No, this was supposed to be a joke.

These freaked me out!

Just the humble coffee bean.

I saw this mentioned on another blog, where It was suggested this was a useless hack, simply adding arrow keys would produce a better alternative. 

I have to disagree, this is much better than arrow keys, but yes, arrow keys are better than nothing.

The original idea has already been implemented for jailbroken iOS device, not that I’m ready to take that step again, though I could list it as a reason to go back to a jailbroken device. I’ve also read that Apple may not incorporate this because multi-touch gestures on iOS work system wide, and how would this work with text on apps without a keyboard input? 

I agree, but still think it would be worth adding, though maybe just for keyboard enabled apps.

Remember the days of practically wading through giveaway CD’s from ISP’s? They were attached to everything, given away in supermarkets and petrol stations, and pored through your letterbox. Thankfully those days have passed, but today I was surprised to find a mint CD, with booklet, from the online bank, and at the time, getting on the bandwagon ISP, Egg.

The specs printed on the envelope are quaint, minimum requirements, a 486, 16mb of RAM, 33mb of HD space (48mb for the install), of which Internet explorer needs 25mb. Win98 is the newest OS, and if you want to use this ISP on a Mac, please phone for details! The booklet is beautifully presented, with internet terms, history, and suggested sites to visit when you get online. Missing is any idea of what this would cost you to do so.

The real irony here, and I’m sure it could not have been missed at the time is that Egg were one of the first Internet only banks, you had to be online to get an Egg account, so surely you already knew the basics of the net so beautifully explained in the booklet?

My first net provider was Time Internet (later became SuperNet), I was an early user, they phoned before the machine was dispatched to see if I was willing to give it a go, and I did for a while. I then switched to ClaraNet, still going as a hosting services provider, as they offered bundle deals, moved to the slightly unreliable SilverNet as an unlimited product, before moving to PlusNet where I’ve been for about 8 years. I dallied with a few other providers along the way, and dealt with the horrors of unpicking a Tesco take-over of my system when I tried their service out.

Those were the days, hitting connect, hearing an engaged tone, then a re-try, and the eventual modem handshake resulting in the satisfied silence as it all finally connected. That sound will forever live in my memory.

We generally have it so easy today, with a seamless, always on service, the horror now is when it isn’t there, though it is still a real pain to go through all the required motions when there is a problem with the connection, or God forbid actually have to phone our providers.

A useful quick entry shortcut for Omnifocus on iOS devices.

Copy the code below and put it in the safari address bar on your iDevice. After the page loads then click share button and Add to Homescreen. If all goes well you will have an icon that works even without wifi.

The original thread can be found on the Omnifocus forums, here.

data:text/html;charset=UTF-8,%3Chtml%3E%3Chead%3E%3Cmeta%20name=%22viewport%22%20content=%22width=device-width,%20initial-scale=1.0,%20maximum-scale=1.0,%20user-scalable=no%22%20/%3E%3Cmeta%20name=%22apple-mobile-web-app-capable%22%20content=%22yes%22%20/%3E%3Ctitle%3EQuick Entry%3C/title%3E%3Cscript%20type=%22text/javascript%22%3Eif%20(!window.navigator.standalone)%20%7Bdocument.write(%22%3Clink%20rel='apple-touch-icon-precomposed'%20href='http://lightstormstudios.com/temp/omnifocus.png'%20/%3E%22);%7D%3C/script%3E%3C/head%3E%3Cbody%20style='margin:0px;%20background-color:%23aeaeae;'%3E%3Ca%20id=%22shortcut%22%20href=%22omnifocus:///add?note%22%3E%3C/a%3E%3Cscript%20type=%22text/javascript%22%3Eif%20(window.navigator.standalone)%20%7B%20var%20e=%20document.getElementById(%22shortcut%22);var%20ev=%20document.createEvent(%22MouseEvents%22);ev.initEvent(%22click%22,true,true);%20e.dispatchEvent(ev);%7Delse%7Bdocument.write('%3Cdiv%20id=%22icon%22%3E%3Ca%20id=%22shortcut%22%20href=%22omnifocus:///add?note%22%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://lightstormstudios.com/temp/omnifocus.png%22%20width=%22114%22%20height=%22114%22%3E%3C/a%3E%3Cspan%20id=%22icon_text%22%3EQuick Entry%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20id=%22addToHomeScreen%22%20class=%22iphone%22%3ECreate%20a%20shortcut%20to%20%3Cstrong%3EOmnifocus Quick Entry%3C/strong%3E:%20tap%20%3Cspan%20class=%22share%22%3Eshare%3C/span%3E%20and%20then%20%3Cstrong%3EAdd%20to%20Home%20Screen%3C/strong%3E.%20Please%20wait%20until%20icon%20image%20is%20fully%20loaded%20in%20next%20view.%3Cspan%20class=%22arrow%22%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E');%7D%3C/script%3E%3C/body%3E%3C/html%3E

Every once in a while something happens that changes your life, and this week that has happened.

After spending some time with an Android powered tablet, and being totally underwhelmed with it, and the application set, I’ve invested in an iPad. If nothing else the AndyPad showed me the possibilities a tablet offered, even if I was totally frustrated with the experience that I had with the device, and the applications I had running on it.

I’m not anti Android, but can only liken the experience to that I had with Linux, that is everything just seems to take that little extra work to actually gain anything really useful from it, and ten years ago I would have been happy to have taken that option and made it work, but now there is really only one sensible choice to fit into my busy life, and that is to use the iPad and the iOS ecosystem. (Windows Phone/Tablet and Windows 8/Metro may offer another option, but it has a long way to go, if it can avoid the impending car crash it appears to be heading for. I really have no experience with these devices, and they appear to be as rare as hens teeth in the real world.)

I know it is a cliche, but “Game changer” does sum it up, though I’d prefer to view it as my “iPad revolution”, the closest comparison being buying a Treo 600 many years ago, and the resulting changes that brought to my personal life. The iPhone only updated that experience, and I still miss some of the built in connectivity the Palm brought, but iCloud and clever applications are narrowing that gap all the time.

This is the key to the usefulness of the iPad, the device itself is only a big iPhone, but the extra screen real estate, and the connectivity the software running on it are vitally important to its usefulness. Much like the ill fated Palm Folio idea my iPhone now appears to be as much of an extension to the iPad as it was to the desktop, and the iPad itself is an extension to the desktop, but they both work equally well without the other.

It is early days yet, both for me, and iCloud, the glue that is primarily behind much of what the iOS experience will offer, but there is so much to be impressed with right now, and happily nothing that makes me regret the the expenditure.

- Posted by BlogPress

Edit: 22/04/12 17:21 Tidied image.