iOS

eBooks

/ Technology / , ,

Following the iOS 5 upgrade my favourite ebook reader, Stanza, has stopped working. As the company that wrote the app Lexcycle, has been bought out by Amazon it is unlikely Stanza will be fixed, so I am now looking for another reader app for my iPhone.

As a quick fix, so I could continue reading my current book, I switched to Apple’s iBook app, but to be honest it is a very weak app. It is so slow to open and start reading a book, slowed further by the auto-rotation trying to work out how to display the book. This problem could be fixed by adding a “lock screen rotation” in the app – Apple will tell you to use the system “lock screen rotation”, this is not convenient as I of course open the book before locking the screen or when I have finished reading I have to remember to unlock the screen when I am trying to use the iPhone for other tasks. Come on Apple just add an in app option – make iBooks a better app.

So I need a better reader. I am trying ShuBook and Bluefire.

ShuBook is Asian orientated but it does have English options including excellent English help pages. Bluefire is a much simpler app. Both work well as readers but It was the extras Stanza offered that I liked.

  • Stanza worked seamlessly and fast with my Calibre library
  • Stanza had links to online free books that liked particularly Munseys
  • the app was very fast not interrupting the reading experience when turning pages

Both Bluefire and ShuBook turn the pages quickly and have links to some online book collections (although many of the ShuBook ones are in Chinese, but I can ignore these) and ShuBook has an option for adding your own download locations including Calibre on your PC.

I am going to use ShuBook first – but hope like many others that Stanza is fixed.

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Things I like about iOS 5

/ Photography, Technology / , , , ,

Following the issues of actually installing iOS 5 onto my iPhone 4 the upgrade has added extra functionality to the phone. The highlights for me are:

  • wireless syncing over our network to iTunes on my laptop
  • iCloud to back up my photograph to my laptop
  • I like the “draw down” notifications screen
  • the new Reminders app is useful particularly when using the notifications screen
  • formatting in email

    • I am off to Cornwall next week for a few days walking and camping so I will try out the upgraded Camera app then and comment on it once I have seen some results.

    Things against iOS 5

  • the Newstand is a non-starter for me
  • has it slowed down the typing speed?

    • Should you upgrade – yes – but look back at my post a out my upgrade experience before you do it – iOS 5 problems.

    Things I like about iOS 5 Read More »

    iPhone Photo Backup – A Solution

    / Technology / , ,

    It has come too late to help me, but for the future, Apple has provided a solution to automatically transfer copies of your iPhone photos to your PC (either a Mac or Windows machine).

    iCloud, which comes with iOS 5 can be configured to transfer the photos via wifi. I had to install a control panel for iCloud on my Windows 7 laptop (download it from here) and create an account on my iPhone using iCloud in the Setting app. In the same app I turned on the “Photo Stream”. In the Windows iCloud control panel I went with the default settings so the photos are stored in folders in my Pictures folder – this is convenient as this folder is included in the my Online Backup software and so they are also backed up offsite.

    I tried it out, I turned the iPhone wifi on and my laptop was connected to the office network. I took a photo and it then took only a few moments for it to appear on the laptop.

    Just what I needed.

    iPhone Photo Backup – A Solution Read More »

    iOS 5 iPhone 4 Problems

    / General, Technology / , , ,

    Over the past months I have had to restore several iPhones and iPads for clients and as part of my “solution” for my failed iPhone speaker (see here) I have had to restore my phone several times, all with no issues. I have also updated the iOS on my phone a number of times. So yesterday I embarked on updating my iPhone 4 to iOS 5 without much concern.

    As part of the process I followed the Apple prompts – with one of them saying iTunes was backing up my iPhone before proceeding. However during the restore I got a “ding” from my PC with an announcement from iTunes that the backup was corrupt or incompatible with this iPhone and the update stopped. I then spent the next couple of hours trying to recover the iPhone but with only limited success. I got my Apps back – so I did not have to purchase them again, but all my custom settings and my photos were gone.

    These were the photos from my trip last week to the West Highland Way – which I had not yet copied to my PC – I wasn’t worried iTunes said it had backed them up. On the up side, I had uploaded the best images to my blog as I went along and Richard has the photos he took. With hindsight I should have manually copied the photos from the iPhone before starting the upgrade, but when iTunes says it has backed up the iPhone what was I to think. When I checked the backup folder the file size of the backup file was only 278MB – other backups were over 10GB – I am glad the backup software I use to backup my client’s data is more reliable than iTunes. Some type of verification, by iTunes, would have been a good idea before proceeding to the upgrade.

    So for anyone about to upgrade to iOS 5 copy your photos first.

    Will Apple care about this – probably not.

     

    iOS 5 iPhone 4 Problems Read More »

    Do you use a PC?

    / Business, Technology / , , , , , , ,

    I read an interesting article on the BBC news site last night – referring to Dr Mark Dean, who was part of the IBM team who worked on the first PC.

    Read it here

    I have been away on holiday now for over a week and have been able to keep up with my work from my iPhone:

    * it is a phone – holding all my contacts database and client info (securely – you cannot take the SD card out of an iPhone)
    * I keep up with my email on it

    To the basic out of the box software I have added:

    * Documents To Go (to deal with MS documents – opening and creating them)
    * GoodReader for PDFs
    * the files are kept online in my DropBox

    Battery life can be an issue when camping. I have a cradle in the car which keeps the battery topped up when driving – and it plays the iPod in the phone through the car stereo. I have two extra batteries – a pocket sized, booster/recharge battery and an extended jacket battery.

    20110814-100812.jpg

    I also have a power inverter for use in the car so I can use the Apple plug to charge both of these batteries when camping – and at the house in Aviemore.

    A complete office in my pocket – a small pocket today. In 1996 when we came away on holiday I needed a bigger pocket!

    * Psion Series 5 PDA, with a box of spare batteries and a mains psu
    * 56k dial up modem for use at the timeshare
    * Ericsson SH888 mobile phone with a built in data modem – car charger and charger for the mains
    * data stored on memory cards – I think I had a couple of 1 MB and 2 MB CF cards
    * no media player but I did read books on the Psion

    Other things I have used the iPhone 4 for this holiday

    * Stanza book reader app – I have about three hundred books on the phone so I have plenty of choice
    * It is the only camera I have with me – I use the built in camera app and I have purchased Camera+, I really like the split focus and exposure points in this app
    * I have watched videos and listened to podcasts and audiobooks on it
    * I have used Google maps, MemoryMap and Navfree for navigation – we found Jimmy Chungs in Edinburgh with it
    * browsed the web in full colour and with video and sound – although I did not keep up with the news as it was Thursday when I caught up with the fact that Britain had suffered days of rioting!
    * and I post to the blog using the WordPress app

    So do I use a PC – yes – but do I always need it, no. The screen is small on the iPhone but iOS is more than capable of supporting my business – the bigger screen on the iPad would be good for some jobs but it is not pocket sized.

    Replace my PC with an iPad. No I cannot do that, there is just so much software available for Windows OS and that’s what I need – the Windows PC strength is it’s flexibility. I know a number of people who have Mac books – who will tell me how great they are, impressive hardware, no viruses, etc etc etc, and in the next breath they ask, can I help them to set the Mac up to run Windows as the need to run some Windows software on it!

    One final comment – my company supports PCs, so selfishly I hope they don’t disappear, but as it says in the article they are no longer the single driving force for technological change. At Octagon we support a variety of tablets and smart phones, as clients now have these devices and find them very convenient and with the latest OS releases very easy to use – also they are fun!

    Do you use a PC? Read More »

    New Printer for the Home and Office

    / Business, Technology / , , ,

    We have replaced our office printer – with another HP. As I tell my clients, you are never disappointed with an HP printer.

    I bought an HP Laserjet Pro CP1525nw – mainly because it has HP’s ePrint, which means it will work with my iPhone (and my son’s iPod).

    HP-CP1525nw
    HP LaserJet Pro CP1525nw

    I installed it to our network, on a wire and disabled the built in wireless connection and fixed the IP to match the IP plan I have and so I can find it easier when I want to manage it. It has a slightly larger foot print than the old HP 2600n but we were still able to fit it in that space on the bench.

    The ePrint servcies have to be installed via the internet, after the printer has been installed on at least PC on the network. The ePrint services give you far more than just iPhone printing – you can also send print jobs to the printer by sending an email to it. On installing ePrint you set up an account with HP, from there you get a secure email address for your printer and a management console for the service. For extra security you can alter the email address to be something very complicated and also limit what email addesses can send jobs to the printer (I did this). To print attach the file you want to print to an email, send it and get a notification email back telling you the job was a success. This opens all sorts of possibilities – we try and run a paperless office but we still need some things in print. Diana is looking forward to when she is working in Spain and is able to print something out in the office here and having it put in the post or on file.Printing from the iPhone works from any app that has a print option – there is an HP ePrint app, when that is installed it gives you many more options for printing.Anyone with an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad should get one of these printers. 

    New Printer for the Home and Office Read More »