Category Archives: Gadgets & Apps

Will iPads replace laptops?

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Dylan and Miles dropped in at the Coffee Zone this morning. They’re high school sophomores in Savannah, Missouri. Dylan brought his new iPad which he purchased with money from his summer job (scanning medical records).

He has a desktop computer (and a Blackberry) but no laptop. I found it interesting that he would go for the iPad instead of a laptop. But not surprising. I think we’ll see this happening more and more. For all the reasons we’ve mentioned here. Price and cool factor topping the list.

Dylan says he plans to take it to class this fall. Would like to know how that works out.

Lots of colleges are exploring ways to bring the iPad into the classroom.

Steve Jobs’ “High Ground Maneuver”

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A couple of observations on the iPhone antenna story:

  1. Of the dozen or so people I know who have the new phone, not one has had a problem.
  2. Most of the people who are pissing and moaning about this, don’t have an iPhone.

But Steve Jobs had to respond and he did so with what Scott Adams (SGITR*) calls the High Ground Maneuver:

“Apple’s response to the iPhone 4 problem didn’t follow the public relations playbook because Jobs decided to rewrite the playbook. (I pause now to insert the necessary phrase Magnificent Bastard.) If you want to know what genius looks like, study Jobs’ words: “We’re not perfect. Phones are not perfect. We all know that. But we want to make our users happy.”

Jobs changed the entire argument with nineteen words. He was brief. He spoke indisputable truth. And later in his press conference, he offered clear fixes.

Did it work? Check out the media response. There’s lots of talk about whether other smartphones are perfect or not. There’s lots of talk about whether Jobs’ response was the right one. But the central question that was in everyone’s head before the press conference – “Is the iPhone 4 a dud” – has, well, evaporated.”

Mr. Adams predicts Jobs’ response will become the public relations standard for consumer products. Let’s revisit this in 90 days.

*Smartest Guy in the Room

UPDATE: Seems I do know at least one person with the new phone who is having problems. I either forgot or repressed that. See Phil’s comment below.

Tech improves ER care

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It’s the middle of the night and you’re just north of East Jesus, headed to the beach so the kids can play in an oil slick before they’re all gone, and gandma chokes on prune. How do you find the nearest emergency room? According to Telemedicine News, there’s an app for that:

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Emergency Medicine Network have launched FindER™, a free iPhone application to help users locate the closest emergency room, provide directions, along with additional information all with a touch of the screen.

FindER uses the iPhone’s GPS to quickly direct patients to emergency rooms anywhere in the U.S. FindER is also designed for quick phone calls to both the care center and if necessary used to contact 911 emergency services. Once the symptoms are determined, information is available on specific emergency rooms that can treat the symptoms and the wait times for ERs.

EliteCare 24 hour Emergency Center in Texas has partnered with Healthagen® to promote their emergency center through the iTriage® applications. If help in an emergency is needed, the consumer can download the iPhone or android application or go to www.iTriageHealth.com using any capable smart phone or computer to evaluate symptoms. At that point, iTriage will pinpoint the locations and provide turn-by-turn directions to the closest type of facility needed anywhere in the country.

Helping patients receive live ER wait times via text messages in the middle of an emergency is a new way to reach consumers. To do this, ERTexting in Miami manages a new free 4ER411 system. This new service available in hospitals all over the U.S. enables patients to text their zip code to 4ER411 and then receive their local participating hospital ER wait times.

To help deliver the patient’s medical information directly to a first responder or emergency room physician, Emerging Healthcare Solutions Inc. has a smartphone application under development called “e-911”. The “e-911” App automatically delivers the user’s medical information to first responders or to doctors when 911 is dialed from an iPhone. The “e-911” will first be made available for Apple’s iPhone and after assuring product quality, the e-911 will then be offered through Google’s Android and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry

iPad turns on instantly

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I haven’t posted on the iPad for a while because we’re transitioning the little slab of magic from a Steve Device to a Barb Device. I’m sure it will still by lying around the house and I’ll pick it up as needed, but it’ll have her stuff on it.

I was pleased to see that Scott Adams appreciates the iPad for some of the same reasons we do:

“By far, the iPad’s most wonderful feature, compared to laptops, is the fact that it turns on instantly. There’s no boot-up sequence. That one advantage makes the iPad an entirely different product from a laptop. Once powered on, the iPad doesn’t start begging me to update things nor force me to make decisions. It doesn’t remind me of all the ways it is protecting me. It doesn’t tell me to order printer ink or ask me to fill out a survey. A regular laptop is like your boss: always making you wait before giving you busy-work assignments. The iPad is more like a punctual lover. It’s always ready for fun. And if you are tempted to do some work on the iPad, its non-keyboard quickly changes your mind. You wouldn’t say a lover is a crippled version of a boss. (Insert your own inappropriate humor here.) So any comparison of an iPad to a laptop simply doesn’t work.”

“Another interesting phenomenon of the iPhone and iPad era is that we are being transformed from producers of content into consumers. With my BlackBerry, I probably created as much data as I consumed. It was easy to thumb-type long explanations, directions, and even jokes and observations. With my iPhone, I try to avoid creating any message that are over one sentence long. But I use the iPhone browser to consume information a hundred times more than I did with the BlackBerry. I wonder if this will change people over time, in some subtle way that isn’t predictable. What happens when people become trained to think of information and entertainment as something they receive and not something they create?”

I believe iPads are among the prizes being offered as incentives in one of the sales contests underway at our company. And our company chairman placed an order after watching some of the Mac heads playing with theirs at the Coffee Zone.

Frankly, I’m a little releived to be handing off our iPad to Barb. I LIKE creating informaiton and with the iPad it was so easy to just lean back in a big stuffed chair and graze.

Protecting the new iPhone

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A common observation upon first holding the new iPhone is how nice it feels in the hand. The next is usually: “It would be easy to drop” …or something like that. The glass front and back makes it look fragile. And it might be, although I’m inclined to doubt that. Nevertheless, I have one of the little bumper guards on the way.

But I didn’t want to take a chance on breaking the new baby before the bumper arrives so I headed out to Best Buy where I purchased the cheapest case I could find. It’s  stiff, clear plastic that appears to be made of the very same plastic your grandmother used to cover the sofa.

And it’s a pretty nice case. Feels good in the hand. Easy to remove. Looks like it would protect the phone without getting in the way. But just a little too much like a cheap condom. The iPhone “feels” good and that is just as important as making calls (or babies).

Box ’em up and scan ’em

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I shudder to think of the hours I’ve spent scanning photos. In the early days, I scanned one image at a time and was so clueless I scanned at very low resolution. A lot of those poor scans are still on line, but I just don’t have the time (or will) to re-scan.

So I sent about 120 prints off to ScanCafe. I believe the prints wind up somewhere in India where they are “scanned by hand.” Costs 29 cents an image. About $40 by the time I was done. I could not have scanned and cleaned them for that price.

When they’re done they send you a link to a web page where you can review and pick the images you want (or don’t). They they send you a DVD.

I’ll probably try another service, just to compare. Watch this space.

Google Voice now for everyone

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Google Voice was “invitation only” for a long time but now they’ve opened it up so I’m going to start using the number I’ve had for a while. Only way I’m going to get the hang of it. Video above runs about 90 sec. The link in the sidebar will probably take you to my voice-mail, at least until I learn the ropes.

Image above is the Google Voice in-box. Google Voice does a fair job of transcribing the voice mail message (close enough). I can also play the message, of course.

I also received an email that had pretty much the same thing. You can also set it up for a text alert.

Google voice does a lot more but I’m not going to try to explain it until I have a better grasp. And the video at the top of this post really has all you need.

While I might not wan to give out my mobile number to everyone, I can safely give out my Google Voice number (573-200-6776) and rely on Google to help me manage it all. For example, I can have Barb’s calls come straight to my iPhone… while sending calls from her sister right into voice-mail.

iPhone 4

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I knew I’d upgrade but I didn’t expect to be excited by the new iPhone 4. The front-facing camera and video chat didnt seem like something I’d use that much (I believe I said that about the original iPhone). But after watching the FaceTime video I’ve changed my mind. Once again, Mr. Jobs knows what I want before I do.