GPS navigation firm Navigon, which offers a wide range of turn-by-turn navigation applications for the iPhone, has posted a new video showing how its applications can take advantage of the multitasking capabilities of Apple's forthcoming iOS 4.
In the video, Navigon's Bernd Hahn demonstrates how a user can quickly switch to Safari to look up information and easily return to their navigation application. As an additional example, Hahn demonstrates how to accept an incoming call while in the Navigon application, allowing voice guidance to continue in the background during the call. Upon call termination, the Navigon application automatically comes back to the foreground and full navigation resumes.
Multitasking will be support on the iPhone 3GS and third-generation iPod touch with the launch of iOS 4 next Monday, June 21st. Apple's iPhone 4, launch on June 24th, will obviously also offer iOS 4 with multitasking support.
Friday, June 18, 2010
iPhone 4 Orders Being 'Prepared for Shipment' reposted by Andre Di Cioccio
Many of those who have been obsessively checking their order status at the U.S. Apple online store have seen their order status move from Not Shipped to "Prepared for Shipment". Due to the massive volume of pre-orders, Apple will likely start shipments early but ask the shipper (FedEx or UPS) to hold the package at the destination warehouse in order to time simultaneous delivery on June 24th.
Meanwhile, customers who ordered their iPhone 4 from AT&T have seen some early credit card charges and they are organizing in this discussion thread.
Finally, those who are planning on camping our or meeting up at their local Apple Stores or AT&T stores can participate in our Meetup forum where users are posting threads by location. The demand for the iPhone 4 seems particularly high so getting one on day number one will be difficult without a pre-order or arriving early to stand in line.
Useful forum links:
- The U.K. iPhone 4 Thread
- iPhone 4 Order Goes from Not Shipped to Prepared for Shipment
- AT&T Order Status Thread
- iPhone 4 Launch Meetup Forum
Meanwhile, customers who ordered their iPhone 4 from AT&T have seen some early credit card charges and they are organizing in this discussion thread.
Finally, those who are planning on camping our or meeting up at their local Apple Stores or AT&T stores can participate in our Meetup forum where users are posting threads by location. The demand for the iPhone 4 seems particularly high so getting one on day number one will be difficult without a pre-order or arriving early to stand in line.
Useful forum links:
- The U.K. iPhone 4 Thread
- iPhone 4 Order Goes from Not Shipped to Prepared for Shipment
- AT&T Order Status Thread
- iPhone 4 Launch Meetup Forum
My Facebook Beta Tester Questions - reposted by Andre Di Cioccio
Facebook recently started allowing users to test beta features of Facebook through a simple application process. Users just enter three questions, which they then answer, and then submit. So I decided to take a crack at it and see what happened. Here are my questions. Feel free to comment and debate. I'll ping whether I get in or not. (Disclaimer: Please remember that some of this stuff is just rambling; the answers to these questions are not necessarily true, which is why they are here open to debate.)
What has happened to this (my) generation's music?
When you observe music trends over the decades, especially in the past century, you find that music has always fluctuated mildly depending on the age, influence, and other contributing factors of the times. For example, when Buffalo Springfield played "For What It's Worth", they were heavily influenced by the peace movements that had conquered America during the Vietnam War. And even those peace movements only occurred because of the influence of television and popular media, which made the Vietnam War publicly viewable. With this in mind, rather than ask what has happened to today's music, you should ask what has influenced today's music.
So, what has influenced today's era of music? In my opinion, it has to do with the growing realm of technology and electronic social networking that has stormed our generation by force. Children and teens spend more time online than ever, and chances are artists spend time online as well. (This can be observed through the increase in digitally-edited and manipulated, or Photoshopped, artwork.) From this influence of technology, the teen mind has been fundamentally altered: attention spans have shrunken and teen relationships have shortened accordingly along with other similar effects. Dealing specifically with the latter, relationships have grown much shorter as teens, specifically boys, have not been able to focus on one girl for an extended amount of time. This has led to teen girls striving for more intimate relationships that they cannot get from teen boys who have yet to mature. (This would explain why many teen girls expose themselves and earn the nickname "slut": because they long for the attention from teen boys that has been slowly diminishing.)
So to summarize: teens like technology, have shorter attention spans and teen girls long for love and more intimate relationships. Well, what is pop music? Songs that usually have to do with love, are short, and are sometimes manipulated electronically to give them a technology-like sound. Naturally, with the matchup of these three characteristics, teens love to listen to pop music, which is why we have seen an increase in this type of music. Please note that this entire explanation does not affect all teens: there are still many people who do not have shorter attention spans and do not experience these same effects, which is why many kids still like rock music (like myself).
What is the problem with America's high schools?
Well, the problem with high schools originates from colleges themselves. When a high school student applies to college, the colleges look for quantifiable information, such as test scores and advanced classes, to measure which students are up to par. Because of this system, many colleges do not take into account the fact that many students learn things outside of tests and advanced classes, even outside of school. High schools have noticed this trend, and in an attempt to get their students into better colleges, have focused on test scores and other quantifiable information. With students no longer focused on actually learning, the system corrupts. (Contrary to popular belief, it has nothing to do with politicians wanting to improve their reputation by showing how awesome the schools are when they do great on tests; politicians are well aware that parents and students alike know tests are completely useless, and that making students get good test grades will not increase their reputation.)
Another problem with the system is the lack of teacher-student and student-student academic relationships. Dealing with the former specifically, students regard teachers as an authority figure, or somebody who will issue commands that the student "must" follow. Since teens are often in a type of rebellious phase when in high school, and since most work teachers give tend to be boring and test-oriented (as explained above), students naturally go against what their teacher says, primarily by not doing homework, not paying attention in class, and overall thinking they are too good to pay attention. The high school system needs to portray teachers as friends and peers, while still maintaining some level of authority. This means teachers should give one or two large mandatory assignments followed by three or four optional assignments. If the student does not do the mandatory assignments, a major penalty is taken out on their grade, but if they do not do the optional assignments, then they will just see a drop in their grade when they do bad on tests that specifically have to do with material on the optional assignments.
Also missing are student-student academic relationships. Sure, everybody has friends that they hang out with, but how often do you find two students tutoring each other outside of school, and doing so in a productive and serious manner? Some type of collaborative system needs to be set up so students can reach out to their friends for homework help and other assistance. The current major blockage to this system is the fact that many students are glued to the computer before, during, and after the completion of homework. If there was an online system specifically dedicated to facilitating academic student-student relationships, the students could set up a support system that, in the long run, would help them out. (In addition, teachers could give out more collaborative projects and presentations rather than individual homework and classwork.)
Which is better: object-oriented or procedural programming?
Well, the fact is that both have their advantages and disadvantages. In most cases, object-oriented is probably the better choice. This has to do with the fact that object-oriented programming follows the trend of electronics and computing itself: AND and OR gates are abstracted into machine code, which is abstracted into assembly language, and so on. Object-oriented programming follows this trend by abstracting different aspects of the program so they can be dealt with on a higher level, a level that is easier to understand and easier to expand.
However, object-oriented programs are usually harder to debug because you are no longer dealing with a few files that can be referenced by line. Different objects will be referring to different functions in different files on different lines. A stack trace on a simple error could yield an output longer than Richard Stallman's opinion on proprietary software. Furthermore, there are a lot of programs that so simple that object-oriented programming is simply not practical.
What has happened to this (my) generation's music?
When you observe music trends over the decades, especially in the past century, you find that music has always fluctuated mildly depending on the age, influence, and other contributing factors of the times. For example, when Buffalo Springfield played "For What It's Worth", they were heavily influenced by the peace movements that had conquered America during the Vietnam War. And even those peace movements only occurred because of the influence of television and popular media, which made the Vietnam War publicly viewable. With this in mind, rather than ask what has happened to today's music, you should ask what has influenced today's music.
So, what has influenced today's era of music? In my opinion, it has to do with the growing realm of technology and electronic social networking that has stormed our generation by force. Children and teens spend more time online than ever, and chances are artists spend time online as well. (This can be observed through the increase in digitally-edited and manipulated, or Photoshopped, artwork.) From this influence of technology, the teen mind has been fundamentally altered: attention spans have shrunken and teen relationships have shortened accordingly along with other similar effects. Dealing specifically with the latter, relationships have grown much shorter as teens, specifically boys, have not been able to focus on one girl for an extended amount of time. This has led to teen girls striving for more intimate relationships that they cannot get from teen boys who have yet to mature. (This would explain why many teen girls expose themselves and earn the nickname "slut": because they long for the attention from teen boys that has been slowly diminishing.)
So to summarize: teens like technology, have shorter attention spans and teen girls long for love and more intimate relationships. Well, what is pop music? Songs that usually have to do with love, are short, and are sometimes manipulated electronically to give them a technology-like sound. Naturally, with the matchup of these three characteristics, teens love to listen to pop music, which is why we have seen an increase in this type of music. Please note that this entire explanation does not affect all teens: there are still many people who do not have shorter attention spans and do not experience these same effects, which is why many kids still like rock music (like myself).
What is the problem with America's high schools?
Well, the problem with high schools originates from colleges themselves. When a high school student applies to college, the colleges look for quantifiable information, such as test scores and advanced classes, to measure which students are up to par. Because of this system, many colleges do not take into account the fact that many students learn things outside of tests and advanced classes, even outside of school. High schools have noticed this trend, and in an attempt to get their students into better colleges, have focused on test scores and other quantifiable information. With students no longer focused on actually learning, the system corrupts. (Contrary to popular belief, it has nothing to do with politicians wanting to improve their reputation by showing how awesome the schools are when they do great on tests; politicians are well aware that parents and students alike know tests are completely useless, and that making students get good test grades will not increase their reputation.)
Another problem with the system is the lack of teacher-student and student-student academic relationships. Dealing with the former specifically, students regard teachers as an authority figure, or somebody who will issue commands that the student "must" follow. Since teens are often in a type of rebellious phase when in high school, and since most work teachers give tend to be boring and test-oriented (as explained above), students naturally go against what their teacher says, primarily by not doing homework, not paying attention in class, and overall thinking they are too good to pay attention. The high school system needs to portray teachers as friends and peers, while still maintaining some level of authority. This means teachers should give one or two large mandatory assignments followed by three or four optional assignments. If the student does not do the mandatory assignments, a major penalty is taken out on their grade, but if they do not do the optional assignments, then they will just see a drop in their grade when they do bad on tests that specifically have to do with material on the optional assignments.
Also missing are student-student academic relationships. Sure, everybody has friends that they hang out with, but how often do you find two students tutoring each other outside of school, and doing so in a productive and serious manner? Some type of collaborative system needs to be set up so students can reach out to their friends for homework help and other assistance. The current major blockage to this system is the fact that many students are glued to the computer before, during, and after the completion of homework. If there was an online system specifically dedicated to facilitating academic student-student relationships, the students could set up a support system that, in the long run, would help them out. (In addition, teachers could give out more collaborative projects and presentations rather than individual homework and classwork.)
Which is better: object-oriented or procedural programming?
Well, the fact is that both have their advantages and disadvantages. In most cases, object-oriented is probably the better choice. This has to do with the fact that object-oriented programming follows the trend of electronics and computing itself: AND and OR gates are abstracted into machine code, which is abstracted into assembly language, and so on. Object-oriented programming follows this trend by abstracting different aspects of the program so they can be dealt with on a higher level, a level that is easier to understand and easier to expand.
However, object-oriented programs are usually harder to debug because you are no longer dealing with a few files that can be referenced by line. Different objects will be referring to different functions in different files on different lines. A stack trace on a simple error could yield an output longer than Richard Stallman's opinion on proprietary software. Furthermore, there are a lot of programs that so simple that object-oriented programming is simply not practical.
Friday, June 4, 2010
iPad Tips and Tricks: Some Tricks of the iPad Trade Part 4 reposted by Andre Di Cioccio
Welcome back to some more Tricks of the iPad Trade. On deck today are some tips and tricks that deal with typing on the iPad, viewing movies, slideshows, and more.
Learn how to copy and paste paragraphs
If you are doing a research paper, or want to email a blurb from a news article to a friend, you will likely have to copy and paste a paragraph. You don’t want to do this the slow and manual way, and the iPad allows for a quicker solution. Find the paragraph you want and tap on it four times. You now have the entire paragraph ready to be sent.
Take advantage of the iPad’s excellent keyboard
If you have used touch-screen phones in the past, you know that they are sometimes not the most accurate when it comes to typing. Some may register your input slowly, and others have the keys spaced too closely to one another. The iPad, however, is much better than this. You can type in a speedy manner using the iPad’s on-screen keyboard without having to worry about slow response time thanks to the iPad’s Apple A4 processor. The iPad’s large screen also allows for better keyboard real estate so your fingers won’t feel crammed while typing.
Go wide with movies
The iPad is a viable source for watching movies too. When you watch them, however, you want to make sure you get the most out of the viewing experience. Not all movies are the same, but some might look better in a widescreen format. You can enable this option by simply going to Settings>Video. From there select the Widescreen option, and you are good to go.
Jump to the top of websites in a flash
If you are on a web page that is particularly long and you want to get back to the top, you want to do so in the quickest manner possible. To scroll all the way back to the top is not only tiring, but it is a waste of time too. On the iPad, you can get to the top of a website by just tapping the top of the title window twice. Doing this will shoot you right to the top, without any hassle.
Don’t let a locked screen stop you from viewing photos
Even if you have your iPad locked, you can still view your favorite photos on the device. If you do not have any photos currently on the iPad, you will obviously not see this option. Once you do have a photo, though, you can enable a slideshow on the iPad while it’s locked. To achieve this, on the unlock screen select the option to start a slideshow, and you can now view your photos. If you want to customize the speed of the slides and how fast they change, you can do so by adjusting the slide timing under Settings.
The iPad tips and tricks have not run out yet, so stay tuned for more in Part 5 of this series.
iPad Tips and Tricks: Some Tricks of the iPad Trade Part 5 reposted by Andre Di Cioccio
Here are some more iPad tips and tricks to add to your everyday arsenal. Up next are some methods to help you when it comes to battery life on the iPad, handling pesky email chimes, maximizing storage for your music, and USB usage.
Maximize your iPad’s battery
If you tote your iPad around town a lot, or are a frequent traveler, battery life is of the utmost importance. One great feature of the iPad is that its battery can go strong for around ten hours, but you can maximize its life by performing a few simple steps. Of course, some of these will take away from the fun factor of the iPad, but you can do them while you are not actually using the device and they should help its battery life.
- avoid playing games on the iPad
- turn off any videos that are playing
- disable Wi-Fi
- disable Bluetooth
- lower the display’s brightness as much as possible
Cram your music in iTunes
Music nuts will want to store as many songs as they can on their iPad. While it should have plenty of music storage for most users, you never know how carried away some people can get when it comes to music. If you are one of these music fanatics, there is a way to compress your music files to get the most out of your storage. To compress your music files, go into iTunes. The iTunes summary will give you an option to convert all of your songs to the 128kbps format automatically. Once you enable this, your songs will become more “storage-friendly” and you will be able to store more music on the iPad.
Use USB wisely
The iPad can be a bit picky when it comes to USB. Some USB docks will not work with the iPad. You could be sitting there all day with your iPad connected to a dock, and check it to find out that it has not charged at properly. Some USB ports on your computer may not work well in charging the iPad either. For this reason, when you connect your iPad to a computer to charge, make sure it does so properly. If it doesn’t try a different USB port on the computer until you find the right solution.
Disable email alerts
Are you a very popular person? Are you a member to a lot of websites and get tons of emails daily? If so, depending on your tolerance level for distractions, you may want to turn of the email alert chimes on your iPad. Sure, they are a great way to notify yourself of when a new email pops in, especially if you were waiting on one from a special someone, but they can get annoying. To disable the email chimes, go to Settings>General>Sounds. Once there, you can turn the chimes off. If they are not that distracting to you, but a little on the loud side, you can also adjust their volume by following the same steps.
There are more iPad tips and tricks to come in part 6…………
iPad Tips Tricks: How to get a smile with iPad jokes and iPad humor reposted by Andre Di Cioccio
As you may have guessed, I’m in a mocking mood at the moment (see ‘Why iPads are rubbish’ for example). The iPad is a gold mine for jokes and humor. I’m not a comedy writer by trade, but even I can find an angle to have a quick poke at Apple’s new toy. One question: where do new jokes come from? I used to think there was a genius comedian sitting alone in a dingy apartment, writing fantastic one-liners and throwing them selflessly out of the window. I still think there is one shy comic in his garret churning out the jokes; only nowadays he sends them in anonymous text messages. How else do topical jokes do the rounds so quickly after a major event?
Q. What do you get if you combine an iPad with the drug Flomax?
A. iPeed!
Q. On lighter days, when the iPad doesn’t need to go with the flow, what device should women use?
A. Isn’t that what the iPhone’s for!
Q. How are men’s minds different from women’s?
A. When men think of an iPad, they think: sleek, beautiful, lean, powerful, and they want to caress it like a woman.
When women think of an iPad, they think of a supersized sanitary towel, which roughly performs the same function as a man.
Q. What’s the most embarrassing thing a woman can say about an Apple device?
A. Would you like to use my iPad after I’ve finished with it? (Yuk)
Q. What is Microsoft’s new tablet to be named?
A. The iTampon!
iPad Accessories: iPad ViBr8 Black Stereo Speakers by Qubits reposted by Andre Di Cioccio
These are groovy little numbers. Qubits is not a household name, but if these speakers are anything to go by, their accessories range for the iPad should place their name on people’s lips all over the country. These small capsule speakers are compact in stature but colossal in sound. They look like little black mushrooms, and the audio that pumps out of them could make you feel as if you’ve eaten some of their magic cousins.
How do they stand up to the competition? Let’s have a closer look…
These speakers fire off inbuilt lithium rechargeable batteries, giving them superportability. The batteries take just 2 hours to charge and give you an average of 6 hours 0f 1.7w pumping play time. They look great, with a matt black leather-like finish, and because they are collapsible, they fit neatly inside your bag when you’re out and about.
These ViBr8 portable speakers by Qubits are great for sharing your favorite sounds, movies, games and sound files with your friends and colleagues. Not only will these cute ViBr8 speakers liberate your audio beyond the limits of the iPad speakers, they’re compatible with a host of other devices, including iPhone, iPod, Macbook and PC. In fact, they’ll plug into any device with a 3.5mm headphone jack. If the iPad had a USB port (moan moan moan) using the ViBr8 speakers wouldn’t even drain the speakers’ batteries. The speakers will run directly from the connected device’s power source via the USB port.
The two speakers can be distanced from your iPad by up to 50cm, so that the two channel stereo sound quality can be enhanced. The bases of these speakers are magnetised, so you get a thundering bass sound you’d normally associate with larger speakers.
Included with the speakers are the cables, user manual and a handy little carry case. There are the standard power switches and volume controls on the speakers. What these groovy little speakers could really do with is Bluetooth connectivity. Oh the liberation from those pesky irritating wires. Portability and sound quality at a decent price would then be found in these funny looking little black mushrooms.
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