Month: October 2011

Posted on

Where’s me Spotlight?

I probably do have too many apps on my iPad. One of the reasons I bought a 64GB iPad was I knew there were going to be some big apps out there and I would need the space.

However one consequence of too many apps, is finding the app when you need to use it. I have to admit to not really organising my apps into folders, partly as it is such a bore to do that, but also I really don’t like the design and look of the folder icons. Also I am not sure how much they would actually help me find the app I was looking for.

So more often than not I swipe to the right from the Home screen and use Spotlight, the built in search on the iPad, to find the app I want.

So there I was on the iPad, when I wanted to quickly blog a picture that made me smile.

I decided I would use Blogsy, swiped to the right, typed Bl and it didn’t come up.

Hmmm, I thought, probably haven’t installed it on this iPad (or uninstalled it since upgrading to iOS 5). So I went to the App Store and weirdly it said it was installed.

I then went back to Spotlight and did some other searches, and nothing was coming up, no results, zip, nowt!

I did try turning off Spotlight in settings, but that had no effect, so I then did a reboot, by holding down the power switch for five seconds until the “Slide to power off” comes on and turned the iPad off.

Turning it back on again I checked and Spotlight was back!

I had just sync’d the iPad so wonder if that had caused Spotlight to fail. Generally the iPad just works for me, thought now and again I do find glitches and bugs with the operating system. Most can be fixed with a reboot though.

Posted on

I would like one of these cameras, please…

The popularity of the iPhone touch interface is inspiring manufacturers to think about camera interfaces. Here is one concept from Artefact.

Of course this isn’t a real camera, but I really like the idea of a “remote” back for the camera or as they describe it a wireless viewfinder, interchangeable lenses (aka SLR) and internet connectivity.

Will we see a camera like this? I hope so.

Artefact’s Concept Camera Page

Via jkOnTheRun

Posted on

Is this the future?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6cNdhOKwi0

I always like these videos from Microsoft on the future of “productivity” and interfaces. They say this is 5-10 years into the future….

The thing is most of us are probably still using Windows XP ten years after it was first released, I can imagine in ten years time a lot of us will still be using Windows 7 on our work machines!

I do like the concept of pushing stuff from one device to another, for me that is still a bit of a hassle even with services such as AirDrop and Dropbox. However I do wonder how easy it would be using the interfaces in the video to “accidently” push content from your device to some stranger’s device…

So is this the future?

Posted on

Apple announces iPod

Ten years ago Apple announced the iPod. Watching this video ten years later I am struck by how low key the event is and also what a risk it was for Apple to enter the portable digital music market. In some ways you could argue what a stupid decision for a computer company to make. Apple makes computers and laptops, not accessories for niche markets…

I am also struck by how different the Steve Jobs presentation style is to the ones he has done over the past few years. Ten years ago it looked like it was aimed at the people who would write about the product, sell the product and investors in the company. Whereas the presentations over recent years seemed to be aimed at the people who would actually use the product. Of course the slide presentation wasn’t done in Keynote… I believe it wasn’t even done in Powerpoint…

The iPod was really an interesting product for Apple to launch. At that time the only real player in the market was Sony with their portable CD Walkman players. Everything else on the market was very much on the fringe or niche. No one was really doing anything in that market that was really popular or mainstream. Also most of the players were very geeky, techy and ugly! Apple took a big risk when at the time their main consumer products were the iMac and the iBook.

The first iPod was, when you think about it, not really going to be a success. It was expensive, it was Mac only, it needed Firewire and there was no where to buy music, you needed to use iTunes to rip your CDS to mp3 and then transfer them across. No wonder at the time lots of people were sceptical and thought the iPod was doomed to fail.

I didn’t get one, partly as it was very expensive, I didn’t really use Macs at that point and I had a CD player!

I didn’t get an iPod until the fourth generation in 2004 (that’s me a late adopter) but wasn’t until iTunes added podcasting support in 2005 that my iPod became essential.

Of course the iPod has also changed opinions of Apple has a computer firm and many people I know when replacing their computer are replacing it with a Mac. The mainstreaming of Apple by consumers and the success of devices such as the iPhone and the iPad can be attributed to the humble iPod.

Virtually everyone I know, had an iPod and though with the iPhone, the iPad and the iPod touch, ten years later we are probably seeing the end of the traditional iPod it’s not surprising that the iPod classic is still for sale and has basically the same form factor as that first iPod released ten years ago.

So do you iPod? Which iPod was your first and what do you now do for digital music and podcasts?

Thanks to Tony Vincent for the video link.

Posted on

Insufficient Bandwidth


I really do like the speed of my fibre connection so was slightly annoyed whilst watching a programme on BBC iPlayer on my iPad to get this message.

It said that You have insufficient bandwidth to play this programme.

This was puzzling as I usually have no problems with streaming video… so off to speedtest.net and a quick test.

Well that was surprising and slightly unexpected. My usual download speed is 37Mb/s, under 7Mb/s is much slower than normal.

I did a reboot of the modem, but that another helped slightly.

The plan this morning was to turn it off for twenty minutes and see if that made a difference. However a check this morning saw that my speed was back to normal.

I don’t have an idea why the speed dropped so much, might just have been a one off, but then again it may be something else. Will test the speed later this evening and see if I get similar results.

Posted on

Compare iPhone 4S with iPhone 4

Useful video comparing speed of iPhone 4S with the iPhone 4.

I remember when I had a work 3G and I went out and got a home 3GS the speed difference was certainly very noticeable.

I am at this time tempted to upgrade my home 3GS to the 4S, mainly because of the camera, but the speed it appealing too.


Posted on

Wagamama QR Code

This is another one of those mainstream uses of QR Codes that fails to deliver for the consumer.

Regular readers of the blog will know that I have been noting where I have seen QR Codes in the mainstream, in other words in the places regular people will see and use them.

This particular QR Code was in the noodle restaurant chain of Wagamama. It was a link to make a group booking.

As with many mainstream companies the link goes to their full website and not a mobile optimised version. You have to work out which link to click…

Then you need to fill out a form.

Which is quite long and complicated and not that easy to fill in using a mobile device…

It would appear that Wagamama like a lot of companies using QR Codes are failing to realise that people who scan in QR Codes are scanning them in from their smartphones and as a result the web page they are directed to needs to be optimised for the mobile browser. Though Mobile Safari is pretty good at rendering full size websites and the browsing experience isn’t that bad, a mobile version of the full website is normally a much better experience.

A good example of how it can work better is the QR Code used on a BBC cooking programme, though the QR Code wasn’t on screen for very long!

What the Wagamama experience shows is once more that QR Codes are been used because they are “cool” and “trendy” or they are responding to advice from a “consultant” of some kind. It would appear that actual process from start to finish and when I say finish I mean going pass that initial URL that the QR Code sends you to and then trying to book, enter or whatever you are suppose to do hasn’t actually been tested or carried out by “normal” people. What might be even more worrying is that testing had actually been done and the process was considered to be “normal” and “okay” as the users hadn’t experienced anything different!

What I actually think this means that though the mobile web is here and is been used by lots of people, there are still many companies who don’t actually realise that!