Predictions and hopes for the next iPad

Apple has scheduled a show and tell event about the next iPad for tomorrow on March 7, 2012. Here’s what I think Apple will announce at the event followed by some things that probably won’t happen, but would make me very happy if they did.

Predictions

Retina Display

This one seems a bit obvious. MacRumors and iFixit have even published some evidence that the next iPad will have a Retina Display. But, the writing has been on the wall ever since the iPhone 4 was released with its Retina Display. The iPad is going to have its resolution doubled – it is just a matter of when. Right now still feels like a bit of a push to sell a device so densly packed with pixels for about $500. It will be a revolutionary display.

The name

There are some rumors swirling about that Apple will name it the iPad HD. They won’t. In doing so, Apple would be under-playing their hand. The iPad has always been capable of displaying the 1280×720 variation of High Definition and HD video maxes out at 1920×1080. The Retina Display of the next iPad will pump out 2048×1536 pixels. That’s like… ultra definition. I don’t know what Apple will name it, but I do know that on the back of the actually iPad it will simply read “iPad”. It’ll be interesting when (or if) the iPad goes to the “Early 2012” style naming convention that Macs have but is really only mentioned in support documentation.

A new app

Along with an insanely high resolution display comes an app for organizing and editing photos and that means Aperture for the iPad. This puts me against John Gruber and agreeing with most of Gabe Glick’s points in a MacStories piece. The iPad already has many of iPhoto’s features with the new organizing and editing features of iOS 5. Aperture’s time is now on iOS. Advanced editing of photos through touch combined with non-destructive editing and Aperture’s flare for supporting the profesional photographer’s workflow will be a force to be reckoned with.

LTE

The Wall Street Journal published an article stating that the next iPad will have support for the faster LTE cellular networks. Their sources have been very good lately with respect to Apple. That combined with the timing on this one makes it a good bet. It’s all a matter of how much current LTE components affect battery life. If Apple can’t meet or beat the iPad 2’s outstanding battery life, LTE will be tossed out.

Messages

To go along with Apple’s merging of iChat on the Mac with Messages from iOS, Apple will bring video conferencing from the Mac to the iPad. This new feature will most likely require the new iPad or a Mac to be the device hosting the conference since extra processing power will be needed. iPhones and iPod touches will be able to join the conference. And the future versions of those devices will be able to start them as well.

iOS

Like the original iPad, the next iPad will be released with a bespoke version of iOS that enables features that are unique to the iPad. Unique, at least, until Apple merges them with the rest of iOS later this year.

It’s a given

We know, of course, that it’s going to be the fastest iPad Apple has ever made. It’ll have improved central and graphics processors. Apple will speak about how much better this makes playing games, watching movies, and using power-hungry apps. It’ll also have improved cameras front and back with the front facing camera being upgraded to FaceTime HD.

One last thing

Oh, and they’ll continue selling the iPad 2 of the 16 GB variety starting at $349.

Hopes

Shape

I bought both an original iPad and the iPad 2 as soon as each was released. I love the speed of the iPad 2 and being able to use some of the things that require its extra power like iMovie and AirPlay Mirroring. But every time I pick up the original iPad, it feels wonderful in my hands in comparison. I mostly chalk this up to the thick side edges on the original iPad that are similar to those on the iPhone 4 and 4S. The very thin, tapered edges on the iPad 2 just aren’t comfortable. Some of the original iPad’s great feel could also come from the slightly curved back – a feature that also makes it much easier to spin around to share something with people sitting at the same table. I really hope that the shape of the next iPad is more like the original for a better feel while retaining the light weight of the iPad 2.

iPen

“If you see a stylus, they blew it.” I think what Steve Jobs really meant is that if you have to use a stylus, they blew it. But, that doesn’t mean a stylus cannot be optional. Apple could release an iPen that gives pressure sensitivity to the iPad through sensors in the pen itself and a Bluetooth connection to the iPad. It’d be even better if they provided an API that would allow other companies like Wacom or Ten One Design to release their own styluses for the iPad that work with all apps. This would be a boon to artists using apps like Brushes and could also be a tool for advanced editing of photos with Aperture for the iPad.

Siri

I’m probably in the minority on this, but I hope that Apple doesn’t include Siri on the next iPad. That’s not because I don’t think it has a place on the iPad – I do. But, Siri is still in beta and appears to be overloaded at times. Including it on new iPads will be even more stress for Siri. Let’s wait until it’s ready before spreading it out to other Apple devices.

Tweetbot now available for iPad

Tapbots released Tweetbot for the iPad today. It’s a great release of their existing Tweetbot app reimagined for the larger iPad screen. It has the same rich design but makes use of the additional space to fit more tweets on the screen at once and to provide clarifying elements to the user interface. As I type this, Tweetbot for iPad is currently the second app on iTunes’ Top Paid Apps chart. My only complaint is that it isn’t a universal app. You’ll need to buy (and manage) it separately, but it’s well worth it if you like using Twitter on your iPad.

Its immediate popularity was probably assisted by the 2.0 release of Tweetbot for iPhone earlier the same day. Tweetbot 2.0 is better looking, faster, and even easier to use. The iPad version debuts with the same refinements.

Becoming Vanilla Republic

Ease into the Switch is becoming Vanilla Republic. This change means that I’ll be writing about a wider spectrum of topics than learning how to use a Mac, iPhone, or iPad. A lot of the topics will still be about Apple and their enterprises, but I’ll also talk about other things that interest me. I hope they interest you too.

Video pros feel scorned by Apple

In an Ars Technica article on Why the video pros are moving away from Apple, Jacqui Cheng writes mostly about how video professionals aren’t happy with the changes Apple made in Final Cut Pro X. Even though the changes they’re most unhappy with are similar to Apple’s abandonment of the 3.5” floppy drive and legacy connection ports with the first iMac. Changes that upset some people at the time, but that the entire computing industry is better off for.

While investigating whether Apple’s pro video market was already shrinking prior to Final Cut Pro X’s release or whether it is solely in response to that release, Jacqui uncovered some resentment towards Apple’s hardware releases. Evidentially video pros look at the huge successes Apple is having with the iPhone and iPad and feel neglected. Some of them evidentially think that Apple is putting all of their energy into releasing consumer products and they’re suffering as a result. They cited how long in the tooth the Mac Pro is getting as evidence of Apple’s inattention.

With the current iteration of the Mac Pro about to turn 18 months old—and even at the time of that update, the previous version was nearly two years old—these users are becoming increasingly jaded about Apple’s commitment to the pro market. And because Apple’s Final Cut products only work on the Mac, the Mac Pro is a big part of the equation when it comes to production houses choosing which software to use.

They’re worried that 18 months between Mac Pro revisions mean that Apple is neglecting the pro market. They feel that Apple wouldn’t let that sort of thing happen to their prized iPhone or iPad. Except Apple has. The iPhone 4 was on the market for 16 months before being replaced by the iPhone 4S.

Maybe video professionals need to reset their expectations. Set aside feelings of not being important enough. Just concentrate on who provides the best video production software for you today and who will provide the best in the future. It might be Apple.

James Bond can be spied on Netflix Instant

Proving that sometimes good things do happen on April 1, Netflix added most of the James Bond movies to their Instant streaming library on that day of this year. They were since removed but will again be available on September 1!

The 007 movies are some of my favorites of all time. Roger Moore was the Bond I grew up with and am very nostalgic towards those movies, particularly the ones with him in the awesome Lotus Esprit. However, my favorite Bond is Pierce Brosnan. He had the style and delivery to have become everyone’s favorite (surpassing even Sean Connery) if only he were given more than one good script.

Here’s a list of the James Bond movies in chronological order with links to them on Netflix. Use this list to add them all to your Instant and disc queues.

Dr. No (1962)

From Russia with Love (1963)

Goldfinger (1964)

Thunderball (1965)

You Only Live Twice (1967)

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)

Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

Live and Let Die (1973)

The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

Moonraker (1979)

For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Octopussy (1983)

Never Say Never Again* (1983)

A View to a Kill (1985)

The Living Daylights (1987)

Licence to Kill (1989)

GoldenEye (1995)

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

The World Is Not Enough (1999)

Die Another Day (2002)

Casino Royale (2006)

Quantum of Solace (2008)

*Not a movie by EON Productions.

An iPad as your only computer

Note: This article was originally written on March 31, 2010 before the original iPad was released. It has since been updated with new information following the announcement of iOS 5 and iCloud.

Is it possible for someone to use an iPad as their only computer? The short answer is “yes.” The longer answer is that all of the information we have about the iPad right now is still preliminary. Based on my current analysis I cannot see any reason that someone couldn’t use an iPad as their only computer.

But would you want to? Like any computer, it depends on what you’re going to do with it. Are you the type of person that mainly checks email and browses the web? The iPad is probably the best computer for you – I can’t imagine a better browsing experience on any other computer that is currently available. And, of course, you can download music, TV shows, movies, books, apps, and more directly from the iPad.

Likewise, people that are roadwarriors would also be well suited with the iPad. They get great browsing and email plus a very nice way to manage their contacts and what looks like the best user experience ever for keeping a calendar on a PC. Roadwarriors will also benefit from great prices on 3G cellular data service for the iPad and a computer that is always connected.

Of course there are people that can’t use an iPad as their only computer – for now. Some tasks people use their computers for are currently too complex for the iPad. For instance, graphic designers that use applications like Photoshop need to also have a Mac. Software developers need to stick with a PC that runs their developer tools. People with large music or photo libraries need more storage than the iPad currently allows. And people that edit photos or videos on their computer can’t make the switch. But, a lot of people don’t use their computers for any of that. And for those people, the iPad may be the perfect computer.

You’re probably thinking to yourself “why would anyone want to use an iPad as their only PC?” Because it’s better for them. It’s easier to use. They’re directly manipulating the interfaces instead of through two layers of abstraction – the mouse and the pointer. The screen is filled with the activity they want to focus on. They don’t need to bother with where to store files or how to install or remove applications. As easy as that is on a Mac, it’s easier on the iPhone and iPad. And they absolutely do not need to worry about any sort of system maintenance for the iPad like they do with their PC regardless of whether it is a Mac or runs Windows.

That said, there are a few questions that I have about the iPad when it comes to trying to use it as your only computer. I’m going to leave them in this article as open questions about the iPad and as I gather the answers I will write them up here.

Can it print?

Yes. Apple introduced AirPrint as part of the iOS 4 update.

No. According to Andy Ihnatko during his appearance on a special edition of MacBreak Weekly, the iPad does not support printing at a system level. So, you cannot print directly from Pages or any of the iWork apps. He did mention that there are apps for the iPhone that will allow you to print wirelessly and he expects to see updated versions of those for the iPad.

I’m surprised that it can’t. Hopefully this is something that Apple is working on for iPhone OS 4.0. The new printing features that Apple added to the latest version of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard, seem like they were created for the iPhone OS and the iPad. Snow Leopard will download and install printer drivers as needed. So, you can install Snow Leopard on your Mac without any printer drivers. The first time you try to print, the Mac will look for nearby printers and will download & install the appropriate drivers for you. It’s a seamless process and would work very well on the iPad.

Can it update its own OS without being connected to another computer?

When iOS 5 comes out in the autumn, it will be able to download iOS updates directlywithout connecting to another computer.

No. See the answer to the next question.

Is there a way to backup the iPad other than syncing with iTunes? Will a Time Capsule work?

Yes, iOS 5 will support backup to iCloud for free up to the first 5 Gigabytes. Additional capacity will be available for a currently unannounced fee.

No. Andy Ihnatko comments in his article Sure, the iPad is cool – but is it a real computer? on the Chicago Sun-Times that syncing with iTunes is “the only way to backup the device and the only way to apply a system update.”

How well does the photos app work at cataloging photos imported directly into the iPad from a camera or SD card using the Camera Connection Kit? Can you touch-up your photos?

The iPad and the Photos app do a good job of importing directly from a camera or SD card. And retouching photos is something that can be easily added by a third party app since they all have access to the photo library.

Plus, iOS 5 will build some basic photo editing tools into the Photos app and will enable organizing photos into albums directly on the iPad.

Can you initially setup an iPad based with content and settings from your previous computer as you can with a Mac?

You’ll be able to do this from an iCloud backup once iOS 5 arrives.

At this point the only way you can do this is by using iTunes on your previous computer to sync everything to the iPad.

Can it sync with an iPhone or iPod?

The release of iOS 5 and iCloud will keep iPads and iPhones in sync without a computer as an intermediary.

No. Only information that syncs over the air using MobileMe would sync between an iPad and an iPhone or iPod touch.

As you can see, Apple has addressed everyone of the issues I identified when the iPad first came out with features added in iOS 4 and to be added soon in iOS 5. The answer this autumn to the question “Can I use an iPad as my only computer?” will be a resounding “Yes!”

The iPad is for consumption not creation, right?

I truly don’t understand where it comes from, but a lot of people have in their heads that the iPad is only for consuming media. In TWiT 259, Leo Laporte says that the iPad is “regressive” because “it is for consuming, not for creating.” Mike Melanson wrote a piece for ReadWriteWeb called iPad SchmiPad in which he says that the iPad is for “couch sitters” and it isn’t useful for the “content creator type of user.” And Paul Thurrott says that “when you use an iPad, you’re typically not contributing to anything … you’re simply consuming” in his Understanding iPad piece (via John Gruber). Other people that have made similar statements include Dave Winer and Jeff Jarvis. It’s almost as if they were handed talking points.

This is plainly not the case. While the iPad is fantastic at consuming media, it’s also uniquely suited to foster creation in ways that a standard PC isn’t. Being able to sense the touch of every finger on both of someone’s hands lends itself to many forms of art. The additional user interface elements offered on an iPad (absent from smaller iOS devices) give it even more power for creative endeavors. The iPad is a wonderful device for all kinds of creation and this will only become more obvious in the coming months and years.

Brushes

Brushes is an amazing painting app for the iPad. Yes, it was developed for the iPhone first and some amazing work has originated there. Jorge Colombo is an artist that has created covers for The New Yorker on the iPhone!

But, the iPad can take this even further. The larger canvas of the iPad is an obvious benefit. Not so obvious is how much more fluidly someone can work with the pop-overs that are available on the iPad. It sure beats switching the entire screen between the canvas and tools as Brushes has to do on the iPhone. Another great thing about the iPad version is that you can easily hold the iPad in different positions as you paint. Holding the iPad “sideways” is just as natural as holding it the other way — and with Brushes you can turn the canvas but the tools rotate to always face the artist.

Here is some great art people have done with Brushes on the iPad.

iElectribe

I’ve always wanted a drum machine. But I could never justify paying several hundred dollars for one since I’m not a musician and I’d just be toying with it. Shortly after getting the iPad, I saw the guys from Area 5 record a demo of them making some beats on theirs with iElectribe. It was only $10 when I bought it, so it was a no brainer. It’s still a great deal at $20.

This app does almost everything I could do with a large hardware drum machine for a fraction of the price. And I don’t need to worry about finding space for it in the house! The large screen of the iPad gives enough space for all of the knobs and buttons you’d find on the hardware equivalent. And multi-touch means that you can twiddle multiple knobs at once to alter the sound. I’d like to point out that this is something you simply couldn’t do on a computer with a mouse and a keyboard.

Watch these videos showing iElectibe in action. They’re pretty amazing.

Pages

I have to mention Pages for two reasons. First, it along with Numbers and Keynote are what first signaled to me that the iPad is intended for more than just media consumption. I watched the event where Steve Jobs announced the iPad and I thought it was pretty cool. But the iPad had to be “The Future” before I was going to spend anything over a few hundred on it. And to me “The Future” meant it had to be a new way to do many of the tasks people rely on personal computers for. Pages, Numbers, and Keynote led the way and other fantastic productivity apps have followed (e.g. OmniGraffle, Things, Adobe Ideas).

The other reason I had to include Pages is because this article was written with it on my iPad.

Bebot

The best way for me to describe Bebot is to say that it transforms the iPad into a musical instrument. The entire screen becomes a surface that responds to your touch with sound. Each finger on the screen will play a different note depending on where you place it. And as far as I can tell from listening, it will play 11 different sounds from 11 different touches. This syncs up with some experimentation Matt Gemmell did with multi-touch on the iPad as well.

So, that’s how the iPad is uniquely suited to this application, but what are people doing with it? Well, Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) and his wife Mariqueen Maandig Reznor used Bebot on their latest album released under the band name How To Destroy Angels. You can hear Bebot played on “The Believers” and it sounds great. I may be cheating a little bit here, because Mariqueen actually played Bebot on an iPhone, but I’m sure she wishes she had the larger surface of the iPad at the time of the recording.

Create Different

These are but a few creative uses for the iPad, but it only takes a glance at the iPad section of the App Store to see many other ways to create with it. And the examples above show how the iPad is uniquely suited to creative endeavors. The iPad is no less creative than a PC, it’s just different. And over time it will most likely prove itself to be better suited to creation as Apple expands on the hardware line and adds new features to iOS.

Verizon wants the iPhone

The Verizon Wireless president and CEO, Lowell McAdam, was interestingly quoted in a piece on Verizon iPhone rumors.

“This is one of those things that rolls out every few weeks whether there’s a basis for it or not,” McAdam said. “I can’t really give you any insight … I think Apple is the one who has to make that announcement.”

Translation: We’re finally getting the iPhone next year, and we don’t want to screw this up. Again.

Pages can now create ePub files

Apple released an update to iWork this week that, among other things, adds the ability to export ePub documents to Pages. This is the fifth file format that Pages can export alongside PDF, Microsoft Word, RTF, and Plain Text. But, what this really means is that normal humans finally have a way to create e-books for their favorite e-reader.

Alongside this update to Pages, Apple has also published a support document that provides some guidelines for when you should use ePub and when you should use PDF. Simply put, if the layout is more important than the text use PDF, otherwise ePub is ideal. Fortunately, iBooks for the iPad and other iOS devices can display both ePub and PDF documents.

In their support document, Apple also provides an “ePub Best Practices” Pages document that you can use as a template for any new e-books that you want to create. They also provide instructions for importing the styles from the template into an existing document to provide the structure needed by e-book readers to for the table of contents and navigation.

You can use the first page as the cover, but it looks odd.

Actually exporting the ePub file is easy enough. Simply select the Export option from the Share menu and you’ll be presented with a sheet where you can select ePub as the format. You’ll then be asked for some basic meta-data about the document. Once you’ve entered the Title and Author, you can press the Next button to choose a location to export to. And, that’s it. Just drag the file onto the iTunes icon in your dock and sync it to your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. You’re done.

I used Apple’s template to convert the original “Ease into the switch” article into an ePub book. Download it to see what kind of results you can get from just a few minutes of reformatting.

One question remains; when does this come to the iPad version of Pages?

Apple’s Magic Trackpad now does Windows

When Apple released their Magic Trackpad last month, I knew a few Windows people that were interested in it and wanted to know if it would work with Windows. I assumed someone would eventually create a third party driver for it. But, I should have known that Apple had it on their to-do list. Apple has released a Magic Trackpad update for Windows that is intended to support Mac users that are running Windows via Boot Camp. But, it’ll work with any computer running Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7.

Via Matt Gemmell.