Online Meetings – iPad For Business

Mobile meetings using your Apple devices – iPad for Business

Gotomeeting ipad for business

On account of the fact that so many of us are having a mobile business now, Apple are making it super easy to be able to have meetings wherever and whenever. In fact it is not just Apple that are making meetings in the mobile space a lot easier, because there is also Google plus with their hangouts, Citrix have a product and you also have Fuze Meeting HD and WebEx for iPad. So what do we expect from these applications for our mobile meetings, aside from wanting to save ourselves the money otherwise spent on aeroplane flights and hotel bills. We can also make use of the iPad for business meetings.

Meetings, Webinars, Online Meetings, Gatherings and Video Calls

There are going to be different sorts of meetings, for example you might only just need to talk to somebody and rather than use the phone you might just use Skype. Within a Skype meeting you can have a number of participants and recently it is also possible to have meetings where you can see each other, as in a video call.

With Google Plus you have something similar with the Hangout facility. The way that the Hangout works is nice, in that you get a row of images of the people in the meeting in the bottom part of the screen and the person that is talking goes to the main part of the screen, as in bigger, and that works automatically. You can set it if you want to, so that you have just one person that is always the main speaker in your Google plus, as it gets annoying if the image is constantly changing based upon noises going into certain persons’ microphones.

Fuze meeting iPad business

iPad In Business – Who Takes Charge Of The Meeting?

If you are the organiser of a meeting, then it is quite possible that at some point during the meeting, you might want to allow somebody else to take over the presentation. Using these meetings or webinar software solutions on your Mac or Windows PC you are allowed you to pass over the baton, so that a colleague can take over from you for a portion of the meeting. With the way that meetings tend to have certain types of content and also the fact that desktop computers are able to multitask, then the way of presenting the meeting is going to be from a desktop computer or laptop. It may be possible in the future to run meetings from your iPad, who knows.

Put Some Clothes On When You Are In An Online iPad Business Meeting.

So having meetings where you can see the other people at the meeting, the other users also having video available, you can see how HD pictures of the attendees will be useful so that you can see if people are paying attention to your content. Of course that does mean that if you are working from home you will have to actually put some clothes on, before you start your meeting. Certainly if the meeting is a sales type meeting, then being able to see the expressions on the face of your client or possible client will be extremely useful.

Face To Face Meetings In The Boardroom Using iPads

Agenda1

When you are holding a meeting you might decide to use the Agendas iPad application. By using Agendas you should be able to keep the attendees more focused on the content, on track and on time. With this application you will create an agenda for the meeting and broadcast it to any iPad on the same Wifi network. By the look of it, this Agendas application is more for the face-to-face meetings in a company boardroom or office. You can use this to have an interactive agenda where the attendees will vote or rank the critical questions that are being addressed during the meeting,

iPad In Enterprise – Controlling The Face To Face Meetings

There is a timer to help keep the presenter on topic, and to ensure that the meeting does not overrun time wise. You may also add topics or assign tasks during the meeting and everybody has the same view so they are able to see the record of the changes and the various assignments. With the Agenda application and you can store and track the details of the meeting. This seems to be an absolutely marvellous way to have further collaboration with efficiency, in as much as, everybody is singing from the same hymn sheet and you will be getting things done.

The Amazing iPad

iCloud vs Dropbox What sort of battle for supremacy will there be?

Storing your stuff in the iCloud vs dropbox

For quite a long time now, nearly as for as long as the iPhone and iPad have been available, we have had the ability to store our stuff in Dropbox. Dropbox were very clever in the way that they published their Dropbox API, that led to the developers of other applications, to include Dropbox as a feature within their applications. Great to have 2 GB of Dropbox storage space for free and the possibility to increase that by telling other people about Dropbox, so that you could get up to 10 GB without having to spend a cent. So it was a genius move by Dropbox, which led them to being the de facto standard for moving files to iPad or copying files to iPad, for many applications. Now we are going to see a small battle that will be iCloud vs dropbox.

As soon as you put on 10.7.2 onto your Mac computer and also have iOS 5 on your iDevice, you have 5 GB of space available for free in iCloud. In this storage space you can store your device backups, contacts and calendars, iCloud email, documents and application data. As part of the deal, the content that you have purchased such as applications for your iPad and iPhone, music from iTunes, TV shows and books, get to be stored in iCloud, but don’t count towards the storage limit. So for many Apple users, that 5 GB should be plenty to be getting on with. Then of course there’s going to be a number of paid for plans ranging from $20 to up to $100 per year, that will suit even the most data hungry Apple user.

Paid up users of MobileMe Get an extra 20GB – Free for a While

MobileMe users that had an account in action when iCloud became available were also given 20 GB of extra storage space for free. There was a message though, that they would be expected to pay $40 to continue using the extra space, at the end of the time period that the free 20 GB was available for.

Quite often the things that are built into a system, because they are free and built-in will get used in preference to other facilities, even if those other services are also free. An example of that will be lazy Windows users that continue using Explorer as their web browser, despite the fact that it has so many security holes in it. So from this we could perhaps deduce, that unless iCloud is absolutely useless, which it isn’t, that there will be a large take-up of the use of iCloud by iPhone and iPad users. Apple when designing iCloud for us, had in mind that they would make it as easy as possible to use, and as painless as possible to set up in the first place.

What is the introduction of iCloud going to mean for the long-term battle iCloud vs Dropbox?

I would hazard a guess that Dropbox is still going to be a large part of the way that we use our iPhones and iPads. I doubt very much that the developers of the applications that use the Dropbox API will stop using Dropbox as a way of moving files to the iPad. It is good for us users to have a choice of how we do things and there would be huge complaints, if Dropbox was to be taken away from our favourite iOS apps.

Apple have done similar to Dropbox, in that they are making the API available to all iOS developers. So we can expect to see the iCloud way of working being made part of many applications, if it is easy to add to an application it could well be, that new applications from some developers might only include iCloud for file synchronisation. I think that we can be fairly sure anyway that Dropbox is not going away any time soon.

iWork iCloud synchronisation is a bit of a disappointment

One of the things that we expected to see with the iWork applications from Apple, is that it would be possible to do fully synchronised round tripping with documents. You would be able to work on a document on your iPhone, perhaps a Numbers spreadsheet, stop what you’re doing on it and move to your iPad to finish the work. It was also expected by many Apple users that it would be the same process, to be able to open the same file on the Mac and continue working away. Well it is possible, but it is not the same in terms of synchronisation. Because the file type is not exactly the same on the Mac as it is on iOS, what you have to do is to download from iCloud, a copy of the file so that you can open it in iWork for OS X Lion. Then to get that file that has been changed in OS X back into iOS, you had to do a drag-and-drop from the Finder into iCloud. This is not the same as having synchronisation, that is so good that you don’t know it is there. I do hope that something is done about this to improve the situation.

The future of iCloud vs Dropbox

So as it stands at the moment with the iCloud vs MobileMe and the iCloud vs Dropbox, we can see that iCloud does still have a little way to go in order to properly shine. iCloud iDisk does have some excellent possibilities for changing the way that we work on our computers and iDevices, it will be interesting to see how this works out over the next year or so. Right now it is in the hands of the third-party developers, as well as with Apple itself, as to how good and how pervasive iCloud will be in the future.

iCloud Split Keyboard

Gain access to your files with FileBrowser iPad

IPad FileBrowser

What is the problem that FileBrowser for iPad solves?

It is going to happen that one day you are going to be away from your main computer and you really do need to see some of your files. Not only do you want to see the file but you want to open it up and edit it .You only have with you, your iPhone and your iPad, so how are you going to do it. There are a number of possibilities, there is iPad VPN (Virtual Private Network) as one way it could be done, or you save all your documents into Dropbox and you have Dropbox on your iPad or you could use some remote access software such as FileBrowser.

FileBrowser for iPad gives you Windows Explorer on your iPad

If you are using the iPad app FileBrowser in some ways it is like having your Finder application, or Windows Explorer (if you’re a Windows geek), on your iPad or on your iPhone, how weird is that?. This FileBrowser iPad app will let you access network folders on Macs, Windows, Linux and your network attached storage drives, NAS.

All of the work with FileBrowser iPad is done from your iPad, rather than used sitting at your computer and uploading files to the iPad. The application lets you look at all of the document types that iOS will support. When you have the access to the files it will pass them on to the right apps and also take from other applications. What you could do for instance, is to take e-mail attachments and to have FileBrowser store them for using later, with the correct application for that file type.

One way of using this would be to stream music and your video files from your computer in your home office, directly to your iPad. You could do this and send them to your iPhone also if you wanted. If you have an NAS storage device, then you could access the files on it without having to turn on your computer. On the other hand AirVideo is a great app specially for that.

Find how to wave the rubber chicken at FileBrowser for iPad

FileBrowser for iPad, as with other applications of this type, can take a little bit of rubber chicken waving and the old voodoo magic in order to set up. According to customer reviews for the application, the customer service is good enough, that if you do have a little bit of a problem, they are more than happy to help you out and get you up and running.

The Amazing iPad

Books, AudioBooks and iPad Book Applications int the iPad BookStore

Using the iPad bookstore

Apple have made such a great success of selling music through the success of the iPod. Then Apple continued that success by selling video, that also could be seen through the iPod and now the iPad, so why not take it a stage further and also sell books and magazines. The publishing industry is ripe for some big changes and us as consumers deserve to have our books available to us on the latest technology. For authors it is a great time, because now it is so easy to be able to self publish and to build up your own readership. The publishers are feeling the pinch with this new way of working and new technology and they have even been expecting authors to do more of their own promotion of their own books, in any case. To a certain extent the iPad bookstore and other bookstores online such as the Kindle bookstore and the Barnes & Noble bookstore for the Nook, is the signal of the death knell of the old way of publishing. What does an iPad do for authors and publishers?

iPad Bookstore challenging the publishing status quo

Despite the fact there are these new changes in the publishing industry, some of the old ways of doing things are still persisting. The publishing industry has this notion that the publishing world should be divided up into the zones or countries. They will actively make it difficult for authors to sell their book in another country. What I’d like to see as an author and also as a consumer of books, is for books to be available worldwide, no limits and no borders.

For the author it is going to be better because it will not be necessary for publishers to have to make deals with distribution systems in a different country or a different continents, to be able to get those books sold. Being able to put your book into a worldwide bookstore such as the iPad bookstore, should be will mean that authors should be able to have better sales, only limited by the language that the book is written in.

Is the iPad Bookstore a good deal for the consumer

For the consumer, obviously the benefit is being able to go to one place and buy a book and it doesn’t matter if the book was originally written by an American in the American market, it will still be available in the iPad bookstore. And the same applies to audio books, as it does to the books that you read in applications such as iBooks, or the Kindle for iPad application. What we really want is to be able to start reading a book, wherever, such as on the iPad while sitting in bed and be able to pick up the book on another device. It could even be the Kindle which would be better to be able to read the same story while sitting on the beach. Realistically, for that to be able to function properly, you would have to be using the same bookstore. So it could work if you are using the Kindle for instance and the Kindle for iPad app. I don’t imagine that it is going to work if you wanted to read a book that you bought from Apple even if you had also bought the same book from Amazon for use on your Kindle. Then you have the iPad being used for reading books in schools.

Steve Jobs Biography top of chart and not even released yet

Ipad Bookstore

Even though I live in Spain, I can on the Spanish iPad bookstore, see books that are in English for me to read. Looking at the top charts for books in the iPad bookstore Spain, the top book in the paid for charts is the book by Walter Isaacson about Steve Jobs. The book costs €16.99 and at the moment it is just available for pre-order as it is not due to be released until later in the month.

In the list of books that you can get for free from the iPad Bookstore, there is the Spanish version of the iPad users manual and the iPhone user guide. Both of these also available in English. There are also books in there for free which are out of copyright, such as the book Dracula by Bram Stoker. Purchasing in the iPad Bookstore is an easy exercise, whether you are paying for a book or getting it for free. You just have to tap on the button, either the one that says gratis or the one that says buy. If you are buying a book from the iPad bookstore, Apple already has your credit card details. You will probably be asked to put in your password for your Apple ID to confirm your purchase. If you are clicking to get a book that is for free, just click and the download will begin.

New ways of marketing for authors on the iPad Bookstore

One of the new ways of working for authors is to to build up a fan base and a readership and to give away a small amount of work for free. What this does is to grow a group of people that like your work, a fan base, and when you put out something that is a full novel, for example, they will be more than happy to buy the work and support your writing talents. In the iPad bookstore in iTunes I have just downloaded a book called ‘The Four Types of Artists – Starving, Dying, Dead, and Rich!’ What would be nice with this book, and with any books in fact would be able to have a sampler of one or two pages, to help me make the buying decision if this was a paid for book. With this book on the iTunes page for it, there is just a description and a space for reviews by readers. No reader reviews for this book as yet. Maybe once I have read it I will put one in there and be the first to give it a rating.

iTunes Store to Search for Book Titles

Just the same as in a normal bookstore you can search for your book by genre. What is different is that you have also have the facility to do a search using the search facilities of the iTunes iPad bookstore. I just did a search for Ken Follett, who is one of my favourite authors. I recently read the book ‘Fall of Giants’. As per usual with the books by Ken Follett, it was a book that once started it was difficult to put down. Also in the search, I can see that there are audio books available to buy from the same author. I would thoroughly recommend the book ‘The Pillars of the Earth’ which is available at the price of €14.99 as an audio book and is also available in there as a book that you can read your iPad, for the price of €9.99.

Books in other languages in the iPad Bookstore

Fall of Giants app

There are some books that are being published for the iPad that are available, not as books but as applications. Interestingly the book the Fall of Giants is available in Spanish as an application, both as a light version and also as a full version. The Light version is free and it seems to me that it would be a good way to get you hooked, because once you had started the story, certainly you will want to either buy the full application, the book, the iPad book or the audio book of the story. There is some good marketing going on there. I have just elected to download the light version of the application which according to the information says that it is available in English and in Spanish. I will know once I get to have a look at it, but it would be a good way to improve my Spanish reading abilities, if the two languages are included in the one application.

iCloud iPad, iPhone and the Mac and the iCloud Release Date

iCloud Release Date And What It Means To iCloud iPad

On October 4th, 2011 Apple had their iPhone – Let’s Talk iPhone event. Apart from announcing the introduction of the iPhone 4S there was a lot of talk about iCloud. Apple also announced the iCloud release date which is October 12th. There is not an iCloud iPad application, at least no mention has been made of one, so far. In terms of the way that we interact with our computer, managing our data and our documents, iCloud is going to be a significant improvement in the Apple computing universe.

Integration of everything Apple with iCloud iPad facilities

It’s not just about being able to buy something from Apple on the iTunes Store, on your iPad and have the item automatically downloaded to your other Apple devices, for instance your iPhone and your iMac computer. It’s not just the fact that when you start a project, for example within the Pages application, and that you will be able to go to your other Apple devices and continue on from wherever you got to within the project. It isn’t even the Marauders Map (Harry Potter reference) that is the application which is called Find My Friend. It isn’t the opportunity to capture a photograph, here on your iPad, and find that it is also waiting for you there on your iPhone. What is so good about it is that you always have all of your documents available to you, wherever you are, and whichever device you’re using. What makes it all so good, is the integration of the applications, your documents, availability of those documents and how it all fits in with your lifestyle.

Apple iCloud release date

The iCloud release date is the same as IOS 5

I must admit, that I’m really looking forward to having an e-mail address that is going be free to me with iCloud. I am also looking forward to the fact, that I will be able to get away from using Google for my address book syncing and calendar syncing, as this will be part of the iCloud iPad experience. I did used to have a MobileMe account, despite the fact that some people complained about it, I found it very useful. I only stopped using it as part of an economy drive. I have attempted to use Google to do the same things as I did with MobileMe, but it was difficult to setup in the first place and I don’t think it was successful overall.

I’m looking forward to the way that iCloud will do it all for me, with iCloud iPad capabilities and the same thing happening on my iMac and iPhone. iCloud will be automatically storing my content, wherever I created it and pushing it out to my other devices. We still have to see exactly how this is all going to work, but I expect Apple to make it simple to use and simple to set up. Getting 5 GB of free storage is a good bonus which is part of iCloud. Good thing about it is that the Photo Stream, that is the capability where the photos are pushed automatically to all of your devices, is not counted as part of that 5 GB. Of course, we can expect Apple to make it easy to purchase more storage if we need it. That free storage that we get from iCloud iPad, is there to store mail, documents, account information, settings and other application data.

Knowing what to do and when iCloud iPad calendar

Whenever I make a change in my calendar on the iPad I’ll build to see that change also be updated within iCal on my Mac. Also if I shared that calendar out, perhaps to my wife, then the change will also be shown in that calendar on my wife’s Apple device. That iCloud iPad and other Apple devices, service will be fairly handy if you want to let other people know what your doing, or vice versa.

Synchronisation of iCloud iPad contacts

Something else that people have been complaining about, is the contacts application, whether that be the version that is in OS X Lion all the iCloud iPad iOS 5 version. What has happened is that Apple have made attempts to make the application look nice, with the fake leather stitching images as part of the application. One or two users seem to expect that if it is on a computer then it should just look more functional. The main thing is that when we are using iCloud is that the entire address book will be synchronised, without any input on our part to all of our Apple computers, iPad included.

iCloud release date for the marauders map

In the Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter got his hands on a marauders map. This was a special map that showed where everybody was, within Hogwarts, the school. Unlike the marauders map, Find My Friends will have some privacy features. The friends that you will see on the map will have given permission for you to see where they are. This feature that is part of iCloud iPad and iPhone will be excellent if you are having a meeting of a group of people. You will be able to see each other as you make your way to the location, where you are all meeting up. I expect that this will work much better on the iPhone than on the iPad, seeing as the iPhone has the GPS. One little feature that is very useful, is the fact that Find My Friends also works in conjunction with contacts and maps.

IPhone icons

Getting ready for some fun on iCloud release date

Sharing your location with a bunch of your friends, can be set up so that it is a temporary share. You can have it so that you are shared for one day or for a weekend. This would be very handy, if you are at an amusement park, where a group of people is quite likely to split up and want to be able to get back together again, perhaps to have lunch. I am looking forward to seeing this in use on iCloud release date 12th of October. I think that there will be many people using the services, that are part of the iCloud iPad and iPhone capabilities and having a lot of fun while doing so.

Splashing in the photo stream and iCloud – a release date

There will be a special Photo Stream album, that will hold the last 1000 photographs that you have taken. You won’t be able to edit or delete any photos from the photo stream, what you will do is to save a photo that you want to work with or keep permanently, into your Camera Roll. iCloud will be storing those photos for up to thirty days, and that should be plenty of time for you to connect your iPad with camera or iPhone, to your main computer.

We will be able to turn on Photo Stream within iPhoto or Aperture, what this will do is to keep a complete set of our photographs on our Mac. This will have the effect of automatically importing every picture in the photo stream into the photo library. This is another example, of how the way we do things, are being affected, by the technology and software combination that is being provided to us by Apple. It is easy to see why this ease-of-use is appealing to many computer users, that are turning in droves to be a part of the Apple universe. iCloud download available on the iOS5 and iCloud release date of 12th October 2011.

Using the Air Video iPad Solution for Streaming Your Videos to Your iPad

Watching videos on your iPad using air video iPad

There are two parts to the solution, for getting your videos off your Mac or your Windows computer. You can download the air video app from the iPad application store within iTunes which costs €3.39, but you also need to go to the website of Air video and download the airvideo server part of the equation. So what happens is, is that the server pushes out the video and the application that is on the iPad, takes in your video and plays it. It is not necessary to do any conversion of video to make it iPad compatible. It is very simple, start the server version of Air Video on your Mac or Windows computer and then open the Air Video iPad application to choose your movie. Use Air Video to convert movies to iPad format.

It is a simple download to get the Air Video iPad server. I would recommend that to get to the website to download the Air Video server software, that you first go to the App Store and click on the link to get to the developer’s website. You can also do a search in your browser to find the site that you need, but just in case there are bad sites out there, then why not use a link that you can be sure of to get the Airvideo server.

When you first open up the Air Video Mac server, it will open up the preferences for the application. It will also put an icon in your menu bar, so that you can access the application that way also. In the preferences the first thing to do is to set up some shared folders. So if you click on the Add Folder button you will get a dialogue which allows you to add a folder in which you have some movies. It is quite likely that the first folder to add will be the movies folder, which is in your user home folder. If you have more places in which you have movies stored, you can add more folders to the list.

Using AirVideo iPad to Convert Movies

The Air Video server will also convert video to iPad for you. When you click on the tab in the preferences, it will just tell you if there are any files being converted. You can have a file conversion started from Air Video iPad, iPod Touch or the iPhone.

Air Video iPad

The next tab in there in Air Video Mac, is for the settings of the server software. You can set it to start at login, ask you for a password and to listen on a custom port. Personally I prefer to not have it start at login, but maybe you will spend more time watching videos, that you will stream to Air Video iPad from your main computer. You will be wanting to have it more available to use.

The next tab is called Remote and that is for you to enable access from the Internet. That facility is a beta facility at the moment and I think I may wait until it is fully implemented. The next tab along is for subtitles, when you are able to choose the font for the subtitle, and your preferred languages. One more tab available in the settings is called Logs. Most likely, the only time that you will want to look at the logs for the conversions and whatever else it registers, will be if you have some problems.

Getting to use Air Video iPad to watch a movie

So you have your server running and you have opened up the Air Video iPad application on your iPad. On the left-hand side of the screen you will see, not much actually. What you need to do first is to tap on the plus icon to set up your server. I clicked on the name of my computer in the left-hand panel. I clicked on the name of the folder that I have shared, from within the server preferences and I got a list of movies that I could watch.

In Air Video iPad, when you tap on a movie that you would like to view, the right-hand side of the application shows you some details about the movie you have chosen. At the top is the name of the file, followed by the resolution, that is the pixel size of the video, the duration of the video and the file size.

AirVideo2

In the bottom section of that right-hand side, there are four buttons, Play, Convert, Add to iTunes and Play with Live Conversion. With the file that I had chosen in Air Video iPad, I pressed the play button and it did just that. It played the movie within the right-hand section of the Air Video iPad application. I did the same with, Play with Live Conversion and once again, the video started playing.

When the video is playing within the Air Video iPad app, you have the various controls available to you, such as the pause button and the slider which shows how far you are through the video. And over on the right hand side of that area, there is a button you can tap to make it go full-screen.

When you tap the Add to iTunes button, you get a pop-up window which gives you the opportunity to say where you want the video to be saved within iTunes. Just tap on the library you want to use for your video, and it moves out of the way, job done.

Looking at the settings within Air Video iPad

Air Video iPad

In the top right-hand corner of the Air Video iPad application, you will see two buttons one of which is called Global Settings. Give a tap to this button and you will save the settings, that are available to the application. When I first opened the global settings, it showed me a max width of 800 pixels and a max height of 720 pixels. Seeing as the size of the iPad screen is 1024 x 720 pixels then I changed the max width to 1024. I left the slider which determines the quality for off-line conversion at the 70% setting. The next setting, is to have it set to always play videos full-screen, I switched that to on.

The next section in the allowed bit rates for life conversion you have three areas to make changes if you wish. I suggest it is probably a good idea to go with the default settings, unless there is some reason why you need to change it. You can make changes for how it works over local Wi-Fi, remote Wi-Fi and over 3G. Tap on the button, Hide, when you have made all of your changes.

The button that is in the top right-hand corner, next to the global settings is the Queue. Tap on that button if you want to see the videos that are queued for conversion. In that dialogue, you are also able to edit the queue and to stop the current version if you need to.

Getting the best use out of Air Video iPad

When you choose a video that is not in a native format for the iPad, such as an AVI file, the options in the lower part of the screen underneath the movie in the Air Video iPad app, are different. In this case the options as you get are just play with live conversion and convert. If you tap the button play with live conversion, basically what it does is to stream the video to your iPad, so that you can watch it even though it is in a format that would not normally play on the iPad. The other option is to tap on the Convert button, and you get a small dialogue asking you to select the destination folder. All I’m getting at present is, current folder. Next you will see a message which tells you that the video was successfully added to the conversion queue. All that is left to do then, is to tap on the button, Continue.

AirVideo for iPad

What do I think about the air video iPad application?

To start with, we have to say that that the price is excellent. But then it is no good having a small price for an application and a useless app that doesn’t do what it is supposed to do. In this case though with Air Video iPad, I have to say that the Air Video application is absolutely marvellous.

Using Air Video iPad, you will be able to watch your videos on the iPad easily, streaming from your computer without you having to do any copying files to iPad. This is a great time saver and also it is very good if you have a smaller amount of internal memory in your iPad. It saves you having to fill up your iPad with large files of video.

Aside from the fact that Air Video iPad is a video streaming application, it is also great to be able to convert video to iPad format. You can be sure that by using this Air Video Mac and iPad application your video will be converted, perfectly to work on the iPad. You can use this application to convert your videos ready to play on the iPad, to save having to mess with the Handbrake presets in that application.

Using VPN iPad Applications or a VPN for iPad Service

VPN iPad or virtual private network and Internet tunnel

If you’re looking for complete anonymity and privacy than what you probably need is VPN for iPad, a virtual private network. What this is is a secure tunnel from where you are doing your surfing, be that from within an iPad or if you are using a desktop or laptop computer, into the Internet. What a VPN will do is to protect your data from it being overheard, while it is passing through the public part of the Internet. Use one of these VPN services and applications and you will be safe, while using a Wi-Fi hotspot in a public place, such as in a Starbucks, or in any other public hotspot. A of making sure you don’t have any iPad security issues.

Be in a different country with a VPN iPad app

There are some websites and applications, that will restrict your access based upon where the Internet says that you are. For example if you are a British citizen, like Johnny English the super spy that enjoys British television, while you are on holiday in another country(spying). Wouldn’t it be great to be able to fool the BBC website into thinking that you’re still back in England, so that it allows you to watch the latest shows, that you are missing on the television.

VoIP and VPN for iPad

If you’re using a VPN then you could use it to get around ISP blocks, that are placed on the VoIP services such as Skype for example. If you’re using a VPN then there’s no reason why you can’t use a VoIP service from just about anywhere.

Ipad security issues VPN for iPad

Nobody knows who you are with VPN iPad

What the VPN will do, is to assign your computer, iPad with a new IP address. This new IP address will make you anonymous to all web applications, where this can be useful is because attacks are more often than not, directed at known IP addresses. A VPN is better than using a proxy server, because the VPN is secured for all of your Internet connections including e-mail, FTP, chat services, in fact anything that uses the Internet connection. It is important to have good [iPad security].

How do you go about getting a VPN for iPad

One way would be to find a VPN service that you have had recommended, and one that I heard about is called Witopia. I heard about it from the technology journalist from the Chicago Sun Times Andy Inatko, when he was speaking an Podcast, I was listening to. He said that it worked well, I looked, saw the price and decided to give it a go. The cost is a reasonable $39 per year. Mainly I wanted it to be able to use the BBC iPlayer which had been locking me out, as I’m based in Spain. I can report that it is in fact working very well. So far I am only using it on my main computer, but I can also use it on my iPad, when I get around to setting it up. It wasn’t too difficult to set up, a little bit geeky, but I was able to contact one of their operatives, to get some help.

Another way to get yourself VPN for iPad is to download one of the VPN applications. There is a VPN application called VPN fire and another called VPN Express. The advantage of using an application for the iPad for iPhone to set up your VPN, is that it will help you get around some of the geeky settings, that you would have to otherwise putting yourself.

By the look of it, the way that these VPN applications work, that are free to download, is that they give you a trial VPN service. If you need to have longer time connected then you can pay to use the service. Most likely using in app purchases.

Using VPNfire VPN iPad application

VPN for iPad

You get complete anonymity and privacy, the service doesn’t keep any logs of your Internet use. They have over 50 servers in the United States, which is okay, but then I need one in Britain, for my BBC viewing. In the details for the application, they claim that it is auto set up and very simple using profiles. You could be up and running with VPNfire very quickly after downloading the application.

Using VPN Express

When you register with the VPN Express service, you get 100 MB of data transfer free. After that, they are upfront in that they expect you to pay for the connection, where you can have 24 7 availability. VPN Express say that their service is optimised for IOS devices, including the iPad and the iPhone, so you shouldn’t be complaining about the speed of the service. This service is using a 128 bit encrypted tunnel between your iPad and the servers you get to use, belonging to VPN Express.

The cost of using VPN iPad

Data transfer does have to be paid for, although if you are a small user of a service, you might be able to get away with the free amount of data transfer you get when you sign up. Looking at some of the possible VPN iPad purchases you can make in iTunes, there is quite a variety of services from 30 days of VPN for iPad at €.79 to 60 days of VPN for €2.39. Or instead of purchasing per a particular number of days you can pay for a certain amount of data transfer, such as 5 GB of data transfer for €2.99, or 20 GB of data transfer for €8.99. Really all you can do is to check out a number of the services, to find the best fit to match the use that you make of your iPad.

Peace of Mind with the iPad – iPad Security Issues

iPad Security Issues – Security Of Files On The iPad

When I press the home button and move across the slider on my iPad, it goes directly into the applications. Did you know that you can set a pass code from within the settings of the iPad? To do this, what you need to do is to go to the settings application, it is the one with a bit of a gear wheel within the icon. Then go to the general tab and look for the pass code lock. Tap on the passcode lock and you will be prompted to enter your passcode, this will be a 4 digit number. When you put this in the first time you will be asked to confirm the pass code. This is so that you confirm that you have the right passcode entered and I suspect it is so that you can memorise it more easily.

iPad Security – Setting A Pass Code

You can set it so that the iPad will erase all of the data on your iPad, after ten failed to passcode attempts. Your data protection will be enabled. Once you have set your passcode it is possible for you if you wish, to turn the pass code off. You’ll also see that there is a button within that area, that you can use if you want to change the passcode.

iPad Security Issues – Using Dropbox For iPad

What else can you do to protect your data? If you’re using Dropbox for iPad you may be aware of the concerns that there have been regards using Dropbox. The files that are in Dropbox iPad are not encrypted and the dropbox Company to have access to files. Recently they have stated that they would give over files to the authorities, if they are legally asked or enforced to do so. To a certain extent, one should realise that any files that you put on the cloud are not truly private. The recommendation would be that you should encrypt files yourself using encryption software, if you have data that you do not want to release to the world. Dropbox is a useful way to move or copy files to iPad.

iPad Security Software

Safe iPad security issues

Keeping your data safe. There is an application called safe that is available for the iPad. Your information within this application is protected by a password and it also uses strong 256 bit encryption. Obviously you do have to bear in mind, that it is only the information that you keep within this application that is going to be protected. If you do need to carry around information about your credit cards or bank accounts, lists of addresses or even plain text files that have sensitive information, then this Safe application, could be what you’re looking for. You are also able to encrypt images that are from your camera or photo library.

iPad Internet security

VPN iPad security

When you are using your iPad, perhaps in your local Starbucks, in a hotel lobby or at the airport while waiting for a flight, you should be aware of iPad Internet security. You might want to consider using an app which gives you a virtual private network, VPN, as this would protect you from a man in the middle attack. As well as hiding your location, a VPN will give you anonymity and give you a secure encrypted connection to the Internet. This could be a thing you might do if you regularly connect to your bank account, while using a Wi-Fi hotspot and could give you some peace of mind.

Just remember that, just because you are paranoid, it doesn’t mean that they are not out to get you.

Handbrake Presets on Handbrake on Windows and Handbrake for Mac

Handbrake on Windows – Handbrake presets

When it comes down to converting video, there is a myriad of settings, that you can play with and ultimately completely mess up. You have a variety of codecs that get wrapped inside various file types and it is not just the video part of the file that you have to deal with, but also the audio. And it is for that reason why we have a number of iPad video conversion software tools that have included a number of easy presets. Handbrake is one of the better conversion tools, for taking a large variety of different types of video and converting them to specific file types, so that they can be played on a variety of devices. You even have Handbrake for Windows as well as for Linux. Let us have a look at some of the Handbrake presets.

Mac, Windows and Linux all have Handbrake presets

I have just been looking at the website for Handbrake on Windows, where there is a screenshot of Handbrake on the Microsoft platform and compared to the Mac version of the application, there are fewer Handbrake presets. It could be that the screenshot is an older screenshot and newer versions have more presets available. I expect that to be the case, because in the list of Apple presets there is no iPad in the list. The iPad has been around long enough now and there has been some updates of Handbrake since the iPad hit the scene. I feel sure that there must be an iPad preset within Handbrake on Windows.

HandBrake 1

Handbrake presets for easy video conversion

On all of the versions of Handbrake, that is Handbrake for Mac, Handbrake on Windows and the Handbrake for Linux, you can use the presets, or if you wish, completely mess it all up with all of the advanced settings. For this reason, I would highly recommend that you were to do your video conversions in as few clicks as possible. That means to open up the preset section of Handbrake on Windows or your preferred platform. (Mine is a Mac, I think you might have guessed that already.) Click on the preset that you require, after you have told Handbrake where your source video is, then click the start button.

The letter boxing effect even when using Handbrake presets

Because the iPad screen dimensions have been designed to accommodate a page size rather than a widescreen video shape, you will get the letterbox effect, that is the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. It shouldn’t really affect your enjoyment of the movie, and it doesn’t affect the quality of the video conversion. The iPad screen dimensions have been dictated by the need to mostly use applications based on the shape of a piece of paper, such as the European A4, or the old-fashioned American letter size. If we had an iPad that was of the 16:9 ratio shape of a widescreen movie, it would be strange to use in all of the non-movie applications.

Converting video for the iPad with Handbrake iPad presets

Ipad HandBrake settings

It is truly simple to do this task, if you are only needing to convert my file just to play on the iPad. You might have to make some choices about the best type of file conversion preceptor to work with of the Handbrake presets, is when you want to have a file which will also work on something else such as, the Apple TV, a smart phone, (whether it be an Android or an iOS device), as well as having the video play on the iPad.

Smart phone, iPad, Apple TV – choices

If you choose the file size that is most suitable for working on the iPhone in the Handbrake presets, then you will have no problem with also playing that on the iPad too. The only thing is, is that the quality of the video will not be as high when you play it on the iPad, as it will have to scale up. The iPad does not have any problem in playing files which are the size for the Apple TV which is 1280 x 720, which is one of the high definition video sizes. It may also be possible to play that same file on an iPhone, the only thing to consider, will be the file size and the amount of space you have available on your smart phone.

Doing it for free with Handbrake on Windows and Handbrake presets

When you want to convert files from whatever format to the format you need to play properly and with quality on the iPad, you will be spoilt for choice. There are a large number of programs and applications available, some of them you will have to pay for and some of them are free. For the most part there is no advantage to actually paying money for one of these free video converters and you will find that Handbrake on Windows and Handbrake for Mac are both free applications. You will also find that the speed of the conversion is just the same, whichever program you are using, only faster or slower depending upon your computer hardware.

What video conversion software are you using?

Leave a comment below in this post and let us know which video conversion software you think is the best. Or if you prefer, go to the contacts page and there you can send me an e-mail. I am looking forward to hearing what you have to say about Handbrake presets, or which ever software you are using. Handbrake for Windows, how is it working for you?

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Let the iPad Applications Tell You What Does the iPad do

What does the iPad do – For the new iPad user

To check out what does the iPad do, aside from borrowing an iPad with a huge number of applications already installed on it, by somebody else, then one way to find out would be to have a look in the App Store in iTunes. If you click on the App Store drop-down list you will see the way that the iPad apps are divided up into types of application based on areas of use. Apple does have a section at the top of this list, that has sections for iWork iPad apps, business class apps, games centre, apps starter kit and the games starter kit. For somebody totally new to using the iPad, this would be a good place to start with your research into what does the iPad do.

iWork iPad apps in the iTunes iPad App Store

Pretty simple, in this area you have the office type applications for the iPad as produced by Apple. Numbers which is a great looking spreadsheet, Pages for your word processing, and to a certain extent it will do your basic desktop publishing, and Keynote for your presentations. In many ways these applications are preferable to the office applications that you would get from Microsoft. The iWork apps will work well and synchronise with your desktop applications of the same name. Apart from Numbers the applications are suitable for ordinary users as well as the power user. The Numbers application is great for what you might expect to do on the iPad with a spreadsheet, but don’t expect to be able to run fancy macros.

What does the iPad do iPad business class

Fllight Track Pro

In this section you will find applications which will be applicable to the business user. Upon opening this area you will see applications such as WebEx for iPad, Flight Track Pro, Go Docs for Google Docs, Voice Memos for iPad, Dropbox for iPad and Office squared HD. All of the usual suspects really, with regards to business type of applications, covering areas such as finance, travel, general business usage including database and the business utilities. There are also a few reference applications such as Wolfram Alpha, Wikipanion plus for iPad and the Wall Street Journal newspaper.

Apart from the business applications, which could be useful to almost any business user, you will find some suggested applications in business class that are a little bit specific to a task. One such application in the feature list is teleprompter plus for iPad. This is an excellent application if you want to speak into a camera and look more professional while you’re making that sort of talking head video.

What does the iPad do

App Store essentials – apps starter kit

With regards to what does the iPad do, this list of applications covers a wide variety of applications which are a testament to the adaptability of the iPad to so many different tasks. You will see applications here suitable for artists, education, lifestyle, such as cooking, music and just about anything that you can think of.

For example, in this section you will find an app for Marvel comics. The aficionados of comics have been raving about the comic applications for the iPad, because of the excellent reading experience of the graphic novels. You are able to carry around a large number of comics with you, to read while you are travelling on the bus, aeroplane or train. The comics application allows you to zoom into sections of the comic for better readability, as well as being able to see the whole page to enjoy the full experience.

Game Centre

Games starter kit – It’s playtime

The featured games applications in this area in the version of iTunes I am looking at, I can see Plants versus Zombies, Flight Control, Real Racing and Scrabble for iPad. It is only showing a small selection of games and you would need to look into the full games section of the iPad store to get the full picture of all of the games that are available for the iPad. As you might expect the games area for the iPad is huge. There is everything in there from the simple five minute game, to play while waiting in a queue, to the massive game like Infinity Blade that you would need to sit down and devote a lot more time to.

What does the iPad do – How long is a bit of string

To get an answer to the question of what does the iPad do, have a look at the list in the App Store and you will see everything in there from books to weather, business to games, finance to sports, social networking to medical and entertainment to productivity and even more than that. In future posts on the Amazing iPad website we will have a look at each of these areas in more detail.