Been using the Boxer email client on the iPad for a week now and recommend it as a replacement to using the standard email client that comes with iOS.

These are what I think you will like.
– Works well with both Outlook and Gmail
– can create folders that connect across you different accounts
– you can make the swipe to the left and right work for you
– you can make it default to using Chrome as the default browser
– seamless integration with Evernote
– it remembers where you are filing emails so you don’t need to spend time saving emails into folder is quick.
– it looks great

Things that could make it great
– At the moment you can’t view a message full screen without clicking reply, this is annoying.
– if you set it up on other devices all your preferences and account setting could come along with them
– Being able to file messages from one email account into another accounts folders
– opening attachments can be problematic at times.

UPDATE:  I had to delete the program from my ipad as the Syncing with Outlook was just too unreliable so was unable to use as my daily client.

Got the ZAGG Slim Book for Ipad Air 2 today from Cuzin. Being a gadget freak always excited to get some new hardware.

This is what I like so far.
– Packaging was great came ready to go and felt like I had purchased the right kit

– It is a stable platform to type from and the keys feel great

– Was easy to configure and had it working within 2 minutes of taking it out of the box

– taking the keyboard component off is easy and does not take that much effort

– feels secure and acts as a good case

This is what I don’t like so much
– the hinge is rigid which is great, but feels awkward when opening up the iPad to use quickly.

– the keyboard is definitely much smaller than standard which makes it awkward to type, but you can’t do anything about that.

– I wish the screen would bend back further so I could use it easier when on the bus or using in bed.

– Its pretty expensive, even thought I got it on Cuzin and avoided a lot of the shipping.

Overall verdict: Does the job, wish it was a little lighter 🙂

UPDATE:  the case ended up breaking which had to be replaced by Warranty and then a key is come out which won’t click back-in.  I have started to avoid using this cover as it creates more problems than it solves.

Carmelo , what a great game! media.video.msg.com/theplatform2/M…

The news story – http://nydn.us/KSOtyw

I came across this wallet while browsing the web.  Its a great simple solution to an annoying problem for those me that carry wallets.

From an ecommerce perspective brilliantly executed, simple design, great product information supported by well crafted video.

If you want to know more on what I am talking about, check out the website http://bellroy.com/pages/slim-your-wallet/ or watch this video.

Oh, and if your thinking of buying me something for Christmas it’s the sleeve wallet I want J  http://bellroy.com/wallets/note-sleeve-wallet

Founders at Work is a collection of interviews with founders of some of the largest and most interesting technology companies including Steve Wozniak from Apple, Max Levchin from PayPal, Mitch Kapor from Lotus and Caterina Fake from Flickr.

It is absolutely fascinating to see how some of the most famous tech businesses got started and the combination of luck, flexibility, determination and individual brilliance that led to their success.

It is an inspiration of sorts that if you bring the right mixture of things together, the path to extreme success can be so quick. The book reinforces that in order to succeed you need to be flexible and as long as you stay focused to listening directly to the customer and reacting to them you will succeed.

In contrast it is so disappointing to reflect after reading this book that when many of the businesses mentioned became subsidiaries of large corporations that their momentum and entrepreneurial spirit were lost.

I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the way new highly successful businesses are formed and are interested in the people who form them.

So the Apple iPad has been released!

What I like from what I see so far!

The price:- for a bit of good looking equipment with the  features it contains I think the entry price is good.  Although  an additional 48 gigs of storage $330 seems a bit steep.

iBooks: It is fantastic that Apple are going with ePub as its format and the application looks like it’s really making an effort to improve the book browsing performance

iPhone application compatibility: By making it so all iPhone applications can run on the iPad gives the opportunity for further innovations from the likes of Stanza, Kobo, Kindle and Fictionwise.  With all these great readers and the new iBooks application eBooks are just going to get better and better.

The touch screen keyboard: Lots of people don’t seem to understand this.  Typing on a tablet till now has been crap, the reason for this was the inability to multi-touch,  i.e. you couldn’t hold the shift key and a letter down at the same time.  This screen will be fine for the touch-typing and the Apple correction software will ensure it.

What could be better?

The OS:- the iPad desperately needs an improvement to include multi-tasking and java compatibility so I can truly browse the web and use this as a home device.

The Screen: oLed is needed to make the screen readable for long times, the compromise is pretty good through and I think will be fantastic for non-fiction books.

Storage: a few movies, few songs, few books and then you will run out of storage.  The storage needs to be expanded or at the very least the ability to add memory cards

ITunes: I don’t want to have to sync this with my computer constantly and I want to be able to travel without the constant need to sync.

Camera: video conferencing please?

All quality eReaders of today use eInk technology as it is the only screen surface that gives you a non backlight, high resolution and long battery life experience.  This is required in order to give an acceptable e-reading experience.    I love this technology but am coming to the realisation that there are other screen technologies that could not only do the same thing but do it so much better.

OLED is one of those technologies and I don’t think it will be too long before we start to see these as the new trend in eBooks,  most probably being released through mobile devices.  It deals with the prerequisites of reading on electronic devices and starts to provide a few more, here is why;

• No backlight – OLED does not need a backlight to function, this means that there is not a light competing with the sun etc… with OLED the ability to read in all the same environments as a traditional book becomes possible.
• High resolution – OLED resolution matches and could exceed that of eInk
• Battery Life – because there is no need for a backlight the battery life is greatly extended as it only needs to power the pixels being used.  In the case of eBooks the amount of pixels that need to be active is much lower than other applications such as video.
• Portable – the screen is as thin as .3 millimeter.

There are also some added advantages

• It is full color and capable of showing video
• It can bend, making it possible to make things fold out.  This gives the potential for incorporating into mobile devices that can fold out to give a bigger reading experience as required
• The production process could be cheaper than LCD screens

Read more on LED with these links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oled

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/oled1.htm