Keyboard covering text problem - solved

After updating to IOS 8.0.2 on my iPad (v3) I noticed the text behind my on-screen keyboard did not scroll down and I could not see what I was typing. So for a quick work around I grabbed my Belkin Bluetooth keyboard which suppresse the online keyboard and used this.

A sudden thought this morning, what would happen if I turned off Bluetooth on my iPad. This I did and the problem went away. I then turned off the Belkin keyboard, not just disconnected, and turned on Bluetooth and the problem did not return.

It appears the iPad needed this extra shove to get going again.

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Must have Apps for new iPad owner

Friends just bought their first iPad (in fact a 32Gb mini) and here is a list of must have Apps I sent them.

• Flipboard.
• Snapseed
• Web Albums (Picasa)
• iPlayer
• iPlayer Radio
• ITV Player
• 4oD
• Instapaper
• Calculator
• National Trust
• Heritage
• BBC News
• iBooks
• Kindle
• UNO
• Dropbox

 

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*ION KEY49 Midi Keyboard USB Connection

On recent shopping trip I popped into local Maplin Store and purchased a Midi *ION KEY49 Midi Keyboard for £70. When I got home I connected to it into my MacBook via supplied USB cable, started up Garage Band, and hey presto, now have music. Well noise really as I have yet to learn how to play.


Since then I added a Sustain Pedal, purchased from Amazon for just under £10 including delivery. I opted for one with polarity switch, and this also works fine.


Then I connected it to my iPad(3) via Camera Connection Kit, and hey presto again, works fine. Amazing amount of instruments to play with, but I want to concentrate on learning basic piano first.


I was particularly pleased to discover the keys were touch sensitive as this was not mentioned on the box. Also there is an Up and Down button to shift the 49 keys up one octave, or two if you push it a second time, and down one or two octaves.


All the keys can be used to control mdi input, with a couple of other features but as yet I have no experience of midi.

Using MacBook Pro as attached Bluetooth Keyboard for iPad.

Introduction

I use my MacBook Pro 13" together with iPad a lot of the time. For example I may have Safari running on iPad with information on how to perform some task, say adding vignetting to PhotoShop Elements, and on the Mac have PSE open so that I can perform instructions.



I have a Bluetooth Keyboard which I use on iPad when I go away for a few days and do not take my MacBook. This got me to thinking that it would be great if I could use MacBook Keyboard in similar way. Sure enough, "There's an App for that!. Only this time it is a MAC APP, available in the Mac Store for £2.99 (Oct. 2012).

Type2Phone

Although the name refers to phone, it supports many IOS devices and so far I have used it with my 3rd. Gen. iPad. Look it up in the App Store here Type2Phone App Store.

Setting Up

I found it a bit tricky to make the bluetooth connect for the first time, but here is how I did it in the end.

1. Quit Type2Phone on Mac.
2. Connecting Mac to iPad via Bluetooth using iPad settings.
3. The forgetting connection.
4. Start Type2Phone on Mac

and this time connection procedures worked.

Experience

I opened Notes on my iPad and typed away on MacBook and it appeared perfectly on my iPad. There is a small window on the Mac which shows you the last few keystrokes but I found it easier just glance now and again at the iPad.

Blogger+ Tip. How to make list button work.

When stating to use Blogger+ on my iPad I could not get the list button to work.

Solution is:

1. Type in the list first just using enter key between each item.


2. Select the whole list.


3. Hit list button and select required format.

In fact all the buttons work better by selecting target text and then hitting button.

Blogging from your iPad

The nights are drawing in again, so my blogging activity begins to rise again. So what blogger app to use? I have the following on my iPad:

WordPress
BlogPress
Blogger+
Blogsy

WordPress

Not a user of WordPress services, so this was installed for a look-see and kept just in case.

BlogPress

Never really got this to work, probably my fault, but will probably delete once I am certain of the last two.

Blogger+

Current favourite. Easy to add images, you came include HTML and so can use MarkDown and WritingKit to prepare and paste into this. Interfaces well with Google Blogger which is my blogging vehicle.
I have written this article completely within Blogger+

Blogsy

A very comprehensive App but quite a steep learning curve for casual use. I will keep it on iPad and asses it more when I have time.

MarkDown Editor for IPad - Writing Kit

MarkDown Editor for IPad

Having just purchased the small cheaper Kindle I discovered that you can email various types of data to my-id@kindle.com and it will be converted to Kindle Mobi format and loaded into my Kindle.

This prompted me to review the few Markdown Apps I have on my iPad and I have decided to make Writing Kit my prime vehicle for creating documents I wish to keep on my Kindle. It has additional keys for entering the MarkDown commands and features to ease moving the cursor.

Another important feature, well a feature of MarkDown really, is the ability to specify native HTML for finer control, which can be mixed with MarkDown commands. I used this feature to position the Writing Kit icon on the left of the text in this article.

iPad photo apps - my best list

I was lucky to get a new iPad on release date and one of the first apps I loaded was Apples own iPhoto, pretty but limited and faulty - more on this later. Now a few weeks later my many photo apps are settling down to a well proven bunch.
I plan to write a more detailed review on the better ones in a little while but here is a quick overview.

The above image is roughly sorted into the order of usefulness.

Editors

Photogene

A great general purpose editor with all the usual "serious photographer's" functions and with some batch tools. I cropped all the icons in this post and then batch uploaded them to Picasa Web Album all from within this app.

Snapspeed

A very well designed powerful editor which uses the gestures available iPad to good effect. You can also buy a Mac version for little money.

Photoshop Touch

Adobe's app that first came out for Android kit. At first sight this looks really good, powerful and logical interface that will function well after some time spent in tutorials.
Main problem is that the photo is restricted to a maximum of 1600x1600 pixels, which means that you do not realise the full capability of the new iPad display.

When/If Adobe update this I will spend more time on it.

PhotoToaster

This is a new addition to my apps and I am very impressed. Lots of function and masses of pre-sets for various effects but also the ability to make your own adjustments.
This together with Snapspeed provides me with all the special effects I will ever need.

PhotoShop Express

Adobe's free photo editing app. Useful for quick adjustments and can export direct to Flickr. Doubtful I need it now I have the above.

iPhoto

Apple's much lauded photo app. Now I am a bit of a fanbois but this has dissappointed me. OK it looks fantastic, but the editing has a zany interface but basic editing is quite limited.
There is also a fault that it creates duplicate copies of photos. I noticed this whan after just a few days it was taking over 1GB of space and some photos had 7 duplicates. This is well documented on the forums.

I have un-installed and re-installed in the hope that I will receive notification of update that fixes the problem.

Photo Services

The above list are primarily editors. The following are tools to link to photo services, eg Flickr, Picasa etc

Picasa Web Albums

View and share photos online. You can upload from iPad to specific album and copy image URL to include in web pages or add to email.

FlickStackr

Similar to the above but this time for your Flickr account. Very powerful, you can update and modify most things related to your Flickr photos from this app.
I use PhotoGene (see above) to upload photos from iPad to Flickr. You can add Tags but not target to a specific set but once uploaded the photo can be placed in any set from within this app.

500px

Viewer for this up and coming photo service. I am quite new to 500px and only have free account but the word on the street is this is better for Pros than Flickr.
Not convinced yet and still evaluating service. This app is not as powerful as the previous two.

PhotoBucket

Another app for another photo sharing service. I considered using PhotoBucket as a source for photos to be used in web development. I tend to use Picasa and Flickr these days and so I do not expect to be using this much in the future.

PhotoSync

Before iCloud I used this app to wireless transfer photos between iPad, iPhone and MacBook. I had deleted it but in the early days of iCloud I found my iPhone would at times discharge quickly. I was not alone in this and suspicion fell on iCloud so I disabled Photo Stream and this stopped problem. So I reinstalled this app.
Now Apple seemed to have fixed the problems and I again use Photo Stream and have no battery life problem.

Eye-Fi

A specialised App for those people who use an Eye-Fi card in their camera. Eye-Fi cards also provide wireless connection so photos can be shared automatically without physical connection.

Instagram

This has a bit of a cult following so I thought I had better give it a try. It seems a bit "point and shooter" orientated and gimmicky for my taste so it will probably not last long on my iPad, especially as it has just been purchased for 1 billion dollars by Facebook.

Camera Apps

These last two apps are primarily for taking photo, and of course movies.

Camera

Apple provided camera App. Does a good job and of course no extra cost.

Awesome Camera

Similar to Apple'sCamera but with some useful extra features. Note this is an iPhone app but works fine on iPad. (Strange but iPhone apps look much better on my new iPad then they did on my iPad 1.)

Extra features include burst mode, delay photo until stable, interval timer, shutter delay. Also has Instagram type filters but I rather do this in Snapspeed and/ or Photo Toaster.

Mac Keyboard hidden keys.

Using my bluetooth keyboard an my new iPad the other day I discovered there were many other keys available wen depressing the alt key. Checking on Macbook I see this is also the case with its keyboard.

So here are a couple of maps that show all these possibilities

The following layout is for the bluetooth keyboard. Note this is an OEM (Othere Equipment Manufacturer) type sometimes know as a CCC (Cheap Chinese Clone) and not the official Apple one. Works fine though. I believe it is US type layout as there is only a $ sign and no £ sign, but that can be typed by shift 3 as shown).

 

 

Adding photo using Blogger+

Trying to add photo with Blogger+

Like a lot of things, easy when you know how. The 'how' Is that Blogger+ first screen is where you choose photos and text blocks, multiple blocks of each if you wish, which can be ordered as required.

You can also add maps, YouTube, links but I have yet to try these.

This is one of my favourite photos. It is a pine weevil, photographed in Scotland.

Feynman's Lectures on Physics - PDF Version

Feynman's Lectures on Physics

A few years back I came across a complete set of Feynman's Lectures on Physics, which I first read when an undergraduate in London in the 60's when the books were considered cutting edge.

The other day I found some downloadable PDF versions at Rapid Library. I downloaded as three PDF files, one for each volume. Messages popped up saying unable to view document but I then just clicked on the PDF filename above message and it downloaded with no problems.

I the clicked on PDF file in Safari window and selected Open with Goodreader and they were transferred over to this App.

So all I have to do now is read them, once I finished Huckleberry Finn. This time as I will be reading for pleasure with no stress of exams I hope not only to enjoy but also to understand.

IOS 5.0.1 No Problems

Last night I updated both my iPad and iPhone direct, no Mac. Worked 1st time, very quick.

Took longer to figure out that to get the advanced Gestures to work requires you to activate them in Settings - General.

Blogger+

BlogPress & Blogger+

Fir a couple of years I have used BlogPress on my iPad but currently it keeps crashing on startup. Their web site says they have submitted a fix to Apple so in the mean time I am trying Blogger+ which is on offer for 69p.

This is my first post with it.

TXTcrypt - Great App for Keeping Secure Data

It is amazing how quickly you can gather a host of ids and passwords, especially if like me you do not want to have just one for all applications. I do not allow browsers to store my passwords, what's not there cannot be stolen.

This is the system I use to store and protect this data.

Basic iPad

1. I have password set so that you have to type in 4 digit code to start iPad, and after 4 failed attempts the iPad is wiped clean.


2. Regularly backup iPad via iTunes.


3. Install free FindMe App so that if I lose iPad, or my iPod Touch, I can locate it and wipe it remotely if necessary.

TXTcrypt App

This App is very easy to use, see details at TXTcrypt website. Below is an example of secure data I have created using Notes.



Select all of the document in the normal way.


Start TXTcrypt and paste data, using the app paste button.


Type your secret phrase and tap encrypt so and then tap copy button. I tap the encrypt button twice, so even the encryption is encrypted again.


Paste this into your Notes or Pages or whatever you want to keep the encrypted data in. Make sure you delete or copy over the original none encrypted text.


Note The TXTcrypt data is always deleted once you leave the App so there should be no danger of someone getting your secure phrase or as we see later your decrypted data.

To decrypt this data just reverse the process, first select all of the encrypted data.


Switch to TXTcrypt and tap the Paste button.



Type in secret phrase and tap the Decrypt button, tap it twice if like me you encrypted it twice, and hey presto there is your data.


The encrypted data and the security phrase must be exactly the same as used before, if not you will get the following message. This is normally due to not selecting the data properly or mistyping secure phrase. I always check the encryption whenever I create it by doing the decryption immediately to make sure I did not mistype the secure phrase. When I am happy all OK I then delete original plain text.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad