There's an app for that

Are you a trucker or a cheating spouse or a...? There's an app for that!

In my mind; it is hard to imagine going to Motel 6 so often that I would want an app for it, unless I was a..."

EPUB vs. PDF on a Mobile Device

Focusing on the iPad and iPhone, EPUB is only one of the two formats Apple's iBooks application supports. The other is Portable Document Format (PDF). PDF is an open standard for document exchange. PDF was created by Adobe Systems in 1993. PDF is used for representing two-dimensional (2D) documents in a manner independent of the application software, hardware, and operating system. Each PDF file encapsulates a complete description of a fixed-layout 2D document that includes the text, fonts, images, and 2D vector graphics, which compose the documents. Lately, 3D drawings can also be embedded in PDF documents.



Image: PDF on an iPhone (Click image to enlarge.)

PDF is designed to reproduce page images. PDF text traditionally could not be re-flowed to fit the screen width or size. As a result PDF files designed for printing on standard paper sizes are less easily viewed on screens with limited size or resolution, such as those found on mobile phones and PDAs. Adobe has addressed this by adding a re-flow facility to its Acrobat Reader software, but for this to work the document must be marked for re-flowing at creation, which means that existing PDF documents will not benefit unless they are tagged and resaved.

PDF documents can be read on an iPad. That is great for access to legacy and transitional documents. But, if you are hoping to have your eBook reach a larger audience, consider EPUB.



Image: EPUB on an iPhone (Click image to enlarge.)

A great source for much of this post and recommended reading is Elizabeth Castro's great book, EPUB Straight to the Point: Creating ebooks for the Apple iPad and other ereaders, published by Peachpit Press in both print and electronic editions.

My eBook cookbook for making eBooks

Using Sigil, a free EPUB editor, to make an eBook

What is Sigil?
According to the Sigil Website, "Sigil is a multi-platform WYSIWYG ebook editor. It is designed to edit books in ePub format." Yes, it is all that, and it's free!

Why would you want to make an eBook?
Well, imagine being able to do a course reader, documentation, a family history or that novel you have been wanting to write (and have no publisher for) and being able to distribute it yourself to the world in a format that can be legibly read by almost all computers, tablets, iPads, eBook readers (except Kindle) and smart phones including iPhone, Android and Blackberry.

Why would I make an eBook about how to use a computer to make eBooks?
Because it can be hard use your computer to read an online Website about how to do something with your computer, when you are trying to use that computer to do that something. Now you can use your iPhone, Android or Blackberry, iPad or other device (except Kindle) to read the cookbook.

Here are links to my eBook Cookbook and to some Sigil and EPUB resources:

• My eBook EPUB Sigil Cookbook
• Sigil download Website
• Sigil Tutorial
• Sigil Documentation
• Adobe Digital Editions, free software for reading EPUB documents on your desktop or laptop computer
• Elizabeth Castro's great book, EPUB Straight to the Point: Creating ebooks for the Apple iPad and other ereaders

Comments and corrections are greatly appreciated and can be emailed to me at s_sloan@mac.com or posted here on this blog post.

Google introducing new photo format for Web

According to a post on Mashable by Jolie O'Dell, "Google is introducing a new format for images: WebP." O'Dell goes on to say:

Images on the web in this format will have smaller file sizes, load faster and relieve a lot of overclocked networks. They won’t necessarily look better — WebP images are as “glossy” as JPEGs — but the files might be around 40% smaller than JPEG files. [Read More]

If Google can convince browser manufacturers and Web designers to support this format this could be a big benefit to folks downloading graphics over cell connections, especially as carriers have been stepping away from unlimited service plans.

Tablets to outsell eReaders

Flipboard on an iPad. Tablets do a lot more than eReaders and folks seem to get that!
Click on photo to enlarge.

According to James Kendrick on Gigaom:

Tablets that serve multiple purposes are going to see tremendous growth according to UK analyst firm Informa Telecoms and Media, as consumers choose them over dedicated e-readers such as Amazon’s Kindle. Tablet sales are projected to hit 50 million by 2014, a whopping increase of over 1200 percent over the 3.65 million to be sold this year. [Read More]

As more people have them and use them. Thanks to great device specific applications and Twitter as a content streaming and shaping tool, I predict the emergence of these devices as a whole new tech tool will really be understood and appreciated.

Change in Microsoft mobile leadership

As the mobile device sector has been growing leaps and bounds Microsoft reportedly has been left behind in this increasingly critical market space. According to a post by Gavin Clarke in the Register, "When consumer gadgets were flying off the shelves last Christmas, Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices (E&D) unit actually saw sales drop — by 10 per cent."

Now, according to Clarke, "having repeatedly downplayed these problems, E&D president Robbie Bach is now quitting after 22 years with Microsoft, and chief executive Steve Ballmer is taking control of E&D."

According to Clarke, "earlier this year, insiders said that Windows Phone 7 (the Microsoft Phone OS that compete's with the iPhone and Google Android OS) would be lopped from E&D and folded into the main Windows and Windows Live Group under Windows 7 rising star and Ballmer favorite Steven Sinofsky." [Read More]

Will iPad world be dominated by native or Web apps?

It is too soon to tell
It has not (yet) been resolved, the device is too new and frankly the killer 3G version has not yet been shipped. It is not known whether native apps (iPhone type apps developed using Objective C and Cocoa) or Web apps (like Google Docs and Calendar) will dominate in the iPad world.

A lot of folks are assuming that iPad utilization will be like IPhone utilization with folks using native apps predominately on the iPad, like folks do on the iPhone today. I think this will be the case in the short term, as these devices are viewed as big iPhones in the iPhone paradigm.

I am not sure that is the case for the long term, though. Just because the device runs the iPhone OS does not mean these are iPhones. Perhaps the iPhone paradigm will dominate when the devices are used for content consumption (like books, movies and the like.)

But, I also suspect you are going to see more folks using these devices as thin clients in a cloud computing model. The larger screen enables much more functionality for using Web applications in the cloud (with local caching, like Google Gears.) Ubiquitous connectivity using 3G + WiFi makes it practical.

That is why I am waiting for the 3G model. Comparing an iPad with WiFi to one with 3G to me is like comparing an iPhone to an iPod touch. In my opinion, it will not be long before a WiFi only iPad is considered pretty lame.

If you want to develop for the iPad I suggest HTML, CSS, Javascript and in the long term; HTML5.

iPad in a Blender

Click here to view video

Will it blend?
I have long been a fan of Blendtech's "Will It Blend" Videos. The first one that caught my eye was when they blended an iPod. Well, they have blended many things since then! Of course they wasted no time testing their super powerful blenders on one of Apple's new iPads.

Buyer beware!

Philz Music Moment

Philz Coffee is one of my favorite hangouts near SJSU. This evening as I walked by there after yoga I couldn't help but notice they now have music. I grabbed a snap with my iPhone. The place has been crowded with students preparing for finals.

Are palmtops getting as powerful as laptops?

According to a New York Times post by Saul Hansell, "Cellphones are growing up, and they just might pose a new threat to the Intel-Microsoft based personal computers." Hansell goes on to say:

Coming by the end of this year are a new crop of small inexpensive notebook computers, known as netbooks, based on the ARM microprocessor design and running one of several versions of Linux, including perhaps Google’s Android cellphone operating system.

Of course Moores law applies across the whole spectrum as palmtops (phones) get more powerful, so too will laptops and desktops. The palmtop of tomorrow will be as powerful as the laptop of today, but the laptop of tomorrow will be even more powerful.

Technorati Tags: Palmtops, ssloansjca

Is Apple considering a Kindle killer?

As we approach MacWorld there is a credible rumor that Apple may be considering a super-sized version of the iPod Touch. Such a device could have a disruptive effect on both the newspaper and book market. If you increase the size of an iPod touch by 50-100% you have an easy to read video and audio capable device with about the dimensions of a paperback book.

This is such a natural I am amazed they have not done it sooner. The Apple store would be such a fantastic distribution medium for books readable on such a device, not to mention videos.

I would hope such a device would have text-to-speech mechanism to offer just in time transcription of printed material.

Barnes and Noble as well as Amazon could go the way of the daily newspaper. Audiobooks.com would also be hurt.

Like it or not, this could be the beginning of the end for paper books and be the final nail in the coffin of newspapers!

Technorati Tags: Apple, ssloansjca

Easy Wi-Fi for SJSU Wireless

A company called Devicescape has created an iPhone application that is really, really cool. It is called Easy Wi-Fi and it works great on our not so easy SJSU wireless network. UPDATE --> This program is also available for Macs and PCs!

What does this program do?
Simple, think about how you have to log onto the campus network. Assuming your computer finds the SJSU wireless network you then have to open your iPhone web browser. Then, you enter in your SJSUOne user name and password user credentials. It is that part that is the pain, because with a hand held device like an iPhone you have to do the two finger zoom thing and then type in your user credentials. That is a real annoyance.

To add to this annoyance if you make a mistake, your log-in session times out, your device goes to sleep and/or you roam to another wireless access point you have to repeat the process. This where Devicescape's Easy Wi-Fi comes in.

This little three dollar iPhone app has settings for tons of wireless networks in the country including SJSU's.

UPDATE --> This program is also available free for Macs and PCs and costs $1.99 for iPhone and iPodtouch! (That is cheap and well worth it. It works great @ SJSU.)

Here is how it works. You enter in your user credentials into the application then it, and not your web browser, logs onto the SJSU wireless network. (Yes, you will have to change your password in Devicescape's Easy Wi-Fi software when you change your SJSUOne password.)

It just works! It makes it look like our wireless network is an open network. It transparently mymicks how a Web browser works and it is very cool. The most publicized use for this product is using it for logging onto ATT Wi-Fi at Starbuck's. This is fine but I am at work a lot more than I am at Starbucks!

This is the first iPhone app I paid money for. They have versions for PC's, and Macs available as well. I have not tested these. UPDATE ---> I have tested it on Macs and it works great!

More is on their Web site. This could make a lot of people at SJSU's lives easier. UPDATE --->This will make a lot of people at SJSU's lives easier.

This is a killer app!!!!

Technorati Tags: iphone, sjsu, San Jose State University, devicescape, Easy Wi-Fi, Apple, ssloansjca

Top iPhone Apps for 2008

According to MobileCrunch;

With most of 2008 and right around 10,000 applications behind them, Apple has released a series of lists outlining which applications scored the most downloads since the App Store’s launch back in July.

Check this out you might find something unexpected!

Will Twitter Transcend Facebook?

Dale Larson wrote an interesting blog post on the rise of Twitter and its position versus other social networking platforms like Facebook. Larson writes:

The moment I was introduced to Twitter, my eyes got big. I saw something simple, different and open. It was already evolving through user behavior and through the addition of connecting services. It could be a kind of underlying protocol, the hub of an ecosystem, not a stand alone website.

To me it is just not the openness of Twitter that is so inviting and absorbing, it is its adaptability. Twitter works with so many platforms and devices. It is ubiquitous.

Microsoft Windows Azure

Microsoft's new OS for cloud computing

According to Wikipedia, "Windows Azure is the name of the upcoming cloud-based operating system ("cloud" is a metaphor for the Internet) being developed by Microsoft, announced by Ray Ozzie at the Microsoft PDC on October 27, 2008.

Microsoft's Web site for Azure says, "The Azure Services Platform provides a wide range of internet services that can be consumed from both on-premises environments or the internet."

Google, and the range of Google applications, have long pointed out that the future of software is the cloud. Empowered by always on portable connected devices, like the iPhone and the Android mobile device platform. Phones and portable computers are merging into a mobile computing platform that is neither a mere phone nor a laptop computer and is more than both. Wired together, using high speed telcom technologies like 3G, and using real-time Web technologies like Jabber and Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP). The Web is becoming more synchronous and cloud computing is a huge part of that.

Installing software is increasingly becoming a thing of the past. There will be no need. Our applications will be in the cloud! All users will need to do is to be there. The good news is they will be. They already are.

It will be interesting to see where Microsoft goes with Azure. Educators need to watch this type of technology. It will likely be mainstream by the time today's freshmen graduate. If we are not there, where will our students be? We gotta get our heads beyond e-mail and Web pages and into and wrapped around; the cloud.

Technorati Tags: Windows, Microsoft, azure, android, iPhone, Cloud Computing, j-school, ssloansjca

Google expands mobile news platform

New Google G1 (way more than a) Phone

The future is increasingly mobile, increasingly pervasively connected computing. The new Google G1 has been released. It joins the iPhone and other similar devices that provide an Internet delivery system using standard Web protocols, independent of Wi-Fi networks. You can expect almost everybody to have such devices in about 24-months, given the rate people replace their phones.

This technology is providing a medium to deliver compelling content to everybody all the time. Since these devices are increasingly aware of their physical location, thanks to integrated GPS, this opens up all kinds of new and interesting ways for journalists to deliver content.

Thanks to "easy access to all Google Applications" these devices really leverage the power of Cloud Computing and in my opinion they should be thought of as hand-held computers and not mere phones or mere PDAs.

[Device Specs]

Technorati Tags: Google, gphone, Android, ssloansjca

Androids are coming

Android Developer Contest Winners Announced

Remember Android?
Android was announced an Internet eternity ago on November 5, 2007. According to Wikipedia, "Android is a software platform and operating system for mobile devices based on the Linux operating system and developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance. Google has pledged to make most of the Android platform available under the Apache free-software and open-source license, once it is released in 2008." Android has been heralded as an open source alternative to Apple's iPhone platform.

Well, we are approaching Q4 of 2008. There was a contest, called the Android Developer Challenge, to design applications for this platform. Does the Android platform measure up to the iPhone platform? Let's look at some of the winners of that contest.

Technorati Tags: iphone, gphone, Apple, ssloansjca

Wireless Ping Pong Problems at SJSU

Tech Tips: Are you having problems with having to login constantly over and over to our SJSU Wireless Network even though you are not moving? Maybe you have a ping pong problem.

This is an issue that has been reported. We have not been informed that an easy solution is currently available.

Reportedly, the problem is worst in areas that have multiple access points. Wireless networks use radio. When you have two access points that overlap in an area, the access point that has the strongest signal is the one a computer will choose to use. This process is called "association." Because of all the variability of radio, the access point with the strongest signal can change over time. The computer associates with one, then associates with another and then goes back to the first again. When a computer sees a stronger signal it will change the access point it associates with. This can happen over and over again, a process called ping ponging.

Association has nothing to do with SJSUOne. Association is a radio thing. Client computers associate automatically with little ability for us or a client to control it. Association means the computer is talking to an access point.

Association should not be confused with "authentication". Authentication is what you do when you sign in to use the wireless network using your SJSUOne password. Authentication is an SJSUOne thing. Authentication is not the same as association.

Authentication is the process by which a computer gains access to the Comcast network and from there, the Internet. A user computer automatically associates with an access point and then the access point provides an interface with which a user authenticates using his/her SJSUOne credentials. A user is then authenticated to that access point and can access the Internet. This relationship with that access point lasts until either the user ends the session or the user's computer loses association with that particular access point. User authentication does not roam between access points. So, each time a user's computer reassociates the user has to reauthenticate. Ping-ponging forces a user to have to reauthenticate over and over again.

There is not much we can do about it from this SJSU Help Desk. If this is a recurring problem we need to know as much information as possible about when the problem is occuring, where it is ocurring, and how many people are around using the wireless network when it is occurring and what type(s) of computers are being used. Location should be as specific as possible. Is it the whole room that is having a problem, or just parts of a room? Is it happening when something else, like a microwave is turned on? We need details! We can then forward that information to Comcast to see if they can engineer a solution.

Please send the specific details in an e-mail to:

helpdesk@sjsu.edu

Need more help? Call 408/924-2377 or send the specific details of your issue in an e-mail to:

helpdesk@sjsu.edu

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca

iPhone 3G playing catch up?

Is the iPhone 3G behind the times?

Mitchell Ashley, of Network World, brings up some valid points about the new 3G iPhone here is just one example:

Wasn't it the Mac and Lisa that brought the concept of cut/copy/paste out of the Xerox labs and into the hands of computer users all over the world? Thought so. How'd that get left off the iPhone 1.0 and 2.0 software versions. That one's hard to fathom.

As I said, these are valid points. The one that bugs me the most about the iPhone is the lack of an interchangable battery. Still, I hope to get one, what it does do well, in my opinion, it does do very well. Plus, I think the just under $200 price point is attractive. But, I also think there is still room for improvement.

Technorati Tags: apple, 3G iPhone, ssloansjca

3G iPhone and SJSU

The 3G iPhone and SJSU

The new iPhone should be great for members of our campus community. What do I like best about the new 3G iPhone? I like that it is fast without relying on our SJSU wireless network. I have an iPod Touch which is like an iPhone without the phone. The iPod Touch is an iPhone like Apple device that relies on wireless Wi-Fi networks for Internet access. The iPod Touch, like iPhones and most other portable devices, is a pain to use on Wi-Fi wireless networks that rely on authentication, like ours does. These devices seem especially painful to use with our SJSUOne system. Sometimes they plain do not work. The old iPhones, at least, did not rely on our Wi-Fi network for Internet access. The old iPhones were slower when used for Internet access without using our wireless network, but unlike our wireless network, the old iPhones worked. Now that will not be an issue.

Thank you Apple (and AT&T) for making this new iPhone work so well, and so fast, without ever having to log onto SJSUOne to get to the Internet or ever having to use our funky SJSUOne based wireless Wi-Fi network at all! I think many people will really appreciate that like I do.

This is the iPhone I have been waiting for. My Treo's days are numbered!

Technorati Tags: apple, 3G iPhone, ssloansjca