Image via Wikipedia

So last month I was very excited and upset about the changes Apple are making to their subscription model for the iPad. Steve Jobs has since made an effort to clarify that these changes should not apply to single item purchases – such as Kindle – or Software As A Service products – think Dropbox. Only time will tell whether Apple decides to do the right thing by its customers.

This month I wanted to stay with Apple – but to have something a little more positive to say! This year was renewal year for my work computer – and I decided to go for an iMac with a MacBook Air rather than a MacBook Pro this time. This article is about the MacBook Air.

To stay within budget I was left with little option but to go for the least expensive model off the shelf. This is the 11 inch with 2Gb of RAM and a 64Gb onboard Solid State Drive. It is worth noting that if you choose to buy a MacBook Air you MUST order it in the configuration you can live with because both the RAM and the SSD are soldered to the logic board and cannot be upgraded later.

To be honest I was a little nervous at first that the Air would be little more than a toy with what are today considered such low specs. I had read quite positive reviews – but to be honest they did not prepare me for the stellar performance of this little machine! You certainly wouldn’t want to have it as your only machine if you have any interest at all in editing home movies – but if you travel a lot and your needs centre around the web and office applications it really is perfect.

One thing that really surprised me was how adequate 64Gb is as a drive when you remove all of your media. My iTunes and iPhoto libraries now sit on a small external drive – which works perfectly well when needed. I have a reasonable selection of applications on the Air – including Microsoft Office 2011 and several lightweight web design and graphics tools. Whilst most of the Adobe Creative Suite would probably run reasonably well I have not tried because it would simply take too much of my precious space. The screen is a tiny revelation – whilst small it is very high-res and is fairly comfortable to look at for extended periods.

Visually the Air is a stunner. Until you close it up it is hard to believe just how small this thing is. It is actually lighter than an iPad – and yet is a full blown computer with none of the restrictions of iOS. I cant help but think how great it would have been to have one of these when I did my backpacking Grand Tour…

So why does the Air perform so much better than expected? In my opinion it is largely due to the SSD – followed closely by Apple’s ability to ensure maximum compatibility between all installed components. I have a SSD’s installed in all of my computers now and the difference it makes to performance is astonishing.

All up I would highly recommend the MacBook Air. I find myself using it a great deal more than I expected to. In hindsight I do wish I had opted for more RAM and the bigger SSD – maybe next time…

The MacBook Air is available from Apple starting from $1199.

Image by ultraBobban via Flickr

Apple have announced that from the end of March they will be “enforcing” an existing rule that will have profound implications for owners of iOS devices.  Personally Im hoping that an outbreak of common sense will occur before then driven by what I anticipate will be an avalanche of bad press in the coming weeks.

Essentially what Apple plan on doing is blocking apps which allow access to content purchased outside of the App Store unless users can also purchase that content inside of the app or the App Store where they can reap 30% of each transaction. They have also said that newspaper publishers will not be allowed to provide a free iPad version to print subscribers. This will have serious ramifications for ebook, newspaper and magazine apps as well as potentially video subscription apps such as Netflix.

On the face of it this doesnt sound so bad – but I daresay that Apple will not take to kindly to providers marking up prices by 30% to accommodate this impost so where margins are tight content providers may be squeezed out of the game.

Ultimately I think Apple have forgotten one major point.  Unless Im mistaken I bought my iPad – at great expense – and as far as I’m aware this means I own it and therefore have the right to decide what goes on it.

I was prepared to put up with the closed ecosystem argument as long as it was to provide a better user experience by keeping crashing, nasty apps out of my hair – but this move is just greed.  As one ebookstore – I think Kobo – commented, Apple’s 30% cut is the entire profit margin given by the publisher – so why bother…

Also as a 7-day print subscriber to the Sydney Morning Herald I have enjoyed free access to the iPad version – and why not?  Why should I have to pay twice for the same content?  As far as I know the data is going from the servers of the SMH provider Newspaper Direct to the iPad that I OWN and I’m also paying bandwidth for at my end.  Frankly – what business is it of Apple?  Surely this is restraint of trade – if not from the sellers point of view, from mine.  These are restrictions that were not in place when I bought the device and had I known this was the going to be the case I would not have.

What happened to the days when Apple would have encouraged good content as a way of selling the hardware?  Again, this is just pure greed on Apple’s part and as a loyal Apple customer of many years I’m bitter and disappointed and they have lost a free advocate – heavens only knows how many people have Apple gear now on my recommendation.

At the moment Android is less polished than iOS – but the Motorola Xoom with Android 3.0 Honeycomb launching soon is looking far more likely to get my next discretional dollars than the iPad 2…

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For some months now the Apple iPad has reigned supreme as the king of the tablet computers.  This could all be about to change with a plethora of new contenders about to hit the market in time for Christmas.

First off the line was the Telstra T-Touch Tab – an entry-level offering being sold as a Pre-Paid device for only $299 with 3Gb of data to get you going.  Optus have since announced their own inexpensive tablet launching mid-December for a similar price.

Also recently made available – so far with Vodafone and Optus and soon with Telstra is the higher end Samsung Galaxy Tab dubbed as the first real contender to the Apple iPad.

So lets take a look at both of these devices and see if they actually measure up.

The Telstra T-Touch Tab is an inexpensive device at $299 – almost competing price wise with some of the knock-off tablets available on eBay.  The good news is that it come with Android 2.1 which is a relatively recent version of the operating system which means that it will run most of the software available from the Android Marketplace.  The official marketplace is a nice inclusion which is by no means standard on earlier devices or cheap copies.

Hardware wise the 7 inch T-Touch feels like decent enough quality.  It is solidly built with a metal backplate and built-in kickstand.  The device comes with 2Gb storage – but only a couple of hundred meg’s onboard for apps which is poor.  Devices below Android 2.2 Froyo can only run apps from onboard memory – so lets hope that a software update is forthcoming soon!  The device must be charged from a provided power cable/adaptor – there is no capacity to charge from USB and at the time of writing – which is a good few weeks after launch – there are still no accessories available such as a case or car charger.

As a mobile device the T-Touch is currently lacking.  With reasonable usage you can get two or three hours out of the battery.  Fire up Mobile Foxtel and you are down to maybe an hour and a half.  On a trip from Baulkham Hills to Dural and back (which is not that far!) it died before we got home.  Hopefully once a car charger becomes available it will be of more use.

Another downside is the screen – which is resistive touch.  This is the older type of touch screen which responds well to a stylus (included) or if using fingers requires quite a bit more pressure.  Being used to an iPhone and iPad I found this quite frustrating – although I did get used to it after a while.  It is also a funny shape being 16:9 widescreen format – this makes it too long and thin to practically use in portrait orientation.

In summary – there is a lot lacking from the T-Touch Tab – but then you get what you pay for.  If you are keen to have a play with Android and don’t wish to spend much money it is a good way in – and perhaps once a few accessories are available things will improve.

Moving on lets see what the Samsung Galaxy Tab has to offer.

This is quite a different beast.  It is also a 7 inch tablet – but nearer to a 4:3 form factor.  In fact it is a similar size to a paperback book.  The quality of build of this device is exceptional – it feels like a solid slab of plastic.  The screen is made from Corning Gorillaglass and as such is incredibly strong.  One online video shows someone taking potshots at the screen with a BB gun – they must be mad but the screen was undamaged!

The clarity and brightness of the Tab screen is beautiful and, in fact, the pixel density even exceeds the iPad – and it shows.

This time there is plenty of room for memory – with 16Gb onboard and 2Gb dedicated for apps.  The microSD card slot can take a 32Gb card and because the Tab runs Android 2.2 Froyo applications can be moved off to the card.  One of the other great benefits of Froyo is that it can make the device into a portable wireless access point which can share the data connection with up to 5 devices.  This function even offers WPA2 encryption which is the current state of the art security for WiFi!

Battery is much better that the T-Touch – lasting 5 to 6 hours on average.  Again though, Samsung have opted for a proprietary connector and charger.  When plugged in to USB the device will hold its charge – but will not charge.

In Australia the Galaxy Tab comes with Navigon navigation software free, as well as a 2 month trial of The Australian newspaper.  Need for Speed Shift is promised as a free download – but there is no sign as yet.

From a software standpoint Android on this device is reasonable, but it does crash far too regularly for my liking and is not as stable or refined as iOS.

I do like the size though – and I disagree with Steve Jobs comments that 7 inch devices are useless.  Each has their place.  The iPad is much better for actually getting some work done – the Galaxy keyboard is just too small to be practical.  The Galaxy can, however, easily be chucked in a small bag for a day out – something which is hard to do with an iPad.

So to finish up – if I had to make a decision I would say stick with iOS for now.  Android is still rough around the edges and frankly the quality of Android apps is not as good as those found in the iOS app store.  If you are determined to avoid the Apple ‘walled-garden’ then I would recommend spending some more dollars and opting for the Galaxy Tab.

As always I recommend Telstra NextG for coverage – especially now that their prices have become more affordable.

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As an avid reader and a gadget fan I have a long term interest in ebooks.  My first ebooks came from the ebookstore peanutpress.com and were read on the Philips Nino PDA in terrible grayscale!  Peanutpress.com is now ereader.com and has been bought by Barnes and Noble.  I still have an extensive library of over 100 novels with them and software readers are available for the iPhone and iPad as well as several other devices.

An alternative to peanutpress.com in the early years of the noughties was mobipocket.com.  I tended to avoid mobipocket because they were more strict with overseas licensing and frankly, more expensive.  Mobipocket were eventually bought out by Amazon and a modified form of their DRM (Digital Rights Management) file format was used for the Amazon Kindle.

The Amazon Kindle which launched in November 2007 sold out its initial production run in two and a half hours!  It was not the first ebook reader based on e-ink technology – Sony launched its first model in 2006 – but the Kindle soon came to dominate the market.

All Kindle devices have been characterised by ease of use and free access to Amazon’s Whispernet 3G data service. This allows for the bookstore to be browsed and for books to be purchased and downloaded anywhere a mobile signal could be had.  In late 2009 the second generation Kindle and Whispernet were made available Internationally.  Global book licensing issues remain annoying – but can be circumvented fairly easily if you so choose.  Regardless – an extensive library is available.

In hindsight 2010 may be the year that marks the beginning of the end for the printed novel.  I don’t think books will be going anywhere in a hurry – there remains an emotional experience in the opening of a nicely presented book – but for “pulp fiction” and perhaps textbooks, digital is the way to go

Amazon have really opened up the Kindle platform this year with software available for iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Mac and PC as well as new models of their Kindle and Kindle DX readers.  The new models have more memory, WiFi (plus or minus 3G) and a fabulous new screen.  This new screen boasts a 50% improvement in the contrast ratio and it really shows – it is much better to read even in lower light.  Amazon also set a nifty leather case to go with the Kindle which has a built in LED reading light – powered from the Kindle itself

Experience wise, I find myself using the Kindle for novels.  It lends itself well to linear reading and is easier on the eye.  Evidence also suggests that putting a backlit screen in front of your face at night interferes with sleep.  For textbooks and manuals – or anything with pictures – I use the Kindle app on the iPad.  The colour and increased screen size make it more usable.  Im still not 100% sold on e-textbooks – it is nice to have the real thing in front of you – but the cost savings can be substantial.

In summary – if you are investigating ebook readers the Kindle 3 seems to be the way to go.  They have come down in cost considerably, are high quality and have a great catalogue of content.  As a bonus, a plethora of companion software allows you to consume your content on other devices you may own – and Whispersync keeps your bookmarks consistent across all of them.

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Since its inception six short years ago Facebook has accumulated in excess of half a billion users who regularly use the site to keep in touch with distant family, rekindle past friendships, share photos and videos and plan events.

The social networking concept can work well for doctors in providing a collegiate environment to share ideas, work through case studies and access specialist support. Of course, a doctors life is not just about medicine so a good social network should provide the ability to share personally, confident that only medical professionals have access.

Such sites have had great success overseas with the US site, Sermo, claiming over 115,000 members with 50,000 posts and a million plus comments.

The difficulty in starting any social network is that you begin with something of a chicken and egg conundrum. Without members you cannot generate sufficient content, without content you have nothing to attract new members. This was the experience of Dr Stephen Bartlett, a Bowral GP who started multimedix.com.au a couple of years ago. After getting to around 400 users and finding that he was largely responsible for driving activity, he realised that he needed some assistance to progress the project further.

eMedia have been working in the online continuing medical education area for some years with their flagship e-healthlearning.com.au website. They have in excess of 12,500 registered medical professionals with about 70% having been active in the last three months. They had been looking to extend value to their users by creating a social network and so was born e-healthspace.com.au – with Dr Bartlett as the projects Medical Director.

All currently registered users of e-health learning are automatically enrolled in e-healthspace and so critical mass has been achieved and the elearning content provides great opportunity to act as a catalyst for conversation. The site is secure and restricted to doctors only allowing for frank and open discussion.

The community “allows users to draw on the extensive knowledge and experience of the network to strengthen clinical decision-making, positively impacting patient outcomes.”

It is my belief that e-healthspace has all the right ingredients to greatly impact on the practice of medicine in Australia – especially for more remote GP’s for whom an effective support can only be a benefit.

Friday the 30th July 2010 dawned with a thick fog settling over the western suburbs of Sydney. I know this because at 5.30 am I was in a small queue outside of the Telstra T-Life store at Rouse Hill waiting patiently to collect two new iPhones. Being a geek I had toyed with the idea of going into the city for the fun of the midnight openings – being 43 my bed was just too tempting!

So this is a story of two parts – one part being, of course, the phone. The other being my switch from Optus to Telstra, why I changed and what the benefits are.

So what is so great about the iPhone 4 and why should you upgrade?

There are several great new features in the iPhone 4 that make it worthwhile – even if you have a 3GS. Firstly the screen is MUCH sharper which makes reading on the device more comfortable. The main camera is almost as good as a standalone point and shoot with a reasonable LED “flash” and the ability to record 720p HD video. There is also a secondary camera on the front which is used for the new phones main party trick – FaceTime video conferencing.

When I first heard about FaceTime I must confess it was a bit of a so what moment. I mean, Nokia phones have been doing this for years. Once you try it, however, you realise that this is a different experience. FaceTime can be added into a cell phone call (as long as both users are on a WiFi network) or you can initiate a video call directly from Contacts. At the moment the technology only works iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 – but Apple have promised to open this up as a standard.

Overall the phone is snappier thanks to the use of the A4 processor found in the iPad and also a decent RAM upgrade. Design wise the shape is (perhaps) more modern with toughened glass front and back and a stainless steel band as the rim. This doubles as the antenna and has led to much debate overseas due to the so-called “deathgrip” issue. The story goes that if you hold the phone unnaturally tightly at the bottom you will lose signal. I have not been able to replicate this – and if you keep your phone in a case it is not an issue anyway.

One major – and less promoted – advantage to the new iPhone is that it operates on an additional 3G wavelength at 900Mhz. Optus uses 900Mhz for its regional coverage and so there should be an improvement for Optus customers who trade up.

I say should be an improvement because I have finally switched away from Optus to Telstra and couldn’t be happier. Whilst Optus offer good value for money, their network is quite oversubscribed and can be at times slow. I was also rarely able to travel the length of the M2 in Sydney without dropping a call.

Telstra’s NextG network is reputed to be amongst the best 3G networks in the world and until recently they have charged a ridiculous premium for the privilege of using it. This time around – because we have our home phone with Telstra as well – I was able to get a plan for $40 a month that gives free calls to home and other members of the family on the same bill, $400 of other calls and 500Mb of data – plenty for my needs.

So in summary. The iPhone 4 is a worthy upgrade and don’t be put off by the media beat up on the antenna. When looking at plans it is easy to give a lot of credit to those offering 2Gb or more – but consider how much you actually use and make your decisions accordingly.

I have been struggling for some time to write a meaningful article about the iPad. When it comes to the device itself there has been so much press that little remains to be said. Is it, as Steve Jobs proclaims, ‘Wonderful and Magical’? I think so. Whilst there are shortcomings, such as lack of Flash, I have not really noticed this as an issue in real terms. That said I would REALLY like to be able to watch ABC iView or any of the other TV Catch-Up services on it!

It crossed my mind that a good approach to writing an article would be to relate my experience of taking it with me on a holiday to the USA and how it would manage as a laptop substitute. I should clarify that I did have to bring a laptop for work – but aside from using it to download photo’s onto, it did not see the light of day. I would not have even needed this if it had not been for the iPad’s camera connection kit being sold out months in advance!

Connectivity wise I have the WiFi only iPad. As I already had a pocket WiFi hotspot for all my other gadgets, it seemed pointless to pay extra for the iPad and pay monthly for another data plan. In the US i was reliant on free WiFi which I was able to access from McDonalds and hotel reception areas. Since my trip Starbucks offers free and easy WiFi across the US and Canada.

I was concerned before departure that the battery, while good, would not make it across the Pacific to San Francisco. I needn’t have worried. Most of my use was reading books (Kindle App), magazines (Zinio) and various other documents (Goodreader) and listening to some music and podcasts. On arrival I still had about 50% battery left. On the way back the story was much the same except that I also watched a movie on the iPad.

In the US I had no trouble keeping up with my email. The Mail app is very nice and typing is not a bother in small doses. I have the iPad office apps (Pages, Numbers and Keynote) and they work well for dealing with attachments. A variety of news apps kept me informed (Bloomberg, ABC and Early Edition). Using PressReader I was even able to read my Sydney Morning Herald daily. The native ‘The Australian’ app is not bad

- but still needs polish. I was even able to listen to Australian radio stations using WunderRadio.

If I needed access to any of my work documents they were all safely stored online and accessible from Dropbox. Notes in Evernote. If necessary I could access the work server via remote desktop and work on it as if I was there by using iTap RDP.

As a games platform the iPad excels and Nintendo/Sony would have to be worried, especially when you consider a top end game on the iPad is less that $15 on average. On the games front Plants vs Zombies will keep you busy for hours…

The value of the iOS came home to me after 3 days in Yosemite with no connectivity (Yes – I did suffer withdrawal!). We ate at a redneck diner just outside the park – which funnily enough offered WiFi). I had my iPhone with me, was able to check my email and fix a minor crisis in Australia.

Until next month…

I have been playing with the iPad for a couple of weeks now and will have lots to say about it in next months article – hopefully as the device is released here. Suffice to say it is all I had hoped for and more!

One thing I did find was that the iPhone started to seem a little wanting – it became an iPad Nano and it has never seemed to me very good as just a phone. It was a good opportunity to test the grass on the other side of the fence and try a phone based on Google’s Android operating system.

Not being sure that I would stray to far from my familiar Apple I wasn’t willing to spend too much and ended up buying an HTC Tattoo and am surprised to say that I quite like it.

It is quite compact in comparison to the iPhone and has a cheaper resistive rather than capacitive touch screen. This is noticeable in slower touch response – but ultimately you can plonk down twice the dollars and walk away with an HTC Desire with all the bells and whistles if you so choose.

Across all of these devices though the operating system is the same – Google’s Android with a “pretty” layer over the top called HTC Sense. While it is nowhere near as polished as iPhone OS there is plenty to like – and fiddle with if you are a bit of a geek.

One fine feature is the ability to put information widgets across multiple home screens. Thus it becomes a simple swipe to check Twitter and Facebook, or access other application shortcuts. Multitasking is functional and I had not realised how much I missed it on the iPhone.

One of the core features of Android is its ability to integrate and sync social networks very well. After entering my Gmail credentials I suddenly found that my Calendar and Address Book were populated. Once logged into Facebook its started to suggest linking Facebook friends with Address Book entries. Now in the Address Book I can see Facebook status updates!

So there are lots of toys to play with in Android. Im not yet convinced they add greatly to the experience – but so far Im having fun and that is what tech should be about!

In the past we have looked at SugarSync as a tool for online backup and file.

Lately though I have made a switch to another service called Dropbox. Whilst it is similar, there are many features of Dropbox that make it more useful for offsite backup and collaboration.

Setting up Dropbox is pretty easy. Sign up for an account – free for a 2Gb starter plan – and then download and install the required software. The software is available for Windows, Mac, Linux and even iPhone – so there are no limitations by platform.

Once installed you will have a Dropbox folder and anything saved into this folder will be automatically uploaded and saved into your online, secure, space. The way I set this up was to move my entire documents folder into the Dropbox. It took a bit of fiddling to get everything pointing to the right place – but once done all of my work documents are transparently saved online.

If you have several machines you can install Dropbox on all of them and your files will be kept magically in sync. It is worth noting that somehow the software is clever enough to only sync the parts of the file that changes – reducing file transfer times and data usage. Also – it knows if the computers are on the same network and sends the files direct, rather than up to the Internet site and back down again.

There are a couple of elements to file sharing. First, if you have a large file you need to send as a one-off you can drop it into your Public folder and grab a download link which can be easily emailed. Secondly – and this is the exciting bit! If you are collaborating with a colleague you can share to them a whole folder of files – although to do this you must both be Dropbox members. The folder will be available locally on both computers and any changes made by either party are automatically synchronized to the other user.

If you make a mistake the default Dropbox plans come with 30 days of version control – ie every version created by any small change is kept for 30 days. There is an option to extend this out to unlimited.

In terms of pricing – for many users 2Gb will be enough and is free. The smallest paid account is 50Gb and comes in at US$99 per year. The option to add unlimited versioning is called ‘Pack-Rat’ and is an extra US$39.95 a year. In summary this is a very good service offering peace of mind and easy collaboration.

With luck next month will see an iPad for review!

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Thanks to the NSW State Government I spend a minimum of two hours in the car a day on the M2 – and paying nearly $20 a day for the privilege. This is a good time for me to catch up with interstate work colleagues or friends and family on the phone.

The inadequacy of bluetooth hands-free systems became apparent to me as my wife became more involved with the school run and I found we were trying to communicate when we were both in a car. It became a real struggle to decipher the muffled, mumbling noise occasionally pierced by the sound of a screaming infant. I thought that there had to be a better solution.

A colleague had recommended me some time ago to a brand of bluetooth earpiece called Jawbone made by a company called Aliph. Based on technology developed for the military, these devices have a small sensor which sits on you cheek and picks up the sound by vibrations through your face. This is then compared with the sound coming through the microphone and by some clever processing virtually all ambient noise is removed. This is remarkably effective – I was sitting next to my young daughter with a nebuliser running and the person at the other end of the phone was completely unaware that the machine was on.

The Icon is Aliph’s latest Jawbone model and as of writing is unavailable in Australia – other than through eBay. There are 6 variations of colour and style – 3 aimed towards men and 3 more jewelery like for the ladies. Another interesting feature of the Icon is that it talks to you in a style that matches the phone variation. For example the Bombshell is a crumpled gold model with a sultry, sexy voice. The voices will tell you when the headset connects, how much battery life remains and the number of the person calling you. New voices can be uploaded to the headset by connecting it to your Mac or PC.

Another interesting feature is ‘apps’. Well, this is what Aliph are calling them but it is a bit of a stretch. Essentially it means that the single button can be programmed to call a preset number for a service – but you cannot set it to a number of your choice which seems silly. Lets hope that this becomes more useful in the future.

For me a big plus was that when connected to an iPhone there is a battery meter for the headset next to the iPhone battery meter. Apparently this was a function available to the original Apple bluetooth headset which was not sold in Australia.

In summary the sound quality of this headset leaves everything else I have tried in the dust. I bought one for my wife as well and we are able to have a comfortable conversation in the car. There is no manual volume control on the device which I found strange at first – volume is adjusted depending on ambient noise – but I have not had a problem. Availability is difficult at this stage – but I’m sure they will be on sale here soon.