Disruptive Technologies

Course site for Disruptive Technologies. Exploring identity, community, & design.

Ken’s iPad Reflection, Week 1

It’s the second day since I unboxed my shiny new iPad Air. It’s a sleek little machine.

I knew going in that it wouldn’t fully replace the desktop experience. As a programmer I had no illusions about being able to install my IDE of choice (IntelliJ IDEA). However I have found it useful for diagramming and planning my software. Maybe I can finally upgrade my system of clipboard and stacks of scrap paper (thank you Professor Prusslin for giving such a crazy amount of handouts, it’s kept me going for years).

So far I’ve been using the app Lekh Diagram. The free version lacks the ability to export your diagrams, but for my uses that’s been fine. I look forward to exploring other apps, and I have nothing against investing the cost of a turkey wrap¹ if it’ll help get the job done.

It’ll be nice to test the app I’ve been developing on this tablet. I recently joined the iOS developer program and plan to release my first app for the platform, only having done Android up until now. I’ve already successfully provisioned the device, pushed my app to it, and found a few sizing issues I’ll need to address.

I noticed the iPad came with GarageBand preinstalled. As a sometimes composer I was curious to try it out, but when I try to open it it just closes right away. The same happens with Numbers, iTunes U, iMovie, Pages, and Keynote.


¹ Despite having working there I don’t really drink Starbucks.

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2 Comments

  1. Ken … thanks for posting this. I will check into those apps — they were installed before the mobile device management software was put on the iPads and I was worried they would create problems. Here’s a tip — just delete them and reinstall them — they are free and they are all very helpful!

    To get rid of stacks of paper I use two apps every single day — Evernote and Scannable. Scannable uses the camera on your iPad to shoot paper and you can send it to Evernote. I would be completely lost without Evernote on all my devices.

    I’d love to see the app you are building!

  2. Hey Ken, your Color Sounds 2.0 reminds me of how Edward Tufte starts his one-day seminars. If you ever have a chance, you should read some of his graphical representation of data:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Tufte
    http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlvUepMa31o

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