Tag Archives: ipad

Harbour Hopping in West Cork – Apple uses Google Maps hand-me-downs

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We’ve had much hilarity online today over the awfulness of Apple’s new iOS6 Maps. I finally just got it installed on the iPad and of course decided to check the local situation. Actually not disastrous. The golf club is not labelled as an airship landing strip for a start. But then I spotted something interesting.

Back about 6 years ago, Google Maps was completely useless in West Cork. At one point it seemed to think there was only one road down here, the N71. And bizarrely it wasn’t labelled as the N71, it was called “Harbour Hopping in South West Cork”. Seriously, that’s what Google thought the road was called. I never found out how such a ridiculous bug got into the data.

Eventually Google re-mapped the country itself and bought some better data. Their maps around here are now pretty fantastic and Streetview even went up tiny one-car-wide lanes locally.

So imagine my surprise when I saw this on the iPad:

Welcome to 2006 y’all.

 

Motorola S10-HD are brilliant Bluetooth running headphones

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The lovely people in Mobile Fun in the UK, home of a bajillion mobile and iPad accessories, contacted me recently. I’m a long-time customer of theirs and I’m a huge fan. Their Dash Genie in-car phone holder is a wonderful thing that just works.

They asked if I wanted to review anything on their site and I cheekily requested a pair of Motorola S10-HD headphones. They shot a pair over to me for free immediately.

I’ve had them for a few weeks and they are just superb. Like a fool, I bought a pair of S9′s on eBay a few years ago. I didn’t suss that the only way they could be so cheap was if they were knock-offs. They fell apart in no time. These real S10-HD’s are in a different league altogether.

The design is unusual in that they basically clamp on to your head. Some people with particularly big noggins report that they are uncomfortable but I found after two uses that they fit perfectly.

The reason I wanted them was for running. I hate the normal in-ear wired headphones that fall out constantly and tie you in knots with the wires as you run. With these, I pair via Bluetooth A2DP to my HTC Sensation strapped to my arm and I listen to all my podcasts and music. It has volume and track selection buttons on one side.

However it also works as a handsfree for the phone. If you are listening to music when an incoming call arrives, it mutes it and you can press a button to accept the call. I tested this paired to my laptop and made a few perfect quality Skype calls with it.

The big test was this morning where I ran a sweaty Bandon 10km and listened to Kermode and Mayo’s movie reviews for an hour. I was chuffed that they worked perfectly, never slipped and did not hurt after an hour. I assume the same will be true when I do the Cork Half Marathon in June. Run Keeper is also able to temporarily mute the podcast and tell me my pace every 1km. Nice.

Not much more to say. They work perfectly. They come with a variety of ear-plug sizes and they are great value. I’ll be using nothing else from now on when running.

Thanks again to the Mobile Fun crew. Still the first site I go to when I want to get something for my phone.

UPDATE June 5th 2012: I ran the Cork Half Marathon yesterday with the S10-HD connected to my HTC Sensation. They worked beautifully. No battery issues, no drop-outs and my head wasn’t sore afterwards. Which is more than can be said about the balls of my feet.

 

Fuji Finepix 4200 + iPad + USB Adapter = Fab

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So far I really love the Fuji Finepix 4200 bridge camera. Barely scratched the surface of it but it’s like being in a different century to our old point n shoots.

One obvious drawback of a non-cameraphone is that you lose Instant Upload to the web. It’s a bit of a kerfuffle to remove the SD Card, power up a laptop and then upload.

Recently I got a dirt cheap USB adapter for the iPad on Deal Extreme in Hong Kong. I loved that you could stick a USB stick or similar into it to copy stuff into the iPad.

Today I had a brainwave. I took the camera’s USB cable, plugged it into the iPad USB adapter and taa-daaaa, the iPad offered to import all the pictures on the camera.

That’s a really really slick setup. Once I find out what the best photo editor is for iPad, I have the perfect mobile photo taking/editing/upload/blogging setup.

The only practical improvement I’ll be making in the coming months is to get a sub-$100 7″ Android tablet to do the same. Without needing an adapter of course.

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Apple to unveil revolutionary upgrade to multi-touch on iPad 3

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In response to many complaints from users of the iPad 2 that the 8finger-2thumb gesture to switch between Apps was too simplistic, we can exclusively reveal that Apple will shortly announce their Multi-Toe Interface.

Recent research has shown that 82% of iPad usage is on the sofa in front of the TV. Apple further discovered that over 73% of people watch TV with their shoes off. New CEO Tim Cook joined the dots and Multi-Toe was born.

Now you can simulate the Android Back button by simply applying both hands and feet to the iPad simultaneously. Milton Bradley has already announced support in their upcoming iTwister game.

Rumours are also swirling that the follow-up iPad 4 will come with Bum-Touch where ass-dialling becomes a feature, not a bug.