This morning, I took a photo with my iPhone and wanted to include one of those photos in a lengthy message I had composed on my Mac. I opened the Photo Browser, pictured above, hoping that Apple had perhaps made the Photo Stream as one of the sources. Sadly, that was not there. I had two options. The first is to open Aperture to synchronize the new Photo Stream additions. The Photo Browser will then show a Photo Stream from my Aperture library and I can add the photo from there. The second is to save the message on my Mac as a draft. On my iPhone, I would go to the Camera Roll and copy the photo. Then I would open Mail and retrieve the draft. I would then paste the image in the message composer and send it. The first is a much easier process than the second, but I think including the Photo Stream in the Media Browser would make this process a lot easier.

To implement this, Apple would have to move the access point of the Photo Stream from the desktop apps, specifically iPhoto and Aperture, to the OS, presumably through the iCloud System Preference pane. This way any application can use the Photo Stream, perhaps even non-Apple applications. Personally, I would really like it if MarsEdit could tap into the Photo Stream so I could add Photo Stream images to a blog post.

This is the same problem that Michael Williams encountered and blogged about in August with iOS 5 beta. He suggested a tricky workaround: initiating a restoration and then yanking the USB cable from Mac when that process starts. That causes the sync to fail and, after iTunes chides you for disrupting the restoration, it reestablishes the normal synchronization process.

When I tried to follow this process, I got a different but equally effective result. First, I backed up to iCloud to ensure that if iTunes wiped my phone in order to restore it, I would have a very recent backup. Second, when I initiated the restoration, iTunes did not actually try to restore the phone. Instead, it performed a normal sync, and all seemed well. The only issue was that it restored all of the apps I had once downloaded but since removed from my iPhone. (I had done so because I was trying to stop the infamous iPhone’s battery drain that many users encountered after upgrading to iOS 5.)

Based on the commentary on other blog posts, it looks like this might be a side effect of WiFi sync. However, I have also been doing that with my iPad since the release of iOS 5, and nothing like this has happened with that device.

I have been using Keynote since 2006 to present slides in the classes I am teaching, but starting this spring, when I bought an iPad 2, I began using the Keynote for iPad to present my slides in class. The tablet edition lacks a few of the desktop features I need when presenting. For example, I like having a clock, current and next slides, and presentation notes on my presenter’s screen. The desktop edition has it, but the tablet edition can only show the current slide with notes or the current and next slides. Oh well.

There are a few real advantages to using an iPad. The biggest one is that I don’t have to tote my notebook computer around in my bag. The other thing is that because Keynote for iPad is pretty basic, lacking support for certain transitions and embedded video, and that limitation keeps you from pimping your presentation, which is one of the reasons I used Keynote in favor of Powerpoint. Less is more.

Speaking of “less is more,” presenting from an iPhone is even better. One of the disadvantages of presenting with an iPad is that you can’t present, using the Apple VGA Adapter, and charge your iPad at the same time, unless you’re willing to do a little surgery. This was an issue a few weeks ago, when I realized I was running low on battery power and needed to finish a presentation. I ended up importing my presentation to my iPhone since that device had a lot more juice, and I had Keynote for iPhone installed.

How did it work? It didn’t miss a beat. In fact, it was even preferable because you won’t have your iPhone display mirrored in your presentation. Your audience only sees what you present. That’s important because I don’t want everyone to see me enter my passcode every time the device auto locks.

But as many have said, don’t throw away your desktop or notebook computer. It is very hard to make presentations from scratch on an iPad or an iPhone. I find it easier to create the presentation on an iMac (or a MacBook Pro) because I have to add a lot of images to my presentation, and it’s easier to place those images with a computer because you have that pesky file system. Also, you can’t create a presentation using your own theme, which is a bummer because I have bought and created quite a few over the years. (If you create your presentation on a computer, Keynote for iPad/iPhone will import it with a few warnings but few noticeable changes.)

Currently, moving the presentation from your computer to your iPad/iPhone is a little challenging. I prefer using Dropbox to keep the most current presentation from my computer available on my iDevice. Make sure you have the Dropbox app installed on your iOS device, load your presentation, and open it using your Keynote app. iCloud might make things easier, but I won’t know yet until it actually comes out next week.

Have you tried to present with your iPad? Are you ready to leave the notebook computer at home as I’ve begun to do?

Actually, I found myself liking the transition. I now actually use the calendar and the Office-like apps have been pretty handy, especially on my iPad.

However, my biggest challenge since the migration has been getting more than my default calendar to appear on my iPhone and iPad. I was really pleased to see that in today’s New York Times technology section, they offered a solution to my problem. Well kind of.

What the article failed to mention was that we can’t access our Google Apps settings using Google’s default settings page. We have to do it through our host domain. For those of us, at NYU, we have to visit a different page. But once you navigate there, authenticate yourself, it’s just a matter of clicking the right boxes. After that, you have to have your iOS device remove your Google hosted calendars from your device. (Don’t be scared, it’s in the CLOUD.) Add your calendars anew, and a few moments later, your calendars will appear on your device.

Follow Up

It looks like you have to add your NYU account as a GMail account and not as an Exchange account, regardless of what the NYU instructions say. Then turn on your Calendars and your calendars will show up.

It read as follows:

As a special thank you for meeting with us, I authorized 1000 Free Rollover® minutes at no charge*.

We’ll share with you some simple tips, tricks and free apps that will help you get more out of your phone than ever before, such as:

• The simple settings changes that can deliver big improvements to battery life
• How to use Wi-Fi® networks to maximize your data speeds and save you money
• How AT&T can help you to check and pay bill balances, monitor voice and data usage, and report network problems on the go
• How to customize application-specific “Alerts” to only provide the updates you really care about
• And much more!

So if I’m reading this right, it looks like a lot of what they’re going to show me is using less data, especially with the second point so I can use more WiFi. Also, they want to show me other ways so that I don’t get surprised with overages once they finally cancel everyone’s grandfathered unlimited plan, that sweet but kinda useless unlimited iPhone data plan, and replace them with metered plans.

I might actually take advantage of the meeting. Sure, voice minutes are almost a worthless currency these days, but 1,000 free rollover minutes is a nice nugget.

Yesterday, while I was organizing my apps, I received a push notification  badge that made my iPhone go a little wacky. The screen seems to have been pushed one row higher and no matter what button I pushed, the screen remained unresponsive. Shutting down and rebooting cleared the problem, but it was a strange bug to discover.

I posted a screen capture of the errant iPhone home screen.

I’ve had an iPhone of some type since August 2008, and this is the first time this has happened. And come to think of it, what are the odds that this will happen. I just wonder why the push notification badge causes the home screen to lock up when arranging apps on the screen.

On Thursday, Wired has a story on the guy who found the iPhone and then reportedly sold it to Gawker’s Gizmodo website. In the story, we learn that “Wired.com identified Hogan as the finder of the prototype by following clues on social network sites, and then confirmed his identity with a source involved in the iPhone find.”

If that doesn’t put a little bit of caution before you post any shenanigans on Facebook, consider this timeline of Facebook’s privacy policies over the years.

A week ago I bought a third-party iPhone charger from my new favorite online cables/parts/accessories supplier, Monoprice, that cost less than $4.00. I wanted one to keep at the office that would charge my phone and that the other folks at the office could use, too. So I ordered three of them so I would have one just about anytime I needed one.

Well, I got the chargers over the weekend, but when I tried to charge my phone, it wouldn’t charge for more than five minutes. I tried the other charge, figuring that if this thing retailed for $4.00, it likely cost $0.40 to make and quality control might be lacking. The second one had the same problem. Damn! The phone charges fine with the OEM charger and through my MacBook Pro’s USB so we can deduce that the iPhone is capable of taking a charge.