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Logbook Pro October 2011 Newsletter:
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Happy Halloween - Last Day Social Networking Sale |
Happy Halloween - a fun day for all
those that get to play! So we themed up this
newsletter for this day to help you get in the
spirit and have some fun.
If you're not following us on
Facebook (click LIKE) or on Twitter (@LogbookPro)
then you're missing out. We've had a
sale running for the past two weeks on our
cloud based services. Now that we've let the
cat out of the bag for all of you, take a look at
our
Facebook page to find the sale information which
expires tonight (Oct
31st - midnight Eastern). We
offer small sales from time to time for our social
networking followers so be sure to click
LIKE on Facebook or if you use twitter follow us
@LogbookPro and you'll get notified of the
micro-sales when they occur. |
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The Cloud - We're on Board |
As you may have noticed from this newsletter and our
cloud offerings to date, we are fully on board with
the cloud and have been developing cloud
integrations for over five years now. With
broadband just about everywhere these days and the
cost of storage continuing to decline, and get
better and more reliable, more people are able to
take advantage of "connected" cloud (Internet)
services and applications. As you probably
know, the "Cloud" is just a hip term for the
"Internet." So it's nothing new, however,
using the Internet more effectively especially with
high speed access and integrating it within
applications is just now taking form.
We've invested heavily in our cloud architecture
from an array of high-end Dell PowerEdge servers,
Dell PowerVault storage systems, and a iSCSI storage
area network (SAN), backup systems, Cisco switches,
Hardware Firewalls, all in a Tier 3+ data center in
the Dulles, VA area. Provisioning a cloud
infrastructure takes time and careful planning.
We believe if you're going to do something then do
it right, and do it right the first time! Some
companies will try something to be hip yet fail
wholesale going about it the cheap way only to lose
your data in the end much less frustrate you and
take your money. Proper planning is critical
and funding the project properly to do the job
right, and that's what we think we've done and we
hope you're enjoying all of the cloud services to
date. We built
Cloud Backup into Logbook Pro 1.11.9, our
amazingly popular iPhone and Android apps use the
effortless
Cloud Sync and all integrate with our Cloud App
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airline schedule importer.
Note: Apple recently released "iCloud" as part of
iOS 5 and the latest iTunes. Essentially a
rebranded attempt at the failed MobileMe offering.
Our initial review of the iCloud system has not been
favorable so we're continuing to watch the iCloud
service for a more stable and feature rich system.
We'll investigate implementing iCloud in our iOS
apps when we feel it has matured and we can trust
the offering from Apple.
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There is only one thing more critical than entering
your flight log data -- backing it up! No
matter how many times we put articles in our
newsletters or advisories to have a backup plan we
continue to get inquiries about stolen computers,
cats walking on keyboards, crashed computers, or
simply deleting the file by accident. There is
no story we haven't heard! So before you read
the rest of this article open Logbook Pro and click
File..Backup (to File or Cloud) and then resume
reading.
Logbook Pro has always had a backup system in place
from the File..Archive menu area and in more recent
versions we moved the backup option to the File menu
directly. Clicking the File..Backup to File
menu option creates a single compressed archive of
your data to a file ending in .BAK. It's
critical not just to create a file once but continue
to create backups depending on how frequently you
use Logbook Pro. Don't overwrite prior backups
EVER. Instead keep a history of backups as
they are date tagged for you by default such as
MyLogbook_2011-10-32.BAK. You never know when
your last backup has a problem you're trying to get
rid of so you need to step back to the prior backup
created.
Keeping an off-site backup is crucial as well.
Your computer could get stolen, house burn down, kid
use it for baseball practice, you name it, it CAN
happen but let's hope it doesn't! There are
many ways of keeping an off site backup but since we
have an awesome cloud system we built we created a
cloud backup service to make it easy for you to keep
backups off site at the click of your mouse.
Just by subscribing to cloud backup does NOT mean
your data is on our servers. Let me say that
again. Just because you have a cloud backup
subscription does NOT mean your data is backed up on
our servers. You
MUST send a backup to the
cloud and place your backup on our servers and then
we'll have it safely stored for you and backed up in
our backup systems as well. There are two ways
to get your backup to our servers:
1) Login to
http://nc-software.com/backup after creating your
.BAK file by clicking File..Backup to File.
Click the Browse button (see image below) and select
the .BAK file you created. The default
location .BAK files are created in is your My
Documents/My Logbook Pro Files/v1/Backup folder.
2) Use the direct cloud backup integration within Logbook Pro PC edition 1.11.9.
Click File..Backup to Cloud and
you'll first create a .BAK file to your local hard
drive and then the system will guide you through the
process of submitting it to the cloud for you.
The instructions are clearly outlined in the
documentation,
click here to read.
Cloud Backup is simple and effortless but a MUST for
properly protecting your data. For more
information on our inexpensive cloud backup
subscriptions
click here. We recommend at least the
5-File option so you can store 5 backups in the
cloud and keep a history of your logbook data.
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Cloud Sync - Seamless, Effortless, Reliable |
Cloud Sync is our innovative system for
synchronizing data between our apps (iPhone, iPad,
Android) and Logbook Pro PC edition. As you
may not realize, Apple does not allow developers to
sync apps via cable/iTunes so we have to come up
with an alternative method to synchronize our data.
Some have dealt with messy pairing of device to
computer over WiFi network, or who knows what, we
were not going to make you suffer like this!
When developing our first iPhone app release we
pioneered a cloud sync system to take the pain and
suffering out of synchronizing your apps so you can
spend more time flying than fiddling with your
computer! Other sync methods have also proven
less than reliable, our cloud sync system is 100%
reliable! As we say "it just works" and that's
exactly how it is.
We enjoyed our newest Android app customers posting
their reviews citing their amazement with our cloud
sync system and we thank you for the great feedback
and we are thrilled with your remarks. We're
also glad we can bring your these apps free and keep
costs to a minimum. Buy one cloud sync
universal subscription and enjoy all your free apps
for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Android phone, Android
tablet all for one low subscription to sync.
Some ask about getting all of their data between PC
and apps. Yes, that is the plan, but for now
we wanted to walk before we run and make sure we
have all the right pieces in place as this
infrastructure is quite complex, and expensive
nonetheless. It's not always a great idea to
have your complete logbook on a device and we're not
going to put your or your data in a position where
there could be a problem. We wrote a parody on
this announcing "Logbook
Pro Watch Edition" a few newsletters ago.
Click here if you haven't read it. We have
it right and we have achieved our goals and we're
ready to take this to the next level. In fact
we've been developing our cloud infrastructure the
past five years so you're just now seeing the
beginnings of what we've been working on.
With our next round of applications we are planning
on data anywhere - full synchronization! So
those that ask about full sync, yes, it is coming,
rest assured. That is the plan.
We're thrilled you like what we've been delivering
backed by our reputation of reliability and
accuracy. We take great pride in the quality
and innovation of our products. We are
flattered when we see our competitors copy our ideas
and follow in our footsteps. |
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Cloud Apps - Airline Schedule Importer |
Cloud Apps such as our Airline Schedule Importer are
a great use of the cloud to bring you the latest and
greatest software without requiring any install or
having to keep up with updates. The schedule
importer is a perfect fit for a cloud application
because of the potential changes to a schedule
source which require a filter update within the
software. Long ago we offered a windows
application and updated it every 45 days. It
was a disservice to you, our customer, because if
you reported a problem with importing schedules
you'd have to wait for the next software update
before you could use the product again. By
having the schedule importer as a cloud application
you can report a problem, we can say "please hold"
and fix the problem and within minutes you can be
importing your schedule again. A product like
the schedule importer is best suited for a cloud
application completely abstracted out of the
software which consumes the data. This is the
exact approach we've taken which in the end delivers
you, our customer, timely use of the resources so
critical to your day to day operations.
For more information about our cloud application
"Airline Schedule Importer" which works with all of
our apps: Logbook Pro PC edition, Logbook Pro for
iPhone and iPad, Logbook Pro for Android, and APDL
for Palm and Pocket PC
click here. To try the schedule importer
risk free, no purchase required,
click here. (login required, create an account
if needed, no purchase required)
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Cloud Sync Public API - Coming Soon |
Attention ALL software developers. If you
develop any logbook applications such as Web,
Windows, iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, WebOS,
you name it; soon we will be announcing a system to
allow you to connect to Logbook Pro PC edition via
our innovative cloud sync system. We are
wrapping up the final bits of our Cloud Sync
Public API which will allow you to sync
with Logbook Pro as well.
Pilots - if you're using another logbook app and you
want it to connect to Logbook Pro PC edition,
forward this newsletter to the developer of your
app. We will have more information coming
soon. |
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iOS 5 - Things you need to know - backup backup backup |
Apple released iOS 5 in mid-October and then the
iPhone 4S which I personally bought after using
Android the past year. As with any new "major
release" there are going to be quirks so be sure to
research prior to upgrading your existing devices to
iOS 5. The first thing you should do is a
manual backup in iTunes. The iOS 5 update
process has been far from flawless and takes a long
time. It's better now that the Apple servers
aren't as overwhelmed as it was with the initial
release but there are still issues. Issues
that could result in total data loss on your device,
i.e. apps lose their data!
We published a
newsletter article a few months back suggesting
to be very careful about using a device for your
only logbook solution titled "Logbook
Pro Watch Edition" poking fun at the idea of
pilots choosing a watch as their sole logbook - an
obvious bad idea. As you know we do not offer
a stand-alone logbook for iPhone and Android as we
believe your desktop computer should be the main
data source of your flying career, something easily
backed up, etc. Your device could get dropped
in the toilet, lost, stolen, damaged beyond repair
(just add water), or an iTunes update could wipe it
out. Yes, we said this in that very newsletter
article and another vendor that offers a stand-alone
pilot logbook for iPhone and iPad has users
completely losing their data, check the app reviews
to find one report as well! Very sad, very
traumatic but it can happen.
Flying Magazine issued a warning (click
here) and I highly recommend subscribing to
Sporty's iPad News (click
here). The data loss issue was mentioned
in their recent advisory and points you to a blog
article by ForeFlight on the same topic (click
here).
Don't jump to the computer when a new OS update
comes out such as iOS 5. Be sure to do your
research to avoid a catastophic data loss and always
backup manually to be sure you're protected.
It's also wise to use your best judgment in what
will be used to keep your entire aviation career
stored such as your pilot logbook. I'm sure
you as well as I do not want to be trying to
recreate our logbooks in a situation such as
described above. |
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Product |
Version |
| Logbook Pro PC
Edition |
1.11.9 |
| Logbook Pro Universal
App for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad |
2.4.2 |
| Logbook Pro for
Android |
1.0.6 |
| Logbook Pro Palm
Companion |
1.10.5 |
| Logbook Pro Pocket
PC Companion |
1.10.16 |
| Airline Pilot's
Daily Aviation Logbook - Palm OS |
6.0.4 |
| Airline Pilot's
Daily Aviation Logbook - Pocket PC |
6.1.4 |
| FlightCentral Route
Browser |
2.2 |
| Airline Schedule
Importer |
8.4.5 |
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Click here to download updates as required. |
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