Rumors, rumors, rumors….

Finally back from my conference and now playing catch up. Will start up my regular posting as well….anyway several BIG rumors that I have heard in the last week.

1. I personally heard from a good source (someone who would know/that I trust) that the iPad 3 will be coming out in March. Just confirms all other rumors but hearing from this source is a pretty good indicator that it is definitely coming soon.

2. Google might be releasing Jellybean (android 5.0) which will boot with dual cores in the Q2 of this year! Wow and ICS isnt even on any phones except the Gnex. However, I would suspect this would only be on tablets at first. link to article

 

iPad 3? Rumors…

Well its coming at some point, we just do not know when but the tech blogs and news sites are running rampant with rumors. Most are pointing to a late february (not likely at this point) to March release date. My guess after seeing how these things play out and are always a bit behind is March/April.

Rumored specs:

Quad Core
Siri Support
Improved Cams
4G
Better resolution
Thicker than iPad 2
Significantly improved battery life
Also, iPad 2 price will drop and may continue to be sold

Well these are all rumors so take them with a grain of salt but be ready in the next 2 months to see iPad 3.

Here is a good site that explains the recent rumors: http://mashable.com/2012/02/01/ipad-3-details-2/

HTML5 and Flash (Yes this topic again)

Just to clarify some more information and so much misinformation is out there:

– HTML5 is simply an update of HTML4. It does a few extra things, like include a video tag. It is not this be all end all code that will replace Flash and by itself is not very powerful.

– HTML5 is not compatible on most browsers right now. There are many standards issues. Please see this report for more details: http://www.longtailvideo.com/html5/.

– The power of HTML comes from Javascript. Javascript has been able to do much of this for many years, it is NOT new. Most of the features people seem to think HTML5 can accomplish are really javascript features.

– Flash is used for a lot of things that it was not designed for, like web banners, just because there is not other tool out there. Flash was designed for rich interaction and games not web banners. HTML5 is not going to be used for these rich interactions and games, flash will be. Maybe someday this will happen, but not in HTML5. Maybe HTML6, 7, or 8. But remember Flash will continue to evolve as well in that time.

– The power of HTML5 really comes with mobile devices, not PCs. However, with more advancements in mobile processors such as quad cores, etc. This really isnt going to matter much. The only thing really stopping Flash right now on mobile devices is Apple. However, you can put flash onto apple mobile devices –  its a workaround though and not a process the average user can accomplish. Having said that, the same can be said of HTML5, the only thing stopping it from PCs right now is compatibility so as that gets better its use will grow.

So what exactly will HTML5 be used for that Flash once did?

Mobile applications. HTML5 will be used in the mobile world. Its more compatible and it’s free, which is the pure beauty of HTML5. However the main thing to point out here: HTML5 runs different on each browser right now. So its great if running on one device, like the iphone. But if running on android, iphone, and pc its really a pain to code. Flash is much better when using multiple devices. To get HTML5 to work on multiple devices I need to ‘trick’ the code for each browser which takes a lot of extra development time and adds a lot of extra code to my product.

Here are two good sources discussing this issue:

http://remysharp.com/2010/02/08/html5-vs-flash/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/fredcavazza/2011/07/17/why-opposing-html5-and-flash-is-a-non-sense/

*I am sure there will be many more HTML5 posts on here as it evolves:)

 

Copyright concern when publishing with Apple’s iBook App

Apple’s new iBook App seems great. However, more research into the tool seems to show that when you publish to Apple’s App, you are now bound to an agreement and you cannot just go ahead and sell the material you wrote. As noted by mashable, here is bit of the agreement:

“IMPORTANT NOTE: If you charge a fee for any book or other work you generate using this software (a “Work”), you may only sell or distribute such Work through Apple (e.g., through the iBookstore) and such distribution will be subject to a separate agreement with Apple.”

What does this mean? You cannot take this work and put it into a book to sell or sell it anywhere else. Essentially you are giving Apple the rights to it.

This is kind of scary and not what this app should be about. Copyright needs to be maintained by the author. So Apple, if you are out there are and listening, please change this. I am now hesitant to publish here and I would recommend ALL to avoid this app until this is changed. If you want to publish, publish it online at your own website where you retain copyright.

Source:

mashable

pcmag

Potential for Apple’s iBooks App?

I am wondering where this app will go in the future. There is a great potential for educators to write/publish their own work. However there is one BIG question that jumps into my mind. Havent we been able to publish our own work, for use on the computer, in Word/PDF/Blog/Website form, for many years now? The answer is YES. So I am a bit confused. I would like to see this tool take off but are people going to have the time to use it? Why will this take off when regular internet/blog publishing, which is the same thing, didnt (as far as texts are concerned)?

Apple iBooks App

Apple’s big announcement today: An app that allows a teacher to create their own book and publish it to iBook. Thus you can take a Word document and the app formats it to be read on the ipad. Its supposed to be very user friendly. I am excited to use this in my courses this semester. For more info see:

Mashable

Apple

Zoom in and out of Mac Desktop

Several of you have asked for this video so here it is. To zoom in/out on the mac you need to go to the apple icon-> Accessibility-> Zoom. Here is a video showing that process:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaTwlZqqBI8]

Want to develop an ipad, iphone, ipod app?

Here is a link to the apple site which walks you through the process. First you need to pay $99:( Then you download the SDK (standard development kit). At that point you can develop apps, test them, and send them to apple for approval. Remember apple apps are developed using Objective-C. This is actually not that easy of a language for the average programmer to develop with so it may take some time. I have spoken with several advanced programmers who had many difficulties at first when developing with this code so be patient as there may be a steep learning curve.

http://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/