Monday 29 November 2010

Vodafone you suck

I rang Vodafone support and first they'd never heard of the MiFi device (mobile WiFi) then they went on to tell me it couldn't receive text messages and I could not have an online account for it. Well I just found out how to do it. I wonder how many others they've tried to fob off.

Here is the link with instructions for how to receive text messages on the Vodafone MiFi


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:UK

Setting up account for Vodafone MiFi

How to setup a Vodafone account for the Vodafone MiFi (Mobile WiFi/R201).
1. Register at vodafone.co.uk and they will send a text to the device.
2. Whilst connected to the MiFi network go to http://192.168.0.1 this will go to admin page of the MiFi unit


3. Login using "admin"
4. Navigate to SMS/text messages via the left hand menu, and copy the security code from the text message.
5. Enter the security code on the Vodafone site, and enter all requested details in order to complete the registration.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:UK

Saturday 27 November 2010

BlogPress for iPad review

I am very impressed with the iPad version of the BlogPress app. As a regular user of the iPhone version, this does everything that does and more in a slick and easy to use iPad type interface.



My favourite parts are the implementation of the controls for the images, that allow you to set the text flow and whether it links to a URL. Also you can very easily add HTML rather than having to tediously type out the tags.



Also it works in landscape mode. And my last comment is that I've been using it quite a bit since I purchased this week, and it works well with multitasking, and is very robust.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:UK

Notetaker HD review

The app Notetaker HD is simply the best thing I've ever bought on a portable device, and makes the iPad so much more useful. I have replaced all my notebooks and pads of paper at home and at work with this app, the iPad and a stylus.


It is easy to use, very well put together and robust and makes it addictive to write notes on the iPad. Basically you can do anything that you would normally do with a blank piece of paper; notes, task lists, tables, charts, take minutes, mind maps.

To all those that have said it isn't very iPad like I have no idea what they are on about. I agree there is a little bit of a learning curve but once you've picked it up this app is brilliant. The interface is robust, usable and attractive.

And it looks like the developers are making a conscious effort to keep it up to date. I just got a new version that has given a number of features I was just thinking would be great, including being able to import PDFs into the app and make annotations on it - and it just worked very well on a 100+ page PDF.

I can't recommend this app enough, and I think it is a bargain. Fantastic.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:UK

IPad at work - initial experience

I've used my iPad at work for a week and have to say it is awesome and offers a number of productivity gains and generally makes working life much more pleasant.

1) Things


Instead of writing my tasks on postits I can keep them all organised using this awesome task management software.

2) Safari & Mifi
I soon found I needed a network connection, so I purchased a Mifi and I get a very good and fast signal from Vodafone. Safari is so useful, and with a work PC that runs like a dog, I can do research here instead. It also provides a distraction whilst my PC is locked up or crashing.

3) Web Outlook
It's not perfect, and iAnywhere hasn't done an iPad app yet, but the web interface to email is workable, and very useful when my machine is busy doing other things.

4) Yammer


There is no iPad Yammer app yet, but the website works perfectly, and this provides a perfect way to use the site.

5) Evernote


Used for making notes, I use this to quickly transfer information, especially links and pictures between the iPad and my works PC via the cloud.

6) Notetaker HD & stylus


This is the absolute killer app it allows me to do all my notes, minutes and diagrams electronically. Which makes it fun, and allows me to tag all the documents to make them easy to find. This works so well and I started using it as much as possible as it is so practical. This is going to be a massive saving in need to use paper definitely. The stylus makes writing more accurate and more comfortable.

7) iPod
Last but not least the iPod app is so good on the iPad that this is now my favourite method to consume my music.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:UK

Thursday 25 November 2010

Japan to China a novel way

The directions from Japan to China on Googlemaps. Nice.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Japan to China

Wednesday 24 November 2010

Getting Rowmote working with iPad

Okay I had trouble getting Rowmote Pro working on my iPad. I downloaded it from the app store and tried to connect. It would not find my computer. Then I realised they were on different networks, fixing that did not resolve the issue. I tried putting in the IP address but finding out which IP address to put in proved to be very complicated. This did not work.


I thought it might be related to Rowmote helper, so I tried reinstalling that. There was then a problem with permissions that I had to restart my Mac to sort out. That still did not fix it. So I deleted the app and used iTunes to transfer it from my iPhone. It was now able to find my Mac, horah!

Rowmote is a really good app for controlling your Mac via your iPhone or iPad and probably iTouch.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:UK

Upgrade to iOS 4.2

I've done the upgrade to iOS 4.2 on both my iPad and iPhone. Annoyingly after install to iPhone the iPhone was very very hot. Also none of the apps would open so I had to do a reboot. It's now working fine.

As for the iPad; it's fantastic to get multitasking but the sweet double click for iPod controls now requires an additional swipe to the left to get the iPod controls to appear. A little annoying. Additionally the rotation lock control has now become a mute switch annoyingly. I wonder if there is an option to change this?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:UK

Monday 22 November 2010

Cross country results

The results are here;
http://www.benfleetrunningclub.com/eccl.13.11.10/essexlg3.xls




I came last in my age category oh well :-)

Oh yeah and Phoenix Striders came 13th out of 23, not bad!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Hockley

Car repair

So I got into a little accident in my car, not to worry no one was injured. Take a look at the before and after shot.

Before



After



Repairs were done by Brockley Road Bodyworks in Chelmsford. They did a fantastic job, thank you.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:UK

Sunday 21 November 2010

Some iPad tips and initial findings

Wow just worked out how to sync the calendar, follow these directions;

http://help.apple.com/mobileme/interface/index.html#mmcc733205

VLC is fantastic all the videos that wouldn't load via iTunes now can be pulled across and play. Unfortunately there is a bug where the movie freezes after 15 minutes. Pressing home and going back in makes VLC crash, then you can go back in and continue the movie - not ideal I've emailed the developers so hopefully they'll sort out an update.

iBooks is slightly disappointing, all the titles and authors I looked for weren't in there. Plus the price is quite expensive.

Twitter app is great - I'm getting back into Twitter.

Pulse news is fantastic, I'll never read RSS in the same way again.

Bad on Spotify, Facebook and Tutor 24x7 for not having iPad apps, hopefully that'll be sorted out.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:UK

I bought an iPad!

So I finally gave up waiting for the new iPad. I cancelled my holiday plans, so I had some spare cash so I thought what the hell I'm getting one. I don't want to have not had a first generation iPad and even if the iPad 2 comes out then I'll just have to get a new one and I'll sell this or give it to someone as a present :-)



I absolutely love it, there is something addictive about using it and I haven't yet found anything about it that I don't like.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:UK

Tuesday 16 November 2010

Lost photo

OMG I thought I'd lost a photo from my holiday to Portugal; a classic photo of me and my brother-in-law pretending to do a number 2 on some historic toilets in a monestry....!!

I thought I remembered copying the photo out of iTunes and uploading it as my profile picture (cropping to my face). In doing so I would have copied it to my desktop and then deleted it off my desktop once uploaded. It was there cropped on Facebook showing just my face.

Only looking back through Portugal photos tonight, it wasn't there. I paniced. I looked through my memory cards - but I'd deleted my photos. I got very irate with iPhoto as the photo was missing even going back far past the date of deletion. I rang my sister and she said she hadn't got a copy of my pics but they may have taken the picture. I was convinced it was my camera. But even my facebook gallery didn't contain it. I was fuming.

Then I looked through my brother-in-law's facebook pics and there it was, with me holding my camera in my hand. Doh! Problem solved :-)





Location:UK

Sunday 14 November 2010

Cross country

I did my first ever cross country run on Saturday in Hockley. Parking was at a school with a 5 minute walk to the race start.

I've learnt that I should have given alot more than 5 minutes and that I should have taken a bag with me; because after the race I didn't have any food or drink handy, or a jacket.

When it started everyone went so quick. I was last for a while before overtaking 3 people and losing one position half way through. After half way round the first lap I checked my watch and I'd only been running 15 minutes, it was hard!

I also learnt cross country requires trail shoes or spikes. It was fun slipping everywhere and getting covered in mud.

I did 8.5km in 47minutes 48 so that is 5.28 miles. Which is 9 minute per mile pace. Would like to get back to 7 minute mile pace.



Location:Hockley