Finding An Audience

Trying to find an audience when your blogging about the same things a million other geeks are writing about is not easy. I've been blogging on and off with this site for about a year and even though I do show up in the search result (waaay down the page) it's going slow. Finding an audience is tough and I am going to try and stick to more things I don't see blogged about elsewhere. Mainly that means blogs about how to use things. More and more people are using "simple" devices,  like an Android Phone, iPod Touch, or an iPad. Even IN the home, the tools I grew up on are more simple like the PC or a Mac. They are being used in a more simplistic fashion. People remain buried within their APPlications like Picasa or iTunes or their favorite web browser. They know how to do what they need to do. However, questions do come up and it's far beyond their understanding as their is no button to push or icon to touch. If something goes wrong with iTunes, they are clueless and it takes a while to find a friend that knows or find the easiest to understand website to show them what to do. Lifehacker is a great site that shows people everyday tips and tricks and I will take inspiration from people like it's founder Gina Trapani to talk about what I know best. Any feedback is greatly appreciated as to what someone wants to see on here. I'll still want to blog occasionally on my opinions of tech matters, but I'll focus those things on Google+. Thanks for reading.

Why the iPad Needs Multiple User Accounts

Are you comfortable with someone seeing your day planner? With prescriptions or doctors visits you prefer to keep private? Do you want someone rummaging around your wallet or pocket book peeking at photos that were only meant to be seen by you? These are things the iPad now takes place of in many ways. 

The iPad has become a personal space to many users. It has it's "safety zone" qualities one associates with their backpack, pocket book, or even to an extreme their car or their home. It has all those things we consider to be private and we control who has access to what parts. Only a few years ago before we had tablets, smart phones, and even the precursor PDA people carried around a day planner or some sort of notebook or a sketchbook that contained information that only the owner accessed. Password not needed. 

It's finally got to the point where people respect the privacy of another's smart phone and dont do the whole "Oh let me see what apps you got!" Some still do and it drives me crazy. And it drives me even crazier with the iPad. When I bring the iPad somewhere people feel the need to see every app that is installed, go to the photos app, click on the Facebook app and poke their nose in every pixel they can manage too. I hope the day comes when people stop doing this. 

My iPad truly has become such a personal item with material that is private to me localized on the machine or in the cloud where I keep myself logged in so I can quickly  get to it. Depending on where I go with the iPad I have to remember to clear my browser history or make sure nothing super private is easily accessible. 

There is a Pin access you can enable to use the iPad which is a good security feature if you ever lose your iPad. Once you're in, you're in though. There are apps that are starting go enable their own pin such as the Terra web browser and the Friendly Facebook app. You can set them all up with the same Pin to make it easier for yourself.  Isn't hoping for each app developer to implement a Pin acess a bit ridiculous and having to enter it even more? I'm told that on a jail broken iOS device you can have multiple user accounts but I shouldn't have to jailbreak to have such a simple feature that's been around on desktop pc's and macs for years. 

So until people stop being nosey I hope iOS gets multiple user accounts. On a side note it would also be great for multiple user accounts as families can't afford multiple iPads! 

iOS APP inSTALL bug?

Today on two iOS devices (ipod touch and Ipad) I had an issue with an App icon simply saying "Waiting..." On the iPod Touch I actively went to download a game and that's when it came up. However on the iPad I didn't install any app and there it is. Coincidentally it appeared on a co-worker's iPhone 3Gs. Apparently it's not just something with me and isolated to only my iTunes account. I was able to eliminate the "Waiting..." icon on my iPod Touch by syncing, un-checking the game, syncing, download the game THROUGH iTunes on the PC and re-synching. I cannot however explain the "Waiting..." icon on my iPad.