The best video player for the iPhone is Olimsoft's OVideo

(This article is taken from my archives.  I originally wrote it in January and in March, I haven't changed my tune, and yes, this is another one of my rants on codecs and iTunes)...

I waited for a long time to see VLC show up on the iPhone - 2 years to be precise.  But having downloaded it on its first day of release, I have yet to use it.  Why?  Well, upon reviewing the early users of the program, although the reviews were good, one reviewer placed a very interesting comment, something to the effect of, "not as good as Oplayer..."  One didn't have to say this twice.  Immediately I took the opportunity to download the Oplayer program followning the VLC download.


The reason for a third party app, which believe me, we have all been waiting for, is due to the fact that Apple's Quicktime refuses to play anything other than .MV4, .MP4 files or other simple file types.  It will not play .DIVX or .MKV files.  I do not know if licensing is an issue or something else, but it has been a frustrating endeavour listening to the Jailbreakers and Android owners boast about being able to play different codecs.  So it was a hearty surprise when an app called CineXplayer was accepted into the iPad app store.  It allowed the above mentioned codecs to be played by going around Apple's codec limitation and allowing the .AVI files to be uploaded via iTunes.  I fully expected this to last for only a few days and be removed from the App store, but it wasn't.  The only problem was that I do not own an iPad.  So it was watchful waiting until the CineXplayer developers released a version for the iPhone and iPod Touch.  The rumor mills were filled with VLC entering the fray and I was thrilled to find out that VLC would be released soon.  I downloaded it the first day.  But it was Oplayer, an App that, until noted in the review, made absolutely no noise in the video environs, that eventually won me over.

I was able to immediately use the Oplayer App but not the VLC application due to the fact that the OPlayer application allowed for OTA (Over the air) downloads immediately.  The VLC application, similar to the CineXplayer on the iPad, requires iTunes to transfer its .AVI files to the device.  Ovideo does not. 

Ovideo may not be perfect, but I have not found any significant faults thus far.  It plays Xvid files and other .AVI files wonderfully, while distributing its .MP4 files to the Quicktime player, the native player of the iPhone, thus not duplicating services. 

One very interesting thing that Oplayer does is to change the port for each download.  It's a wonderful security measure, and obviously something that the creators of this software program thought about for a long time.  You may start on port 2456, and not the usual 8080, but after owning the software for a few weeks, you will soon see 5255, but never the same port on the same day.  Again, brilliant security feature.

Standard video plays better than HD video due to the iPhone using Hardware acceleration for its native Quicktime videos but not for standards that it does not natively support. But Oplayer even has a solution for that.  Just like in the Palm days, there is a Skip Frame feature whch may improve performance on HD.

Of note, you can also play .mkv, .3gp, .mov and .rmvb files, not to mention Microsoft's .wmv files.

Some things that I would like to see in the future are batch downloads, support for the Mac Centric AFP network for Airport and a working meter to tell how much longer the download will take. Other than that I really have no issues with the software.  It does its job very well.

So, if you are looking for an alternative to QuickTime, I think Oplayer is worth a look.  In fact out of all the video players that I own on my iPhone, I would rate this as the best.  The cost is $2.99 as of this writing and it is found in the App Store on iTunes.  The maker of the software is Olimsoft.

LDD.

Apple sets date for WWDC. It all comes together now....

In one of my posts I wondered about the reason for hosting the WWDC in late june, postulating that Apple was ready to disappoint in the quarter ending in June, due to relying solely on the iPad and Mac sales to drive the quarter.  Seems as though everyone got this one wrong.  If my estimates are correct, with WWDC being held on June 7th, this sets the quarter up nicely for a new release of the iPhone.

One wonders whether the events that took place at Gourmet Haus Staudt (where the prototype was lost) had anything to do with this.  One also wonders what will be offered up in late June since there is an opening there for an Apple meeting also.

With the Palm purchase by HP and Apple appearing to be pulling out all of the stops on the iPhone - with videoconferencing - this summer could end up being one of the best for innovation ever.

LDD.

Conspiracy Theorists, how about this one?

Bloomberg today published an article, speculative as it may be, that Apple may tighten its noose around people attempting to "test" the iphone, limiting it to executives and a very close inner circle.  Granted!  But the final paragraph made me start to wonder about something:

Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs personally monitors the so-called carry list of staff members allowed to take pre-release devices off the company’s campus, according to the former employee. Approved staff members must sign an additional confidentiality agreement, the person said. 

 Citation:  Bloomberg (Link)


So, reading between the lines, if Steve Jobs personally monitors a carry list, wouldn't Apple have known about the missing device in March?  Wouldn't the most logical thing to do, if you were an employee, be to trace where you went before you lost the phone?  Apple knew the phone was lost because it shut down the phone remotely.  Or at the very least, the engineer shut down the phone immediately.  If you're able to do that, using the mobile software, why couldn't you use the tracking device to at least give an idea of where the phone is located?  Gizmodo and a few other blogs are saying that the tracking software does not presently work on iPhone OS 4.0.  So how does the wipe out work?  Or did the man at the bar, the one who found the phone, attempt to get into the phone more than 10 times producing an instant wipe out?

My point here is this.  Steve Jobs must have known about the lost iPhone and the most logical thing to have done would be to contact the bar where the phone was lost.  This was not done.  WHY?  I think you can see where I am going here. 

Here's my Conspiracy Theory.  Take it for what it's worth:  The end of the quarter is in June.  However, for reasons known only to the Apple Corp, the WWDC will not start until June 28th. A strange date if you want to see revenue, earnings from the iphone in that quarter.  There is a strong possibility that the iPhone being touted on Gizmodo is NOT the iPhone that will be released.  There is an even stronger possibility that the iPhone that we think is going to be released was deliberately left in the bar.  Crazy?  Well, not if you want to get all of the publicity out there before June.  Whip up the frenzy and then over deliver with a product that no one can refuse.  I believe that the final phone will look nothing like the one on Gizmodo and that this was in fact a deliberate play by Apple.  The responses given by the Apple engineer make me suspicious.  Gizmodo posted this and it didn't sound as if he was remorseful, scared or even livid.  Add to that Apple's unusual sublime letter to Gizmodo to send back its device as opposed to a Cease And Desist order that usually comes down like a mighty hammer and I think that you can see that this may have been a ploy by Apple to control the press or even gauge the thought processes of consumers:  Were they angry?  Overjoyed? Excited?  Yawning?  Salivating?  Additionally, what better way to get publicity and gauge the FanBoys and Techies than seeing if Gizmodo or Engadget will bite. 

Okay, so it's just a theory, but here's where it really gets interesting.  This quarter may be a wash!  Why would anyone buy an iPhone before July if you knew a new one was coming out?  A possible reliance on Mac sales and 3G iPads could ensue for this coming quarter, but the latter is a low margin affair.  This will not affect earnings well, possibly leading to a downturn in the stock on the day of the earnings release, but recovering once consideration is given to what is coming next.  No, it is possible that the September and the obvious December Quarter (New iTouches) are where Apple is hoping to shine.  This product "leak" may have been a test to see just how much it will be accepted before the final product is made.   And what, if anything, the tabloid geeks really want.

Yeah, call me a conspiracy theorist, but let's face it, you are thinking about it right?


LDD.

iPhone 4.0 My thoughts....

I have a few thoughts about the upgrade. First of all, I do want to upgrade my phone due to the low ram and the ridiculous quantity of apps that I have collected over the past year. Many of them free, but with some apps priced at 0.99 and 1.99, the ecosystem is a "suckers paradise." I figure that Apple is making millions of dollars from this "Crack Garden." And when the software is done right, you cannot complain. You come running back for more. Believe me, no one is exempt from this.

I had planned on handing over my current 3G phone to my wife, but I think that she would want multitasking and video recording and, well, you get the point. She thought about giving it to the kids, but I think that's a big mistake, until she added "to use as an emergency phone. It's only $6.99 per month to add a line." Gosh, even AT&T is in on this "suckers paradise." So it is that if the pricing is favorable (and I mean really favorable, because I am a miser when it comes to these things), we will have two new iPhones (? iPhone HD, iPhone 4.0? iPhone 4G?), whatever they decide to call it.

For me, the high points of this new update are many, but none more so than # 1 and # 2. I have been waiting for #1 forever. So, without further ado, here's my opinion on yesterday's preview:

1. Multiple Exchange Accounts.

You know, I think Steve actually reads his emails, the blogs and reviews. I actually sent him two personal emails on this subject. Not expecting to receive an answer, I saw this voiced on many other boards. The iPhone has replaced all of my email reading tasks. I am no longer tied to a desk to read my messages. When I had a Palm, the actual idea of writing a response back with a stylus nauseated me. Now, I can even dictate the response back without problems.
But really, what was important to me was this. I never ever wanted to share my private family life with the company that I work for. Don't get me wrong. I love the company that I work for. They treat me well, but sharing the fact that I have to go to my kids' basketball game or show up at the PTA or go to my Mother's house for dinner just didn't feel right. Worse! Keeping two separate calendars was a real pain. Although I have not seen the implementation as of yet, I am hoping that we will be able to show both calendars superimposed. Bravo on this one.

2. Local Alerts.

Read my take on this in the previous post. But this should have been available in 2007. I mean calling this a new feature is a bit embarrassing.

3. Multitasking.

A lot has been written about this, but I think that the furor has been overblown a little. I really think that multitasking comes in a few flavors, but most are battery draining and performance lugs as noted on both the new Android devices and ALL Windows Mobile devices. For me, I have rarely ever wanted to use two apps at once. But there has always been the one exception: The Calculator. Although I am happy with Multitasking, so that we can use the calculator, I would have much rather have the OS-X approach to this which was to use DASHBOARD. For those of you who don't use a Mac, Dashboard in my opinion was the single most advanced feature that turned many people - myself and my family included- into Mac lovers. It utilized widgets that were installed into the Dashboard system and upon pressing the middle button on the mouse, overlayed a series of widgets - ie. Weather, calculator, sometimes games, time, and a host of downloadable widgets - which did not interfere with whatever it was that you had on the screen. With another click or hitting escape, the overlay disappeared and you had your original display. It was almost as if you were running two separate entities in one. I always thought that this would be transferred to the iPhone, but it has not been. Personally, I would prefer the widget approach, particularly for the Calculator and the Calendar. Nevertheless, I can't argue with the Multitasking approach detailed yesterday.

I guess the one question that keeps popping up is are we really seeing multitasking? It would appear that whatever is running in the background, actually isn't running, but suspended. I have always thought about the Unix approach, which is a program doing a calculation, say 1+1=2,+1=3,+1..... while in another window you're doing something else, but upon return, you see something like 4096+1=4097,+1...., instead it looks like you'll see: 3+1=4,+1=5...., Pause, return 5+1=6,+1=7,+1. But they did show Skype working in the background. So I am not sure how this works. Is it suspended or is it active in the background? I really didn't understand Scott Forstall's explanation of this. I'm sure that developers will bring this up later.


4. CalDAv invitations.

Another Duh moment! This is another one of those things that, if it is what I think it is, should have been in the OS a long time ago. How many times have you gotten an invitation or an appointment in an email? In windows, you can click on the appointment and it sends it to Outlook and puts it in the calendar. This is one of those things that should have been available from at least the second iteration of the phone. But kudos to Apple for listening again. I really think that they listen attentively.


Can you believe it? These are the top 4 things that I am excited about with the iPhone. Yes, I like the bookstore, but I've got Amazon's Kindle on my iPhone already and it's doing a fine job, not to mention Stanza, which does a great job for books I've had from my Palm days. There is a lot to like about this update and luckily my contract is up in a few months so upgrading - if the price is right - will be a good thing.


LDD.


Addendum:

Did anyone see the SDK4 picture below? It was presented during the presentation. It was really glossed over, but I found a few interesting things in the diagram, mainly in the almost blurred tiny settings. See what you think about these:

1. iPod remote control accessories.

A-hem? What in the world? Are we talking about IR remotes, WiFi remotes? It's just a blurb, but it looks really interesting. Could it compete with Logitech's Harmony or is Logitech a part of this?


2. Embed PDF metadata.

I have no idea what this would be used for. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Is it possible to label all of my journals with metadata for specific storage? Is it a DRM feature (not so nice if it is)?


3. In-App SMS.

Sounds delightful.


4. ?Dock based orientation.

I think that is already in place, but I could be wrong.


5. Date Data Detectors.

Absolutely wonderful and I would presume goes in place with the CalDAV explained above.


6. Address Data Detectors.

What a welcome addition. Less typing. No copy and pasting. Wonderful addition.


7. Tuesday 17.

Okay, this one is a bit of a stretch. But in the box of goodies, there's a date that shows Tuesday 17th. Tuesday is a popular day for Apple. A lot of newly released products come out on that day, but granted I am falling into the Distortion Field again - didn't I tell you, no one is immune? - so, I got to thinking, if it was good enough for the Beatles to play these sorts of games, why not Apple? Tuesday 17th, falls in August. Could we see the new iPhone or iPod Touch or iMac or whatever, on Tuesday, August 17th? I don't really think that this was a random picture. But maybe it is. In medicine we call these zebras, when you hear the clickety clack of a 4 - legged creature wearing horse shoes walking outside your window. Most of the times it's obvious, it's just a horse, but there's always someone who thinks it might be a Zebra. And today that's me :):).


LDD.

Local Alerts....New Feature? Say What?

Okay, so I saw the Apple presentation yesterday. I was totally impressed by the offerings. I could live without the iAds, but the fact that they are for free apps made me know that I could opt out if I wanted to. But what struck me senseless was the Local Alerts feature.

I admit that I have become ensconced in the world of Apple over the past two years. I thought long and hard before jumping ship from the Palm platform to the iPhone. But I have never looked back. But there was always something gnawing at me on many occasions: "My Palm could do that." I found myself saying that a lot when several things were not so readily available on the iPhone. Nothing was more glaring than Local Alerts!

Local Alerts were the mainstay for almost all of the important apps that I had on the Lifedrive. My pregnancy listing made in Smartlistogo would send out signals on dates that were important, along with color changes of names for dates that needed to be addressed. It was truly basic.

What nailed me during the presentation was that this was being presented as a New Feature! Something that we can now use as developers. I was stupified! This should have been a basic feature from day one.

For me this is great news. I constantly use Appigo's TODO program which must send its alerts through Apple before it comes back down to my phone. It's not bad, but fails in time sensitive conditions. Here are a few examples:

A. Write letter for A. Shobedoo. Must be done by April 1st.
Date entered: March 2nd.
Time to remind: March 27th.
Actual: March 27th (0900).

Analysis: Not a problem. I was reminded to finish the letter in a timely fashion.

B. Call for telephone deposition for L&I claim for Ms. T. on April 2nd at 4 pm.
Date entered: April 1st.
Time to remind: April 2nd at 3:30 pm.
Actual: April 2nd at 3:45 pm.

Analysis: Big Problem Here! I have always set my presets 15-20 minutes ahead of time
in case I am running behind. This one was set 30 minutes ahead of time and still it was
received 15 minutes late. Server issues?


If you have ever wondered why you would want a local alert, the above two scenarios should answer that question. I was always baffled by the fact that there was no local alert mechanism with the exception of the Calendar. Server issues are major. Apple has to be delivering thousands, if not millions of alerts each day. There is no chance that it can deliver these things on time, every time. My suspicion is that they have woken up and delivered so-called Local Alerts to reduce liability issues. In a program like TODO, if the alerts were about giving yourself Insulin Shots or having some life-saving medication being delivered at a specific time, down-time server issues could lead to potential law suits from developers and customers alike.

It is really about time that this service was offered. It really should have been done a long time ago. I am very happy about this, because now it means that I can write a program for OB that delivers timely reminders for my pregnant patients, ie. Mrs. J needs her glucola test this week or we need to do an ultrasound this week for Mrs. P. The other beauty of this is that since my iPhone has password protection and since Handbase has encryption, I can now use real names on my device. The idea of sending this alert to a 3rd party was not in concert with HIPAA.

This move now also solidifies my move to the Apple ecosystem as a viable alternative to Palm.


LDD.

Nirvana in Todo Land....Toodledo

When I used my Lifedrive profusely, I often wondered what would happen if I forgot the gadget at home. All of my Todo lists were on the device. Naturally, I could have used the Exchange server at work as a backup, but there were times when I felt that my needs with the Exchange Server conflicted. For example, did I really need my workplace to know that I was visiting my mother or that I had to pick up milk at 5pm? Too personal. On the other hand, I needed to know about important meetings and the Lifedrive and all of the Palm devices afforded me a way of knowing these things well in advance - be it 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week. But I still yearned for something more. The day that I left my machine at home showed me that.

It was a tuesday as I recall, back in 2002, I had a calendar of events as long as my arm. I had to see patients, but in between that there were other things that had deadlines fast approaching - and all of those non-direct patient care deadlines were on the device. Some things required phone calls being made before 5pm, some before 2 pm. I couldn't keep up with them all. My Palm Tungsten kept everything in place. I missed nothing that day, but only after getting back in my car at lunch time and driving home to get it. My partners thought I was crazy, but I knew better. The day ended at 11pm, but not without me putting a check mark next to every single item on the Todo list for that day.

So I began thinking.... Backing up the Todo list and the calendar to the PC was not the best thing in the world. If you left the gadget at home, you had two devices at home - The gadget and the PC. Enter Google!

Google was not the first to start putting things in the cloud, they are just the best at it. They have seen the future and it really is in cloud computing. Other companies have jumped on the bandwagon and some of these smaller companies are doing an incredible job. Again, I do want to give a shout out to Mobisystems for creating one of the first cloud devices, found on the palm with their MobiOffice suite for Palm. Hands down the best ever created for the Palm, eclipsing Dataviz. But I digress.

For the last two years I have been looking for a calendar solution that would integrate online and with the iPhone. I have yet to find a solution that works well. If I use my workplace Exchange calendar, it wipes out my regular calendar and events. If I use Google's calendar, I can't get my work calendar in at the same time due to the limitation of only 1 exchange server at a time on the device.

So, I began looking at the second problem that I was having, linking Todo lists which I use quite frequently. After reading "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," and "Getting Things Done," and eventually listening to the hyper linguistical Merlyn Mann, I have been keeping TODO lists since 2000 and perfecting them after reading and listening to the other two that I mentioned. The 7 Habits book was a lifestyle changer for me. I categorized everything that I had to do, including family time and forced breaks. I have since fallen away from some of the very draconian things that I used to do, but with work, I find that these lists are invaluable. If something is due next friday, I label it a "3." If it suddenly becomes more important, I drag it up to a "1." I am able to complete things, not always in a timely fashion, but complete them none the less, using this system of importance. It turns out that others have been using systems like this for years. In "The Toyota Way," one of the first electronic books that I ever downloaded, I was stunned to see how these systems were used over and over again in the production plants. Microsoft, in a book written by one of its serious gurus - Randall Stross, this system was not only looked at, but strictly adhered to and probably accounted for much of the incredible profits this company produced during the heady 90's. "The Microsoft Way by Randall Stross" is a book about nothing but lists. I couldn't believe it when I read it in 1999, soon after reading "The 7 Habits..."

Fast forward to the present day, after years of searching for the near perfect solution, I finally believe that I have found my list taking Nirvana. The website is called TOODLEDO.COM. There is a competitor called REMEMBERTHEMILK.COM that is similar. But what makes Toodledo so wonderful for me is its integration with a TODO list suite called TODO (What else right :)?). TODO is available on the iPhone and is a list makers dream. It is customizable and can synch with either your Mac Desktop wirelessly (which is a dramatic plus - can you hear me Dataviz????). But it can also synch with TOODLEDO.COM for free. What's nice about this is the fact that even without a desktop app for the TODO iPhone program (It synchs with the iCal application, but not in an elegant way), synching with TOODLEDO.COM affords the download of a desktop widget, which is basically your TODO list synched with your iPhone. Make a change to your iPhone and hit synch and the change is on the desktop in the widget, in the cloud and available from any machine, be it windows, linux, solaris, Mac OS X, Symbian, Pen & Paper :). That IS TODO Nirvana.

Now, I am looking for the same thing for a calendar program. I would like a calendar program on my iPhone or any phone for that matter that would just synch anywhere. Google doesn't quite cut it due to some issues on the iPhone, especially the lack of multiple exchange servers or at the very least allowing 2 exchange servers on the phone. In addition, I would like for the calendar to be able to show the calendars of the rest of my family. Even my young kids have gotten into the calendars now themselves. I would like to see those calendars and not have to put their events in my own calendar, but have it just show up. Still not there yet.

In regards to notes, I have found a note Nirvana solution too. But more on that later.
For now, I highly recommend the following for the chronic List Takers out there:

1. TOODLEDO.COM - An online Todo list that synchs with iPhone's TODO.

2. iPhone App TODO by Appigo - A little expensive at $9.00, but very customizable and the best TODO app I have ever seen on the market. I've used at least 5 of them on the iPhone.








Honorable Mention:

1. REMEMBERTHEMILK.COM - These guys actually started the craze, but App
integration has been spotty. Additionally, the iPhone app is a
little too sparse, when compared to TOODLEDO.

2. Mobisystems Database for Palm - When I used it, it was the best Office App ever,
but it is a little dated now with the iPhone. Additionally,
there is no TODO list available. Still a great suite if you're
still using the old Palm OS. By the way, it won't crash your
Lifedrive. (This is really an honorable mention for a program
that brought me great joy).

LDD.

The iPad

Today's announcement was again another master stroke from Steve Jobs. However, most in Techland are unimpressed by the device. Its name seems to offend some women, if the blogs are to be believed. Its lack of Flash is still hitting hard in some circles; the OS being possibly some flavor of iPhone OS 4.0 and not OS X 5.1.X seems to be bothering a lot of people, even though these things don't seem to upset people in the Netbook arena running a watered down Linux or Android system.

To call this a big, fat iPod Touch would be close, but not completely precise. It appears to have created a niche unto itself. It's not an eBook - it's a lot better. Yet, it's not a portable laptop - it's less than that. It is a class all by itself.

It appears to beat the Kindle, something that I was about to buy in December to read more books. I believe that the pricing is the killer app! A lot of people expected $1,000. What they did was segment the market, while still keeping even the top model below the price of a MacBook. Brilliant ! They now have segments in just about all markets: The Sub $500 market will get you the low end iPad, any series of iPhones or iPod Touches; 500-999 will get you a used Macbook Pro or a MacBook or any series of iPads; 1000-1500 will get you a Macbook and a low end Macbook Pro or a desktop iMac fully loaded. 1500-2500 will get you an extra fully loaded iMac, a super duper Macbook and a fully loaded Macbook Pro. 2500+ will get you a Mac Pro - the PC looking separate machine with a monitor separate. They own this entire genre. Not to mention the fact that everything talks to everything else.

Some are ticked off that the iPad has no USB slot, but why would you need it? It's an advanced eReader basically, not a full fledged computer. And what about the iWork series on this thing? $10 buys you brilliance. So, they have Price, Products and a large developer population. The No-Boys (and they are mainly boys) say that this product is too lightweight and will fail dismally.

I say "NO!" The product is pure genius. I believe that many women will purchase this product. Mainly because it doesn't get in the way of doing whatever it is you are doing. There is no Operating system to worry about; no virus shield etc. The 3G option without a contract is again pure genius. I can see myself going away for a week and staying on 3G while I'm out and using the hotel wifi for everything else. I think that the only thing that will remain is whether AT&T means it when it says Unlimited Wifi or if it's 5 Gigabytes?

I think that Apple will learn a thing or two from Palm however. I don't think that Steve mentioned Iphone OS 4.0. I think that that will come either next month or during the iPhone presentation. Why is that important? Because I believe that we will see MULTI TASKING during 4.0. Jobs actually listens to the criticism. This is a 1.0 device. But I will probably still buy it to talk with all of my other Apple products. The syncing and the Sphere is just so compelling.

But look for OS 4.0 to take a gigantic hint from Palm with its opening page. I don't think that we will be thumbing through pages and pages of apps. I expect to see some kind of folder.

So, to my original query. Who will buy the iPad? Doctors, healthcare workers, people who like reading books, women, not kids and not teenagers, some tech savvy users, but not most, but definitely those who do not "like" or "get" computers. At $499, it's going to be compelling. It's better than an eBook reader; better than a Netbook and with excellent productivity software, it outshines a lot of laptops.

I think it's going to be a Winner. Uber-Geeks sit this one out!

LDD.

Site Down? Thanks Google.

I got word from Sam, a good friend of mine, that my site was down for a while. I confirmed it 3 weeks ago and found out that Google thought that my site was a Spam site.

I later received an apology from Google and the site was put back up this week. Luckily, I gain no income from this site, but there are some important links and information that a lot of people have grown to depend on residing in this simple one page site. Thus I am happy that the site is back up and functioning. And I thank Google for putting my site back up.

But that leads to a few questions. Do I want to continue doing this? Lifedrivedoc has almost outlasted its purpose. The fact that someone had to tell me that my own site was down is testament to that.

Now that Palm has released the Pre and I have just about chosen to go the Apple route, a very radical decision on my part, and one in which I will explain in a later blog posting, I feel compelled to let my opinions be known elsewhere.

There is still an awfully large amount of traffic traversing this site and so I pay to keep it up. I also appreciate the thank you's that have come by in regards to information on the Lifedrive. However, my use of the device has dropped considerably in the past few months.

I'll keep you posted on my whereabouts, but for now I am starting a new blog which reflects where my mind is at in terms of handheld technologies. I'll still post here, but I will also be posting at www.theiphonedoc.com on a more regular basis. I will be concentrating on Apple Apps, iPhone Apps, mainly medical and other things that appear.

I know that it will be one of many thousands out there, but I have to be true to myself at this point and again, I'll drop my thoughts on the reason for the switch at a later date.

Welcome back readers and I'll hopefully see you on both sites.

/LDD.

Why I'm leaning a little.....

As many of you who have read my previous few postings on this blog can see, I am slowly leaning away from my Lifedrive towards something else.  I have waited almost two years to see what is out there that can replace my OS. 

I do not want to leave the Palm platform, since I have become accustomed to it.  But with the advent of WebOS, a nascient OS that may not serve my long term needs for data management, I am looking at other alternatives. 

What has become important is something that never existed 2 years ago - an App store!  Yes, we had Handango and a few other sites for Palm, but to be honest, apart from the excellent catalog layout - which is sadly lacking with Apples App Store - the content is not altogether brilliant.  There are pockets of excellent programs, particularly in the medical field, but many others are too rudimentary to cost what they do.  For example the average cost of an App is about $10.00, while on the Apple store, it is less than half 

of that.  Palm and Handango and other sites were able to dictate the prices due to the small niche held by Palm at the time - a very long time for that matter.  Some of the prices were extraordinary.  For example, SplashiD for Palm has been listed at well over $20 ever since its inception.  It costs $24 as of this writing.  I actually spent a lot of money purchasing it as one of my main pieces of software on my Palm.  However, when the product was ported over to the Apple App store, it cost just $9.95.  However, they sell a separate desktop edition for $19.99.  Many people just use the handheld version, an obvious mistake since it can be lost in synching.   But why the price discrepancy?

Let's look again at the Medical part of the Palm section on Ha

ndango.  The first 20 applications on the site are selling at an average price of  $40.80 per application !!! Granted some of these are quite good applications, but most are reference materials.  Are these applications really worth the price that they have been declared for the past 8 years?  

To be honest, if many of these applications were about 25% to 50% of the cost noted, I would have probably had a lot more apps on my Lifedrive, instead of relying so heavily on my Database programs.  And how much were the developers making wit

h this approach?  I can't imagine that many of them sold thousands of copies of their products without special discounts etc?

Which leads to the question.  Why didn't anyone ever consider an idea like an App store before Apple?  Why did Palm not consider doing this?  Controlling this?  It would appear that like Microsoft, Palm preferred to have the solution come from many different directions.  What accrued in the end was a plethora of software, but alot of incompatabilities as well. 

But all of that pales in comparison to the next scenario.  Now folks, this is something that I either never knew about or just failed to understand.  It is also why I believe some of the software was priced out of the stratosphere to begin with.

It turns out that many of the developers on Handango and other sites where Apps are sold have been paying a rather hefty fee for hosting their files there.  How much?  Well, let's look at the following chart, taken from The Boy Genius Report in February, 2008 

 

  

So that's 50% of the gross revenue for most apps going to Handango !!!!  With that finding, I am now seeing why the applications are so costly.    So one would think that with some outrage at this pricing, things would change for companies that are coming on board with their own App store right?  Wrong!  Fast forward to todays Boy Genius Report that Microsoft, which owns a large chunk of the mobile market has decided to do something so heinous that I almost crawled out of my skin when I read it.  

Microsoft has decided that in order to place an App in their new App store, a developer will be allowed 5 free apps before being charged $99 for each app.  Sounds okay at first, until you realize that each update of an application counts as an application !!!!  So, if you decide to come out with something in beta - as many on the Apple App store do (just don't tell them all it's a beta product),  or you or your customers find a bug in the software, then you may end up paying Microsoft $99 for the pleasure of updating your application.  So, you may say, why not just go somewhere else and have your files hosted?  Mmmgh, have you seen Apple's traction data?  Compare it to the data for "jailbroken" app stores.   Infact compare it to the traction data for any Mobile store ever made.

The result of this kind of pricing "scheme" is to eventually fleece the very consumer that is trying to purchase a product.  It hurts everyone.  It may be the reason why we are seeing so much innovation in iPhone applications in such a short amount of time.  I would say that Apple's iPhone now only 2 years old, and its App store which is less than 1 year old is acting like a 5-6 year old store (ie. Palm, Handango, Palminfocenter), the former kings.  I would venture to say that Apple's drive to collect 30% of gross revenues appears to be extremely fair, given all other scenarios.  Additionally, developers faced stiff competition in the App space, where reviews were so visible for software and the power of the iPhone numbers and central location made it possible for many developers to lower the price of their software and concentrate on volume, rather than attempting to find niche players.

However, there is always going to be holdout!  If you have an iPhone, pop over to the app store and look at a program called Stat E&M Coder.  The lite version is free, but the developer must have had a flashback to Handango/LSD/mushrooms???  He decided to charge $79.99 for the full version of the program !!!!  You've got that correct, if you think that this is an E/M coder for the iPhone.  It is just that.  Granted it codes for different specialties and it does it well, but with just 2 reviews as of this writing, I'm begining to think that others believe that this is too pricey as well.   Will the old Palm developers who used to charge $79.99 and $40.00 - $50.00 succeed with this type of pricing on the iPhone?  My gut instincts say no.  The drive is for volume and developers will make very little money selling high priced applications, regardless of how complex it is.    So will they just avoid the platform?  I say no!  The platform is too big after only 2 years and it's only getting bigger and bigger.   

And I have not even mentioned the dawning of the iPhone 3.0 SDK.  What a thing of beauty that is.  The ability to let the phone talk to other devices is just going to be phenomenal.  Will Palms' nascient WebOS be able to deliver all of this and more later this year?  I am begining to have my doubts.  Of course I hope that they do, but come June my mind will be made up permanently about what the move for me will be.  Right now, it's tipping a little towards Apple, for the same reason that it was on the side of Palm for so many years ------SOFTWARE!

LDD.

Resources:

BoyGenius Report 2/16/2008, "Handango revises CDA...."

BoyGenius Report 3/25/2009, "Honeymoon for developers and Windows marketplace developers may be over. "

http://software.palminfocenter.com/

http://www.handango.com/catalog/SoftwareCatalog.jsp?storeId=2218&deviceId=741&platformId=1&categoryId=7603

Amazon Kindle for iPhone. WOW!

Okay, so the Kindle may not be for you and the iPhone may be only a thought in your mind as you decide whether to wait for the Palm Pre or succumb to the iPhone.   Although I believe the Kindle and its wonderful books are going to be ported over to the Pre and other devices, the first look at the Kindle for iPhone is, to sum it up in one word:  REMARKABLE.

The application loads in its usual fashion to the iPhone.  However, you have to go to the web and to the Amazon page to get your books.  You can do this from the iPhone or you can do this from the computer.  You must go to Kindlebooks though in order to get the Kindle version.   This is a slight flaw in the iPhone program, since really you should be able to buy the books directly from the program itself.

I did go through the purchasing part on my computer and was surprised to find that my purchase showed up on my iPhone almost immediately.   The pages are well preserved and you can choose your font.  I found it to be a little more responsive than Stanza, the de facto comparison, but a little less than Classics - the snazzy graphics intensive program that has limited open source books available.  

What is nice about this is the fact that Amazon has an amazing library of books, both popular and obscure.  I believe the quoted count for the Kindle was 204,000 (*1).  To be able to access these without having to hook up to iTunes and sync over the air is just wonderful.

The software is 2.9 mb and is a version 1.0 product.  

*1  (From Amazon.com as of 3/4/2009). 

LDD. 

Addendum:

I should note that one can get similar functionality from Stanza, which offers a large selection of books.  However, I do not believe that they offer either the pricing advantage or the sheer volume of books that Amazon does.  However, Stanza is a great product that is a must have if you have an iPhone.   The major differences appear to be in Stanza being a little more graphics intensive, which tends to run down the batteries a little faster.  But both are very good. 

LDD.

I like the iPhone 3G, but it's missing something....

One of the things that I was looking forward to testing and using on the iPhone 3G was the ability to use it as an Enterprise device and personal device. I wanted to be able to have both my work calendar and personal calendar on the same device. I wanted to be able to separate my contacts by having my personal home contacts and work contacts apart. Alas, for all of the pomp and pageantry erected for the device, it still cannot do this. Additionally, it cannot edit documents because there is no "cut and paste" command !!

I think that Palm is safe for a little while at least. These were things that I thought would be fundamental to the device. I will have to wait and see if these improvements are noted later on in the year. The whole concept of separating my family calendar from my work calendar was really appealing. Now, I will have to wait a little longer to see if I am going to get one of these devices.


Taken from Engadget,

"the system is unable to let enterprise contacts and calendars coexist on the same device with personal contacts and calendars. (Personal and corp email get along just fine, though.)"

http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/11/iphone-3g-review/

Caveat Emptor: Apple SDK - will it change the Medical PDA?

From the very first day that the iPhone was mentioned, I pictured the writing on the wall. Palm would be knocked from its seat atop the medical apps world. Windows CE/Mobile would be a 3rd class citizen. I saw images of xrays, speech recognition software, e-readers with superior screens and that virtual keyboard, which seemed to beat graffiti, hands down overtaking anything that had ever preceded it.

However, from my perch, overlooking the sea of change, I perceived something else. It came to me last month when Steve Jobs debuted the iPhone SDK. One of the programs shown, running natively on the iPhone was EPOCRATES - My favorite medical app. Although I was happy to see EPOCRATES joining the sea of change, I began to have a slightly negative chill run through my veins this week.

One of the nice things about EPOCRATES is its seemless nature, jumping back and forth between applications and searches and updating itself almost automatically. However, herein lies the problem. PRIVACY !!!

For those of us who use EPOCRATES daily, we know that the company saves a list of the drug searches that are placed in the search box. If we use the online version, these searches are recorded. What becomes of these searches? Who views them? Are they open to scrutiny from drug companies etc ?

And who can forget the day when you bought your first PDA and it appeared robust, clean and snappy. Then you installed a few apps and suddenly you found your then large 64 mb memory turning to scraps and your brand new spiffy device beginning to crawl, falling victim to MEMORY HOGGING!

EPOCRATES is huge! It literally takes over your Palm device when you install it. It begs to be updated if you are 30 days out. It allows you to earn CME on your device by browsing over documents. Data, unknown to you, is sent back to Epocrates. What becomes of it? What else is being sent to EPOCRATES?

Don't get me wrong. I think EPOCRATES is fantastic. I have just signed up for another year to use them, but I use them as an example. There are a lot of companies competing to be a part of the Apple halo effect. There is pent up demand, akin to the early Palm days. But could we find ourselves in the same software bind that beckons us to leave Palm or Windows CE/Mobile? Will the new medical software take up 1/2 to 3/4 of the disk space, leaving what little space on the device useless, thus slowing the machine down to a dull roar? Will we be the subject of constant data mining, going on behind the scenes, with programs calling back to home (How would you like to be on vacation in another state, using your iPhone, not knowing that you are being tracked by one of the pieces of software that you have installed, because it calls home every time you turn on your device)?

We are all looking at the fantastic potential the iPhone and possibly other new devices have in store for us. But we must be careful not to let this fascination with advancement cloud our judgment, giving away our souls in the process. Medicine is an art and a science, but if we let others dictate what we should do, even surreptitiously, just to make life a little easier, we stand the chance of not living up to our maxim: Primum non nocere. As we embark upon this great future, we must DEMAND this of the software makers also.


LDD.

Software or Hardware?

So, another bad quarter for Palm Inc. You can read the numbers on a financial blog somewhere, they were dismal. Yes, the Centro is selling like hot cakes, but with its $99 price tag, it has done nothing for revenue or income and in fact has obviously cannibalised the Treo. On the conference call, there was mention of 2 new Treos coming out, but unless these have a very sexy look to them, this could be another dismal showing. There is some excitement knowing that one of Apples' hardware designers is now on the Palm team, but Palm will lose either way if they do what I believe they will: If they come up with a similar Treo that looks remotely like the 600 or 700 series, no one will be excited; if they come out with a brand new original "cool" Treo, but carrying the same OS 5 operating system, no one will be excited.

With the SDK being released for the iPhone, Palm essentially has 3 months to come up with something dramatic. The iPhone SDK, as I thought it would be, is actually quite amazing, according to a few developers whom I have spoken to. With Epocrates now releasing its software natively on the iPhone, we are seeing the migration to this device. It is only a matter of time, before Dataviz, Mobisystems and others do the same. I am expecting physicians to leave the Palm fold in droves. There is already an online petition being written for physicians to use the iphone as a medical device and requesting that software be written for it, leading to easy migration away from Palm.

I have not yet left! I am still using my Lifedrive, albeit reluctantly due to its lack of speed and its weight. Yes, I was excited about the refurbished iphones being sold by AT&T for $250.00, just slightly above what I would have expected to pay for a new TX. But I am still using a Palm device. Why? Well, it is not as simple as many on Engadget and other tech sites believe, to just drop this device. For a physician who is using critical data files, such as those found in Splashdata, Handbase, Smartlist and other proprietary programs for which there are no substitutes, walking away to another platform is not that simple. For Apple, despite its SDK, it will still take at least 6-12 months for developers to write software that will be of the same complexity as those found on the Palm. There is a plethora of software for the Palm and that is why the demise of this company is so hard to bear.

It is software, NOT HARDWARE, that has been the achilles heel of this company. Its failure to release OS 6.0 or Linux; its failure to offer multitasking or a definite roadmap for its developers has led to this problem that we have now. Without giving up anything (the developer has an NDA), I have seen a few programs on the iPhone that have simply made my jaw drop. Xrays shown in fantastic detail with no blurring with magnification. Why couldn't Palm come up with this? Any attempt to mix graphic visuals with text and wifi will crash your hard drive on a Lifedrive and soft reset the TX.

So, here we go again. Three months to go and we will either see Palm rise like a Phoenix or (and I take this from the great Mike Cane)..... do so poorly that they have to go private. Innovation is a difficult thing to do.


LDD.

Styletap may provide an answer for those of us on the wings

So this serves as the first post for the year. And what a discovery. Styletap, a company known more for their Windows Mobile products than anything else, specializes in creating Palm Emulation software for these devices. It would appear that our Windows friends have been taking advantage of the wonderful Palm software through emulation (and I must say they have kept quiet about it...:)).

Now the company has provided a proof of concept video that embarks upon turning the whole handheld market into disarray. For now, it's been Palm vs. Microsoft in the handheld space, with the former taking its knocks, almost becoming extinct. Now, Apple has joined the party. As I noted back in January of last year, Widgets will probably be the entry point for most software when the iPhone SDK comes out later this month. But what is now interesting is the fact that Styletap has created a Palm Emulator for the iPhone/iTouch! For those of us sitting on the side, wondering what it would be like to have an iPhone, but holding back because of software issues, this could be very interesting.

One of the programs noted in the video is iSilo. This is a must-have for most Palm owners who have medical software. The demonstration appears flawless and also incorporates the Apple virtual keyboard. Another program, Statgrowth from Statcoder is also shown (http://www.statcoder.com/). This important tool is a must-have if you need baseline numbers. The collection of software tools from Statcoder include:

1. Stat E&M Coder.
2. Stat ICD-9 Coder.
3. Stat CPT Coder.
4. Stat NCD Lab Coverage.
5. Stat Growth-BP.
6. Stat Cholesterol.
7. Grace ACS risk.
8. Stat Cardiac Clearance.
9. Stat Hypertension JNC 7.
10. Stat A-Fib Stroke Risk.
11. Depression PHQ-9 Score.
12. Stat Diabetes.

All of these follow the same engine and so should work with the emulator. Noticeably absent, and a major concern, is a relational database program or software that requires any form of significant data entry/storage. I would think that this would create significant issues with the disk. All of the programs listed are essentially, non-volatile ram resident programs. The type that would work on any non-nvfs file system or early Palm systems.

Of course, with the release of the SDK for the iPhone and iTouch, the emulator may become irrelevant, with companies deciding to "emulate" the most successful Palm programs natively. There are now 4 million + iPhones in the hands of customers, a large enough base to make it worthwhile for the software developers to look at this. As I write this, I am still waiting for an answer from Dataviz in regards to writing for the iPhone/iTouch. It would seem that this would be a profitable venture for them too.

Over the next few months, I think that the handheld space will once again become important as this proof-of-concept emulator may be the tip of the iceberg.

Will the Apple SDK spell trouble for Palm?

Recently, I had the opportunity to travel across the country. I was not surprised to see the large amount of cell phone devices at airports. It seemed as if no one has the ability to remain unconnected; as though the need to stay on top of things is paramount to one's very existence. What did we do before cell phones?

But the smart devices, well they are the more interesting gadgets. Yes, there was the iPhone which seemed very interesting, but I had the opportunity to see some other devices in action. The Ericsson P3i model was interesting. I was able to get my hands on one at the airport and it really looked and felt good. The Blackberry line was also interesting.

Not to be left out, I took out my Lifedrive and ran ran the eBook program and started reading Dr. Doolittle, a novel that I had started about a year ago on a family vacation. It was interesting and I got through about half the book without interruptions. But then I ended up watching a movie and an episode of House. It was then that I realized how versatile my Lifedrive really is. Not only could I read an eBook, watch a movie and a TV show, but I can then leave both of those and run Documents, Spreadsheets and medical software.

Then I got to thinking. With Apple announcing that they will open up the iPhone in January or February, will this bode well for Palm? In fact, will this bode well for Microsoft and its platform of devices? If you suddenly have a device that has the best screen known on any portable device, coupled with the speed of program access and seamless phone and web access, along with a built in music player; now adding an SDK for developers to port popular programs such as Epocrates, Documents, PDR, Harrison's, various medical calculators and suites, PDF's and other software, what would stop thousands of health care providers migrating to the Apple side, buying either the iPhone or iTouch?

Throw in an ereader with black ink on a white background and you just might have the perfect device. Obviously batteries are a concern and if Apple decided to make iPhone II with removable batteries, then this could spell trouble for Palm. As soon as I see the first medical app for the iphone, with very little utilization of memory, I will know what is happening. I think that we will have to see how this pans out, but my guess is that the small entrepreneurs are the ones who will be doing this first. A simple OB calculator to begin with and the next thing you know, it's an iPhone Medical Suite.

Palm must come out with its new OS soon if they are to prevent the migration of providers and customers to Apple.


LDD.

Something I have always wanted.....

One would have thought that Palm would have come up with this first. But no, It's our friends at Apple again. A company by the name of Life Record, with offices in New Mexico, has produced a fascinating program to run on the iPhone. It is probably the best medical use of a portable device that I have seen in a long time. It is actually taking this whole thing to a different level. Watch the video below to see.

(PS. The Gallbladder comment is actually a stomach bubble. Probably an I-T executive producing the video, but it doesn't take away from the experience)...The bar has again been raised: