Tag Archives: ipad

Getting my iPad ready for FIRST robotics season

Posted on by
2

Last year, I started volunteering as a programming mentor to the Stuy Pulse FIRST robotics team.  Since kickoff was yesterday, I set up my iPad today for this season.  At least the beginning of it; I’m sure I’ll have more ideas as the season goes on.

Background

The internet isn’t too reliable in a New York City high school.  There is (usually) wifi, but it doesn’t always work.  It’s also proxied through the Department of Education which doesn’t allow things like SVN or GIT connectivity.  Luckily one can at least view files through a browser.  There’s also way more team members than computers causing a lot of crowding around the screens.

What I set up

Use case Details Apps used Impressions so far
Skim game manual as soon as it is released and refer to it during discussions. Before kickoff, I downloaded the encrypted game manual and stored it in my dropbox for offline use DropBox

GoodReader ($2.99)

 Positive

It worked.  GoodReader let me type in the password.  I was able to look up everything I wanted and a student on the team also referred to my iPad.  Also positive was the fact I had a cached copy, because usfirst.org promptly crashed right after the announcement of said password.

Negative

GoodReader doesn’t cache the password.  Even if you don’t close the app and your iPad locks, you get to type the password in again.  Which wouldn’t be so bad except the password was “5Time4For3Robots2to1Dance!”.  Nice and easy to type in on an iPad, right?
Be able to blog from the iPad There are some lulls when the programmers are waiting for use of the robot.  I want to be able to do other things during this time besides try to surf the net on a tiny BlackBerry. WordPress I’m very impressed  so far with the WordPress app.  I wouldn’t want to publish directly from the iPad because it is hard to type with 100% accuracy.  WordPress saves what you write as a draft accessible by both the iPad app and the regular internet.  This means I can patch up what I wrote in my browser before publishing.
Download the unencrypted game manual Entering the password repeatedly as been a royal pain.  I downloaded the unencrypted manual from a mirror (that grabbed it before the site went down). Dropbox

GoodReader ($2.99)

 Very routine.  I deleted the encrypted file from my dropbox, added the unencrypted one and moved on.  The only snag was GoodReader still had the encrypted one open.  Closing GoodReader and reopening it, solved that.
View WPI Javadoc offline Unsurprisingly, we used the JavaDoc a lot last year.  It would be nice to reference it without competing for computer use with the person currently programming. DropBox

JDoc Reader ($3.99)

 JDoc Reader was easy to set up.  I transfered a zip file with the JavaDocs via DropBox and chose “open in” JDoc Reader.  JDoc reader than imported it and provided a nice GUI for use.  I like that JDocReader lets you import any JavaDocs since these aren’t common ones. (Most JavaDoc readers I found were for specific docs.)  I didn’t download the JavaDocs for Java itself, but I will if we find we need it.
View WPI Python offline We are trying out Python as well this year.  The Python “API” is really just a large text file. DropBox

iUnArchive ($1.99)

Text Viewer (built in)

 It’s awkward to open such a large text file.  Text viewer does it, but I’m still trying to get the hang of this.  (Will update this post when I learn how. For now it is a question)
View git This year we are using git instead of subversion.  (good idea since we can’t commit realtime) GitHub Viewer Lite Positive

The install was easy.  I entered my github username/password and it linked to my repositories and the like.

Negative

I was hoping I could save some files for offline viewing.  This doesn’t appear to be possible.  Not too important since team members will have checked out from home and have local copies of the repository on hand.

And of course, I have twitter etc already.  I actually had all of these installed except JDoc Reader.  I listed the ones with direct relevance to robotics.

I also probably need to add some manuals to DropBox.

Conclusion

Some of the students bring their own laptops so I expect the docs to be present.  This makes it easier for me to reference them.  And provides another copy for team members to use.

Note: followup posted

Hands on with iOS 4.2 [iPhone4/iPad]

Posted on by
4
I upgraded both my iPad and iPhone 4 to iOS 4.2 this afternoon, and with few exceptions, the results are quite positive. In short, “Find my iPhone/iPad” is awesome but creepy, AirPrint is seriously lacking, and the iPad updates are a long time coming. The only big downside is that Apple went ahead with its plan to eliminate the landscape/portrait lock button on the iPad, instead replacing it with a mute feature. Read on for more details of my hands-on experience with iOS 4.2 on both the iPhone and iPad.

iOS 4 on the iPad at last

One of the most long-awaited features for the iPad is the ‘missing’ iOS 4.0 updates that arrived with the new iPhone back in June. Five months later, Apple finally released updates to the iPad that have been available on the iPhone for months — including multi-tasking, Game Center, and folders to organize applications. Although some reviewers, myself included, have criticized the “faux” multi-tasking available in iOS 4, it is nice to see these updates finally released on the iPad.

New Feature: Find my iPhone/iPad

One of the newest, and possibly the most unexpected, feature is the new, free “Find my iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch” service, which previously was only available for paid MobileMe subscribers. Unfortunately, iPhones older than the iPhone 4 appear to be excluded from this service.

In order to use this feature, you must have an AppleId. If you purchase music on iTunes, you can use that same account. Once you have installed iOS 4.2 on one of your devices, you need to navigate to Mail/Contacts/Calendars, and add a MobileMe account using your AppleId. Once added, you just use a single click to enable this feature.

To track the device, remote-lock it, or remote-wipe the data, you can log in from the Apple MobileMe portal, again using your AppleId. You can also download the “Find iPhone” application and track the device from another iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.

One issue I did notice is that you have to have your AppleId match your e-mail address. When I tried to set up my iPhone with an AppleId that was a nickname and not an e-mail it came back with a message saying “This AppleId does not support this feature”. Fortunately, you can log in to the Apple website, and as long as your e-mail isn’t attached to a different AppleId already, you can change the AppleId to match your e-mail.

One ‘creepy’ side effect of all of this is that since my wife and I both have an iPhone 4, they can actually be set up to track each other. In other words, you can always find out where your spouse is. For children, though, this would be an excellent feature, since you can find out where they are without interrupting them. The only problem is there’s no way to lock this feature as ‘always on’. Your children can easily turn this feature off and a stranger who finds your device can disable it before you have had a chance to remotely wipe your personal data. One major improvement would be a password requirement to enable/disable this feature on the iPhone.

Update 11/28/2010: One reader pointed out you can enable “Restrictions” under “General” settings that allows users to fully use the iPhone but prevents them from adding/removing accounts. This essentially allows you to keep the MobileMe tracking feature enabled at all times. In the event of a loss, the phone can be reliably wiped remotely although this does not prevent the user from wiping it themselves with iTunes. It does give you piece of mind, though, that you can block access to your personal data even if the iPhone is never returned.

AirPrint: Where’s Bonjour support?

Although Apple did add print capabilities with the iOS 4.2 update, they are limited to “AirPrint compatible” printers connected to a computer, of which there are few. Surprisingly, printing to a Bonjour printer connected via an Airport Extreme router is not supported. Also, direct printing via IP address to a networked printer is not supported. I am mystified that Apple released WiFi printing without either of those two obvious features, but we’ll have to wait for future versions to get more useful print options.

iPad: Screen-locking switch, we hardly knew ye

The most disappointing feature of the update is Apple reconfigured the screen lock button on the side of the iPad, the one that keeps it in the same orientation now matter how you hold it, to be a volume mute button. I have already heard feedback from friends that agree this was a terrible idea. Trying to use the iPad in bed can be problematic as holding any direction but right-side-up can cause the orientation to change. I would not have minded this change if they had at least left a software option to switch it back, but so far no such option exists. It’s a shame, as I suspect my iPad will be a lot less user-friendly without it.

Conclusion

Overall, the iOS 4.2 adds welcome additions to the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. I considered not updating the iPad to keep the screen-lock feature, but decided in the end that the benefits outweighed what I was losing. I really like the free tracking service, since losing an iPhone is not uncommon and it gives me some peace of mind that there’s a chance my iPhone will be recovered if I were to send a message to the phone offering a reward. AirPrint is a nice change to the architecture and should allow more fluid printing across the iOS devices, with Apple likely rolling out additional support in months to come.

my iPad in $10 and 10 days

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve now had my iPad for 10 days and spent $10 setting it up to be functional.  Or $610 if you count the iPad itself and the case.

Why I bought the iPad

I wanted to be able to read technical documents from the park.  The files could be PDFs, ZIP or HTML.  I will have many other uses for it as time goes on.  And already have – like checking my twitter and my e-mail from the couch!  My experiences so far have been mostly around being able to accomplish the original goal though.

What applications I downloaded right away

  1. GoodReader $0.99 – A much better PDF reader than the built in one.  Turning pages is harder than it needs to be, but the GoodReader team is working on a fix.
  2. iUnarchive $2.99 – To unzip files.  Works exactly as one would expect.
  3. DropBox free – A great way to get files from your computer to the iPad.  Just drop them in a folder on “main computer” and download from the iPad.  Only trick is to remember to choose as favorite so available offline on the iPad.
  4. Twitterrific $4.99 (ad supported version is free) – Twitter client.  The cute tweet noise for new tweets will get old fast.  I’ll turn that off once I get tired of it’s cuteness.

Total – $9.76

Thanks to my friends at JavaRanch for recommending these (and more applications) to greatly cut down on research time.

What I learned

A few “less than obvious” things I learned in the first 10 days:

  • Double tap to see menu when GoodReader in full screen mode
  • I still need to figure how to take notes while reading

Other setup

I was surprised by how little setup I had to do to get up and running.  I was able to create my iTunes account and activate in the Apple store so I didn’t need to waste time downloading it at home.  The only setting change I made was to password protect the iPad.

Speaking of the Apple store, it was a little odd that on Wednesday they told me there was a wait list and they couldn’t possibly estimate how long it was.  (implying weeks/months.)  The following day, I got a call my iPad was there.

Finally – my impressions

  1. The iPad is great.  It lets me read PDFs and zip files of text or Java code outside away from my laptop.  (It’s awkward using a laptop outside.)  I had no problem reading outside.  Even in the sun, I used the iPad case as a sun visor to protect the screen.
  2. I still need to find out if there is a way to easily take notes while reading.  Not just PDFs, but any application.  It’s a pain when looking at a zipped file because it doesn’t retain where you are when you get back.  I’ve resorted to paper.
  3. I haven’t missed the 3g I decided not to get one bit.  A surprisingly large number of places have free wifi.  And DropBox caches my documents for offline use very well.
  4. I can touch type alphabetic text on the iPad!  I type about twice as slow on the iPad than on a real computer.  But that’s much better than my hunt and peck speed!
  5. Special characters like the pipe are hidden well.  To get to them, you have to choose the numeric keyboard (obvious) and then the “#+=” button (not obvious)
  6. I have a lot more to explore.  I am happy with the iPad meeting my initial purposes and looking forward to it meeting even more.