Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Thoughts on the Ipad2

When I first got the original Ipad last year I wrote that it was very cool, but not quite a revolution in the way that IPhone revolutionized our smartphones.  The reason is because it was not quite a computer, and not quite a phone, but something in between.  It was an amazing device to consume media....but not much in the way of a productivity device.  (at least that's what I thought at the time)

And then slowly but surely I realized the revolution....which is..... bye bye paper!  As a pdf reader with apps like "Goodreader" which is the gold standard of pdf apps...and "Iannotate" which lets you legally sign contracts with your finger.  It goes a long way in marginalizing those pesky cluttering stacks of dead trees.  Now with a high speed scanner, cloud based storage like "Dropbox" and a 3g connected IPad I have all my records with me, able to instantly call up...and reference whenever I need to.  The vet needs Raven's rabies record?  Well instead of digging through a file cabinet I can e-mail it  while I am standing in front of them.  And on and on it goes.  It totally replaces the briefcase.  Everything is archived and saved, not in dusty boxes that create clutter and get pooped on by rats, but in the cloud, able to be called down to the Ipad in seconds.

Now when you take all this functionality and slim down the device, make it even more comfortable to hold....and much faster.  You have something that is indispensable.  Before I wrote about the desert island where I could only have one device...I said it would be the iphone....but now it would be the Ipad 2.


Goodbye Paper!!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Miracles

There are a many variations of this story..........


A whole family is wiped out in a car crash except for one little girl that "miraculously" survives.  Depending on your superstitions you may cite "God" or "someone looking out for that girl"

But skeptical and cynical me cannot listen to any of these reports whether it is on the evening news, or through a friend, family member or acquaintance and not think this thought.

NO IT'S NOT A MIRACLE!  A MIRACLE WOULD HAVE BEEN IF THE CAR WOULD HAVE SPROUTED WINGS AND FLEW SO AS TO AVOID THE ACCIDENT ALTOGETHER!

Sorry to burst your bubble folks but Miracles don't exist, there is no such thing.

Peace

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Steve Jobs unveils the IPad 2

The Ipad 2 looks awesome, but what was even more heartening was after the internet rumors and reports of only 6 weeks to live...Jobs looked great.  We got to see the master at work at least one more time and hopefully for many years to come.  In his trademark outfit Jobs poked fun at the hapless copycat competitors like samsung and motorola, while pointing out some really cool new Ipad apps like Photo Booth and Imovie, and for me the one that I think will be my personal favorite..Garage Band.

Jobs pointed out that they had sold more ipads in 9 months (15 million) then all the tablet PCs in history.   Ipad 2 will be thinner, lighter, and faster, and include 2 cameras as well.  Pricing will remain the same as well as the amazing 10 hour battery life.

Jobs closed the keynote by reaffirming apples mission...the perfect melding between technology and liberal arts.  He reminded us why Apple is the most amazing tech company in history.  And he got this Apple geek all kinds of fired up!!!!!

Long Live STEVE!!!!!!!!!