Tablets, Ultrabooks & Copying

There are a lot of devices not the market being branded as tablets and Ultrabooks, when in reality they are anything but. It's maddening to me, as I love both of those form factors, and they seem to get diluted with each new marketing strategy. This is how I define those two form factors:

Tablet Device

- Hand held mobile device weighing 1-2 lb. at most.

- 4:3 screen ratio, designed to be held in portrait (like digital paper), but works equally well in landscape. Android is something of an exception in this regard. Because it was designed to be viewed on a phone, it looks okay (depending on device) with a 16:10 ratio, even when held in portrait.

- Touch screen interface with no others required to access all features.

- Mobile operating system designed for tablet form factor, no mouse pointers or UI that would imply input other than touch. My preference is that the OS is as good at allowing the user to create media, as it is for consuming it. Productivity with equal parts fun.

- 10+ hours of battery life. Anything less doesn't match up with my usual work day.

Everything else is some sort of media consumption device, hybrid, or glorified e-reader.

As exciting as Microsoft's Surface device might be, it is not a tablet device. It's a somewhat baffling personal computer with a touch screen. I know Microsoft and everyone else is going to market the device otherwise, and it just doesn't sit right with me. Windows 8 RT running on the right hardware, might qualify as a tablet device, but I haven't held such a thing in my hand yet.

I hope the Surface is just a step in the right direction to a true Windows-based tablet device.

Ultrabooks

- Clamshell design mobile computing device weighing 2-3 lb. at most.

- 16:9 (or similar) screen ratio, to be viewed in landscape.

- Keyboard, Trackpad interface with no need to carry external mouse.

- Desktop operating system.

- Solid state drive storage.

(...although I am starting to see the merit of hybrid drives provided they don't add bulk to the device.)

- No optical drive.

- 7+ hours of battery life.

Everything else is some kind of personal computer.

There are a number of devices that will probably break my rules, succeed, and find consumers that crave their line-blurring form factors. The industry will probably call them tablets or Ultrabooks for the sake of marketing, but it still feels wrong. These unique form factors deserve names of their own.

It sounds like I'm just describing the iPad and the MacBook Air in my quantifications above. It's probably because those two devices have defined their respective form factors like no other. They are pretty much the standard against which all others are measured by tech sites, comment section trolls, and myself.

The year is half over and I haven't seen anything that comes close to making me want to relinquish my 2010 MBA or iPad (except the newer iPad). Windows 8 RT gives me hope that there might be a Windows Product worth buying again in the Ultrabook category, but no one is making a tablet worth buying right now. Props to Google for their Nexus 7 media consumption device, it looks really good.

I can't even look at the comments section of any tech website without marveling at the number of people pointing out how similar laptops, tablets, and similar are to Apple products... whether they are or not. Everyone from car makers to PC manufacturers has been copying each other since the inception of their respective industries. It is a practice that sits at the core of all human innovation, natural as breathing. Why this is so surprising to people or that they feel the need to point it out all the time is mysterious to me.

There are certain design truths whether you are crafting a commercial aircraft or a double decker ice cream cone. As the mobile computing industry settles on these truths they will come to resemble each other more and more over time as standards of creation are quietly adopted. It's just another sign that we are becoming a global community with a greater awareness of one another.

Standing Desk, 9 Months Later

Posted about my standing desk about nine months ago. After talking with my brother I felt like I should post an update for those who still haven't taken the plunge.

My post from last year is here.

I spend anywhere from 6-8 hours per day at my standing desk, and it gets used for work exclusively. I've stopped any sort of gaming, mostly for lack of time, and I've taken to drawing on my tablet there as well. It's where the majority of my work gets done, unless I'm ill or something.

The desk I'm using has a keyboard tray which is handy for storing my tablet, external hard drives, extra mice, and so forth. I highly recommend rotating keyboards and mice to keep your hands and wrists from getting to used to one or the other. I don't know about the orthopedic benefits, but it helps me stay focused and aware of my posture at the standing desk.

Edit: It's worth mentioning the importance of shoes. Nothing makes my back hurt like working at my standing desk barefoot. Wear good shoes when you're at your vertical workspace.

Pros:

It's easier to maintain my weight. I don't feel like my weight is in constant flux. While I haven't shed mad pounds or anything, I do stay pretty much the same.

My mental health has improved, and I'm more focused. I'd actually like to figure out a way to have more table space for my notes and such. I'm not getting rid of my bust of Odin though.

Reduced pain in my hands, wrists and shoulders from long hours at the keyboard. Posture is really important and you've got to stand tall, back away from the desk, and avoid leaning on it to get the benefits I think.

Cons:

It helped me sleep better for the first few months, but now I think it does the opposite. The pair of twenty five pound dumbbells sitting by the desk help.

My back hurts a little bit if I forget to take breaks and walk around. Sometimes I'll just disappear into my own little world making text and come out of it with a back ache. If you do a standing desk, make sure you take a break every hour or so. Walk around the block, rake some leaved, trim the shrubs, take out the trash, something.

Conclusions:

If you find yourself fighting with your weight and being sleepy at your desk, I would recommend giving a standing desk a try for three months. I'm not a healthcare professional, and I would recommend consulting a doctor if you've got any condition that would mess with you as a result of standing for long hours before trying a standing desk.

It doesn't have to be expensive. My standing desk was a cheap $80 desk you buy at the office big box store and $15 worth of cinder blocks from Home Depot. There are plenty of far more expensive solutions out there if you think the cheap will clash with decor.

Paper

53's app, called "Paper", is a stack of Moleskins, a handful of drawing tools and a small array of colors. It isn't for creating finished work or storing a gallery's worth of masterpieces locally on your iPad. The app is for a different kind of work, the sort one does before they really get to work.

If you've ever used a pen you lifted from the hotel you're staying at to jot down an idea on a napkin, this is app is for you. If you've ever grabbed the crayons from the table at the pizza place to entertain yourself by drawing on the back of a kid's menu, this app is right up your alley. The promotional video shows someone using their iPad to jot down items while wandering the city.

If you're the sort of creative person who has their best ideas no matter where they happen to be, check this app out. It's free, and you can try out the features before you buy any of them.

iPad (3rd Gen) Review

I've been trying to conjure the right words for the new Apple iPad since I got mine last Friday. There are already a bunch of reviews out there raving about how awesome the screen is, so I'll try to make this review a little different.

I think it's a worrying trend that Apple's iPad 1, only two years old, can't run all the iLife apps. If you own an iPad 1, and you feel like you're the victim of planned obsolescence, you aren't alone. Feeling like you have to upgrade only two years later to get full functionality, and access to apps and features, is pretty discouraging.

Worried about being a future victim of planned obsolescence or artificial scarcity? The new iPad (3rd Generation) will probably have better longevity because it will runs all the iLife apps at release, and has the new retina display. It very well could be a device with a 3-5+ year lifespan like an iPod or a MacBook.

As a tool and content consumption device, the new iPad has some features that the iPad 1 doesn't.

iBooks

I use this application all the time to read full color PDFs that have hundreds of pages. The original iPad was sluggy and displayed each page at a lower resolution that the document was probably scanned in at. Reading such documents on the new iPad is a joy and the performance far exceeds that of the iPad.

If I did print or design professionally and wanted to have something to show samples to clients, the new iPad would be a must have tool. The full color pages of my PDF format books look as good as the real thing, sometimes better depending on the light conditions. Page turns aren't instant, but quick enough that it doesn't test my not-so-considerable patience.

Pages, Numbers, & Keynote

I didn't think I would find the retina display that useful when using business or text generation apps. I was wrong. Using these apps with the new iPad is like going from an old CRT monitor to an Apple Cinema Display. When you have to stare at a screen for hours editing or generating text, there is something to be said about the display and how it affects your stamina.

The latency of the soft keyboard seems better too, allowing me to type a little more quickly onscreen than I did with the iPad 1. I can't really explain or quantify why I feel that way, it's just a better experience. Also, the text you create is crisp and very readable. When editing, I prefer my new iPad to anything else now because of how easy on the eyes the display is.

Games

There are only a few retina optimized games out there. I've spent a couple of hours with Infinity Blade II and Mass Effect: Infiltrator. I think once more games come out, this will be the mobile gaming platform to own for power gamers. I still play Ultima Underworld 1 in a DOS box, so I wasn't as dazzled as some. However, if mobile gaming platforms are your thing, the new iPad is your device.

Some of my old games, purchased for the iPad 1, run a little wonky. Seriously, it made me all kinds of nostalgic, but it wasn't to be unexpected. I still have a 1997 laptop to play old games. It's just the price of doing business.

There's been some talk that the iPad generates a large amount of heat when running games for an extended period of time. I did my own tests, both on battery and AC power, and didn't find this to be the case. That's not to say that it stays perfectly cool, but the heat is negligible. User experience in this regard probably varies depending on a number of variables, and maybe I just lucked out.

Yet-to-be Retina Enabled Apps

Most of them aren't so garish to be rendered unusable, but a few are. I've had a mostly favorable experience so far. Microsoft's OneNote app, for instance, looks fine and works great. Their SkyDrive app needs a hug, but I'll save that for a different review.

The short term solution seems to be loading the iPhone retina display capable version, if available. If you are looking for a reason to wait, this could qualify. Waiting for developers to upgrade to the new retina display shouldn't take too long though.

LTE 4G vs. WiFi

I took my iPad around to a half dozen different places that had public WiFi and had no connectivity problems. Also, the new iPad seems to have a pretty good range, as good or better than the iPad 1. No complaints in that regard.

I bought WiFi because I didn't have any faith there will be decent 4G in my area in the near future, and I don't travel that much. Virtually everywhere I go has WiFi except my favorite Vietnamese Resteraunt. I'm generally too busy eating anyway.

There aren't a lot of cities with real 4G service. Do your research before buying an 4G version with any expectation you'll get LTE speeds. As I write this, I don't think AT&T is supporting the WiFi Hotspot functionality, and if that's part of the reason for your purchase, make sure you get the Verizon equipped device instead. AT&T only made their press release a week ago, and things might change in that regard. They always do.

Conclusion

If you're perfectly happy with your iPad 1 or 2, and use it primarily to consume content, I think you could easily wait another year to upgrade without missing out on much. It'll take the developer community some time to get their applications up to speed with the new retina display, and the next iPad will come into the field already good to go in that regard.

For those of us who use the iPad as part of their professional workflow and log more than 500+ hours a year on the device, the new iPad is a good buy for the perfomance increase and the display upgrade. For reference, I upgraded from an iPad 1, buying a new Wifi-only, 64GB iPad in Black.

Smoke and Vaporware

I've been an avid reader of John Gruber's "Daring Fireball" for over two years now. I even bought a couple Daring Fireball T-shirts, a black and a grey one. I've always enjoyed his objective take on things and the way he thoughtfully presents things. He gets a lot of flack because he's Apple-centric in the way he writes and a great source of PR for that company.

Full disclosure, I also use a number of Apple's products. Since 2009 I've owned four apple computers, an iPad, and an iPod Touch. I'm also firmly in the Windows Phone 7 camp and have a couple of Thinkpads running Windows and a Samsung Focus. My most modern Lenovo dual boots Windows 7 and Ubuntu. When it comes to operating systems, both desktop and mobile, I'm a well rounded and open minded guy.

Microsoft released a video of one of a number possible futures for mobile business computing that I found fascinating. John has been relentless in his criticism of that video and has posted a lengthy defense to that criticism. Speaking as someone who loves Microsoft's Metro-designed Windows Phone 7, I don't share John's feelings.

John's entitled to his opinion, but I think the video introduces several ideas that would revolutionize mobile computing. I agree that there are many things in the video that are sitting in the distant future. There is one thing I saw that I desperately want, and I think is within reach if Microsoft, Apple or others wanted to reach out to it.

I would love to be able to point the camera on my tablet at the display for my desktop and be able to set a file transfer based on what was on the screen, and vice versa. Using optics and displays as a LOS based interface to initiate file transfers, access advertising and make purchases would open all sorts of doors for mobile computing. Being able to share information this way would make offices, big and small, more efficient.

Obviously, there would be significant security considerations to overcome, but then, there always will be.

Fun with OS X Lion, iCloud Services

It's 2009 and my Asus Laptop has just crashed due to an update from the manufacturer causing the device to brick. While my journey to iOS 5 and OS X Lion hasn't been so dramatic, I'm certainly getting flashbacks of that fateful day I knew the laptop I had chosen couldn't function as a reliable consumer device, let alone a work machine.

In the last few days since I've made the switch to OS X Lion, I haven't encountered as many problems as I did when it was first released. Not being able to retrieve my email from my @me.com addy is maddening to say the least. Migrating from MobileMe was painful, like bidding a trusted friend farewell.

iCloud (MobileMe's successor) is buggy, prone to gaps in service, or it just doesn't work. I've spent some time exploring it's functionality and only the Calendar and Contacts syncing services seem reliable. Everything else either fails, works half the time, or not as intended. My iOS devices seem to be weathering the transition better than my Macs, which at least gives me an option.

Bottom line, I'll be seeking out replacements for the services iCloud provides and using my Lenovo Thinkpad to generate the more important text for my work. At the core of the issue is OS X Lion struggling to interface with and manage the cloud services Apple provides. I'm thinking they'll be fixing those things pretty quickly, but I've been wrong before.

If you haven't yet migrated your MobileMe account, upgraded to iOS, or made the switch to OS X Lion, I'd go ahead and wait a while longer.

iOS 5, iCloud and OSX Lion

I'm anxious.

I got about half way through downloading Lion, for the second time, got cold feet, and cancelled the download. It occurred because of the lengthy list of things iCloud does not do when compared to the soon-to-be defunct MobileMe. They actually tell you as you're going through the process of transferring services. It's cool they did that so people wouldn't freak out in the aftermath. I think Apple will probably integrate all those old features as iCloud gets stable but my last experience with OSX Lion was less than stellar.

You need OSX Lion for iCloud to sync everything between Apple's desktop and mobile platforms.

I like the idea of everything being integrated, but it feels like a distinct shift from being a service professionals would use to one tailored for consumers. With Apple's increasing market share, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I can still be disappointed.

I went ahead and put iOS 5 on my iPad because I hadn't yet given it a chance. While the new features are provocative, the walls around the garden have gotten higher. There are yet more applications shipping with the device you can't get rid of if you don't want them. They've even got one you can't hide in a folder because it basically is a folder.

iOS 5 signals a departure. Instead of holding a mobile PC in my hands, I'm saddled with a content delivery device I don't fully control. Maybe I was deluding myself before, but my eyes are wide open now. Looking at what Amazon intends to do with Android and what Apple has now done with iOS, I'm hoping the Windows 8 Tablet devices take a higher road.

Thank You Steve Jobs

I spent yesterday morning in my bed using my iPad to generate text using the WriteRoom App. I didn't know yet that Steve Jobs had passed away. It wouldn't be until later when I'd pop open Safari and see Apple's site that I'd receive the news, and again when a friend called and left a message on my phone.

My good friend Dan suggested that we have some sort of gathering of our friends, with our Macs and iPads to reminisce about the fruits of Steve Jobs' labor. It felt silly for a moment, I mean it's not like I actually knew Steve Jobs. Then I thought about how much Apple's products had really changed my life.

I got my first Mac in 2009, at Elle Phillip's recommendation, a tool that would be integral to my personal metamorphosis. What a difference it is to have devices that will work as hard as you do. Tools that were crafted with the same care as you would craft things. My work in the last two years is a testament to that synergy.

In the last two years I've written close to a million words (I'm almost there) toward my books, rendered hundreds of hand drawn images, communicated with dozens of colleagues and peers, and done hours and hours of tireless research. My iPad and my Macs helped make those things possible by being incredible tools that redefined my workspace and my workflow.

Steve Jobs is responsible for the company that provided me those tools.

I remember vividly the day my iPad arrived at my home. I'd wanted such a device since there'd been even a hint of them, outside the boundaries of science fiction, back around the turn of the century. Steve and Apple understood what it would take to make such a device "Magical" for me. It wasn't the screen or the user experience delivered by iOS on a tablet, it was the 10 hours of battery life that would allow me to go anywhere I wanted and generate text and images without worrying about finding a outlet.

There are a great many people who do not understand Apple as a company or the type of person Steve Jobs was. The more callous of those folks make jokes about cult-like behavior on the part of their customers and Steve's own ability to warp reality. I think that if all you do is surf the Net, check email and play games, one can appreciate a Mac.

If your work ethic is such that you generate thousands of words of text and/or hundreds of thousands of pixels worth of visual content in a year, you'll come to more than appreciate a Mac. You'll depend on it. When you push your own limits as a creative person, you need tools that have no limits.

For me, Steve Jobs and company provided. I am hopeful that he's planted a seed at Apple that will allow them to continue to provide folks like me with the tools we need. I think for the foreseeable future, his legacy is secure.

-- Sent from my Tech Envy Generator, using the BlogPress App, edited on my MacBook Pro

Amazon Fire Tablet

There is a ton of hype surrounding this new device. Then there's all the shameless headlines claiming this device will take on Apple's iPad just for page views. Finally you have what must be obviously a serious gamble on the part of Amazon releasing a $200 Android tablet at what is probably cost.

Does Amazon have the content to back up handing these things out for virtually no profit? I think they do and then some. The problem is that the media and tech blogosphere is being really quick to shove the little guy into the ring with the iPad. It'd be like watching a Ford Focus try to outrun a BMW 530d during a chase scene in a John Frankenheimer movie.

Maybe if Robert De Niro is in the Ford Focus, and he's packing a H&K MP5.

I don't see a lot of people holding an iPad in one hand and an Amazon Fire in the other and weighing the pros and cons of each item before making a purchase. They barely resemble each other in what they would and can be used for by both casual consumer and tech adept. Employing my previous comparison, I don't see someone who went in to buy a BMW 530d being talked into a Ford Focus instead, and vice versa.

There's some chatter that Amazon's Fire could unleash doom for it's more expensive Android brethren fighting for market share. Could a cheap device being handed out at cost for the purpose of distributing paid content wreck the ambitions of devices put on the market to provide that and dozens of other services in addition, just because it's cheaper?

The tech market is largely perception based. It is for this reason that companies don't release their sales figures unless they are pretty sure they're top of the heap. Just because a device doesn't sell well, there must be something wrong with it. Given the youthful nature of the mobile computing device market, it's not odd at all that it would all look like melodrama unfolding in a junior high hallway.

The analysts making the assertion that a $200 price point will give Amazon an edge in competing with Apple haven't been paying attention to the last 10 years of mobile computing. My first laptop in 1999 was $2500 for a 200mhz. Most of the people who buy and rely on mobile computing devices are used to paying a high premium for the privilege of bringing their computer with them wherever they go. Relative to what my iPad does for me on a day to day basis, the $700 I paid back a year and a half ago seems like a bargain.

Yes, it's easy to forget that I'm not the typical iPad user and that even the games loaded on my iPad are somewhat work related. I use it to create far more content than I consume, something the majority of people who use desktop computers at home probably can't say. I'd really like to bash Jeff Bezos (it'd be easy) for his snide comparisons made during the unveiling of the Fire tablet, but he isn't trying to sell one to a guy like me.

Lenovo E420, Ubuntu + Windows 7

I grew tired of running my WP7 developer tools and Ubuntu inside VMs and decided I would start looking for a dedicated Windows machine. After my iMac died, I had to cut my usual six months of looking down to about ninety days. I wanted something that had a great keyboard and would seamlessly run Windows 7 and Ubuntu 11.04 side by side.

After some looking around I found the Lenovo E420 on Amazon for $499.99, provided by Tiger Direct. The specs on the machine were exactly what I was looking for, something running on fairly low wattage, great keyboard and cheap. I was reasonably concerned about dual booting Ubuntu and Windows 7 on it, even though everything should have led me to conclude that a Lenovo would work like a champ.

The only one that seems to have more Linux certified laptops than Lenovo was Dell. I did spend a fair amount of time on the Dell website, and found lots of machines with the right specs, but horrible keyboards and design otherwise. I decided at length to go with the Lenovo even though I'd read about people having problems with the wireless.

It arrived promptly. I was amazed at how light it is, even for a 14" laptop, it's very easy on the arms. I was surprised when I opened the box and pulled the laptop out. It clicked on and worked in every respect on the Windows side from the moment I booted it up. As I suspected from the pictures and reviews, the keyboard was excellent, even better than my MacBook Pro.

After I loaded Ubuntu 11.04 and updated it via ethernet cable, everything worked perfectly, except the wireless. Here's what I had to do:

I opened Terminal in Ubuntu and typed:

sudo gedit etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

This opened the file in gedit. I scrolled to the bottom and added this:

blacklist acer_wmi

I saved the file and rebooted. Went ahead and peaked in the bios to see if there was a wifi switch built in. Someone on one of the forums recommended I turn that stuff off. It, of course, gacked my wireless abilities and I had to go back and turn them on. In the aftermath, the wireless popped on and everything worked in Ubuntu.

Disclaimer: I'm not a Linux guy and found that fix on the Ubuntu forums. That said, I would strongly recommend you avoid buying anything with the intent to run Linux if you're squeamish about getting into Terminal to fix things. As a writer I like Ubuntu for the customizable workspace and text editors, and use Gimp (image editor) every once in a while.

My experience with the laptop since has been pleasant. It's clunky and likes to PC-speaker-beep whenever you unplug things, the sort of fun and irreverent stuff you don't get from a Mac. There were other surprises as well.

The Good:

This thing never gets hot. Even running a pretty graphically intense game for a couple of hours, it barely even gets warm except near the vents. No heat comes through the bottom to your legs or through the keyboard to your hands.

The Keyboard is, of course, awesome, something Lenovo is known for. The only way to improve it were to make it backlit. Trackpad and old style pointer are the good you'd expect as well. Two-finger scrolling and such works just fine in both Ubuntu and Windows.

Battery life is decent for a 6 cell, particularly considering what I paid for it.

This thing is, for the most part, tough. All the ports are tight with no wiggle, no flex anywhere save a few places that don't really matter. It's very light in spite of feeling very durable.

For $500, it performs surprisingly well as a gaming machine. I don't have to have my games set to the highest settings to be satisfied though. It runs World of Warcraft at 30FPS with default settings at "Good" like a champ.

The Bad:

The screen has a terrible viewing arc. You need to be looking at it straight on otherwise it's washed out. The colors are very muted as well. A multimedia machine this is not.

The optical drive feels extremely flimsy. I wouldn't go using it as a caddy for your 20 oz. coffee mug, it'd snap right off.

No Bluetooth.

Other Stuff:

The speakers aren't bad. Better than I thought they would be for five hundred bucks.

The Lenovo bloatware isn't too obtrusive. I haven't removed anything except Norton Anti-virus because everything else hasn't gotten in my way yet.

Plenty of ports for what I do, and decently placed on the laptop.

For $500, I couldn't find anything that had the combination of features this device possessed.

Boise MacLife, Aftermath

I got up this morning and said a short prayer that my day would go well as I headed down to do battle with MacLife. I arrived at their downtown location with the intent to inform the technician to halt all actions relative to our service dispute until I arrived at their Overland (30 minute drive from my house) location for talks with their owners.

I entered to find that not one, but both owners were there, a suitably rare occurrence I'm told. Apparently their roof was leaking over one of their displays and an employee had called in with a Kidney infection. Behold the wonderful and terrible power of prayer.

It was clear to me they were not going to let me have the screen. They believed that the PMU portion of the logic board which regulated voltage had gone bad and that the machine was not long for this world. I accepted this explanation as that was part and parcel to my suspicions back on the 15th of last month.

I felt that I at least owed them a $49 diagnostic fee and nothing else because the remainder could have been avoided with an accurate diagnosis. They still wanted to make an attempt to acquire my screen and wrestle with Apple to that end. One owner felt it was worth a short while the other believed it was a lost cause. I tended to fall somewhere in the middle as usual.

I had a nice conversation with the owners, asked them about the new Macbook Air and bantered a little bit. Turns out they are really knowledgeable in that regard. Then, one of them helped me carry what remained of my iMac back to my car.

I think that the lesson I would take from all this is to listen to yourself more than you do anyone else. Had I followed my instincts and had the display removed before I took it home, I would have avoided a lot of trouble... assuming they still had my screen when they made the promise initially.

In the end I still have a computer I can't use for work and I'm light $49 dollars I expected to pay anyway. That they allowed my computer to leave their shop less functional than when it entered only proves they don't hold themselves to the same standards I would hold myself. Simply, I navigate this life attempting to do no harm.

I would caution anyone that wishes to use MacLife's services to get everything you are told in writing, make sure you ask lots of questions and follow your instincts. In the end, I haven't tried visiting the Apple Store in the Mall for service so I can only say that MacLife is likely the lesser of those two evils if you need repairs done to your Mac. If there is a third option for having a Mac repaired in Boise, I'd love to hear about it.

Boise MacLife, A Summary of Events

Arthur brings in iMac on 07-15-11

Intermittent display issues and the computer gets hotter, faster.

Sometimes the display freezes and won't come back up after more than one reboot.

Arthur is told by the MacLife Technician that it could be the Screen, Logic Board, Video Card or a combination.

Arthur returns on 07-20-11 (3 Business Days Later)

During that time the Technician has installed a new screen and is confident that this will correct all the issues. Arthur is skeptical, still believing that the Logic Board and/or video card are somehow involve and relates those concerns. Also, Arthur did not approve the repair, only the diagnostic work to determine what repair should be required. The Technician offers to put Arthur's screen back in, no harm done, if he doesn't want it.

The Technician says that he’s had the new screen in a couple of days and that he’s run my iMac without any problems.

Arthur and the Technician discuss the cost of a logic board noting that if that were required, it would be nearly $1100 to fix. That being put into context, Arthur agrees to take the iMac and try it out on the condition that he be given a refund and his old screen back if the repair does not fix all the issues.

Arthur takes the iMac home and discovers that it has dead pixels but that it fixes some of the heat and display issues. Freezing and start up failure issues persist in the wake of the repair. Arthur takes some time to troubleshoot on his own before giving up and returning the iMac to MacLife.

Arthur returns on 07-26-11 (4 Business Days Later)

The Technician was wrong in their diagnosis relative to the screen. The iMac is still having issues. After a freeze it needed to be unplugged for several minutes before it would come come back up again. Virtually same problem as before.

Arthur asks that the Technician do as he agreed, refunding his money and reinstalling the screen. The Technician says that he will "try" to find the old screen and refund Arthur's money. Not understanding the Technician's apprehension he asks him some questions. Apparently Arthur’s screen was sent back to Apple. Arthur is baffled, but assumes that they will honor their agreement and give him his iMac back whole and his money.

Not having received a call, Arthur returns on 07-30-11 (3 Business Days Later)

The iMac is not fixed.

Arthur questions the Technician and Maclife Staff discovering that the screen was an exchange part, as opposed to a stock item, and that his screen had to be returned to Apple within two days receiving the replacement. Apple will not return said part, the Technician says it’s already left their warehouse on it’s way to limbo.

The Technician contacts the owner while Arthur waits.

Arthur discovers that the owner is willing to give him his iMac back, without a screen, and $375 of the $500 paid originally. This essentially deprives Arthur of $125 and a $500 part on an iMac that was mostly functional and now useless.

The Technician states that he will attempt to call Apple on monday to see if they will refund the money for the screen, resulting in a larger refund but still no screen in the iMac. Arthur is angry beyond the point of being rational and departs to spend a day in contemplation.

Arthur returns to MacLife on August 1st, 2011. Stay Tuned.

Post-PC Depression

I've felt like there has been a computer shaped hole in my soul for the last couple of weeks. My iMac is on the blink, and I've been craving a dedicated Windows Machine for my work with Windows Phone 7. In my mostly late night quest to find the perfect machine to round out my workflow, I did as I always do. I read dozens of reviews, looked at hundreds of machines and did no small amount of contemplation.

As usual, I bumped into a lot of animosity toward Apple Inc.

It occurs to me that there is a lot of misunderstanding about why people buy Apple computers. Marketing magic aside, the Apple will appeal to the sort of person that takes a year to make a decision when buying anything over $1000. They have long activity cycles which completely infuriate the folks who want to buy the latest thing, right now, this second, as quick as it can be shipped. Apple tends to update their gear once a year, and that's roughly how often you'll have the latest and greatest hardware.

I bought all my Apple devices shortly after they were refreshed so that the hardware was current at the time. With my MacBook Pro it was simply happenstance (my Asus got hosed unexpectedly), but with every other device, it was purposeful. I bought them in such a state as to allow for some ability to upgrade later. Roughly the fifteen month mark was my plan.

I like to have a plan.

The production cycle for Apple is an important measure of whether and when you should buy their products. The fine folks at MacRumors have figured this out and concocted this handy buyer's guide based on how long it's been since a product has been refreshed. No other computer manufacturer seems to have this habit of creating expectation relative to their products. Most seem to update as soon as there is new stuff to through into the interior.

There was a certain infamous article written recently where the author charged Apple with trying to convince consumers that specs don't matter, and that's why the technical specifications often lag somewhat behind competitors. I would argue the opposite, those things matter a great deal to Apple.

Most people do not buy and use a computer in the same way as a tech reviewer. They seem to be writing those articles for each other as opposed to the average consumer of electronics. I think the people who write computer and device reviews have so much tech pass through their hands they quickly lose perspective on the sorts of folks that drive the market.

My mom's Toshiba that's so old you'd expect to shovel coal into it to keep it running? It's a viable device until 2013 when Microsoft ceases to support Windows XP. Sans the OS losing legacy support, it will have an activity cycle somewhere around a decade. My wife's G5 iMac will be no different, already six years old and still capable of running Apple's Lion OS when it comes out.

I think the majority of consumers keep their computer until the device simply gives out or falls apart. More than a few have a storage space full of old obsolescence they can't bear to git rid of. You know how you are.

Yeah, I constantly dream of getting new computers and devices (and bags to carry them in), but as yet none of the Macs I bought in 2009 are likely to be replaced any time soon. That's a bold statement considering I once purchased a new laptop or desktop every 12-15 months from 1999-2009.

I plan to keep and use my MacBook Pro as my primary device for the conceivable future. Such plans are the coleslaw at the side of a big plate of tech envy though. The industry keeps churning out wondrous devices, like the Samsung Series 9 Laptop.

Here's the rub: I have talked about selling my MacBook Pro to upgrade many times, and gone through what is certainly a habit cultivated over ten years of owning products from HP, Asus, Toshiba, and similar. In a nutshell, I get that itch to trade up because the little guy is going to die soon. 15 months of use in the hands of someone like me is something like 3500+ running hours. The screen on my iMac gave out before the guts did.

I think there is some part of me that actually misses the tech grind though. I've even found myself looking at the Dell and Maingear sites going through all the endless combinations of different devices. Oh, and I can't stop looking at Alienware. I've wanted one since before they were bought out, and I still think they're very cool.

I wonder if they have support groups for this condition I have, whatever one would call it.

Post-PC Depression? As my father often says, yeah, I know...

MacBook Pro - Solid State Drive

I own a 2009 Macbook Pro, a 5,5 MB991LL/A to be precise. It was the first Mac I ever owned and still my favorite. When my iMac started to act up I decided I needed to upgrade or buy something new to use as a primary. In the end, I decided to take my Macbook Pro from 4GB of RAM to 8 and add a 256 GB SSD.

I couldn't be happier with the outcome.

If you work with documents and projects of a size that require that you watch a loading bar a dozen or more times throughout your workday, a Solid State Drive is a good upgrade. xBench puts my MacBook Pro at 25 points higher than the average Mac Pro. Put into the proper context, my two-year-old Macbook Pro is a madman when it comes to most of what I do.

Aside from the performance boost, there were a couple of other bonuses I wasn't really expecting. First, my Macbook Pro is very quiet compared to before. It makes almost no sound whatsoever unless I'm playing a game and the fan kicks in. Second, it gets slightly better battery life now. Not a huge amount, maybe 25-30 minutes of additional operational duration.

If you are trying to decide between upgrading or buying a new machine, I'd take a look at an SSD as a possible option. Depending on your computer, it might be a significant performance boost for less money than a whole new machine. The difference with regard to my MacBook Pro was like night and day.

There's no Trim Support for the SSD I chose, but hopefully the release of the Lion version of Mac OS X will change that.

Standing Desks

Roughly two weeks ago I bought fifteen dollars in cinder blocks so that I could set up my standing desk. I'm fortunate in that my office has room for both a standing and a sitting workstation. The arrangement served well with regard to trying out a standing and a sitting position when working.

The first week was awful. Standing was uncomfortable and I found myself generally unable to focus, but I knew that was going to likely be the case. I forced myself to persist even if it meant doing something mindless like reorganizing my workflow or backing up files. I made sure I spent at least five hours a day standing at the desk and working toward one project or another.

My work, tedious or otherwise, continued as normal.

After acclimating to the standing position I found that I had probably set the desk two inches too low relative to my height. This made using my tablet to draw difficult. It was relocated to my sitting workstation. For everything else it was as good or better than my sitting workstation.

Your stance will vary depending on the setup of your standing desk. I do recommend standing away from the desk at least ten inches or more depending on the length of your arms. Avoid positions that encourage leaning on the desk as this will increase the time it takes for you to get comfortable standing. This allowed me to lean in an relieve pressure on my wrists without getting too close to my monitor.

If you find yourself really needing to lean in on your desk, get a footrest instead.

Health benefits of the standing desk? In dealing with the portions of my workflow I find boring (but necessary), I have much better stamina for them at my standing desk. If you find yourself getting sleepy at your workstation and using inordinate amounts of coffee or other stimulants to stay awake, a standing desk might be for you. Aside from the impact on your health such things have, there's the time and energy used preparing a cup of hot bean juice.

Being able to more quickly and efficiently deal with the banal things I find myself doing at my desks helps me get to the good stuff I like more quickly. Relative to my mental health, that's definitely a benefit.

I love playing computer games at my standing desk. I find that I'm more alert and able to play more effectively than if I were sitting. Also, I tend to be able to play longer, if I desire, before growing tired or restless. These days I can only play a video game for about an hour before I get jumpy and desire to go and do something else. The standing desk makes an evening of WoW or Spiral Knights with my friends more tolerable and enjoyable.

All told, for generating raw text for my works, nothing beats my bean bag chair, a semi-dark room and my MacBook Air or iPad. It's really nice to have options though.

Pages 1.4 for iPod Touch, iPad, iPhone

Yeah, I know there's an update for Keynote and Numbers. I don't care about those.

I have an 3rd Generation iPod Touch that I often use for content generation while I'm waiting in a line, leaning on a shopping cart or laying in bed just before I drift off to sleep. It goes everywhere with me. Those scant moments amount to hundreds of words toward my projects every month.

Pages being on my iPod Touch is a big deal for me.

First thing I did is have it pull down one of the novels I've written; 76,000 words worth of text. It pulled it from my iDisk account without a hitch, kicked the usual formatting it didn't like (little stuff) and rendered it on the screen.

Good Stuff:

- New file management options. Folders! Hallelujah. Create new files and import files from iTunes, iDisk and WebDAV.

- Even on the 3rd Generation (late 2009) iPod Touch it's snappy and the edit to zoom function is great.

- The usual spell check, word count, guides, rulers and document set up options you're used to with the iPad version of iWorks.

- You can share via iWorks, sent to your iTunes account, copy to iDisk, copy to WebDAV and Airprint documents (doesn't like my Brother Duplex Printer). Oh, you can email the document to someone if you want.

- Bluetooth keyboard pairs and functions fine, for those silly enough for such things.

Pretty much what you'd expect.

Bad Stuff:

The application functions in portrait orientation only. There is no landscape soft keyboard or viewing option. This is a deal breaker for me. My hands and thumbs are too large to type quickly on the soft keyboard in portrait.

Conclusions:

I'll be using PlainText to generate text with my iPod Touch. The decent text editors on my Windows Phone 7 has the same issues. Portrait editing/viewing only. Am I really the only person that uses their iPod Touch to generate odd bits of content in this way?

Maybe I am.

Ubuntu 11.04, Low-Tech Review

For those who read this and don't know: Ubuntu 11.04, AKA Natty Narwhal is a Linux Based, totally free/open sourced operating system for desktops, laptops and netbooks. Earlier last week I went ahead and loaded it up on my Netbook I lovingly call "Samus Aran". For reference Samus is an Asus 1015PEM-PU17 upgraded with 2GB of RAM.

I'm writing this primarily for folks who are currently running a Microsoft Windows product on an aging laptop or netbook and wondering if there are any option out there. If you already use Linux, skip this review and head to Ars Technica for a more comprehensive review of Natty Narwhal's features. On a related note, Microsoft says it will end support for Windows XP in 2014. Anyone running that OS should probably buy a supported copy of the Windows OS or seek another option like Linux before that happens. Thinking about jumping ship early? Keep reading.

Ease of Use

Learning to use a new operating system is exciting for me. I'm in the minority though, and most folks would prefer to just stick with what they know. Fortunately, Ubuntu doesn't depart from the basics of the cursor driven operating system that most people know as Windows or Mac OSX. Most people familiar with either will pick up Ubuntu in a few minutes and be able to access most of the basic services they expect from their computer.

The stock configuration includes a dock along the left side with a global menu bar along the top that changes when you switch applications. In the dock you will find the Ubuntu Software Center application that allows one to download and install more programs. There is no "Start Menu", but there is an Applications button on the Dock that you can click and use to search all the loaded applications.

If you want something to stay in the dock, loaded it up, right click it in the dock and select "Keep in Launcher". Left click and hold to move a particular program up or down on the dock. If the number of icons is longer than you dock, the bottom shrinks up accordion style to give you a partial display. When hovering over the dock you can use the mouse wheel to scroll up or down or just move the cursor toward the top or the bottom to navigate.

This dock, called "Unity" is pretty slick and intuitive. I think casual users will figure it out pretty quickly. I think the Workspace Switcher would probably be confusing at first. Most folks will figure out that clicking the program icon in the dock will take you to the application regardless of which workspace it is in.

Clicking the Ubuntu icon opens a search window.

Applications

If you spend the majority of your time playing games on your Windows machine, Linux is not for you. While a few really nice titles have reached out to Linux (Spiral Knights!), your selection will be severely limited otherwise. For me, I'm endlessly entertained by DosBox, but your average power gamer will not be so easily amused.

If you use your computer to browse the Internet, check email, chat, Skype, create documents and similar you'll find that Natty Narwhal performs all these tasks. If you use Microsoft Office extensively I'd head to the LibreOffice site and make sure it will do all you need it to. If you need something to organize contacts, a calendar, recipes, photos and similar there are a number of applications for the Linux platform that will do the job.

Most are pre-loaded as part of the installation.

Because the programs on the Linux platform are free, they often aren't as nice looking or have as many features as something you pay for on the Windows or Mac OSX platforms. That being said, it's hard to beat free. Even being used to Photoshop, I could use the GIMP Image Editor in a pinch, especially if I was on a budget.

Liability

None to speak of. You can try Ubuntu 11.04 without even loading it to your machine. All you need is a thumb drive and the ability to follow simple instructions. You've really nothing to lose by trying it. Go here to check it out.

My mom uses a Toshiba laptop that's old enough to come from an era when Toshiba made a really nice machine. It will likely last her into 2014 and beyond, it is a seemingly unstoppable tank. However, her copy of Windows XP running on it won't. Sometime before then, I will have to do something so she has a functional and secure OS running, hence my investigating Linux.

Given what I've seen Ubuntu 11.04 will run best with 2GB of RAM and you need a Video Card capable of 3D graphics for the Unity Interface. Worst case scenario, it'll prompt you to run something called "Gnome" instead which is more like a start menu/taskbar interface and just as easy to figure out. Almost any machine manufactured in the last 6-8 years should run Ubuntu like a champ.

Installation

Installation is easy. The Ubuntu site pretty much holds your hand through the process with clear instructions. That being said, anyone that has a Windows Recovery Partition on their hard drive should take special care not to delete those partitions on accident. When I wiped my Netbook, I killed all the partitions because I had no desire to use Windows 7 Starter... ever. This may not be true for someone trying Linux for the first time.

Samus Aran

For the most part, my Samus netbook runs Ubuntu 11.04 like a champ juggling multiple applications and similar. On slower machines Ubuntu gives no indication that what you've just asked the computer to do is actually happening. Be patient and don't mindlessly click an icon just because the first click didn't make anything happen at first. Click once, and wait a moment or two.

Samus gets well over 8 hours of battery life running Linux at default screen brightness. This is short of the 13 hours it allegedly gets running proprietary software with the Windows OS. For me, 8.5 hours of battery life is plenty. Also, the battery life displayed by Ubuntu seems to be very accurate.

My only complaint is that the trackpad doesn't shut off while I'm typing even though there is an option in the settings for this. For heavy typing you'll probably want an external mouse and to turn the trackpad off. Yes, the majority of the FN buttons along the top of the keyboard work fine in linux including Screen Brightness, Volume, WiFi On/Off, etcetera. I wasn't so fortunate with previous distributions of Linux even though they ran a little smoother.

Post PC Worldview & The Tech Savvy Writer

I keep seeing a lot of blood shed by tech writers on this issue. People think that because tablets are popular, they will somehow un-invent the desktop or laptop personal computer. I know lots of people who own both a regular car to commute with and a motorcycle. Myself, I've got a handgun, but I've also found that a good shotgun can be useful as well.

Do I think the vast majority of the world could get by with a tablet form factor like the iPad? Sure.

Most people purchase electronic devices for the purpose of consuming media, checking email, communicating on social platforms and other tasks. A tablet device can often perform better than a traditional PC for your average consumer. I'm beating a dead horse here.

For people who create the content other people consume, the tablet represents both a potential tool and a marketplace for their products. I've written quite a bit about the MacBook Air and the iPad and how one measures up agains the other. At lunch today, my Aunt Julie asked me if my MacBook Air had replaced my iPad because it was what I happened to have with me.

For me, the answer is somewhat complex but I boiled it down to this:

The iPad is what I reach for when working a project from the front end. For me, the front end is thumbing out the first few visuals, creating a few thousand words of plain text or mapping the relationships between characters in a book. Things that you have to do before you get serious about composition or finishing a product.

When I'm working on closing a project, or the back end, I need something that has a full desktop OS. Because I'm not just handing my work off to a traditional publisher I have to arrange and edit those works myself. The iPad simply can't do those things yet and I don't know that it ever will. There are some things that require the precision that only a cursor can give.

The folks at Notion Ink might actually bridge the gap if they can conquer their supply issues.

Anyone serious about independent writing and self-publishing have to get the most they possibly can out of their time. Sometimes you can't or don't want to sit at a desk for that purpose and need a mobile device to fit the occasion. I use an iPod Touch, an iPad and a MacBook Air to that end. I lucked out being able to afford the devices that best fit my writing style.

Touch screen devices that are both a laptop/netbook and a tablet are beginning to head toward the market, possibly filling both roles. The one's I've seen are running mobile operating systems and a keyboard doesn't mean they could be used to work a project from the read end. Would you buy a MacBook Air that became an iPad when the screen was detached?

Asus has something called a Transformer that possesses that form factor, sort of. It's running Android though, a deal breaker for me. Something running WebOS or Linux would be better in my opinion. I think the only way manufacturers are going to find out is if they build it and put these devices in the market and see what people buy.

AT&T and my Samsung Focus

That the developer community and Microsoft themselves have had to conspire in order to give users an end-run around the carriers is pretty sad. Getting a simple firmware update for a device you've paid good money for shouldn't be so difficult or carry these risks. I've always gotten pretty good service from AT&T, but this shakes my confidence and turns it into pure nerd rage. Last year AT&T doubled the penalty for breaking contract with them from $175 to over $300. That's about what I pay for four months of service.

It's tempting to just do it, put my phone on eBay and try a different carrier in August.

I keep wanting there to be some grand reason behind the update delays. AT&T is delaying the updates because they have the best interests of their customers at heart. Given their previous behavior and public (sometimes accidental) disdain for their own customers, I'm finding it harder and harder to believe that.

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