So every January and June I get excited, because that's typically when Apple rolls out it's latest, greatest gadget.
This January is no exception, on Wednesday, months of speculation ended when Steve Jobs introduced the world to the iPad.
It's a cool gadget, no doubt. About 10 inches long, and 8 wide, and just a half-inch thick, it's sleek. From demonstrations I've seen it behaves like a giant iPhone, with more power and depending on the model you go with, more memory.
You can get on the internet through the built-in wi-fi, or get a model with a 3g radio, and you can get a data plan for a monthly fee.
It's a beautiful machine, but... in this economy, and with both an iPhone and Macbook in my arsenal, is it worth it?
It doesn't seem to offer anything that one of those other devices can't provide. Sure, it looks great, and it's really neat, but is it worth it?
Not for me right now. Make it more powerful, it could replace a laptop, smaller, it could replace the phone. But I'll pass, maybe they'll dream up something to make it really worthwhile in generation 2.
Some related stuff:
Jobs sets high bar but the verdict is mixed (Financial Times)
Debating the merits of Apple's iPad (cnet)
iPad apps will define the device, many not yet devised (Huffington Post)
I like to think I'm a fairy honest person. If you go through my extensive music library on my computer, you won't find any pirated songs. Really. I believe in playing by the book when it comes to downloading media.
There are 3 sources for most of my digital music purchases; eMusic, Amazon and iTunes.
By far my favorite method is Emusic. It's a flat monthly fee and for that I get 50 dowloads. It's extremely economical, but unless you have very diverse tastes, you may get frustrated with eMusic quickly because most artists are not mainstream. Though there are some that are, and for that reason I reccomend checking it out. I probably download 65-75% of my music from eMusic.
Next up is Amazon. I really like Amazon. It has a pretty good selection, about the same as iTunes, and they have bargains, and lots of free songs.
iTunes is the old standard. It's easy to use, great selection, but until yesterday, no bargains, and only a few freebies. It's big drawback was DRM protection. The stuff they spray on the file to make it tough to pirate also takes away sound quality. But yesterday Apple pretty much removed all the DRM, but is now allowing record companies to charge more if they choose. They have a new tiered pricing system; $1.29, .99, and .69 per song. I don't think this is necessarily a bad move. In fact, I like the idea of paying $.69 for some songs.
The point of this is, if you buy your music online, shop around.
iPhone soap? Yes, iPhone soap. Why? Why not I suppose.
Is it practical? No. Will it clean better than other soaps? Doubt it.
Do I want it? Sure.
So it's a slow Sunday morning around the house. The wife's tending to some stuff and I'm looking after the kids. The boy, 3, seems fascinated with the Wii.
You see, we recently moved, and the Wii, along with most of my toys were in a separate part of the house, not accessible to him. But now it's there, calling to him.
So I said, sure son, let's race. I pop Mario Kart in the system and hand the steering wheel over to him, hoping finally someone in this house will play video games with me. He's excited at first. He sits in my lap and we steer for a bit, then I give him control and he's stuck. Loses interest. Alas, 3 is too young. And it gets me to thinking, should I even allow/encourage him to play? I shudder to think he'll be a rotund video game player, and not a fort-building, tree climbing boy who can't wait to hop on his bike after doing homework in a few years. This is the Geekfather's dilemna this week.
I am a proud (and somewhat obsessed) iPhone owner. The device is invaluable to me, I use it to read books, surf the internet, update my Facebook and Twitter account and even this site, and much, much more.
That said, it's lacking in a few rather obvious areas. But it looks like Apple is going to make good. Of the new features they announced today to be released by summer are; copy and paste, and MMS messaging.
Hopefully this new trend of Apple responding to customer concerns will continue!
