Archive for January, 2010

The Apple iPad

Posted on January 28th, 2010 by Mel in Computers, Review | No Comments »

It’s been all over the news yesterday evening: first the “follow our live blog” offers, then the articles more or less in favour of Apple’s newest product: the iPad. The name is probably the biggest surprise since most sources went for iTablet or iSlate. I quite like iPad (which a friend of mine quickly dubbed iPADD – which may be the intended inside joke). The name, that is. The product? I’m not certain. I’m not an Apple fangeek though I appreciate their success in designing sleek, quite stylish computers and gadgets and I do own an old generation iPod shuffle – because it was the smallest device out there that I could find, though certainly not the least expensive and I still don’t like that I’m forced to use iTunes to load music onto it.

But I’m not here to rant about Apple right now. I want to talk about the iPad. I followed the Engadget Live Blog yesterday evening and I think noone was surprised anymore that the newest Apple product was a tablet.

The specs aren’t something that makes me go “waoh, so cool” either:

  • 9.7″ LED-backlit IPS display with a resolution of 1024*768 px. IPS means in-plane switching which, according to Apple means that it has a 178° viewing angle and the screen is therefore easily readable in almost any position you hold it. Oh, and it’s glossy, of course.
  • usable in portrait or landscape mode
  • multi-touch screen
  • it weighs roughly 680 g and is about 1.27 mm thin
  • up to ten hours battery life
  • built-in 802.11n Wifi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
  • 3G on some models
  • 1 Ghz A4 chip that was apparently built especially for the iPad
  • 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB disk space
  • speakers and microphone

The screen is a bit surprising given the 4:3 ratio which is very outdated if you have a look at current computer and notebook screens. But Apple probably put some thought into that. The rest of the specs are, as I said above, not spectacular but rather something that I’d expect on any tablet that wants a share of the market. The iPad does not have an integrated webcam which some people think is a bad idea. Personally, I don’t use webcams so I wouldn’t miss it.

During Steve Jobs’ presentation, he and others demonstrated web browsing, watching videos, some games, a movie, iWork (an office software), an image editor and iBooks (an ebook software) with comments about how awesome everything is and how the iPad just makes things all so very easy. iPhone apps can be used on the iPad as well and new apps can be developed now especially for the iPad – all available, of course, through iTunes. Oh, what I forgot to mention: there’s an onscreen keyboard very much like the one you can see on an iPhone only bigger.

Now, the question I’ve been asking myself for a while now, not only concerning the iPad but other tablets as well is: what’s the point?

From my personal perspective, there’s no reason at all to buy a tablet. When I surf or write or chat, I need a keyboard that is usable and not simply an onscreen keyboard that takes away screen real estate. Sure, for a short mail that is probably all that’s needed, but I doubt you can work for hours with just the iPad. Yes, Jean Luc Picard uses PADDs for the day-to-day ship life, but he used them mostly to read reports. To input data, it seems to be normal to use a stylus. Now, we’re not in Star Trek, and there may well be people who like to sit on their sofas and idly browse while watching TV for for whom such a tablet may be a lot more practical than having to balance a netbook or notebook on their laps, but if it’s for more than just watching movies, browsing and viewing images, I still doubt the practicability. Even for ebooks, I wouldn’t use it. That’s what dedicated ebook readers are there for which use an e-ink display that is matte and is made especially for reading continuously for hours without strain for the eyes.

Still, this is an Apple product and until now, the company has succeeded amazingly in creating hype and need around products that are certainly sleek and stylish but don’t necessarily offer more than others and that for a price that is generally a lot higher. But the iPad is different in that regard. Pricing, that is. It’s “cheap” for an Apple product with the basic unit (16 GB storage, no 3G) at $499 and even the most expensive unit (64 GB storage, with 3G) with $829 still well below the usual $1000+ prices one can generally see with Apple products. Of course, these are US prices. In Europe, they will probably just exchange the $ with a € sign and be done with it. And while the iPad comes out in the US in 60 and 90 days for models without and with 3G respectively, a release date for Europe is not planned before the summer, apparently to cut a similar data plan deal with European phone companies as they have done with AT&T in the US, i.e. $14.99 for up to 250 MB data and $29.99 for an unlimited plan. Prices are per month without a minimum contract period which is very interesting.

So, given all this data and the fact that the brand “Apple” is on the product, I was expecting that everybody would be rushing to pre-order the iPad. I was therefore a bit surprised by a poll done on jkOnTheRun, a mobile tech blog. The question was “Are you planning to purchase the iPad?” and I would have estimated at least 50% to 60% saying yes. But the final results of the poll with 2,000 participants were as follows:

  • 42% voted “no”
  • 31% voted “maybe”
  • 27% voted “yes”

That’s not even close to my estimation, but after reading some comments, I come to understand that quite a few people are disappointed by the lack of webcam, no handwriting recognition, no USB connectivity, no multi-tasking, no flash… Seems Apple may not have wooed the fangeek crowd as they used to do.

We’ll see how the sales turn out. As one commenter pointed out, the entry level iPad may well be a great Christmas gift this year. Not for me, though. My next gadget will be an ebook reader. :)

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First hand SEO experience

Posted on January 25th, 2010 by Mel in Misc, Review | No Comments »

I’m so proud! I wrote a blog post over at my friend Gizmo’s stupidities blog (don’t be fooled by the title, it’s not only stupid stuff :)) about the MSI e-reader that was presented at the CES 2010. With this entry, I managed to land on the first place in a Google search!

Of course, that wouldn’t have been possible without Gizmo’s great SEO, but I wrote the copy so it’s not all just because of the background settings. :)

Alas, I just had to realise that the entry is now on the fourth place only… Oh well. SEO and search results aren’t an exact science anyway. Still feels good though, to (have) be(en) at the top. :)

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Moving Tales I

Posted on January 22nd, 2010 by Mel in Moving | No Comments »

It’s been a while since I last posted, but after a brief stint to Paris, city of my dreams despite all the negative aspects, and a relatively busy week, plus a horrible 2009, there are finally some good news: my spouse has found a job. Yay. :) Since the job is in another city, we obviously have to move. Our choice fell to Düsseldorf, famous for its Altbier and the rivalty with Cologne. Though it’s not the city my spouse will be working in, it’s nicer and bigger and we actually have friends there which made the decision easy.

The first thing I did when I learned about the job was to go to http://www.immobilienscout24.de to look for flats, something I’ve been greatly looking forward to ever since we became unemployed. Finding just the right place to live may be a chore for some, but it’s something I enjoy. Looking at pictures of flats, checking out a particular neighbourhood and, best of all – when available – looking at floorplans and beginning to think about how best to furnish the flat.

Aside from rent and size (at least 60 sqm), we have another wishlist with items that are more or less important to us:

  • the location. It needs to be relatively close to the main train station or at least easily reachable by public transport. A supermarket should be in the vicinity as well. We don’t have a car and we also we don’t want to haul groceries through the public transports. It should, of course, also be safe enough.
  • the general condition. We don’t want to move into a flat that first needs a complete overhaul before it is livable.
  • electrical outlets. We both have computers plus assorted accessories like printer, scanner, cell phones, external hard drives etc. most of which require electrical outlets to work or for recharging. Not to mention  the usual household appliances like fridge, TV, washing machine… all of which need outlets. In modern flats, that shouldn’t be an issue, but older ones may be lacking in that regard.
  • an extra powder room. That doesn’t sound like such an issue, but apparently, Germans don’t usually consider that important. During my first search at immobilienscout24.de, I found 130 flats that matched the general location (i.e. relatively close to the station) and size requirement. When I narrowed the search to include only those having an extra powder room, the number of matchs dropped to 30.
  • good water pressure. I’m probably totally horrible with that, but there’s nothing worse than a shower from which you have the impression that the water basically trickles down onto you. It then not only takes ages to get soap out of your hair, but you don’t exactly feel clean afterwards as well. I know that if the water pressure in any given flat isn’t how I like it, it’s enough of a major point for me not to take this flat even if it’s perfect in any other aspect.
  • a bathtub would be a plus. Not for me this time, but for my spouse. I could live with only a nice shower. :)
  • if possible, no already equipped kitchen. Even if that would save us some money in the end, standard kitchens have a standard height which is too low for me. I’d prefer to invest some money into a kitchen that doesn’t make my back hurt whenever I cook or do the dishes.
  • not on the groundfloor. It’s not only that people could peek into your flat, but I’d never feel safe enough from break-ins.

Then there are some things that would be nice:

  • two bedrooms so we can sleep in one and put our computers into the other.
  • one large living space that includes a kitchen would be practical at times. Or at least with the kitchen close to the living space where we normally have dining and living room furniture, which of course means that the living space should be big enough for both.
  • since there are people who come to visit us regularly, we need the possibility for them to sleep at our place. We don’t necessarily need a bedroom just for that, but at least a living space large enough for a sleeper sofa.

As you can see, we’re not all that difficult. ;)

In order to find this perfect flat, I’ll continue my search within the next few days. Contacting realtors and such. I’ll keep you informed of the progress and result, of course. :)

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The place where time stands still – Die Bahn

Posted on January 5th, 2010 by Mel in Misc | No Comments »

I’m a relatively regular long-distance train traveller and have been for almost thirteen years now. Not owning a car, the train has generally been the best alternative for getting around. Since I’m also a heavy Internet user (who would’ve thought? ;)), I was delighted when it became possible to not only check train schedules online, but to be able to order the tickets and print them at home, thus making it unnecessary to find time to go to the train station during their office hours to get my tickets. Of course, nowadays one can probably use the ticket machines even for long distance tickets, but I like to have some time to find just the right train and that’s just not possible if there’s a chance that at any moment, there’s a queue of people wanting to get tickets as well.

There is only one little problem with the online ticket service: it only works for Germany. No, that’s not entirely true. I can buy tickets even if my trip leads me into the neighbouring countries. But I will not get the pricing information nor will I be able to print the ticket at home. Instead, it is sent to me by post which means that I need to purchase my ticket at least two weeks in advance, just to be on the safe side in case there are any delays in their handling time.

Why am I telling you this? Easy. Next week, we are going to Paris for a few days, mainly because of the present I gave my spouse for our anniversary, but also to see a few friends. This trip will take place using the Deutsche Bahn, or Die Bahn. There are quite a few people that keep telling us to take the plane, but really, that’s just a lot of hassle for maybe an hour of time saved. There might be cheaper tickets, but less than a week before the scheduled departure, that’s highly unlikely.

Anyway.  Since there are two of the aforementioned issues – trip into a neighbouring foreign country and less than one week before leaving – we had to go to the train station to buy the tickets. And I just knew that we would once again be dealing with one particularly lively lady. Like the last three times we went there to buy tickets.

When we arrived, there were already several people standing in line and only two counters open, one of which was indeed manned by just that lady. We were hoping to be lucky, but were not and so had to approach this woman who, even if she only says “Good afternoon”, makes me want to go to sleep. Seriously. Her voice is soft and low and devoid of any emotion or difference in volume or… life. And she generally takes a lot of time dealing with anything. But I was prepared. I knew what I wanted. Certainly, if I gave specific instructions, she would just type that into her computer and we could be out of there in five minutes.

Yeah, right.

The first wish we had was to take the cheaper of two possible trains on the way to Paris, one leaving at around 9 am, the other arriving at around 7 pm. If I do that search on the website of Die Bahn, it takes me less than thirty seconds per request. It took her at least three or four minutes and then she had to use her handheld calculator to add up the difference prices. I’m certain that’s not her fault but a flaw in the (horribly looking) software she has to use. The adding up of prices, that is. Finding the right train just cannot take all that long. Apparently, it does. And while we waited there, in silence, with more and more people arriving, our eyes were drawn again and again to the large wall-mounted clock. That seemed to had stopped moving.

Finally, we had the figures, made a decision – took us about five seconds – and then she went on choosing that train, looking for reservations – I never, ever travel without having a reservation whenever it’s possible – and did who knows what else while we waited and waited. After a while, she took the pages that were printed and began folding them. Almost like an afterthought, she added, “Did you want anything else?” … “Yes, a return ticket.” Duh.

Again, I knew what I wanted: a train leaving at around 10 am. I had checked up on it before, knew there were three possible connections that all left Paris at 10.01 am, but arrived here at different times, with the fastest arriving more than an hour before the slowest. But I didn’t know the prices but I trusted that since it’s their job, they’d sort that out at the Die Bahn office.

After what seemed to be hours later, she finally printed the return tickets. During all that time, I watched the screen though it was too far away for me to be able to read what she was doing, but either she did not know how to use the software or there was some other problem, for she apparently entered the data several times. I can only hope that she knows how to do her job. She’s been there for years, after all. In that case, I have to blame it on the software. It cannot be that difficult to create an easy to use software to ensure fast handling of requests – if their website already has such a tool! Admittedly, some information cannot be had online (pricing again), but it cannot be all that hard to add a module for that so that those poor people behind the counters can do their job in an adequate speed.

Had I had all information available to me at home, I could have made the purchase in less than five minutes. As it were, we spent half an hour in the Die Bahn office, ten of which were spent waiting for our turn and the rest to be spent waiting for the employee to handle two simple requests.

Now, I’ve worked closely with an inbound call center for a few years and know that time is actually money, especially in a transaction based payment scheme. I don’t always adhere to the policy that says “if a call lasts longer than two minutes, cut it”, for I think that a customer deserves to be treated with respect and also deserves their request to be handled in a timely manner – if that takes five instead of two minutes, it might cost the company a little, but if the customer hangs up and is happy, that’s a customer who’s more likely to stay – which means that they’ll continue to pay us instead of a rival company. In the end, this will save us money because we won’t have to spend a fortune in customer acquisition. At least not to replace old customers, but merely to find new ones.

There is a little problem: there is no alternative to Die Bahn. Of course, there are planes and I could rent a car, but neither is practical nor all that cheap and I still think that going by train is generally less stressful (unless they’re late as usual and you miss your connection). Therefore, I have to use Die Bahn. But they could really do something to provide work tools for their employees that ensure higher customer satisfaction. And tell their employees that even if they hate their job, showing it to customers is not the way to go. A smile now and then and some enthousiasm would go a long way as well.

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