Author Archives: Steve Mays
Custom icons for the iPhone
When you bookmark a website with the iPhone’s Safari browser, it gives you three options: 1) just add the bookmark, 2) email a link to that page or 3) add an icon to the home screen of the iPhone (which has become valuable real estate).
I forgot how simple it is to create a custom icon for your website. If you iPhone users choose #3 above for smays.com, you will get an icon like the one in this screen capture.
It just makes it a little easier to get to a page than opening the browser and going to bookmarks.
Decoding Reality: The Universe as Quantum Information
I confess the title of this book hooked me. I saw an interview with Oxford professor Vlatko Vedral and was intrigued by the idea that everything (me and the universe) can be reduced to bits of information. (Wikipedia)
But I can’t say I enjoyed (or understood) most of the book. I suspect he knows his stuff but just isn’t very good at explaining it to non-phyicists. Better reads: Quantum Enigma; Biocentrism.
One in five docs plan to buy an iPad
“The scenario sounds straight out of a sci-fi movie — the doctor pulls out her touch-screen tablet computer from the drawer of instruments. She calls up the patient’s chart with a few taps and proceeds to add a note to the page with her latest diagnosis. A visualization pops up, and she flips the screen over to give the patient an idea of what ails him.
Doctors are presuming the iPad could make this scene a reality as soon as next week. One in five doctors say they plan to buy an iPad, according to a survey of 350 clinicians by the San Mateo medical software vendor Epocrates.
iPad first impressions
Okay. I’m a little relieved. I love my MacBook Pro and I was a little worried the iPad might steal me away. After a couple of hours with the iPad, I’m no longer fearful of falling out of love with my MBP. But it will take some time playing with the iPad before I can offer any useful insights. But here are some first impressions:
It won’t save newspapers and traditional media. I tried the New York Times app and it was a step down from the browser experience of the NYT (and I could not copy/paste from the app. WTF?). I suspect that will be the case for most media sites.
I think I’ll watch more YouTube videos than I do on my laptop. It was just… handy.
And I’ll read some books (I bought the ebook version of Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson (Even though I have several hardback/paperback versions). It was fun to search the 1,100+ pages and then copy/paste. Not a big deal unless you’re a reader.
The Netflix app is kind of nifty. I can see watching movies on the iPad. In bed and and on the plane. Very different from watching on a laptop.
And the ABC app. We’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy. The TV just might be how your meemah and pappah watch their favorite shows. The iPad could be how YOU watch them. When you want… where you want.
I’m gonna open comments on this post but don’t bother weighing in unless you’ve had your hands on one of these (i.e. Don’t know a movie/book you haven’t seen/read).
This is a game changer, kids. You’ll have one of these by Christmas.
UPDATE: It’s Monday morning and my buddy David and I have had our iPads for a couple of days. Here’s 20 min of first-impression chit chat. AUDIO