Tablet and Mobile

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What seems like only months ago I purchased an Apple TV2 box and I’ve never looked back. The Apple TV2 box is a tiny, simple black box that allows you to stream music, pictures and video from your iTunes-equipped PC to the TV, either wirelessly (if you have fast wireless) or via a network cable.

Ok it’s not perfect, videos have to be in Apple format but it works reliably and the quality is superb. A couple of months ago I managed to jailbreak the unit and this was great, allowing the use of non-Apple format videos and indeed breaking free of the need to have a PC operating iTunes – but it came at a cost. Once you jailbreak an iOS4.2 unit you can’t then upgrade to iOS5 without losing the Jailbreak… why is that an issue? Well there are some features of iOS5 that are really good – like piping video etc from your iPhone or iPad to the TV wirelessly.

And so when some time ago the jailbreak failed (as happens – the software is written with the best will in the world by amateurs) I decided to re-flash the phone to iOS5. All was well, I lost my jailbreak stuff but I was back on the official operating system with the benefits that brings (like a guarantee for example!!)

All was well until yesterday, the unit was operating perfectly for ages, but I’m in the middle of upgrading my home network to 802.11n and the wired network to gigabit speeds and in the process I decided to try the AppleTV2 on wireless – I have to say I was surprised at how well it worked… but I had a nagging feeling that running too many things on the wireless at once might affect the smoothness of video and plugged the wired network back into the unit. WELL, that was the end of that, for reasons well beyond me it killed the Apple TV2 unit stone dead. As I’d recently installed iOS5 it certainly wasn’t software that caused the problem.

I’m not daft so I tried all the usual reset tricks before ringing support – nothing. I rang up the Apple store and instead of an Indian call centre (as you might expect with, say, Orange) I got a knowledgeable Irish fellow on the phone who checked the unit out with me and confirmed it was dead.

But don’t you just know it – the unit was 10 days our of warranty – I’d had it over a year… didn’t phase the chap AT ALL. “Don’t you worry sir, we’re not going to quibble about a few days” said he – and off he went for a reference number.  An hour or so later I found myself in the Apple store getting a full replacement unit complete with guarantee. Friendly, intelligent, helpful service – no wonder they’re winning the mobile battle!

And that’s it – I’m back in action, unfortunately it is no longer possible (easily) to Jailbreak Apple TV since the update to iOS5 so I’m stuck with converting videos to Apple format – HOWEVER – a couple of tools you might want to investigate make this very easy – HANDBRAKE and FREEMAKE VIDEO CONVERTER make light work of converting video to M4v format, suitable for Apple TV, iPhone and iPad.

Couple of updates for you.

Cheap WIFI on the Move

Firstly – how do you get cheap WIFI on the move? Well, on your IPAD or iPhone you could look at SKYPE WIFI – not to be confused with SKYPE which I might add works BRILLIANTLY on both the iPhone and a special version for the iPad – both of which are free – SKYPE WIFI lets you connect to WIFI outlets across the globe – a million of them apparently and pay through your SKYPE account BY THE MINUTE – now THAT’s more like it.

Movies on the Move

Stuck away from home and want to grab one of the many movies you have at home – some of which might not even be in iPad-compatible format?  Here’s the solution…   grab AVPLAYERHD for your iPad – set up the free FILEZILLA SERVER on your PC at home and Bob’s your uncle.  FILEZILLA implements an FTP (file transfer protocol) on your home computer which is then accessible by ACPLAYERHD to FTP the file straight to your iPad from anywhere in the world.The player will handle AVI and other formats of video that other packages – well, just can’t handle.

There’s a little bit of work getting FILEZILLA SERVER (not to be confused with the also free client) like getting it past your firewall – but the instructions are all there and basically you should have the whole thing running in 15 minutes tops.. Just be aware that if you’ve a switch at home sharing multiple PCS on your broadband – you need to tell the Firewall to point FTP access to the machine that FILEZILLA is working on. Once you’re up and running, other ideas will follow – serve up documents from your PC to GOODREADER (which has the same FTP client facilities)….. etc… sky is the limit…

Ok, you could use STREAMTOME for the movies – but then you get low quality. This way you set the download off – go get dinner or something and when you’re done – movies to go.

 

Oh, you need to know your external IP address, so a fixed address is nice or you can use one of those DYNDNS services like SERVEBEER.COM or others… usually free…   the basic idea is whatever you’re using – PC or whatever keeps telling them whatever IP address you have at the minute – and externally you use fred.servebeer.com or whatever and that returns the right address.  A fixed address without a fixed address, as it were.

 

Hoping this useful

 

Peter Scargill

Just a quick note on the recent 3.3.3 upgrade to IOS. I’ve put it on my iPhone not because I was concerned about being tracked but because the recent jailbreak install (see previous blog on the subject) was slightly slowing down my phone so I thought I’d check to see if the upgrade made any difference. It did.  Incidentally if you have jailbroken your phone and chose to update the operating system via iTunes, what happens is you simply get the install with all of your APPS intact EXCEPT for Cydia and any apps you installed under Cydia… they just disappear, no other harm done.  In my case they were all freebies so no harm done.

 

Peter Scargill

Friday 25th March saw the launch of the new iPad 2 throughout the UK. If there is anyone left who’s not aware this was happening, back in April last year the iPad was launched in the USA, after several years of failed attempts to get a star-trek-style tablet on the market, Apple dared to go where others had failed.. and the gamble paid off as iPad sales went through the roof.

By Christmas 2010 everyone and their auntie were promising iPad-killers and the full might of Chinese industry went into producing various sizes and shapes of tablet armed with the promising Android operating system – but no-one could match the price/performance of the iPad.

By February the rumour-market was in full swing as  manufacturers finally woke up to the fact that the tablet is here and terms Xoom, Galaxy Tab became household names. The Tab appeared in shops all over in large numbers, sadly that’s where most of them seemed to stay because despite the quality of the tablet itself, the software simply wasn’t ready for prime-time and Google themselves were the first to admit this.

Then along came Gingerbread, the great hope for iPad alternatives – finally some real competition? Well, no. Many of us wondered if Apple would pull a rabbit out of a hat and it looks like they have. With manufacturer’s having “iPad killers” just around the corner, it really was important for Apple to get a move-on.

The iPad 2 was launched in the US a couple of weeks ago and immediately the price of the original iPad went through the floor, effectively killing off the low-budget competition, friends of ours who bought the iPad2 near the time of the launch of the new tablet were offered free upgrades by Apple who by now really HAVE gotten the knack of marketing in a way that their key competitor have never really managed – you feel you’re dealing with a company, not a bunch of nameless types somewhere in China. So now we have iPads on EBay and even being sold off as reconditioned by Apple themselves… meanwhile the suspense was building up for the UK launch – even the normally negative BBC reporters where avoiding their usual sarcasm…

I joined the queues in the MetroCentre in Newcastle at around mid-day Friday and already there were a couple of hundred people on two floors queuing for the new device. Apple wasted no time in dishing out Starbucks coffee and water to the waiting crowds and before long sent their guys along to find out what everyone would be buying and giving them reservation tickets to ensure there were no disappointments. Apparently one poor soul had been queuing since the night before and the MetroCentre security guys would not let him stop overnight so I’m guessing it was a night in the car. Rightly so he was given extra attention by the staff.

The whole production was very American, with a 5pm opening slot looming, staff in their hoards started clapping and cheering even though the rest of us were far too weary through standing all afternoon to show that much enthusiasm. Their noise certainly brought in the crowds and by now they’d succeeding in breeding a distinct “event” atmosphere.

We were herded toward the shop in small groups in a very civilised fashion and as each person or family got to the store they were asked their names and assigned to a particular staff member who would not only take their money off them but give them any on-the-spot training or help they needed and all of them were friendly and knowledgeable.  I can think of a few stores who could do with such training and the whole thing was very “slick”.

Some heavy questions had to be answered.. was it to be white, or black, 16, 32 or 64 gig, with or without 3g, leather or plastic smart-cover and what colour cover?… by the sound of it there were no real favourites, everyone had their own idea of what makes the perfect iPad2.

There was a definite buzz in the brightly lit store as staff extracted countless thousands of pounds from the public in return for a hint of real magic as punters stared in admiration at their new wonder-toy.

By 7pm we were out of there, our choices being one black and one white iPad2, I went for the girly pink plastic cover, my wife went for the manly red leather. We both bought the incredibly stylish Apple Bluetooth keyboard.

So – was it all worth it?

You bet. It’s thinner, lighter and faster than the original, the glass is many times stronger. 33% thinner and it shows, much faster and that shows too, front and back cameras and a new operating system upgrade. The (and ridiculously inexpensive) new apps (Garageband and iMovie) are excellent, PhotoBooth is great fun and Facetime works a treat though I remain  Skype fan – if only they’d upgrade their App to look good on the iPad as against iPhone.  Re-installing hundreds of apps took minutes – and for an extra treat it seems you CAN share apps within a given account so my wife gets to share all my apps – no problem. Forget the rubbish you read about just being good for games – unlike Android there are lots of business Apps for the iPad, I now have PDF and WORD readers program editors, video editing, SQL editors and I’ve just found a new bunch of business apps I didn’t know existed as well as CRM tools and many more – oh, and some pretty good games.

So you don’t get Flash – but more and more sites including those I’m responsible for are moving away from Flash – you don’t get USB but it’s so easy to use Dropbox and other tools to get stuff onto the iPad. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Apple have on their hands not only a new winner in the iPad2, but an Android-killer in the now price-competitive original iPad.  Arthur C Clarke came up with the phrase “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. Well, we’re not quiet there yet, but with a 10+ hour battery life and Star-trek looks, the Apple iPad 2 is only a stones-throw away from magic”.

It’s funny how you come to rely on stuff..  Last April I took possession of an iPad and I’ve used it every day since, be it reading the papers in the morning, checking the BBC site during the day or using it to read documents in the endless meetings I seem to inhabit these days, or watching the iPlayer at night.. it’s always there. The one thing that I’ve always found marginally annoying was lack of front-facing camera – especially after Skype brought out a version of Skype to handle that on the iPhone.  So, this week the iPad went… and I have to say it was the ONLY computer I’ve ever owned that has NEVER gone wrong – or even faltered…

It’s 2 weeks now until the UK launch of iPad2 and already they’re saying it is blowing away the likes of the new Xoom in benchmarks – the problem is – I don’t have one! Maureen and I are both sold on the idea so I’ve checked with the Apple store who were “fairly” convinced that each purchaser can buy TWO units – so on the launch day I plan to be there – one black, one white (the black one is for me).. and no I don’t think the 3G is worth having but I’ll be looking at the 32gig model as that extra storage will come in handy for movies on the plane when travelling as will the reported extra hour of battery life.

In the meantime, I’m glad I have my little iPhone, minuscule as it may be, it saves me getting severe withdrawal symptoms