iPad2 or XOOM

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Curtis J. Morley

The progress of tablets is fantastic. The future vision of how we would use technology seems to be approaching sooner rather than later. I remember as a teenager watching Jean Luc Picard on the Enterprise thinking that seems so foreign. Now it is a part of daily life. Tablets are doing more than even Captain Picard could have guessed. The hottest of the tablets are the Motorola XOOM and Apples iPad 2. I did a little comparison for my company to evaluate which we would want to purchase and have decided that the XOOM is the clear winner.

Here are the reasons why:

Flash: If you have ever read my blog then you know I am very much into Flash and have been since the early days. The interesting thing is that nearly have of the web is into it also. Over 40% of all websites have Flash content. The iPad cannot view any of these sites. This is an issue when http://www.FranklinCovey.com, http://www.FranklinCoveySpeakersBureau.com, http://www.theleaderinme.org, and several other FranlinCovey web properties are built in Adobe Flash.

Free Apps: Yes the App Store has more total Apps than the Android Market Place yet the number of free apps for Android is nearly double. You can’t beat free. Native apps for the Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS is very limited right now but most of the apps I tested work just as well on Android phones as well as on the XOOM. (SlideIt Keyboard was one exception)

Widgets: I love having my email, calendar, news feeds and many other important pieces of information available without having to click an icon and wait for an app to load. This seems so intuitive to me that I don’t doubt that the iPad will have it in one of the future releases.

Voice Commands: Typing, browsing, opening apps, listening to music and navigating can all happen at the sound of my voice. Being able to say, “Navigate to FranklinCovey” and then having the largest GPS unit imaginable is pretty cool. There are many other Google Voice Actions.

Tabbed Browsing: This is a great feature. It may seem simple to some but being able to see the tabs that I have open and go back and forth is a lot less hassle than the ipad (non-multitasking) method that takes me to a separate screen then having to choose which window I want to manage. The browser acts like the browser on my computer. Did I mention the browser has Flash.

Google Integration: Google maps, Google Docs, Gmail, Google Chat, Google Search, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, Google Navigation, Google Sky Maps, Google Body, Google Goggles, Google Books, Google everything. I love the way it all integrates together to make my life simple.

Expandable Memory: iPad makes you pay $829 for the 64 GB device with 3G whereas for the Motorola XOOM you pay $599 for the 32 GB device and buy a SanDisk 32GB MicroSDHC Card for $70. Note – The expansion slot is not accessible as of the date of this post. This will be coming within 2 weeks I am assured from Verizon. Price: See above. 64 GB Xoom for $670, 64 GB iPad 2 for $829

Website Load Times: Considerably faster on the XOOM than the iPadfrom my testing and from 6 secs vs. 9 secs load times as tested here.

Internet Speeds: Again the trophy goes to the XOOM. Although Verizon carries both devices the iPad 2 is not capable of 4G speeds. The XOOM will have 4G within a month according to the Verizon reps that I spoke with.

True Multitasking: Enough said.

and…. a

Barometer for when I need to check the weather or altitude. 🙂

In summary, even if I were on the Enterprise I would probably still pick the Motorola XOOM with the Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system.Below is a direct comparison chart.

As always – Happy Flashing
Curtis J. Morley

	XOOM	iPad2
OS	Android 3.0 Honeycomb	iOS 4.3
Widgets	On Page Interactivity	None
Display	10.1-inch WXGA 1280 x 800	9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD 1024 x 768
Contrast Ratio	1200:1	881:1
Max Bright(cd/m2)	312	388
Weight	730 g	613g [AT&T], 607g [VRZN], 601g [WIFI]
Dimensions	9.80 x 6.61 x 0.51 inches	9.5 x 7.31 x .34 inches
Color	Black [USA], Silver [EURO], Gold [SE]	Black or White
Multi-Tasking	Yes	None
Camera(s)	– front, -back 5mpx	VGA Webcam – front, 720p Video -back
Processor	Dual-Core NVIDIA Tegra 2	Dual-Core Apple A5
Battery	9 hrs heavy use, up to 20 days standby	10 hrs heavy use, up to 1 month standby
Adobe Flash	Flash 10.2	None
Memory/Storage	32GB	16GB, 32GB, 64GB
Expansion Slot	up to 32 GB now 64 GB coming soon	None
Carrier	Verizon	Verizon/AT&T
Connection Speed	4G, 3G	3G
Price	$799 3-G, $600 Wifi-Only, £499.99 Euro Wifi-Only	$499 16GB, $599 32GB, $699 64GB, $629 16GB+3G, $729 32GB+3G, $829 64GB+3G – all models include Wifi
Web Load Time(secs)	6	9
Tabbed Browsing	Tabbed Browsing	None
Voice Commands	Integrated	None
Open Marketplace	Yes	Closed
Native Apps	1500	65,000
Total Apps	150,000	350,000
Free Apps	66%	33%
Connections	gyroscope	gyroscope
	accelerometer	accelerometer
	ambient light sensor	ambient light sensor
	digital compass	digital compass
	GPS & Cellular location on 3G models	GPS & Cellular location on 3G models
	barometer	None
	magnetometer	None
	Proximity Sensor	None
	CDMA800 /1900 LTE 700 (4G)	HUSPA support
	Rx diversity in all bands connection	None
	3.5 mm stereo headphone jack	3.5 mm stereo headphone jack
	Wifi 802.11 a/b/g/n	Wifi 802.11a/b/g/n
	HDMI out	HDMI out(with adapter)
	Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology	Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology
	mic	mic
	microUSB	30-pin dock connector port

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Curtis J. Morley

ActionScript Error 1050: Cannot assign to a non-reference value.

ActionScript Error 1050 Description:
This Error is rather simple and you will find the solution to AS3 Error #1050 quick and easy. This Flash/Flex error occurs because you have tried (unintentionally I’m sure) to assign something that cannot be referenced later to another value. In other words you could have tried to assign a string in a trace statement to a value. Once the trace statement occurs that value is obliterated and therefore can never be referenced again. I’m sure that made a lot of sense… if not see the examples below. 🙂

Flex / Flash Error #1050 Fix:
Move the equal sign ( = ) inside of the quotes.

Bad Code 1:

var word:String = “Wrong place for equal sign”;
trace(“AS3 Error 1050” =+ word);

Good Code 1:

var word:String = “Wrong place for equal sign”;
trace(“AS3 Error 1050 = “+ word);

Related Errors:

Flash ActionScript Error 1067 – Implicit coercion of a value of type void to an unrelated type Function. (AS3 Error 1067 is when you try to assign a String to a Number etc…) The above code will give you Flex error 1067 also.

This should help you resolve Flex / Flash Error #1050

Thanks and as always Happy Flashing

Curtis J. Morley

Training Top 125 2011

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Curtis J. Morley

Training Magazine just announced the winners of the Training Top 125 for 2011. Congratulations to all of the winners from tonight’s gala event. They base the ranking on things like: Training Tied to Business Results * Certification * Number of Trainers * Employee Retention * Demonstrable Results * Training Budget * Training Technology and Infrastructure * etc…

Congratulations go out to the following companies that showed greatness in training:

Farmers Insurance
The Economical Insurance Group
Verizon
SCC Soft Computer
The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.
EMC Corporation
United States Navy
Vanguard
Microsoft
CareSource
Edward Jones
Best Buy Co., Inc.
Shaw Industries, Inc.
Miami Children’s Hospital
Cerner Corporation
University of New Mexico Hospitals
ADP (Automatic Data Processing, Inc.)
Mohawk Industries, Inc.
Chesterfield County Virginia
BB&T Corporation
Intel Corp
Aetna Inc.
Allied International Credit
McDonald’s USA, LLC
Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD)
Paychex, Inc
Suffolk Construction Company, Inc
AlliedBarton Security Serivces, LLC
American Infrastructure
BOWE BELL+Howell
Quintiles Transnational Corp.
CarMax, Inc.
Jiffy Lube International
ESL Federal Credit Union
PAETEC
First Horizon National Corporation
Shape Corp
Wells Fargo & Company
Scotiabank Group
Miami Cerebral Palsy Residential Services., Inc.
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company
SpawGlass
Navy Federal Credit Union
MetLife, Inc.
Western Summit Constructors, Inc
ABf Freight System, Inc.
Keller Williams Reality
Healthways, Inc.
U.S. Security Associates, Inc.
SPIN, Inc.
ResMed
EMD Serono, Inc.
ISP | America’s Home for College Sports
Cartus Corporation
Baptist Health Care
Cianbro Corporation
Steelcase, Inc.
Bank of America
DaVita, Inc.
Coldwell Banker Real Estate
Healthpoint LTD
Buckman
Banner Helath
NIIT (USA), Inc.
Intercontinental Group
NCO Financial Systems, Inc
VSP
Orkin, LLC
Verity Credit Union
FedEx Express
Grant Thornton LLP
Baylor Health Care System
Windstream Communications
American Fidelity Assurance Company
G4S Secure Solutions (USA) Inc.
Loews Hotels
J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan(BCBSM)
APC by Schneider Electric
Tata Consultancy Services, Ltd.
MasterCard Worldwide
Choice Hotels International
CHG Healthcare Services
New York Presbyterian Hospital
Vi
Century 21 REal Estate, LLC
TD Bank
Wequassett Resort and Golf Club
William Osler Health System
Special Response Corporation
The Nebraska Medical Center
Tandus Flooring
sanofi-aventis Pharmaceuticals
SuperMedia, LLC
Gables Residential
CareerBuilder
Avanade
Scottrade
Oakwood Temporary Housing
Lam Research Corporation
LQ Management, LLC
Cbeyond
UPS
Perkins+Will
Morrison Management Specialists
IKON Office Solutions, Inc.
WEstern and Sountern Life
Nevada Federal Credit Union
Discover Financial Services
White Lodging Services
NetApp
mcCarthy Building Companies, Inc.
Quicken Loans
Naval Surface Warfare Ctr., Port Hueneme Division
Vistage Itnernational
WellSpan Health
University Health System
Valley Crest Landscape Companies
AIT Laboratories
Sierra Nevada Corporation
Kendle International, Inc.
Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division, Newport
Carilion Clinic
Union Sanitary District
AAA – The Auto Club Group

Look forward to seeing everyone in my session on Wednesday from 12:30 -3:30.

How Many Companies in the U.S. Have Over 1000 Employees?

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Curtis J. Morley

How many companies have 1000+ employees? This is a question I asked recently while doing some market research at FranklinCovey. I looked in the traditional places but couldn’t find a consistent answer. I should say that I was not able to find an up to date answer for how many companies employ over 1000 people. So for everyone else asking the same question of the number of companies with 1000+ employees here is what I found so that you don’t have to search nearly as hard as I did. Here is some of the most relevant info I found.

U.S. Census Bureau – has a fantastic list that can be downloaded of companies in 2007 broken down by state but only lists the criteria to 500+ employees and not 1000+ employees. They also have this site that lists companies with over 1000 employees. The total number of companies it shows is 11,174. This is the most accurate that I could find. Here is how it is broken out.

Firms with 1,000 to 1,499 employees	2,916
Firms with 1,500 to 1,999 employees	1,542
Firms with 2,000 to 2,499 employees	942
Firms with 2,500 to 4,999 employees	1,920
Firms with 5,000 employees or more	1,927
Firms with 5,000 to 9,999 employees	952
Firms with 10,000 employees or more	975

Hoovers shows that it has data on 6994 companies with over 1000 employees. Hoovers is very accurate in the collection and sorting of data but does not look to have all records.

Manta lists over 25k companies with over 1000 employees. I looked through their lists for Utah and found multiple duplicates and several companies headquartered in other states that have a small office in Utah but are still listed. Long story short the numbers here are inflated.

Based on all of the data I found I would estimate that there are approximately 12,500 companies with more than 1000 employees in the U.S. currently. We will know the exact number next year when the U.S. Census Bureau does there next study.

Thanks and Happy Marketing

Curtis J. Morley

Top iPhone / iPad Apps of All Time

Posted on January 22, 2011 by Curtis J. Morley

Yesterday I posted that iPhone Apps had hit 10 Billion. So what are the most downloaded Apps of all time? Which will be the 10 billionth app downloaded. As of yet the winning app has not been listed but anyone willing to guess ——“Angry Birds”? If CES was any indication then this is the year of the Birds. Angry ones. Here are some of the most downloaded apps to date:

All-Time Top Free iPad Apps

All-Time Top Paid iPad Apps

All-Time Top Free iPhone Apps

All-Time Top Paid iPhone Apps

The complete list can be found here – All-Time Top iPhone Apps, Top iPad Apps

What are your favorite apps?

How Big is 10 Billion?

Posted on January 21, 2011 by Curtis J. Morley

iTunes Apps Downloads to hit 10 Billion

The iTunes Store is about to hit a milestone in it’s history and in the history of the world.

Apple reached the 10 Billion download milestone with iTunes music downloads 7 years after it’s launch. The pace quickened with apps. Apps went from 2 billion downloads near the end of September ’09, to 3 billion in January of last year. One year later we see that number jump to 10 Billion. There is no question the advances in the iPhone and more importantly the launch of the iPad in April 2010 was the major push toward 10 Billion number.

Ten Billion will soon be the total number of apps downloaded from the iTunes. So how big is 10,000,000,000 and who else has this as a milestone in their history? Ten Billion is a pretty big number. It is actually an enormous number. So how can we quantify 10 Billion. These are some of the milestones that have happened in the recent past in regards to 10 Billion.

10 Billion Milestones

What it costs to keep U.S. Government documents a secret – $10,000,000,000

The amount of money that Bill and Melinda Gates donated for vaccinations in 2010 – $10,000,000,000

The population of people on the planet earth in the year 2050. – 10 Billion people

The number of qubits it takes to build a basic but functional Quantum Computer – 10 Billion Qubits

1/3 the pieces of content posted each month on Facebook – 30 Billion images, links, videos, etc…

Total Number of Tweets up to March 13, 2010 – 10,000,000,000 total tweets

The Number of YouTube views in 5 days – Ten Billion Views

A Bank Note Issued by the Zimbabwean Government iss ued in 2008 – (Talk about inflation. I found it so cool that I ordered the 50 Trillion off of eBay)

How long before you or your company hits a ten billion milsetone?

How to Turn Your Logo into an Augmented Reality Marker (with Gimp)

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Curtis J. Morley

What is an Augmented Reality Marker?

An Augmented Reality Marker is a black and white image that has a border and pattern inside. The marker is held up in front of a webcam which overlays (or augments) the live video with additional material. The augmented reality marker below is a good example of an augmented reality marker. It is for one of my favorite examples by GE called:

Plug Into the Smart Grid

You can see a list of other augmented reality markers (and even print a sheet of them to save paper) from my previous post.

Guidelines for creating an Augmented Reality Marker

Your marker needs to be a Square Box.
The marker should have a 40mm Square Border (this can be smaller as shown above but it will not be as accurate in the final example. The thinner the border the harder it is to recognize).
The marker should be printed at a minimum of Two inches (2″).
Use a simple pattern inside the box. The more simple the better the augmented reality will work.
Everything else is creativity. (The most creative augmented reality marker I have seen is from www.VampirePowerSucks.com)

Step-by-Step Instructions for Making Your Logo into an Augmented Reality Marker using Gimp

Create a new file. File >> New
Set the width and height to 8.5 x 11 inches (612 x 792 pixels, or 215.9 x 279.4mm)
Using the “Rectangle Select” tool [R] create a 4″ square in the middle of the page.
– Hold the [SHIFT] key and start dragging from 2.75″ horizontally and 3″ on vertical axis.
-Drag down to 6.75 and 7 respectively
Use the “Bucket” [B] tool and fill the square with black
Again using the “Rectangle Select” tool [R] create a 2″ square centered inside the original box.
Hit the [DELETE] key
Open your logo file in GIMP (Make sure that the logo is entirely black if not select it with the “Fuzzy Select Tool and then fill it with Black)
Select your logo file and put it inside the border
Type your URL at the top of the page so that people will remember where to go to see the augmented reality working.
Save the file as a PDF. This is really not intuitive in GIMP. Instead of “Save As” you have to click “Print” and then select “Print to file”
Post this to your website and you are done.

As Always Happy Flashing,

Curtis J. Morley

Augmented Reality Markers for Mobile

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Curtis J. Morley

The entire purpose of this post is to have a place that I can find my favorite AR markers to use with my smart phone instead of printing them out. I was wasting a lot of paper on printing out these Augmented Reality Markers and thought, “I have to stop wasting the planet like this.”

Pull up this site on your computer and on your smart phone and you won’t have to waste another piece of paper on the sites below.
Doritos combined a music video and Augmented Reality to let you choose the way you want to watch Rihanna sing.

http://www.doritoslatenight.com/