Review: Typo Keyboard

Today I received the Typo Keyboard, made famous by way of Ryan Seacrest's investment in the company and the lawsuit they face from Blackberry over the layout of their keyboard.

Right off the bat, the fact that the keyboard needs to be plugged in separately from the phone is a killer. The second thing you notice is that typing here isn't nearly as easy as it should be. At least for my thumbs, typing is cramped and difficult to get up to speed even after 20 minutes of practice.

The good news is it adds very little bulk or size to the unit. It feels good in the hand, and is responsive to touch.

If you really need a full time keyboard on your iphone it might be a good try, but for me the short comings make the $100 price tag far too high.

Photo Review: Paper - FaceBook has never looked better

Today FaceBook released a new way for iPhone users to interact with their network, a stunning app simply called Paper.  The design team, led by former Apple designer Mike Matas and the team he brought to FaceBook with him in 2011 when his digital publishing company Push Pop Press was aquired.

Paper is a free download from the App store, and signals a completely new way to interact with FaceBook, bridging the gap between news sources and your news feed.When you first launch the app you are greater by a short video into showing off the application with the simple title screen shown here.

You are then guided through the process of adding additional news sections to your "Paper"The tutorial guides you through the process explaining how the sections relate to each other.There are plenty of preconfigured sections available, and I would guess more will be coming as the application grows.Once you finish adding sections, you are taken to your news feed. As you use the app, blue pop-over dialogs guide you through using the program.

Adding a post has the same elegance of the rest of the app. They did this thing right, and it shows they didn't miss a trick.News sections are just as clean and easy to navigate. Swiping up takes you deeper, swiping down takes you back out closer to your timeline.Once you've tapped on an article to bring it up, swiping up "unfolds it", taking you to the website that is the source of the original article.

Photos on your timeline display full screen, and pan when you turn your phone if they are wider than the phone.Re-posting a photo looks just as clean as anything else in the app. These guys really did a great job.

Conclusion

The folks on the Paper team have done what they were asked to do - try and disrupt FaceBook from the inside before someone outside had the chance to.  Drawing on every design element Apple gave them to play with in iOS 7 this team has put together a smooth application that after just a few hours has replaced the regular FaceBook app on my iPhone, and I'm sure it will on yours as well.  Trust me, once you spend a little time with it you will never go back.

Kickstarter Project: Dustcloud

Dustcloud is an interesting new Kickstarter project that has me intrigued.  The idea and proof of concept evolved in Prague during 2012, while the people involved worked together in a bar in the old city.  They came up with a spy game, and started brainstorming how they could make it work online.  The result took them to China to design hardware, and resulted in an ambitious project.  Their goal is to build a combination social network and online role playing game based on cold-war era espionage and assassination.

 

The only issue is that it's ultimate success will depend greatly on rapid adoption.  In Europe it would be easier, as travel between countries is much more common, but in the USA unless a large number of players in major cities are involved it would become boring pretty quickly.  It is definitely an interesting idea, and one that I plan to keep an eye on though.

You can find more details here.

CES 2014: Sphero announce newest addition to line of smartphone controlled robots

Sphero today announced the upcoming release of their newest connected toy, the Sphero 2B.  Sporting dual wheels instead of their previous ball, the newest addition should add some great new games and features to their ever growing catalog of interactive toys.  Check out the video and information below for more details.

 

Sphero 2B: The newest addition to the Sphero family of connected toys | Sphero Robot Ball:

Introducing Sphero 2B THE NEWEST ADDITION TO THE SPHERO FAMILY OF CONNECTED TOYS

 

Review: iPad Air

Ok, after six day of waiting for the iPad that I was supposed to have on launch day it is finally in my hands.  The first thing that strikes you when it comes out of the box is how light it is in compared to the previous model.  The Air weighs in at just 1 pound, and the previous generation was 1.35 pounds.  That 5.5 ounces doesn't sound like much, but the reality of it losing almost a quarter of it's weight is astounding.  I ran PerformanceTest on both the iPad Mini and iPad Air, and here are the results:

Benchmark Results for iPad Mini

Benchmark results for the iPad Air

As you can see, the new A7 processor blows the A5X of the iPad Mini out of the water.  Not a surprise, but this just shows how far performance has gained in the year since the Mini was released.  The display is crisp and clear, and so much more responsive than I ever could have believed with the number of pixels it is pushing.

In all this is an amazing upgrade to anyoe with a previous iPad, and one that really has to be held and sued to be appreciated.  If it had not been such a long struggle to get my order processed I would be comepletely thrilled with everything involved in this process, but even with the troubles getting the device I can't see myself letting this thing out of my hands...at least until the next one arrives.

Product review: Kevo Bluetooth Deadbolt for iPhone from Kwikset

Today I recieved the Kevo Bluetooth Enabled Deadbolt for iPhone, and I have to say, this is pretty slick.  Installation took about 10 minutes to remove the old deadbolt and install the new one.  From there it was as simple as installing the app from the app store and registering.  Once I was registered it paired quickly with my phone and was operational in minutes.  Now I simply touch the lock with my phone still in my pocket and the door unlocks!

The Kevo system runs on four AA batteries, and it says they should last a year or more.  The system also includes a keyless entry fob that when calibrated can stay in your pocket and identify itself just as the phone does for those folks you have that need access but do not have an iPhone.  It also includes two standard keys in case batterries die or something goes wrong with the programing.

I was able to send electronic keys to my whole family in about 5 minutes so that they have them on their iPhones, and programming the two extra keyless entry fobs they sent took seconds each.

In all this is a very simple to use system that brings my door lock into the 21st century quite simply and easily.  Highly recomended.

Product Review: ANKI Drive

The Anki Drive Starter KitI have had the privilege for the last several weeks to be a Beta tester for one of the most eagerly awaited iOS games in a long time, Anki Drive.  For those of you who missed the great demo at WWDC in June, Anki Drive is a racing game brought to the real world in the form of the cars and racetrack included in the $199 Starter Pack, along with two additional cars available at an additional charge of $59.99 each.

Game play is fast paced and a TON of fun for the whole family.  Whether playing against the computer AI characters of the cars or family members, this was a huge hit in our house.  Most of our testing was done by my son and myself, but even my daughter who isn't really into games LOVED her time playing Drive.

Basic game play involves a dog-fight between you and the other cars in your race.  As you win races with other players or the computer you gain points which can then be used to upgrade your cars.  Better weapons, higher gear ratios, and faster engines all reward your success by increasing the abilities of your car.  What makes this better than most racing games on iOS is that these upgrades stay with the cars no matter who is controlling them, so if I upgrade Boson (one of the car characters), then start playing as another car, Boson still has his upgrades when controlled by another player or the AI, making my game play all the more challenging.

Replay is very high, especially when playing against other human players, and changes based on the number of cars in the race.  What this means is even if you get your strategy down against one AI opponent, adding another optional car to the set changes game play radically even if only competing versus the AI.

At $199 the Anki Drive set is a bit spendy, but well worth the time and money if you enjoy racing and friendly competition.  I can't wait to let my friends play now that the NDA is lifted and see how much fun they have.  I'm guessing Anki will sell a few more sets just from those matches.

iPhone 5S Launch day

OK, I've had a chance to rest a bit after leaving at 2am to line up for the iPhone 5S release, and was fortunate to come away with a new phone!
As major news sites have reported, supplies are severely limited for this thing at launch, with internet sales being pushed out 7-21 days within hours of its availability.
At the AT&T store I picked again this year, supplies were very low. Silver and Gold versions, as well as the largest 64GB variants were not available at all.
New shipments should be coming in regularly from now on, but don't expect to walk into a store and find one this weekend.
So far I have been very impressed by the speed if the new A7 processor, and have had no problems with the fingerprint reader used to unlock the new phone.
Benchmark tests have been run by all of the major Tech blogs, with the most thorough testing as always done by anandtech. This phone is faster than any other phone on the market, easily blowing away the competition from the Android set, including the former leader, Samsung's international G IV.
If you already have an iPhone 5 you will notice the speed immediately, and if you are still using a 4 or 4S, run to the nearest store that has this phone in stock.

Special Event: Apple WWDC Keynote

Today Tim Cook and the folks from Apple took the stage to lay out the road map for the coming year in Apple Software and to announce new hardware.  As usual, Tim started the morning giving a "State of the Company" update.  Here are some numbers:

 

  • Over 6million registered developers
  • WWDC sold out in 71 seconds
  • Retail: More than 1 million daily visitors
  • Retail: 407 stores in 17 countries
  • Appstore: 50 Billion apps in less than 5 years
  • Appstore: 900,000 applications
  • Appstore: 375,000 iPad specific
  • Appstore: 575 Million accounts with credit cards attached, largest online store in the world
  • Appstore: More than $10 Billion paid to developers so far

 

New Developer ANKI, launching first product live on stage today.  Robotics and AI researchers.  ANKI Drive, autonomous capable cars, combination of computer control and human interaction.

Mac

 

  • 72 million sold last year
  • MacBook #1 Notebook in the market
  • Mac up 100% VS. Pc up 15%
  • #1 in customer sat and quality

 

28 million copies of Mt. Lion sold in last year, not standing still.  New OS is OS X Mavericks.  New naming scheme after Californian landmarks.  New features:

 

  • Finder tabs, no more million finder windows
  • Tagging! When you save a document, you can tag it wherever it is, and tags will appear in finder
  • Multiple display support built in.  Taking a window full screen on one display will not mess up your desktop.  HDTV will be able to be a full powered secondary display

 

DEMO

Tabs work like they do in Safari, allows for easier copying, finder can go full screen.  Tag field part of save dialog, tags have their own section in the finder sidebar, making finding important documents much easier.  Documents can be tagged simply by dragging the documents into the tagged group in finder as well.

Multiple displays also allows for multiple spaces on each display.  AppleTV now can be used as another full size display, with full screen applications.

New features of OS X Mavericks:

 

  • Compressed memory - compress used memory to make room for new documents without writing to disk
  • GPU video scaling
  • OpenGL 4
  • Accelerated scrolling
  • Enhanced timings reduce idle time and allow for 72% less CPU power drain

 

Safari:

 

  • First look at flattening of the OS, improved top sites
  • Shared links lets you see all the links shared by people you follow on Twitter and FaceBook
  • JAVA enhancements
  • Enhanced memory usage
  • Lower power usage
  • AppNap stops power drain by pausing the rendering cycles of apps not in focus
  • Top Sites: Very flat, dark grey with white text
  • Reading list: Puts articles in order, pre loading the next article so that they are stacked in a single page for easier reading.
  • iCloud Keychain: essentially OnePassword built in to your local system, but available on any iCloud connected device.  Will also hold credit card info, but you still need to know the 3-digit security code.

 

Enhanced notifications, allow for iOS device notifications to display on your Mac, including while Mac is locked.

Calendar Enhancements - Facebook events, flatter interface, map and drivetime awareness on events

Maps - Now on OS X, turn by turn directions, can send direction to the iPhone, display on lock screen.  SDK allows for mapping data to be sent from any app.

iBooks for Mac - Fully featured, interactive textbooks

New MacBook Air with the Haswell ULT chip, almost doubled battery life

11" - $999 w/ 128 GB, $1199 256 GB

13" - $1099 128 GB, $1299 256 GB

Shipping today

Mac Pro!

Amazing new design.  Large black cylinder.  2x processor performance.  1866MHz DDR3.  PCIe Flash HDD, 10x fastest drive previously available.  Thunderbolt 2, 10Gbps throughput.  Dual GPU, 384-Bit memory buses.  4k Display support off of each display port. Insanely small compared to current Mac Pro, 1/8th the volume.  Full unit spins for easy access to rear panel. Coming later this year.

Made and assembled in the USA.

New Airport Extreme - built in drive bays, 2 or 3 TB drives.

 

iCloud

300 million accounts.  240 Million GameCenter users.  800 Billion iMessages.

iWork integration into iCloud:  New releases later this year of both Mobile and Desktop applications.  iWork for iCloud - web based document creation.  Clearly Apple responding to Office365.  Platform agnostic, shown using Chrome on Windows 8. Available today for developers.

 

iOS

600 Million iOS devices sold.  Number one in customer usage.  iPhone users use their phone 50% more than Android owners.  Mobile web share 60% for iOS.  93% of users are using the latest version of iOS.

iOS 7!  Biggest change to iOS since original iPhone.  New flatter interface we expected. Changed color palate. A new beginning for iOS.  HUGE developer response.  

 

  • Animated backgrounds
  • Parallax allows you to see behind the icons
  • edge to edge design
  • "We ran out of green felt for GameCenter"
  • Great use of gestures for one handed use
  • multiple pages in each folder, no more "Games 2" on my home screen!
  • great today view in notification center
  • Notification center available from lock screen

 

10 new features:

 

  • Control center - quick access to settings
  • Multitasking - Full access for all applications.  OS learns usage patterns for "Opportunistic updates".  Card like feature for running apps.
  • Safari - New full screen look.  Smart search field for one-tap access.  Parental controls.  iCloud Keychain.
  • AirDrop - Quick file transfer, system wide peer-peer wi-fi.
  • Camera - Live photo filers, 4 cameras in one.
  • Photos - Organized into moments using meta data.  Can go wider to general areas or years.  Can tap and scrub through micro-thumbnail.  Shared photo streams allow multiple people to share into Family photo or event streams.  Can see comments live in stream, including video sharing.
  • Cloud service integration - SIRI has new interface, much cleaner.  All new voice.  Much smarter, has better control over your device including settings.  Can answer more questions because of Twitter integration, WikiPedia, bing search results.  iOS in the car: 95% of cars sold today have integrated voice control of music.  On screen display of iOS using in car display.  12 car manufacturers with integration in 2014.  AppStore now auto-updates applications.  
  • Music - Much cleaner and again a flatter view.
  • iTunes Radio! - Built into the music app, curated stations.  You can build your own station based on any song you are listening to.  Favorite songs tagged for purchase in history screen.  Built into all platforms including AppleTV.  Included in iTunes Match for $25 add free.
  • Facetime Audio, Notification sync, PDF annotation.  Phone, facetime, and iMessage blocking.
  • Activation Lock - Device cannot be wiped an reactivated without linked AppleID.  
  • 1500 new APIs in new SDK

Available today for iPhone 5, later weeks for iPad and iPad mini

 

 

 

Kickstarted to release: The Cookoo Watch

In May of 2012 a group called ConnectedDevice, led by Peter Hauser, looked to Kickstarter to help back an idea for a connected watch.  The idea was to have a real watch that also would connect to your smartphone, providing notices if you received an SMS message, a phone call, or new email on your smartphone without needing to reach for the phone.  The idea evolved into a product that is now in the hands of backers and was officially launched this week at CES.

The Kickstarter Edition of the Cookoo Watch arrived this morning

While the company was not able to hit all of it's goals (at launch it is not compatible with Android due to so many different BlueTooth implementations), it has accomplished the biggest one: They have shipped watches that are truly watches whether connected to your iPhone or not, and which are powered by replaceable batteries instead of requiring frequent recharging.  You can view the original goals and timeline of the project here via KickStarter.  While I have only had the watch for a few hours, I am impressed.

The Cookoo is a watch first, and connected device second, an important goal for mainstream acceptance

The watch was remakably easy to set up.  You download the connected application from the iTunes store and launch it.  It finds the watch, and you set alerts and button functions.  You can use the button to check-in to a location on Facebook, drop a waypoint pin on a map (handy when parking in large mall or sporting event lots), and even remotely snap a picture.

The settings are easy to configure, and pretty comprehensive, with more options coming

The command button can be configured to automatically check you in to the nearest location on FaceBookThis is a great product, that will get even better with time thanks to an open API and wide spread availability.  Keep an eye on this thing, it is going to be important.

Crowdfunded COOKOO Smart Watch Launches Worldwide At CES 2013 - Forbes:

Crowdfunded COOKOO Smart Watch Launches Worldwide At CES 2013

 

Review: Apple iPad mini

When Apple finally announced the iPad mini two weeks ago, the only question most people in the tech industry had was where they would set the price. The device had been rumored for years, and was expected long ago. We received our answer, and many thought it was far too high. At $329 it is $130 more than the Amazon Kindle Fire HD, and more than $70 more than Google's Nexus 7.

What the analysts failed to anticipate was the impact that Apple has on the public. Just as they did with MP3 players when the iPod was released, Apple has not just released another device in a crowded market, they have released THE iconic device in a market that many didn't know really existed.

Many people in my family would never have heard of the Kindle Fire without my telling them (and showing them mine). I'm sure many of you could say the same. However when Apple announces a product people hear about it, and more importantly for Apple, they run down to buy it. They stay up past midnight for preorders to make sure they have it before the people they work with. Apple announced that they sold more than 3 million new iPads over the first weekend, more than twice what the analysts expected. Here's how they did it.

Apple knows tablets. With more than 80% of the market in the US they know tablets better than anyone. Apple didn't need to change anything but size. They didn't need to design a new interface or operating system the way the other companies I've mentioned needed to. They didn't need to wait for developer support, because they used the same specifications developers were already writing for from the iPad 2. If you have used an iPad or iPhone before, you already know how to use an iPad mini. Since there are more than 200 million iOS devices already sold, that is a huge group of potential users to draw from, and a group with more brand loyalty than any other in the consumer electronics market.

As Phil Schiller said during the announcement, this is "every inch an iPad". From the familiar grid of icons to the 4:3 aspect ratio in a world of widescreen tablets, the iPad stands out, and in the minds of many above the rest of the market.

It has replaced both my Kindle Paperwhite and my iPad 3 in my daily life, and I expect I'm not alone.

Apple Special Announcement - New iPhone and iPods

This morning Apple held an event to announce new products, and the only thing that wasn't already reported by rumor sites like AppleInsider and MacRumors was the new iPod Nano that was was announced.  Here is the run down of todays announcements:

1. iPhone 5 - The new iPhone 5 will be available for pre-order starting Friday, 9/14.  22% Lighter, 20% Thinner, wit han improved camera and worldwide LTE cellular data starting at $199 for the 8GB model.  The pictures that leaked over the last several weeks proved accurate, with some of them looking suspiciously like those that now adorn Apple's website.  Here's the iPhone lineup shipping 9/21:

iPhone 4 - 8GB - Free with contract

iPhone 4s - 16GB - $99 with contract

iPhone 5 - 16GB - $199 with contract

iPhone 5 - 32GB - $299 with contract

iPhone 5 - 64GB - $399 with contract

2. iPod Touch 5th Generation - This wasn't leaked as well, but was expected by many.  Featuring the same 4" screen as the new iPhone, the new iPod Touch has a processor upgrade to Apple's A5 chip, is thinner, lighter, and features an improved camera.  The 32GB iPod Touch is $299, 64GB iPod Touch is $399.  New iPods are available for pre-order on Friday, 9/14 and will ship in October.

3. iPod Nano 7th Generation - This one wasn't even hinted at by the rumor sites.  Many of us expected a new Nano, as a new design has been released every year for the last several years.  The suprise is that instead of getting smaller as it has over recent years, the Nano has now grown again to a 2.5" screen.  Resembling nothing more than a miniturized iPhone, the new Nano fetures multi-touch, a built in pedometer and fitness applications, FM Tuner with Digital Audio Recording (allowing you to pause and rewind radio), and for the first time in the Nano history Bluetooth.  These will also ship in October, 16GB for $149.

 

Review: iPhoto for iPad

At today's Apple Event, iPhoto was announced for iOS.  Not only is it well done, but it really changes the face of photo editing.

When you launch the application, you are greeted by the program indexing your photos, including your photo stream.

Once you select a photo, you can select edit, which brings up your tools, just like it does on the Mac

Your options are on the tool bar along the bottom.  From left to right they are: Crop, Exposure, Color, Brushes, and Effects.

While many of these don't seem too game changing, the biggest place the iPad version shines is the brushes.

Here is the picture I started with.  The sky was pretty washed out, but I like the way the trees and rocks look, so I just want to brighten the sky by over saturating the color.  I select the saturation brush, and pull up options.  I can turn the brush strokes on, showing me the areas I am adjusting:

 

As you can see, I used my stylus to paint the sky and clouds with the saturation brush, avoiding the rest of the picture.

Here is the before:

 

and the after:

If you have ever tried to do this kind of masking and color correction, you know how huge this is.  Imagine a real estate agent not needing to wait for a sunny day to take a picture of your house.  Just dial up the blue, and make any other corrections needed so that the picture looks just like the house (we all have seen pictures where colors are off just enough to make a difference in your impressions of the subject matter).

And everything, from taking the picture to the editing and uploading to the web, or emailing the photo can be done with one device.

The best part though, is all of these things are possible in your iPhone now too.  This really is the post-pc era, and Apple is leading the revolution!

Apple Special Announcement - The NEW iPad

Well, the event is over, and new products have been announced.

The new AppleTV came first.  Not a huge update, but good news none the less.  The AppleTV has been a long running hobby for Apple, and they are making some improvements.  1080P video (up from the 720P maximum before), a new interface that looks more like the home screen of an iOS device.  I was hoping for FaceTime with an integrated camera, but it did not come yet.  Once it does, Apple has reinvented the set-top box.  Apple just posted an update for the current AppleTV, so I will update you and let you know if the new interface comes to the "old" device.

The big news is the new iPad.  Same price, 4x graphics with the new A5x processor.  Full 1080P HD video with the new retina display, better cameras, 4G LTE internet with speeds up to 72 MB/sec.  They improved everything that has made the iPad stay ahead of the tablet game so far.

Also announced was iPhoto for iOS (no word on whether this will work with other devices), updates to iWork and iLife applications like garage band and iMovie.

Apple has now put the video up for you to watch here, and updates for all of your iDevices are available for update as well.

Dash - The Smartphone Radio

Kickstarter has become a force to be reconed with in a world where individuals mean more than Venture Capital.  I love looking at the great ideas people come up with, and the genrosity of people who catch the idea and the passion of others to help them realise their dreams.

 

Dash is the latest to catch MY attention, and I can't wait to see it come to market.  The idea is a dedicated head unit for your car that uses your iPhone as the control.  It accesses the audio output and plays it through your speakers, giving you access to all of your navigation, audio and other applications without needing to learn a new interface.

The idea is a great one, and the crowd-sourced funding is going to allow it to come to market pretty quickly.

Sphero has arrived!

When Sphero was first announced I thought it was an interesting idea, but didn't know if it was something I could really love. Now that it has arrived, I can't stop wondering what these guys will come up with next. I'll be playing around with them more tonight when the kids get home, but here is a quick rundown.
Sphero is a remote-controlled ball. I know, not very exciting at face value.

The thing that makes Sphero great are the applications. Golf, where you use the iPhone or iPod Touch as a virtual club. Sphero, which is just a simple remote control to play around with it. SpheroCam, which lets you shoot video and pictures of your Sphero in action. Draw&Drive let's you draw a path on the screen of your iDevice and watch the Sphero follow the path.

The exciting thing is what could come next. I can think of tons of applications. I would detail them here, but then I wouldn't be able to sell the apps.

Stay tuned for video and fun with the kids tomorrow.

Cutting the Cord - How to live without Cable TV

Almost 2 years ago we decided that we were paying FAR too much (almost $200) every month for Cable.  This was sparked by a friend asking me if technology was to the point that we could get rid of paid cable services.  What I have learned over the last two years is that you can't get everything you want free, but much of it can be had at a fraction of the price.

Let me start by saying none of this would be possible without a high-speed cable internet connection.  ths increases in technology and speed have been truly amazing, and make all of what we are going to discuss here work much more easily.  We pay almost $100 per month for our internet connection. Once you see what it enables us to do, and then realize that I would have been (and was) paying for it even when I was also paying for cable, that won't seem so crazy. Now the only costs on a monthly basis are the $7.99/month for Netflix and $7.99/month for Hulu+.  If there are shows or movies you HAVE to see otherwise, they can be downloaded from iTunes or other places on the internet quite easily, and can even be rented from iTunes for a very small charge.

In December of 2009 we started this journey with an AppleTV and a Beta unit of this new device at the time called the "Roku Player".  The AppleTV allowed us to playback all of the content in our iTunes library (music, movies, TV shows).  The Roku was (and is) an amazing thing, and without it I probably never could have talked Carrie and the kids into even trying this.  Roku had signed deals with Amazon and Netflix to access their streaming video services with this little set-top box.

Over the intervening time, I have made some changes, and now have a system setup that only has me wishing for cable when Football season rolls around (NFL Network isn't available ANYWHERE on the internet).

Here is how things are setup:

You may not have the money or inclination to add everything we have to your setup, but this hardware gives us the most flexibility regarding content.  Here is what each item does:

Elgato HDHomeRun for Mac and PC - The HDHomeRun takes advantage of a requirement many people are unaware of.  Due to laws in various cities prohibiting rooftop antennas, the FCC requires all cable companies to broadcast local TV unencrypted using what is called QAM.  They HDHomeRun decodes these signals and broadcasts them over your local network (and the internet).  This allows us to use the computer as a DVR for local TV, and also allows us to watch live network TV.  This item comes with all the software you need for your computer to get up and running.  It also allows us to watch broadcast TV on the iPad or any other iOS device over the internet from anywhere, so I can watch football on my iPad anywhere I have 3G internet or Wi-Fi connection!

Apple TV - The AppleTV, when we first started this journey, only allowed us to use iTunes content, but has now become much more versatile.  The latest generation of the AppleTV linked here includes Netflix streaming, and allows us to use Apple's AirPlay technology to both send and mirror content from our iPads, iPod touchs, and iPhones.  The biggest savings as far as effort is concerned that this removes the need to have the computer directly connected to the TV (although we left it connected).  Elgato's application for the iOS devices allows us to use those devices as remote controls for TV content.  Applications are also available for Hulu+ and Netflix that will send to the AppleTV, so this is really the hub for our connection to the TV at this point.

Roku LT - for older TVs - The Roku LT I have on the list as a cost savings.  Any of the Roku boxes can be used with older TVs to access Netflix, Hulu+, Amazon Instant Video, and a wide variety of other content.  The LT does it for about half the price of the others, however.  It doesn't have the blue tooth remote that the Roku 2 XS (which we will look at in a minute) has, but all other content channels are available.

Roku 2 XS - For your HD TVs - In addition to everything above, the Roku 2 XS adds a blue tooth remote (which means you can use it without needing to point it at the device) and acts almost like the Wii as a wirless game controller for casual gaming like Angry Birds, with more games coming all the time to add even more value.

The only other critical piece of this puzzle is the correct splitter.  In order for you to get the digital signal into the HDHomeRun you really need a HD (2.4 GHz) cable splitter .  Older cable splitters don't let the higher digital cable frequencies through, and will prevent your internet AND TV decoder from working correctly.

While we have the Roku connected to the TV in the living room, we never really use it much.  Now that we can use our iOS devices to send and control content on the AppleTV the only thing we are missing that the Roku would add is Amazon Instant Video.  Our TV in the family room for the kids, however, needs to Roku or there would be nothing to play on it.  It is an older CRT that doesn't have the ability for an AppleTV to connect to it, and we have banned all physical discs from the house.  We don't have a computer or DVD player to even use if we had discs left!

So, there you have it.  This is how we have survived without cable TV service for the last 2 years, and it keeps getting better and easier as technology improves.

How-To: Managing AppleID with iCloud

One of the most confusing things with the arrival of iCloud is managing your AppleID.  This gets even harder when you realize that your entire family might be using the same AppleID for iTunes, iCloud, and the other services Apple has tied to this login.

The first thing to remember, is that you can have separate AppleIDs specified in your settings for the different services.  If your family has been using a single AppleID for everything, this can cause problems:

1) The arrival of iCloud means your devices can be backed up to the cloud (internet server), which is great.  However, if your family is like mine, space can run out quickly if you have 4-10 iOS products all using the same account.

2) Now that iMessage makes sending SMS type messages free over Wi-Fi, using the same AppleId on every device in your house can lead to some embarrassing conversations with your kids.  Imagine your wife sending you a love note that pops up on your Son or Daughter's iPod touch, and it shows up coming from your email address.  Trust me when I tell you this is the first thing that generates a call to AppleCare when people update to iOS 5.

3) While you want the entire family to have the same iTunes account (trust me, buying Justin Beiber's christmas album once will break your heart, once for each kid will test your will to live), you want everyone to have their own online identity for other services.

The easiest way to solve these problems is right when you get a new iOS device.  If the person that the device is for does not already have an AppleID, tap on the button to get one.  Once you have it, it will sign you in to all of the services.  Then simply go into Settings -> Store and sign out of the AppleID you just created and sign into the families iTunes account.  You are all set.

If, however, you are working with any of the problems I mentioned above, it gets more complicated.  You need to go into the settings for EVERY service that uses the AppleID and change it to a newly created one (with the exception of store, which we want everyone to use).  

Here is a list of the settings that use the AppleID:

Settings - iCloud - Account

Settings - FaceTime - Use eMail address to receive calls

Settings - Messages - Recieve at - AppleID

GameCenter - Set through the gamecenter application, not in settings

FindMyFriends - Set through the application, not through settings

I hope that helped clear things up for some of you.  It is one of the most difficult calls for AppleCare when you call for support, because you often don't even know what the source of the problem is, and many of the people you are talking to have never used an iOS device.