As you probably know from reading previous posts, I don’t think the iPad is a JesusProduct, but I see certain niches that look promising, and several that are just toy fun. Anyway, the area I’m most interested in, as a creator, is the standards war for comicreaders on the iPad. Right now, there are three basic methods: Basic iPad OS ie pictures, third party comicreader apps, often with subscription/store models, and web-based readers. I provide PDF/CBR and a web-based reader for Finit-e, my comic. I’m interested to see how the iPad users who read comics will be most comfortable: which interface works best? As a creator, i can have my work made available to third-party reader apps, at some cost. I can optimize a version of my web-reader on the http://www.thirdraildesignlab.com site to work well with the aspect ratio of the iPad… or i can look at ways to expand the functionality of reading on the device. From this perspective, I’m very interested in test-driving some of the third-party apps out there and see what true value-adds are in place. With conventional computer-based readers, I was never much of a fan. The interface of the reader was obtrusive. And most web-readers try gimmicks like simple animations and breaking page format. I generally just prefer looking at a PDF.

With Finit-e’s reader, I brought in certain functionality beyond looking at the PDF or a print copy: I have a thumbnail of the page, zooming to a full screen page, zooming to a high-rez version you can scroll. I also have keyed icons for extra content, like the character gallery and the annotations. But I specifically set it up to be unobtrusive. So, I want to see what the iPad gets us.

I have many friends who read much, or all, of their comics digitally. Some due to regional access limitations, some due to economy. I personally buy my comics, but source missed issues online if my sellers can’t get them for me. But I can also see that if the comic reading experience is pleasurable on a device like the iPad, I’d want to acquire more digital material to compliment my comics, not supplant them. Such as, you know, the back catalog of Iron man classic issues I can’t otherwise get. I don’t much like web-reading from laptops, just from an ergonomic perspective. It doesn’t feel like reading a comic does. And while nothing replaces turning the pages and smelling the paper, the biggest promise the iPad offers for comic readers is an enhanced user experience: the glossy, vivid colors, the light tablet in your hand, held like a periodical, the easy, smooth scrolling. So I get all that already.

But what about extra features?

Anyway, first reader to be reviewed on video by the esteemed Boingboing crowd is the Marvel app. You can watch the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKynwgUO … r_embedded

What I thought was interesting was that you have a thumb slash zoom feature much like my web-reader I designed for Finit-e, which is good. But here’s an extra interesting item: you can read the book at a one-page full screen at a time method, which I’m likely to do, but you can also zoom to a panel, then as you flick, you don’t have to do some sort of directional flick. You can just flick to the right, and the nav will pan to the next panel in the reading sequence. Now, I’m a fan of full page viewing, as a creator, so you can see the whole page as a piece of art. But I also appreciate the ability to zoom in and see detail, and the seamless, intuitive nature of the nav taking you to the next panel in the page (ie. you swipe right, and the nav takes you from the current panel down and to the left to the next panel in sequence, as your eyes would id reading the whole page) really delights me. I hate the panel by panel by panel structure of some readers where the page itself is gone entirely.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing this in action.

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/01/ma … or-ip.html

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/01/ma … or-ip.html

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Related posts:

1. Finit-e Survey!
2. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Character Matrix Comments
3. Finit-e Serial: Update

It looks like the TRDL uploads to Flickr are complete. You can now visit my wrongrobot/TRDL Flickr page, and view the entire TRDL Collection, or specifically, the TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial set, to see new pieces as they are uploaded. For those of you who visit the R3 Forum regularly or the TRDL main site, or read this via RSS Feed, you aren’t missing anything, this is just one more way the work is distributed.

If you are on Flickr, do pop by and contact me, so we can, you know, be Contacted.
t

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Related posts:

1. TRDL Tribute Art Photoset on Flickr
2. TRDL Mythology Photoset on Flickr
3. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Downloading PDFs

View a hi-res version of this file here!

:::

Name: Roland Parish
Affiliation: Senior Executive, SOKAK Corporation
LM AS Development
Birth: Honolulu, Hawaii

Most Recent Surveillance:

RAES Field Station, Division of Arges Group
Location: 340 Nautical miles from the Somers Isles
UTC/GMT 14:27 [ local: 10:27]

Roland Parish is a Senior Executive with the SOKAK Corporation, a Japanese-Chilean conglomerate and leader in cybernetic and exo-skeletal hardware enhancements. His Odoshi system is considered the flagship of the company’s several competitng programs for active deployment. He was last observed at the RAES Field Station near Bermuda, conducting a facilities tour along with General Grover Darville, a State Department Attache and SOKAK-loyalist.

:::

As the Finit-e graphic serial progresses, more will be revealed about the characters involved, and as such, their dossiers will be expanded here. Check back after each Scene is published for more information! Or misinformation…

You can read the Finit-e graphic serial on-line, here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Web Reader
And you can download the PDF or CBR files here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Download

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Darville]
2. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Samsel]
3. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Royal]

View a hi-res version of this file here!

:::

Name: General Grover Darville
Affiliation: State Department Attache
Post-Conventional Logisitcs [PCL]
Birth: Boston, Massachusetts

Most Recent Surveillance:

RAES Field Station, Division of Arges Group
Location: 340 Nautical miles from the Somers Isles
UTC/GMT 14:27 [ local: 10:27]

General Grover Darville is a high-ranking advisor in the State Department, his role primarily being Attache for the Post-Conventional Logistics program [PCL] a secret initiative conducted through the United States government infrastructure but off of the Congressional record and without oversight. The PCL initiative includes participants from all areas of the government, though accountable to the Office of the President, a secret mandate created by President White to combat the suspected growing threat of technologically advanced operations under concurrent development in Russia, China and the Indio-Pakistani Complex. He was last observed at the RAES Field Station near Bermuda, conducting a facilities tour along with a representative of SOKOK Corporation, a hardware and advanced cybernetics developer in favor with influential members of the PCL as the future of the shadow program’s mandate.

:::

As the Finit-e graphic serial progresses, more will be revealed about the characters involved, and as such, their dossiers will be expanded here. Check back after each Scene is published for more information! Or misinformation…

You can read the Finit-e graphic serial on-line, here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Web Reader
And you can download the PDF or CBR files here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Download

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Samsel]
2. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Parish]
3. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Royal]

View a hi-res version of this file here!

:::

Name: Stanford Royal
Affiliation: RAES
Deputy Director of Special Projects
Birth: New York, New York

Most Recent Surveillance:

RAES Field Station, Division of Arges Group
Location: 340 Nautical miles from the Somers Isles
UTC/GMT 14:27 [ local: 10:27]

Stanford Royal is Deputy Director of Special Projects [DDSP] for RAES [Research Arm of Emerging Sciences,] a division of the Arges Group, the world’s largest private intelligence and asset management firm. He has risen rapidly through the RAES executive leadership, after being recruited into the company by Arges from his role as a spycraft advisor for the French and Israeli governments while under the employ of Javelin Logistics, a private intelligence group later absorbed by Arges in a hostile takeover. His primary responsibility has been the ongoing management of Project Draco, which was developed for, and supplied to, the United States government as part of a secret initiative, on the part of the Americans, to develop a viable post-conventional military wetworks capability. However, the ongoing relationship between the United States and RAES, whose contract to maintain Project Draco has under review, has strained, with the Americans intending to manage Draco internally, without RAES advisers or technical teams on American soil. Royal has been involved in a secondary line of Draco development, Designation Chrysalis, which he intends to see as the replacement for Draco, in the event the program fails under American stewardship. He was last observed at the RAES Field Station near Bermuda, speaking with DSP following a facilities tour for General Grover Darville and a representative of SOKOK Corporation, an Arges rival in hardware and advanced cybernetics.

:::

As the Finit-e graphic serial progresses, more will be revealed about the characters involved, and as such, their dossiers will be expanded here. Check back after each Scene is published for more information! Or misinformation…

You can read the Finit-e graphic serial on-line, here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Web Reader
And you can download the PDF or CBR files here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Download

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Samsel]
2. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Parish]
3. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Darville]

View a hi-res version of this file here!

:::

Name: Ted Samsel
Affiliation: RAES
Director of Special Projects
Birth: Bristol, England

Most Recent Surveillance:

RAES Field Station, Division of Arges Group
Location: 340 Nautical miles from the Somers Isles
UTC/GMT 14:27 [ local: 10:27]

Ted Samsel is Director of Special Projects [DSP] for RAES [Research Arm of Emerging Sciences,] a division of the Arges Group, the world’s largest private intelligence and asset management firm. His career as an intelligence officer in both government and private sectors has culminated in his position at RAES, after rising through Arges Group ranks over a decade of service, and his legacy, Project Draco, was developed for, and supplied to, the United States government as part of a secret initiative, on the part of the Americans, to develop a viable post-conventional military wetworks capability. However, the ongoing relationship between the United States and RAES, whose contract to maintain Project Draco has under review, has strained, with the Americans intending to manage Draco internally, without RAES advisers or technical teams on American soil. He was last observed at the RAES Field Station near Bermuda, conducting a facilities tour for General Grover Darville and a representative of SOKOK Corporation, an Arges rival in hardware and advanced cybernetics.

:::

As the Finit-e graphic serial progresses, more will be revealed about the characters involved, and as such, their dossiers will be expanded here. Check back after each Scene is published for more information! Or misinformation…

You can read the Finit-e graphic serial on-line, here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Web Reader
And you can download the PDF or CBR files here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Download

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Royal]
2. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Darville]
3. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Parish]

View a hi-res version of this file here!

:::

Name: Dick Kumosaki
Affiliation: RAES, Contract Staff
Covert Operative, Designation C-2
Electronic Security Expert
Birth: Tokyo, Japan

Most Recent Surveillance:

Kittering Tower
SoMA, San Francisco, California
UTC/GMT 19:450 [ local: 12:50]

Dick Kumosaki is a covert operative working as part of a clandestine team organized by Stanford Royal, under the Locksmith Protocols, his specialty being electronic security, surveillance and communications. He was last observed performing surveillance near Kittering Tower, shortly before a GCTI [Global Counter-Terrorism Initiative] national security crisis response exercise was conducted.

:::

As the Finit-e graphic serial progresses, more will be revealed about the characters involved, and as such, their dossiers will be expanded here. Check back after each Scene is published for more information! Or misinformation…

You can read the Finit-e graphic serial on-line, here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Web Reader
And you can download the PDF or CBR files here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Download

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Byrde]
2. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Nomic]
3. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Garcia]

View a hi-res version of this file here!

:::

Name: Lupe Castillo Garcia
Affiliation: RAES, Contract Staff
Covert Operative, Designation C-2
Systems Expert
Birth: Veracruz, Panama

Most Recent Surveillance:

Kittering Tower
SoMA, San Francisco, California
UTC/GMT 19:450 [ local: 12:50]

Lupe Castillo Garcia is a covert operative working as part of a clandestine team organized by Stanford Royal, under the Locksmith Protocols, her specialty being systems, ordinance and infrastructure. She was last observed performing surveillance near Kittering Tower, shortly before a GCTI [Global Counter-Terrorism Initiative] national security crisis response exercise was conducted.

:::

As the Finit-e graphic serial progresses, more will be revealed about the characters involved, and as such, their dossiers will be expanded here. Check back after each Scene is published for more information! Or misinformation…

You can read the Finit-e graphic serial on-line, here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Web Reader
And you can download the PDF or CBR files here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Download

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Kumosaki]
2. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Nomic]
3. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Byrde]

View a hi-res version of this file here!

:::

Name: John Nomic
Affiliation: RAES, Contract Staff
Covert Operative, Designation C-2
Trace and Rcovery Expert
Birth: Alamagordo, New Mexico

Most Recent Surveillance:

Kittering Tower
SoMA, San Francisco, California
UTC/GMT 19:450 [ local: 12:50]

John Nomic is a covert operative working as part of a clandestine team organized by Stanford Royal, under the Locksmith Protocols, his specialty being trace and asset recovery. He was last observed performing surveillance near Kittering Tower, shortly before a GCTI [Global Counter-Terrorism Initiative] national security crisis response exercise was conducted.

:::

As the Finit-e graphic serial progresses, more will be revealed about the characters involved, and as such, their dossiers will be expanded here. Check back after each Scene is published for more information! Or misinformation…

You can read the Finit-e graphic serial on-line, here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Web Reader
And you can download the PDF or CBR files here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Download

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Kumosaki]
2. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Garcia]
3. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Byrde]

View a hi-res version of this file here!

:::

Name: Chelsea Byrde
Affiliation: RAES, Contract Staff
Covert Operative, Designation C-2
Personal Security Expert
Birth: Auckland, New Zealand

Most Recent Surveillance:

Kittering Tower
SoMA, San Francisco, California
UTC/GMT 19:450 [ local: 12:50]

Chelsea Byrde is a covert operative working as part of a clandestine team organized by Stanford Royal, under the Locksmith Protocols, her specialty being personal security and asset protection. She was last observed performing surveillance near Kittering Tower, shortly before a GCTI [Global Counter-Terrorism Initiative] national security crisis response exercise was conducted.

:::

As the Finit-e graphic serial progresses, more will be revealed about the characters involved, and as such, their dossiers will be expanded here. Check back after each Scene is published for more information! Or misinformation…

You can read the Finit-e graphic serial on-line, here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Web Reader
And you can download the PDF or CBR files here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Download

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Kumosaki]
2. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Nomic]
3. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Garcia]

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