MobileViews Blog

The pedometer in the 5th generation iPod nano is something I wasn’t aware of when I bought it last year. But, it has been the single most used feature. I just passed 1 million steps logged using this feature. I’m still using it even though I have an use a fitbit to track my activity.

Wednesday (June 23, 2010) was simply not my day. The blog I write for five days a week, MobileContentToday.com (MCT), and its parent site, mediabistro.com were unreachable during my normal writing period. This blog entry detailing my other big problem is being posted here because MCT is down with no sign of being revived anytime soon. Here’s the story.

I pre-ordered a 32GB iPhone 4 on June 15. I have an email from Apple confirming that the pre-order was processed. However, given all the problems with the iPhone pre-order process (I spent 75 minutes trying and retrying to place my pre-order before finally succeeding), This past weekend I visited the nearby Apple Store where my reserved iPhone 4 is scheduled for pickup starting at 7am on June 24. I asked one of the employees there to verify my pre-order. She could not do so at the moment. So, she wrote down my name and telephone number.

On Wednesday, June 23, at about 4:30pm, I received a call from someone from the local Apple Store who told me:

1. My pre-order was confirmed (good so far)
2. I might NOT be able to buy the 32GB iPhone 4 model I had pre-ordered I was not provided any alternative.

The only conclusion I can reach, given this information, is that there is a serious shortage of the 32GB model of the iPhone 4. This combined with the lack of any while iPhone 4 units points to a serious problem in Apple’s supply chain.

I’m still planning to go to the local Apple Store to buy an iPhone 4. I suppose I could simply not exercise my reserved pre-order, wait a few weeks, and be assured to get a 32GB model. But, I really want to play with and write about the iPhone 4 now. So, I may end up and be stuck with a 16GB model.

In Podcast 43 I speak with Dictionary.com President Shravan Goli. The main topic of this 32 minute 49 second is Dictionary.com’s recent research in how users of different mobile platforms use their mobile apps. Dictionary.com provides mobile apps for the iPhone/iPad, Android, and BlackBerry. The combined download for their apps is over 11 million. About 6.8 million of those downloads have been the iPhone version. The iPad version of their app has been downloaded by 300,000 users (there are about 2 million total iPad users).

Dictionary.com plans to release an API for mobile app developers in 6 to 8 weeks. This will let them develop word games and other word related apps based on Dictionary.com’s word list.

- You can listen to the podcast right now from your web browser by using the embedded player above.
- You can see a list of previous podcasts in an iTunes web view(no need to install iTunes)
- You can also subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or this RSS feed.
- You can also point your smartphone’s browser at mobiletoday.podbean.com to listen to or download the MP3 file over the air to your phone.

Here’s a summer time tip for iPad owners: If you have an iPad and wear sunglasses with polarized lenses, you should only look at your iPad in landscape mode with your sunglasses on. Smartphones like the iPhone and Nexus One have displayes polarized at 45-degrees. However, for some reason the iPad’s screen appears to be polarized vertically (in relation to its portrait orientation). So, if you have polarized sunglasses lenses like mine with horizontal polarization, you won’t be able to see the iPad’s display in portrait mode.

So, if you look at your iPad with polarized sunglasses, be sure to look at it in landscape mode.

Check out my video demo above. This is one of those things that is easier to show than explain.

I recorded three short (1 or 2 minute long) mini-podcasts this year. But, I haven’t recorded a longer form podcast since December 2009. This podcast drought ends now. Frank McPherson and I sat down several thousand miles apart to spend 15 minutes talking about the iPad. Frank bought his iPad 3G last week. I’m the old-timer having owned an iPad Wifi-only model for well over a month now.

Here’s what we discussed in Podcast 42:
- Frank describes his first few days with the iPad 3G and trying out the $15 per month 250MB 3G data plan
- We also briefly discussed Apple’s iWork components which I’ve bought and Frank is planning to buy
- Dropbox/Sugarsync for iPad
- I discuss my failed (so far) attempts to stop playing “We Rule”
- eBook reading experience on an iPad

This podcast was a little short because I was trying a completely different way to record it. I usually use a Mac running Audio Hijack Pro and a Microsoft LifeChat LX-3000 headset. I didn’t want to lug around a 13-inch MacBook just to record a podcast. So, I hauled around a netbook running Windows 7, MP3 Skype Recorder, and a LifeChat ZX-6000 wireless headset to create this podcast. I thought the resulting podcast sounded “ok”. Not great, but acceptable. I should probably try to find a better USB microphone.

Frank and I have a lot more to say about the iPad. We’re going to try to schedule at least one iPad app podcast per month. We’ll also try to record a second monthly podcast about other topics (though the iPad is sure to dominate for a while). So, stay tuned!

- You can listen to the podcast right now from your web browser by using the embedded player above.
- You can see a list of previous podcasts in an iTunes web view(no need to install iTunes)
- You can also subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or this RSS feed.
- You can also point your smartphone’s browser at mobiletoday.podbean.com to listen to or download the MP3 file over the air to your phone.

I’m testing a bunch of things today to post this blog item:

- Lumix digital camera
- iPad Camera Connection Kit
- iPad (of course)
- PhotoGene (iPad photo editor)
- TiltShiftGen (iPad tilt shift generator)
- WordPress for iPhone/iPad
- Apple Wireless Keyboard

Everything except recording the photo was done on the iPad.

CalcXT for iPad is free for two days according to its product page on the iTunes App Store. Since Apple did not ship a calculator with the iPad, it might solve that issue for some people. It also provides a notepad when viewed in landscape mode.

This is a test to see if PhotoGene for the iPad actually resized a photo on the iPad. If it did, it should fit this blog’s column width.

Those who doubt Steve Jobs reality distortion field should cast those doubts aside. As this photo clearly shows, even small woodland critters are fascinated by the iPad

I just bought an Apple Wireless (Bluetooth) Keyboard and am testing it with my iPad. It works fine with the iPad itself. However, there is at least one issue when using it with the WordPress for iPad app: Pressing the tab key to try to move from field to field (say Title to Tags) in the WordPress app crashes the app.

The keyboard is paired easily with the iPad. And, unlike my ancient Think Outside Bluetooth keyboard, it does not seem to need me to rekey the 6-digit pairing code every time I use the keyboard.

My guess is that Apple’s iPad keyboard dock will not work with the iPad if I leave Apple’s iPad case on (ironically). This generic Apple BT keyboard looks like a reasonable alternative. Now I need a portable stand solution that lets me prop up the iPad without removing its case.

The current Evernote 3.31 for iPad errors out as shown in the screen capture here.

I paired my ancient, but still functional, Think Outside Bluetooth keyboard with my new iPad to type this blog item. I’m using the just updated WordPress 2 for iPhone and iPad to post this to myt blog (built on top of WordPress, of course). It looked it was working well. However, it seemed to freeze after I pressed the Save button to save a draft of this entry. Fortunately, exiting the app and restarting revealed the draft had been saved with the text intact.