4/27/10

This week we had another productive meeting with our programers. The latest update the programmers demoed to us was the map feature. They will use Google Maps and the user will be able to search within a predetermined radius, for instance 50 miles. The trails will appear as pins. When the user taps a pin they will get more information, like the trail name and rating. Then they will be able to get directions to the trail based on their current location.

The map feature will allow us to give users a visual representation of the trails. The map will be the most interactive part of iHike, so this is very exciting. We have also defined what the homepage will look like. We have decided that we will keep the homepage simple by putting an image in the background that will change every 30 seconds. Besides the image we will have the navigation at the bottom of the screen with a search bar at the top.

Even though there are just a few weeks in the semester left we feel that our app is coming along nicely. The features are coming together and soon we will have the trail information in the app. Seeing the evolution is a fun and rewarding experience.

Group Meeting 4/19

Tonight we met with our group of computer science students. They demoed a prototype version of Marin Hike that included the navigation and some fake trails with filler photos. This week we will gather all the trail information, for our programmers, so they can start building a database. We also discussed and finalized our features, so the computer science people can move forward with the interface. This week we are working on developing artwork for the loading screen and finalizing our homepage.

Clearly our programmers are very talented and organized. The prototype they demoed for us though basic was polished and clean. They also are very good communicators, especially in terms of bring the technical talk to our level.

For the trail information our plan is to go to the rec center and get data such as distance, location, description, and trail name.

iPad, to buy or not to buy?

By now everyone probably has talked about or heard a conversation about the iPad. Despite the horrible name the iPad is actually a pretty innovative product, but that does not mean that everyone should rush out and buy one. Though the iPad certainly does a lot well Apple did not create the perfect tablet. One of the biggest omissions is flash support, though according to Mr. Jobs Adobe is lazy and anyways HTML5 will be the new web standard for video, at least that’s the message Apple delivered. But there are other issues with the iPad as well, despite Apple's criticism of netbooks the iPad is not the best productivity tool. There is no physical keyboard, you can buy a keyboard accessory from Apple for $69, or stick with the 85% virtual keyboard. Of course the iPad runs Apple’s mobile version of OS X, the same as the iPhone OS, and therefore third party apps have to go through the same review process as iPhone apps. Currently there is no office app for the iPad so productivity users will need to rely on iWorks. Of the two iWork apps, each is $10, my favorite is Keynote, and theoretically this could work well for doing presentations on the go.

So would I recommend purchasing an iPad, maybe. Really, the iPad is primarily an entertainment device that just happens to do email, web surfing, and even lets you read books, interestingly Amazon has released a Kindle app for the iPad. So, if you want one device that fits all, music player, web browser, email, and eBook reader then the iPad is probably a good choice. If you need something for composing long emails, taking notes, editing a Power Point presentation, or you want to play Farmville then you should probably stick with a netbook, like the HP mini 311 or something from ASUS. One more thing, if Apple slashed the price to $299, then I’d go out and buy one, sadly Apple wants us to shell out $500.