Ipad on the road
 

Reprinted here in Cargo as my questions weren't getting answered in "Hangar Talk"

Two questions for IPAD users.
1. For International guys...any problems or workarounds for Netflix viewing oversees?

2. For FedEx guys...Any way to remotely access your computer at home?--am thinking of a workaround for BIDX until PH gets an App developed and approved?

As far as Netflix is concerned all you need is a personal VPN (virtual private network) which spoofs your IP address to a US one. Then you can access Netflix, Pandora, etc.
I use Witopia (witopia.net) and it works great especially in China. There is usually annual fees associated with the service..

Has anyone used Go to my PC with the Ipad? If so, how did it work?

just curious - but with access to the internet worldwide, I'm not understanding the need to access your home computer? care to share any more details on this one?

I just got an iPad. Which PDF viewer works best for all our manuals?

"I just got an iPad. Which PDF viewer works best for all our manuals?"

GoodReader is the bees knees. I've got manuals, "wallet numbers", ALPA calendar, LIDO, airport briefings, metro maps for layover cities, bid packs, etc, etc, etc. I bought the other/more expensive app that guys were using (iannotate). It was supposed to highlight better, among other things. GoodReader has had several improvements and I still like it better (maybe just more familiar). You can markup charts with circles, boxes, arrows, freehand and select the line color from color wheel, then quickly review highlighted info preflight. I download LIDO for each trip and it takes less than 10 minutes with high speed. Get someone to show you how to "move" and "rename" files and everything else is intuitive.

I assume since there is no BidX App for his iPad, he wants to access his home computer with his iPad and run BidX over the internet worldwide!;)

ahhhh....got it.....I was told iPads could do anything.....I'm misinformed (again) ...my bad ;)

I have used good reader and Iannotate. I prefer Iannotate over good reader.

I flew with someone that used the iPad to control the home computer but I can not remember what program he used.

To access your computer at home try one of these apps...
Mocha VNC Lite for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store
Desktop Connect for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store

As for accessing Netflix, you need a proxy service. I have heard that Netflix has closed this loophole, however I have not tried lately. I used to use Hide My Ass! Free Proxy and Privacy Tools - Surf The Web Anonymously . Others have used proxykey.com.

Hope this helps.

I prefer Splashtop Remote to access my home computer to run BidX. It is $5 in the app store. I also have logmein along with my free logmein account, but that app was $30. I think there is a free version of splash top that you can get to try it out.

I second Goodreader and Witopia VPN.
As long as you are talking Netflix with VPN, also try ABC Player and HBO GO.
HBO GO is free to certain folks with subscriptions on their video provider.
Mine is good with my DirecTV account.

For remote access try TeamViewer. It's free in the app store and work pretty good.

The advantage with iAnnotate over Good reader is with iAnn you can open 3, 4 , 5 or so documents or manuals at a time and switch back and forth between them seamlessly... Good reader you have to open up a different one each time you want to look at a different document.

Both are great apps.

I use GoodReader, it's great. I really like its Dropbox syncing feature where you can set it up to periodically sync an entire directory to/from Dropbox. I use this for keeping all my records and flying publications in sync. I just got iAnnotate and a stylus because I want to use it for marking documents.

Regarding the Netflix workaround and getting access to your home PC a VPN is the best way to go. You can either pay for one and make your own with your home PC and internet connection. It takes a bit of work to setup and will probably be slower, but it's free and you can trust it because you made it and you own it... The VPN will tunnel all your iPad traffic to your home network so Netflix will simply think you are using their site from your home.

I setup a home VPN with a custom gateway with linux on it, but you can get Windows to do the same. If the following seems like gibberish then I'd just pay for Witopia and GoToMyPC. It'll be less of a headache for a minor cost.

1) I found a quick Win 7 PPTP VPN server tutorial here:
Setup a VPN – PPTP Host On Your Home Windows 7 PC [How-To]

2) You'll want to setup port forwarding on your router (if you have one) in order to allow the VPN connection from your iPad to reach your Windows box. There are tons of tutorials out there for each model of router. In particular you'll want to forward port 1723 for the PPTP connection

3) Then you need to find your external IP adress. The one the outside world sees and the one your iPad will need for its VPN connection setup. The following website will identify this IP address...
GetIP :: Detecting Your IP Address ::

4) The problem with using an the above IP is it can change depending on your ISP, so you might want to use dynamic dns instead. This will allow you to connect to your PC with an address that doesn't change like "xyz.mooo.com" rather than a IP like "67.224.142.65". There are numerous groups that provide dynamic dns for free, here's one...
No-IP Free - Free Dynamic DNS - DDNS

5) Then you'll have to setup your iPad to connect to it:
Setup VPN pptp on iPad | jimiz.net

6) For remote access to your PC you can setup MS Remote Desktop or install a VNC server on it:
TightVNC: VNC-Compatible Free Remote Control / Remote Desktop Software
Then use an iPad app to connect to your PC's VNC server like Mocha VNC or iSSH, etc...

.. or pony up about two Guiness's worth and then click connect..

....clean kill.....

although it is great that we can provide each other this kind of technical expertise! :D

especially for those of us who are somewhat technically challenged! :o

Haha. Well, I can make those Guiness's add up pretty quick, my wallet can attest to that on certain nights, so I have to save money on other things :)

Reminds me of something funny a friend said. "Income should be spent on beer and flying, anything else is a waste."

I enjoy working on computers and am more than glad to share advice.
I do recognize that this solution is not for everyone though, which is why I said:

7Arrows... great gouge on the GoodReader. Do you have a link for an FDX ALPA calendar in PDF?

iteleport is awesome for the iPad. It has virtually zero limitations. It sets up in seconds and connects very quickly. It was $25 and can be used to connect my iPad to as many computers as I want. I have mine set up for my office and home PCs as well as laptops. You'll never have to worry about forgetting something at home because you can always get it via you iPad.

Thank you everyone for elaborating on this topic.
I just need to hear it for certain, with any/all of these remote computer access setups, are you able to use BidX and Bid without any issues?

Warning: Thread creep ...

Looking for some "technical expertise" from you smart APC folks. I volunteer for a disabled women's group. I began by donating a few very old Mac (G3) computers that had been collecting dust in my basement. Most of them are old enough that they have "dial-up" modems (more on that in a second).

Mostly, I try to get them set up with INEXPENSIVE Internet access for email. Most of the women's only income is their meager social security disability income.

What I need from you guys/gals are recommendations/suggestions for a FREE dial up Internet service. I thought I remembered hotmail being free (w/free dial up access numbers) in the old days but I can't seem to located a reference for that.

Thanks in advance ...

Mark

I can only speak for iteleport, and I don't use BidX or Bid. Even if BidX is not supported by the iPad, which I don't know if it is iteleport will allow you to use it on your iPad. When using iteleport you are literally using your home PC from your iPad. In fact, if you had someone at home looking at your PC while you were using iteleport they would see the mouse moving and everything else you are doingnfrom your iPad. Essentially, you are just turning your iPad into a remote monitor, keyboard and mouse. It's pretty intuitive, and I've found that it makes my iPad much more useful. In fact, Hulu costs money on the iPad but is free for PC. So I connect to ky PC via iteleport, open up windows explorer, navigate to Hulu and watch shows on my iPad via my PC 1000 NM away.
That's just my experience. Hope it's helpful. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.

Mark - check out net zero. i think they still offer free dial up, but get all the ads.

I had no idea that NetZero did free dialup, that's cool... My friends mother used to use Juno. It's free dialup for sure and pretty sure they do email too.

Another option I was thinking of is to ask a neighboring local business or school to donate wifi. If all the computers will be close together then a single wireless router could be setup to take the donated wifi and distribute it via ethernet cable. That may be more trouble than it's worth though with wiring and dealing with glitches and such...

I think the biggest obstacle you'll have is getting the old operating systems on the G3's to work with modern webpages and email systems. I don't think you'll have a problem with email software, but the web browsers you will. I imagine NetZero will require installing something which I'm guessing won't work on OS9 anymore... You might have to find a geek to put linux on there and make it extremely simple and easy to use. Although, I doubt NetZero supports linux. So, it might just be easier to find some old Win XP machines people are willing to donate.

Has anybody here used "Numbers" on their iPad to run an Excel spreadsheet? I am wishing for such an App and read about this App called Numbers. Looks promising but may have limitations.

I have Numbers as well as an app called QuickOffice. QO handles all of the MS Office type files very well.

I don't use Numbers or QuickOffice, but from what I understand, the only way to sync files to the iPad to use with Numbers is to plug it into your computer and sync with iTunes. Whereas, with QuickOffice (and maybe others) you can sync over wi-fi or 3G with Dropbox. Something to consider. Of course, when iOS 5 comes out with all of that fancy "cloud" technology, this point may become moot.

I haven't had any problems synching Numbers documents among desktop, laptop and iPad using Dropbox.

Alrighty then, I stand corrected. Is that only a one-way sync, though? Can you edit a spreadsheet on your iPad and save it back to Dropbox from Numbers?

Actually, you are correct. After doing some tests to check it, I was able to use Numbers and Dropbox for two-way synch between the desktop and laptop, but I can only download Numbers files to the iPad through Dropbox. Once I get the file on the iPad, I can open it in Numbers and modify it, but I haven't found a way to get the modified file back into Dropbox. Perhaps someone out there has found a way I missed...

I don't use numbers, but I do use Documents 2 Go. I can sync back and forth via dropbox or google documents with no problems. I can open a dropbox file in docs 2 go, edit it, and save it back into dropbox so that the documents gets updated on my home PC too. I think you'll find that any spreadsheet app for iPad is pretty limited. Charts are not supported on Numbers or Docs 2 Go, macros are not supported and they only recognize about 100 simple functions. If you sync a complicated file with a lot of functions and charts onto your iPad most of the spreadsheet won't work.

Having trouble getting lido to download to good reader....anyone have any tips.....FOM and fly manual worked fine....

Checkmark the chart you want, then select chart order, then select print. It should then say "do you want to open this in good reader".

That worked like a champ.....Thanks!

Lido
 

FDX -Comm update said LIDO viewer app for IPAD could be ready by end of JULY, this JULY.

The new Goodreader update now has tabs to go back and forth. Great app!