Test post using Blogsy

So this is a test post using an app called Blogsy, it's in the AppStore and it looks promising so far. Like any new piece of technology there is a learning curve, however the upside is being able to use my iPad efficiently for blogging. The interface is clean, and the app as whole looks promising. It also has the option of setting up the publishing time and day, so a post could be worked on throughout the week and posted later.

A photo from my library

And another photo...

Test video...

So not too bad and not too painful either, the real test will be tomorrow at 9am when this post is supposed to publish. Is it worth the $5 price tag? Maybe. This will definitely need more testing to see if it's worth it, but the only thing I wish this could do now is directly import pictures and videos from your local library instead of having to upload them to an online version such as Picasa or Flickr. I think this will be a good stop gap until Blogger decides to make an official iPad app like Facebook did(which for some reason... that took forever). They (Blogger) have an app for the phone, but I haven't been able to find the same app for the iPad and I have looked.

A small showing

So here are a few pictures of glass installed in the lobby of the Crane Center.  I was asked, along with two other artists... Dion Utt and Lilandra Holmes, if we could show work for Startup Weekend that was being held in the top floor of Crane last weekend.

Now I did have a slight problem, I forget to get business cards and my resumé out with my work. Bad self promotion on my part.  However, I did remember a great thing from last year that seemed to be a perfect solution... QR codes.

The QR codes are linked to my blog to show process, and to my website for portfolios, resumé, and contact information.  Since Startup Weekend was primarily a tech development venue... teams would work on developing the ideas they had voted for on the previous day, after that they had a chance to pitch the ideas to investors... just about everyone there had a smart phone and a lap top.  This made the entire presentation super sleek, very clean, and paperless.

Thank you Charlotte!

The cost of moving forward

So, it was bound to happen.  The shake up of a technology I have come to like for it's simplicity and ease of use.  What I am referring to is what will ultimately be the end of iWeb.  Since MobileMe is going away by July 2012, that means iWeb will also be going away as well.  Considering there haven't been any updates for the service in awhile, this is more than likely true.

Moving to a new type of layout and hosting can be a great opportunity to try some things out and polish existing content to further streamline what I want from my website.  Better galleries for images, current images for my MFA work, and still have all that in an easy to use, 1 click publishing format.  Finding a good host can be a bit more challenging, especially since there might be a boatload of people doing the exact same thing I'm going to do.  Jump the MobileMe ship before the expiration date in 2012.  Since cloud based services are on the rise, this move isn't too shocking just another thing to do in a long list of projects that need to be done.  But it isn't it always like that?

An experiment

This semester marked a venture into doing as much work as paperless as possible.  This is a  daunting task for an artist but thanks to technology, most notably the iPad, it is an achievable goal.  It's only been slightly painful as I have used some paper to work out ideas and do some sketching on... but there's an app for that.

There are a few apps that have made this transition go really smooth and they are...

Note Taker HD
Pages
Keynote
iDisk
Amazon Windowshop
iBooks
Kindle
Google Books
SketchBook Pro

A few pieces of necessary kit would be...

Stylus
Protective case with multiple display angles
6 ft. charging cord from Apple


Now to really capitalize on this a stylus has been a must.  It allows me write and draw on a contact point much smaller than my finger tip for more accurate results.  Any PDFs I can open on the iPad I can open directly into Note Taker to highlight and make notes on.  If the iPad can't open it, no worries, I just open it at home and import it into the iPad via iTunes.

Pages, while not as powerful as Word, has a nice amount of features and allows any document you make to be sent as a Pages, Word, or PDF document.  My final paper for Theory & Criticism last semester was written on my iPad.  iDisk is a must for keeping important documents like my resumé, and pictures such as my portfolio always available.  All the ebook readers are good to have, if your looking for a specific book chances are one will have it.  I was able to find some textbooks in ebook format at a significant price reduction because there is no shipping, no ink, no paper.

Have I totally abandoned paper?  No.  Have I drastically cut back from what I was using before?  Most definitely.  I still use Post-it notes, but thats about it... I used 6 sheets of tracing paper to figure out my final form for the wire armature this semester.

Is it for everyone?  No.  Someone who is really into 2-D processes will hate it as an iPad does not have the strength of a laptop, at least not for 4-5 generations from now.  Anyone who touch types will hate it, anyone who actually types at all will hate it.  I hunt and peck when I type so no worries for me on the keyboard size.

The more I use it, the more I am impressed by it (and trust me, I was a heckler of it when it was first announced, I felt this video summed up all the hype it was getting) in terms of how it does everything I need it to quickly and efficiently.  How it has merged into my life rather seamlessly after giving my wife my laptop after hers got broken.  It can't do everything, but it's not supposed to.  Anything I need to do on a more powerful machine, like blogging, I make a note of and do it at home after working in the studio.