iPad owners, please answer this for me (saving clips)

[worknman]

I would very much like to buy an iPad as a replacement for my Kindle. (Guess I am one of those weird individuals who actually like reading on a backlit screen.) However, there's one thing I need to know, and I'm getting conflicting information about this on another site, so was hoping you guys could help me out:

On my Kindle, there is a feature where I can highlight text and copy 'clips' to a text file, which I can then transfer to my PC and copy it to my hard drive. Is it possible to do this on the iPad with the iBooks and the Kindle app? (In some books on the Kindle, there is a limit to how many clips you can make, but I have all my Kindle ebooks un-DRM'd, so that hasn't been a problem as of yet.) Not having this feature on the iPad would be a deal breaker for me, so I really need to know.

Also, did Amazon put the dictionary feature in the Kindle iPad app, or is it just a barebones kind of thing?

[leebase]

This was interesting. The iBook app allowed copying the text -- and then I opened gmail and pasted. So I imagine you could paste into any app -- say the excellent Evernote app.

The kindle app, on the other hand -- allowed you to create a note, paste the text into the note. But I did not see a way to copy the text out of the app.

The iBook app has a dictionary, the kindle app does not. Keep in mind that they rushed to get the kindle app out -- I would expect that they will be improving it.

Lee

[worknman]

Originally Posted by leebase

This was interesting. The iBook app allowed copying the text -- and then I opened gmail and pasted. So I imagine you could paste into any app -- say the excellent Evernote app.

Are any of the apps you can paste into background apps, or would it be necessary to shut down the iBook app and start up another one every time you wanted to copy/paste?

[dmaul1114]

You'd probably have to shot down, but that just involves hitting the home button and opening the other app.

And stuff opens nearly instantly on the iPad, none of the load times you get on a computer, so it's not as bad as it sounds.

[G-funk]

When I was asking questions at the apple counter at best buy before I purchased the iPad (yesterday), I was told that OS 4.0 will have multitasking. Maybe true, maybe not, but I would think that it will make cutting and pasting a lot easier for you.

Still have a lot to find out about this iPad, but so far I am using it more then my desktop at the house. And right now, I am on watch and this is faster then NMCI! Lol. So that already is a plus for these long watches.

[stustaff]

Originally Posted by G-funk

When I was asking questions at the apple counter at best buy before I purchased the iPad (yesterday), I was told that OS 4.0 will have multitasking. Maybe true, maybe not, but I would think that it will make cutting and pasting a lot easier for you.

Still have a lot to find out about this iPad, but so far I am using it more then my desktop at the house. And right now, I am on watch and this is faster then NMCI! Lol. So that already is a plus for these long watches.

the weird thing is that yes it will have multitasking but it wont really make any difference because its doing it now...
Say I want to copy multiple sections from a book into an Email:-

Current situation on iPad
open iBooks - highlight text - press copy - press home button - press email icon - click new email icon - paste text - press home - Repeat
So a total of 8 steps. REMEMBER iPad remembers the state the app was in when closed so your iBooks will be on the same page as when you left and when you return to email you will still be in the middle of composing a new email

iPad with multitasking - open iBooks - highlight text - press copy - press whatever activates app switching - press email icon - click new email icon - paste text - press whatever activates app switching - Repeat

so... 8 steps.... but what about on a computer!

Computer - open book software - highlight text - press ctrl-C - minimise book software - click email icon to load it up - click new email icon - paste text - press alt-tab - Repeat

so 8 steps and Im pretty happy to bet loading the software up would be slower than the iPad versions.

I really struggle why people suggest multitasking for this type of use!!!
For playing pandora music while you read E-mail YES that is what multitasking is for. not this! this is just program switching.

[Sischa]

Originally Posted by stustaff

REMEMBER iPad remembers the state the app was in when closed

Sorry but this is Not correct. There are a Lot of apps which doesnt remember the "state". So you'll always have to repeat several steps what Could Be really annoying. Thats Why Multitasking will Be Handy in some situations but i also think its not a Killer feature.

[stustaff]

Originally Posted by Sischa

Sorry but this is Not correct. There are a Lot of apps which doesnt remember the "state". So you'll always have to repeat several steps what Could Be really annoying. Thats Why Multitasking will Be Handy in some situations but i also think its not a Killer feature.

only one i can think of are VLC clients, but yes you are right it does have to be added by the app dev! as will multitasking!

[John F]

Originally Posted by stustaff

only one i can think of are VLC clients, but yes you are right it does have to be added by the app dev! as will multitasking!

Try this: Start configuring for a new email account, go to setting up the POP parameters, now switch to Safari to look up the proper POP settings for your email provider, and copy the pop server name, now go back to the POP settings. Did it remember the state?

[FourOhFour]

Multitasking has been announced, but it is rather limited. Most apps will not be able to actually do any processing in the background.

But, more importantly, are new APIs that make it easier for apps to save their state. When you switch away from an app, it'll be instructed to save state. Once it does that, it'll stop getting CPU time - it's still loaded, just paused. If the device runs low on memory, the paused app will be killed. If you switch back to the app before then, it picks up where it left off, otherwise it'll load its state again (and pick up where it left off, just with a brief pause)

Apps will also be able to request a few minutes of background processing to finish a task (like uploading images to flickr or something). True background processing, I believe, is limited to a few types of apps... voip and music are the ones I can remember, but I think there's another. Navigation maybe?

(I am not a developer, and all this is my understanding based on what's been released... I could be wrong. Probably am in some way.)

[stustaff]

Originally Posted by John F

Try this: Start configuring for a new email account, go to setting up the POP parameters, now switch to Safari to look up the proper POP settings for your email provider, and copy the pop server name, now go back to the POP settings. Did it remember the state?

well the settings section isnt really an App and im not sure uf they will even add that functionality to the setting screen in future...

but I do agree not all things save state, as i said though the fuctionality to fo it is there, devs just need to add it.

[Trubu]

Originally Posted by FourOhFour

Apps will also be able to request a few minutes of background processing to finish a task (like uploading images to flickr or something). True background processing, I believe, is limited to a few types of apps... voip and music are the ones I can remember, but I think there's another. Navigation maybe?

There are seven multitasking APIs - background audio, voip, location services, task finishing, push notifications, local notifications, and fast app switching.

There are people who scoff at this as "fake" multitasking - those people should be ignored. It's the same basic concept as other smartphone OSes with a single-window interface, and should cover 99.9% of use cases.

[Fotoman]

As much as people are interested in the new semi-multitasking capabilities of OS4, I'm much more interested in a wider implementation of the "Open in...(app)" or even better, "Send to...(app)"

Personally I use (and love!) Corkulous as the place I jot down or copy notes to, but the iBooks exit/ Corkulous start/ Corkulous exit/ iBooks start routine is unnecessarily cumbersome.

A "Send to..." function activated with the same click and hold used for dictionary, bookmarks, etc is what we really need--even if it's just the ubiquitous Notes app that we can send to for later viewing.

[danegeld]

To answer the OP, last night I downloaded and installed Clipboard Pro. It will do what you want. It automatically captures anything copied to the clipboard and you can then store it, categorize it, email it, paste it into other apps, or whatever. I tested it with iBooks and it works perfectly.

[Fotoman]

Originally Posted by danegeld

To answer the OP, last night I downloaded and installed Clipboard Pro. It will do what you want. It automatically captures anything copied to the clipboard and you can then store it, categorize it, email it, paste it into other apps, or whatever. I tested it with iBooks and it works perfectly.

Wow! Wasn't aware of that one. It's as close to my "Send to..." wish as I can get. Copy now paste later works for me.