Man, was he so wrong

[Apple's] plunge has taken place so rapidly that it is tantamount to a snowball picking up speed and size as it hurtles down the mountain. Can anyone stop it? Maybe Steve Jobs can. But the odds aren’t good that he can do more than slow the fall, perhaps giving Apple a few more years before it is either gobbled up by a bigger company or finally runs out of customers.

The quote above was taken from Apple: The Inside Story of Intrigue, Egomania, and Business Blunders by Jim Carlton, published in 1997.

To be fair, the book is a good read on how Apple fell from grace and was almost rendered bankrupt.  It would make for a good companion read with Steve Job’s soon-to-be released biography.

My ode to Steve Jobs

People say you have to have a lot of passion for what you’re doing and it’s totally true. And the reason is because it’s so hard that if you don’t, any rational person would give up. It’s really hard. And you have to do it over a sustained period of time. So if you don’t love it, if you’re not having fun doing it, you don’t really love it, you’re going to give up. And that’s what happens to most people, actually. If you really look at the ones that ended up being “successful” in the eyes of the society and the ones that didn’t, often times it’s the ones [who] were successful loved what they did, so they could persevere when it got really tough. And the ones that didn’t love it quit because they’re sane, right? Who would want to put up with this stuff if you don’t love it? So it’s a lot of hard work and it’s a lot of worrying constantly and if you don’t love it, you’re going to fail.

That’s a quote from Steve Jobs.  And I remember it because it rings so true.  There are many things that I am passionate about and the reason why I don’t give up is because I love doing it.

Many years from now people will ask what were you doing when you heard of Steve Jobs’s passing.  For me, I found it out via an SMS while doing the thing I love (running), through a device that was Steve Jobs’s creation (the iPhone), around the area where I work in a job that I wouldn’t be working in if it were not for Steve Jobs.

The last part is no exaggeration.   I was introduced to computers in the summer of 1980.  I took up a BASIC programming course in college and it allowed me to have some computer time.  From the moment I began typing in the rudimentary computer code, I fell in love.  I begged my mother to get me a personal computer.  She was coy and non-committal but eventually I was rewarded with an Apple IIe clone.  I think it was even branded as “Chico.” Ok, it wasn’t really an actual Apple computer, but it was damn close!

When I got the news of his passing, shivers went up my spine and I felt my hair stand on its end.  I felt I lost a family member and a good friend.  I felt both mournful and devastated by the loss and it was weird feeling so devastated for someone who you aren’t really on personal terms with.  But it was because he touched and changed my life.  I followed his career from the time the Apple II came out, the infamous 1984 commercial, the launch of the Macintosh (I remember tinkering around with one in my brother’s house), his ouster from Apple, his eventual return to the company he founded.  Not only was he able to bring a company back to life from the brink of death, he brought out amazing products that redefined the genre.  There were no touchscreen phones until the iPhone came out.   Tablets were a dead product until the iPad came out.  Now I use his devices to read news, to track my running, to keep in touch with friends, to see where I’ve been and where I can go.  That’s life-changing.

He is, without a doubt, a visionary.  We get so very few in history. And we should be so blessed to have one in our lifetimes.  A candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long.  He has burned bright indeed.  I just wish the candle burned longer.

RIP Steve Jobs.

Presenting with an iPad

Presenting technology topics to non-technical business users has always been a challenge.  There is the jargon and the acronyms to contend with.  To effectively communicate to a non-technical audience, I found it’s best to present a series of slides with simplified diagrams and animations.  Peppering your audience with a lot of techno terms is a guaranteed cure for insomnia.

One time I had to do a presentation to all the branch managers regarding the ATM configuration and how our ATMs interface with the ATM switch and with the core-banking system.  It required me to show the flow of money from the deposit in a branch and how it can be withdrawn from an ATM. I had to articulate what was meant by “stand-in,” what would happen if a customer withdrew funds when the ATM was in “stand-in” mode, and why an account would be overdrawn if the ATM is in “stand-in” mode.  I figured that the best way to show this was to to show a simplified diagram of the ATM network and to show how many virtually traveled from the ATM to the switch to the core-banking system.

Now without a doubt, Apple’s Keynote rules in terms of presentation software.  For years, I have been a Powerpoint user but my slides have always been static slides with minimal animation and transitions.  I gave myself one full day to prepare the presentation, but using Keynote I completed the slides in just over one hour.  The whole process was incredibly intuitive.  I couldn’t believe that I could create a complex presentation is so short a time. I trotted confidently to the training room with my Macbook Pro, hooked it up to the projector, and drove the presentation using a wireless remote presenter.  All my notes and scripts were displayed through the Macbook by the actual slides was projected onto the wall.  This enabled me to deliver the presentation without looking at the slide show behind me as if I had memorized my entire material.  I know that Powerpoint has the same feature (I think it’s called something like Presentor View) but it isn’t enabled by default.  Contrast that with Apple’s Keynote which enables it by default once it detects a second display device attached to it. Needless to say, I had the audience riveted and they graciously awarded me with a loud applause at the end.  Branch managers approached me and thanked me for explaining it to them, saying that they had finally understood the process.

My problem now is that my Macbook Pro is dead.  And I have a series of presentations in the pipeline.  And my office uses Windows.  So what can I use to drive a Keynote presentation?  I scoured the web for options.  I could export it to Powerpoint but some animations may not render properly.  I could export it as a Quicktime file but what if the computer in the boardroom doesn’t have Quicktime?  Or if the Quicktime version is a lower, incompatible version?  I needed a guaranteed solution.

Fortunately there is a Keynote app for the iPad.  While I can probably build my presentation slides using that app, I figure that it would be faster and easier if  I use my desktop computer.  And importing a Keynote presentation from the desktop—or even a Powerpoint presentation if you are into that thing—is easy and straight-forward.

And what’s more I found out that I could project the Keynote presentation stored in an iPad using a VGA connector.  With our office’s not-so-current Epson project up and running, I attached the 30-pin connector to the iPad and connected the other end to the projector.  The Keynote slide was instantaneously projected onto the wall and the Presenter View was displayed on the iPad screen.  Truly plug and play! No need to fiddle with function-keys!

There are, however, a few caveats with the VGA connector.  First is the price.  At close to P1400, it isn’t cheap.  But again, Apple products are really not for the spend-thrift.  Second is more a matter of managing expectations.  The VGA connector doesn’t allow mirroring.  In other words, aside from the apps that allow it (like Keynote), what you see on the iPad screen won’t be projected.  So you can’t use the VGA connector to view Angry Birds!

iOS 4.3 is here!

Yes it is!  I clicked on the “Check for Updates” button and—lo and behold!—the pop-up box informed me that the new iOS 4.3 is available!  As I mentioned in a previous post, I am looking forward to this update more than the new iPad.  I can’t wait to try out the Personal Hotspot and the iTunes Home Sharing feature!

What I’d like to see in the iPad 3

While people are spewing accolades and gushing with tech-envy at the newest iteration of the iPad, I am, on the other hand, slightly disappointed and unimpressed.  If ever, it made the original iPad a more compelling purchase if ever they drop the price even further.

I know there are several worthwhile updates in the new iPad, but none are truly revolutionary.  Front and rear cameras?  Big deal.  I doubt if people will be using the iPad as a photography tool.  My suspicion is that it was added just to achieve parity with the other tablets, and I sincerely doubt if the other tablet users are using the camera anyway.  If ever there was a need for a camera, it would have been the front-facing camera, which makes sense for video-chatting.  Unfortunately it’s a VGA camera, and it’ll look pretty blocky if viewed with another iPad.

So, If ever anybody out there wishes to sell their existing iPad, I volunteer myself as a willing buyer.  I would probably hold out for the next version.

And what would I want to see in the third version of the iPad?

Retina Display.  Screen size is ok for me.  Yes it could be a bit bigger but I would rather see a higher pixel density.  The difference in clarity between the iPhone 3 and the iPhone 4 is evident—text is crisper, blacks are blacker, whites are whiter.

Bigger storage.  If I go on extended photo shoots, I am still forced to lug around a laptop.  It’s not because I need to do edits or post-processing, but it’s more for backup.  In a world where the cost per GB is getting cheaper and cheaper, why is the iPad 2 stuck at 64GB of storage, the same amount as the original iPad?  I’d love to be able to backup my RAW files on the iPad, freeing me from having to carry a bulky laptop.

Bigger memory.  Why is the iPad 2 spec sheet silent about the memory?  Is it still the original 256MB memory?

Lose the 30-pin connector. We have Firewire 800, USB 3.0, even Thunderbolt.  So why is Apple still stuck with the 30-pin USB connector?  Why not a faster connection?  Or even go wireless? Why do I need wires to sync with the PC to download content?   In the iMac, Apple has already ditched the wires for its keyboard and mouse.  Why not do the same for the iPad?

Camera connector.  And while we are at the topic of connecting to external devices, I’d like to see the capability to tether a camera to the iPad for video-conferencing and image capturing.  The camera on the iPad is unimpressive.  VGA on the front. And all the specs states about the back camera is that it is  720p.  Moreover, based on how one cradles the iPad on one’s lap, the camera angle is not flattering, unless your intention it for the other party to view your nostrils.   What I’d like to see is the capability of the iPad to tether a external camera, or maybe even the iPhone 4, so I have the flexibility of positioning the camera wherever I want.

Better notification.  Ok, this is more to do with iOS than with the iPad 2.  My major complaint with the notification engine is that it freezes the current application and forces me to attend to that notification.  It is most annoying when I am watching a movie or composing an email.  There must be an option to either shut-off the notification engine depending on certain applications, or even to make it as unobtrusive as possible.

What do you think where lacking in the iPad 2?  And what would you like to see in iPad 3?