TheTwidgetLog
Technology and other stuff
Posts tagged ipad
The way of iPad
Apr 8th
It’s been several days now since the coming of the iPad. I am not going to give you a blow by blow description. That has been done by many and need not be redone.
Many have praised it’s lovely form, svelte figure and exceptional stamina. Others have cursed the limited vision, feeble mind and stocky build. The truth, I think, is somewhere is the middle.
While it is true that the cost was a bit high, it is missing what some would call needed access ports and can not even run flash. What it can do is run circles around other devices, the same big batteries add some weight to the beauty. It can show video well and on a large monitor with the VGA adapter. There are those wanting the aspect to be 16:9 for wide screen movies but it would make the device a look a bit like a plank. You can read your books, check your mail and tweet it all in turn while listening to some smooth jazz in the background.
What it can’t do is replace your laptop. It just wasn’t meant to. We heard all the same rhetoric when the netbooks came out.
It’s too small.
It can’t play WOW.
It won’t edit my file for the next viral video.
I think we need to do a bit better at determining what we want to do and then pick the gear that helps us do it. There will never be a device that is blinding fast, light as a feather and runs a week on one charge, for this year at least.
I still hold to my first advice. The iPad is a great device for easy access to the web, reading ebooks and entertaining yourself in general. It is not the device to write your next novel on, but will do a mean presentation for your next multimillion dollar proposal.
My pad, your pad, iPad
Apr 4th
My iPad showed up Saturday about 1pm, after an anxious wait. It was glorious, it looked just like the one Leo opened on TWIT.tv, no surprise there. I proceeded to open it up, sync the apps and some content and start testing.
It came fully charged and powered right up. When first connected it to the hub for syncing it caused an error in iTunes that I first thought was due to using my iPod cable. Later on I found that it would sync fine using the cable for my 30gb iPod.
My next problem was the no charging message by the battery. When watching the unpacking video
by Andy Ihnatko he asserted that the iPad would charge, slowly, while connected to the computer and quickly while connected to the 10 watt adapter provided. Apple has now provided guidance to confirm that while connected to a normal usb port the iPad will only charge while asleep.
I connected to my WPA2 encrypted network with ease and proceeded to test apps. I showed my wife the bright screen, slick way the screen was accessed and rotated, and went on to set up dropbox and box.net for shared content access.
Setting up the email client was simple, allowing me to get and send email from my gmail account. Testing the Netflix app was a breeze and worked better than the media center app. I signed into my Netflix account and chose an episode of Murder She Wrote to view. It started right up and when the iPad was rotated it expanded to fill the screen.
Then I pulled up the map and the pinch showed it’s value, zooming in and out, rotating the map orientation. That is so slick. Google Earth is another beautiful app showing satellite images of the earth along with other information about the areas you zoom in to see.
I found that I had not put the ibook app on and needed to sync my contacts from gmail, so back to the pc. When I opened ibook I found a free book installed, Winnie the Pooh. Adding The adventures of Sherlock Holmes from the Gutenberg project was simple and took only a minute to complete.
My first day experience was great and I would recommend this for anyone who wants to access web content, ebooks, music, video, and audio books.
I did not make my own unboxing video. Andy’s video referenced above is just too complete. I will bring more reviews as I proceed to use Keynote, the VGA adapter and test my connectify hotspot software with my AT&T data plan.
IPad shipment update 4/2/10
Apr 2nd
Ok so my IPads show that they are now in Louisville, KY again and the notes are as follows.
SHIPMENT IS HELD TO VERIFY COMMODITY DESCRIPTION WITH THE CUSTOMER FOR CORRECT CLASSIFICATION / BROKERAGE RELEASED SHIPMENT. SHIPMENT IS SUBMITTED TO CLEARING AGENCY FOR FURTHER CLEARANCE
I am itching in anticipation of saturday. If you haven’t yet check out the Itunes store, thyere are at least 15 pages of IPad apps up as of last night.
Check back for more updates.
Hulu on the IPad?
Apr 1st
Hulu the free online video hub has some interesting things on the horizon, according to the NYT.
Hulu has made it’s online video site successful, and brought free tv and movies to the masses. four people at Hulu said that it may be bringing out an app for the IPad. The ability to watch the tv shows i missed or my favorite shows and movies on my shiny new IPad just makes my mouth water.
But the companies that supply content for hulu.com, want them to bring in more advertising revenue and charge subscriptions. So they can get larger kickbacks i’m sure. Hulu’s Mr Kilar said. “We’re certainly open to subscriptions as a complement to an ad-supported model.”
People briefed on Hulu’s plan said they may test the subscription service with the IPad app, but had no information on when it would be available.
My opinion is that the free service is great, its no worse than watching tv with commercials and it brings in revenue for hulu and its content suppliers. But if they wanted to add a subscription service for premium shows and new movies that would be fine. Let people opt in or out of the premium services, but with a paid premium plan, I would expect NO ADS. If they try to change Hulu to be a subscription service only, their content suppliers may find the Hulu audience hit all time lows. I for one have a netflix subscription and the disc for my Wii, so i do not need another subscription for online video, and would probably abandon Hulu if it chose this path.
Let me know what you think.
IPads are on their way to waiting customers!
Mar 30th
Last weekend was a huge rush of people posting that their IPad orders were “Prepared for shipment”. So I hurried over to the Apple online store to check my order status, and low and behold, mine was “prepared for shipment” WOO HOO! By Monday my order was updated as shipped with tracking numbers linked to the UPS tracking page, but much to my disapointment, no information yet. So I waited, and by Tuesday morning I had the information I was looking for. My Ipad oprder had an origin scan from SHENZHEN, CN, What? I expected Apple to have the IPads stocked in the states ready for disbursment, but no they are coming directly from China. Apple is shipping them using an express shipping service through UPS that id designed for large shipments of time sensitive materials.
But don’t get too excited about getting your IPad before launch date because I’m sure Apple has made sure to have them held and delivered on Saturday April 3rd.
Check back daily and I will post every update to my IPad shipment for everyone to follow.
Just what the iPad ordered
Mar 13th
I have this problem, I have 4,000 plus tracks of music and want to get a 16gb iPad. I can tell you it won’t fit there! What if I had lala installed on my server? I could just just use lala.com, check my recent plays list, but then it will interfere with other down load access. I began to think, hey I have this thing the internet, maybe someone has had this problem before. I did some looking and found Sockso, an open source java based music server that gives you search, play list and browsing of your collection. It is simple to setup and use. I had it in place and serving up my collection in 10 minutes. I set up a test at work and forced it to only allow registered users to access my collection.
One of the features I find brilliant is that ability to select how you will play your music. On your local web page you can select from seven different ways to play including a pop-out flash player or a play list download for your default player. Sockso can also change the encoding of your must, if needed.
I think this is the answer to using your music at home, or remotely if you open a path through your firewall, on your iPad or netbook.
IPad will be available April 3rd
Mar 5th
Apple announced that the IPad will be available to purchase in stores on April 3rd. But if you want to get things rolling than on March 12th you will be able to pre-order your IPad online or in Apple Stores.
IPad for the artist
Feb 6th
A week and a half after Apple announced the IPad the arguments keep flying about how useless it is, and it’s lack of certain features. But interestingly enough, no chatter about the presentation of Brushes for the IPad at the Apple event.
After seeing the brushes application on the IPad I can’t help but think about how this may change digital artwork in the future. Being an amateur artist myself, I have looked into Wacom tablets for a more realistic approach to drawing on a computer. Unfortunately I never forked out the clams for one because the base models were over $100 and only gave you a 4 inch square to draw on. Also you are looking at the screen and and drawing blind, that didn’t appeal to me much. Now with Brushes on the IPad It looks like you are drawing on paper with a selection of brush types and no mess. This is a much more realistic approach to creating artwork on a computer, and you can bet this is something I will play with a lot when I get my IPad.
Just remember to check back here for a comprehensive review and pictures of the IPad in action.
Is the Apple IPad for you?
Jan 28th
I would like to see a discussion started here about whether or not you think the IPad is the device for you or not. Let us know what you think and why or why not.
I have posted a comment on the last post with my thoughts. I feel that the IPad would make a good addition for me, for content consumption. I do not feel that it will replace my netbook since I sometimes need to run multiple applications at once and typing on the IPad for lengthy posts or documents would be irritating, and uncomfortable. As for listening to music that’s what my Iphone and Ipod are for. But first thing in the morning reading the paper and kicking back surfing the web or checking facebook on the couch, The Ipad would be great. Watching movies in 720p would be nice as well. I also would make good use of the e-reader built in. So all in all I like it, it wont replace any devices i have now, but would be a great addition to my arsenal for easy and fast access to the content that I am hungry for at the moment.
iPad stand soon available!
Jun 10th
Posted by Jeremiah in commentary
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Production of the first batch of SLS Ipad stands has begun. Follow the link below to order when they are available. The Ipad stands will be available in clear and translucent black, and in 2 configurations. A standard 2 piece stand and the SLS Stand Plus 3 piece stand with the back panel. Prices will start at a low $9.99 for the clear SLS Stand standard.
http://bit.ly/aRIGfE