What Apple presented on monday is really huge. I followed the keynote via the TechCrunch live blog, but am sure I missed a ton of good stuff and already forgot another ton. iMessages, new notification system, iCloud and the deeeeep Twitter integration1 alone sound so awesome I can’t wait for iOS 5 to ship, nay: to be delivered over the air onto my iDevices.
iMessage
iMessage enables every iDevice’s SMS app to send messages to another iDevice via wifi or 3G. Even more: You can’t even send an SMS to another person’s iPhone over your carrier’s network if you wanted to. As Marco Arment points out in the latest Build & Analyze:
As a result, people are just gonna see their text message bills declining. […] It’s like a massive middle finger to the carriers, I love it. I absolutely love it.
That’s right on, especially considering that the carriers apparently also found out about iMessage during the Keynote. Oh, one more thing: We’re killing half your business. Finally! Someone had to do it, somebody had to take today’s 3G coverage and the idea of simple and short messages. I like Twitter DMs, but sadly people need a Twitter account and enable Push to use them. So the barrier was too high for most people and DMs became an instrument for nerds only.
Almost as much as I love iMessage because it spits into the carriers’ face, I love it because it will kill ‘WhatsApp’. This app is very popular with some smartphone-equipped folks around me, and I hate it. It did and sadly still does what iMessage heads out for: It sends messages over a data connection. But in an ugly and inconvenient way. Even the dumbest son of a bitch on the train who has the loudest and worst music coming out of his iPhone uses ‘WhatsApp’. It really is the descendant of MSN messenger. Lately, it was available for free so I checked it out, but could only stand it for half a day. Then I freed my iPhone from this hell-sent app.
Oh, and iMessage syncs between your iDevices, exactly what Twitter DMs didn’t. Hopefully, Apple now enables the Twitter app to do the same for your timeline.
Notification Center
Well, the old ones sucked. The new ones look great, usability-wise. I can enable far more notifications and still get less disturbed by them.
iCloud
It’s funny, just as I wrote about how independent my iDevices are from the iTunes that’s buried deep in the Windows partition on my desktop machine, Apple addresses that. Melikey. The contact and calendar stuff probably works like Google’s services and like Mobile Me should have. The free mail address is nice, though. Note to myself: got to get my hands on iOS 5 Beta to save my favorite address/iCloud username.
But the all-your-music-sucking-in ‘iTunes match’, that’s really huge. Just as backup and sync over the air.
The new reminder’s location function, luckily, is as awesome as it’s creepy. I wonder how you can manage your mistress’s and wife’s address - via address book or maybe via foursquare, so that everyone…? No, I’m kidding, I see ‘Wunderlist’ going into the trash as my ToDo app.
The only thing that really made me sad was to see how Steve Jobs’s condition obviously gets worse. He appeared much weaker than during the last keynote. I sincerely hope the iPhone 52 doesn’t get developed under the same circumstances regarding Jobs’s health condition as the Knight 2000 was to Wilton Knight’s.
*3As John Gruber points out in the latest Talk Show, maybe iCloud is the biggest thing in the long run. The feature Apple cut the cable with and made all the iDevices more independent and seamlessly integrating with your workflow, as long as you’re using a Mac.
- It’s really deep, I would say it’s treated just like eMail. Way to go, twitter! Sadly, this will increase twitter’s ability to play out third party clients. But we’ll see, great development nonetheless, I think.
- or 4S
- This paragraph is an update
Git is a revision control system. It manages changes to documents or any other file. To be honest, that’s the most I am currently able to understand of it. But that doesn’t hurt, this isn’t about git.
The often so-called best feature of git is github, a hosting service for people who use git. You can look at other people’s work, share projects (they’re called repositories), fork repositories1 and so on. Github is free, and you can even host web pages on it, which is really awesome. Especially for people who use Jekyll for their blog, because github runs it for you. You just need to push a new article to your blog’s repository and the rest is taken care of.
Of course, you can also use custom domains. All of that is described here.
What I had to do
At first, I made timmschoof.com point at tschoof.github.com and added a CNAME file to the repo, all of which worked like a charm. But then my blog setup caused me some headache because of its blog. subdomain. Without a redirect from blog.timmschoof.com to tschoof.github.com/blog, all the internal links wouldn’t work, of course. But I thought they would until I recognized that the previously configured redirect of the top level domain made it impossible.2 After a few hours I recognized that I’d need a CNAME file in the blog repository, too.
Of course this alone didn’t do the trick. I had to wait some very uncomfortable 24-48 hours of uncertainty during which this blog lacked the CSS file, all the pictures and working internal links.
Ha, no wait I didn’t, I just was too stupid. I first tried to make the subdomain blog.timmschoof.com point to tschoof.github.com/blog. Somehow that didn’t work, I had to change the A-Record-IP for blog.timmschoof.com just like I had for timmschoof.com. The github tutorial tells you to create a CNAME record pointing to the domain you like (in my case that would’ve been tschoof.github.com/blog) but that didn’t work for me, my webspace provider wouldn’t let me. However, it accepted github’s IP, just like it did before. More experience or the right question to the right people could’ve saved me 3 hours.
But hey, that’s how you get experience, I guess. And now this baby’s completely hosted on github, which I find very compelling because of the easy deployment (and no monthly costs for webspace). Let’s see how long git’s free 300Mb suffocate.
- It’s recommended that you rip off other people’s work.
- Well, that’s what I think happened. If I’m wrong and you know what really happened, please give me a shout.
As you may have recognized, I’m an Ubuntu user. But I also like using Apple Hardware. This results in some special configurations and workarounds I want to present in this post. I also find it interesting to see how other people handle tasks of all kind on their devices, even with a standard setup like iOS device + OS X. Lately, a friend of mine and already-iPhone-user discovered that he needs1 an iPad, so I want to give some advice. It takes quite some money and time to search through all the apps until you find the one you were looking for. Maybe I can help avoid some unnecessary testing on your side, too.
Funny coincident: In the 34th episode of enough, a podcast by Patrick Rhone and Myke Hurley, Myke talks about how he has set up his iDevices so that he basically doesn’t have to sync them. Though he uses a Mac, his setup is very similar to mine. I strive to not having to sync either, because in order to I would have to boot windows which always ruins my day. But let’s go more into detail.
Organizing
A long time ago, I set up a google account so I could use Google Analytics. Then, I started using Google Chrome and its nice syncing features.
After I got my iPad and had two devices I wanted to have my contacts and calendars on, I tried the stuff Google offers in that field, too. It worked great, so contacts, calendar and mails on iPad and iPhone now sync with my Google account. That’s in addition to all the awesome gmail features you may or may not know about, like that it pulls mails from every mail account you may use, labels etc.
For best functionality with iDevices, I suggest you set up your gmail account as an (Microsoft)Exchange Server how it’s described here, not as IMAP. It works like a charm. Though it dosn’t happen instantaneously, new events or contacts get synced very reliably.
On Ubuntu, all the gmail functions seamlessly integrate with evolution, even the next few days’ events show up under the calendar when you click on the time in the system’s panel. I don’t know how well or if any of that works with Outlook, but I think Google has figured something out.
Texts
Notes
I came to the conclusion that notes I can search through (read: which were taken with the iPad) are more valuabe to me than notes I took with pen and paper. It certainly isn’t for everyone, but I’m willing to trade having to slightly change the way I take notes for the comfort of having them all with me on the iPad and in my Dropbox2. For this purpose, I use Elements. One of its perks is that it’s able to understand and convert to markdown, John Gruber’s markup language. Don’t know what that means? Me neither. It’s an easy way to write down HTML, that’s all you need to know. This way, I can look up all the notes I took while attending lectures. Saved my ass several times, and that’s just since the iPad 2 is available.
Great post about markdown: Markdown is the new Word 5.1
Blog
Sadly, Elements seems to write some invisible stuff at the beginning of a text document so that the markdown-engine Jekyll (the site generator I use for this blog) uses can’t handle posts written with Elements without further editing.
So I’ll have to find a better solution for this, maybe I’ll switch back to Elements despite the corrupting invisible stuff, but for now I use another Dropbox-syncing text editor for Blogposts, Nocs. It really isn’t that great. Writing Kit, Markdown Edit and other text editors I tried didn’t please me to full extent either.
* With the latest update, Elements now apparently produces jekyll-ready text files. So forget about other iOS Dropbox-enabled Editors.
PDFs
All the documents I need for my studies sit in GoodReader. Mostly they are PDFs, but GoodReader also handles .doc and other formats. Of course, GoodReader syncs with Dropbox (in my case with the ‘Study’ folder within my Dropbox) so the files sit locally in GoodReader on the iPad and are available offline, but also always up to date.
I don’t like GoodReader that much, there are many little things that could be improved3. Sadly it’s the only app that does what it does. So, if you’re an iOS developer: here’s an idea.
Videos
Here comes the fun stuff. My setting: TV shows and movies, somehow, are available on my hard drive. From this point forward:
Air Video
With Air Video, you’re able to select the tv show or movie you want to watch, and let your desktop convert and stream it directly onto your iOS device. You can also select some videos and add them to the queue so that they sit in Dropbox already converted when you want to watch them.
I like watching the current week’s episodes of HIMYM, BBT, Simpsons, 30 Rock, Dexter, South Park and Family Guy on the iPad before bed or, sometimes, when I have dinner. That’s more comfortable than firing up XBMC on my desktop machine ‘just’ for 20 minutes of a TV show.
The Air Video Server is available for Windows and OS X only, but it works well on Ubuntu via Wine.
I, for my part, put the Air Video output folder in my Dropbox and make the video files a favorite in the Dropbox app on my iPad. So they are available offline. And maybe that’s worth mentioning: Air Video converts a 500 mb, 20 minutes episode in HD quality to only ~160 mb and the quality is quite decent.
Handbrake
Oh, this one isn’t an app. Handbrake is an awesome piece of software, available for every current Os. For me, it’s the counterpart to Air Video. When I’m working with my desktop machine and there happens to be some video file I’m inclined to watch later on the iPad, I convert it with Handbrake. It’s easy to use and even comes with presets for the iPad. The target folder, of course, is the same as the Air Video folder that sits in my Dropbox.
IMDb
The IMDb app is an awesome tool for every movie nut. Which film this actor starred in, which director did this film and which other films? IMDb got all the answers. And it offers trailers.
Often, you see an app and think ‘Oh, I need this!’, and afterwards use it only once. With the IMDb app, it actually was the other way round.
Podcasts
If you listen to podcasts and own an iPhone, you should use Instacast. Oh, and subscribe to the 5by5-podcasts you may be interested in. My favorites are Hypercritical, Build and Analyze and The Talk Show.
I use a portable speaker, the Mobi Wavemaster. Music and voice sound really good, and the volume it produces allows me to listen to podcasts even while I cook. Incredible battery. Top notch. I also use the wavemaster all the time with the iPad, so I don’t have to deal with the 2’s annoying speaker when I listen to the masterpieces that Cartman’s monologues are.
RSS is the tool for keeping up with today’s information overflow. Of course, you should use Google Reader as the tool to manage your feeds. On top of it, everyone loves Reeder. Why? Seamless Google Reader functions, Instapaper, twitter and mail integration, great usability. Once you’ve used it on the iPad, you won’t need the desktop or iPhone version. Short articles I read directly in Reeder. Anything longer than ‘short’ I’m interested in goes to Instapaper.
Instapaper
Instapaper is for the ‘Sunday morning, having coffee, sitting on a couch’ mode of reading, kind of. I’m always happy to launch Instapaper, cause there are only interesting articles in it. Via my Twitter client or browser plugin, I send articles to Instapaper and it collects them. It then offers a text-only view for distraction and ad-free reading.
You can also like articles so your buddies can see which awesome posts you read recently, similar to Google Reader’s favorite and shared item functions.
On the iPad, I use Twitterriffic. Instapaper integration, nice interface, what’s not to love?
On the iPhone, I use Tweetbot. Great interface, smart use of gestures, love it. Can’t wait for the iPad version.
Marvel
For me, more ‘revolutionary’ than anything regarding the big question of journalism in the digital age and the apps trying to answer that question is the way the Marvel app let’s me read, nay, experience comics. I only read the free ones Marvel releases every month, but when I do, I’m totally sucked into it. You only get to see one frame at a time and then you swipe to the next, I find that very intense. Got me hooked onto Iron Man.
What would iOS be without all the little helpers you don’t even think about anymore?4
Simplenote
Apple’s note app is nice, but doesn’t sync (at least not without mobile me), so screw it. I use Simplenote, it even has a chrome web app, so your shopping list is available on your desktop machine.
DB Navigator
I live in Hamburg, Germany, so the ‘Deutsche Bahn’ or ‘DB’ is what I rely on mostly when a destination is too far away for a bike ride. They offer an awesome app for iPhone and iPad.
Due
I never will understand why Apple’s clock app doesn’t offer multiple timers. But since it simply doesn’t, we need another app. With Due, you can have a timer for your French press, eggs and your rolls. Alarm and timer mode, Dropbox syncing, it’s all there.
Wunderlist
Wunderlist is a nice, simple to do app. It’s not as ‘professional’ as, say, Omnifocus, but it’s free. I really don’t need all the complexity most to do apps offer, so I’m perfectly happy with Wunderlist. But if you go all professional on your to dos, I’m positive Omnifocus is the way to go.
This was a huge one, I hope it’s of use to you.
- As much as one can need a gadget.
- Of course, all the documents I need and use are stored in Dropbox. Needless to say that if you don’t already use Dropbox, you need to do so. Sign up.
- recent documents view, animations for example, and overall look & feel
- I literally had to look at every single app on my devices to collect the ones in this category.
Over a month ago, the whole German-speaking Internet community went to Berlin. The re-publica1 took place. It was my second re-publica, so I was eager to experience the networking effect in full extent, meet more people and have even more fun than in 2010. And I did. But apparently, many people have a different understanding from what a conference is or should be like. After it, I read and heard many people basically saying something like this:
The most important thing with such a conference is meeting people, I didn’t care about the sessions and panels. I wasn’t interested in them.
And they are right, but just to a certain extent. You can’t isolate the factor of meeting people from such a conference, but to state that the sessions don’t matter goes too far, in my opinion. Last year, I found more sessions more interesting, though. But I’m not sure how much that’s my fault, because I didn’t research the speakers in advance this year. Add a little bit of bad luck to it, and there you are.
Maybe the problem lies with naming the sessions. When the session’s name appeals to me very much, I’m likely to attend it. But it’s also likely I already know very much of its content. That goes hand in hand with a broader audience, and that’s okay. Although nerds tend to forget they’re highly specialized, they need to keep events like this accessible and open for ‘normal’ people.
To address another common complaint: Of course there were too many people in the Kalkscheune, the smaller building next to the Friedrichstastpalast. But I think the team knows they didn’t manage that well. With such a rapid growth of the conference, I’m willing to oversee this one.
But back to the important stuff, the talks.
One of the talks I liked best was about the structure of a group called telecomix. Without accidentally talking to the speaker the day before, I wouldn’t have attended it, simply because I had no frakkin’ clue what the topic was, even what the title meant. Now, I know more about how online campaigning based on a relatively loose structure works, and that it works in the first place.
Another very interesting one was held by mogis’ Christian Bahls and Jérémy Zimmermann. It was titled ‘Lobbying the European Parliament’ and they basically talked about how they did and still do that. Which numbers to call, which doors to knock on and so on. Different from the techie talks, but more hands-on and energizing. Great guys.
The #rp11 was a great experience, I met a ton of interesting people2, I attended great sessions. I want to thank the #rp11-team very much. Great experience at a small price3, what’s not to love?
See you next year, wherever the #rp12 may take us.
- re-publica.de, Hashtag: #rp11
- Fun fact: many of them from Hamburg
- Sadly, the price didn’t cover food. Of course, I really would’ve liked to see that for the 55€ I paid for my ticket.