Three iPad Questions

I'm excited about getting my hands on the iPad. I think it will be a cool device. However,  I have three questions:

 

Does the iPad have MS Exchange support?

if the rumors are true, I will be a lot less excited than I was on day one. Which rumors? The rumors that the iPad doesn't have MS Exchange support. Now I know that you can't put a lot of faith into rumors. I would also find it hard to believe that Apple would build in Exchange support into the iPhone OS (which the iPad runs on) and even include it in the Mac OS Snow Leopard, but not include in their shinny new tablet. Even the iPod touch has it. Sure there could be licensing issues or issues with allowing users to do corporate email over AT&T's data connection without buying a business plan but it would seem that Apple would work all that out and give users options for checking work email. You can hate Microsoft all you want. You can say how much they suck and that you wish they would die, but the truth is that more corporations rely on MS Exchange for corporate email/calendar/contacts than the ones that don't. So does the iPad have Exchange support?

Apple makes no mention of Exchange support on the iPad features page:

Continue reading “Three iPad Questions”

The Digital Photography Book, Vol. 3

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I don't read books often (lack of time), so when I do it must be a really good one. My buddy Scott Kelby has done it once again. I got sucked into this book while on a flight and I had to read the whole thing cover to cover. This is the 3rd book in the series. Both volumes 1 and 2 were must haves and volume 3 is no different. Scott takes his classic one tip/one image per page approach to teach you exactly what you need to know to get the shot that you see featured on the page. Man of the pages also have additional tips at the bottom.

Volume 3 doesn't replace volumes 1 and 2. It's not like a Photoshop book where the new book covers the new version of the software. All 3 volumes contain useful tips that the other volumes don't contain. There is some slight overlap and that's OK, because I'm not going to remember every tip and every setting. So whether you start with Vol 1 or Vol 3 the books can stand alone or work great as a set.

The Volume 3 Chapters Include:

  • Using Flash Like a Pro, Part 2
  • Using Your Studio Like a Pro
  • The Truth About Lenses
  • Shooting Products Like a Pro
  • Shooting Outdoors Like a Pro
  • Shooting People Like a Pro
  • Shooting Sports Like a Pro
  • Pro Tips for Getting Better Photos
  • Avoiding Problems Like a Pro

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I'll Never Remember It all

Like I said, I read the entire book cover to cover in one setting. So while it was a great easy read and I understood everything I read, I'm just not going to remember it all. Also I probably won't remember which book had which tip I needed for a particular type of shoot. These books are great for learning, but they are also great for reference. While I'd love to think that I'd carry all 3 books with me everywhere I go, I won't!

Continue reading “The Digital Photography Book, Vol. 3”

Kindle 2 eBook Reader Review

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If you know me, you're probably surprised that I would be writing anything about an eBook reader. Why? Because I'm not an avid book reader. However, my daughter is and the one thing she wanted for her graduation present from high school was a Kindle. Being a straight A student (yes, I'm bragging. It's my daughter), I had no problem with this request. Selfishly I also knew I'd get a chance to play with it, um, I mean set it up for her.

 

When the Kindle arrived…

I went through the standard unboxing and setup. Everything was pretty straightforward. I set it up on her existing Amazon.com account and with a gift card she was able to buy some books and download them. The first cool thing I noticed here is that the downloading is over the air via 3G technology. So you don't have to worry about having a WiFi connection, nor do you pay any monthly costs for the data connection. That's right! It's all included in the price. I guess Amazon figures that if they make it "easy" to get the content to your device, you'll probably buy more of it.

 

What I liked…

I really liked how thin the device was. The LCD was certainly easy on the eyes and the size of it seemed about right. Not too big and not too small. Battery life so far (it's been since May 2009) has also been good. The Kindle 2 is also very light weight. Navigating the menus works OK, but it's all with buttons as there is no mouse or trackpad. The Kindle charges with a stand USB charging connection and of course comes with a nice compact travel charger.

Continue reading “Kindle 2 eBook Reader Review”

How do you rate?

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The "5 Star" rating system is pretty standard when it comes to rating most products and services on most sites. The sites I frequent the most and look for these ratings are Amazon.com, Apple's App Store/iTunes and Netflix. However, ratings alone don't tell the whole story. 

 

Don't judge an App by its rating alone

I recommended an app to a friend and later found out that he didn't get it because it only had a 3 star rating. After we talked and I explained to him that you can't go by the rating alone. What I told him was that you have to consider the fact that not everyone uses the same criteria when rating something. For example, the App Store's rating system was severely flawed at first because back when it first started you could rate an App that you had never actually installed or tried. In many cases people were rating Apps "1 Star" because they didn't like the price or it wasn't compatible with the touch or for some other reason that really didn't tell you anything about the App itself. Apple did fix that and now you can't rate an App unless you have at least downloaded it. However, the App Store's rating system is still far from perfect. I'd give it a 3 star rating (just kidding). There are a couple of potential problems that still exist. There are ratings and there are reviews and ratings. If you look at an App that you downloaded in the App Store on your iPhone or iPod touch you can "Review it" and of course give it a rating. If you go to your computer and look at that same App in iTunes on the iTunes Store, you can EITHER Rate it or Review and Rate it. So this means that you can give an App a 1 Star rating with no explanation what so ever.

Rate upon deletion

Let's go back to your iPhone or iPod touch for a moment. If you delete an App right on the device itself, a dialog pops up and gives you the chance to rate the App you've just deleted. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that Apps that are rated during a delete process probably rarely receive a 5 star rating. How often are you deleting Apps that work perfectly that you absolutely love? So this again only tells one side of the story. Also there is no opportunity here to say why you're giving it the rating you're giving it or why you're deleting it? The people that have apps installed that love them aren't prompted at any point with a "hey we notice that you use this app a lot, would you like to rate it?" message. People that are happy don't tend to seek out a way to tell anyone. However, people that are unhappy tend to want to tell EVERYONE! For this "Rate upon deletion" feature to be fair, their should be a parallel feature that pops up the same dialog box say after you've used an app 25 times. "We noticed that you use this app a lot. Would you like to rate it?" The user of course would have the option to turn the feature off, but turning it off would turn off BOTH popups. No longer would you see the dialog when you delete an app either.

 

Reviews on Amazon.com

Usually before I buy something that I don't know much about, I turn to Amazon.com to see what others are saying about it? Once again the ratings don't tell me everything. I'm more interested in the reviews. Also I usually go for the negative reviews first and here's why: I'm already prepared to like the item. If I've done any research at all, I've usually figured out that this is something that I'm going to want. So I'm really just trying to see if there are any major problems with it. Does it have a high failure rate? Does it not work as advertised? I tend to ignore rants about pricing, delivery times, etc. because again the people that didn't feel like it costs too much or got it in a timely manner aren't usually posting reviews to say that. I look at what people "don't like about it" and decide for myself if those things are of any concern to me or not? So even if something on Amazon has a 2.5" star rating that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to not buy it. However, if a ton of people say the same thing about it breaking easily or falling apart or some other bad thing and it seems consistent, then I will really think twice (or three times) before buying.

Unfortunately, people can rate things on Amazon without actually owning them. Even my on iPhone Book 3rd Edition got a 1 star rating a while back from a guy  who admitted that he didn't actually own the book and had not seen a single page of it. He rated the book 1 star solely because he didn't like the sample chapter that is automatically generated for Kindle users to download for free. A sample that the author (me) has no control over. He didn't like it because the sample didn't actually contain any of the content of the book. It was things like the acknowledgements, introduction, etc. However, someone looking to buy the book and judging it by the rating alone might think twice before buying it.

 

Another example here of a 2 star rating and review by someone who did NOT buy Joe McNally's "The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes" because he didn't like the cover. 

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It's OK that he didn't like the cover and therefore exercised his right in not buying it, but to be able to rate and review something that you admittedly don't even own is just not right! By the way, Joe's book has an average rating of 4.5 stars with 110 5 star ratings!

 

Ratings on Netflix

Angels & Demons on Netflix and yes, I'd give it a 4!

In the case of a movie, I'm usually the opposite. That means that I could really care less about the reviews and honestly I take the rating a little more into account. Netflix seems to do a better job in comparing ratings of people with similar movie tastes. So chances are if I see a movie with a 3 star rating or less, I'm not going to like it. Sometimes I've ignored the 3 star rating and added the movie to my queue anyway only to be disappointed and kick myself after watching it. So unless it's something that I KNOW that I'm really going to like, I'll typically avoid movies with low ratings on Netflix.

In case you were wondering, yes I'd give Angels & Demons a 4! 

 

How do you rate?

So that brings me back to the whole star rating thing and I'm curious how do you rate? Before you sound off in the comments below, let me give my formula for each category:

5stars

5 Stars – It's as close to perfect as it can be. Nothing is perfect and no matter how much I love a product, I can usually and pretty easily give you a list of things that I would like to see it do or have or change. But If I give it 5 stars that is the ultimate compliment and I'm quite happy with it. In the case of a movie, it's the kind of movie that I could immediately watch again. I liked it that much! It's also a candidate for one I'd want to buy on Blu-ray.

4stars

4 Stars – It's a really good product and works as advertised (this will be the norm). However, it's missing one or more things that would really take it to the next level. Or perhaps if it had a slight interface tweak it would earn the 5th star.  Nonetheless I like it. In the case of a movie, I really enjoyed it. I was entertained. I'd recommend it to a friend, but it's probably a movie that I won't watch again. I'm good!

3stars

3 Stars – It's OK! It kinda works. There are several things that I would like to see added or changed, but it does work. In the case of a movie, it was barely OK. I'm not going to recommend it again and I wish it had ended sooner.

2stars

2 Stars – This product has several problems. I wouldn't review it here (unless I was asked to by the manufacturer)  because I wouldn't be able to say very many good things about it and I wouldn't want to waste your time. I'm probably looking to return it. The only reason I would keep it is because I need to do what it does and there was no other alternative. In the case of a movie, it sucked! I barely got through it and I was checking my email several times while it was playing. 

1star

1 Star – The product should have never been shipped in its current state. The book should have never been written/printed. It's got MAJOR flaws and bugs and is pretty much unusable. It does NOT work as advertised. I'm demanding my money back. In the case of a movie, I walked out or turned it off. My time was more valuable to me than finishing it. I'm sorry that I paid to watch it or rented it. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comes to mind 🙂 I can probably count on one hand the number of times that I've rated something 1 Star. 

 

The Bottom Line

While I've shared my way of rating with you, the problem is not everyone rates the same way. So you have to go beyond ratings and dig a little deeper. I've seen some of the silliest reasons for giving a product a 1 star or even a 5 star rating. When it comes to the App store, the 3 star rating has become the new 4 star rating as far as I'm concerned. So how do you rate?

My New iPhone Book 3rd Edition is Now In Stock at Amazon!

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I’m very pleased to see that my New iPhone Book 3rd Edition is Now Available at Amazon.com. I think this is the best edition yet (I’m a little biased that way). We (my amazing co-author and dear friend Scott Kelby, number one selling computer book author in the world!) went through the book page by page and not only rewrote the pages that needed rewriting, but we also simplified a lot of the language even further. We also added tons of new tips that cover the iPhone 3GS, iPod touch and of course the iPhone 3.0 OS update. So whether you’re a brand new iPhone user or someone that just wants to learn more about your iPhone this book has something for you.

As an added bonus there are links to videos that Scott and I recorded covering our favorite apps, tips and accessories.

Order your copy today!

Photoshop Educator?

 

If you’re a Photoshop Educator then you can register to download a FREE Instructor’s Kit. My buddy Scott Kelby has partnered up with Peachpit Press/New Riders and Pearson Education to release his Photoshop CS4 Book For Digital Photographers as not only a text book, but also additional instructors kit DVD with videos and additional files to show your class. There’s a PDF, test questions and photos to help you teach photoshop. The only catch is that you have to be an educator to get this free resource. So if you work as an educator you should head over and check it out. If you want to check out Scott’s original announcement including a short video explaining the program, go here.

Enjoy my iPhone Book on your iPhone

A few weeks back I reviewed the Kindle App for iPhone. One of the books that seemed like a natural in this format was my iPhone Book second edition. Well now you can actually buy the Kindle version of the iPhone Book and enjoy it right on your iPhone or Kindle device. If you need to look up how to do something on your iPhone, you’ll now have “the book” right on your iPhone.

The Kindle version is $9.99. The Kindle App for iPhone is a Free Download from the App Store.

The hard copy version is $13.59.

iPhone App of the Week – Kindle for iPhone

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Although I’m not an avid book reader, it’s hard to ignore the significance of having an iPhone (iPod touch) version of the Amazon Kindle Book Reader. I never really paid much attention to the Kindle because I knew I would never buy one. If I read books a lot, I could definitely see the advantage of having a single device with a nice big crisp display that you could download your favorite books to and read on the go.

I figured this would be a natural for the iPhone. Also it would mean having one less device to have to worry about. When Amazon announced that the Kindle App for the iPhone was available, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to play with it. Although the app was a FREE download, I didn’t have any books in Kindle format. Although there are free sample chapters you can download to test, I wanted something real! Since I didn’t have any novels in mind that I wanted to purchase, I looked around my own book collection and it hit me! There was a book that I would LOVE to have with me on my iPhone. It was Scott Kelby’s Digital Photography Book. This was the perfect book for me to buy in this format. Although I’ve already read the book from cover to cover, there’s no way that I’m going to remember everything and every setting that Scott mentions. So I figured it would be great to have this book on my iPhone for reference when I’m out in the field at a photo shoot or headed to one.

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So I logged on to my Amazon.com on my computer and bought the book ($9.99). Then I went back to my iPhone and launched the Kindle App. The Kindle App started the download process. For some reason it took longer than I expected and at times acted as if it wasn’t even connected. I had to work on other things, so I quit out of the app. When I tried it again later it downloaded the book quickly. There it was on my Kindle home screen, Scott’s complete book. I tapped on it and there it was, the first page of the book.

Navigating and reading

I was amazed at how well this actually works. The text is very readable and you can adjust the font size. The pictures were in color, which is an advantage over the Kindle hardware that only has a grayscale display. You can either flick to change pages or use the slider.

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Of course you can also jump back to the table of contents which has links to each chapter. There is also a very handy bookmark feature. This allows you to add a page you’re currently on as a bookmark so that you can immediately jump back to it whenever you like. This is great for reference books. The Kindle app also keeps track of where you left off. So you don’t have to remember or advance the pages each time you launch the app.

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What’s missing?

Besides my iPhone Book LOL (it’s in the works), I was stunned that there doesn’t appear to be a keyword search. Since I’ll likely be using this app for reference books, I want the ability to search for things that I’m looking for. In the meantime I’ll used the bookmark feature.

The Bottom Line

I haven’t really experienced many book reader apps for the iPhone, but this one certainly does the things I would expect. If they were to add keyword search I’d be 100% sold. Although the experience was good and the technology worked, my main concern with doing this on the iPhone would be battery life. The iPhone 3g is already pretty tough on its battery, add an app that keeps the display on for hours (or several minutes at a time) and you might not be able to make any calls after you’ve read that book. Of course this is less of a concern for iPod touch users. The iPod touch battery seems to keep going and going. Check out the selection of Kindle Books here. Download the Kindle App for iPhone here from the App Store.

Terry White Recommends…

I have fun reviewing technology and gadgets. Now that I’ve been running my blog for a few years, it occurs to me that new readers may not have seen some of my earlier posts. I also get asked by friends and relatives all the time to recommend my top choice in any given category. I do this formally once a year in my Holiday Gadget Gift Guide, but that doesn’t really help you much when you want recommendations throughout the rest of the year. So I’ve put together my own Terry White Recommends aStore. I will constantly update this site with any new recommendations that I have. These are products that I either have first hand knowledge of or use on a very regular basis. I have no paid sponsors, so these are products that I simply feel are great!

The Everything You Wanted To Know About Photoshop Book

It’s not often that I do book recommendations here. Quite frankly, I don’t get to spend much time reading books these days. So when I take the time to read one and review it, it must be pretty special. I also know how much work goes into writing a book. I’ve written a few myself. What I can’t imagine is how much work would have to go into a book called “Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual“? In this book Ms. Lesa Snider King had to cover EVERYTHING! That’s a tall order when it comes to Photoshop. She had to explain every little facet of the program and Photoshop CS4 is a lot to cover.

This book is designed to be “the manual”, but not the typical manual written by an engineer. It’s written in plain english with plenty of useful examples and techniques. You can use this book in a couple of ways. You can use it to look up things (which is probably what I would use it for most) or you could use it to actually learn the app, step-by-step, chapter-by-chapter. I also appreciate the fact that this book is in color! I dread seeing Photoshop books in black and white.

Whether you’re new to Adobe Photoshop or you’re an experienced user, this book is worth a look see and weighing in at 796 pages, there is a lot to see. The book has a list price of $49.99. Amazon has it for only $29.39.