iNotes4You's Blog

Go Paperless with Tap Forms

12 03 2014

My last blog post was about going paperless with a document keeping app. This post is about a much more powerful solution using a database app.

About databases …

It’s out of question that databases on mobiles are the most efficient way to manage large amount of data.

The strong benefit of a database is the synopsis of otherwise widely spread information. Apple’s App Store offers a lot of apps suitable for productive operations but all the informations saved by these apps are cut into pieces saved in app-specific folders. Database management tools summarize all the different types of information in just one app.

If you create structured data (e.g. contacts, where every contact consists of a set of fields (e.g. name, email-address, phone number, account, bank) with different contents and save them as a file you have a very simple database. Its just a container in which similar data are stored like in a spreadsheet.

Lets call the set of FIELDS a TABLE (Form, Library) and the contents of one set of fields a RECORD and a subset of all records a QUERY (collection) and one or more tables and queries a DATABASE

An improved version of a database contains many tables, stores your data securely, lets you collaborate simultaneously with other people and gives you fast information about people, stocks, insurances, words in other languages and beyond. But the pure data won’t let you do the jobs. It would be like searching in a very bulky phone book where data are not sorted.
So you need database management software (DBMS) to support your curiosity.

A Database Management System (DBMS) is a set of algorithms that enables you to store, modify, and extract information from a database, it also provides users with tools to add, delete, access, modify, and analyze data stored in one location. A group can access the data by using query and reporting tools that are part of the DBMS or by using applications specifically written to access the data. A DBMS also provides the method for maintaining the integrity of stored data, running security and users access, and recovering information if the system fails.

An powerful feature of databases comes up, if you connect data in different tables. If a record is about a device you might want to attach the receipt and a certificate of warranty. So the first table is about the device itself and the second table contains file attachments e.g. In PDF file format. Records of the two tables are linked together via a common key which could be the serial number of the device. When looking at the main table ‘Devices’ your DBMS retrieves the file attachments from the second table and shows it to you.

A database solves many problems with your otherwise widely spread data.
Where is the “egg-laying, milk-bearing woolly ~~sow~~ app” that makes it all easy to manage?

The short answer is: nowhere except with a database app.

Tap Forms by Tap Zapp Software is by far the best mobile database app for iOS devices and the company offers a desktop companion app which is fully compatible with the iOS version. So there is one and only one data pool accessible from all you Apple devices and syncing via iCloud.

Creating the form …

Within Tap Forms tables are called ‘forms’. So let us create the form to manage the personal repository. To do so just tap on the ‘+’ icon in the main screen, enter a name for your form and add fields by selecting them from the field list. Enter names for the fields and, if necessary, edit the field options.

Notes …

Missing fields
Don’t worry, you can add them later and remove fields you don’t need.
Pick List
Use pick lists to choose text from predefined lists. It saves time and prevents from using different terms or different spellings. Use a pick list for the field ‘Keyword’ to quickly find related records with a query.
URL
Add the field URL to a record to quickly access the website with further information from within the app.
Note
Always add the field ‘Note’ to a form to enter annotations which otherwise don’t fit in any other field.
Alert
Alerts are shown in the notification center and as a counter on the apps icon e.g. to remind you of an important maturity.
Audio
An Audio field offers the ability to quickly comment on a record.
Layout
After finishing the field creation procedure you can adjust the layout of the form: rearrange the order of fields, set colors and fonts for labels and values, decide which fields should be shown in the navigation area on the left side of the screen.

Attach files …

In my first blog post ‘Go Paperless’ I already mentioned that the PDF file format should be used for scanned documents. So now we have to decide how to attach the files generated by an All-In-One printer with the app AiO Remote by HP or with the help of Scanner Pro by Readdle with which a photo of the document is converted into a PDF file and transferred to Tap Forms.

Basically you can add multiple fields of type ‘File Attachment’ to a record so that several documents can be attached to a record. When creating the form you do not know how many files must be attached later. It can be just one or many updates of documents you get from your insurance company over time. So the best solution is to create a second form ‘MyRepositoryFiles’ which contains the files and is linked to the basic form ‘MyRepository’. In my example I used both fields, a field of the type ‘File Attachment’ and a field of type ‘Link to Form’ which sets the connection to files in the linked form.

Linking a second form to the main form is explained in my article DBMS on iOS devices (2).

Secure the data …

A personal repository contains sensitive data which should be secured by a password for the app as well as an encryption of the database. Tap Forms then encrypts backups of your database on Dropbox and iCloud with 256-Bit AES algorithms.

Sync …

To update the whole database on all your devices activate iCloud Sync. If you use your iPhone for taking a picture of a document or scanning it with the app Scanner Pro by Readdle you usually create a new record, add the document, and want to have it on all other devices when coming home. iCloud Sync does it for you.

Backup …

Because of the relevance of a personal repository it’s indispensable to regularly backup your data on an external storage. With Tap Forms you backup to Dropbox. So there are three copies of your database: on your device, on iCloud, and on Dropbox. This redundancy never let’s you loose your data.

The workflow …

Here is the complete workflow visualized in a concept map.

Summary …

In contrast to a document manager like Docunents by Readdle a database is definitely the better choice for managing your personal repository. It adds many useful features not available in pure file managers. To just save PDFs often is not suitable to keep all necessary information together and to complete a record over time with further data e.g. alerts, notes, or files like renewal certificates.

Don’t worry about using databases. With Tap Forms it’s really easy to build your own ‘application’ for managing secured information in one place with accessibility on all your other Apple devices.

Related links …

About the company…

Tap Zapp Software Inc., Canada

About the desktop companion of Tap Forms …

Tap Forms for Mac

About the usage of databases …

DBMS on iOS devices (1)

DBMS on iOS devices (2)

DBMS on iOS devices (3)

DBMS on iOS devices (4)

DBMS on iOS devices (5)

Importing Data

Form Access To Tap Forms

zBase vs Tap Forms

Thanks a lot for visiting my blog.

Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: App Review, Database, Productivity
Categories : App Review, Database, Productivity

Go Paperless

8 03 2014

Stats say that every human living in an industrial nation uses about 20,000 kg paper in his life.

About paper …

Paper may be impregnated, enamelled, metallised, made to look like parchment, creped, water-proofed, waxed, glazed, sensitized, bent, turned, folded, twisted, crumpled, cut, torn, dissolved, macerated, moulded, and embossed. It may be coloured, coated, printed or even written on! It can be laminated with fabric, plastic and metal. It can be opaque, translucent or transparent. It is naturally combustible, or can be made fre-retardent. It may be a carrier or a barrier or a filter. It may be made tough enough to withstand acid, or soft enough for a baby’s skin. It can be read and worn as a garment. It can be re-used and recycled and it is made from a renewable, sustainable source.

The range of possible uses of paper seems almost limitless. New ways of using it are being devised daily. This evolution will continue because paper is an expression of everyday living.

Agriculture
Sacks, seed packets, and animal bedding Building
Wallpaper, damp-proof courses, roofing, flooring, flame resistant papers, plasterboard, and decorative laminates for furniture.
Business
Print out sheets, receipts, circulars, catalogues, filing systems, sales and service manuals, brochures, and letter heading.
Cars
Fascia boards, door and roof liners, filters the Highway Code, and driving licences.
Communications
Writing pads, envelopes, newspapers, magazines, greeting cards, calendars, diaries, telephone directories, labels, business and identity cards.
Domestic Products
Tissues, paper plates and cups, toilet paper, kitchen towels, table napkins, and lampshades.
Education
Books, exercise books, wall charts, flip charts, and report cards
Electrical
Special insulating boards, electrolytic condenser paper, wrapping and identification for electrical cables, printe( circuits, and battery separators.
Entertainment
Menu cards, paper hats, crackers, fireworks, wrapping paper, programmes, playing cards, board games, kites, model aircraft, and race cards.
Filtration
Filters for water, air, coffee, medicine, beer, oil, and mechanical uses.
Impregnated Papers
Polishing, waxing, and cleaning.
Industry
Protection for manufactured goods, in transport, transfer sheets for decorating chinaware, display boards, point of sale materials and in storage.
Medical
Wrapping to keep instruments and equipment sterile, bandages, first aid bands, clothing for nurses, face masks, surgeons’caps, disposable bed pans, sheets, and pillowcases.
Money, Finance, Security
Bank notes, insurance forms, cheque books, travellers’ cheques, postal orders, stamps, cash bags and security papers that contain special markings which are only visible when subjected to ultra-violet light

This is an amazing variety of applications but although there is a sophisticated recycling industry the usage of paper still destroys parts of our ecosystem.

Paper consumption …

The paper consumption in individual countries is related to their gross national product. The further increase in paper and board consumption will be different in different countries depending on whether economic saturation, as e. g. in the United States, in the North European and some Central European countries, and also in Japan, or fast increasing demand, as in China, is prevailing. But also India, Russia and some other Asian and East European countries will come up in the near future with growth rates above the average. The following comparision between the paper consumption per capita and the population in the various regions of the world demonstrate the significant differences and devine the future development of the paper demand there.

The production and use of paper has a number of adverse effects on the environment.
Worldwide consumption of paper has risen by 400% in the past 40 years leading to increase in deforestation, with 35% of harvested trees being used for paper manufacture. Logging of old growth forests accounts for less than 10% of wood pulp, but is one of the most controversial issues.
Paper waste accounts for up to 40% of total waste produced in the United States each year, which adds up to 71.6 million tons of paper waste per year in the United States alone.
Conventional bleaching of wood pulp using elemental chlorine produces and releases into the environment large amounts of chlorinated organic compounds, including chlorinated dioxins. Dioxins are recognized as a persistent environmental pollutant, regulated internationally by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. Dioxins are highly toxic, and health effects on humans include reproductive, developmental, immune and hormonal problems. They are known to be carcinogenic. Over 90% of human exposure is through food, primarily meat, dairy, fish and shellfish, as dioxins accumulate in the food chain in the fatty tissue of animals.

The tasks …

If you plan to go paperless you won’t change the stats significantly but there are some other benefits when moving from ring folders to flash memories.

Scanning documents is a daily task for big businesses but it also can be useful for private purposes. You have access to all important information without taking heavy filing folders with you, search within documents without looking through countless pages, send documents or parts of them to companies or authorities, etc. instead of copying them on new paper. Another benefit is that you still have the content even if original documents get lost for what reason soever.

Here is a brief overview of documents which are worth scanning

Insurance Policies
Receipts
Certificates of Warranty
Passport, ID Card, Driver License
Ad-hoc information taken with a camera

After buying an iPad about one year ago I started to reduce paper consumption. The first step is to find out the right apps and then optimize the workflow from incoming or already existing documents to permanent storage on an iOS device.

The requirements …

For me, a reliable solution is based on software of reliable software developers which should meet the following requirements:

General …

UI design following Apple’s iOS Human Interface Guidelines

Reliable developer updating his apps regularly

Universal app (running on all iOS-Devices)

Further apps from the same developer for related tasks

Understandable and fast support

Code stability

iCloud support

Scanning

Specific …

Integrated camera usage

Saving photos as images or PDFs

Combining several photos as pages to a unique document

Connection to different well-known cloud storages including iCloud as well as WebDAV-Connections

Setting of meaningful filenames for images respectively PDFs

Organizing scanned objects in folders

Mailing of scanned objects

Availability of the iOS ‘Open in…’ command

Access to the camera roll and the photo stream

Password protection for the app

Encryption of documents when uploaded to cloud storages and sending by E-Mail

Syncing of scanned objects across all iOS-Devices using the same Apple ID

Printing of scanned documents

Extended search functionalities

There are three apps available at Apple’s App Store which meet all these requirements.

Scanning …

Scanner Pro by Readdle
with an impressive user interface for scanning by using the integrated camera.

AiO Remote by HP
for hardware-based scanning in connection with an AirPrint capable Three-In-One (Print, Scan, Copy) device by Hewlett Packard.

Prizmo by Creaseed
for extracting text from photos and saving the content as PDF.
This is a much more faster procedure than scanning documents with an AiO device although the quality is slightly reduced.

Document management …

Documents by Readdle
as the main container for scanned documents with access to Apple’s iCloud and other cloud providers

Useful utilities …

File Browser by Stratospherix
as a tool to access nearly all cloud storages as well as local computers running on OS X or Windows with powerful features like moving multiple files from one storage to another, zipping files, etc.

Native apps
of cloud providers like Box, Dropbox, and iDriveSync

1Password by AgileBits
as the main password keeper for all sensitive data

It was a rocky road to find out these apps in Apple’s App Store with thousands of productivity apps. The developers of the mentioned products did their homework in the last months and today the apps are quite powerful.

As you can see this suggested solution is not based on a database system. I will discuss the alternate way to go paperless in my next post.

Feature descriptions …

Documents by Readdle

Documents supports Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, SugarSync, SkyDrive, Office 365 Sharepoint, CloudMe, WebDAV, Windows SMB, FTP Server, and SFTP Server (as of Dec 2013).

For a full feature description of Documents by Readdle see my post mentioned under ‘Related links’.

AiO Remote by HP

AiO Remote supports, iCloud (for syncing), Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote, and any WebDAV access, e.g. iDriveSync.

Scanner Pro by Readdle

Scanner Pro supports Apple’s iCloud so that documents e.g. scanned with an iPhone are automatically also available on an iPad.

Further considerations …

Many of the scanned documents contain information which must be available over years. So it’s indispensable to use a suitable file format which allows access over a long time and it turns out that it’s the PDF file format of Adobe.

Additionally it’s worth thinking about the folder structure where scanned documents should be saved.

My suggestions how to group the information …

I called the root folder ‘ARCHIVE’ with the following subfolders:

Long-Termed (many years)

Insurance Policies

Real Estate

Certificates of Warranty

Personal documents

Last Will

etc

Short-Termed (1-2 years)

Receipts

Carrier contracts

etc

I always use structured file names containing a date (e.g. conclusion of a contract) and an added short description pointing to the main content, for example 2013-12-06-AppleTV or 2014-01-13-CarLeasing.

An essential point is that there are at least two different storages so that access is still possible even if a device is broken, replaced, or not in use.

It needs some efforts to replace old documents by newer ones and to delete documents which are not valid any longer. But this is a task you also have to do when using ring binders. Nothing is more annoying than to find invalid information when searching for essentials.

Legislation …

Check the legislation in your country. Paperless storage of certain documents without keeping the originals might be inoperative. In this case the old-fashioned usage of ring binders is still indispensable.

Note
This was the case in Germany where companies sent their invoices as PDFs which were inoperative if the company didn’t digitally signed them. Legislation was changed because it hampered the workflow of small enterprises.

Security …

It’s up to where you primarily store your documents. Keep in mind that everything is stored in Apple’s iCloud if you device is backed up to iCloud. So if you don’t want your documents saved in iCloud you should turn off iCloud backup.
If you use a cloud provider it is indispensable to read the terms and conditions. Free cloud storages are subject to change and suspension without notification.
See ‘Risky free clouds’ under ‘Related links’.
A suggested provider is iDriveSync with encryption of data in transit (during transfer from your device via internet) and at rest (when saved on a provider’s server).

Summary …

Here is a summary of the hard- and software configuration

Feel free to download this map from my Box account.

The alternative file formats have been created with iThoughts HD for iPad (.ITMZ file format). Compatibility to other tools is limited.

Application	File format
Adobe Reader	PDF
Apple iWork/Microsoft Word	DOCX
iThoughts	ITMZ
MindManager	MMAP
XMind	XMIND

An annotation …

Valid for reducing paper waste in the private and business sector …

If your goal in maintaining a paperless office is greater productivity, you may find it more useful to focus on that, rather than on the paper itself. For example, if you receive lots of printed documents and your main problems are finding information in them and figuring out where to file them, the scan-OCR-shred routine will serve you well. It won’t literally reduce the amount of paper you encounter, but it will address the inconveniences you struggle with.

Then there are the trees. Environmental issues, including saving forests and reducing waste, are certainly noble reasons to decrease paper usage.
MacWorld

Related links …

About paper …

Fast facts on Paper Use

Paper Consumption

About the hard- and software …

Documents by Readdle

zBase vs Tap Forms

Text Recognition (1)

Text Recognition (2)

About clouds …

Risky free clouds

iDriveSync Privacy

Thanks for stopping by.
Please do not print this page, just save the PDF version.

Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: App Review, Documents, Filesharing, Productivity
Categories : App Review, Documents, Filesharing, Productivity

About statistics

4 03 2014

The fiercely competitive market of mobile devices is already mentioned in Apple’s Financial Reports. What we see everywhere are reams and reams of charts mainly about the two fighting companies Apple and Samsung and their operating systems iOS and Android. Most often neither the sources of the presented numbers are named nor are they explained. That’s very poor journalism and often just intended to get attention that means, to increase clicks on websites.

Statements like

“Apple’s brand is just overwhelming here,” said Eiji Mori, a Tokyo-based analyst at BCN Inc. “It’s not about specifications. It’s not about rationale. It’s about owning an iPhone.”

always incite useless platform wars when published in social media. Users of Apple devices always get nothing but scorn and derision if Androids read those lines.
Everybody is entitled to make his decision up to his requirements but also must be able to retrieve reliable data about companies when it comes to any financial engagement.

Introduction …

As the leading industrial nation the USA developed rules for financial reports which are basically overtaken by other countries (even Germany, the country which is well-known for it’s very special and complex legislation nobody really understands). The responsible commission in the USA is the SEC (U.S. Security and Exchange Commission).

The laws and rules that govern the securities industry not only in the United States but also in all other industrialized countries derive from a simple and straightforward concept:

All investors, whether large institutions or private individuals, should have access to certain basic facts about an investment prior to buying it, and so long as they hold it.

To achieve this, the SEC requires public companies to disclose meaningful financial and other information to the public. This provides a common pool of knowledge for all investors to use to judge for themselves whether to buy, sell, or hold a particular security. Only through the steady flow of timely, comprehensive, and accurate information can people make sound investment decisions.

For example, domestic issuers (other than small business issuers) must submit

Annual Reports on Form 10-K
Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q
Current Reports on Form 8-K

for a number of specified events and must comply with a variety of other disclosure requirements.

SEC filings have to be segmented by Parts and Items. Items are predefined subtopics and must contain detailed information following the principle of clarity and comparability. The relevant items are:

Number	Content
Item 1	Business
Item 1A	Risk Factors
Item 2	Properties
Item 3	Legal Proceedings
Item 4	Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
Item 5	Market for Registrant’s Common Equity and Related Stockholder Matters
Item 6	Selected Financial Data
Item 7	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Item 7A	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Item 8	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
Item 9	Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
Item 9A	Controls and Procedures

The SEC sets the rules, companies have to provide a well-functioning internal control system to generate testable data which then are validated or rejected by accounting firms or single auditors.

The facts …

The SEC …

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an agency of the United States federal government. It holds primary responsibility for enforcing the federal securities laws and regulating the securities industry, the nation’s stock and options exchanges, and other things, including the electronic securities markets in the United States.

The regulatory agency was created during the Great Depression that followed the Crash of 1929. The main reason for the creation of the SEC was to regulate the stock market of 1940, the SarbanesñOxley Act of 2002, and the Credit Rating Agency Reform Act of 2006.
The enforcement authority given by Congress allows the SEC to bring civil enforcement actions against individuals or companies alleged to have committed accounting fraud, provided false information, or engaged in insider trading or other violations of the securities law. The SEC also works with criminal law enforcement agencies to prosecute individuals and companies alike for offenses which include a criminal violation.
To achieve its mandate, the SEC enforces the statutory requirement that public companies submit quarterly and annual reports, as well as other periodic reports. In addition to annual financial reports, company executives must provide a narrative account, called the “management discussion and analysis” (MD&A), that outlines the previous year of operations and explains how the company fared in that time period. MD&A will usually also touch on the upcoming year, outlining future goals and approaches to new projects. In an attempt to level the playing field for all investors, the SEC maintains an online database called EDGAR (the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system) online from which investors can access this and other information filed with the agency.

The audit firms …

Reports of companies are audited by accounting firms. Auditors receive a special training in universities and later on in the audit firms and it takes up to 10 years before they are qualified to do their job.

The Big Four are the four largest international professional services networks, offering audit, assurance, tax, consulting, advisory, actuarial, corporate finance, and legal services. They handle the vast majority of audits for publicly traded companies as well as many private companies, creating an oligopoly in auditing large companies. It is reported that the Big Four audit 99% of the companies in the FTSE 100, and 96% of the companies in the FTSE 250, an index of the leading mid-cap listing companies.

Note
FTSE Group is a global leader in indexing and analytical solutions. FTSE calculates thousands of unique indices that measure and benchmark markets and asset classes in more than 80 countries around the world.

FTSE indices are used extensively by market participants worldwide for investment analysis, performance measurement, asset allocation and portfolio hedging. Many leading pension funds, asset managers, ETF providers and investment banks work with FTSE to benchmark their investment performance and use FTSE’s indices to create world-class ETFs, index tracking funds, structured products and index derivatives. FTSE also provides many exchanges around the world with their domestic indices.
A core set of universal principles guides FTSE’s index design and management: FTSE’s transparent rules-based methodology is overseen by independent committees of leading market participants, focused on applying the highest industry standards in index design and governance. The foundation of FTSE’s global, regional, country and sector indices is the FTSE Global Equity Index Series, which includes the flagship FTSE All-World Index.
FTSE is well known for index innovation and customer partnerships as it seeks to continually enhance the breadth, depth and reach of its offering.
FTSE is wholly owned by London Stock Exchange Group.

The Big Four firms are shown below, with their latest publicly available data.

Ernst + Young has audited Apple Inc. and it’s internal control over financial reporting as of September 28, 2013, based on criteria established in Internal Control and Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Apple Inc. and it’s management (Tim Cook, CEO, and Peter Oppenheimer, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer) is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting included in the accompanying Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. It’s in the resonsibility of Ernst & Young to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on their audit.

Apple’s report 2013 …

Apple filed it’s 10-K Form about the fiscal year ending on September 28, 2013 on October 30, 2013. It can be downloaded here:

AAPL Fiscal Year 2013, 10-K Form

Some details …

Part I Item 1 Business
Business Strategy
The Company is committed to bringing the best user experience to its customers through its innovative hardware, software and services. The Company’s business strategy leverages its unique ability to design and develop its own operating systems, hardware, application software, and services to provide its customers new products and solutions with superior ease-of-use, seamless integration, and innovative design. The Company believes continual investment in research and development, marketing and advertising is critical to the development and sale of innovative products and technologies. As part of its strategy, the Company continues to expand its platform for the discovery and delivery of third-party digital content and applications through the iTunes Store. As part of the iTunes Store, the Company’s App Store and iBooks Store allow customers to discover and download applications and books through either a Mac or Windows-based computer or through “iOS devices,” namely iPhone, iPad and iPod touch ® . The Company’s Mac App Store allows customers to easily discover, download and install Mac applications. The Company also supports a community for the development of third-party software and hardware products and digital content that complement the Company’s offerings. The Company believes a high-quality buying experience with knowledgeable salespersons who can convey the value of the Company’s products and services greatly enhances its ability to attract and retain customers. Therefore, the Company’s strategy also includes enhancing and expanding its own retail and online stores and its third-party distribution network to effectively reach more customers and provide them with a high-quality sales and post-sales support experience.

Competition
The markets for the Company’s products and services are highly competitive and the Company is confronted by aggressive competition in all areas of its business. These markets are characterized by frequent product introductions and rapid technological advances that have substantially increased the capabilities and use of mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and other digital electronic devices. The Company’s competitors who sell mobile devices and personal computers based on other operating systems have aggressively cut prices and lowered their product margins to gain or maintain market share. The Company’s financial condition and operating results can be adversely affected by these and other industry-wide downward pressures on gross margins. Principal competitive factors important to the Company include price, product features, relative price/performance, product quality and reliability, design innovation, a strong third-party software and peripherals ecosystem, marketing and distribution capability, service and support, and corporate reputation.
The Company is focused on expanding its market opportunities related to personal computers and mobile communication and media devices. These markets are highly competitive and include many large, well-funded and experienced participants. The Company expects competition in these markets to intensify significantly as competitors attempt to imitate some of the features of the Company’s products and applications within their own products or, alternatively, collaborate with each other to offer solutions that are more competitive than those they currently offer. These markets are characterized by aggressive pricing practices, frequent product introductions, evolving design approaches and technologies, rapid adoption of technological and product advancements by competitors, and price sensitivity on the part of consumers and businesses.
The Company’s digital content services have faced significant competition from other companies promoting their own digital music and content products and services, including those offering free peer-to-peer music and video services.
The Company’s future financial condition and operating results depend on the Company’s ability to continue to develop and offer new innovative products and services in each of the markets in which it competes. The Company believes it offers superior innovation and integration of the entire solution including the hardware (iPhone, iPad, Mac, and iPod), software (iOS, OS X and iTunes), online services, and distribution of digital content and applications (iTunes Store, App Store, iBooks Store and Mac App Store). Some of the Company’s current and potential competitors have substantial resources and may be able to provide such products and services at little or no profit or even at a loss to compete with the Company’s offerings.
Part II Item 6
Selected Financial Data

Sales Data
by region and by product

Research
shows the operating expenses with a significant growth in research (doubled, compared to 2011).

Summary …

Reading all the numbers shows a company which is unique in the world.
All other world-wide operating concerns are far away of being as powerful as Apple. A reason might be that Apple is not involved in the junk market with its fiercely price fight. But there are some other risks described in the annual report under Item 1A.

Reports of competitors registered at the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) can easily be retrieved from their websites or from the SEC website. Extracting relevant stats from SEC filings is the only way to get reliable numbers.

Related links …

About the facts …

Apple SEC Filings

Samsung SEC Filings

About the reasons of success …

Apple’s Strategy and Ad

Apple’s Ecosystem

Designed by Apple in California

Apple’s Customer Relationships

Apple’s Focusing

Apple’s Supplier Responsibility

Thanks for stopping by.

Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Apple
Categories : Apple

Documents by Readdle

28 02 2014

Documents by Readdle (USA) is a universal app for iOS devices and intended to support file management. The developer is a reliable company updating it’s products regularly since years.

File sharing is an indispensable requirement for collaborating, backing up relevant files and continue working on other devices. For private and business environments the following features should be provided by apps for the iPad and the iPhone.

01 Connection to well-known cloud providers
02 Connection to external storages via WebDAV
03 Connection to storages attached to Windows networks
04 Connection to storages attached to Apple’s routers
05 Connection via SMB, FTP, SFTP
06 E-Mail support for sending and receiving multiple documents from within the app
07 Reading all well-known file formats (Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, etc.)
08 Transfer of files between all connections
09 Organization of files in self-created folders

Some technical information about SMB …

Wikipedia: Server Message Block
In computer networking, Server Message Block (SMB), also known as Common Internet File System (CIFS) operates as an application-layer network protocol mainly used for providing shared access to files, printers, serial ports, and miscellaneous communications between nodes on a network.

Not only does SMB allow computers to share files, but it also enables computers to share printers and even serial ports from other computers within the network. For example, a computer connected to a Windows network could print a document on a printer connected to another computer on the network, as long as both machines support the SMB protocol.

Though SMB was originally developed for Windows, it can also be used by other platforms, including Unix and Mac OS X, using a software implementation called Samba. By using Samba instructions, Mac, Windows, and Unix computers can share the same files, folders, and printers. This is great for those Windows-based office networks where there is a graphic designer who refuses to use anything but a Mac and a tech guy who does everything on his Linux machine.

Features of Documents …

The developers description …

READ
- View Office Documents
- Read and Annotate PDF files
- Search Inside Documents
- Edit Text Files
- Read Books and Articles
MANAGE
- Manage your files
- Copy Documents from Mac or PC – Sync with iCIoud, Dropbox, Google Drive and other cloud storages
- Share Files with Your Friends
- Protect Everything with a Password
SAVE
- Store Email Attachments
- Download Documents from the Web
- Save Web Pages to Read them Later
ENJOY
- View Photos from your Trip
- Watch Movies while on a plane
- Listen to Your Favorite Music

Feel free to download this map from my Box account.

The alternative file formats have been created with iThoughts HD for iPad (.ITMZ file format). Compatibility to other tools is limited.

Application	File format
Adobe Reader	PDF
iThoughts	ITMZ
MindManager	MMAP
XMind	XMIND

Documents and iWork …

Of you use Apple’s iWork Suite and activated iCloud to sync your documents across all of your devices it might be useful to add an additional security layer for important documents. Why? Well, if you accidentally delete an iWork document on one of your devices it will we deleted from all of your devices.

Apple’s document management in iCloud doesn’t support the recovery of deleted documents.

So it’s worth saving documents at an additional place. You can do it by using the ‘Send a copy’ command within iWork and send a copy to an additional cloud storage which is accessible via WebDAV e.g. Box net, iDriveSync, etc. In many cases users prefer a Dropbox account (because the majority of apps support Dropbox) but there is still no chance to access Dropbox via WebDAV.

The alternative is the usage of the ‘Open in another app’ command within the iWork Suite and choose ‘Documents’ as the destination application. If doing so Apple’s operating system moves a copy of your document to the app specific folder of Documents. An unwanted deletion of an iWork document then doesn’t affect the copy which has been saved in the documents folder of Documents. For the reverse way, from Documents to iWork, you also can use the ‘Open in’ command from within Documents.

Additionally you can activate syncing within Documents so that the copies of your iWork documents are synced with your preferred cloud storage.

Keep in mind that all documents saved in the app specific folder of Documents are only accessible on the device which contains the copy. You have to activate iCloud for Documents to automatically sync data of Documents with the app related part of your iCloud account.

Highlights …

Some impressions of the UI and my personal highlights …

Drag + Drop
Drag + Drop to move files between folders
iOS Data Protection
iOS encrypts all files when Passcode Lock in device settings is enabled and device os locked.
Office Documents Search
Full text indexing of MS Office, iWork, HTML files
Zip
Zip selectable files
E-Mail
E-Mail selectable files (in contrast to iOS no limitation of the number of files)
Websites
With the integrated browser websites can be saved in PDFs or HTML format
SMB support
Easily connect to Windows PCs

Summary …

Documents by Readdle is an app with a perfect UI following Apple’s iOS Human Interface Guidelines. The developer is continuously improving it’s apps.
Another noteworthy app of the company is Scanner Pro also operating on a high quality level with a perfect UI. Apple’s iWork Suite, Documents, and Scanner Pro together build a powerful extension of features on an iPad and an iPhone.

Related links …

Every app is an i(s)Land

Scanning documents

Apple’s iOS Human Interface Guidelines

WebDAV Basics

Thanks for stopping by.

Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: App Review, Filesharing, Productivity, Usability
Categories : App Review, Filesharing, Productivity, Usability

About yourself

24 02 2014

Orca is a mobile healthcare company that improves patients’ experience.
The multisensory apps provide a more effective learning experience. Learning is about doing. Health care specialists can use touch, sound, sight, and real interactivity, to instruct and teach their patients more quickly, efficiently and effectively. Medical students are supported when learning the anatomy, conditions, and even basics of treatments. For patients and interested people in general the apps are a comprehensive knowledge base about the human body.

The company was founded by physicians, designers and engineers who want to make the clinical experience better for patients. Orca develops apps that improve doctors’ interactions with their patients. These apps deliver relevant and interactive medical content, which is easily shared with the patient via app or the web.

The company cooperates with Harvard Medical School to provide the best content.

Actual offers …

As of November 2013 the company offers the following apps

Orca Tools are developed for a better patient communication. Using Orca Tools you can: capture photos & video of MRIs, x-rays, or pathologies annotate, draw & highlight on the anatomy content quickly, and securely send digital handouts to your patients.

Orca data can be exported in a number of different formats and added to several different EMRs. Orca content can be accessed online, on iPads, and on TV systems.

See this video which describes how to use the features

Create Handout

Favorites

An example …

To describe some basic features of Orca apps I used the app HeartDecide.

HeartDecide includes interactive 3D animations that permit you to explore and explain anatomy. Hospitals and healthcare systems who leverage 3D animation see higher levels of patient engagement and an increased perception of quality care.
More than just grabbing attention, studies show that 3D animations are more potent than text, physical models and 2D illustrations, in communicating health information.
HeartDecide also contains visual imagery of conditions (photographs, x-rays, and animation), with an option to toggle between normal and abnormal views, which helps patients grasp problems that seem obvious (because of their training and experience) to healthcare specialists.

Lastly, augmented reality provides a unique way to enhance comprehension in-context, by enhancing the patient’s worldview with relevant visual and auditory information.

Satisfaction levels among people who are well-informed are much higher than those who don’t understand their condition or treatment. Patients who interact with information via multiple sensory inputs feel more satisfied with the course of action they choose and the care they receive. Numerous studies have proven the efficacy of this type of education, it significantly elevates both comprehension and recall.

Comprehensive textual information about the anatomy as well as conditions are available.

Privacy and relevance …

Orca about privacy …

We know privacy is important to you and your patients, as a result, all of this content is available to your patients via a HIPAA-secure web portal, which will be linked to your search-optimized Orca Health Specialist Profile.

Relevance and applications are documented in these statements of healthcare professionals.

Summary …

The apps improve doctors’ interactions with their patients and support each others understanding. For non-professionals (using the free versions of Orca apps) it’s an interesting insight in how the human body works.

Related links …

How Health Care Pros are using Twitter

Thanks for stopping by.
Hope to see you again in the best of health.

Comments : Comments Off
Tags: App Review
Categories : App Review

An invoice created with Numbers

20 02 2014

Apple made the iWork suite for free when buying a new iOS device to improve the user experience by providing all the basic features users expect. The iWork Suite for iOS consists of

Keynote
the presentation tool for creating slides and present them to an audience
Pages
the text editor to write letters and more
Numbers
the spreadsheet application for calculations, stats, and other stuff for which a table is the appropriate approach

This post is about an application using Numbers for creating an invoice.

Two versions …

There is a simple approach with a template showing all products in a table. The invoice then is created by deleting unwanted rows and adjusting the quantities.

Another version is more complex and allows to refer to an additional sheet where products are listed with their prices. It uses the embedded function ‘Lookup’ to retrieve the unit price from a sheet where all products are listed.

Both versions work with a control called Stepper to adjust the desired quantity for each item (see image below). I used Apple’s template ‘Invoice’ which is available after the installation of Numbers.

The simple version …

The kernel of this version is a table where all products are listed. A calculation for the total net value, the tax, and the gross amount has already been added by Apple. If you use the template just tap on the cells to see how the calculation is done.

Steps to create the invoice:

1 Tap on the tab ‘Invoice’ and select ‘Duplicate’ from the context menu.
This step is necessary to not loose the template for further invoices.
2 Delete unwanted rows by tapping on the table (to select the table object).
Bars appear above the columns and to the left of the rows.
3 Tap on the row in the left bar to delete it.
The whole invoice is immediately recalculated.
4 Repeat this step for all unwanted items.

Note

If product properties have to be updated select the template ‘Invoice’ and make the necessary changes for product description or unit price.

The more complex version …

An alternate version uses a separate sheet where all products are listed, the price list. Another sheet contains the template for the invoice with some rows where the desired products must be inserted by referring to the sheet ‘Products’.
This version uses two embedded features:

1 the function Lookup
to search for a product in the sheet ‘Products’ and to insert its unit price in the column ‘Unit Price’. Calculations are done by the same formulas as in version 1.
2 a control called Pop-Up Menu which contains all product descriptions.
The values for choosing a product must be added manually when creating the control. All values have to match the original product description. Otherwise the ‘Lookup’ function doesn’t return a valid unit price.
The ‘Pop-Up Menu’ is bound to each line of the column ‘Description’.

Here are the steps to create the Stepper Control to access the unit price from the sheet Products.

1 Tap on the first cell in the column ‘Description’.
2 Tap on the ‘Edit’ symbol in the task bar of Numbers (top left).
3 Select the tab ‘Format’ and then ‘Pop-Up Menu’.
4 Create the proper values by entering the product description.
You have to enter the exact description used in the sheet ‘Products’. Otherwise the item cannot be found.

5 Use the function Lookup within the cell Unit Price to refer to the unit price in the table Products.
5.1 This is done by double-tapping on the cell Unit Price. The input bar of Numbers comes up.
5.2 Tap on ‘Functions’ and then on ‘Reference’.
5.3 Select Lookup.
The LOOKUP function finds a match for a given search value in one collection, and then returns the value in the cell with the same relative position in a second collection.

LOOKUP(search for, search where, resultvalues)

search tor:
The value to find. Search value can contain any value.

Select the first parameter by tapping on it.
Select the cell Description.
The coordinate is overtaken as the first parameter.

search where:
The collection containing the values to be searched, search where can contain any values.

Select the second parameter by tapping on it.
Select the sheet ‘Products’.
Select the whole column Description by tapping on the upper bar (which comes comes up when selecting the table). The coordinates of this column are overtaken as the second parameter.

resultvalues:
An optional collection containing the value to be returned based on the search, result values can contain any values.

Select the third parameter by tapping on it.
Select the whole column Unit Price.
The coordinates of this column are overtaken as the third parameter.

5.4 Tap on ‘Finish’ (white check mark with green background).

The usage …

If you now want to create a new invoice, copy the template, enter the customer data, and compose the product list to be calculated. The latter is done by using the Stepper Controls for Description (Step 1) and Quantity (Step 2).

The pros and cons …

Version 1 is simple whereas version 2 is more suitable when it comes to a large number of products. The sheet ‘Products’ can also be used as a price list. Just style it with some added images of products and add the terms and conditions.

Another benefit of the 2nd version is that the maintenance of products is centralized. With added templates for offers, delivery notes, and sales confirmation there is just one data basis, the sheet ‘Products’. If you change details of a product it will immediately be changed in all the other templates.

Send and archive …

Invoices can be mailed to customers as PDFs. For archiving documents it’s recommended to save a PDF on a cloud storage for which encryption is offered, in transit as well as at rest. iDriveSync for example offers client-side encryption and can be accessed via WebDAV protocol from within iWork for iOS.

For further information about cloud storages and WebDAV access please refer to ‘Related links’ below.

Summary …

For small businesses Apple’s Numbers might be useful. Legislation in nearly all countries require to save invoices for a longer period e.g. in Germany it’s 10 years. Additionally it’s required to use a strictly ascending invoice number. To fulfill all the advices mentioned in the legislation can be a hard job when using Numbers for iOS.

But as always it’s a question of accurate work and an appropriate workflow.

Related links …

Numbers for iOS Devices

Numbers for the Mac

Risky free clouds

WebDAV basics

Thanks for stopping by.

Comments : Comments Off
Tags: App Review, Numbers, Productivity
Categories : App Review, Numbers, Productivity

Two running systems

16 02 2014

There are some similarities between an iOS device and a human being. Here is a simplified explanation of a computer-like device by using some well-known facts about human beings. Which of them is more complicated cannot be assessed. But it’s obvious that humans learn during their whole life whereas the basic skills of a device are fixed when the production process ends. Adding further skills means installing apps but even features of apps are already clearly defined by the developers.

There is a one way connection between the owner and his device because the owner has access to uncountable information saved on internet servers, can improve his skills and personality, and can be creative when using his brain and e.g. a mind mapping tool or an iWork app.

The comparison …

Basics of the two systems are summarized in this mind map.

Feel free to download this map from my Box account.

The alternative file formats have been created with iThoughts HD for iPad (.ITMZ file format). Compatibility to other tools is limited.

Application	File format
Adobe Reader	PDF
Apple iWork/Microsoft Office	DOCX
iThoughts	ITMZ
MindManager	MMAP
XMind	XMIND

The differences …

Comparing the two systems might be useful for those who are not deeply involved in computer technology. So first of all let’s see where the differences are to avoid misconceptions (Source, modified). Keep in mind that these differences are not valid for supercomputers with hundreds of processors or implemented artificial intelligence. We are just talking about an iOS device with a single processor.

01 Brains are analogue; computers are digital
02 Brains uses content-addressable memory
03 Brains are massively parallel machines; computers are modular and serial
04 Processing speed is not fixed in the brain; there is no system clock
05 Short-term memory is not like RAM
06 Brains cannot be divided in hardware/software
07 Synapses are far more complex than electrical logic gates
08 Processing and memory are performed by the same components in the brain
09 The brain is a self-organizing system
10 Processors only can handle commands predefined by the operating system
11 Brains can learn
As far as I know there are two areas where even iOS devices improve their capabilities over time. When writing words iOS saves frequently written words in an individual dictionary. Power management adapts to usage over time.
Bonus Difference
The brain is much, much bigger than any [current] computer.
Accurate biological models of the brain would have to include some 225,000,000,000,000,000 (225 million billion) interactions between cell types, neurotransmitters, neuromodulators, axonal branches and dendritic spines, and that doesn’t include the influences of dendritic geometry, or the approximately 1 trillion glial cells which may or may not be important for neural information processing. Because the brain is nonlinear, and because it is so much larger than all current computers, it seems likely that it functions in a completely different fashion. The brain-computer metaphor obscures this important, though perhaps obvious, difference in raw computational power.

Source

Processor and apps …

The mind map shows that the kernel of an iOS device has to be divided into processor, operating system, and memory.

The Memory

During installation of a new app, the installer code creates a home directory for the app, places the app in that directory ( /AppName .app) and creates several other key directories. These directories constitute the app’s primary view of the file system located in the memory of your device and represents the universe for that app. It contains everything the app can access directly.

If you create a document (e.g. with Apple’s Keynote) or receive one via E-Mail you possibly want to further work with it in another app. In Apple’s filesystem this is not possible by default.Interactions of an iOS app are limited mostly to the folders associated with it. This limitation is labeled Sandbox-Mode and was designed to increase the security of the filesystem. Unfortunately it also decreases the usability in many cases.

Note …
One exception to this rule occurs when an app uses public system interfaces to access things such as the user’s contacts or music. In those cases, the system frameworks handle any file-related operations needed to read from or modify the appropriate data stores.

The Operating System

If you tap on a control within an app (or you generally touch the screen), the app (the touchscreen) sends a specific command to the processor which communicates with the operating system to retrieve the necessary further tasks. The processor only can handle commands which have been defined by Apple (implemented in the operating system), the developer of the operating system. Programmers (companies where you het your app from) use these commands to let you interact with their app.

The Processor

A central processing unit (CPU), also referred to as a central processor unit, is the hardware within a computer that carries out the commands of an app by performing the basic

arithmetical
counting the number of mails
logical
setting WiFi on or off
input/output
playing music, or asking Siri via microphone

operations of the system.

The fundamental task of a CPU is to execute a sequence of stored instructions (a program). The instructions are kept in the memory. Usually CPUs work in 4 steps:

FETCH
Fetch involves retrieving an instruction (a sequence of numbers) from the program memory. The location in program memory is determined by a program counter (PC), which stores a number that identifies the current position in the program.
The instruction that the CPU fetches from memory is used to determine what the CPU has to do.
DECODE
In the decode step, the instruction is broken up into parts that have significance to other portions of the CPU. The way in which the numerical instruction value is interpreted is defined by the CPU’s instruction set architecture (ISA). Often, one group of numbers in the instruction, called the opcode, indicates which operation to perform. The remaining parts of the number usually provide information required for that instruction, such as operands for an addition operation. Such operands may be given as a constant value (called an immediate value), or as a place to locate a value: a register or a memory address, as determined by some addressing mode.
EXECUTE
During execution, various portions of the CPU are connected so they can perform the desired operation. If, for instance, an addition operation was requested, the arithmetic logic unit will be connected to a set of inputs and a set of outputs. The inputs provide the numbers to be added, and the outputs will contain the final sum.
WRITEBACK
The final step, writeback, simply “writes back” the results of the execution to the memory. Some types of instructions manipulate the program counter rather than directly produce result data. These are generally called “jumps” and facilitate behavior like loops, conditional program execution (through the use of a conditional jump), and functions in programs. Many instructions will also change the state of digits in a “flags” register. These flags can be used to influence how a program behaves, since they often indicate the outcome of various operations. For example, one type of “compare” instruction considers two values and sets a number in the flags register according to which one is greater. This flag could then be used by a later jump instruction to determine program flow.

After the execution of the instruction and writeback of the resulting data, the entire process repeats, with the next instruction.
Scientists found out that a brain can also be divided into areas with special functionalities. But don’t ask me how this all works together within a human being and whether parallel execution of tasks is possible or not. Fact is that the processor cannot work on two different tasks as long as their is no companion processor which is designed to offload work from the main processor. The introduction of the M7 Motion processor in Apple’s iPhone 5S in October 2013 allows to aggregate all the data from different sensors of the device and deliver necessary data to the CPU if needed. So the device gets faster because work is partially done by two ‘brains’.

The Sensors

In the skin, there are at least five different types of nerve endings:

heat sensitive
cold sensitive
pain sensitive
itch sensitive
pressure sensitive

All these senses submit reactions controlled by the brain, the many experiences stored there, and patterns which initiate reactions.

Your iOS device also needs the help of many sensors to work properly. For example, if you turn your device from portrait to landscape mode the operating system will also turn the screen of an app (if the developer implemented this feature). In contrast to human sensors, the device’s sensors always initiate the same actions if the input data are the same whereas a human being is able to react in different ways up to the actual needs, e.g. hearing a voice (the sound waves) but not processing the content.

Summary …

There are similarities but only in a figurative meaning. Human beings learn many additional skills and can change their reactions even if causes remain the same. An iOS device gets its skill when manufacturing is finished and can only expand them with the installation of an update of the operating system. Advantage human being. So keep control over yourself and do not delegate essential task to your device. Just use it for what it is intended for, show you the way with the app Maps, connect you to the giant sources of knowledge, and help you being creative by using a mind mapping tool.

Related links …

Science Blog

Every App is an i(s)Land

Sensitiveness

Thanks for stopping by.

Comments : Comments Off
Tags: iPad, iPhone, Visualization
Categories : iPad, iPhone, Visualization

iNotes4You's Blog

Go Paperless with Tap Forms

Go Paperless

About statistics

Documents by Readdle

About yourself

An invoice created with Numbers

Two running systems

Recent Posts

Categories

Follow Blog

Archives

Tags

Thomas on Google+

Thomas on Vizify

The Mind Mapping Platform

Spam Blocked

Follow “iNotes4You's Blog”

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Recent Posts

Categories

Follow Blog

Archives

Tags

Thomas on Google+

Thomas on Vizify

The Mind Mapping Platform

Spam Blocked

Follow “iNotes4You's Blog”