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- Some thoughts on using the iPad as an IT support tool
Filed under: Odds and ends, Troubleshooting
I make part of my living as an Apple consultant, so one of the first thoughts that went through my mind on Wednesday when I first saw the iPad was "would I be able to use that to help support my clients?" After a bit of thought yesterday while waiting for files to be loaded onto a new server I was installing, I think the answer is a resounding yes.
Usually when I'm visiting my clients, I lug along a computer bag filled with various tools along with my MacBook Air. The rest of the time, I'm either in my office with my iMac, or away from a Mac enjoying myself. Unfortunately, Mac issues tend to arise at the worst possible times, and so there are many situations where I only have my iPhone available for support.
One of my tricks of the trade is to talk with clients while looking at their Mac screens using a remote support tool, and the iPhone screen has always been too small to be useful. When you're trying to control someone's computer through Jaadu VNC or some other remote control software, screen real estate is very helpful. I can see using the iPad for remote support in many situations where an iPhone just won't work.
The iPad would also be useful for reading technical documentation while on-site. I have many support documents saved in PDF format and saved into my Dropbox; they'll be much easier to read on the iPad screen than on my iPhone. Likewise, when I've tried to pull up support info from a number of websites with my iPhone, I've found reading the support articles to be nearly impossible.
With the built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi, the iPad is going to be useful as a very portable device for troubleshooting wireless networks. Apps such as the US$4.99 iNet Pro network scanner [iTunes Link] will work on iPad right off the bat, so they'll find a place on my iPad home screen.
Of course, there are some things you'll never be able to do with an iPad. For example, it's sometimes helpful to start up another Mac in Target Disk Mode and run a utility on a laptop to check for disk issues on the ailing Mac. Since the advent of the MacBook Air and new MacBook, some of the lower-end laptops don't even come with the requisite FireWire port to allow this type of connection. My solution was to use an old iPod loaded with TechTool Pro; there are ways to load Mac OS X onto USB drives as a boot drive as well.
Likewise, there's no way to run Windows-based applications on the iPad... yet. However, many remote control apps for iPhone are cross-platform and supporting Windows machines from the iPad would be possible.
If there are other Mac support consultants out there who are thinking about how to use the iPad in their businesses, please leave a comment telling us how you think the device could be utilized to help out your clients. I, for one, am looking forward to going on service calls with nothing but my iPhone and iPad.TUAWSome thoughts on using the iPad as an IT support tool originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 30 Jan 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple - IPhone - MacBook Air - iTunes - ITunes Store
Переслать - How many icons on that iPad dock?A reader has sent us the above screen shot. It clearly shows six application icons on the iPad dock.
Given that the the iPad has a much larger screen, this would be expected. However, none of Apple's official shots of the devices shows six dock icons. With everything that's been leaking out from the dev SDK in the last two days, there are surely many more surprises to come.I was messing around with the iPad simulator, and I noticed that I could fit 6 icons in the dock. There was no modding involved. Since the iPad has a roomy screen, this could be very plausible. And since I am a jailbreak person, I know how uncommon this kind of thing is. But it goes along pretty well with Apple allowing the modification of the background.TUAWHow many icons on that iPad dock? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 30 Jan 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Catan: The First Island brings tabletop gaming glee to iPhone
Filed under: Gaming, Features, iPhone, iPod touch, App Review
Catan. If you've ever visited, there's a good chance you're passionate about it.
First unveiled as a traditional board game in 1995, the now-classic trading and settlement game has evolved over the years to include dozens of scenarios, expansions and reworkings, from limited edition game maps to browser-based Internet versions. Naturally, the Settlers of Catan is now also available for the iPhone [iTunes link], and it's a a damn good condensed version.
First things first. This is the full, but basic, game. The original ruleset isn't condensed at all, but none of the expansions are present in the current version. While long-time board gamers might scoff at simple "vanilla Settlers," the basic game as presented in Exozet's iPhone version acts just like the tabletop big brother. You can choose to play on the fixed beginner board or a random map, you can play with three or four people (or bots), you can trade, you can go for longest road, etc. All the things that make Catan such an enduring game are here, and that's great to have in your pocket.
Read on to find out more about Catan: the First Island on the iPhone (and iPod Touch).
The Game
The Settlers of Catan is, at heart, a game of collecting resources and building a collection of settlements and cities on a modular board, with the goal of reaching a set point total (between 8 and 12, but defaulting to 10) before the other players. Players who know the rules will be able to jump right in. You can set the animations to turbo and turn off the opponent comments for the fastest possible game. If you're quick, a full game can take around 10 minutes - about as much time as it takes some people to set up the tabletop version. Players who aren't familiar can go through a tutorial with digital Catan's familiar Professor Easy to learn how to build, trade and acquire points or read up on the game at Board Game Geek.
The App
The Catan gameplay doesn't suffer on the iPod's small screen. Each resource hex is clearly differentiated by both color and graphics, but colorblind players might have trouble figuring out which settlements and roads belong to which player since there are no player icons to be found. You'll have to rely on memory to kept things straight,
Figuring out how the game operates is superbly straightforward. Things blink when you can can affect them, the menus are easy to figure out and so on. If you know how to play the tabletop game and aren't totally new to the iPhone, you will probably know how to play the app in, at most, 90 seconds.
Take, for example, the trade screen. You can see the five resource types and how many you happen to be sitting on at any given moment. Flick one up towards your opponents and the number goes down. This is what you're offering. Flick one down towards your player avatar and the number goes up. Simple and clear. Click on the big green checkmark to try and seal the deal - and notice how this icon is located at the opposite side of the screen from the decline/exit button. Very smart.
If you get fed up with AI opponents trying to trade with you, there is an option to decline all offers for the rest of the turn. When you have the resources that you want already, this greatly speeds up the game (a good thing).
This brings up a point: who is this app's target audience? With the tutorial and the easy playing time, someone totally new to Catan could pick up the game and enjoy it. But, c'mon, the people who will be most excited about this are the hardcore players. A skilled player will be able to beat the game's toughest bots - William and Hillary - with some regularity, but there is still enough challenge here to be worth the five spot. If you're addicted to Catan and want ultra-easy access to a quick game (make your decisions fast and you can be done in ten minutes), this is the app for you. Hopefully, enough players will complain about the less-than-brilliant AI and we'll get another update to make them play better.
While it would be feasible to implement in the tabletop version, one new feature in the app is the "resource bonus." This setting allows a player to never go too long without getting at least a little something. Especially early in the game, a series of bad rolls can mean you're not building anything while your opponents erect cities all over the place. With the resource bonus option turned on, after five empty rolls, a player can simply select one resource of their choice.
A drought like this is less likely to happen if the dice option is set to Stack (or Stack5). When using Stack, the dice rolls have perfect distribution, so that if the game ends after exactly 36 rolls, you'll have seen every possible combination of two dice during play. With Stack5, five random options are removed at the start of the game and the numbers reset after 31 rolls. There is a deck of cards that Mayfair Games sells for the tabletop Catan version that does the same thing, but the extra text on those cards is not included in the iPhone version.
Speaking of mini-additions, the First Island is ripe for mini-expansions like The Great River of Catan or The Fishermen of Catan, and I hope we'll be seeing some of the more game-changing expansions like Seafarers or Traders & Barbarians. They'd better be working on these options. Seriously.
Looking even further down the road, should Exozet ever develop a larger version for the iPad, adding the 5-6 player expansion might also be cool, and players could play a tabletop game just by setting the iPad on the the table and going from there (dealing with cards hidden in players hands will be tricky, for sure). It's a thought.
Final thoughts
For some reason, Exozet thinks players want to listen to in-game music instead of their iTunes library. The game's music and sound effects can be muted, but is still doesn't allow your own music library to play; that's annoying, and one of the most-requested changes in customer reviews. Another downside is that there's no way (that we could find) to offer trades with other players on their turn. This is important if you're trying to offer 2-1 trades to stay under the 8-card robber hand limit, but because the game moves so fast it's not that much of a problem, really.
We'd also really, really love an undo button. The app is pretty idiot-proof, but mistakes do happen.
Finally, there's a bonus feature to this $5 app that hasn't gotten nearly the attention it deserves. The Settlers of Catan needs at least three players (the 2007 expansion Traders & Barbarians expansion for the tabletop game gave us a reasonable two-player ruleset, but it's not the same game) to get going. With this app, we now have a very good way to play real two-player Catan. It's a slight hassle to coordinate, but this app gives two people a third "player" whenever needed. Catan: The FIrst Island is the next best thing to having an extra friend around who's always up for another trip to Catan.TUAWCatan: The First Island brings tabletop gaming glee to iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Infographic: Cost/benefit analysis of the entry-level iPad and six other ereadersIn the tradition of the Billshrink infographics, Darren Beckett has thrown together this nice little infographic comparing the entry-level iPad's cost and functions to other popular e-readers like the Amazon Kindle DX and the Fusion Garage Joo Joo. While the iPad ties as the most expensive on the list, I think it's fairly obvious if you need anything more than a simple e-reader, the iPad offers the most bang for your buck.
As a guy who's just written his first novel and a long-time bookaholic, I've have always said I'll never go with any kind of e-reader. I love the feel of a book in my hands. Paper books are romantic in a way electronic books could never be. Plus, you just look really educated when you've got scores of them lining your shelves ;) Also, when I go to the beach, I'm not worried at all about leaving my book when I go for a swim. If my $500 e-reader got lifted, that would be another story.
That being said, the iPad is starting to look appealing as an e-reader based on the videos I've seen (love those page-flips), but what's more is the iPad has also gotten me interested in the Kindle (which I'm hoping to find a friend with one so I can do an iPad/Kindle e-reader-function-only review).
Before the iPad, I couldn't imagine not having hundreds of books lining my shelves. And now... well, I might need to find other things to fill those shelves with. But what say you guys and gals? If you've thought about getting an e-reader, would you consider going with an iPad now, since it offers a lot more functionality for not much more money?TUAWInfographic: Cost/benefit analysis of the entry-level iPad and six other ereaders originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Video: A Rare Look at the Man Behind Apple
Filed under: Steve Jobs
ABC News had an interesting piece on last night about Steve Jobs, naming him "ABC World News Person of The Week."
The segment includes a rare look at Jobs' personal life growing up. While there's nothing in the three-minute video that tells us anything we didn't already know, there's a pretty funny video of him riding a motorcycle. Who knew he was such a bad-ass?
Thanks to reader Ethan L. who sent this in.
TUAWVideo: A Rare Look at the Man Behind Apple originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - iPad inside, but what was going on outside?
Filed under: Humor
We were all glued to our computers watching the latest feeds of what was happening inside at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco on January 27th, but what was going on outside? Thanks to Current TV's infoMania Tech Reporter
Ben Hoffman (who was never going to get through the doors under any condition), we now know.
Check out their segment below, it's worth it alone for the pestering Hoffman gave to our sister site's Editor-in-chief, Joshua Topolsky.
TUAWiPad inside, but what was going on outside? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Got some time? Crush the Castle
Filed under: Gaming, Odds and ends, iPhone, iPod touch, App Review
I admit it. I am iPadded out. I am iTired. I am suffering from iBurnout. So it was with pleasure that I found an addicting little game for the iPhone and iPod touch called Crush the Castle [iTunes link]. It's a free medieval game where you use an ancient trebuchet to smash a variety of castles and the inhabitants standing nearby. Crush the Castle is physics based, so you have to swing a heavy projectile in the air and release at just the right point to flatten the castle off to the right of the trebuchet. After a few tries it gets damned addictive.
You have more than a dozen castles to crush in two different kingdoms. If you do well, you get some medals. If not, you are rebuked by the king. The animation is good, the physics seem accurate, and the sounds of castles coming down and soldiers screaming adds to the fun.
At each new level, the distance to the castles from your siege machine increases, so you really have to get the release point for the projectile just right.
Crush the Castle is a port of a Flash-based game which you can play for free online. If you really get into the mild mayhem, I'd suggest you look at the US$1.99 version [iTunes link] which has 90 levels, 10 types of ammo, and an editor so you can design your own castles before you knock them down.
Both versions get great reviews from users, and I'm in agreement. It's helping me forget all the endless iDebates over the iPad and work my iAggressions out on my iPhone.
The free version is no risk, except for the time you are sure to lose. Let me know if you get hooked too. Check out more screen shots below:TUAWGot some time? Crush the Castle originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - How to "clean install" Snow Leopard
Filed under: Hardware, OS, How-tos, Tips and tricks, Troubleshooting, MacBook
A friend's MacBook had slowed down to a snail's pace. Despite looking everywhere for the issue, streamlining everything I could, and yelling at it, it failed to accelerate to usable speed. So I recommended we start from scratch and build it back up with only the things she was using, free of all the other downloads and aborted installs of various software she never used or cared about. It also housed a prior system, and a PC migration from a few years back. All told, the computer was a bloated, duplicated whale of files and applications for what was essentially a light-load writer's computer.
So I backed up the essential parts of her system using Time Machine: documents (including her novel and decades of prior writing, published and unpublished), ten years of family photographs, a 41GB iTunes library, among other things, and then....backed it up again elsewhere, outside of Time Machine.
And again.
And just for good measure, once more time, to yet another drive. I wasn't going to be the (ex-)friend who lost her novel.
What I wanted to do was do the ol' "erase and install" that prior system software discs allowed you to do. But clicking around Snow Leopard left no obvious method for this. But instead of booting Snow Leopard while inside of Mac OS X, if you just directly reboot the computer off the disc itself (holding down the "c" button after the system chime, letting go when you see the Apple logo) you get a few more options. Once you've gone into the installer program, you'll see "Utilities" at the top, and if you select Disc Utility, you can see your hard drive. If you click on "erase" (like I did, with one hand over my eyes) you can wipe the drive clean with various security options, and then you can do a fresh install of Snow Leopard on your computer on a pristine hard drive.
Once you've done that, you can either transfer your files back in directly, or use the installer program's built-in migration utility to restore any or all files from Time Machine.
And now? The world awaits the Next Great American Novel, untragically unlost by yours truly.TUAWHow to "clean install" Snow Leopard originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - iPhone OS 3.2 supports video calling, file downloads, SMS and...multitasking?
Filed under: SDK
Engadget has just confirmed with "extremely trusted sources" that iPhone OS 3.2 contains rudimentary support for video calling, which could explain that mysterious space at the top of the iPad's leaked pictures they received.
Engadget's sources said there are hooks to accept and decline a video conference, flip a video feed (which suggests a front-facing camera) and -- most importantly -- run the video call in either full screen mode or in just a portion of the screen. Video calling in just part of the screen (the other part left open for other apps) would be indicative of some basic type of multitasking.
Engadget also confirms that "iPhone OS 3.2 supports file downloads and local storage in the browser, which means you'll be able to pull files off the web and use them in other apps, and there's at least the beginnings of SMS support buried within the code."
While our sister site is quick to point out that it's not sure if any of the code will ever be implemented, they're starting to get the feeling that Apple didn't tell everything there is to know about their latest creation...TUAWiPhone OS 3.2 supports video calling, file downloads, SMS and...multitasking? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - More rumored Telltale plans for the MacWe posted a little while back about Telltale possibly bringing its games over to the Mac, and now there's even more rumblings to be interested in. Rumor has it that since most of their games use the same platform, one port is the same as all of them, which means we may see the whole catalog released in one fell swoop on OS X, and sold right alongside their PC brethren. Additionally, Telltale hints that we may even see iPhone and/or iPad versions of their games, including Sam and Max, the Monkey Island franchise, and all the rest (with the exceptions of the Bone series and Texas Hold 'Em).
They are saying that we'll hear more at Macworld next month, and since TUAW plans to be there en masse, we'll definitely keep our eyes open for anything they're showing off. Good to hear that one of the more interesting and quality developers out there is planning to come over to the Mac in a big way.
[via IMG]TUAWMore rumored Telltale plans for the Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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