SOLVED: iPhone Safari Text Reflow Issue

If like me you've been quietly cursing Apple for stubborn and myopic attitudes with regards text reflow support on iPhone Safari browser, then you'll be pleased to hear that an elegant solution is now here.What is text reflow some of you may ask? Well if you read this forum post on your iPhone, you will see that when trying to zoom in and view the text, the text does not wrap allowing you to elegantly speed read, flowing up and down the page with a flick of your thumb. Instead, you have to squint and swipe left and right to view the text. Despite numerous requests from users, Apple's response has been that text reflow is not necessary because of Retina display. But no matter how sharp text on a screen may be, it is not enjoyable having to squint to read and digest content on your device. Moreover, on that note, why do visually impaired users have to connect their iPhones to Itunes in order to enable Accessibility features? Why not have this feature available from either the application menu or iPhone settings.

For Android users, this is not an issue. As to my knowledge, all devices support well implemented text reflow by default, but if you're thinking of jumping ship all is not lost. Enter Mercury browser for the iPhone. Must admit I stumbled across this alternative browser because it was mentioned alongside Atomic browser as supporting text reflow. I normally don't search for alternative iPhone browsers as Opera and Dolphin for iOS I found lacking compared to the stock Safari.

Well a quick check of both Atomic and Dolphin previously installed and forgotten on my iPhone 3GS showed that whilst Atomic provided text reflow support, it was not smooth, and there were a few text elements overlapping. So I downloaded Mercury browser and was blown away! A really elegant and cool interface, that blows Safari out of the water. with full accessibility features. No gimmicky iOS 5 hit READER button solutions here. Just full and true text reflow at a touch of a button. No need to ditch your iPhone for that Samsung Galaxy S2 you've been eyeing.

Job done! ;-)

More experiences:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2658710?start=0&tstart=0

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1312782

The Search for the Uber Info Management System Pt 2: Or Why we like a good old SYNC

The attraction of Google Docs was irresistable initially, with the ability to have your files available in any location. In hindsight, Google's cloud provision for true portability forced myself and others to change working practices in order to gain that portability. In reality is this really true portability when you do not have the actual physical document? And I've asked myself this question again, when finding myself with flaky or no internet connections, forcing me to download a local copy and then create my own ad-hoc versioning system to overwrite the old document online in Goodle Docs. Enter DropBox. Actually, I had a DropBox account for a couple of years, but never used it as was blinded by Google's offering. It was initially a need to transfer files to my iPhone that made me revisit the service, then finding myself with an intermittent internet service when travelling that made me look again at my current Google Docs system. Using it for the iPhone again, I realised just how seamless and quick the synchronisation worked, giving me true portability to all my files. I then thought, wouldn't this work great if I had all my Google Docs downloaded into my DropBox folder. No need to to download and create separate archived versions. DropBox would just handle all automagically! Well today rather than attempt at using DropBox purely for archiving or back-up, will make it my primary file management system. Thus keeping all things centralised and no need for multiple Google Accounts. What's your solution? Let me know. Always have your stuff when you need it with @Dropbox. 2GB account is free! http://db.tt/XdAwKX8

The search for the uber info management system...

Haven't posted for a while, but thought it worth sharing my thoughts on the above. I'll add more as I get closer to an ideal system. Much of this post is gleaned from my comments on other blogs. So excuse the format.

Great post! I've posted some thoughts, included below, on my search for an uber info management system on a couple of other blogs recently. I arrived at this juncture simply by looking for a way to sync with Google Docs, but I've always been refining my current system, and so requirements include all info capture. I.e. email, notes on the go, feeds, bookmarks and docs etc. I am looking to replace WriteRoom with either NotesPro, EverNote or email to Blogger.com. Ideally, would like to have my info in discreet silos, but with one centralised view and search. So Gmail for email, GTD, tasks and notes, Google Reader for feeds and mail lists, Bookmarks for web clippings, and NotesPro + Google Docs or EverNote. I think I've already discounted email to Blogger as this is the same as my email note to self method and adds an external app to the equation. Right now I'm leaning towards NotesPro because of it's Google Docs syncing, and don't will probably halt my EverNote experiment for now. I'll let the centralised view and search idea stew for a while and see what comes up

Just wrote a long comment and lost it. Anyway, arrived here looking for an improvement to my current info capture method, which is a very streamlined context based Gmail GTD and WriteRoom. I ditched Superstars and cut some more granular GTD Gmail labels as this was getting unwieldly. Ideally wanted to sync with Google Docs, and believe an iPhone app will shortly be able to do that better than what’s out there right now. But I came across Ruud Heins/Darren Crawford while searching. Whilst I am looking for some justification to use Evernote over my existing system, apart from it’s centralisation, syncing and OCR abilities, the use of it combined with a Gmail GTD system seems like duplication or overkill. People on both threads have talked of emailing to Gmail and then forward to Evernote, and using that Gmail copy as an archive. Doesn’t this make EN superfluous? Would love to hear other thoughts on this.

Just realised this search for a simple way to sync with Google Docs has thrown up other needs. So currently.
- Use Gmail GTD for notes and tasks
- WriteRoom for mobile ideas and text capture
- Google Docs for doc management
- Google bookmarks, Gmail and Reader for web clippings

So I think the requirement is to supplement Gmail GTD and Google Docs, but replace Google bookmarks and Gmail for web clips etc in a more centralised method. Go on convince me!

http://ruudhein.com/gmail-to-evernote-information-management-workflow
http://darrencrawford.com/my-simple-gtd-evernote-combo/
http://justanotheriphoneblog.com/wordpress/iphone-software/notes-pro-new-iphone-notes-app-syncs-with-google-docs-has-spotlight-style-search
http://www.cloudnotes.net/2009/06/why-google-reader-is-still-hugely.html

Fake Copy n Paste on IPhone/iTouch

iPhone Copy and Paste from lonelysandwich on Vimeo. In my previous post on the iTouch upgrade, I failed to mention the other glaring ommissions Apple left out. Like a nice little Office suite or viewers for Word, Excel and Powerpoint, and a little PDF viewer for eBook reading. Come on Steve, this thing is OSX so it can run any Open Source Office app! Another crucial little gem which has been bugging me has been the lack of copy and paste on the iPhone. Why not? Some standard mobile phones have this, why not on this device which essentially a mini MacBook. Apple gets it so right and yet they get it sooooo wrong.

Microsoft releases "Deepfish" browser for Windows Mobile

Dunno if this is the same as the iPhone web browsing experience, with pan and zoom features, which you also get on the Windows Mobile 6 powered HTC Touch. Tried browsing on the Touch and it works pretty well. Making web browsing on a mobile device an almost bearable experience. We've some way to go yet before you can say fulfilling, but then Apple will no doubt tell us otherwise. Ouch, my MacBook just burnt me.

Source

How to sync Google Calendar, W880i and MacBook

I've promised myself I'd post my first 'How To' one of these days, but it's late right now and I can't be arsed. Sorry. But I'll come back to it one of these days. Meantime I'll just post some useful links where you can find the relevant info, rather than wasting your precious free time trawling through the web like I did. Imagine what you can do with all that time saved. Here goes, and this should work for other Java enabled phones as well.

1. Subscribe to Google Calendar
First we want to get our Google Calendar events and the kids at Google let you do this via RSS. Read these links here & here and you should have Google Calendar (gCal) in your MacBook's iCal (gCal in me iCal?) by the end of it.

2. Get the Mac iSync Plugin for the Sony Ericsson W880i
You'll need a little plugin. That's a little piece of software that plugs right in. Sorry it's late and I get like this when tired. So, oh yes, you'll need the plugin to allow iSync to talk to your sexy and svelte W880i. For the show offs and brave among us they can try all the pain and hacking here. For those like me who believe in working smarter not harder (in other words can't be arsed) then try here.

3. Sync W880i with iSync
Finally you simply pair the W880i or Java enabled phone with iSync, specify your settings (Contacts etc) and sync away. For those of you porting from Windows then you can check here. Or if you're porting without MS Outlook, you can use that little ancient piece of software in the Windows Accessories folder called Address Book to import your old phone contacts as vCards. Then you can import these into the Mac's Address Book application. Nifty eh? ;-) There are so many old pieces of tiny software that can make things a little less painful, but we don't use them as they're always tucked away and forgotten just like old toys from yesteryear. Better stop, getting poetic.

You can also use the above link to sync your iTunes playlists with your W880i using iTuneMyWalkman. So bin that iPod and brick of a phone and welcome to SE W880i nirvana. Device convergence eat your heart out.

* If you want to use your phone as a bluetooth modem for your Mac then check here.
* For those porting from Yahoo PIM check here and here.

That's enough to be getting on with for now folks. Man you are a demanding bunch. Next time I'll show you how to make an omelette using a bluetooth phone. Did I say I was tired?

Device Convergence in Need of Some Old Ideas

Yes peeps its geek time again! Come on admit it, we all love gadgets, girls and guys alike. The question for me always is, just how much practical use do these pervasive little pieces of black or silver plastic and chrome actually provide us? Moreover, how much impact do they have on our social lives?

So in the practical sense, us gadget lovers and business users still seem to be asking the same old question. When are the manufacturers going to produce a portable device that fuses form and function into an elegant and usable form factor? I'm sure you've come across the same problem yourself. Do I go for a mobile phone and laptop combination; mobile and PDA or smartphone? Nowadays none seem to foot the bill and the manufacturers seem to be hell bent on throwing a plethora of Swiss army knife combinations at us without proper consultation. I may want something that just does the job and allows me to be productive, do I really want to watch clips of Paris Hilton, or Jade Goody on Big Brother and listen to music at the same time? I always marvel at just how many people listen to music through their iPods nowadays when a few years ago, you only saw a number of people listening to music on the tube. I want to shout to all, "you're not real music fans, you weren't there in the days of the original Sony Walkman or MiniDisc!" Well whatever Apple has been feeding us through the headphones it seems to have worked for them.

This comparison review of the Nokia E61i and Motorola Q9H seems to sum up the problem:

My hunch is that we'll see more devices like the Palm Folio or Datawind that fill this niche, as a "phone companion". The big phone manufacturers don't seem to be able to do it themselves, nor do they have any incentive to; hence the relentless propaganda about "convergence". That may be wishful thinking on my part, of course, but a significant part of the business market remains poorly served.

To be honest I haven't had the time to keep track of the latest changes in the gadget world, as I've been pretty busy of late and have pretty much given up on the Holy Gadget Grail and settled for my Sony W880i. So I don't know too much about the Palm Foleo or the Datawind Pocket Surfer. However, although the W880i fills most of my needs and I prefer to do most of my work within a window of time, I still find myself wishing I had something more suited for more productive text entry whilst en route. This takes me back to the days of the Psion 5mx and the Radio Shack WP-2. I personally didn't have the pleasure of owning the latter, but was a devote fan of the former and some of the other models in its lineage. The Psion seemed to give the perfect combination of form and function, and when it came to the power issue, you could run it forever on a pair AA batteries. About 20 hours I recall. Link it to your now antique Ericsson T39 (yes there was life before Sony), or the ubiquitous Nokia 8210, and you had access to email and web surfing. The web experience may have been painful at times, but with WAP the pain was eased somewhat. I even recall my ancient days as a hardcore Ebayer, sneaking some auction wins in the pub or company meeting, whilst all thought I was note taking. :)

What I want to know is why can't the big boys like Sony and Apple or the new Linux based start up manufacturers learn from the past and adopt some of the heritage of these old machines and start building efficient productive devices which we actually want, rather than what they feel we want? I can see the appeal of devices like the Psion 5mx or its Ericsson clone the MC218 for business users who just want to get the job done, and their practical application in developing countries where battery life and price is a premium. This is where the introduction of Linux as an operating system has been a Godsend and there have even been ports of Linux onto these ancient machines.

Until we get thought recognition or holographic screens I suppose we'll have to make do with gear like the Palm Foleo to fill the gap.