Running the entire business from an iPad | Hacker News Reader

Running the entire business from an iPad

numbersforstartups.com

13 pointsRyanCumley5 comments

I recently got an ASUS Transformer and I was pretty happy that I could use something like ConnectBot [1] to ssh into a virtual machine I was running on my main laptop. I was coding in django/python, and I could test the website using Firefox Mobile- I could actually use this for work!

... 30 minutes worth of typing on that keyboard and bad support for alt-tabbing between apps and the tiny screen, I was back at my comfy ThinkPad. Even for other types of work, such as when doing research, I find it cumbersome to swap between my browser and note taking application. The selection of apps (compared against mac, windows or linux) is just not powerful enough. It gets tiring after a while. A good ultraportable (say the MBA or x220) offers much better value for me. I find tablets are good for reading, surfing etc, with some nice apps to let you get work done if needed. But certainly not something that you'll want to be using for a while.

[1] A small footnote on how good the user experience is when the software that you use is open source. It didn't support some of the keys on the Asus transformer (for e.g. using the back key for 'esc' in vi). I was able to fork and fix that pretty quickly and was on my way.

There's always promise for the future in minimalist mobile device setups like this, but always pain in the present too.

I'm sure our kids will find exercises like this with our early tablets to be laughable.

I'm jealous you got django/python on the tablet! Even if the keyboard proved unworkable.

I'd love to be able to write even a little Objective-C from the iPad. Also, I would find a certain humorous irony to have the xCode IDE simulating an iPhone on my iPad. Oh well.

I was hoping this article would have a little more substance. I'm not very creative and even I thought of bluetooth keyboard + $$$ for apps to recreate the same experience as a laptop.

To me, it'd be cool to market custom business dashboards for businesses. "Running the business" could mean doing scheduling (with draggable pictures of people!), glancing at inventory, checking daily|weekly|monthly financial stats, perhaps even taking credit card purchases. That sort of thing . The kind of thing you see in Star Trek.

Intelligent interfaces for consuming and directing, not necessarily producing, would be rather inventive but I'd love to hear from small business owners about the viability of such an idea.

It seems counterintuitive but I can focus better as well on a tablet (or even on my iphone) than on my MBA. The limitations definitely come with advantages :)

sorry to be OT, but how many Ultimate packages do you sell or have you sold?

I try to limit my personal consulting to 2-3 clients per month. The majority of my time goes to working on my own projects. I usually love the work, but have to restrict it a bit to stay on track with my main goals.

Also, the "Ultimate" package usually serves as a starting point for the conversation which eventually makes the deal. Still, you've got to market something for people to know it's available.

I also try to help out earlier/younger startups pro-bono from time to time. Gotta keep your karma up somehow...

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