Living with the Apple iPad (part 2)

Back in July I gave some feedback on the iPad after a couple of weeks' use. A short while later, including a break on holiday, it's still close by my side and here's some extra tips:


It's not a Laptop Replacement

The iPad is a fantastic device for what it is, but don't expect it to be a laptop replacement for several key reasons:

1. The iPad is geared to consumption of content, such as videos and webpages, not for creation. However the keyboard is OK for short emails and the like, and other short documents can be created such as Keynote presentations.
2. Your normal PC applications are not available to run on the iPad.
3. There are times when you will need Flash, e.g. for watching and listening to many online videos and to BBC and other TV/radio programmes. However the iPlayer app for iPad does provide access to some programmes recently transmitted, and the YouTube app provides full access to YouTube.
   

Syncing

When the iPad is connected to a PC or Mac, they attempt to sync content betwen the two devices:

1. Backing up data and new applications from the iPad to the PC/Mac (which must be done before any software update - cancel the update and return to it after other syncing)
   
2. Transferring nominated files from the PC/Mac to the iPad, including music, photos and videos
3. Transfferring data both ways for diary and similar apps that are likely to be used on both your iPad and PC/Mac
   

The latter transfers are controlled from the PC/Mac, but in different ways depending on the type of data. On the PC (and probably Mac) you need to go into iTunes and with the iPad connected, click on "iPad" in the left column. A set of tabs appear that allow you to configure each aspect, such as photos and videos. Here are some tips that were not obvious before I used the syncing processes:

Syncing Photos

Click on the "photos" tab, far right, and specify the folder on the PC in which there are photos to be synced. It's worth noting:

1. Only photos currently in this folder will appear on the iPad. Photos already on the iPad that are not in this folder will be lost from the iPad display
2. Putting photos in sub-folders will appear as albums on the iPad (which you cannot adjust on the iPad). This is useful for running a slideshow of an album. However sub-sub-folders are ignored, i.e. each set of photos you want to run as separate slideshows need to be in sub-folders, if necessary duplicating the photos into more than one sub-folder.
   

You need to allow a significant time for the transfer process, as it first converts the photos into an iPad-friendly format.

Once on the iPad, press "Photos" on the screen to see the albums available. Running a slideshow is easy, and you can change some of the settings each time you run a slideshow. However for some settings you have to exit and go to "Settings" "Photos", notably whether the slideshow auto-repeats, and the time delay between the slides changing (Apple - why aren't these settings accessible from within Photos?)

Syncing videos

Videos first need to be pulled into iTunes. Each set can usefully be put into a "playlist".

No videos transfer to the iPad unless they are specified in the syncing tab. You can do this individually, by playlist, or the complete set.

As videos are the largest type of file you are likely to load onto your iPad, worth being selective. The syncing process clearly shows the memory used and available, so you can manage accordingly.

Once on the iPad, touch "Videos" rather than iTunes to view the videos. Unfortunately the playlists are lost, and it's a two-click process to view each video which is unnecessarily painful. (Apple why are there no playlists?)

Syncing Music

Again music has to be in iTunes on your PC, specified on the "music" syncing tab, and then accessed from "iPod" on your iPad.

iTunes on the iPad is only used to access Apple's iTunes store.

Other Tips and Issues

1. Many iPad games can be played without internet access. If you are likely to be without internet access for a while, make sure you've downloaded a selection first!
2. Other people will want to use the iPad, especially teenagers! "Settings" allows you to specify a 4-digit access code to keep them out. Whilst the iPad is intended as a personal rather than multi-user device, it would be useful for there to be a "guest" account that didn't show your diary, photos etc without specific permission. (Apple, please)
   
3. The keyboard is missing left and right arrows. Chubby fingers do not provide the control when trying to edit text such as searches, which tend to have to be completely retyped.

Improvements for Apple

Whilst the iPad is a fantastic device, these changes would therefore be worth Apple making:

1. Safari: Need "find" function in web pages, pdf documents etc
2. Photos: All slideshow settings to be directly accessible when run slideshow
   
3. Photos: Option which albums already on iPad are kept or lost when syncing a new folder
4. Videos: Retain and be able to run playlists from PC
5. "Guest" account with no access to aspects such as diary and photos unless individually allowed

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Social Media - Important Changes to Facebook (Urgent)

If you are using Facebook for business, you may be aware that there are two sets of important changes taking place on Facebook.

This week there is also an important change affecting both individuals and local businesses, called "Places":

1. Changes to the way applications work, including "boxes", effective this coming Monday 23 August
2. Changes already recently put in place under a new "Get Started" tab
3. Launch of "Places", rather like Foursquare, which lets you state where you are but by default also lets others state where you are (or indeed where you are not!)
   

Application / Boxes Changes on Monday 23 August

To quote the message now appearing on Facebook business pages:

"Get ready for your streamlined Page: Starting on 23 August, we'll be simplifying your Page to make it easier to browse: 1) Boxes are going away, including the Boxes tab; and 2) All custom tabs will be narrowed to 520 pixels. If you have a custom tab, we recommend that you visit your tab now for a preview of how your content fits in the new layout — please make adjustments as needed. The rest of Facebook will see the old tab width until 23 August." There are also further notes aimed at application developers.

If you are a developer of Facebook applications, obviously you need to check. If your business is using any add-in applications, likewise!

"Get Started" tab

About a month ago a new tab appeared on your business Facebook site if you were the administrator called "Get Started". This tab appears both when setting up a new business site, and for existing sites.

This includes a reminder that you can automatically post updates through to Twitter, and if configured, then automatically on into the likes of LinkedIn. However the Facebook to Twitter link is not as useful as it first appears if you want to include a link to an external web site in the posting, as I do for articles added to this blog.

For example, this is what I posted to Facebook:
"SOCIAL MEDIA: Summary of recent articles for business http://bit.ly/summary8_social #youtube #facebook #twitter #myspace #socialmedia #ipad"

But this is how it appears in Twitter (and similarly in LinkedIn):
"SOCIAL MEDIA: Summary of recent articles for business http://bit.ly/summary8_social #youtube #facebook #twitter... http://fb.me/E3YvyGTN "

i.e. Facebook has replaced (and lost) some of the hashtags for searches in exchange for a second link to the article. Whatever benefit this might be to them, it is of negative benefit to me, so I have now switched the link facility off. There are two ways to do this, neither of which are obvious:

1. Whilst logged into Facebook, go to http://www.facebook.com/twitter/ where you can turn link settings on and off
   
2. Log into your Twitter account and then through "Settings", "Connections" click "Revoke Access" for Facebook.

There appears to be no point complaining to Facebook about these problems, given the lack of response to complaints about the "Get Started" tab. I do hope Facebook doesn't remain so complacent. Such an attitude has hastened the downfall of so many IT companies!

Facebook "Places"

Back in 1999 Sun Microsystems' CEO Scott McNealy "You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it." In 2000 PC World magazine said "But I suspect even McNealy might have problems with .... announcing his whereabouts to the world..."

Now in 2010 we have Foursquare to do just that, launched last year. Once on their home page click on "Learn More" to find out how. Like the original version of Twitter, Foursquare is used from a mobile phone, but in this case only smartphones by downloading and using a Foursquare app.

The basic idea is that you "check-in" to places you visit to comment about that place. It could be a museum, a pub, a concert or indeed anywhere else. Foursquare is encouraging businesses to give perks to Foursquare users . The business facilities are currently free, but is expected to be the basis for paid-for services in the future.

Whilst this idea has many positive aspects to individuals and local businesses alike, it does have the drawback of telling people you are not at home, with obvious security risks. The choice to use the service as a consumer is yours. As a business, though, control of potentially ruinous comments is likely to be a whole new ball game!

Not to be outdone, this week Facebook launched their own version, "Places". You only become a Foursquare user by subscribing. But if you are already a Facebook user, Places is switched on by default, allowing other people to say where you are (or indeed where you are not!) It is wise to follow these three steps to change the settings to those most people would regard as more appropriate. It's also an opportunity to check your other privacy settings.

No wonder Google's CEO Eric Schmidt talked a couple of weeks ago about the loss of personal anonymity. However, you might like to consider this take on the value of privacy.

Which reminds me. has your business got an appropriate privacy policy? Or does it not matter any more?

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Escaping Excel Hell - Planning and Budgeting

Back in the mists of time (early July to be precise) we took a look at the problems with using Excel for forecasting, and some of the alternative software tools available.

Some are add-ins for Excel, some separate software products. Some are certainly better than others.

One of the leading candidates, at least in they way it is being marketed, is Adaptive Planning. A product from the US, sales in the UK are being driven by a company in London called Clear Plan. Today I received an invitation to a seminar they are holding in Hyde Park Corner on the morning of Wednesday 15 September, 0900-1130 with breakfast at 0830. Whilst clearly a sales pitch, the agenda suggests there will be initial sessions on topics such as best practice. Details and registration.

What do you use for budgeting and planning? How happy are you with it?

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Performance Management - Avoiding Project Failures

Who at a senior level in business doesn't know of an IT project that has failed to provide anticipated benefits, or indeed failed completely? Whether it is a large ERP, a mid-sized CRM or a small accounting system, IT projects have a habit of going wrong.

In the worst cases, the company can go bust (as happened with a botched SAP implementation I know about). In others it's money down the drain, and opportunities lost. But when IT projects go well, the benefits can be enormous.

The line between success and failure is no more the case than with BPM (Business Performance Management) and BI (Business Intelligence) projects. Failures are for a number of key reasons:

1. Believing vendor hype: The software may not be as powerful as first portrayed, and/or the vendor won't usually tell you up-front about the drawbacks and implementation issues you'll need to address
2. Cultural impact of change. These projects affect people to a far greater degree than most other IT projects. This includes managers and their staff being monitored to a depth not to their experience or liking. It can also be the use of the wrong metrics that prompt the wrong actions and reactions.
3. Lack of senior management support. These types of projects are business-critical and need proactive support from the CEO downwards. They are certainly not just finance or IT projects.
4. Unrealistic timescale expectations: Poor preparation produces xxxx-poor performance. The same applies to performance management projects, so results simply won't be available yesterday. Nonetheless "quick wins" are possible whilst the necessary time is spent in other areas.
   

If you would like to discuss achieving success with your BPM or BI project, whatever the size of business, please contact me (details down to the right).

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Cloud Computing - On The Rocks?

Having just found a place in the UK which has neither broadband nor cable nor 3G connections to the internet, it set me thinking ...

Firstly what a great place for a holiday, literally getting away from it all!

Secondly not the best place to run an internet business. Nor to rely on the internet for staff or any form of mobile services when people are in the area - and there are plenty more places without fast internet around the wilder parts of the UK.

Thirdly what's it like when a business loses internet and email access for a week, a fortnight, a month? I've previously looked at ways of avoiding dependency on one method of internet access, and the availability of multi-user MiFi access devices. After all, there are several cases of BT lines being out of action for 10 days or more, as I experienced first-hand.

Overcoming Cloud Provider Problems

But what if there's a problem with the provider at the other end? One commentator wrote a few weeks ago "There has NEVER been a documented case of catastrophic data loss with a cloud service." The comment came across as "it hasn't happened, so it won't happen". Nieve? Whilst cloud providers may have always (up to now) been able to recover from backups in the event of data loss due to internal malfunction, there's going to be a first time. After all, there;s the old saying "Past Success Does Not Guarantee Future Performance". And what about a cloud provider going out of business?

There was after all the tiny matter of the demise of Exodus Communications which entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001. At one point over half of all internet traffic went through its systems, serving as it did he likes of Google, eBay, Yahoo!, PayPal, BestBuy, Weather Channel, Merrill Lynch, American Airlines, Microsoft, Hotmail, Virgin Mobile and O2 Plc from some 46 data centres (sorry centers). To be fair it was bought a couple of months later with probably little or no data loss to its customers. But it could have been much different.

It also highlights that outsourcing IT systems to cloud providers doesn't involve just one company. Word reaches me that a reseller has gone out of business, and the hosting company behind it has shut off access by the end-users to their systems and data. I wonder how many of those customers even knew who the hosting company was, let alone checked them out in advance?

So what can be done? There are three key steps forward:

1. "Due diligence" on each provider in the supply chain for each cloud service. Here are some suggestions from a cloud advocate. These need to be continually applied as the supply chain changes.
2. Making sure you have up-to-date copies of your data and a contingency plan
   
3. Avoiding undue reliance on one provider for each application area.
   

Duplicating systems such as CRM or ecommerce may be rather tricky, time-consuming and could be significantly more expensive. But is it possible at a reasonable cost to have one part of the business on one system, and another part on another system? Then it is possible to have a plan to switch the whole business onto one system in the event of any problems with the other.
What price a good night's sleep?

In any case do comment if you know of any real life examples of cloud data being lost- whether due to bankruptcy, system failure, security breaches or any other reason.

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Weekly Review - Exciting or Worrying?

Reviewing two weeks' news disclosed a mixture of the exciting and the worrying.





Firstly the exciting

1. "Try before you buy" on Apple apps for iPhones and iPads
2. Twitter has reached 20 billion tweets (so it's not just me!). There's also the first tentative steps to monetization with sponsored tweets
3. Better support for micropayments using PayPal
4. With Facebook intended for those aged13+, there's a new social networking site for younger kids called ScuttlePad.
5. Hotmail has had a major facelift
6. Browsers IE, Firefox and Google Chrime are all expected to have major new releases shortly in beta mode (pre-release testing mode)
   

Then there's the worrying

Both these issues affect software developers:

1. Facebook has just announced it is removing the "boxes" feature for third party applications from Monday 23 August - hardly what I'd call notice! [See subsequent article]
2. Google has canned the Wave application after just a year, even after adoption by the likes of SAP, salesforce.com and Novell. Fortunately the core components will remain available as open source

When the likes of Micorosft have also pulled the plug on functionality with little notice, such as losing forecasting when PerformancePoint was rolled into SharePoint in 2009, the issue is affecting both paid-for and free software.

Developers and users need to be beware of trusting anyone, and need to avoid over-reliance on anything. But that's not practical!

Both Exciting and Worrying [subsequent update]

Facebook has announced, without warning, that users now have access to location-based services. These attempt to catch up on the new upstart, FourSquare, by letting users "Check-in" to events, pubs, restaurants, shops etc and commenting about them.

For individuals it's potentially a great new tool. But there are new privacy issues that need urgent attention!

For local businesses it's potentially a great marketing tool, be they national chains or privately owned. But a whole new ball game dealing with real or spurious complaints!

See the section in the Facebook changes article.

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