Blind Not Dumb (Posts about mobile)

Apple IPad Pro Smart Keyboard

cpatti — Sun, 05 Mar 2017 04:50:00 GMT

So, after suffering a few years with a flaky iPad Air 2, my lovely wife convinced me that it was OK to treat myserlf last week, and I got myself a 9.7" iPad Pro with the Smart Keyboard.

To be honest, I've been super unhappy with Apple keyboards of late. They seem to think that everything should be a laptop keyboard - super - compact layout and a super squishy typing feel.

However, i my opinion Apple's superior mechanical designers are firing on all cylinders with the new iPad Pro Smart Keyboard.

The layout feels like a regular laptop keyboard. The keys aren't cramped at all like the ones on the old iPad Air 2 Keyboartd case I used to own, and the typing feel is surprisingly good for a device that folds into the caser and barely adds a quarter inch to the combined thickness of the device with the case closed.

It's also notably lighter than the old keyboard case, which added markedly to the overall weight of my iPad.

As I write this I'm 35,000 feet up in an airplane on my way to a Florida vacation to visit my in-laws and two of my best friends who recently moved there.

Typing on this keyboard is surprisingly comfortable. In fact I'll go out on a limb and say it's the most comfortable mobile keyboard I've ever used.

Unlike other iPad keyboards, the Smart Keyboard mates with the iPaad Pro through a mag connector where the case attaches to the iPad. This means that Bluetooth pairing isn't required which is a big win. Anyone who's used a Bluetooth keyboard will know that they can sometimes need to be repaired, usually at the least convenie moments.

There's also no external power source required - no battery to worry about having to charge or fiddle extra cables to have to haul around.

It's more expensive than the average Bluetooth keyboard, but from where I sit you get a lot of value for those extra dollars.

In short, this keyboard is precisely the kind of super elegant, ergonomic design with unusual attention to detail that made me an Apple hardware fan all those years ago.

Oh Wordpress, I love you but you make it so hard...

cpatti — Thu, 21 May 2015 15:16:00 GMT

It feels like there are new security issues around WordPress every week.

Admittedly, the fact that WordPress automatically updates itself helps a lot, but it does lead one to wonder if a simpler solution might make more sense.

I really like the idea of a static generator tool like Pelican, but also really enjoy blogging from my mobile devices with tools like Blogsy.

One friend suggested using Pelican, and using Github's built-in editor to create the Markdown, so I suppose I should explore that.

What I would really love to see is a solution where I could compose on my mobile devices in Markdown, then somehow get those changes checked into Github so I could statically generate my blog later from a computer.

Apparently, I want everything :)

A middle of the road solution might be to simply give up and let Wordpress.com manage my blog, but I think it's helpful to keep some skin in the game and run my own site given that I build infrastructure for a living.

If anyone reading this has any amazing solutions to the problems I pose here I'd love to hear about it!

Oh Swype, Where Have You Been All My Life?

cpatti — Sat, 21 Mar 2015 14:40:00 GMT

For years my Android using friends have been revving about Swype.

When tablets and smartphones first appeared on the scene, many of us were so awash in the glow of our shiny new toys that we overlooked a glaring weak point - text input.

In a stunning display of uncreative design, the keyboards for these devices were simply 'virtualized' versions of their mechanical counterparts.

The result seems like a regular keyboard, but bereft of the comparative elegance and efficiency of touch typing we are left in an incredibly unsatisfying state of perpetual hunt and peck. To add insult to injury, this ethereal target we're eternally stabbing at changes underneath us to suit the whim of the author of whichever app we're using.

With Swype, one simply glides one's finger from letter to letter spelling our words. Swype handles tedious details like putting spaces between words or after periods.

I could keep babbling, but suffice it to say it has been a life changer for me. Paired with Blogsy, my iPad blogging ttyl of choice, you may be hearing from me more often!