April 2010 Archives

I'm a great fan of 1Password from Agile Web Solutions. I've been using it for a several years on the Mac to store passwords, software serial numbers, and credit card details, in a very secure form. There's a sale on for the Mac version, and important info for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users.

If you're an iPad user and already have 1Password Pro, you need not purchase the iPad version. Just update your iPhone app, and all of the features of the new iPad version are included in the new version of 1Password Pro. Users of the standard version of 1Password by the iPad version for $6.99. Another option is to simply buy the Pro version, which covers iPhones and iPads completely for $14.99, and keep it all in one app for your iPhone and iPad. Of course, the iPhone 1Password standard edition runs fine on the iPad, like nearly all other iPhone apps, so if you don't need extra features in the iPad interface, you don't have to upgrade at all.

If you're not a user of 1Password on the Mac, this is a good time to consider trying it. Agile Web Solutions is having a sale in honor of the iPad's release, 20% off for a limited time.

With the news bits out of the way, what is 1Password?

Here's a summary from Agile's web site:

• Go & Fill: 1 Click, That's It: Selecting one of your saved logins from 1Password's Go & Fill menu takes you to the site, securely fills your username and password, and logs you in, all with a single click or a few keystrokes.
• Online Shopping Made Even Easier: Once you've created your identities, select one in your web browser to quickly fill out a contact form. Store multiple credit cards to simplify and speed up your online shopping, filling checkout forms with ease.
• Always By Your Side: Now you can take your information with you so that it's always on hand. Mobile versions of 1Password are available for iPhone OS and Palm OS and more data portability options are coming.

The software has earned several awards and consistantly good reviews. I give it a high recommendation.

The buzz around this Saturday's release of the iPad is growing exponentially, as the first previews and reviews begin to appear. I've sampled some of the best material, and gathered it together here for easy consumption.

ABC News has the distinction of being the first to have a video hands-on preview, shown Wednesday evening on World News with Diane Sawyer.

Alas, if you're viewing this on an iPhone (or iPad, you lucky dog!) it's in Flash.

At my full-time job at ABC 7 Chicago, there was a live report on our 11 am news as well.

A couple of cool things from the WN piece: We saw a Scrabble game. I imagine you'll now be able to play Scrabble online with a nice sized screen, on the same device you'll use to read the paper or your favorite magazine. They also showed a music app from the developer of the popular Ocarina that leads me to believe the iPad will be a viable musical instrument. The lack of multi-tasking on the iPad hurts here, as you won't be able to record instruments from different apps together; you'll have to record them to a music recording application like GarageBand on your computer.

One of my favorite columnists, Andy Inhatko of the Chicago Sun-Times, has deep thoughts about why this tablet will succeed where others have hardly made a blip.

"The iPad user experience is instantly compelling and elegant. It’s not every computer and every function. It’s a computer that’s designed for speed, mobility, and tactile interaction above all other considerations."

The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg has published his mostly glowing review of the iPad. He found reading text very comfortable. He looked at his paper's own iPad app, and in comparison with the Web or iPhone versions of the Wall Street Journal, "the iPad version blends much more of the look and feel of the print paper into the electronic environment. " Many more observations, Mossberg's review is a good read. There's a video clip, but it's just Mossberg talking on camera. No iPad demo other than a clip from Apple's own video news release.

David Pogue of the New York Times cleverly wrote two reviews of the iPad; the second one is the real gold.

"the iPad is not a laptop. It’s not nearly as good for creating stuff.
On the other hand, it’s infinitely more convenient for consuming it —
books, music, video, photos, Web, e-mail and so on. For most people,
manipulating these ...digital materials directly by touching them is a
completely new experience — and a deeply satisfying one."

Shivers

USAToday's Ed Baig has a very thorough and positive review. Annoyingly embedded in the page, USAToday's Jefferson Graham has a video preview. Or you can watch it here.

PCMag.com calls it a winner, and goes on in very geeky detail. Its a good read if you're into that sort of thing, and I am.

Boing Boing's Xeni Jardin has an interesting article that focuses partly on how the right app can make an old scientific document like the the rather dry but vitally important Periodic Table of Elements come alive. Some more screen shots from this iPad app can be seen here.

If you're the same kind of Apple geek that I am, you now have sufficient information to fill your daydreams until Saturday, or until your 3G version arrives in a few weeks. Me, I plan to go have actual dreams about it in my sleep.

After pausing the DVR and stirring my Hamburger Helper™, I returned to the living room and began a reverie of iPad thoughts. Soon, I'd spent 15 minutes staring blankly at a screen saver, and thinking iPad thoughts. I expect I shall dream of iPads tonight.

Apple plans to have a suprise on store when the iPad goes on sale this Saturday. There's a reason so few developers have advance iPads, and why even the few Apple employees that have them carry them in locked cases.

They have front-facing cameras and will enable live video chats where ever you can get a wi-fi signal.

And when the 3G version ships in a few weeks, we'll find that video chats are possible on AT&T's network as well.

The handful of critics that received iPads in advance will discover the video chat service at 9 am EDT Saturday, the same time Apple issues its press release in classic Steve Jobs "one more thing" style. The cameras are already in those critic's iPads, but the software includes code that disables them until magic time.

If you hadn't noticed, by the way, today is the first day of a new month, a particular day of note among those who like to fool people. This story is false. There is no camera. I hope I fooled you.

Or did I? What if it comes true?