iPad Jailbreaking Update ...

I may have been a bit hasty in my criticism of iPad jailbreaking yesterday as I received some comments that others had not experienced the instability that I had noticed. I can only call it as I find it, your mileage may vary.

My solution to the situation (as some of you may have already noted from my tweets yesterday) was to invest in a second iPad, one I can jailbreak and use purely for creating video tutorials. Having a second iPad may seem excessive but its a good way to keep my personal stuff and demo software separate for the show.

On a Mac it's not too difficult as you can setup multiple users to demonstrate software, even multiple drives which is the way I've approached it.

I have two drives in my MacBook Pro, an SSD drive for normal usage, and a 500GB hard drive with a separate OSX Installation. Whenever I need to record for a show, I boot off the second drive and I have a completely separate environment, email system, 1password setup, etc. So now with a "demo" iPad, I can configure that to sync with my ScreenCastsOnline demo Mac and all is well.

I ended up deciding to go for a UK 32GB WiFi and 3G model, although to be honest, I don't really need the 3G as I have my MiFi unit for internet on the go! I just figured that it would be best to have both a WiFi model and a 3G model for future proofing.

So now I have a second iPad, I can safely jailbreak that and not worry too much about the instability. As long as it doesn't crash out on me when demoing a single product, I can live with that, but even if it does require a restart now and again, no hardship!

Now the problem is, if I can get a VGA signal out of the iPad at 1024x768, how do I actually capture that into the Mac to create a high res movie?

I have a Matrox MXO2 capture box but that won't support such a low resolution - in fact, most of the modern capture cards only support SD or HD resolutions.

The only option I've found is a USB device called the VGA2USB LR from Ephihan Systems. They do a cheaper version called the VGA2USB but the LR captures at a much higher frame rate. It's not cheap at £555 plus VAT, but as luck would have it, I found someone in Australia selling one on eBay for half the price! It's now arrived in the UK but still stuck in customs.

So a fairly (very!) expensive solution to create high res iPad tutorials, but it's my living and the kit is tax deductible.

I'll let you know how it all works out!

Plan B

There's a problem with this week's show!

I can't record it.

The reason I can't record it, is I'm a bit poorly. Not dramatically poorly, just a bit.

Poorly enough, that if I was in a proper job I'd probably throw a "sickie" or "duvet day" as I've heard it called, but I'll survive.

The real problem is that I've a heavy head cold and cough which makes me sound awful. No issue with sitting in front of the Mac all day, but really, you wouldn't want to listen to me for 30 minutes and I really don't feel up to recording the necessary couple of hours of material needed to edit down to 30 minutes.

This creates a major issue for me as there is no plan B.

At least, not formally.

Each weeks show is usually recorded a couple of days before the publication day. That way I can keep things fresh and responsive, able to jump on any new developments or new software that comes out.

The downside is that there is no buffer. If there's a problem like this week, I have no fall back.

Yes, I know I should probably have a couple of shows in the can for times just like this, but I haven't - something I should address perhaps, or at least have one show in the can at all times.

I'll try and sort that out.

So what to do for this week.....

OK, so to completely contradict myself, I have a spare show... sort of!

It's not a normal show, it's a short tutorial that was commissioned by a previous sponsor of the show to put on their website for a new release of some familiar software. I completed the recording earlier this week, before getting sick. My original intention was to record a normal, Mac related show this week (important point!), publish the normal show today as usual, and then next week, publish this short iPad episode as a bonus show.

As there is no normal show today, I could either not post anything, or throw this short tutorial in the feed so you've got at least something to watch.

But there's another issue (stick with me, nearly there).

It's about some iPad software.

Not just any old iPad software, but the gorgeous new version of Things.

So where's the issue?

Well, I promised that this weeks show would be about the Mac, and that was my intention. I've previously posted that I would not go iPad crazy and as I mentioned earlier, the plan was to do a normal Mac based show this week.

I've had less than a handful of emails and tweets from viewers concerned about the lack of Mac content in the past two shows (but lets be fair, one was an iPhone show and one was the live draw for the iPad giveaway) but I always figure there are more viewers who think the same that don't reach out to let their feelings known.

What makes it worse, is the recent announcement of the months delay to the international release of the iPad. So a huge swathe of viewers can't even get the iPad, and here I am putting out another iPad related clip!

Yikes!

All things considered, I still think it's best to put something out, rather than go dark for a week.

It's still a great application and the Cultured Code guys have done a great job on rewriting Things to take advantage of the iPad. I have to say, I'm pretty delighted the way the video has turned out too.

So I'll just tie up a few loose ends and get the video finished and post it later today.

For those without iPads, I'm sorry, but at least you'll get to see some iPad software up close and personal!

ScreenCastsOnline and the iPad...

Just a couple of things for information.

I've seen a couple of tweets and had a couple of emails from people worrying if ScreenCastsOnline is going to go iPad crazy, based on the fact that the last two shows have been iPad focussed.

Absolutely not!

ScreenCastsOnline has always been (and will always be) focussed on getting the most from your Mac.

However, I see the Mac, the iPhone, the iPod touch and the iPad as parts of an ever growing Apple ecosystem that is tightly integrated. Invariably, Mac users are more likely to own some, or all of these products, and as such, it's valid that ScreenCastsOnline covers software and features that integrate across the platforms or where I see particular merit, on individual platforms. 

I've been very excited by the launch of the iPad and feel very fortunate that I was able to get my hands on one of the first ones and by doing so, felt obliged to feature the iPad in the show for the benefit of those outside of the US (and those within the US who didn't get one at launch).  My early exposure to the iPad, has only reconfirmed to me that the device represents a pivotal moment in computing, and the platform will be of huge importance as we move forward.

Whilst I appreciate that there are some people, that have no interest in the iPad (or the iPhone for that matter) , the vast majority of the ScreenCastsOnline are interested in new developments in the Apple space and look to the show for guidance and early exposure to new Apple products.

Reading back, I may be coming across a a bit defensive but that's not my intention. I've had less than a handful of comments from worried members. I just really want to put people's minds at ease that the iPad and my recent coverage does not indicate a change in emphasis in the show.  I'll still be covering the Mac in depth, but it would be foolish of me to exclude coverage of the iPhone or iPad, just because they are not strictly Macs. So expect to see the usual varied and hopefully interesting and stimulating range of topics you've come o expect from the show.

I'd probably would have had more negative responses if I'd not mentioned the iPad at all!

One slight hitch...

As you can see from the previous entry, all has gone to plan and I have my iPad.

I have to say that it's exceeded my expectations in almost every area (including weight!)

However, one thing that has caused me disappointment is that it won't play my ED (960x540) or my HD (1280x720) screencasts.

Nooooooo!!!!!!!

The good news is that it will play my iPod versions fine, but they are only 640x360 and may appear a bit "fuzzy" on the beautiful iPad screen.

I'll have to wait until next week before I can do any further investigation, but my gut feeling is that I most likely will need to create a new iPad version of the shows for members - drat!

There's probably something in the spec of the video support for the iPad that needs addressing so it's unlikely that the existing versions will ever run. If you're a ScreenCastsOnline member and want to download the iPod versions for now, just head over to the special members iTunes feeds and sign up to the iPod/iPhone feed.

Once I crack the problem with what is required to play HD versions on the iPad, I'll create a new feed for you to subscribe to.

If anyone has the time and the knowledge to work out what the problem is with the existing files and the iPad spec, I'd certainly welcome the input!

Update on Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 11:06AM by Don McAllister

I've done some further testing and found some settings that create a 1280x720 version that plays beautifully on the iPad and Mac. The HD version looks truly stunning on the iPad!

The downside is that I'm probably going to have to make new versions of the current shows and you'll have to re-download them. I'll use the new format for shows going forward so there won't be a separate feed for HD and iPad, it will still be the same feed.

It's going to take me a while to encode and upload new versions of the older shows. I'll probably have to do them in batches over the coming months. 

So if you can be patient I'll make a start on this next week.

iPad Unboxing Video

Everything went to plan and I got my iPad plus one to give away as part of the ScreenCastsOnline prize draw.

Forgot to post the unboxing video in the blog. Just checked and it's already had over 3000 views!