iPad

Have had my iPad for almost 24 hours. Impressions:

1. Blogging generally sucks on it. I'm new to blogging, but there are some things that are not dispensable, such as the ability to look up a website for more info, cutting and pasting including links, and uploading pictures. None of these come easily to the iPad, at least not when you're in the middle of writing a post. I tried BlogPress but it crashed on me, and the shortcomings mentioned were not really addressed. For short reports, like when you're on a trip or something, then it's okay. For extended write-ups, not so good. And if you want to embed flash videos, well, not so good either. I know Apple is just looking out for the consumers and think that Flash is buggy and all, but damn it, we should be able to decide whether we want a useful but buggy feature or not. Damn nanny mentality nonsense.
2. The keyboard is functional but feels weird. Well, it's basically tapping on glass, and if you have long nails, it doesn't respond as well as you'd like it to. Also, editing can be a hassle. The copy/paste feature works, but also needs some getting used to. I've tried a few times to write something on the iPad. I always end up finishing it on the Macbook Pro.
3. Calendar is not as fully functional as iCal. If you need to put in a repeating event, for example, you can't specify "every third Friday" like you can on iCal. There are a couple other needling things, but it's basically usable. I just have to do a lot of syncing with the laptop.
4. The RSS readers I've tried so far really suck. Feeddler has crashed on me every time I open it, but it's closest to the functionality I want (I use Shrook on the MBP). Early Edition is overrated.
5. Among the news apps, Fluent News is my favorite so far. The NYTimes app also works really well, which is something coming from me because I hate the NYTimes. But since installing their free app, I actually read more from their editorial page in one day than I have in the last six months.
6. Free Books app rocks. It pulls in stuff from Project Gutenberg, and does it in a nice, stable and elegant manner. The Kindle app and iBooks also work pretty well. I want to buy a book that I've been meaning to read, but I can't decide whether to get it via iBooks or Kindle. With Kindle, I can read the same book on my laptop and iPhone as well as on the iPad. But the iBook app is so pretty…
7. Goodreader is awesome. I have tons of PDF files from my woodworking plans and crochet patterns. It's always been a pain to keep track of them on the MBP. But with Goodreader, it seems so much easier. The transfer between MBP and iPad is fast, too, via USB connector. Most important: the app has been pretty stable.
8. ABC player would work a lot better if ABC had any shows worth watching. Well, okay, I do watch Castle online.
9. The Marvel Comics app is as good as I expected it to be. Now, if they'll just allow online subscriptions on it, then I'm all set. 
10. Moonlight Mahjong developers are awesome. I purchased it on the iPhone originally, and downloading the iPad version was free. Graphics are great.
11. I transferred my Doctor Who HD iTunes purchase onto the iPad and watched it using the built-in video player. I think the HD is a little overkill. Pretty, though.
12. Wifi signal sucks. Where the MBP has 4 bars, the iPad can only get one. I haven't had the connection problem others have reported, though. Even with the weak wifi signal, Safari still loads pretty fast. I can only imagine what it would be like if the wifi signal problem were fixed.
13. The App Store is a money blackhole. It's too easy to buy apps. The prices seem cheap. Before you know it, you're redeeming your fourth iTunes card because your account just ran out of cash again. If I were paranoid, I'd think this was done on purpose…
14. The rest is pretty much how things are done on the iPhone.

And that's about what I have so far. The iPad is a nice sexy shiny new toy. I just wish I know what I could really use it for that I currently couldn't with my MBP and my iPhone. I'm thinking it'll be more convenient for traveling. And newsreading (via Fluent News mostly). But that's about it for now. If I find new ways to use it, then I'll post it here. Otherwise, this is probably the end of the iPad posts.

Blogging on the iPad

My long delayed iPad finally got here this morning. I'm still playing with it and figuring out how things work. The keyboard isn't bad, but it does take some getting used to.

I'm downloading some apps I've been itching to get my hands on and will be back later.

Funny how anti-climactic it felt when I finally got the iPad. To be fair, nothing could live up to the expectations that I had for this thing.

Still, new toy and all. Will come up for air in a few hours or so.

"Looks like some guy named Steve Jobs was able to nudge my app past the gatekeepers"

That was from political cartoonist Mark Fiore, via Wired.com.

Fiore’s NewsToons app was rejected by Apple in December, four months before he won the top journalism prize for his animated, politically themed cartoons. Apple rejected the app, citing rules against making fun of public figures.

Steve Jobs reportedly called that a mistake in an e-mail response to a user, and Fiore said Apple called him last Thursday asking him to re-submit his app, after news of the ban richocheted around the web.

In related news, Steve Jobs doesn't want to sell porn and says get an Android instead.

“You know, there’s a porn store for Android,” Jobs said. “You can download nothing but porn. You can download porn, your kids can download porn. That’s a place we don’t want to go, so we’re not going to go there.”

All I can say, without implying I read porn, is "Hurrah for free markets!"

Oh, and "Hurrah for free speech!"

iPad update

Finally got shipping info from Apple.

Yep. It seems like it's coming straight from the factory in China.

Bummer. Would have been faster to just pick one up in Santa Rosa.

About that new iPhone

Ann Althouse thinks it's "fake-lost."

I don't know. Apple never had to "fake-lose" anything before, and it tends to keep things close to the chest until its product is ready to launch. They're masters at manipulating the media to get the most publicity for free. The week before the iPad launched, stories were all over the internet about how Apple was boycotting Fox News in advertising. The iPad launches, and it's all they can talk about on Fox News anyway. So who needs to pay for advertising?

Now with the "lost" iPhone (there's speculation it was actually stolen, but I'm thinking that's a CYA) they've just signaled to their competitors that they're getting ready for mobile video-phoning (yes, I'm quite hung up on that one; Dear Husband said, "I told you so" about waiting for the Rev 2 iPad instead of giving in to my inner gadgetlust). That's definitely not how Apple plays.

Besides, when the question comes down to explaining whether something is due to malice or stupidity, bet on stupidity every time.

the new iPhone

Gizmodo has the details.

(According to John Gruber (aka Daring Fireball), this is a photograph of Steve Jobs' office earlier today.)

I ordered my new iPad a week ago (status: Prepared for Shipment. Whoohoo!) and seeing the front-facing camera on the new iPhone just about made my heart sink. Who wants to bet that just in time for start of school/Christmas season, we'll be seeing front-facing-camera-equipped iPads?

Oh, well. Sniff. It's not like this had never happened to me before with other Apple products. Except that it used to be that I'd have the new product for at least a couple of weeks before it becomes obsolete. This time, the damn thing hasn't even shipped yet.