Is it Monday already? Welcome to the latest edition of Monday Productivity Pointers. Last week I talked about Google Hangouts. This week I’m creating presentations on the iPad using Keynote, Apple’s presentation software. This week’s first video will cover the actual creation of a presentation on the iPad.
Not only can you create gorgeous presentations quickly on your Apple computer, you can also create them on the road with your iPad. I’ll show you how to create a presentation based on an existing template, and how to add content to it.
You may find the Apple iPad touchscreen useful for many things in your everyday life, but did you know that you could use it to play violin, viola, cello, and upright bass? Even if you use a different Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) for your music production, you might want to consider using Smart Strings in GarageBand for iPad if adding a string part to your songs is something that interests you.
In iPad Music Production: GarageBand, Garrick Chow shows how to play the Smart Strings, including how to play in chord mode and note mode. In chord mode, the chords are made by up to five instruments: 1st violin, 2nd violin, viola, cello, and bass, or any combination of the five. Choose the key of the song and eight chord strips appear, one for every chord in that key.
Tap a chord strip to play short (pizzicato) chords. Slide your finger back and forth across the chord strip to create longer (legato) bowed notes. Adding speed to a finger slide increases the volume of your legato bowed sound. This technique can be used to create string swells.
Switch from chords to individual notes, and you’ll access a fretless neck where you can play one of any of the five stringed instruments right on the screen. Touch a string to play a plucked or bowed note. Drag your finger to slide up and down a string. Or choose a specific scale and GarageBand will only make the notes of that scale available, adding frets to the neck. It might technically be “cheating,” but it sure will make you sound great.
Then there are the auto-play patterns. The patterns are premade string parts in various styles and inversions that you can choose to have all five of the strings, or just your selected favorites, play in.
Watch as Garrick Chow shows you how to get started creating music with Smart Strings in this video from the third chapter of iPad Music Production: GarageBand:
In addition to Smart Strings, GarageBand also has Smart Drums, Smart Guitar, Smart Bass, and Smart Keyboards. In each, Garrick Chow demonstrates how to play and capture great recordings with Smart Instruments, as well as Touch Instruments, and real instruments. He also shows how to edit and mix your performances, and how to export and share your finished tracks with the world.
Music creation has taken a big step forward with GarageBand for iPad. Learn more about this inexpensive yet powerful app in iPad Music Production: GarageBand.
With the release of the iOS 4.2 update in November, one of the most valuable features of MobileMe was made available for free to all iPhone 4, iPad, and iPod Touch (4th generation) users. The Find My iPhone feature allows you to track the location of a lost or stolen iOS device. If you’ve lost your iPhone, iPad, or iPod, you can use this tool to locate, lock, and even erase your missing device if necessary. Plus, you no longer have to sign up for the MobileMe service to get this tool. The only catch is that you have to do a little bit of setup before you lose your device.
We think Find My iPhone is so valuable that we decided to release this movie from iPhone and iPod Touch Essential Training for free. In this movie, author Garrick Chow will show you how to get everything set up so that you will be protected next time you lose your precious device (though we can’t guarantee the police will send out the choppers). Garrick will also show you a handy trick for getting Find My iPhone set up on older iOS devices.
Want to learn more tips and tricks for your iPhone, including new features from the iOS 4.2 update? Be sure to check out the rest of iPhone and iPod Touch Essential Training in the lynda.com Online Training Library®.
Long before he was our cofounder and Chief Creative Officer, Bruce Heavin was an acclaimed painter and illustrator. With his busy schedule, he’s found the iPad to be an ideal companion to be able to conveniently create on the fly, using his finger to paint in his trademark style. Thanks to the Brushes Viewer application, we’re able to share both the end result and show recordings of Bruce’s progress so that you watch how he put each together. Here’s the third, New Friends.
If you’re new to the iPad as a creative tool, check out iPad Tips and Tricks with Christopher Breen to learn the basics of using the iPad, including using gestures and syncing and moving documents. Brushes Viewer is a free Mac OS X application used to record each of your brush strokes for replaying and exporting paintings as QuickTime movies. If you have videos posted showing your creations, please share the link with us in comments, below. And check out a couple of Bruce’s previous iPad creations, Monkey Sports Car and Sad Robot.
Long before he was our cofounder and Chief Creative Officer, Bruce Heavin was an acclaimed painter and illustrator. With his busy schedule, he’s found the iPad to be an ideal companion to be able to conveniently create on the fly, using his finger to paint in his trademark style. Thanks to the Brushes Viewer application, we’re able to share both the end result and show recordings of Bruce’s progress so that you watch how he put each together. Here’s the first, Monkey Sports Car.
If you’re new to the iPad as a creative tool, check out iPad Tips and Tricks with Christopher Breen to learn the basics of using the iPad, including using gestures and syncing and moving documents. Brushes Viewer is a free Mac OS X application used to record each of your brush strokes for replaying and exporting paintings as QuickTime movies. If you have videos posted showing your creations, please share the link with us in comments, below.
In a press release dated September 9, 2010, Apple Inc. announced that they are lifting restrictions they’d put in place earlier this year on which tools developers could use to create iOS apps for distribution in the Apple App Store.
A bit of background: Earlier this year, Apple changed the license for members of the iOS Developers Program (then known as the iPhone Developers Program), restricting developers from using anything other than Apple’s Xcode development tools and a small set of languages that included Objective-C and C++. This had an immediate impact on Adobe Systems and its Flash developer community; Adobe had created the Packager for iPhone, which supports compilation of Flash presentations into native iOS apps. Adobe Flash Professional CS5 was released with the feature intact, but it was suddenly clear that Flash developers who created iOS apps with this workflow would not have their applications accepted by Apple for distribution in their App Store.
That’s now changed. Developers using Flash and other tools for iOS app development (such as Novell’s Monotouch, Appcelerator’s Titanium, and the open source Phonegap) are now assured that their apps will be considered for inclusion in the App Store on an equal basis with apps built with Xcode and Objective-C. The developer licensing agreement, which previously set the restrictions on tools and languages, now simply says:
3.3.2 An Application may not download or install executable code. Interpreted code may only be used in an Application if all scripts, code and interpreters are packaged in the Application and not downloaded. The only exception to the foregoing is scripts and code downloaded and run by Apple’s built-in WebKit framework.
This means that Adobe Flash Player still won’t appear on the iPhone and iPad, since it requires downloading executable code at runtime. That’s a separate issue that isn’t addressed by this licensing change. But applications that are compiled prior to posting in the App Store can now be built with the language and development tool of your choice. And we believe that choice is good!
In response, we’re revisiting our plans for offering training on using Flash Professional CS5 to create apps for iOS devices (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch). Content we’d already created forFlash Professional CS5 Essential Training, but didn’t include in the course’s initial release due to Apple’s licensing restrictions, will be added back into the course within a few days (check back frequently if you’re an Online Training Library® member). And if we hear from you, our members, that you want training in other development tools for iOS such as Monotouch, Titanium and Phonegap, we’ll seek out the best industry experts to create new courses.
We’ve just released an updated version of our course, iPhone and iPod Touch Essential Training, to include information about iOS4. Garrick Chow provides in-depth instruction on all aspects of the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, including making calls, emailing, browsing the web, managing time, getting around town, taking notes, taking photos, and listening to music. This live-action course includes hands-on demonstrations of how to accurately type and efficiently use finger gestures, and includes tips for setting up the iPhone and iPod Touch so they behave as expected. An extensive section on troubleshooting helps when the occasional glitches happen.
In iPad Tips and Tricks, Mac productivity expert Christopher Breen provides essential tips and techniques for getting the most out of the Apple iPad. The course shows how to get productive on the iPad immediately, with tips for effective gesturing and typing and for loading it up with content. It demonstrates how to connect the iPad with the rest of the world, how to sync documents between the iPad and a desktop computer or cloud-based services, and how to configure email and deal with the fact that the iPad has no spam filter. It demonstrates built-in and third-party solutions for opening and editing files on the iPad. Finally, it offers tips for troubleshooting the iPad when the device doesn’t work as expected.
This course will be expanded with additional tips and techniques later this year.
