iPods, PDAs, and eBooks

1. A little while ago I wrote about my idea of a Personal Digital Assistant. Now that I have an iPod (muhahaha!) I can comment on the viability of using the iPod as a PDA replacement.

2. First off — it is possible. I haven’t touched my PDA since I got my iPod. With iSync you can synchronise your address books and calendars, with other 3rd party software you could sync RSS feeds, stock quotes, the weather, your email… the list goes on. Apple also has a bunch of applescripts that can store text clippings from the clipboard to a note that can be read on the iPod. All in all, enough functionality to to replace the core functions of a PDA.

3. Now for the bad news. The iPod doesn’t have much processing power, so at times the interface lags when going through my calendars. This is exacerbated by the touch buttons, as there is no tactile feedback and no indication (apart from a click sound the machine generates from a small in built speaker, but that can’t be heard when listening to music) that you have pressed the button, so if you make the mistake of pressing it several times, you end up having to go back several levels to find the menu you want.

4. The Notes Reader application also suffers from excessive lag when loading up notes, and it’s functionality is very limited. It only reads text files which are no bigger than 4kb, so if you have an article (or, God forbid, an eBook from Project Gutenberg) you have to split it up over multiple files. Luckily, the applescript that Apple provides automatically splits text up into these 4kb chunks which are linked together using HTML, so you can have some semblance of “pages”, but overall it feels like it’s beta software, and there needs to be major improvements before it can be used without frustration.

5. One thing I would really like to do on the iPod, and this relates back to the notes reader, is to be able to read ebooks and download the news on the iPod. The iPod’s screen is a beautiful thing. It’s clear, has excellent contrast and can be read in low-ish light without the backlight on. It uses the old Macintosh pixel fonts, which are simply gorgeous, meticulously designed to enhance readability on low resolution screens (thank you Susan Kare!). However there needs to be some improvements to make it a good reading platform.

6. Firstly, HTML support. The notes reader is only clever enough to recognise basic HTML links, so you have to manually strip all the other tags from any given html page, then copy it on the iPod. The process is clunky and time consuming, and you’re better of just reading it on your computer. A system similar to Avantgo or Plucker would make life a whole lot easier.

7. Secondly, and most important, the scrolling of text. One of the reasons it can be very tiring to read on a screen is that text tends to scroll down. This is because every time you scroll you have to work to find when it was you left off. When we read we tend to read from top to bottom, then turn the page. When we turn the page we instantly know where we left off because it’s always the top left hand corner (or right hand, for asian languages). So if you think of each page as the screen, the most natural way for us to read any text is to scroll sideways. Obviously this isn’t always possible, so we use columns to break up the text into readable chunks.

8. Getting columns to work on line is a real hassle (hence the lack of columns on this website), but when it works, it’s stunning. The website for the International Herald Tribune is a fantastic example of when columns work online. You have three distinct columns, easy to assimilate chunks of text, and when you click the button to go to the next “page” you instantly know where to look to continue reading. The iPod’s interface works in the same way. Every time you go deeper into a menu, the screen scrolls to the right, and vice versa for going backwards. Every time you go to a new page in the notes reader, it scrolls in the same way. So why not dispense with scrolling down, and just scroll sideways all the time? Or at least put the side scrolling as an option the user can turn on or off, which ever makes them more comfortable.

9. The best thing about the iPod is that the firmware is constantly upgraded, and the improvements I’ve outlined here can be implemented in the future. I hope the next revision will sport a better performing notes reader with better HTML support at the very least. Apple’s got the music part right, can’t wait until the PDA side falls into place.

Local Blogs — Personal Database?

1. Over the last few months I haven’t been writing as much as I did on this website. I haven’t stopped blogging at all, indeed I’ve blogged more than I ever had. It’s just I’ve been writing in blogs that I have running locally, on my PowerBook.

2. There are many awesome things about Mac OS X (and a whole bunch of bad things, but I won’t go into those), but one of the coolest is it’s inclusion of Apache, which lets me run Moveable Type locally. I have a general blabber blog where I can just put links, thoughts that come up, and all my important files — resume, receipts from internet shops, all wrapped up in a post that tells me what that file is. And since it’s fully searchable, if I need my resume I just search my blog and there it is! Even better, I use a small plug in for Safari called Sogudi that lets me type in search requests straight into the address bar, along with a shortcut that tells Sogudi which search engine to use. With very little fiddling I had it set up so I can search my local Moveable Type blogs this way, giving me easy access to what is essentially my personal database.

3. In addition to this I run a work specific blog, where I can record thoughts about whatever project I might be working on. I can also link to email exchanges with clients and colleagues through Zoe (an email database program), creating an interrelated “cloud” of hyperlinks and information. Vannevar Bush would be proud.

4. My system is not without it’s flaws however. It’s fairly clunky, certainly doesn’t have the slickness of a developed program (which is not surprising, since I built it piecemeal after coming across parts that might work nicely with the system overall). It also doesn’t go far enough — it only hints at what’s possible. For example, I can’t easily record a voice note. Nor could I use voice to text to transcribe a post. And there’s no way to sync that information with external devices, like my mobile or my PDA, so there’s no easy way to record thoughts when I am away from my computer. But, despite all it’s flaws, I’d be lost without it.

Lost and confused

1. It was one of those days yesterday. Can’t park, can’t find my way anywhere — total mess. None of which was aided by the quality of signing on Sydney roads, atrocious barely describes the level of incompetence shown by so called traffic engineers and town planners. There are a lot of streets and lanes and alleys in Sydney, sure, but one would think that the major thoroughfares would be well signed? For example, the intersection of the Pacific Highway and Miller St in North Sydney — not a single sign declaring the name of either road, and they are major roads! Nor are there any signs indicating the name of any given cross street as one drives further north up the Pacific highway. North Sydney council, here’s a single finger salute to your lack of effort with regards to effective signage. You suck.

Well done Microsoft!

1. Who would’ve thought — Windows XP runs on an old Apple Powerbook!

(click here for the link)

:)

Assistant? Pah!

1. Having lived with a PDA for so long, I’ve often wondered why the concept hasn’t either died or progressed. The concept of a “Personal Digital Assistant” seems to be stuck in this strange proto-time, where proto-types can be sold for stupendous sums of money. How much has really changed since Apple’s Newton came to market? How much has really changed since Newton coughed it’s last cough and died starving in the gutter?

2. Bugger all. Just like the much vaunted “Personal Computer”.

3. But, I digress. Why do people buy PDA’s? Since I can only speak for myself, this I will do. I bought my first PDA (a Palm m100, still kicking on, thanks very much) to replace my oft neglected paper diary. I reasoned that I would pay more attention to something that was small and electronic (such is my love of Gadgets), as opposed to large and ancient. I thought of the convenience of having all one’s contacts, appointments, lists, games and ebooks accessible at the press of a switch. I swooned at the thought of being able to set audible alarms to remind me to do something, as opposed to looking in my paper diary a week later and realising why I got that angry message from mum the other day. So I spent some hard earned cash, discovered the joys of mobile (pseudo) computing, then promptly went out again to buy an iPAQ 3630.

4. Oh, the iPAQ was sexy. She was sleek, silver, colour screen, plays music and video. It was a bit big, but it’s like coming up close to a real Supermodel, and realising she towers over you by several significant inches. And like a Supermodel, she was fragile. Twice she had to get some physical therapy at the Compaq repair shop. It did everything I wanted, and more. So what was wrong with it?

5. Well, nothing. The iPAQ did everything it was designed to do. The problem was the concept sucked.

6. The Newton was an electronic pocket book that serves as you diary and a note book. The iPAQ is a smaller version of an electronic pocket book with more bells and whistles. But the basic function remained the same — and that was to serve as a diary. And who the hell needs to play music and video of their diary?

7. Let me put it this way — do people want a diary that plays music and videos, or do people want a music and video player that can also be their diary?

8. The design of a music and video mobile jukebox is a vastly different concept to that of building a diary. In the former one has to have large storage, an excellent interface and good battery life. In the latter, one could sacrifice storage space for processing power and better battery life. The industry has had some success in building the latter, and with sufficient money spent in the purchase of memory cards and the like one could have a reasonable approximation of the former. But sales are down for PDAs for all companies, including the big hitters like Sony with their Clie line (a bottom of the range Clie serves as my current, and last, PDA), and HP with their iPAQ line.

9. One company that is challenging this convention, unsurprisingly, is Apple. Now, you might say that Apple doesn’t have a PDA, and Steve Jobs has said in the past that it is unlikely Apple will be making one in the future. But Apple does have a product line that is a portable music player that can serve as your diary — the iPod. An often overlooked fact about the iPod is it’s ability to sync on a mac with Address Book and iCal (and with Outlook via 3rd party PC software). While there is no way to edit or add entries on the iPod itself, it’s very handy to be able to check one’s appointments on the go, and make the changes on the computer to sync with the iPod. And the iPod has the ability to act as an external hard drive, so not only can it be your entertainment device, diary and address book, it can carry all your personal files with you on the go, making it a much more convincing “digital assistant”. iPod sales have been going through the roof, and I’m willing to bet that part of the success this extra functionality.

10. While I see the iPod as a step forward, to me conceptually the iPod is just another prototype, albeit more advanced than some. I have great hopes for Intel’s Personal Server concept, which describes a lot of the functional aspects of my dream machine. It’s not focused on the bells and whistles, in fact it does not even have a screen, instead hoping to wirelessly use whatever screens and input devices are available at the time (imagine standing in front of a publicly available computer monitor at the airport). It stores information locally on a hard drive, but can also access information via the internet. Best of all, it is designed to be incorporated into existing devices, be it a Smartphone, PDA, or even a portable music jukebox.

11. You could argue what I really want is a PDA with a hard drive. And to a certain extent you’d be right. But what I really want is a device that is like an iPod where I can have my entire music collection, be like my PDA where I can have my ebooks and addresses and calendar, and be my personal file repository and knowledge database, where all my files and all the little facts I need to get through life is always with me and instantly accessible when I need it.

12. Now that, is a Personal Digital Assisstant.

Time Sink

1. Choose life. Don’t start playing Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

2. It’s impossible to put down. It’s digital heroin. There’s not even a bag of cash you can grab when you finish the game — ’cause it doesn’t finish. It’s an evil, evil game.

3. Must… put… game… down….

I’m gonna kicker-box you in tha head, bro

1. I spoke to a bloke at work yesterday who insisted his name was Guido Hatsis. Except he spelt it W-E-D-O. A special shoutout to you my friend — you’re a fucking idiot.