iPad could not be backed up because a session could not be started

If you ever seen this error message in iTunes:

iPad could not be backed up because a session could not be started

Then here is how I fixed this on my iPad (iOS 4.2) before upgrading to iOS 4.3:

1. Do a hard reboot of your iPad by holding down the top button and the home button until the device reboots.
2. Re-connect to iTunes (stop sync) and then right click on the iPad to ask it to backup.
3. This didn’t work for me the first time, with a different error coming up, but by the second try it did work and I managed to complete a backup.

There are some other accounts over on Apple Discussions if this does not work for you; in no particular order I read this, this and this.

Oh and if you’re having problems upgrading to iOS 4.3 then I’ve found links to enable you to manually download the upgrade here (it’s 625.8mb BTW).

And if you need instructions on how to manually update an iOS device watch this video:

(though be warned of the irritating music!).

Data Detectors for Safari on the iPad Please

Now. I love data detectors. It is one of the most unsung and brilliant of Apple’s innovations with OS X. It just works, although I mourn the fact that it’s not spread much beyond a bare implementation in Mail (a very useful one at that though).

Now with the introduction of the iPad data detectors have taken on a whole new form in their beautiful implimentation of the the Mail on the iPad.

Just click and hold on the address details you are given three options:

1. Open in Maps, which finds an address for you in a matter of seconds:

2. Create a New Contact from the information it’s discovered, which leads you to this:

3. Add to an existing contact which brings up a list of your contacts and away you go:

I have over a 1000 contacts in my address book, but even then there are gaps, missing addresses, phone numbers, etc, which I can now easily add from a contact.

Now just the other day I was looking up a business on the internet and needed the telephone number and I was thinking how great it’d be if this were implemented in Safari on the iPad (or on my desktop too!) then I could just add all this information to an existing contact or a new contact pretty much instantaneously…

Flash Death Watch

I’ve been meaning to write an article on the death of flash for quite some time now, I’ve abandoned a number of drafts as the deluge of articles have hit the interwebs on the same topic.

So I thought it would be more interesting to give you a flash death watch tracking the number of sites abandoning flash:

Airlines

Virgin America – Flash Gone Bye Bye! (see here, here and the official statement here)

News & Media Sites

ABC – Official iPad App (see here, download here)

CBS – Reports coming in (here and here) of Flash-free video for the iPad

CNN – iPad Optimised Site (here)

Disney – iPad Optimised Site (here)

The Guardian - @tsmarsh informs me they use Brightcove so hope they’ll follow suit?

New York Times – iPad Optimised Site

NPR

TED – Completely Flash-Free version of their website (see here and the official announcement via twitter here)

Time Magazine

Wall Street Journal – iPad Optimised Site + iPad App (download here)

Video Sites

Brightcove – Supplier for sites like Wired, Slate, Time & NYT so expect to see them go over soon too!

Netflix – Official iPad App (see here)

Youtube – iPad, iPhone optimised sites; HTML 5 experiment for everyone else!

Vimeo

Add anymore sites you know in the comments and I’ll update the list.