The Apple iPad - gotta love it!

As you all know, I'm an early adopter of all things tech. I love to play with, modify, and mess with new technology. I've been in the technology business for over twenty years and still love this industry. I do have the benefit of getting most of my tech free via my employers, though often I'll make the jump when I find something truly intriguing , like the purchase of the ipad.

I picked up the ipad the first week it came out here in Germany and have had a honest opportunity to put it through its paces. I travel a lot and am able to give any mobile technology a solid usability test in the field. The results were very good.

At first I thought the ipad my just turn out to be a well-designed info-consumable and not really a good tool. To my surprise, I have been able to write, present, take notes, transfer files and basically everything I do with my notebook but in a light and extremely transportable device. Everything is a bit of an exaggeration; I am still unable to print with ease, though I can use most Wi-Fi/Bluetooth printers. Sadly, there are not many floating around the international offices of my firm. So I tend to create or modify the document on the ipad and using dropbox or email send it to a device connected to a printer- then print it. I must say that there are solid office based applications for the ipad and the ones from Apple are currently the slickest of them all. Apple just released a good update which made usability between MS Office and Apple iWorks a pleasure. Pages are simply dreamy and so easy to use and create. Numbers is functional and Keynote is wonderful. All in all, I can be very productive on the ipad. A quick note; the keyboard takes a day to get used to but is very versitile and I can type at about %80 of my usual speed. That being said, it's great!

Where the ipad shines is keeping you busy while in the train or on the plane. Like I said, I travel a lot. My current employer has me underway in a train (mind you, a super-fast luxury train) a couple days a week. I often have to travel to Berlin, Hamburg or Fulda. All these trips can be between 3-5 hours depending on embarking point. Usually I try and get some quick work done and spend the initial hour or two very productively. After the productive time I then have some time to waste, and this is where the ipad rules. Its beautiful 9.7 in HD screen was truly designed for movies and games.

Games are a point where the ipad really shines. There are thousands of 'em and literally hundreds are great quality and good fun. The ipad is a truly awesome game platform and you can spend hours of fun due to the ipads double lithium approach, yes I said double. Apple in its wisdom realized that one thing holding mobile devices back were their battery life. With this in mind they added a second huge battery to the innards of the ipad offering an unchallenged 10-12 hours of usage. Yes, and it is true, you get 10-12 hours of usage. My experience during the last two months is basic usage I get 10 hours easy. Movie and game time depending on the game is between 7 and 9 hours. A heavy 3d game need more processor power and eats more bat. But generally you can play for hours and watch movies for 10 hours on a single charge.

What else do I love to do on the road: reading, as a writer I need a solid device to read docs, periodicals and books. The ipad does this so well. Magazines just shine with interactive material and books are a solid reading experience with little eye fatigue. Generally, the ipad is a wonder device and I am getting more and more attached to it. I find it replacing many other tools and even other forms of media. I usually purchase magazines and like to hold them and turn the pages. My rucksack often has a National Geographic, Wired, and other news based magazines in it. Currently, I have the ipad. Yep, that’s it. The thing has most of my mags in a great format and what I don't have in magazines I can get through news readers like Pulse (which I love)..

All in all, the last couple of months have been wonder weeks of having everything i need in one small package. And my little ipad is changing and growing every day. It becomes more personalized and my usage changes and as new applications come out that resolve other issues, needs and tools.

If you have been debating getting an ipad, then wait no longer, this thing Rocks!

Apologies Abound

Well, they’re at it again, apologizing. First up today, we have Denmark’s chancellor apologizing for some private run Danish Newspaper’s cartoon running some humorous sketches about Islam. And then we have US President Obama apologizing for just about anything that America may have done wrong over the last forty years.

Come on! Why the apology binge? Is the Chancellor of Denmark somehow responsible for one of the many newspapers in his country? Should Obama be apologizing for anything? Are we arrogant? If so, why should Obama have to apologize? I know he is the voice of America right now, but do we want our voice to be one of apology?

I think it’s time we stop apologizing and start doing something! Make things happen, stop apologizing for things out of our control!

Political correctness has a new face; the apology.

Looking In The Mirror

As I look into the mirror I can tell that the holidays were good. I’ve eaten and drank too much and am in desperate need of a resolution. So, here I go again. Sport, diet and no alcohol for the next couple of months with hopes to take off a few kilos. I do this every year and it works. I get busy and feel good again after a few short weeks.

The real problem is maintaining this standard and continuing to lose weight and getting even healthier. Another few months and I would be lean again, not just less round. My blood pressure would go down for good and I would feel great. So why don’t I ever do this? Why do I always fall back into the trap? I put blame, like everyone else, on time. I never have enough time. What a lie; I could easily continue the regime. It’s only a short, tough forty-five minutes a day. I’m weak! Yes, it’s sad, I’m a non-disciplined wimp! But not this year, no, this year I plan to go all the way. Not just a quick fix but the full Monty!

So cross your fingers everyone and wish me luck. I’m on my way to a healthy- long life.

Chris

Faster Than Thought

The communicator felt cold in my grip as I realized the ship was lost. The escape pod was the only option left. The thing had to be stopped and the only way was using the self destruct mechanism.

She was mine as long as I can remember and piloting her through vacuum was an honour, loosing her was almost more than I could bare but it had to be done.

The thing that got on board was a monster; we had landed on a pale blue dot in a strange system with a bright yellow sun. I beamed in to take some core samples and was surprised by the pleasing alien atmosphere, blue skies and strange mountain ranges white tipped with a white crystalline material that looked beautiful and frightening.

I was finished and sent the sample via halo to the ship with the details of the planet and took out the communicator, it changed to green and I waited for the particle shift when it came at me, a dark figure, low and fast, a blur of speed and agility.

The shift continued and I landed in dock with a slap, beaming always a bit painful but necessary.

I almost lost balance and felt myself let out a shrill sound I didn’t know my form could make. The monster had shifted with the beam and it scurried with a loping grace at such a high speed it was gone, moving freely in my ship!

I sent the alarm and ran as fast as I could to lock down and quarantine the area. The reading in the dock said no life forms, it had escaped.

My communicator was going off and Eaan was shrilling about the monster and I new it was on the move. I headed for the globe, knowing Eaan would be switching the autosync on and must have sighted the beast there.

The globe was its usual blue and soft hue and sadly empty. I heard the beast let out a sound behind me. I dove into the only escape pod and hit the charger, my existence flashing before my eyes! I prayed to Those Who Know that the beast and not made it into the pod.

The nearest planet was large and red and coming up fast. I did a quick scan and the only life form in the pod was my own. The pod settled on the big red planet and the distress signal slotted, they would come soon and retrieve me.

I pulled out the communicator and it blued with Eaan coming to screen, she was mumbling and I felt sad and pity for her. The self destruct would go soon and the beast would be destroyed. I would lose my beloved Eaan but the mission could continue and the beast would never hit our world.

Strange, the screen, Eann and the beast looking ready to fight, it was small and multi coloured with oval eyes and two pointy ears, its form was small and lithe with four appendages it used to move about. Behind it trailed a fifth appendage that swayed back and fourth. Eaan moved to strike it down with one of her danglers be she seemed to be moving too slow, I heard its roar Meow! Her dangler was on it now strangely stroking it and the beast was letting out a sound like none I have ever heard before..puurrrrrr,….. Then the flash and the communicator went dead.

*

I sat for moment, the pod feeling small and I alone. The hue came on and it was command. They were on their way. I climbed into the Cryo-bin and hit the button, darkness and dreams.