Day two of post-PC – rocking it with iOS

It’s been surprising that I’ve enjoyed being in this situation. I really don’t mind that I haven’t got my two 27 inch screens in front of me. I’m enjoying the challenge of finding new workflows to get things done. Despite missing the use of Dragon for Mac I’ve been able to produce a lot of words for blog posts. I’ve been putting those words into Byword, Blogo and Ulysses. I have been able to make one audio podcast using AudioBoom. Publishing the words has not been a problem and I’ve been writing a long article about using the various blogging platforms from the iPad. Well, not just the iPad, but also with the iPhone. One of the blog posts I did using Blogo on the iPhone. I have a number of options for blogging with iOS and I want to find out which one is the best solution for me. I’ll be publishing that post very soon. I still have a number of options to try to help me weigh up my decision. Writing into the web back end of WordPress in Safari works well and there is also the WordPress application. 

iOS applications for file transfer

During my search for a good blogging application for iOS I thought I needed to use a separate application for uploading pictures to my website. The application I have on my devices for that is called Transmit. The company that makes this also has a version for using on the Mac. I would have bought that also except I already have FTP software on the Mac called Yummy. It might be a bit of a weird name for a file transfer software, but it does the job. After worked out how to connect up to my website and deliver the files to the server I found out I could use Byword on iOS to do the same thing. Byword is a very good text editor for writing in markdown. Byword has an extra paid for feature allowing connections to blogging platforms. Even though I don’t now need this Transmit application for uploading pictures for blogging, it will come in useful for other file transfer requirements. For instance if I want to upload an ebook to the website which is on WordPress, it’s not permitted to do so. With Transmit I can get around that a limitation.

A more personal type of computing

On account of the fact that you have the device closer to you and that you touch it, it is bound to feel more personal. It’s almost as if you are immersed in the computer experience. I am still using dictation. I’m talking to my computer using Siri. It’s working fairly well. I have also connected to the Bluetooth keyboard from my Mac so I can have some time sitting at my desk in the office. It’s almost like having a Desktop computer in front of me again.

What’s the next thing with this experiment

I want to do some full on podcasting and not just an AudioBoom post. It’s not very good to try and use iOS for the sort of podcast where you’re recording a call you are making with somebody else through Skype. You do still need to have a Mac to be able to do that. I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple will make changes at some point in time so you can record audio and use in a podcast. I can use applications like BossJock and Twisted Wave to record audio and I will be able to publish those to my podcast channel. BossJock is interesting because when you do a podcast with it, it’s kind of like making a performance. You can add the audio effects of bumpers, stingers and the other sorts of things you add to podcasts like jingles. There is a little button to operate the microphone and when you press and hold, it will lower the volume of the sounds playing in the background.