Lifeline for Thursday, April 1, 2010

The iPad could learn from Droid
  I know Apple is the leader here, but there are at least a couple of ideas in Android that should be in the Apple mobile operating system.
  1. Search is very nicely integrated into everything about the Android. Not surprising because Google got its start in search. I used my Droid to look something up at lunch today and thought later -- how would I have done that in the iPad. I would have had to quit whatever I was doing (if it wasn't Safari). Droid has search right on the home screen. Hit the Home button and click in the search box and type away.
  2. My iPad is always beeping. What is it beeping about? I have no idea and as far as I know there's no way to find out. That's just bizarre. Now I didn't used to think so until I got accustomed to the very nice Notifications menu in Android. Want to know why it's talking to you? Just click in the menu and pull it down. There's the list. Now for all I know there's a way to do this in iPhone/iPad. Let me know.
  One more thing about how stunning you might think this thing is for real-world people. I had to ride the 7 train from Main St in Flushing to Times Square today. Doesn't get much more mainstream than that. Believe me. I took out the iPad at Main St, and used it all the way Queens Plaza (the train goes underground shortly after that). Connected to the net via my Sprint mifi. Now there was a kid sitting across from me, I'd guess 13 or 14, Asian, eating some Pringles and staring at the iPad. Got out after three stops, never said a word. Otherwise everyone else ignored me and my flashy new device.
  In other words, it's Sunday, and the guy has a Kindle so BFD. Been there done that. (There was a guy with a Kindle and his girlfriend had a real book.)
  I'm not trying to draw any global lessons from this, but real people need real reasons to get excited. The form factor is nice, I like it (even love it). But soon after that what matters is what it can do for me, and what I can do with it.
River2 might need a manual update
  My main River2 installation stopped finding new stuff a couple of days ago, and in the rush of iPad mania, I didn't get to look into it right away.
  The problem was caused by an update I released on March 30 that was part of a major overhaul that makes River2 a multi-user product. (There's still more work to do on this.)
  River2 should automatically update overnight, so if you leave it running, the fix that I just released should take care of any problems. However if you're not leaving it running, or if you want the fix immediately, here's what you can do.
  1. Bring the OPML app to the front.
  2. Choose river2.root from the Window menu.
  3. Choose Update front tool from the Tools menu.
  4. Click OK to confirm.
  If you needed the update you should get one new or updated part.