My iPad arrived

By Nick Hortovanyi

The iPad had been selling like hotcakes in the US. With the majority of
the online reviews being positive, since its US launch by Apple. As soon as I could, early in May 2010, I placed an order through the Australian Apple online store for a 32 GB iPad WiFi+3G (including some of the accessories). 

I wanted to see what this devices was like to use myself. Would the tablet form factor be sufficient for a virtual worker who has no fixed desk in any one day. In particular I was interested to see if I could work with the iPad by its self without necessarily having to use my Mac Book Pro notebook or other desktops. I realised that some tasks would still need a desktop, for example programming, but if I was just reading, emailing, reviewing material, tweeting or interacting through social media that I did not need the full desktop real-estate experience.

The main advantage for me of the iPad, was going to be the larger display size then the iPhone and the convenience factor of having to carry less. I am also very interested to see, if I can use it as an eBook reader. Not so much for novels but for reference material that I need. I have a lot of books, gathering dust for the most part. Will the iPad help alleviate that issue? What happens in five years? Can I still access those books that I have purchased electronically? Only time will tell.

When I awoke last Friday the 28th May, it was with the expectation that the iPad would be delivered. I'd been hoping for the day before, but it didn't happen. I was working in the city that day, so I purchased a new micro-SIM from Three. I was their first iPad customer and they were just as excited and happy for me about the iPad. That is one thing that Apple does extremely well, building up expectation about their new devices.

A number of us, that morning, through twitter were trying to see if the iPads had stated to arrive or not. Someone tweeted that a friend had walked into JB Hi-Fi and just purchased one (I was thinking why had I ordered it through the Apple store?). Needless to say, that morning, with the immediate anticipation of the iPad, I was not very productive.

My iPad finally arrived in the early afternoon.

I unpacked it, inserted my new micro-SIM, performed the first sync (which took some time) and then started to explore my new device. It felt firm in the hand and was responsive. It immediately got the attention of a lot of people walking by. The majority of whom were interested to find out if I would still be using it in a week or so. As the 3G reception was not the best on Level 30 and the serviced offices I was using did not have WiFi (I know, have already started to address this), I thought, as I'd already written the day off, I would travel home and connect it up through WiFi.

On the way home, I had Google Maps open and the GPS was tracking my progression nicely on the map. This is one of the features I use a lot on the iPhone when I visit other cities, but it drains the battery. It will be interesting to see what happens on the iPad when I use Google Maps for extended periods.

I played with the iPad for the rest of the day, exploring everything that I could and getting things connected - email, calenders, twitter (tweetdeck), book readers (iBook, Amazon Kindle) etc. I found a number of ten must have iPad apps and loaded all the free ones. There is one, theguardian eyewitness iPad app, I particularly like, as it is mainly thought provoking photos (It really did also show off the quality of the iPad display). The paid apps I purchased were the iPad versions of the Apple iWorks applications - Pages (word processing) and Keynote (presentations).

So far, I have enjoyed the iPad and can see some interesting uses for it and will continue to experiment with its use. The big question for me is, will my current or potential clients use this device in a work context? (Some have already placed moratoriums on purchase of the iPads)

Tags maps ebook apple ipad wifi table google virtual   |  Comments 0

Working virtual, some observations

By Nick Hortovanyi

We're an organisation that does not have a physical fixed office, where we have offices, that we frequent during the normal business week during office hours. Our normal working day, is not defined by entry through a door into a building, after a journey either by car, bicycle or public transport.

How does our working day start? Well for the most part, for myself, it is when I log into the online services that I utilise. This normally means waking my Mac Book Pro up by lifting the lid. For some of the others that work with me, or have in the past, it is when they log into our private Lotus Sametime (instant messaging) server. 

In the past, I have gone months without actually meeting others, in the real world that I'm working with. When I inform, some of the more senior managers, that I engage with about this, they are normally very intrigued. I don't think many as yet, have tried to manage staff that way. I must say, and think some that have worked with me, would agree, that at times it has been interesting .

There have been a few times, where the only way to communicate an idea, has required using either screen sharing or white boards, as it becomes too difficult through Instant Messaging alone. On the odd occassion, to be different, meeting in person has happened, but it is the exception not the rule. There are various reasons for this, but for the most part, it is natural to get used to working from where you want to. To meet, requires travel time, and this disrupts concentration and thought processes.

For some reading this, this is just the normal way of working, everything is online and available, from whichever location that you are at, at that moment. I have a 3G USB Modem, and can access my communication tools, from everywhere that I frequent.

What I like about working virtual:

• Can drink the coffee I want to, when I want to
• Am able to use the online tools that I feel are most appropriate without the threat of them being turned off eg Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, LinkedIn
• Don't spend a lot of time each day traveling to and fro
• Achieve considerable output, but is somewhat bursty in nature
• Meet interesting people online, who are in the same situation
  
• Spend more time, with partners and long term customers, in cafes around Adelaide
• Business wise, I believe as we have less fixed assets, we have better performing financials based on metrics, such as ROA (maybe not so based on pure sales data)
• Less formality, thus affording more time to learn and experiment with ideas
  
• Enables us to work effectively with people in different geographic
  locations then our selves and potentially different timezones (as long
  as there is some overlap)
  
  

What I dislike about working virtual:

• Sometimes, there is an urge just to talk to someone during the work day (twitter and funnies, don't replace some of the human emotions of interaction)
• Need clear frequent goals to be set, hard to monitor progress as you can not look over shoulder
  
• Staff that are working on a part time basis, when not sure how to progress, ignore your voice mails, and respond by email - thus people can sometimes over rely on emoticons to understand mood
• Not having think time, whilst listening to the radio in the car, with travel
• Missing subtleties of facial expression in communication - emoticons and tone (verbal and written), can miss things
• Parking inspectors, who leave fines on your windscreen, when you have been talking for too long at the cafe
  

For the most part, I believe the positives outweight the negatives. I'm hearing now, that businesses are starting to realise that they need to assemble teams, from the best talent pools, that they presently have available. This is now spanning time zones and geographic terriortories, not just allowing people to work remotely in the same city.

What experiences have you had? How have you overcome obstacles?

Tags work environment virtual   |  Comments 5