Friday, December 10, 2010
Software 1 - Essential productivity
Now, although I purchased the iPad myself and not through work, my initial interest was in the iPad as a work tool rather than a social one. Essentially I was looking for something that might replace a laptop, or more specifically in my case, a tablet PC. So while the iPad comes with some essential work tools built in (mail, calendar, contacts, web browser) you will have to buy apps for many of the other work tasks you might want to accomplish. I think almost everyone in third level uses a word processing programme, a presentation programme (unfortunately), and some sort of spreadsheet application so these were the type of apps I initially went looking for. You have plenty of options, but I chose to buy the iPad versions of Apple's iWork productivity suite. The apps are Pages (word processing), Keynote (presentation) and Numbers (spreadsheet).
Not being a Mac user I was unfamiliar with Apples competitors to the all pervasive Microsoft Office. One look and you realise it is no competition at all. Mac wins hands down. I had recently replaced my work PC and if I had known then what I know now I would have switched to Mac. This is all the more remarkable considering I have been vehemently anti Mac for such a long time.
The rest of this post will concentrate on evaluating Keynote, as it is the app I use most for work. If you are used to Powerpoint you will be amazed by Keynote. It is incredible easy to use, and the controls are laid out in a very intuitive fashion. Best of all, you can import your existing PowerPoint presentations and they will work perfectly well on the iPad - at least mine do. Most of my lecture PowerPoints are straightforward without animations or transitions or multimedia and perhaps this is why they work so well. Getting the ppt / pptx files onto the iPad is simple. In iTunes select the iPad, then the apps tab and scroll down. At the bottom of the page under the 'File Sharing' heading select Keynote and then in the pane on the right select Add. Navigate to where your ppt / pptx file(s) is and select. Once you have selected all the files you want sync with the iPad.
Now open Keynote on the iPad. On the My Presentations screen select the upload button (at bottom, second from left). Then choose Copy from iTunes and select the presentation you want to open. The file converts and is now available in Keynote on the iPad. Repeat for the remaining presentations. You only have to do this once - the presentations will be present in the My Presentations screen the next time you open Keynote. In the next post I'll look further at the Keynote app.
Not being a Mac user I was unfamiliar with Apples competitors to the all pervasive Microsoft Office. One look and you realise it is no competition at all. Mac wins hands down. I had recently replaced my work PC and if I had known then what I know now I would have switched to Mac. This is all the more remarkable considering I have been vehemently anti Mac for such a long time.
The rest of this post will concentrate on evaluating Keynote, as it is the app I use most for work. If you are used to Powerpoint you will be amazed by Keynote. It is incredible easy to use, and the controls are laid out in a very intuitive fashion. Best of all, you can import your existing PowerPoint presentations and they will work perfectly well on the iPad - at least mine do. Most of my lecture PowerPoints are straightforward without animations or transitions or multimedia and perhaps this is why they work so well. Getting the ppt / pptx files onto the iPad is simple. In iTunes select the iPad, then the apps tab and scroll down. At the bottom of the page under the 'File Sharing' heading select Keynote and then in the pane on the right select Add. Navigate to where your ppt / pptx file(s) is and select. Once you have selected all the files you want sync with the iPad.
Now open Keynote on the iPad. On the My Presentations screen select the upload button (at bottom, second from left). Then choose Copy from iTunes and select the presentation you want to open. The file converts and is now available in Keynote on the iPad. Repeat for the remaining presentations. You only have to do this once - the presentations will be present in the My Presentations screen the next time you open Keynote. In the next post I'll look further at the Keynote app.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Accessories 3 - Now you see it.....
If you are going to give presentations using the iPad you will also need an iPad to VGA connector. These are about €25. I have used one for about three months now with no difficulties whatsoever. One end connects to the iPad connector, the other has a female VGA plug which you can use to connect to an external monitor or LCD projector. Using additional adaptors you can connect to other display devices using composite video, HDMI etc. A word of caution though - connecting the iPad to an external display works differently than connecting your laptop.You can't see your iPad screen on the external display because only certain iPad apps can interface with the VGA out. It's only when running these apps that you can see on the external display what is seen on the iPad screen. Out of the box, only the Photos, Video and YouTube apps can utilize the VGA adaptor so you can display a Photo slideshow or YouTube video, but not your Calendar or Contacts or home screen(s). Not all apps support the VGA adaptor, so if you really want to display your favourite app in action check that it supports the VGA adaptor first.
The presentation app Keynote supports the adaptor so you can display a Keynote (or PowerPoint) presentation without difficulty. More on Keynote in a later post.
Accessories 2 - I'm back
After a full semester of use I have now found the time to update this blog. It's beyond me how people have the time to blog, tweet and text message constantly and still have time to work. that's age I guess!
OK back to accessories. I really like typing on the iPad screen and can do so for about an hour without becoming annoyed or frustrated. But then I am a lousy typist at the best of times, so maybe the onscreen keyboard is good for hunt and peck people like me. For most competent typists, and for most extended typing sessions you will probably want to buy an external keyboard. There are two types - a fixed type into which the iPad docks and is connected to a wall power socket so that the iPad charges when docked, and a Bluetooth keyboard which pairs with the iPad wirelessly. I bought the former and in retrospect that was a mistake. Why? Well, if you are interested in using an iPad in a third level environment you will almost certainly want to use it to give lectures, and that means running some sort of presentation app on the iPad. The best of these is Keynote for the iPad (reviewed later), which I have and use extensively. However Keynote for the iPad only runs in landscape mode, and the iPad can only be docked in landscape orientation - so the dock keyboard is useless for preparing presentations. So for portability and flexibility I would recommend either using the onscreen keyboard, or buying a BlueTooth keyboard.
OK back to accessories. I really like typing on the iPad screen and can do so for about an hour without becoming annoyed or frustrated. But then I am a lousy typist at the best of times, so maybe the onscreen keyboard is good for hunt and peck people like me. For most competent typists, and for most extended typing sessions you will probably want to buy an external keyboard. There are two types - a fixed type into which the iPad docks and is connected to a wall power socket so that the iPad charges when docked, and a Bluetooth keyboard which pairs with the iPad wirelessly. I bought the former and in retrospect that was a mistake. Why? Well, if you are interested in using an iPad in a third level environment you will almost certainly want to use it to give lectures, and that means running some sort of presentation app on the iPad. The best of these is Keynote for the iPad (reviewed later), which I have and use extensively. However Keynote for the iPad only runs in landscape mode, and the iPad can only be docked in landscape orientation - so the dock keyboard is useless for preparing presentations. So for portability and flexibility I would recommend either using the onscreen keyboard, or buying a BlueTooth keyboard.
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