I was emailed a link this morning to view an online mountain biking magazine. I’m sure it would have been great, however, I couldn’t view it. All I was presented with was a blank screen. The magazine was built entirely in Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash). And I was trying to view it on my iPad (see previous blog!). Now, Adobe and Apple are in a dispute as to the security of Flash Apps and running on the Apple mobile platform (iPhone, iPad, iPod - this list goes on). Surely, with the proliferation of mobile Apple devices and the resent huge uptake of the iPad in the US, Flash must be on the downward side of the curve?

This aside, if any of our clients approached us to create an online magazine, the first thing we would take a look at would be accessibility - as we would see this as intrinsic to the establishing and growing readership. So, the last thing we would look at would be Flash - especially for the whole magazine.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m a fan of Flash. It’s changed and increase the way we view video online (YouTube) and when used effectively, there is no substitute - until HTML 5 arrives that is.

So, if there were only 14hrs to save the Earth, then I’d go with good old reliable and accessible HTML.

PS. Even more frustrating is that as it currently stands, I can’t use BBC iPlayer on my iPad either!

We took delivery last week of our very own Apple iPad. Freshly imported from the US along with a US iTunes account and a $100 gift voucher for lots of sparkly new iPad Apps.

And the verdict is…
…what a fabulous bit of kit. It’s important to understand that the iPad will disappoint if you don’t understand what it’s for. If you want a quick, small and fairly light device for browsing the web, sending and receiving email and most other thing you do when at home, then the iPad may be for you. If you want a business machine, it certainly won’t replace your laptop - unless you only use it for resting your pen and note pad on.

The actual iPad itself is a lovely looking piece of kit. Typically Apple, the materials and construction are second to none. The screen is vibrant and the resolution on HD movie stunning. And, personally, I don’t have any issues with the touch keyboard and size.

The Apps selection is limited at the moment and running iPhone apps on it simply doubles the size of the App - which is a bit rubbish from what I’ve seen so far.

The Safari browser is currently detected as a mobile browser, which is a little frustrating. I have a big screen and don’t want to be served iPhone site versions. No doubt, developers will catch on - this one has

Main Benefits/positive points so far:
Immediate on button - no boot up time
Long battery time
Lovely screen/display
Very quick
Keynote on the go is effective - but importantly not the full version
Works great with Bluetooth headphones (Sennheiser mm450)
Excellent video/movies
oh - and looks cool in Starbucks (but you may get mugged for it)

Main faults/frustrations so far:
Massive finger print issue
Easy to drop (like a big bar of soap)
No Flash - but maybe that’s not such a bad thing!
Sites recognise the iPad Safari as a mobile browser
Limited Apps at the moment - but increasing daily
Won’t charge from your USB as not powerful enough. Needs mains.

I’ll update further over time.

Morning all.

It is the end of another week and time for some more of the best blogs we’ve been reading this week.

The first is from Woorkup and gives Best practices and tips for developing websites for the iPhone. This has been handy for me personally as I’ve been working on an iPhone version of Miromedia’s site which we are planning for launch in Q1 of this year.

Next up is a post from makeuseof.com. This one gives a very clear breakdown of the steps for creating RSS feeds for your site. I used this to create the Miromedia News Feed so it does work.

This post about the influence of the Swiss Style on web design is very interesting and covers a number of aspects where the Swiss Style impacts the modern web site from layout and colour to font styles. Although the post itself may look quite long there are a large number of images to illustrate the various points made in the text and give examples of some of the artists work.

Ever wanted to setup new shops in Magento? Why not read this article about how to setup multiple Magento shops.

SEOmoz are putting together a set of Search Engine Optimisation Best Practice guides. These are currently up for peer review and will be added to over the coming months.

Here’s an interesting website performance post from dynaTrace which is definitely worth a look

Away from work and with the imminent return of Herr Schumacher to Formula 1, I came across this old, bit interesting YouTube clip analysing the Schumacher driving style. For me he is up there as a potential champion for 2010, despite being the oldest on the grid his talent is unquestionable and in the 3 years since his retirement I don’t believe he will have lost any of his edge or aggressiveness.

It is now possible to have the entire world in the palm of your hand and at the (iPod) touch of a button as Google have today launched Google Earth for iPhone and iPod Touch. The app is free and downloadable from the iTunes App Store. It contains all of the same functionality you would expect from Google Earth including, geo-located wiki articles, photos, 3D terrain modelling and so on.

In the wake of the problems that plagued Apple’s launch of it’s MobileMe technology, the company has issued an apology to it’s MobileMe subscribers. As MacWorld states there is to be a free 30 days subscription to all those that signed up, which one has to say is generous and thoughtful, it’s not often a company of Apple’s size and power admits to a failure like this and tries to make amends.

Despite these issues the 2.0 update and the launch of the Apps Store have proved a hit with users, with a reported 10 million downloads in the first weekend alone.