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The Keyboard and Other Stuff
I just used my Apple Wireless Bluetooth keyboard to type up some history notes on my iPad, and I have to say, Apple knows how to make some smooth technology. I have never typed up anything with less effort and more pleasure. Having such a simple, elegant, and easy to use workstation (just my iPad and keyboard) made even something as boring as history notes fun! I could easily see doing away with my laptop altogether in favor of such a setup. Technology has reached a level where the focus has shifted from function, which has evolved to an adequate level, to form and the user experience. Apple has become a master of this, making their technology not just the most powerful, versatile, and stable but also the most pleasurable, elegant, and simple, which are three traits that the computer industry has seen much too little of. This tiny mobile computer gets better every day.
When I powered on my MacBook Pro yesterday for the first time since the release of the iPad, I felt like I was working on an unfamiliar and slightly obstructive interface. The power and stability of the iPad (and it’s spelling correction) quite simply blow all my other technology out of the water. My dad just came up to me and asked “why aren’t you using your computer,” which was sitting right next to me, and I replied, “because the iPad is cooler.” And it is. It really is. I have apps to access all the content across both my Macs and the three Internet servers I have allocations of, which is such a streamlined feature that I don’t know quite what to say. I can update all three of my WordPress blogs from my WordPress app. I can do basic image corrections with my Photoshop.com Mobile app. I can type up documents and presentations with Keynote and Pages. I can play a host of games that are so well made and responsive that I feel like I am on a computer. I can do everything that my Macs can do on my iPad, so in reality, I see no reason to even have a laptop. I need my iMac for my graphics apps (CS4 and FCS), but everything else I can do from my iPad. That is how the future will look. There will be uber-powerful desktops like my iMac that are for the processor-intensive media applications and then there will be ultra-portable web-based smartbooks like the iPad for everything else. Or at least that’s what all the people whose job it is to research that stuff say.
I meant to just say how great the wireless keyboard worker, but got a little sidetracked. Oh well, I like expressing how I feel on the subject of the iPad.
I downloaded the iPhone/iTouch/iPad SDK yesterday, so I am good to start developing apps, which will be easier than I thought. I have been an official Apple developer for a while, I just haven’t done anything yet because I never had an iPhone or an iTouch, but now that I have an iPad there is no reason I shouldn’t kick this whole app development thing into high gear.
I think I will stop rambling for now. This started out as a really long comment on this week’s post on the Mac Lab blog, but when it got to be essay-length I decided to move it to a new post.
Gosh, where did all the time go! I got so absorbed in writing this that I didn’t check the time. Time to go watch TV.
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I have to say, technology never ceases to amaze me. I just found a WordPress app for the iPad, and it is SOOOOO cool!!!!!! This iPad really is a technological marvel. Man, this is cool! I might as well just sell my laptop, because I am never turning it on again. The iPad has almost completely removed my need for a laptop. I have my iMac for processor-intensive media stuff and my iPad for everything else. Apple killed an entire bread of computers when they released this device. Well, that’s all I have to say for now. I just HAD to try out the WordPress app.
New Tech
So today I walk into the Mac Lab at lunch and what do I see? Three large cardboard boxes. In those boxes are the first of the new 21.5 inch iMacs that will be replacing the old white computers. During lunch, Kyle and I unpacked one of them and right now (during 7th period) I am in the process of transferring the data from my old computer, as I get the honor of receiving the first of the new iMacs. According to the computer, in 35 minutes the data transfer will be complete and the new Mac will be up and running. Everyone who sits at computer #14 is going to have the best computer in the room, at least for a couple days.
I have been working on those 22 pictures that Mr. Skocko was given and have finished about ten of them. I would be working on them right now, expect that my computer is off the network and so I can’t get to the files. Overall, they are good pictures from a content point of view, but are very small and in some cases distorted. I have been trying my best to bring out the best in them, but it has been rough going. Wish me luck.
That’s it for now. Don’t forget to check the “This Is How We Do It” page for the new tutorials I made yesterday.
A Weekend Alone
Can I tell you, spending the entire weekend with hardly any use of technology, only the occasional check of the email, is quite nice. Today’s society is so wrapped around the use and reliability of technology, that no matter where you go, it will always be there. When you do find time to spend a few days away from it, for the most part, it turns out to be very relaxing.
This weekend wasn’t a complete waste of time because I was able to snap a few decent pictures. If anyone has ever been you’ll know what I mean, but Ladera Ranch is a fantastic place to go outside and take pictures. It’s a great neighborhood which produces great pictures. I have not looked through any of the pictures that I took, but when I do, along with some editing, I’ll be sure to share.
By the way, GO SAINTS! I was very excited to see that they had won. In my opinion, with it being there first time in the Super Bowl, they played a great game. I hope that everyone got to enjoy the game as I did, along with today to recover.
While Christopher and I were setting up the camera and equipment for our light painting on Friday, I was able to take this picture. In it’s unedited state, I thought it was fairly interesting. That is Christopher’s hand grasping the flash light. Kind of random, but I needed to have something to feature with this post.
Anyway, I’ll leave you with that.
8 Hours of Fun in the Mac Lab
Well, yesterday was quite the day. Kyle and I spent eight and a half hours in the Mac Lab, and it wasn’t even a school day. In the last post, I talked about our plans to install Snow Leopard on all the Mac Lab computers, as well as new fonts, and set up a new workstation. We met these goals, and it took us from 8 am to 4:30 pm to do so.
We arrived at school just before 8 am and Mr. Skocko took a break from a teacher meeting to let us into the Lab. The day before, we had updated all the computers, so as soon as we were in, we were ready to go. Kyle and I started with Snow Leopard. It took us the better part of two hours to install it on the 44 remaining computers (we installed it on #8 on Thursday as a test). During the time we spent waiting for the installation to be completed, we took the opportunity to continue our work organizing the lab. We started on the corner where the projector is, and basically tore it apart. By the time it was finished, nothing was left, but two things were added. Those two things are two new computers, maclab46 and maclab47. The first is an old PowerPC G4 that is quite a few years old, but still powerful enough to be useful. It once was the server for most of the Grossmont Union High School District. The second of the two computers is a newer PowerPC G5, which on the exterior looks like a Mac Pro (we opened up the computer to clean it, and found out what it was that way). Both computers are hooked up to very large screens, but I am not sure what the actual measurements are. The G5 has a also has a second screen, which is smaller. The two other computer we found on Thursday, another G4 and another G5, are broken beyond repair and so we sent them to be disposed of by the district. Due to legal issues, we are not allowed to dispose of them ourselves; the district has to do it, as the computers are GUHSD property. We also set up the $2,500 scanner that Mr. Skocko bought, which will be accessible from ANY computer in the room (once we finish the setup).
After the Snow Leopard install was done, we updated the Adobe products on every computer, as well as Perian. We also disabled the automatic login to the admin account. Last, we installed the fonts, but I am not sure exactly how many. These last steps were completed a long time after the Snow Leopard install, because we were so busy setting of the computers and organizing that we didn’t have time until the very end.
By the time it was 4 pm and Skocko was ready to leave, the Mac Lab was a very different-looking place. The corner with the projector (where we spent the majority of our time) is completely different, and very much better. The two new computers are not completely finished being set up, so they are not yet open for business, and are still running Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger. We will update them to Leopard as soon as we find out if the software they have is compatible with Leopard. Their processors, PowerPC’s, do not work with Snow Leopard. They are more likely just new work stations rather than new high-end work stations, but it is still good to have two new computers in the room, and having two screens is really cool.
Take a look at the before and after images to see what we did for yourself. It doesn’t look like we did a lot, but we really did.
(I had to go back and edit the after image, because the serial number for the CS4 Master Collection was written on that paper!)
Analytics and CSS
Last week, I signed this blog up for Google Analytics. The next day, I found out that you need the CSS Styles upgrade in order to access the blog’s code and make Google Analytics work. CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is a type of coding language used to govern the appearance of the a web page. Basically, it tells the browser what to show, dealing with everything from the fonts to the colors, formatting, and even the background image(s). I had only been briefly aware of CSS before.
Today, I bought the CSS Styles upgrade and have started going through some tutorials on how to write CSS code. So far, it is fairly simple, and the possibilities seem endless, but I have a long ways to go. In a few weeks, I hope to have completely overhauled the blog’s appearance, but I won’t apply the changes until I am completely done, and I certainly won’t be done in time for the presentations next week. Also, I won’t be able to set up Google Analytics until I have made progress on the CSS code. If anyone wants to know how or why, ask me. Wish me luck!!!
