I’m not saying never again to owning an iPad. The newer, fancy models with the pencil cast a certain spell on me.

Still, I reached a point where gadgets are only added to my collection if they get used. So I’ll only get an iPad if I can find a workflow that makes it a necessity.

In doing so, I fear a seed was planted. I started asking myself what said workflow might look like.

What is an iPad useful for?

iPads tend to be great consumption devices. They are lightweight and easy to transport. Fast, thanks to great specs and tight integration with the operating system. Their battery life lasts for most of the day. If you are watching videos, casual browsing, or playing games they are quite convenient.

I don’t hate consumption, but I’m trying to focus more on production than consumption in my life. So the iPad doesn’t hold great appeal when solely considered as a consumption device.

In recent times, I have seen people use them to be more productive, however. Doctors and medical students appear to be quite fond of domain-specific apps as well as its note-taking capabilities. Digital artists create great paintings and drawings on them. Musicians and even photographers/videographers are increasingly using the iPad, particularly the Pro line, on the go.

Could the iPad be a great option for programming as well?

My ideal use case

Before we discuss how one might configure an iPad for programming, I’d like to point out that my primary use would be reading technical PDFs, annotating them, and taking notes. If you are only interested in programming, laptops are a superior choice.

Still, you are there sitting at the library or a coffee shop. You’re reading a programming book, jotting down notes. It’s only natural to want to write code to validate and experiment with what you’re learning.

We know from neuroscience studies that the act of taking notes by hand is superior to typing them when it comes to retaining the information. For programming related material, however, I’d say that writing actual code is just as important.

You could bring both a laptop and an iPad but it becomes quite inconvenient at that point.

So for me, the ideal scenario would be an iPad that allows me to read technical books, annotate them/take notes, and program on it.

It already excels at the first two tasks, but can the iPad work for programming? The screen, in landscape mode, is certainly big enough. If you opt for the 12.9″ model, it’s essentially no different than my current MacBook Pro. Spec-wise, it might even be as fast, if not faster.

So it’s really a matter of software. These babies should be called iFortKnox. They are quite locked down.

A possible iPad setup for programming

If you search for them, you’ll find the occasional IDE for iOS. Pythonista for iOS, for example, will mostly work if you’re writing Python scripts.

Unfortunately, there isn’t an equivalent for Elixir and Phoenix, which I tend to favor these days. Plus, I like to use Git as a mechanism to share code between different laptops.

VNC is not a great option either, in my experience. You’ll face quite a bit of lag and the smaller screen of the iPad doesn’t lend itself too well to showing a whole computer desktop.

It seems to me that the best approach is to have the development environment on a remote machine and use the iPad as a client.

Amusingly, dedicated services like C9 by Amazon do not support mobile browsers that well. Though, with the upcoming iPad OS defaulting Safari to a full browser, it’s possible that these will become a viable option.

Based on my research, the most promising alternative is running a cheap remote box on DigitalOcean or similar provider, and connecting via a mosh-shell like Blink Shell. That appears to work really well even with spotty connections.

It would mean using a terminal-based editor. It’s not for everybody, but even though I tend to use Visual Studio Code these days, I would have zero problems with using Vim for this purpose. (Hello Vim, my old friend, I’ve come to type with you again.)

This caveat aside, I really don’t see a downside to this workflow. I get all the benefits the iPad brings plus the ability to actually do real programming (with a cover keyboard, of course).

The new iPad Pros are rumored to come out soon. They might be announced in less than two weeks. So I’m going to sit tight on this one but I’m eagerly waiting.

What about you? Do you have an iPad? Do you use it for programming? Is your workflow different than the one I propose here? Let me know in the comments below.

The post Programming on an iPad appeared first on Programming Zen.

Productivity apps on my Mac

• Adium for communicating with my Gmail contacts.
• Skype for computer-to-computer calls and the occasional video conference.
• Google Hangouts for actual phone calls, video calls, and screen sharing.
• Sublime Text for general editing of text or programming languages that don’t have a dedicated IDE like Xcode or RubyMine.
• Byword for writing posts in markdown.[2] I bought the in-app option to publish to blogs and Evernote, as it’s handy in this respect (particularly for the latter). Yes, I could easily use Sublime Text for this, but I prefer the distraction-free approach of Byword when writing larger amounts of content.
• Apple Calendar synchronized with Google Calendar.
• Gmail on the web. I haven’t found a Mac email client I could love.
• Google Drive/Docs when sharing an article with my wife or friends, especially if I want to get feedback before publication. I also use it occasionally as a replacement for Excel/Form.
• Dropbox to synchronize key files between all of my devices.
• Evernote for note taking and bookmarking. I resisted Evernote for a long time, then one day, it suddenly clicked for me. I also have the Evernote Web Clipper for Chrome.
• The Doit.im Mac app which I use for my very loose version of GTD (Getting Things Done). This is essentially my TODO list app/service.
• Reeder 2 connected to my Feedly account, to stay abreast of noteworthy posts and news.
• TweetDeck to handle a few social media accounts.
• iTerm2 as a replacement of the stock Terminal app.
• Market Samurai for SEO and online marketing research.
• Screenflow for screencasting.
• Photoshop and Lightroom for photo editing and handling.
• iMovie for the occasional video editing not related to screencasting.
• 1Password synchronized via Dropbox so that I only ever have to remember one password.
• Skitch for screen grabbing and quick annotations. I particularly like the ability to share the screenshot with one click (when it works), and its integration with Evernote (being made by the same company).
• DragonDrop, a Mac utility that allows you to very quickly copy/move a series of files from one place on your filesystem to another.
• Pushbullet to send and receive SMS from my computer as well as handling my Android phone notifications.
• Keynote for the occasional presentation that is not work related (at work I use the Microsoft Powerpoint, which is provided to employees, or the open source equivalent of it).
• iPython as my calculator and quick data analysis tool.
• TeamViewer to remotely login into my other laptops.
• RescueTime, a recent addition, to keep track of my time, help with accountability, and generally motivating me to do more.

Productivity apps on my Android phone

On my giant smartphone (the Samsung Galaxy Note3) I use most of the same services and apps, provided an app for Android exists. So you’ll see me use Evernote, Dropbox, Google Drive, Hangouts, Doit.im, et cetera, there as well.

The main noteworthy mentions are:

• Gmail as I find the app to be much better than the mobile site version.[3]
• Press as my feedreader client for Feedly, instead of Reeder.
• aCalendar+ as my Google Calendar client, instead of Calendar for Mac.
• buffer to schedule social media posts (on my Mac I also use buffer, but I do so from Chrome).
• Pocket casts to catch up with interesting podcasts such as Ask Altucher, The Tim Ferriss Show, Tropical MBA, and a dozen others.

Not everything on the Mac has a worthy equivalent on Android, so I don’t have a text editor to recommend here for example. On phones, I find that Google Drive, or any of the built-in editors capable of editing files that are stored in Dropbox, to be okay in a pinch.

Productivity apps for iOS

As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently got a new iPad Air 2. It’s an entertainment device but I try to use it for productivity tasks as well. This will be the case all the more so once I get my hands on a decent keyboard case for it.

Much like my phone, where corresponding Mac apps exist for iOS, I use them. So Evernote, Dropbox, 1Password, and even Byword, are all installed there. One exception would be an RSS reader. Technically there is Reeder for the iPad, but I have been using the free version of FeeddlerRSS so far and find that it works well enough.

On top of the more or less cross-platform list, I have a few educational apps which are actually useful thanks to the iPad’s screen size:

• Udemy [4]
• Code School
• Kindle
• Safari Queue [5]

There are more applications, of course, but these are the ones that I use frequently and feel are worth mentioning. That said, this list is never static. For example, just a couple of days ago, while on Skype with my friend Kalid, he mentioned Beeminder to me, praising its accountability and goal tracking abilities. I had already come across it before, but overlooked it. Kalid swears by it, so I’m going to give it a shot.

Let me know what you use and would recommend. I love to check out cool applications and refine my toolkit and workflow as needed.

The post 40 productivity apps I use on a regular basis appeared first on Programming Zen.

I’m sharing those reasons and my findings about each here in the hopes that they might help other shoppers. This isn’t the world’s shortest post, but its length should prove very helpful if you’re in the same boat.

The following is a list of tablets that I considered at the beginning of my selection process:

• iPad Mini 2 / 3
• iPad Air 2
• Nexus 9
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5
• Amazon Fire HDX 8.9
• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact Tablet

Why buy a tablet?

Before being able to pick the right tablet, you should ask yourself why you want a tablet in the first place.

For me, a tablet is a device in between a laptop and a smartphone.

My personal workstation is a 15″ edition of a fully loaded MacBook Pro, which I chose specifically for its suitability as a development machine and other media intense activities. Its power comes in handy anytime I have programs such as Lightroom, Photoshop, or Xcode open or if I’m performing data analysis in Python. Its large retina screen is beautiful and easy on the eyes while programming.

Its sole downside is that it’s not overly portable. Lately I have been doing a lot of traveling in Western Canada (multiple trips per month). I usually travel with my work laptop (which is also a 15 incher). Carrying a second laptop for personal purposes wouldn’t be practical. Furthermore, I’m pretty certain that a 15″ laptop doesn’t fit on the tiny airplane trays on the backs of the seats aboard the relatively small airplanes I’m usually on for such trips. In short, I love my MacBook Pro but it’s cumbersome on the go and I needed something that I could easily take with me on the go.

While traveling, I have come to rely on my smartphone (a Samsung Galaxy Note3 phablet). Unfortunately despite its – huge by phone standards – screen, it’s still too small to get real work done without fatiguing my farsighted eyes. Are we seeing a bit of Goldilocks situation here?

A tablet seemed like a good middle ground.[1] Small and light enough to have it with you just about anywhere, yet large enough to easily use for productive purposes as well.

What would you use it for?

The second question I asked myself was what would I use the tablet for. I mean, yes, it’s going to be a portable computer of sorts, but what am I’m actually going to use it for in practice? As you go through this thought exercise yourself, be realistic and honest about your needs, so as to hopefully help you make the best choice possible.

For me, it came down to the following four tasks:

1. A learning device. I like to read Kindle and Safari books, take Udemy and Codeschool courses, watch TED talks, and so on.
2. An entertainment device (e.g., Netflix, YouTube, Social Media).
3. Writing posts and articles on the go.
4. Communication (e.g., Email, Facetime, Skype, Hangouts).

Even at home,[2] if I’m not in my office chair in front of a 32″ screen (a BenQ BL3200PT), since getting my new tablet, I find that I rarely reach for my laptop anymore.[3]

What screen size for a tablet?

Having established that a tablet was indeed a good idea, the question became what screen size. There are roughly four categories to keep in mind here:

1. Small (6–7″)
2. Medium (8–9″)
3. Large (10–11”)
4. Extra Large (12″+)

Considering that my smartphone’s screen is already ridiculously large (i.e., 5.7″), I could only justify getting a tablet if it was sufficiently larger than that. It simply wouldn’t make sense to buy a different device only to gain an inch or two diagonally. For books, taking online courses, and watching media larger tablets are also simply better.

These considerations helped me eliminate three candidates from the list – namely, the iPad Mini, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4“, and the 8” Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact.

Before we move on to the rest of the list, I’ll devote a few words to those who don’t care all that much for larger screens. 8″ tablets are somewhat of a sweet spot ergonomically (at least for my medium sized hands). They also tend to have very sharp, pixel packed screens.

It’s easy to see why someone would opt for one of these three. The Galaxy Tab S 8.4″ has an absolutely gorgeous super-AMOLED display and a microSD slot for storage expansion. The iPad Mini 2 is currently on sale for a steal of a deal and is an all-around good tablet[4]. The Xperia Z3 is expensive, but it offers a top notch performance, great screen, and some snazzy features, including the ability to use it in a Jacuzzi, as it’s fully waterproof.

In my case however, when it came time to chose between “a little easier to handle” and “a lot more screen real estate” I opted for the latter. I readily admit that it’s a compromise. In the case of 12″+ tablets, the handling becomes too much of an issue for me so I didn’t give them any kind of serious consideration.

My thought process led me to narrow down the race to four medium/large tablets:

• iPad Air 2
• Nexus 9
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5
• Amazon Fire HDX 8.9

Stick to what you know and your ecosystem of choice

Another aspect to consider when selecting your new tablet is the ecosystem of devices you already possess. Do you own a PC or a Mac? Do you use an iPhone or an Android device (or something else)? Are you mostly using Apple services or Google services?

It pays off to be consistent and use devices that can easily synchronize and work together.

In my case, this principle didn’t offer much guidance. I use a Mac, but my personal phone is an Android device. I have two Apple TVs, but one TV also uses Google Chromecast. I have extensive experience with both OSes (iOS and Android), so there would have been no learning curve no matter which device I picked.

Assuming you are not an outlier like me, I’d recommend sticking to what you know and what you use already (unless you’re currently dissatisfied with it).

This discussion on the ecosystem around your tablet actually brings up the reason why I didn’t get the Amazon Fire HDX 8.9. It’s a gorgeous, light, powerful, and fairly well priced device, however, unfortunately much of its value comes from its integration with the Amazon ecosystem.

The apps that you buy for it come from the Amazon Appstore for Android, which has a good selection but nowhere near that of Google Play or the Apple App Store.

Fire OS (an Amazon centric version of Android) is also very well integrated with Amazon Prime’s free goodies options such as video and music streaming. As a Canadian Prime subscriber, unfortunately I don’t get to partake in any of those benefits (only faster shipping), so I passed on what I still consider to be a good device (I recently gifted the 7″ version to my father-in-law, for example, and he absolutely loves it).

I was down to just three contenders then. As you might have guessed, they were the ones mentioned in the tile of this post. It became a matter of iPad Air 2 vs Nexus 9 vs Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5.

Aspect ratio and power

The choice between those three became somewhat unnerving. They were all excellent devices, and you couldn’t go wrong with any of them. With a fair bit of cash at stake however, I simply wanted the best option for me and a tablet I wouldn’t regret.

To make my choice a little easier I headed to the store and tried out the brand new iPad Air 2, as well as the out-for-a-few-months-now Tab S 10.5″. The Nexus 9 wasn’t available in retail stores yet unfortunately.

I found the iPad’s aspect ratio of 4:3 to be nicer to hold, browse, or read books with. The 16:9 aspect ratio of the Tab S was great for videos, but little else. The 10.5″ tablet felt too long in portrait mode. All in all, that meant a definite point in favor of the iPad.

The Tab S screen was stunning in person. Way more vibrant and contrasty than the, by all means great, iPad screen. It would have been squarely a point in favor of the Tab S had I not noticed significant screen burns. I opened a white page, and I could clearly see the ghost of the launcher’s dock icons. I tried several Tab S devices, in multiple stores and encountered this issue each and every time.

Now, don’t get me wrong. This is clearly nitpicking. But older iPads (e.g., iPad Air demo units) did not manifest the same problem. Suddenly the screen, a theoretical advantage of the Galaxy Tab S 10.5, became something to be slightly concerned about.

The mortal blow for the Tab S 10.5 came when I tried to display a technical PDF. The iPad Air 2 was extremely smooth in handling the PDF and could zoom and refocus on a particular area in no time. When I tried the same on the Tab S, there was significant delay. Interestingly, scrolling wasn’t that smooth either. The reading experience (potentially in part due to better software) felt considerably nicer on the iPad.

Benchmarks have shown that the iPad Air 2 is significantly faster than the Tab S. From my experience in the store, the difference is remarkable in real applications as well.

I must acknowledge not only the Tab S’ gorgeous screen (screen burn aside), but also give it Brownie points for having a microSD slot that allows one to add up to 128GB of data to your tablet. Considering that these cards are not too expensive, one could in theory have multiple cards when traveling for virtually unlimited media consumption on the go.

I’ll also must concede that, while not a fan of Samsung’s TouchWiz interface and bloatware, they do provide you with an extra GB of RAM (3 in total, versus the 2GB of the iPad Air 2 and Nexus 9) and the single best multitasking feature of any Android (or iOS) tablet out there. You can have two programs running at the same time on the screen and drag and drop between them. I find the feature extremely useful on my phone, and it would have been certainly all more useful on a large tablet.

Finally, Samsung offers a tablet app so that you can pilot selected phones (including my Note3) through an emulator running on your Tab S. Very handy!

It was tough to say no to the Tab S, but in the end I decided that I had to (above all, for its outdated performance compared to that of the brand new competitors).

iPad Air 2 vs Nexus 9

It all came down to a Battle Royale between these two tablets. The flagship Apple tablet and the flagship Google/HTC tablet running an unadulterated edition of Android Lollipop, the latest and best incarnation of Android.

The truth of the matter is that, by this point I had determined that there was no right or wrong answer. I could have flipped a coin and ultimately have been very happy with the outcome either way.

For the sake of my decision though, I came up with a list of pros and cons for each choice. They can be briefly summarized as follow:[5]

Advantages of the iPad Air 2 over the Nexus 9

• A larger/better/less reflective screen;
• Build quality and QA;
• The models cap at 128GB and not 32GB;
• Thinner aluminum body (but I don’t really care that much there);
• Slightly better battery life;
• Buttery smooth browsing with no lag;
• It has/will have the largest ecosystem of accessories on the market;
• A larger pool of tablet applications available (several apps are currently iOS only);
• New apps tend to ship on iOS first;
• (Opinion) Apps tend to be more visually pleasing and consistent;
• Less risk of dealing with malware (not a huge concern for me, but for some it might be);
• A simple operating system that just works;
• AppleCare+ in North America provides accidental coverage and it’s fairly cheap ($99);
• (Personal) It works well in tandem with my Mac.[6]

Advantage of the Nexus 9 over the iPad Air 2

• Less expensive;
• Easier to handle due to its more compact size;
• High-quality front facing speakers for media consumption;
• Support for multiple users;
• More powerful and customizable operating system (e.g., launchers, widgets);
• It has some apps which are not technically possible on iOS (e.g., RescueTime);
• Many apps are free on Android (if you can live with ads) while requiring a payment in the iOS version;
• (Personal) It works well in tandem with my Android phone;
• Better Google integration.

In the end I went for the iPad Air 2. Specifically a 64GB with Wifi+Cellular in Gold (what can I say, “I love gold”).

If by reading the same list you reached the opposite conclusion and buy a Nexus 9, I can’t fault you for doing so at all.

Before you make your final decision though, I’ll add a few final points:

• I understand their business model, but I still think it’s ridiculous that both companies opted to create 16GB base models at the end of 2014. Google in particular really dropped the ball by not adding a microSD slot. Had that been in place, it might have changed the outcome of my purchase.
• 16 GB is simply not enough on a tablet for most people. If you are opting for the Nexus 9, get the 32 GB model. If you are opting for the iPad Air 2, get the 64GB or 128GB model.
• If you travel or commute on a regular basis, do yourself a favor and grab the cellular version. Tethering with your smartphone can work in a pinch but it’s a pain in the neck to do on a regular basis (and it drains your phone battery very quickly).
• Consider making the purchase through a zero interest monthly plan with your cellular carrier, if any available. It’s much easier to pay, say, $320 upfront + $20/mo interest free for two years, than plunk down $800 + taxes (in Canada) all at once. On that note, I absolutely love my iPad even if, objectively, it does feel overpriced. If the model I chose were to cost $500 instead of $800, I would recommend getting one to anybody without hesitation.
• Get a really high-quality keyboard if you intend to reply to long emails or write with your new tablet. For example, for the iPad Air 2 you can get the BrydgeAir and essentially transform your tablet into a smaller, touch screen laptop. That way you can switch to whichever mode is more convenient (e.g., tablet mode for reading, laptop mode for writing). For the Nexus 9, Google will be releasing their own keyboard case, which looks worthwhile as well.

There you have it. If you are, or already have, pondered this same scenerio, let me know what you opted for and whether my write-up helped you reach your final decision. In the end, I really hope you enjoy your new tablet as much as I’m having a great time with mine.

The post Choosing a Tablet (aka iPad Air 2 vs Nexus 9 vs Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5) appeared first on Programming Zen.

I looked into it and these numbers turn out to be misleading.

iOS apps generate 80% more revenue than Android apps. That is quite different from saying that iOS has 80% market share. Specifically, in Q2 2014, Google Play saw $60M in total revenue, while the iOS AppStore clocked in at $100M. (Source requires registration.)

If we exclude the small impact of alternative Android stores, we are looking at 37.5% and 62.5%, respectively, of their combined market share. No one can deny that it’s still a substantial difference, but it’s definitely more subtle than the often touted 80–20 revenue split. (If we look at downloads, the roles are pretty much reversed with Android devices having 60% of their combined market share of downloads, and iOS devices 40%).

Those numbers are for app revenue. Now let’s look at devices. According to the latest IDC statistics, iOS global device market share is actually quite a bit lower than 20%.

The keyword here however is “global”. Anecdotally, it would be extremely hard to imagine that iPhones have less than a 12% market share in North America, or even the 20% figure I have seen floating around for quite some time now.

The actual OS usage numbers for the North American market show an estimated 51%–42% split in favor of Android, a much less monopolistic picture.

From a developer perspective, these less sensationalistic numbers have a few implications:

1. If you are targeting a North American audience, developing for Android does not give you a big advantage in terms of a reachable user base;
2. iOS still has the edge in terms of revenue, but the frequently heard, “Don’t bother developing for Android”, is absolute nonsense. You can target Android alone and still do extremely well;
3. If you are targeting emerging markets like India, China, Thailand, and Asia in general, Android is a sure bet;
4. It is entirely possible that iOS users have higher incomes on average, but whatever the cause, the numbers seem to indicate that they have a greater willingness to pay for applications;
5. If you are targeting both iOS and Android mobile OSes with your application, taking the strength of both app stores into account, it would make sense to charge for the iOS app while making the Android app available as a free download that relies on ads for its revenue. This of course has the risk of alienating some users who happen to dabble with both operating systems, however they are likely to be a minority so this shouldn’t hold you back, if it’s the road you’d like to embark down.

Personally, I welcome a world where the two major mobile operating systems go head-to-head and converge towards a roughly equivalent market share (at least in North America and Europe). And on that note, having the far off third contender (Microsoft) be less distant certainly wouldn’t hurt matters either.

The post A Few Thoughts on iOS vs Android Market Share appeared first on Programming Zen.