This posting was prompted by a reply I made to a blog post recently. Besides, everybody else has published an opinion on the iPad and I don’t want to be left out


Photo Copyright Apple Computer Inc

The iPad is not a techie toy. There, I said it.

However I know 8 or 9 relatives or friends for whom it will be an excellent piece of kit, I believe the real magic happens when the developers get hold of it.

The young, the disabled, the keyboard shy, the ‘not interested in computers I just wanna browse Ebay’ and the learning challenged will all benefit from the simplicity and UI of this device. It won’t replace my iPhone or my Sony eBook Reader or my 17” MacBook, but I have some ideas that I think are crying out for a device such as the iPad.

There are omissions and limitations but nowadays release early is expected and necessary if you want to start ahead of the game.

Besides, the gauntlet has been thrown, let’s see what Google and Microsoft can do. If they can do better then I’ll buy theirs instead.

Looking forward to seeing how this pans out

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Tags: IPad

The Arten Science Update and Information application is now available for free download in the iTunes store.

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/r10/id352832289?mt=8

Available for the iPhone R10 is an application which gives you the latest news from Arten Science by giving you access to the both the Arten Science Blog as well as my Personal Blog (this one) for those who are interested in the person behind the company.



See the screenshots below:





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Tags: IPhone, R10 , R10 iPhone Application, Software News

In three years we will look back and acknowledge that January 27th was a turning point in technology development. Ignore the naysayers - this device is going to be ground-breaking.

The Steve Jobs Keynote

The iPad Video

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Tags: IPad

I’ve started to rediscover the Black Sabbath back catalogue having finally got all the albums into iTunes. Below is the name and publishing date for each album:



And here they are looking great in iTunes showing the album artwork:



Here’s Tony Iommi - a ‘Guitar God’, and the father of Heavy Metal.



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Tags: Black Sabbath, Great Rock Bands, Guitar

The Outlander Max by Can-Am.

When two wheels are off the menu for a while, what you gonna do for fun ? Fun is always more intense when it has an engine





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Tags: Outlander ATV, Can-Am

To celebrate our move to FastSpring as our e-Commerce provider (and lets be honest - to increase revenue) you can now use the following Coupon Code during January only to gain an extra 25% discount off Arten Science Products:


ARTJAN25

The products that you can use this Coupon with are summarised below:

ContaX CRM
R10Office
R10Cipher
R10BatchMail
R10Clean
macVCR
MonitorMac

This code can be entered at the final stages of the Checkout process.

Happy Shopping



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Tags: Arten Science, Coupon, Discount, Marketing, Promotion

Software Developers may be very familiar with Version Control Systems (VCS) but few other people are.

Basically a VCS allows you to IMPORT your documents or files into a managed repository. From this repository you can CHECK OUT the documents and files that you wish to work with. When you have completed your changes you COMMIT the changes back to the repository.

This gives you the ability to ROLLBACK to a previous version of a file or document should you need to. In addition when multiple people are working on the same project a VCS is invaluable due to the way in which changes can be MERGED.

I’ve been using Cornerstone as my VCS for a while and I think it’s great. The complexity is hidden away, and lets face it, so it should be ! Cornerstone is a Client for the popular Subversion VCS. Subversion comes installed on Mac OSX but you can instead use the version that comes with Cornerstone.

I now have *everything* (of importance) in my VCS repository. This includes all program code, documents, photographs and even databases. In addition to that my VCS Repository is syncronised via my Dropbox account so that an offsite copy is kept automatically.

I’ve never been happier about the security and safety of my code, documents and data. The tools are available, both inexpensive and easy to setup and use. There is no excuse for losing data anymore.



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Tags: Version Control, VCS, Cornerstone

I was at the hospital again yesterday for the triple thrill of Xray, Consultant and OT Splint appointments.

My consultant went to great lengths again to explain how serious the injury was and finished by telling me that another operation will definitely be necessary, but not until the healing has been completed, and that could be 1 to 2 years !

The problem is that the leg below the knee is held in place by ligaments, which in my case are shredded, this means that my leg has become bent quite significantly.

A new splint was created for me yesterday that puts the knee under stress so that it is once again aligned correctly with the top of my leg. This is quite painful and has meant my ability to move and drive has been put back a few weeks.

I have to now deal with the fact that the next couple of years will be tough. It will be an effort to walk, difficult to drive and impossible to ride my motorcycles. For anything other than the shortest of walks I will need to use my wheelchair.

Other than a (hopeful) reduction in pain, as I am now is how I am going to stay for the next couple of years. So I guess I’d better get used to it ...

Sh1t Happens

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Tags: Steve Cholerton, Operation, Left Tibia, Motorbikes, Progress, Crash

I’ve just attached a 1TB drive to my PS3 loaded with 300 or so of my favourite Movies and 500 or so Albums. This gives me access via the optional PS3 Remote to a complete Home Entertainment System that makes my AppleTV kinda redundant. There is no reason to leave my chair again. Ever.

The setup was simplicity itself:

1. Obtain an external, preferably large capacity, but quiet, USB 2 Drive
2. Format it as FAT32. (On the Mac use Disk Utility)
3. Create the Folder structure as shown below:
MUSIC
PICTURE
VIDEO
4. Copy your Music, Pictures and Movies to the drive using your computer.
5. Connect to your your PS3 using a USB2 cable.

One annoying thing that I noticed after browsing the drive from the PS3 is that the Mac has left a few of it’s hidden ‘dot’ files on there. The easiest way to get rid of them is to reconnect the drive to your Mac, load Terminal and execute the following command:

> dot_clean /Volumes/DriveName

That’s it. The PS3 is highly recommended not only as a superb gaming machine but also as the hub of a HD Media Centre.

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Tags: PS3, AppleTV, Home Entertainment