iWork, please add in iDisk sync, or even better, Dropbox sync!

The Ideal Meeting Combo?

Working from home as a solitary video producer, I don't get out to many meetings.

This morning was a different matter however, as I found myself in a meeting with another 12 people.

Fairly standard format, a presenter with some slides to cover, a bit of an interactive session and more slides. I had my iPad with me but the question arose, should I take notes?

Let me just say, I hate taking notes!

Whenever I do, I always end up losing them, or they are so "skeletal" I tend not to refer back to them.

However, this mornings session had lots of information I may like to refer back to at some point.

The iPad wasn't the right tool for the job. Silent, unobtrusive, but it didn't feel right tapping away writing notes so I didn't.

It would be great to write directly on the iPad screen but the resolution of the screen isn't fine enough. The applications I've used for drawing on the screen would make it look like I've taken notes with a marker pen. I hope iPad v2 will allow for writing directly on the screen in a legible format.

As a stopgap, I wished I'd had a Livescribe pen and pad. I'd seen them demo'd at Macworld last year and came so close to buying one. Basically, they allow you to take notes (in a special Livescribe notebook) and at the same time, record the audio. Once you've finished recording and taking notes, you can tap on any of the notes and the audio recorded at the time you jotted down that particular note can be played back!

Magic!

You can also download the audio and the notes to your Mac or PC and convert them to PDF.

What I would really like though, is some direct integration with the iPad.

But I could live with a folio case complete with an iPad, a Livescribe pen and a Livescribe pad.

I've done a quick bit of research and it looks like there isn't an iPad app available yet. It's possible to get both audio and PDF onto the iPad using traditional means but you lose the sync between the text and the audio. I could live with that.

There are some similar sessions coming up shortly so I may just bite the bullet and treat myself to a Livescribe pen and pad - anyone using a similar setup and can recommend a folio case for the iPad/Livescribe combo?

Following Apple's Event....

Just a very quick blogpost following the special event yesterday.

I thought the streaming was spectacular. Super high quality and very little break up. Thye had to deliver and I think they did.

So how did I do with my predictions....

iPod shuffle and Nano

Combining them to a single new form factor based on the square LED unit doing the rounds
Half right! I wasn't sure if they'd lose the Shuffle but I think the Nano is the new Shuffle. There are now two shuffles in my eyes

iPod Touch

A4 processor - Correct
3G Option - OK, not this time round
Gyroscope - Correct
No memory bumps - 64GB still the max- Correct
Retina display - Correct
Camera Options - Torn between two scenarios. Either:
Single FaceTime camera - To keep costs down, They may have just a single backward facing camera for FaceTime. Want two cameras - get an iPhone!
iPhone Camera configuration - Might be too expensive or not provide enough differentiation between the iPod touch and the iPhone
This was a bit of a cop out on my part so I'll not take any credit for the actual result

iPod Classic

No updates but still available - Correct

Apple iTV

Super Slim - Correct (although I did expect it to be even slimmer)
Unibody construction- like a wafer thin Mac Mini - Correct - OK, so it was Black!
HDMI Out - Correct
iOS powered - Correct (I'm led to believe but to be confirmed)
Full 720p resolution - Correct
Wired or Wireless Ethernet - Correct
No remote - uses iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch
Can buy a standard Apple Remote as an extra - Wrong, they are bundling the remote with it
8 or 16GB local storage for Apps and Games - Wrong - No mention of storage

Update 30th September 2010 - The Apple TV has just started shipping and iFixit have down a teardown of the device. Lo and behold it has 8GB of local storage with a secondary slot for an additional memory chip - I'm going to claim my prediction as spot on!

Games can use mobile iOS devices as controller - Correct
Launch of iTV App store with some apps already available - Wrong but see below
Huge push towards big screen gaming - Wrong but see below
Local storage expandable via USB - Wrong but see below
Local iTunes Streaming - Correct

iPad

Description of huge sales and major success - Correct
Perhaps a view of iOS 4.1 for iPad plus release date - Correct (OK, so it's 4.2)

Not bad!

I'll leave my thoughts on the Apple TV for another blog post or a YouTube comment. My initial disappointment on the absence of apps on the Apple TV is tempered by the fact that they could introduce these later on as the device is powered by an A4 chip and appears to be running iOS (to be confirmed)

If you want to hear my initial thoughts, I was invited onto the MacJury last night, and you can my incoherent ramblings over here - MacJury #1021

Live Streaming - OMG!

Well that came out of the blue!

Apple will be streaming their special event this evening - who'd have thought it!

It's something we've all been wishing for ages, but not something I thought would actually happen. The amount of buzz generated by the live blogging during an Apple event is considerable and something I thought Apple might wish to continue. In hindsight, the live streaming may well cause even more buzz!

They have to do it right of course.

Many people are commenting on the fact that this may be in reaction to the problems caused at WWDC, where the number of MiFi units in the room caused the WiFi to have problems, upsetting Steve's demo. It's possible of course, but highly unlikely this development would be in response to that minor hiccup. Even with the live stream, there'll still be lot's of people live blogging, to service all those unable to watch the live stream, so plenty of MiFis in the room.

The enabling technology for the streaming is "Apple's industry-leading HTTP Live Streaming, which is based on open standards".

Unfortunately (well, unfortunate for some!), the open standard has not been adopted by all vendors (yet?) so the audience will be slightly limited. Only those with access to a Mac running Snow Leopard or an iPhone or iPod Touch running iOS 3.0 or higher, or an iPad. Interestingly, you won't be able to stream to an existing Apple TV.

So the event is limited to the very group of people who would be most interested in the live keynote and announcements - How very shortsighted of you Apple - NOT!

So why have Apple taken the "risky" decision to live stream the event then?

Well you can bet it's not just to please the Apple fans. No, Apple always do things that are self serving and in their own interests. There are a couple of theories currently:

Bringing the billion dollar datacenter online:
Possibly, perhaps one of the core reasons to build the datacenter in the first place was to provide streaming services. I would have thought they'd need to build a distributed infrastructure to do this though, rather than a huge monolithic datacenter?

Demonstrating Streaming Capabilities:
More likely, they have a product (or suite of products) that feature streaming heavily. In order to demonstrate that streaming video or music to a wide audience is possible, scalable and effective (using their HTTP streaming service), what better way than to actually use it in a live situation. This pre-supposes that they've sized their network capacity correctly and planned intensively with partners to ensure a brilliant user experience. They can't fail tonight or it would be a major PR disaster. But what product might utilise streaming technology...

Launch of iTV:
Up until the streaming announcement, I was pretty sure that we wouldn't see this being launched today. For the uninitiated, this is the fabled low cost ($99), iOS powered device that connects to your TV but has limited local storage. The idea being that the majority of your content is stored in the cloud (let's say in a big assed, billion dollar datacenter) and is pushed down to you on demand. Hopefully, there would also be a way to access local storage as well from say your Mac or an external drive. My original thoughts were that this would be a purely Music related event with the launch of some products you might expect (see below).

It still may be!

But the live streaming certainly adds an extra dimension to the event, something I hope Apple will continue to do for all future events.

We shall see in a few short hours...

Predictions for the Event?
I wasn't going to bother but seeing as the streaming has made me write this blog post, here we go...

iPod shuffle and Nano

• Combining them to a single new form factor based on the square LED unit doing the rounds

iPod Touch

• A4 processor
• 3G Option
• Gyroscope
• No memory bumps - 64GB still the max
• Retina display
• Camera Options - Torn between two scenarios. Either:
• Single FaceTime camera - To keep costs down, They may have just a single backward facing camera for FaceTime. Want two cameras - get an iPhone!
• iPhone Camera configuration - Might be too expensive or not provide enough differentiation between the iPod touch and the iPhone

iPod Classic

• No updates but still available

Apple iTV
OK, completely out on a limb with this one!

• Super Slim
  
• Unibody construction- like a wafer thin Mac Mini
• HDMI Out
• iOS powered
• Full 720p resolution
• Wired or Wireless Ethernet
• No remote - uses iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch
• Can buy a standard Apple Remote as an extra
• 8 or 16GB local storage for Apps and Games
• Games can use mobile iOS devices as controller
• Launch of iTV App store with some apps already available
  
• Huge push towards big screen gaming
  
• Local storage expandable via USB
• Local iTunes Streaming

iPad

• Description of huge sales and major success
• Perhaps a view of iOS 4.1 for iPad plus release date

Plex 9 Media Center

I don't think I've been as excited by the launch of a software application as by today's release of Plex 9. Regular followers of ScreenCastsOnline will now that I'm a bit of a media junkie and have covered both Plex (SCO0201) and more recently Boxee (SCO0236)

Both applications are free/donationware and both have killer interfaces. Boxee is probably more aimed at the Social/web side of media consumption but Plex is more suited to managing local collections of media.

Plex 9 takes that to the next level!

I won't give you a full review of the new features of Plex 9 here, you can find some in depth reviews on the web - Automated Home Reviews - Plex 9, iOS devices and video walkthrough but I'll just focus on the features that have made me so excited.

Separation of Client and Server
Plex 9 has now two components - the media server and the player. Both are installed when you install Plex 9 on a machine but they are in effect two separate components. Any Plex player, can access any Plex Media Server on the network automatically and seamlessly.

New Media Server
The media server has been completely re-written from scratch and can now act as a centralised library for media for all your Macs and iOS devices on your network. This is huge! Basically, you only need one media repository on a single Mac and then all your Plex devices can use this centralised library. No more juggling with network shares, just setup one master library and all the media, artwork, ratings, metadata, become immediately accessible via HTTP streaming to any Mac. If you want multiple libraries, this is also handled seamlessly.

Improved MetaData Collection
Wow! Just wow!

Metadata is the rich information added to your raw media files from the various online databases such as IMDB. In previous versions, it's always been a bit hit and miss. You'd add media to your library and eventually, probably, sometimes.... the metadata would get added. Very frustrating.

In Plex 9, new Agents have been created that deal with collecting and assigning metadata. They are fast and extremely accurate - the whole metadata thing is now absolutely rock solid.

iOS Device support
If this all wasn't enough, they've not only just gone and brought out a universal app for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. ($4.99 in the iTunes App Store)

On my!

Not only does it turn your iOS device into a fully featured dedicated Plex remote for any machine running Plex, it also allows you to connect to any Plex Media Server, browse your library with artwork, ratings etc, and stream the video back to your iPhone or iPad. It will even remember where you are up to if the movie is partially viewed (say on your Mac) and offer to resume from that point on the iOS device.

These are just some of the new features that make Plex 9 a game changer in the Media centre space.

I was able to get a pre-release version (OK only by 24 hours!) but in the short time that I've had a chance to play with it, it's been rock solid. The metadata improvements are a wonder to behold and the HTTP streaming and Plex Media Server discovery perform really well. The only downside is limited support for DVD's ripped into the VIDEO_TS folder format. In my own particular case, I've decided to abandon ripping Movies into Video_TS and just extract the single movie file. I'll be transferring the few remaining titles I have in this format over the next few weeks.

Unless Apple bring out something completely off the wall on Wednesday (that I might be able to cover at short notice), I'll probably do a more in-depth look at Plex 9 on this weeks ScreenCastsOnline on Friday.