Tag Archives: iPad

“Miss Perry, take a letter, please”

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One of my mother’s many talents was shorthand transcription. A skill she used during her early working career. In those ancient times, people would dictate a memo or a letter and mom would write it down using something called Gregg shorthand.

I assume she took her “steno pad” back to her desk where she’d roll some typing paper and carbon sheets into the old manual typewriter and bang out a few copies which, I assume, got marked up with corrections, and she’d do it again.

I was reminded of this painful process recently when I heard Barb dictating a memo on her iPhone using Dragon Dictation. I’m just not sure how it gets much easier (but it will).

In a few years we’ll look at our huge 3-ring binders and drawers full of paper and shake our heads in wonder. But some folks just have to hold the paper in their hands. The numbers/words are just less real if not printed. One wonders of the iPad and similar future devices (digital paper) will change this.

One of my next projects is to convert the few remaining paper artifacts in my desk to PDF. I think I can get pretty close to paperless in my work life. I’m close.

Speaking of paperless…

I’m nearly finished with my first ebook. It was a very good experience. My beloved paper books will undoubetedly go the way of my vinyl LPs. Alas.

TV station gets iPads, saves on paper and looks hip

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Last week, news anchors and producers at Barrington Broadcasting Group’s WFXL Albany, Ga., replaced their paper scripts with electronic versions displayed on the iPad. They project the move will save nearly $10,000 a year in paper costs. From the original story:

“Newscast scripts are composed as usual. But rather than printing to paper, the final version is formatted as a PDF file and transmitted to each iPad via e-mail. The PDF translation is handled by iAnnotate by Aji.LLC, a $7 program sold and downloaded via Apple’s App Store.

Although WFXL doesn’t employ iPads as teleprompters, it could if it chose to. Apple’s App Store already offers two third-party applications for scrolling copy on the iPad: Nairo Techology’s iPrompter for $2.99 and Bombing Brain Interactive’s Teleprompt+ for $9.99, which allows any iPhone to double as a remote controller.

In addition, hardware vendor Bodelin Technologies offers a new version of its through-the-lens ProPrompter HDi display, which mounts the iPad as a prompter monitor on both studio and field cameras. The $850 device includes “professional” display software, which is also controllable through an iPhone or iPod Touch.”

And they look pretty cool. No small thing in the world of TV news.

I predict it will become common practice to cover the Apple logo with the station logo.

Scott eVest (not as nerdy as it sounds)

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I carry a camera, iPhone, keys, reading glasses, ballpoint pen, and sometimes a wallet (I don’t like carrying it in my hip pocket). They fill up a sport coat and then some. So when I saw the Scott eVest, I had to have one.

I’ve had it a couple of days and I’m still finding pockets. This line of clothing is designed for for folks with lots of gadgets. And while the pocket depicted above was not designed for the iPad (as far as I know), it fit perfectly.

Carpenter’s Tools

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When I began working at KBOA in 1972, they were using the same basic style of headphones that they had been using for 20 years. WWII era Bakelite’s designed for durability, rather than fidelity or comfort.

When they became available (a couple of years later?) I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD 414’s. As I recall, I paid about $60 for them, out of my own pocket. A lot of money in those days (I was making about $14K when I left KBOA in 1984).

But they were wonderful. Light, soft foam ear pieces… and they sounded GREAT. The music sounded great and I sounded great. I looked forward to putting those headphones on.

In the nearly 40 years since, I have purchased a lot of what I considered to be the “tools of my trade.” Microhones; my first computer; digital audio recorders; laser printer; CD drive; video cameras; laptops; and –most recently– the iPad.

I have always looked on these purchases as investments. Not in my company, rather in me. I could have waited until the company thought it made sense to purchase these tools but I was impatient. And I was right. The things I learned (still learning) usually improved my skills and enhanced my value.

Most of my co-workers throughout the years took a different view. If the company wanted them to have and use the latest tools, the company should pay for them. Can’t argue with that.

But I’ve always thought of these purchases as the “carpenter’s tools.” A carpenter friend once explained to me that master carpenters would not think of using someone else’s tools. They took pride in the things they built and insisted on having and using their own tools, that went with them from job to job.

And, if you have a good accountant, you can take the expense as a deduction. Happy Tax Day.

Minnesota school replacing text books with iPads

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The Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop (Minnesota) School Board approved $265,000 to purchase 230 iPads for students, upgrade all school buildings with Wi-Fi and provide technical training for everyone starting next year.

Apple Computer is providing the school with some assistance. If this works out, the school in Winthrop could become a model for the nation. Bet this isn’t the last time we see this.

Think of the possibilities.

Tests are on PW protected website. Software could determine right/wrong answers on the T/F and multiple choice questions. Huge time saver for teachers. Parents could see student’s answers to help them.

Week One impressions of the iPad

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It’s been a week since we got our hands on the iPad and I must say I am very impressed with the device. I use the term “device” becuse it doesn’t feel like a computer. Or a PDA. Or anything else I’ve used. I honestly believe this is a new… thing.

One of the more interesting things I observed this week is how people physically relate to the the iPad. Let me see if I can explain by describing something that almost never happens.

Woman A is sitting in a coffe shop with her laptop computer in front of her and Man B comes over and says, “Is that the new (insert name of computer here)?”

“Why yes, it is. Would you like to try it out?”

“If you don’t mind…”

(She gets up, the man sits and begins to open her programs and files and poke around)

Never happens. But a common occurance this week with the iPad. Part of this is just the size and shape. Like a book or magazine, small enough to pass back and forth.

And part is the intuitive user interface. Even if you’re not an iPhone user, most folks find the one button that turns the iPad on (instantly!). Then it’s just tapping the icons and off they go.

And I found myself demo’ing the iPad while standing. Again, something that never (rarely) happens with even the smallest net book.

I encountered the normal sort of anti-Apple resistance from techies:

“So what does that thing do that I can’t do on my laptop?” (Arms folded in convince me defiance)

Non-techies were more inclinded to say, “Ooh. I want one. How much?” …after playing with it for 5 minutes.

I ran in to a couple of closeted OCD’s that couldn’t bring themselves to touch to screen because they could see the fingerprints of those that had touched it before them. Explaining that everything-has-fingerprints-you-just-don’t-see-them did not help.

It was a fun –if less productive– week. And each new app brings fun and discovery. And I have no doubt we will quickly find ways to use the iPad on the job. Seems to me it could easily replace a lot of the laptops our sales staff and reporters are lugging around. Time will tell.

One in five docs plan to buy an iPad

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“The scenario sounds straight out of a sci-fi movie — the doctor pulls out her touch-screen tablet computer from the drawer of instruments. She calls up the patient’s chart with a few taps and proceeds to add a note to the page with her latest diagnosis. A visualization pops up, and she flips the screen over to give the patient an idea of what ails him.

Doctors are presuming the iPad could make this scene a reality as soon as next week. One in five doctors say they plan to buy an iPad, according to a survey of 350 clinicians by the San Mateo medical software vendor Epocrates.

Full story at LATimes.com

iPad first impressions

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Okay. I’m a little relieved. I love my MacBook Pro and I was a little worried the iPad might steal me away. After a couple of hours with the iPad, I’m no longer fearful of falling out of love with my MBP. But it will take some time playing with the iPad before I can offer any useful insights. But here are some first impressions:

It won’t save newspapers and traditional media. I tried the New York Times app and it was a step down from the browser experience of the NYT (and I could not copy/paste from the app. WTF?). I suspect that will be the case for most media sites.

I think I’ll watch more YouTube videos than I do on my laptop. It was just… handy.

And I’ll read some books (I bought the ebook version of Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson (Even though I have several hardback/paperback versions). It was fun to search the 1,100+ pages and then copy/paste. Not a big deal unless you’re a reader.

The Netflix app is kind of nifty. I can see watching movies on the iPad. In bed and and on the plane. Very different from watching on a laptop.

And the ABC app. We’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy. The TV just might be how your meemah and pappah watch their favorite shows. The iPad could be how YOU watch them. When you want… where you want.

I’m gonna open comments on this post but don’t bother weighing in unless you’ve had your hands on one of these (i.e. Don’t know a movie/book you haven’t seen/read).

This is a game changer, kids. You’ll have one of these by Christmas.

UPDATE: It’s Monday morning and my buddy David and I have had our iPads for a couple of days. Here’s 20 min of first-impression chit chat. AUDIO