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- Bye Bye USB Syncing: Is the iPad Bad for iPhone OS?
Users of Lexcycle’s terrific iPhone e-reader app Stanza (which was acquired by Amazon last year) are expressing their disappointment over a recent update the removes the ability to sync and share your book library over USB from the program. When pressed as to why exactly the feature had been removed, Lexcycle responded that it was at the request of Apple.
Before I say anything else, it’s my duty to report that Apple is indeed acting within the scope of the agreement it has with developers in requesting the removal of this feature from apps. As of now, USB syncing is still a private API, which means developers shouldn’t technically be using it. To get around this, many have implemented the feature using the iPhone’s Digital Camera Image Management folder, but that still also requires the use of private APIs.
Whether or not developers are violating the development agreement isn’t at issue here, though, really. Apple has quietly acquiesced to the use of USB syncing in many apps, not just Stanza, until now. The timing is not inauspicious. Apple’s only begun to enforce this rule following the announcement of the iPad, and, more to the point, of the iBookstore.
Ars Technica believes this is only a temporary measure. They point to an alternative apparently in the works in iPhone 3.2:
Though users of Stanza, PDF readers, numerous audio editors and sequencers, and other apps will be frustrated, the good news is that Apple has a mechanism planned to address both syncing and file sharing issues. The beta SDK for iPhone OS 3.2 has APIs for accessing an on-device shared storage folder, which will be mounted as a readable and writable disk when plugged in to a computer via USB.
Ars then goes on to point out that iPhone OS 3.2 is only intended for use with the iPad at this point. The same features could later appear in an update for the iPhone, but they may not. We could see an OS forking at this point, and that might mean a significant difference in the available features for each device.
Not to mention that there’s no guarantee the iPhone or the iPad will ever get the same kind of USB syncing functionality back. The iBookstore means that Apple has a monetary reason to prevent other content providers from getting its e-book products onto its devices. And in the meantime, while everyone waits for a potential future solution, Stanza users and others are left completely out in the cold.
The iPad represents many new possibilities for iPhone developers, but at what cost? Will Apple close its iPhone OS platform even further to ensure that it maintains the lion’s share of content control? Will it quietly hamstring legitimate competitors as it extends its power over the media users view on its devices? Not necessarily, but with the advent of a brand new device, we should watch closely to make sure we aren’t losing something irreplaceable in the bargain.
Переслать - How-To: Automate Your Home with Indigo
Here at TheAppleBlog, there’s been plenty of instruction and discussion about using Smart Folders, Playlists, Albums and so on, as well as Automator and Folder Actions and other products like Hazel — all of which serve to make your Mac work a little harder to simplify your life a bit.
Hopefully we’ve led many of you in the right direction in using these great bits of technology. If you’re willing to follow us down the rabbit hole again, I’d love to show you how to use your Mac and a product called Indigo to start making your home work for you as well. It’s home automation time!
A Brief History
Some of you probably remember — from a long time ago — those wall plugs with the big timer dials on them. You could plug the living room lamp into it, and auto-magically it would turn on at 8PM for you. Since then, a standard (probably limited largely to tinkerers and geek types) called X10 became available. It allowed for communications to occur over the power lines within homes, to control lights and appliances via some programmable unit.
That technology hasn’t changed a great deal (to my knowledge that is), but other products and technologies have come along that work along with X10, and it’s this combination that has made home automation much more accessible (and interesting) for the masses.
Whetting Your Appetite
Needless to say, we’ve come an awful long way from lighting that lamp at a given time each day. One of the more main stream examples come toward the end of the calendar year, when the Alpha Geeks start showing off their holiday lights, controlled by computer. In fact, a couple years ago here in Denver, there was a guy who claimed you could control his lights via his webpage. It turned out to be a hoax at the time, but the technology is definitely there, as you’ll see below.
But people are doing awesome — and, gasp!, practical — things with home automation.
- Turning on certain lights in the house when the car pulls into the garage
- Announcing when the mail has arrived
- Readying the blinds and lights for a proper movie-watching experience (via a single switch)
- Security monitoring
- Conserving energy by automatically turning off unused lighting
- And the list goes on.
Hardware
Besides your Mac (an older G4 would do the trick of you don’t want to use your MacBook) to run the software, you’re going to need some basics to get started. First, there’s the device that allows your Mac to interface with the Insteon/X10 modules you install in your home. This is called the Insteon PowerLinc Modem USB. You’ll also want a couple of Insteon Access Points, which enable mesh communications of commands sent to different devices within your automated home. That’s it! Those are the basics to tap into the power (pun intended) to automate the stuff in your house.
You’ll need to add some controllable modules so there’s actually something to control, otherwise, what’s the point? You can start on the cheap side, with the wall-wart type of products, and later move into the replacement outlets and switches if you really get the bug. On the starter side, you have the LampLinc Dimmer and the ApplianceLinc (which is an on/off current, rather than the dimming style). You can get all of these modules (plus Indigo Server Lite) in the Starter Package for about $250. It’s not the cheapest hobby in town, but what is? (Hypothetical question…)
Software
Indigo Server is the brains of the operation. With it running on your Mac and plugged into the PowerLinc Modem, you can control nearly anything connected to your home. Indigo, depending on the version you get, can key off of such things as timers, time of day (adjustable by season), ambient light, remote control, and so forth. Also, you can setup zones in your home, or “control groups” which can cause several things to happen from one trigger. Indigo is also scriptable using AppleScript, so the sky is truly the limit if you really want to get crazy. Oh, and there’s also Indigo Touch, which gives you the ability to control your home remotely from your iPhone. So you forgot to turn off the furnace before fleeing the cold for a warmer destination? No worries, just bring it up on your iPhone from the Fiji Islands and make it so.
I can honestly say that this stuff is addicting. My own uses are still modest, but suit my needs. One of the things I love about home automation — if you read the Perceptive Automation boards — is how some people seem to approach their home automation problems like MacGyver. So if the geek-factor of controlling your home isn’t enough, you can enjoy the problem solving exercise as your home automation-fu grows stronger (and more complicated).
You can find all the information you need to get started at Perceptive Automation and the Mac Home Store websites. And, if you’re already eye-balls deep into this home automation thing, share with us what you’re working on!
Related GigaOM Pro Research: Is Energy Management the Killer App For the Home Automation Market?
Переслать - The iPad and e-Books: A Missed Opportunity
Before the iPad announcement pundits, including myself, were frothing at the mouth over what an Apple tablet device might mean for the e-book industry. There were strong expectations that the iPad would revolutionize e-books. A week after the announcement, I have to admit that my expectations were not met.
It's not that the iPad isn't an e-book device, it is. Nor is it that it's a particularly bad e-book device, everything from the new iBookstore to the book interface on the device look very nice and is probably superficially better than the other options out there. What it's not, however, is revolutionary in the way that I hoped it would be.
It makes sense for Apple to get into the e-book game with the iPad, it's an obvious use case for the device. But what I was hoping for from the iPad was a new format of e-books that would be a game-changer in how we consume text. The use of the EPUB format, however, shows that Apple is not yet ready to make that move. Although I applaud the use of an open standard like EPUB, the reality is that EPUB’s interactive features are very limited right now, basically limited to simple images and videos. I was hoping for more advanced features.
What kind of features? How about reading a fantasy novel and tapping a single button to pull up a map showing exactly where you are in that fantasy world. How about tapping on any name in a non-fiction novel and getting biographical information about that character? How about textbooks with graphs that can be enlarged and class networking features built-in? And these are just some suggestions from an unimaginative dolt.
Of course many of these possibilities exist via iPad applications. The New York Times presentation at the iPad keynote indicates some of the possibilities available for print publications. The only problem with that is that I don't want a device with a hundred different applications, one for each book or magazine that I read. What I want is for Apple to do what it's best at: creating a standard framework with consistent features and enough flexibility to allow developers to create a rich user experience.
Lacking such a new format the iPad may become the default book reading device for many people, but there's no certainty that Apple's new iBookstore will become the main point of purchase for those books. You can be certain that Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others will have e-book applications on the iPad from day one, and you can also be sure that they'll be working aggressively to integrate as many of these interactive features into their e-books as possible. Perhaps Apple will address this in a student-focused event later this year? I certainly hope so.
Related GigaOM Pro Research:
- Web Tablet Survey: Apple's iPad Hits Right Notes
- 5 Tips for Developers Targeting the iPad
- How AT&T Will Deal with iPad Data Traffic
Переслать
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