iPad Photo Syncing Solution

Over the weekend I came upon a problem regarding my relative's iPad. My relative only had 500 of his 3000+ pictures in his photo library, and every time he would sync it would tell him that "Some of the picture, include PictureX.jpg, could not be synced with this iPad because they are not compatible". Well, that made no sense to me as all the pictures should have been compatible. I searched the internet for hours trying to find a solution. Some people said to delete your iPod Photo Cache, other said to remove all the pictures and re-sync them. Both of these I tried, but to no avail. When I thought I was out of option, I decided to try a fix of my own. Although impractical if it worked, it would get the job done. I rummaged through some items and pulled out our iPad Camera Connection Kit.

iPad Camera Connection Kit

Next, I took the SD card out of my camera and plugged it into the computer. It showed up on my desktop as usual. I then opened iPhoto, and dragged a bunch of pictures that were "incompatible" and placed them on the SD card under one of the folders that store other pictures. After they copied, I quickly ejected the card and plugged it into the iPad. As I expected, the card showed up and with it the "incompatible" pictures did to. I selected them, then hit import select and they were transferred to the iPad. Why no one on the internet had tried this baffles me, but it worked. My reasoning was that the iPad would read an SD card as long as it was formatted by a camera first, which it was. Then I thought, the iPad has to be able to make pictures compatible with it when they are transferred from a camera. By putting two and two together I was able to get my incompatible pictures onto my iPad.

~Dave

Flash on the iPad

No flash on the iPad. That is what you are told to believe. That is all fine and dandy, but if you look around (legally of course) there is a work around. This work around is an app called Photon Flash. Photon Flash is a web browser that allows you to stream flash to your device. The app is great in the way that it allows you to use it as a normal web browser, and when you come across flash you can activate it at any time. All you have to do is tap the lightning bolt button in the top right. The page will then reload and say "Now streaming flash content" and the flash content will be there. Since it is streaming, you won't get perfect frame rates, however it does a pretty decent job of handling flash. You can watch videos, look at ads, even play online flash games. Your games, however, may be limited since you can't make a lot of quick actions. That means you can't really play any games that need a lot of mouse movement.

Another neat aspect is that the app allows you to call upon a keyboard when ever you need. This is particularly great for playing games when you need to have to use multiple keyboard commands at once. The app does come with some stability issues, and crashes every once and a while. I would say that this is the best way to browse with flash on an iPad. For $4 you can pick this app up in the App Store.

~Dave

Apple Announcement Roundup Part 1/3

As a precursor, it did take me a day to fully understand a majority of the things announced at WWDC '11.

iOS 5

 As expected, iOS 5 was announced at WWDC, bringing a slew of new features to the boards. Apple did exactly what was speculated, and revamped the entire notification system. When I say revamped, I mean they just copied Android. If you have ever used an Android device, you know that all the events on your device are stored at the top in the drop down menu. Any time you receive a message, it can be read on the drop down menu. Tapping on it takes you to the application (messages, mail, etc.). The difference between the iPhone and iPad version though is the iPhone version has weather and stocks, which is odd because you would think with the larger screen the iPad would get the same, if not more. 

In addition, Apple introduced iMessages. Essentially, this is Black Berry Messaging for iDevices. If you own an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you can message another iDevice owner over wifi or 3G. And it is free of SMS since iPod users don't have SMS. This means that, hypothetically, if all your friends had iDevices, you could own an iPhone and message them with out having to pay for a SMS data plan. Also, when you first send a text to someone, your device will check and see if the number you are texting is an iDevice with iMessages. If it is, your send button will turn blue, and your contact for that person will update so you know that he/she owns an iDevice. If not, the send button is green, and nothing is updated in the contacts.

Apple didn't stop there though, they went further with the new Reminders application. Reminders is a simple little to-do list application. It allows you to add to-dos, check them off, and update them. They are also synced with Outlook, iCal, and iCloud (which will be talked about later). You can even set locations for each to-do, so you know where you have to go to get the reminder done.

Apple also jumped on the social networking trend by adding full Twitter integration into iOS 5. You can add as many accounts as you want, and it fully integrated into the new messaging system, as well as all the applications. This makes it easy to tweet photos, information, and more at the tap of a screen. You can also add your location if you want. 

But wait, there's more! Apple has added the ability to take a picture from your lock screen. This is suppose to save the user time when getting his/her camera ready. However, as far as I can tell this circumvents the reason you have a lock screen. If you activate the camera, it unlocks the device, therefore undoing the purpose of having the lock screen, which is to keep your device locked. A nifty addition they added to the camera was the ability to take pictures by pressing the volume buttons. This is suppose to make it easier to take pictures, as before the only way was to tap on the screen. Another feature added was minimal ways to edit your pictures. You can crop, and remove read eye from with the application.

Post PC Activation.

Other additions include the ability to use Reader in Safari, and the ability to utilize the new Reading List within Safari. Reading list allows you to add a page to a list which you can then "read later". Plus, there is also the ability to activate your device without having to connect to iTunes. As it is now said, "We live in a post PC world, where not everyone owns a PC." For this reason, you can now activate your device out the box, and have it ready to go in minutes without having to sync and connect to iTunes. Also, there was the addition of rich text formatting for mail, wireless mirroring for iPads to TV, Wireless syncing, and a Game Center update which allows pictures to be added to your friends, as well as in app game purchases.

This post is part of a three part update so that all the parts of the event can be covered. 

~Dave

New Apple Store 2.0

Image credit of macstories

 The brand new Apple Store is out, and it has iPads.... lots of iPads. To help aid the potential customer in choosing products Apple has provided them with a iPad that has a special program on it. The special program will show you everything from specs to pricing. This doesn't get rid of the employees, but it does  make the need for them a little less. This also saves paper since there is a digital display that can be updated at any time. Not only is this great for potential customers, but it also sets the potential customer up to want to buy more then one product. Prior to this, Apple had little slabs that had the specs and pricing printed on it. By replacing that with an iPad, customers end up using two devices instead of one; thus, the possibility that they will sell two devices at once it higher. It is a brilliant marketing technique, and I wouldn't be surprised if other stores start copying this too. 

You can call over a specialist using the new iPads on display

Even your iPads get iPads so you can learn about your iPad.

~Dave

iPad 2 Announced

Yesterday Apple came out and pushed the industry forward once again. Although not all the enhancements in the iPad 2 are new to the industry, the way they are utilized is. Let's get the specs on this new product. We start of with a dual core A5 processor, the next generation CPU that apple has produced. It is two times faster then the A4. In addition, they have added a front and back facing camera. This allows for facetime between devices as well as with iPhones. In addition to these examples, there are a slew of small, but big, improvements.
Overall the iPad 2 keeps the same 10 hour battery life, which is quite amazing when you think about it. Plus, the device is 33% thinner and 15% lighter then the last iPad, making it even more impressive that it can go 10 hours.

Image taken from Engadget.com

In the above picture you can see the iPad 2 compared to an iPhone 4, that is how thin it is. It is crazy to think about.
Another addition to the iPad 2, and one of may favorites, is the "Smart Cover" technology. This technology is quite amazing. Apple has invented a cover which attaches to the iPad magnetically. The cover not only covers the screen, but also has a micro fiber cloth on the inside to keep dust off the screen. In addition, when you remove the cover, the iPad 2 will detect that you are removing the cover and turn the screen on. This saves you time, not that you need that, to get to your work quicker.

Flip up the screen to turn the screen on.

The screen also acts as a stand for when typing and for when you are watching movies. You just roll it up into a triangle and you are ready to go.
The iPad now incorporates face time into the mix of features. It can now make video calls to other iPads, and iPhones. Keep in mind that face time only works if you have a wifi connection.
Finally, the iPad 2 has the ability to connect to a TV screen using an HDMI cable. Not only that, but you can do it in full 1080P and the TV will mimic the rotation of your iPad. Although this might set you back a couple more dollars, it is worth it if you are a teacher or a businessman who gives presentations.
Well, that about raps it up. The iPad 2 comes in 16,32, or 64 GB versions. Each can be put on either the AT&T network or Verizon. There is also a wifi version. The pricing remains the same as the last iPad.

~Dave