Over the past few weeks, Wes and I have decided that we are quite possibly the lamest kids in existence. We’re both nineteen years old, relatively fit, and don’t have any baggage. Yet, for the fourth week in a row, we’re spending Friday night at Denny’s. Generally, Saturdays are reserved for Ihop.
Granted, we were planning a trip to Canada most of the time. But a lot of that time was spent doing his Computer Science homework and messing around on Facebook.
One night, we even went as far as to browse Target for a while. We ended up searching for their generic food brand, Archer Farms, on every isle. Tonight, We got around to changing his windshield wiper blades on an exciting trip to Wally World. But that’s pretty uncommon.
So after a few days of research, I’ve made my stand on the Apple iPad debacle. Overall, I like it, but there are many things that could (and need to be improved).
First, what I do like:
Good size. 9.7 inches isn’t terribly huge or too small.
Good form factor. Personally, I like that it’s NOT 16:9 because when you’re using it vertically, 16:9 would be ridiculous.
Aluminum construction. Nice and solid.
iWork is on the iPad! I’d love to be able to use something like that to make presentations and whatnot.
iPhone apps are almost 100% functional on it. So no worries about not having enough stuff to do on it.
Ability to pair bluetooth keyboards. Sure, soft keyboards are good, but having a real one is nice for longer emails and whatnot. Even if you don’t want to use a bluetooth one, they make a dock with an Apple keyboard attached.
No 3G Contracts!!!! While I’m disappointed Apple picked AT&T for their 3G coverage, I’m glad it’s cheap and pre-paid.
Now, what I despise about it:
NO FLASH SUPPORT. Well, there wasn’t on the one Steve Jobs had at the Keynote (Notice the broken content icons when he’s surfing the web). There was, however, flash elements on the commercial, so maybe we’ll see it soon.
No USB ports. Something like this (especially with iWork) needs to be able to exchange content with a flash drive or something similar.
No Camera. A screen side camera would have made this the PERFECT Skype or video conferencing device.
No E-Ink. There IS currently technology to switch back and forth between E-Ink and LCD (and probably LED) displays. Reading a book in full color may be nice, but it’s going to hurt some eyes.
Other thoughts:
It’s innovative, but there are some easy ways they could have made it that much better.
For instance:
Steve Jobs mentions that while it’s charging on it’s dock, it makes a nice electronic picture frame on your desk. Would it have been so much harder to make an app and a dock to make it a neat little external monitor for a macbook or something instead since it’s on your desk anyway?
Just a neat idea: Since the cover for the iPad has so much real estate on it, it would be nice to see an accessory maker (such as Griffin) make a similar cover with solar cells built in to charge the iPad just from that.
There are better tablets out there, for sure, but I think this will actually work thanks to the marketing skills of Apple and the charisma of the iTunes and Apple Universe.
Would I buy one?
No. Not a first generation one at least. Hopefully the next generation ones will have a camera. Then I would definitely find enough use to buy one.
At some point I want to be able to do some of this:
So I did some searching around. There’s a pretty historic club in Columbia, SC called The Big Apple. Back in the day, it was a pretty hip place to be, and now, once a month, it’s a swing club again. I haven’t gotten a chance to check it out yet, but their next night is next friday (Feb. 5) so I’ll try to go. Hopefully, there’ll be a live little jazz combo, but even if not, it should be pretty neat. If you want to check it out, its on the Historic Columbia Foundation website (click Here for a direct link).
Other than learning the dance, for the past couple of years I’ve really enjoyed jazz, especially swing. I love playing it, and have become especially fond of the Baritone Sax parts. I’d love to practice up a bit and find a recreational jazz band somewhere and join.
So anyone with a Garmin can play with a neat little peace of software called Garmin Voice Studio. With the new software from Garmin, you can now create your own new “language”. Whether you find it useful or goofy, it’s a neat little thing you can play with if nothing else. You can record things the way you understand it.
Once you’re done, just plug in the GPS into a USB port and click “Send to GPS”. Unfortunately, this is a Windows only program for now.
So today was Apple’s January event. The poster said “Come see our latest creation”. What is this “latest creation”?
It’s the iPad! The long rumored Apple Tablet Computer is finally here!
Since I haven’t gotten to see the keynote, I’m not ready to speculate. I hear, however, that it’s not quite what everyone was expecting. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, We’ll soon find out. I’ll post what I think of it in the next couple of days, so be on the look-out for that.
Over the past few weeks, Wes and I have decided that we are quite possibly the lamest kids in existence. We’re both nineteen years old, relatively fit, and don’t have any baggage. Yet, for the fourth week in a row, we’re spending Friday night at Denny’s. Generally, Saturdays are reserved for Ihop.
