eLinea : Votre journal sur mesure et à la demande ! (eLinea)

I just created a new website for eLinea. The goal is to promote it in Belgium - French Speaking part.

See it here :

eLinea : Votre journal sur mesure et à la demande !

eBook writing and publishing

Today I'm trying something and I'm not sure it's a good idea (yet).

I have decided to write my eBook with Google Sites rather than with OpenOffice. Why ? So I can switch computer and share my draft with friends. The idea is to work in two phases : work on the content until I'm happy and than have a formatting only issue.

Is it a good idea ? Not sure yet...

The Pros :

• I can share it
• I can publish it in one click and people online can read it
• People who have access can comment

The cons :

•  I'll have to copy it all back from Google Sites to OpenOffice... and/or something else to create a PDF or an ePub or a file for Amazon DTP... And it's a LOT of work...
  

Don't touch my iPad, it's my private life

This morning I read a good article about the pro and cons of the iPad (see What I love - and what I hate - about iPad | BetaTales http://bit.ly/cltESi).

One of the good thoughts of this article is that an iPad is a personal device. Once an iPad is configured (email, twitter, facebook...), you don't want to give it to someone else as he would immediately have access to your 'secrets'.

This stresses once again the lack of security features on such devices.  In the future tablets will come with a multi-user login screen as on PCs. This will also make a process easier : the "rooting" or "jail-breaking" of your device. Logging in as 'root' will make it easier to configure the tablet. Having a real super-user access to a device that you own will become a real plus, especially for "enterprise" configurations for which apps aren't to be found in the App Store...

Note that Google, with Chrome OS has got it right. After you have signed out of your Google account, you could give the device to someone else who would just have to sign-in to have access to HIS information.

What to do with a Chinese iPad ?

If you buy a Chinese iPad 135$, for sure you will not have the same quality as a 500$ iPad.

The battery, the touch interface, the screen size , the speed are not as good as an iPad.

However here are the things I found working very well:

• Reading eBooks : with the Amazon Kindle or Aldico apps, reading ePub is very nice. I have succesfully imported the ePub version of Zelf eBooks Uitgeven van Wiebe De Jager.
  
• Dedicated Android News Apps like FoxNews, Europort, Weather.com, Lesoir (developped by AppSolution)
  
• Social apps like Twitter, Facebook
  
• Email and Calendar (Gmail on Android)
  

On my Chinese iPad, (Eken M003) the following are  OK - look promissing - but could be better (mainly due to the pushy touch interface):

• Google Maps
• Videos : Youtube works only in Low res on my setup
• Viewing Photos is a bit slow when the image is not at the right resolution
• Taking notes : if you get used to the touch screen it becomes possible, but it's not as smooth as on a real iPad

Conclusion : your satisfaction with an Chinese iPad will heavilly depend on the applications you use.

A proper configuration and guidelines on what to do/ not to do will make you happy.


And if you want more on Android, wait a bit to buy a better tablet like the Dune. But this is more expensive, more like an iPad...

eReading Reference Architecture : Reviewers Wanted

That's it. I have finalized a first draft version of my eBook : the eReading Reference Architecture.

I'm now looking for reviewers !!

To download the draft eBook, visit http://www.appepaper.com/ebook

Chinese iPad (Eken M003) : New Firmware and Android Market Problem Resolution

If you have bought a "Chinese iPad" (Eken M003) like me you might be disappointed when using it for the first time : Google is in Chinese, Android Market is not installed...

The good news is that you can change thisbu following this procedure:

1. Get the AndoidID from your device or from an emulator (requires to install and use the Android SDK). A procedure is described here:
http://www.slatedroid.com/wiki/index.php?title=Fix_Market_For_Slates#Make_a_new_androidID_with_the_Emulator

and/or here

http://www.slatedroid.com/eken-m002-android-tablet-discussion/3644-finally-my-market-works-download-apps.html


2. Install the Firmware
(See http://www.slatedroid.com/eken-m003-firmware-development/)

3. Put the AndroidID from step 1 back to your droid. (This is necessary otherwise all devices using the firmware have the same AndroidID, making it impossible to use the Android Market).

(Same link as point number 1)

Many THANKS to Slatedroid.com

If want me to do the procedure for you on your Eken, contact me :http://www.jfdeclercq.com/contact/
I will also install some cool stuff for you so we have the same configuration.

France24 : first documentary on the iPad

The iPad promisses to allow the press to sell content again. news flashes don't belong to this gategory, rather in-depth articles or dossiers would have more value on the iPad.

Today France24 advertise to be the first to publish a iPad documentary.

See France 24 launches world's first iPad documentary