Bonar Bridge

Haglofs Watatait Mobile Pouch – Test 2

Here is a test with the iPhone in the Watatait case.

Not in the case.

eBooks Mobile

As the weather has been a bit grey here in Dingwall this morning I have been reading on my iPhone using Stanza – and I finished the eBook I was reading. I am not sure how many books I have loaded on my phone on Stanza, it must be a couple of hundred – but rather than choose one of these I decided to see what was available online for free that I could access and use on my iPhone.

Project Gutenberg and iBooks

Everyone’s first stop for free ebooks, Project Gutenberg now has a mobile site Project Gutenberg Mobile, which works well in Safari on my iPhone 4 and is easy to use and find books that you would be interested in. I looked in the Science Fiction section and found The Door Through Space, by Marion Zimmer Bradley – it was easy to find the download for this book, I chose an ePub version and opened it in iBooks, Apple’s own eBook reader available from the App Store for free. I also chose the version with images so I had the book cover showing on my iBooks shelf!

It was a very easy process and with over 36,000 books available you should be able to find something that interests you.

Stanza

The Stanza app has a built in online catalogue.

Within this catalogue are books to purchase – but there are many free books including a link to Project Gutenberg. Some of the free books on offer, from the shops, are the first books in a series so encouraging you to go back and buy subsequent episodes. Project Gutenberg was easy to use; with the books going straight into your Stanza library.

I was interested in Books from Munseys as they advertise pulp fiction – my favourite – I like nothing better than a old fashioned sci-fi pulp story, with heroes, heroines, monsters and laser beams!

I quickly found a book I was interested in their catalogue by going to the Genres Section. Who could resist this cover? (JSC has just commented “don’t judge a book by the cover”, teenagers, they of course know everything!)

Clicking the download button puts the book directly into your Stanza library. If your return to this page later the download button becomes a read now button as the app records you have a copy of this book in your library.

A quick browse of Munsys and Project Gutenberg shows you there are thousands of free books out there to choose from.

If you want to purchase the latest best seller then Stanza and iBooks both give you access to those as well.

I have an account with Smashwords – I have bought the Starship Sofa short story collections from them. For these books they offered them in a variety of formats – I chose ePub for Stanza/iBooks – all the formats were DRM free.

This article is sponsored by Octagon Technology Lincoln, England

Knockan Crag

The exposed rock at Knockan Crag is extremely interesting as it distinctly shows two different geological layers.

It is also unusual as the older rock is on top of a younger rock – this arises through tectonic movements over many hundreds of millions of years.

There is a visitor centre and a well illustrated walk up the hillside to what is called the Moine Thrust, where you can see and touch the rock layers,. From there you can continue up to a great viewpoint complete with benches to sit on and admire the view from. For more details on the Moine Thrust Belt go here to Wikipedia.

I tried out the Pano app from this viewpoint.

I have only looked at the results on my small iPhone screen not on a bigger screen yet but the image on the iPhone seemed OK. The app was very easy go use – and fun. One thing to remember is if you manually select an exposure point then remember to set it on each of the mosaic images.

Other images from Knockan Crag

eBook Reader?

What device should I buy to read e-books on?

Last week I was talking with a backpacker about reading when backpacking. She had a real paper book with her, I had my iPhone and was reading two books on it. She then said she was thinking of buying a Kindle – and that got me thinking about what I would recommend for the job.
One consideration in this process is that the phone/smartphone is kept in the pack, ready for use as a phone – rather than running the battery down using it as a book reader.

So what are the requirements for a backpacker’s e-book reader?

* lightweight
* compact
* robust
* easy to keep dry
* versatile
* long battery life

So just looking at this I think I would reject the Kindle – and many of the other dedicated e-book reader devices.

* lightweight – most dedicated units are reasonably light, but not very light
* compact – they are about the size of a large paperback in area but thin. However there are not many models that are truly pocket sized.
* robust – and being thin I am not sure how it would pack. As you push that last stuff sack in the bag, will you break your e-reader?
* easy to keep dry – can you get a dry case (Aquapac) to fit it?
* versatile – some e-readers can be used to browse the web and have other functions but they are limited to doing one thing well
* long battery life – most e-readers make use of screens that consume very little power – this is their one big advantage

So, looking at my list I think a better device for a backpacker would be lightweight, truly pocket-sized and offer more functions than a simple e-reader.

I think that an Apple iPod Touch meets these requirements.

Using a program like Calibre and the iPod app Stanza you could load your own books and buy from some stores. You can buy books from the Apple store and use Apple’s reading app, or even load the Kindle app on the device! Several other booksellers have apps to access their catalogues, giving a very large choice of where you purchase your books.

The screen is small but extremely sharp and easy to read. Stanza also has a simple function to change the brightness of the page to match your surroundings.

An iPod is easily more flexible than a dedicated e-reader.

Leave your camera at home and use the one on the iPod. Same goes for video.

With an iPod you can get online at wifi access points, listen to music and of course there are many other apps that will interest you. However one thing to remember is “how much battery” this will consume. A Kindle has an incredibly long battery life for just reading books – an iPod Touch much shorter if you use it for lots of other things, longer if you use it only as a camera and book reader.

To make the iPod a better proposition you would need to extend the battery life – my son uses a battery pack he got from the supermarket with his iPod, and for my iPhone I have a battery jacket. I know a search of eBay will turn up many more ways to extend the battery life of an iPod (or iPhone).

There are several very good waterproof cases for the iPod and it is truly pocket sized, so you can keep it handy, get it out and read a book at your tea stop in the rain!

If you just want an electronic book reader – there is a good selection on the market, and if you must have one try Sony – they sell a pocket sized model. If you want a more versatile device, as well as a book reader, opt for the iPod Touch.

(Of course an iPhone will offer all the above, and be your phone, blog poster and GPS… and save on the weight of the mobile phone – just take another battery pack!)

This article is sponsored by Octagon Technology Lincoln, England

Documents To Go – iPhone

I have just discovered something really annoying about Documents To Go on my iPhone 4. I cannot copy and paste information from Safari into a DTG spreadsheet. I also tried copying the same list from a GoodReader text file into the spreadsheet and that did not work either. I’ll have to get someone in the office to create the spreadsheet and put it in the drop box – I can then get it from there using Documents To Go.

The office versions offered in DTG are cut down versions but they have nearly all the functionality I need – if you are going to use this software then get the slightly more expensive Premium version so you can link it to your online storage and you get support for PowerPoint.

I recommend this software to all our clients who want to use their iPhone or iPad for work (or other smartphone, my engineers use the Android version on their phones). My son has it on his iPod Touch for keeping up with his homework whilst away, without having to take a laptop. (He links to the internet via the personal hotspot on my iPhone when he is with me.)

Do you use a PC?

I read an interesting article on the BBC news site last night – referring to Dr Mark Dean, who was part of the IBM team who worked on the first PC.

Read it here

I have been away on holiday now for over a week and have been able to keep up with my work from my iPhone:

* it is a phone – holding all my contacts database and client info (securely – you cannot take the SD card out of an iPhone)
* I keep up with my email on it

To the basic out of the box software I have added:

* Documents To Go (to deal with MS documents – opening and creating them)
* GoodReader for PDFs
* the files are kept online in my DropBox

Battery life can be an issue when camping. I have a cradle in the car which keeps the battery topped up when driving – and it plays the iPod in the phone through the car stereo. I have two extra batteries – a pocket sized, booster/recharge battery and an extended jacket battery.

I also have a power inverter for use in the car so I can use the Apple plug to charge both of these batteries when camping – and at the house in Aviemore.

A complete office in my pocket – a small pocket today. In 1996 when we came away on holiday I needed a bigger pocket!

* Psion Series 5 PDA, with a box of spare batteries and a mains psu
* 56k dial up modem for use at the timeshare
* Ericsson SH888 mobile phone with a built in data modem – car charger and charger for the mains
* data stored on memory cards – I think I had a couple of 1 MB and 2 MB CF cards
* no media player but I did read books on the Psion

Other things I have used the iPhone 4 for this holiday

* Stanza book reader app – I have about three hundred books on the phone so I have plenty of choice
* It is the only camera I have with me – I use the built in camera app and I have purchased Camera+, I really like the split focus and exposure points in this app
* I have watched videos and listened to podcasts and audiobooks on it
* I have used Google maps, MemoryMap and Navfree for navigation – we found Jimmy Chungs in Edinburgh with it
* browsed the web in full colour and with video and sound – although I did not keep up with the news as it was Thursday when I caught up with the fact that Britain had suffered days of rioting!
* and I post to the blog using the WordPress app

So do I use a PC – yes – but do I always need it, no. The screen is small on the iPhone but iOS is more than capable of supporting my business – the bigger screen on the iPad would be good for some jobs but it is not pocket sized.

Replace my PC with an iPad. No I cannot do that, there is just so much software available for Windows OS and that’s what I need – the Windows PC strength is it’s flexibility. I know a number of people who have Mac books – who will tell me how great they are, impressive hardware, no viruses, etc etc etc, and in the next breath they ask, can I help them to set the Mac up to run Windows as the need to run some Windows software on it!

One final comment – my company supports PCs, so selfishly I hope they don’t disappear, but as it says in the article they are no longer the single driving force for technological change. At Octagon we support a variety of tablets and smart phones, as clients now have these devices and find them very convenient and with the latest OS releases very easy to use – also they are fun!

iPhone and Text Files Again

As I explained the other day, we use plain text files as part of our process of providing support for our clients – and I had discovered PlainText for DropBox. On Friday I went looking through the Apps Store for a good client to read tech PDF files and I discovered GoodReader. I bought it for the first job, and it dealt very well with the PDF file I needed to have reference to whilst crammed into a server cupboard. However GoodReader is far more than a well thought out PDF viewer.

* It includes a text editor and has a local file system so your iPhone now has a My Documents folder!

* You can import pictures info My Documents – I am now able to document a job now with both images and text.

* At Octagon Technology we not only use DropBox to share information but we have a NAS on our network with FTP access – GoodReader has the ability to connect to this and upload and download files to the iPhone.

* Working through the set up GoodReader gives you a URL to save as a bookmark in Safari, which if you use it when on a web page it will save a local copy of the page. Very useful when I am collecting information to solve a technical problem.

* It connects to many of the Cloud services as well as user servers.

* You can connect it to an email mailbox to access files or messages.

For a full list of features check out their web site,

For me this is a “must have” app.

Sat Nav App for my iPhone

Darren from Absolute Electrical Group (http://www.absoluteelectricalgroup.co.uk) recommended to me a free satnav app for the iPhone. Free – it cannot be very good – can it?

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/navfree-uk-roi/id391334793?mt=8

Navfree for UK and ROI takes a while to download and install as it includes the maps so you can use it when offline. When you first run the program you need to go to the Navmii Store, (the shop icon is built into the app), to download the free postcode database. Also available is a safety camera database – this you have to purchase, but it is a bargain,

I tried the software out this morning on the drive from Aviemore to Carnforth and it did as good a job as my Toyota built in satnav – with some additions.

It’s portable so I can also use it in my wife’s car.
One of the navigation options is UK postcodes (something that the Toyota satnav lacks).
Another navigation option is that you can use Google to search for your destination – this needs a data connection.

Using the software is very intuitive and it only took moments to load my destination and set it to navigate. The verbal instructions were very accurate and there are a choice of voices. The map display was clear and easy to understand with only a glance. There is a choice of 2d or 3G and day or night illumination.

The tracking to roads of the car icon seemed accurate as far as I could tell, not being able to stare at screen whilst driving. The vehicle speed is displayed and this too was reasonably accurate – as was the ETA displayed on the navigation screen.

It was also very easy to add destinations to the Favourites list.

Even after such a short test of the software I would recommend anyone with an iPhone to give Navfree a try. It got mebto Carnforth!

IPhone Camera Sample Image

River Ness – iPhone 4 photo cropped but no other processing. I used the Camera+ app (here) rater than the built in camera. The Camera+ offers lots of features but one of the best is the way it holds the images on the “Lightbox” and from there you choose to save or delete them – it is a good way of getting rid of the rubbish shots before committing them to the iPhone Camera Roll.

However the quality of this image is not as good as I would have hoped for (I did check out online examples of iPhone 4 photos before buting the phone) – so I will try the built in camera for the next shots.