Steve Jobs Biography

During my daily driving time I am currently listening to the Audible version of Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs.   I actually finished it on Tuesday and immediately began listening to it again from the start.

Fascinating story.  Great characters.  Great lessons to be learned.  The stories of the two Steve's pranks as youngsters are priceless.

I highly recommend the book in any form but really think that listening to it might be the best way to enjoy this work--not much for pictures, though.

Getting out of the Cloud (iCloud)

GVS complained of problems after switching her iPad to iCloud.  Here is a suggestion of one possible course of action that I would try on my own device if I were experiencing the same problem.  As is, no warranty..and is given under the assumption that there was a successful backup of the iPad to iTunes prior to the upgrade to iOS 5.

***Please note:  This SHOULD take the iPad BACK to data and settings it had prior to the iOS upgrade.  Any new data generated on the iPad since that backup WILL BE LOST.  The iOS upgrade should still be in place.

1.  On iPad:   Settings: General: Reset: Erase All Content and Settings (***Hence the importance of the warning note above).

2. The iPad is now like a new iOS 5 iPad out of the box.

3.  Proceed through the iOS 5 setup as you did before until...

4.  You get to "Set Up iPad"...then choose "Restore from iTunes Backup".

5.  At this point you will be directed to plug your iPad into your computer via the USB cable.

6. iTunes should open up and offer you the opportunity to Restore from the backup of: <name of your iPad>

7. The iPad should now have the settings and data that were on the device when that last backup to iTunes was made.

Experimental " ePubber "

In the office the other day, a lament was overheard (roughly interpreted and quoted):

"Why can't we export a Pages document on an iPad directly to iBooks on that same iPad?"

Yes, it is quite annoying that you can't do that....at least not without plugging the iPad into a computer for a sync.   The data structure of iOS is really good at producing frustration for those of us used to the wide open file structure and data model of OS X.

So, what to do.....?

How about a little bit of AppleScript?

After much playing around (I am by no means fluent in AppleScript ), much copying and pasting, and many false starts--an AppleScript was created that:

1.  Watches a Webdav folder on an OS X Server  for new files.
2.  Uses Pages on the OS X server to open Pages Mobile documents uploaded from an iPad (via Webdav).
3.  Exports the content as an ePub into a web-accessible directory.

Result:  An iPad user can create a document in Pages Mobile, upload it to a webdav directory on a server, and then (after a few seconds) download the resulting ePub to their iPad's iBooks via Safari Mobile.

Requirements for this system to work:

• The script (shown below) needs to be added to the folder of the ebdav directory as a folder action.
• The OS X server with the webdav directory needs to have Pages installed.
• You need to "prime the pump" and do an export on the server, saving that first epub to a web-accessible location on the server.  Once you do that, subsequent epubs generated by the script will get saved into that same directory.
• The server also needs to have "Enable access for assistive devices" enabled in the Universal Access pane of System Preferences.

On my server the Webdav folder is called "epub_up".  Once the script is done with it, the Pages document is automatically deleted and the epub version is placed into a folder called "epub_down" for access through Safari Mobile.

This is admittedly a fragile system that is unlikely to scale very well.  Anything that throws up an unexpected dialog box in Pages will grind everything to a halt. If care is taken, however, it can service a few people's need to create ePub documents on an iPad to get them into iBooks without syncing to a computer.

If it were possible to set up a Webdav server on a regular OS X computer (like a teacher's laptop), a teacher could have a class of students convert Pages Mobile documents to ePubs--while being able to monitor the process for problems.


Here is the script:

on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving dropped_items

delay 10

repeat with dropped_item_ref in dropped_items

tell application "System Events"

set UI_enabled to UI elements enabled

end tell

tell application "Pages"

set dropped_item_ref to dropped_item_ref as string

open file dropped_item_ref

activate

end tell

tell application "System Events"

tell process "Pages"

delay 5

click menu item "Export…" of menu 1 of menu bar item "File" of menu bar 1

set value of text field 2 of sheet 1 of window 1 to "Author: ePubber"

set value of combo box 1 of sheet 1 of window 1 to "Classics"

click button 1 of sheet 1 of window 1

end tell

                         tell process "Pages"

click button 1 of sheet 1 of window 1

click menu item "Save" of menu 1 of menu bar item "File" of menu bar 1

click menu item "Close" of menu 1 of menu bar item "File" of menu bar 1

end tell

end tell

delay 10

tell application "Finder" to delete file dropped_item_ref

end repeat

end adding folder items to

Notes: One Way to Check In Laptops

Someone recently emailed me asking for a description of how we check in our 1:1 laptops at the end of the school year.  My response follows.  These are pretty rough, I haven't spent much time editing/rewriting this description.

Seniors usually leave us about 2 weeks before the end of the year, so we collect their laptops just prior to graduation.  The rest of the students' laptops generally get checked in on the last 2 days of school, which are final exam days.  The last day of exams is the busiest day, in a about a five hour period we inspect and check in about 1100 laptops.  

Some things that we do:

We do NOT collect cases and chargers from students unless they are leaving us (like seniors). We ask underclassmen if they plan on returning.  We only collect those items if they inform us that they don't plan on returning.

We rent extra photocopiers to have available for the check-in process.  We usually have 3-4 of them for 15-20 inspectors.

Simple cleaning materials are made available to students in supervised areas.  Students are expected to carefully clean their laptops prior to check-in.  If they don't they run the risk of a $20 cleaning charge.  Some years we have made up cleaning kits to check out to homeroom teachers for cleaning during homeroom.

We keep a cumulative file folder for each student that contains their original checkout forms, any repair forms, any re-assignment forms, and a pre-printed custom check-in sheet.  We have all of these forms available at each check-in to help clarify in case of any discrepencies.

We use our activity gym for the last day check in.  We bisect it lengthways with tables to seat about 15-20 inspectors.  Students checking in are on the one side of the gym in front of the tables.   Staff helping with the process are in the area behind the tables.  Students are not allowed in that area.  Have this all set up as much as you can either the day before or get there REALLY early.  You MUST be ready to roll when students start showing up.  Not being ready can cause an initial backlog that is difficult to recover from.

We call in every favor that we have ever earned on this day.  Pretty much all district tech staff helps, as well as friends from our service unit and the University of Nebraska-Omaha.  EVERY body makes a huge difference when you are scaling up to meet the load we encounter on that day.

In addition to the tech oriented people that do the actual inspection and check-in, there are other people (district secretaries, educational assistants, my own children) who pull folders, record fines in our student information system,  pull boxes of laptops away from the inspector tables, transport laptops to the storeroom, provide crowd control,  filing folders, etc.  There is pretty much a job for everyone willing to help.

Provide lots of carbs (doughnuts, Twizzlers, etc.) and drinks (pop, water) for your staff.  They will not have time to take many breaks and will need the energy that these can provide.  Once we complete the process for the day, the inspectors and helpers are fed a nice lunch in appreciation.

Sequence:

1.  Student arrives with laptop.

2. Cumulative folder is pulled.

3.  Check-in sheet is completed (compare serial number and tag number to actual on laptop, physically inspect laptop for damage, ask students if there are any problems that need to be addressed) and is signed/dated by the inspector.

4.  After sheet is completed, we make 2 copies of the sheet...

• The original is taped onto the laptop itself with blue painters tape.   The top of the check-in sheet has the student's name, laptop inventory tag  (both human readable and barcode), and a quick-mark area to mark common repair problems.  This top area ends up being on the "spine" of the laptop (the narrow area where the hinges are).  This arrangement allows for the key information about the laptop to be easily visible when the laptops are stored in boxes with the spine/hinges up.

• One copy is given to the student as a receipt.

• The second copy is for the student's cumulative folder.  If there are no charges/fines, the sheet is placed in the folder and the folder is re-filed.  If there ARE charges/fines the sheet is left outside of the folder and given to people doing fine entry into our student information system.  Once the charge info is entered, the sheet is placed into the folder and the folder is filed.

5.  The student then leaves.  They are expected to take care of any fines/charges during the summer with a deadline of about 3 weeks before school starts if they want to get their laptop on the first day in the fall.

6.  Laptops are stored in boxes that we had custom-made by Omaha Box Company.  We have heavy duty metal shelving units with plywood shelves that allow us to store all 2000 of our laptops on about 5 units.  The storeroom for our laptop is keyed with cores that only a VERY, VERY select number of people have keys to.   Even our custodians do not have keys to these areas (we do our own vacuuming and set out our own trash).

...this is one way to check in 1:1 laptops.

My Take On Apple's Cloud Strategy

TechCrunch has an article entitled: iOS 5 Likely Pushed To The Fall After A Cloud Unveiling At WWDC.

This article mentions a “music locker” service.  Other analysts have predicted a possible music streaming service.  Hmmm....I don't know.

The one function that I am looking for, however, is telegraphed by the wireless behavior of the iBooks apps on iOS.  When I read a book on my iPod Touch, my progress in the book is communicated wirelessly to somewhere (perhaps some tiny, secretly operational part of the new data center in North Carolina)--so that my iPad knows where I am when I begin to read that book again on that different device.  This functionality is the guaranteed minimum of what I am expecting from Apple's cloud strategy.

All my devices need to be able communicate wirelessly in this way; keeping track of where I am and what I have listened to.   Music, podcasts, movies, and TV shows all need to behave like the books in iBooks--all without needing to sync to my iTunes.  If I am watching Star Trek on my laptop and have to stop, when I pick up my iPod Touch it should automatically know where I had left off in the movie.

Will the actual content get transferred wirelessly without the iTunes sync?  I don't know--but I am pretty confident that this wireless communication of media activity tracking data will be part of the strategy.

Teaching Touch: Instructional Realities of iPad 2 Video Mirroring

Since the first time we eagerly plugged in the original VGA adapter into our 1st Generation iPads, we (as teachers) wanted more.  The way that the video output only worked with specific apps left a great deal to be desired. Particularly grievous was the lack of any way to easily show the "tablet-top" interface to a group in an instructional setting.  Most of us compensated by using document cameras or just by holding the iPad up and pointing to it.  These solutions were not stellar.

The anticipated iPad 2 has arrived, and along with it is the ability to mirror out to a display or projector whatever is showing on the screen.  The new HDMI adapter will do this (if you have display/projection devices with HDMI inputs).  There are also confirmed reports that the old VGA adapter will work to mirror the iPad 2 video out as well (obviously to devices with VGA inputs).  Great news! But...

As I was driving the other day, I was listening to an episode of Leo LaPorte and Sara Lane's iPad Today podcast.  During the course of the podcast, they pointed something out that burst my bubble a bit.

They pointed out that when we demonstrate something on the iPad's user interface and mirror it out to a display device, there will be no visible indicator of what we touch.  An iOS device doesn't have a visible "cursor" or any other good way to show what you are doing.  The audience will only see what the "touch" has triggered--not how the action was triggered.

I don't think I'm really complaining about this, it is just a natural reality of a touch-based interfaced.  The cursors that we have become used to on desktop computers were necessary to show us the location on the screen that corresponded with our intended mouse or trackpad position.  In a touch environment, this is superfluous--our fingers are directly touching the interface object with which we want to interact.

There are things that happen in the iOS interface when you touch a spot for an extended period of time.  In the tablet-top interface this would cause your apps to start to jiggle.  In an editable area or a text area an extended-length touch will likely cause the magnifying glass/ copy/ select/ paste popups to appear.  Not sure these will really be useful in addressing  this issue.

Perhaps the main iOS interface needs a feature in the future that offers a optional mode providing a small colored dot at the location the touchscreen is being or was last touched.  Not really expecting this to come over the horizon from Apple in the near future, though individual developers might take this into consideration when they build their respective apps' user interfaces.

In conclusion, I am excited about the new video mirroring capabilities that have been introduced in the 2nd generation iPad.  I am, however, not as excited as I was before I was prompted to think about some of inherent realities of displaying a touch interface.  Leo and Sarah, quit making me think!

iBooks Unleashed!

In late August, 2010 an update to Apple's Pages application introduced the ability to easily export documents you create to  ePub, the primary file format used in iBooks on iPods, iPhones, and iPads.  This is a powerful feature that was, unfortunately, limited by the iTunes sync cable as only way to get your content to an iOS device.  That probably worked fine if you were just moving your own content to your own devices, but if you were looking to distribute to a larger audience--there just really wasn't a convenient way.

December 15th, 2010 saw the advent of iBooks 1.2 for iOS devices.  Color illustrations, collections, printing, and email were the new features that received the top billing.  Unheralded, however, is the new ability to bring documents directly into iBooks through a web link.

1. Place an ePub document on a web server.
2. Publish a link to the document.
3. Have anyone with iBooks 1.2 click on that link in Safari for iOS.
4. After the file has downloaded, the user will be asked if they wish to have the file moved into iBooks.
5. If the affirmative option is chosen, the document is transferred into the user's iBooks library for future use (even in the absence of a network connection).

Why is this significant?  Your content can now be easily and conveniently distributed to as large an audience of iOS users as you would like.  No iBooks Store, iTunes, or even any other type of computer is needed.  Business, education, and government institutions can create their own web-based storehouses of their own documents; all ready to be quickly loaded by users onto portable iOS devicesfor future reading and/or reference.

If you would like to try downloading a document directly into your iOS iBooks, make sure that you have installed iBooks 1.2 .  Then click on this link ( http://bit.ly/f6X9GG ) in Safari on your iPad, iPod Touch, or iPhone to download this brief, sample ePub document.

It should also be noted that the exact same capabilities also work for PDF files.  In fact, viewing any PDF document in Safari on an iOS device should present the user with a button to move the document into iBooks.

So use your imagination as to what you might want to create and distribute to your audience of iOS users; anything from boring corporate policy manuals to exciting new fiction to endearing student-created products.