How To: Import movies from usb drive to iPad

Just came across a situation where I had a movie on my 16 GB usb flash drive and wanted to directly import that movie into my iPad. I have the camera connection kit, so it should be easy, right? Turns out there are a few key steps that have to occur before the iPad will allow this to happen.

• The iPad will not power most USB devices (at least since iOS 4.2). In order to use a flash drive (or any other device) you will need to have a USB hub independently powering your device. In my case I used my monitor. 
• The drive must have the proper folder structure (same as what a digital camera would use).
  • On the root of the drive create a directory called DCIM.
  • Below that create a 8 character directory. The name does not matter (i.e. 16GBUSB1).
  • Inside that directory store all your picture and videos you want to import.
• Movies must be in the m4v format. Also, the names of the files should be 8 characters long.

After all this is configured, when you plug into the camera connection adapter (connected to the USB cord) the photos app should show the contents of the drive and allow you to import the files directly into the iPad without the need of iTunes. 

To take this process a step further (and make it more practical), I would imagine using a SD card would avoid the power issues and provide a way to carry around vast amounts of extra storage. It's amazing how fast 64 GB's fills up when it comes to HD movies...  

Fun with Photo Booth

Keely and I having a little fun with Photo Booth. If there is one thing she loves, it's looking at herself.

What I Use: Twelve South's MagicWand

In order to provide a cleaner workspace to go along with my new MacBook Pro, I purchased the Apple wireless keyboard and magic trackpad. The keyboard is essentially the same found on the MacBook itself, so I knew what I was getting into there. The unknown was the trackpad. I love the large trackpad on the laptop itself, it's far and away superior to any other notebook manufacture out there. I use it often, even if I have a mouse at the ready. The bluetooth trackpad turns out to be even better. It's larger and has the same great feel as it's MacBook counterpart. Using the multi-touch gestures built into OS X are very easy to perform (as opposed to the Magic Mouse). 

The problem I have with both devices is that they tend to wander all over my desk and ruin the clean look I was going for. Also, the keyboard just feels to small for me. I used the full sized, wired version for years and was perfectly happy. I found myself sliding the trackpad flush to the keyboard (which matches perfectly) and wishing Apple sold a version that contains both.

That was when I ordered the MagicWand to do just that. It's a simple connector that turn the bluetooth keyboard and trackpad into one seamless device. Basically the trackpad takes the place of where the numeric keypad is on most full sized keyboard. I now use this in conjunction with a Magic Mouse to provide the best of both worlds. Depending on the task I am performing, I switch between mouse and trackpad effortlessly. 

It's a little pricey at $30, but most Mac accessories are. It may not be for everyone, but it solved my needs perfectly. 

Twelve South's MagicWand

iOS Review: Death Rally

I love my iPad (ya, just the original) and I find that I use it for two basic needs: watching videos and gaming. There some excellent games available for the platform, and they look fantastic. And while the touch controls can never match that of a console, it wins big in terms of price and convenience. iOS games tend to be 1/10 the price for often the exact same version.

An app I discovered the other day is Death Rally. It's an old school, top down racer / shooter with excellent graphics and fast game play. In fact, that is one of the best features about this game (and any good iOS game) is that any race only last 3 laps. You can play as much or as little you want in one sitting. 

The game opens up trying to explain the plot of why you are being forced to race, but it's the last time you ever hear of it and honestly, it's not important. What is important that you race, you gather money, and you upgrade your equipment. The are a total of 5 vehicles unlocked over time and each car can have it's speed, handling, and armor improved by spending money. In terms of weapons, you have your your standard machine gun plus one other item (shotgun, gatling gun, sniper rifle, mines, and missiles). Along with the second gun you can equip the car with spiked bumpers to do damage when ramming the competition. 

The game play consist of driving your vehicle around the course using a virtual joystick on one side and a button to fire your secondary weapon on the other. You can gain money, ammo, or nitrous by shooting various crates scattered on the course. You can also explode orange barrels to try and damage the competition. You can complete the race three ways, by finishing the the race, destroying all the other cars, or being destroyed yourself. The higher you finish, the more money you get. There are also various bonuses for fast laps times and how many other drivers you gun down. 

I found the start of the game very frustration. The first car you are given (Vagabond) drives horrible and I really though it was the control system of the iPad and not the game. You will finish last a lot because the driving is very difficult to do. Given some time (and upgrades) I discovered that the speed/handling of the car makes all the difference in the world (and learning the courses didn't hurt either). It was then I got hooked. I wanted better cars, more weapons, and first place on all the levels. The game keeps you going, not with a progressive story, but with a game progress bar (measured in percentage) and a fame meter. There is also Game Center integration, so plenty of achievements to unlock. 

I really enjoyed this game and have finished all the challenges and gotten to 99% complete (honestly not sure what to do for the last 1%). The controls are good (for the iPad) and a variety of maps, vehicles and weapons adds to the fun (Did I mention Duke Nukem is a boss?). For $4.99 (iPhone and iPad) it's a steal and highly recommended . 

iTunes Link
Developers Site

A New Beginning

Welcome to the new Paul Maleck dot com. While it was not necessarily my intention to redesign the site, I had thought about moving to SquareSpace for some time now. And thanks to the fools at GoDaddy, I really had no choice. I will say having a iPad interface (using it now) is a very nice feature. Things will be a mess at first, but it should start to look normal around here in a week or so.