iOS 3.2.1 for iPad and WiFi

I loaded the iOS4 3.2.1 from iTunes yesterday and I have to say that it definitely fixes the intermittent WiFi connection issues that I've experienced. I'm pleased to see the problem go away.

iOS4 and iPhone 3G

With all the coverage of Antennagate (I have to admit I like that name), iPhone 4 continues to dominate the media world. Being a latecomer to the iPhone party, my iPhone 3G is not up for renewal until March of next year. Admittedly, knowing what I know now, I should have gotten a 3GS, but at the time I was an Apple and iPhone noob. The thought of paying over $100 for a smartphone (I paid under $500 for my last laptop) when all of my experience was with Windows CE/Mobile phones was too much for this frugal geek and his even more frugal wife. And to be honest, besides occasionally overrunning the 8GB memory with podcasts, music and audiobooks, I've been VERY happy with my 3G.

Along came a double-whammy. I got my iPad (Wifi + 3G) and I allowed iTunes to install iOS4 on my unsuspecting iPhone 3G. First, I LOVE my iPad with a passion, mainly because I'm visually impaired and appreciate the bigger screen, but also because it is excellent for browsing the web, social media and reading. I'm sure iPhone native apps being super-sized on the iPad irks some users, but for me and my poor eyes it is a godsend. Second, iOS4 has slowed my iPhone 3G down badly, it seems like once I get over the initial super-slowness it picks up and is usual, but if I lock it and don't use it for a while the slowness is bad again. As a neat freak I like the folders for apps, but the general degradation in performance is really killing the iPhone for me right now. It seems like every day my iPad calls out to me: "enable the 3G, Terry. It's only fifteen bucks and you can connect anywhere." This is especially tempting because my work Wifi is locked down tight and I wouldn't even think of asking the "sheriff" for access for my iPad. My only consolation there is that our managers all just got Blackberry Storms and complain constantly about them.

I know there's a vocal minority out there telling me to jailbreak my phone or that I shouldn't have installed the iOS4 upgrade. Jailbreaking, while somewhat attractive to me, goes against my favorite feature of the iPhone and iPad, they just work; I'm worried that going down that road, while technically interesting, is more headache than I want to deal with right now. After all, I support very complicated business systems all day and my home/family network on nights and weekends; I don't want another device to "tweak" and deal with. As for not upgrading, eventually I was going to have to take that pill for some App or another that required iOS4 and again the sysadmin side of me believes that keeping systems fully upgraded is almost always better than letting them fall behind. And no, I won't take a swipe a Microsoft on that point, you can hate and ridicule the monolithic company, but I know there are dozens of hardworking coders and engineers that are just as human as I am.

So I guess I'll just limp along until March or Apple makes some performance fixes for my 3G (I'm not holding my breath). I'll be begging my beautiful bride to enable the 3G on my iPad and possibly bribing her with an iPhone of her own when her contract comes up. But at the end of the day, both my iPhone 3G and my iPad JUST WORK, and there's no way I'm going to dust off my Samsung Blackjack and go back to Windows Mobile! And no, I don't want an Android phone either, Google worries me far more than Microsoft and I'm not drinking the Droid koolaid yet.

Overdrive audiobooks and iPad

So far my experience with my iPad as a reader has been awesome, I've
been using iBooks, the Kindle app and Stanza to read and so far all
are very usable for me and my terrible eyesight. I have purchased
three books so far and picked up a few free books like The Iiliad, but
we're a library family (you can tell the homeschoolers by the 100lb
stack on the hold shelf) and our library(insert link) has a modest
digital collection through Overdrive.

So here's the problem, my wife and younger two kids are reading The
Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings and I wanted to jump in since I last read
the series when the movies were coming out in the theaters. I was
pleased to find that both The Hobbit and a complete collection of The
Lord of the Rings were both available on our digital library site in
Adobe ePub format. A few minutes of web search revealed that although
iBooks uses the ePub format natively, it uses an Apple DRM scheme and
you can only import non-DRM file into it through iTunes. Bummer. A
little more reading indicated that Overdrive is popular with libraries
and that I'm not alone in this issue; and I have to wonder that this
isn't another minor front in the Apple vs. Adobe war, and thus another
reason Steve Jobs is irritating.

So my choices are to strip DRM off the files with a hack, which is
unethical and likely illegal, or just buy the books through Amazon or
the iTunes Store. Being a law-abiding citizen, where speed limits
aren't involved, I'll probably just buy it when I finish my current
book, Lt. Leary Commanding. One more reason to support Jim Baen's
Baen Books and the excellent free library of science fiction he has
made available. I like having choice and I know interoperability
isn't a hallmark of Apple products, but I'm disappointed nonetheless.

Telework - Why can't we do it???

WebWorkerDaily, which I use to torture myself with dreams of telework / telecommuting / not dragging myself into the gray prison cubible daily, posted a link to a fairly good article on the subject. It hints at a coming Federal law mandating telework and we can only hope that the Commonwealth of Virginia follows suit, but I'll believe it when I see it.

For me telework is extremely attractive because it takes me out of the drive-by support atmosphere and "call over the cubicle" environment that makes it so difficult to concentrate on the task at hand. The technology (soft phones, WebEx, Citrix, etc.) has been there for years and Verizon FIOS makes it that much easier; but at this point I think it's a human issue, not a technology issue. Managers are just not comfortable with a remote workforce, and this is even more true for insecure managers who have less idea what their employees do in the first place. Until we cross that hurdle, only the enlightened and dang lucky get this wonderful experience.

Review: OtterBox Defender Case for iPhone 3G, 3GS

Okay, I went a little crazy on Amazon. While I was looking for an iPad case on Amazon, I bought my wife a iPod Touch flip case, in purple of course and I replaced my rapidly deteriorating iPhone 3G cover. I have to say that the OtterBox Defender case is awesome! I originally saw it at REI over Memorial Day for twice as much a d I was ready to buy it there just based on the OtterBox reputation. I was very pleased to find it cheaper on Amazon and the case is worth every penny. Getting the phone into the case takes a few minutes (or less with a saavy teenager present), but the case is very well cushioned and protects the screen as well as the controls and outputs. The controls work well with the case on and only notice a slight difference in using the touchscreen with it covered; every so often I have to tap harder to get an app to open or press a button onscreen, but it's hard to tell how much is the case and how much is the iOS4 performance pain. That and the fact that I keep catching the large belt clip on my chair when it is empty are the only

possible cons that I see, but those are pretty minor compared to how excellent the case is. I'm not about to test how water resistant or shock proof this case is, but I feel much better about every day bumps and drops with this case.

Review: Acase Leather Flip Book Jacket/folio for Apple iPad

So over Father's Day weekend my wife finally broke down and took me to the Apple Store to get an iPad to server as a reader and giant iPhone/iPod Touch for her visually impaired husband. Of course the Apple Store was a madhouse and I got my iPad (insert angelic singing), and the Apple guy informed me that the official Apple iPad cases are hard to get and constantly sold-out. I decided to hit Amazon and look over their selection of cases before I padded Steve's pockets any more and I found this case well rated.

I am very pleased with this case for my iPad. Good solid construction and I like the snap closure as opposed to a magnet or something else weaker. All of the controls and ports are freely accessible and the iPad is held scarily in place. I compared this to a friend's official Apple iPad case and I'm pleased I went with this one. Excellent price
for an excellent case.

Welcome to the perils of popularity, Steve.

I can't help but smile as I read a number of posts about the growing iPhone/iTunes mess, because I don't really care about the iPhone. My wife informed me that there were at least 100 people lined up outside the local Apple Store when she went mall walking today and there was a smaller crowd outside an AT&T Wireless store I passed on the way to the office. Personally I still haven't bought into the Apply mystique and until their software runs on hardware from multiple vendors as cleanly as it does on proprietary hardware I think their commercials and fans are a little idiotic. I'm toting around a new BlackJack II and I'm very happy with it, a touchscreen would be nice, but then I'd fingerprint the heck out of it; I don't surf the web on it except to occasionally check e-mail or to check the NWS radar. I don't need to be plugged in 24/7 and I can get wireless at Panera or McDonalds for goodness sake on a screen that doesn't give me a migraine! Enjoy your weekend Mac-nuts, and I feel for all the worker bees at Apple trying to sort it all out.