Posts Tagged "iphone"

MacTech’s Mobile Device Primer

Posted by donk on Nov 17, 2011 in iOS, iPad, iPhone, Mobile, News | 0 comments

If you administer a number of iPhones and/or iPads for an organization and right now you have no central control over them you’re probably in trouble. I would bet that you have found that it is time consuming to troubleshoot random user complaints, manage updates, and deal with apps. Its typically easier to manage a fleet a desktop and laptop computers because there are numerous tools (Remote Access, SSH, Casper) to help you manage.

MacTech has posted their Mobile Device Management (MDM) Primer and I recommend you read it if you need to get started managing the iPhones and iPads in your organization instead of letting them manage you.

Adobe vs. Apple vs. Flash vs. iPad vs. iPhone

Posted by Don Kruse on Apr 21, 2010 in Apple, Commentary, Tech | 0 comments

Someone has it backwards—it is HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and H.264 (all supported by the iPhone and iPad) that are open and standard, while Adobe’s Flash is closed and proprietary.

Found on Gizmodo, says it with feeling, the way I’ve been feeling about it…

Why is Trudy right?

Until you can load FLASH in a web browser like this, for example:

(open carrot) fla src=”sample_flash.swf” attribute=”auto”…. (close carrot)

WITHOUT the need for a separate browser plugin…

WITHOUT a development cycle separate from all web browsers…

WITHOUT performance requirements separate from the browser itself…

WITHOUT incompatibilities across different hardware, even when the browser software is the same…

WITHOUT the plugin itself being of a closed an proprietary nature…

WITHOUT every browser vendor in existence beholden to the motivation of a single company to develop and optimize it’s source in hopes that a given browser may have a chance of running this plugin in a way that does not break web pages and does not egregiously consume computing resources thereby compromising the overall performance of said web browser…

Until, then, FLASH will remain nothing more than *another program* installed on a computer or mobile device, running in parallel with a browser, separately interpreting and rendering code to be *embedded* within the browser contents.

These are the facts. Now, it doesn’t mean that web developers and designers do not enjoy the creative freedom afforded to them by Adobe Flash-based vector graphics design and audio/video media creation.

Adobe should understand, though, that it’s multimedia solution is not unlike, for example, MS developing a PowerPoint browser plugin for Internet Explorer.

Macromedia developed flash and Adobe bought it – they didn’t stake their business on it. Heck, before flash-video, embedded Flash was mainly a tool for designer presentations, animated buttons and ads.

Adobe has tried very hard to make people think that “swf” and “flv” are web standards like “img” and “href” – they certainly are not. There are no standard cross-platform, cross-browser hooks directly into Flash APIs, beyond the use of javascript variable settings when embedding swf wrappers, which are used to call up flv files and depend on XML files which may or may not be dynamically updated by the embed script.

Layers upon layers of embedding and abstraction – who could EVER expact Flash to be resource friendly.

The truth is that Adobe has to re-invent the wheel every time a new browser comes out or a major upgrade is released or some new hardware platform is developed. Bugs and security vulnerabilities have to be separately maintained. Performance issues have to constantly be monitored and optimized as both it’s host browsers and operating systems get upgraded and evolve.

Let’s take for example the most ubiquitous of Flash implementations – video:

What wrapper file will you use?
-The swf file defines your video “window”. XML file(s) will define parameters.
-Actionscript in the swf wrapper files will hook into javacript variable settings and XML defenitions (or rather the other way around).
-Don’t forget video dimensions!

How will you embed that wrapper file?
-You’ll have to use javascript to call up the swf.
-You need to makes sure you set startup variables correctly for viewing the flv through the swf

Is the browser compatible?
-Chrome, Firefox, IE6,7,8,9, Opera, etc. all need compatible plugins

HTML layout?
-Oooh, make sure you set proper z-indexes
-Make sure you’re not accidentally covering modal windows with that Flash.
-Again, don’t forget video dimensions!
-Also, don’t forget to account for the player tool bar and frame.

Now, how do you embed video with HTML5?

Ex:

(open carrot) source src=”__VIDEO__.MP4″ type=”video/mp4″ (close carrot)

(slight over-simplification, since above is iPhone/iPad compatible. Webkit, whatever…)

Flash is not a true web standarded – it is an embeddable application. It is the aforementioned pitfalls that Apple is trying to avoid by not embracing Flash compatibility.

Do I wish, for example, that the iPad supported Flash? Sure, just like I want all my computers to open JPEG’s, Word Docs, Excel Spreadsheets, check email, run PowerPoints, etc. etc.

Macromedia developed a great web-compatible multi-media tool. Adobe, you bought it and had your chance to open it up and allow it’s use as a browser-agnostic audio & vector-graphic HTML standard, while still retaining the rights to the Flash development platform. You got greedy, lethargic and stubborn. Check back on this post in a couple years and it will read as either “Good Luck” or “Good Riddance” – only time will tell. Reply

Edited by Stevox at 04/21/10 9:22 PM

Warming Up to MacWorld 2009

Posted by Don Kruse on Dec 20, 2008 in Apple, Commentary, MacGeek, Uncategorized | 0 comments

Unlike most of the Macgeeks I know I was not surprised by Mr. Jobs announcement that he will not be giving the keynote speach at MacWorld Expo 2009. I was slightly surprised that Apple says they are pulling out of the MacWorld Expo altogether but you know what? I don’t care.

During the past few year’s MacWorld Expo shows I’ve spent very little time at the typically huge Apple pavilion because the really interesting and exciting stuff is spread all over the rest of the convention floor.

At the show earlier this year I encountered a host of interesting products and emerging technologies that are taking full advantage of either Mac OS X or the Mac hardware or both. The number of products out there for iPods and iPhones is stagering in it’s breadth and depth and quality. At almost every MacWorld Expo I stumble onto some software that I had heard about but never investigated but after using it hands on I buy it before I leave the show floor. Although I rarely ever buy a new computer at the Expo I was very tempted at the show earlier this year.

I might miss Mr. Jobs giving the keynote a little–maybe more than a little–as it is a little bit like getting to see your favorite actor give a talk about his favorite pet project. Could you imagine Charlton Heston coming out to present the MacBook Air? That would be wild but I don’t know if it would help Apple sell more Macs which, like any well managed company, is why they are in business.

The iPhone as a Business Tool

Posted by Don Kruse on Mar 10, 2008 in Apple, Tech | 0 comments

Now that Apple and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers have made it official that the iPhone will now be pushed as both a consumer and business gadget I felt it is a good time to report on my experiences using the iPhone.

I picked up my iPhone the first day they were sold. In fact I was number five in line at the downtown Portland Apple Store. My iPhone was purchased for me by the firm I support as a business tool. I also purchased phones for the two senior partners and my Support Specialist so that at this point the firm has 8 users with iPhones in addition to Blackberrys, RAZRs, and basic Nokia phones. The bottom line is that I deal first hand with many of these phones plus their problems as well as issues with the providers (T-mobile and AT&T).

Reliability

My iPhone has been absolutely reliable for 8 months. My previous smart phone was actually 3 different phones during the course of 13 months. I used a Palm Treo 650 for 3 months then it died. It was replaced with another brand new unit which worked fine for another 6 months until I dropped it. So I got another replacement which worked for about 2 months then it died. At this point I charged up the previous Treo, the one that was dropped and for whatever reason it was now working again. It looked like it was falling apart but it worked fine for the next few months until I purchased the iPhone. My iPhone has now been dropped 3 times, twice on asphalt and once on carpet. It has the dents and scratches to prove it. Each time a simple restart restored the iPhone to working condition. Because the iPhones case is a mix of metal, glass, and plastic I feel this is why it survived these drops while the all plastic Treo would crack and break apart.

Features:

The firm is heavily dependent on Email and viewing PDFs both of which the iPhone works well with.

Note that the Treo’s built-in Email program worked OK but not very well so I purchased ChatterEmail which worked really well. If you have a Palm Smartphone and rely on Email then spend the money to get ChatterEmail. The iPhone’s email capabilities worked perfectly right out of the box. I get three IMAP accounts on my iPhone and they all sync up well with both over wi-fi or the AT&T Edge network. My only complaint is that so far the iPhone only allows Email to be sent from a single account, I really need to be able to choose an account when sending.

Because the iPhone is such a media and graphics centric smartphone viewing PDFs on the device is fantastic. Well, as fantastic as it can get on a small screen device when compared to a computer with a nice display. Viewing PDFs on the Treo simply sucked. Moving around the document was a tricky combination of moving around with the stylus and tapping on various buttons. On the iPhone of course I use gestures directly on the display without the need for on screen buttons which in any case would take up valuable on-screen real estate.

Apple also included viewers for Microsoft Word and Excel documents so you can review those too. This is where there is a significant advantage for a Windows Mobile smartphone is that it can edit these documents and not just view them.

Productivity:

How does the iPhone help me in my role as a Systems Administrator? I installed a Filemaker server plug-in that allows me to administer the firm’s Filemaker server just as I do from my other computers. I can connect to the Help Desk ticketing system which is completely web based and review as well as act on tickets.

What I Don’t Like About the iPhone:

The wi-fi security capabilities were limited so I actually had to lower the enterprise class security I had set up to allow the iPhones to connect. The VPN seems to work but it doesn’t work as well as the one on the Treo or a Blackberry. It seems to disconnect at random intervals or not connect when it should be able to. Maintaining a reliable backup of my iPhone has been a chore as Apple did not execute this well. Backups are created and restored through iTunes but they are totally hidden. They also don’t include everything on the iPhone which makes them nearly useless. This has become a job for third-party software but Apple needs to address this issue.

Final Thoughts:

The Treo never impressed me as a phone or an internet device but it did work really well when used to manage my schedule, notes, and email (although not with the default software as I used ChatterEmail). Using the small physical or onscreen buttons of the Palm was always frustrating. It never got any easier. I can remember when I used to write directly on the Palm screen and that worked really well. Trying to type using those ridiculously small keys always drove me mad.