Strange & Charmed

Lately I have been obsessing a lot about the idea of a backyard home office, also known as a detached home office. For someone who works from home, I think it achieves the balance of convenience and professionalism because you are still working from home, but you are physically outside of your house so I think it gives that “at the office” mentality. In some scenes the extra space can be used for far more than an office and even function as a retreat in your own backyard. Either way I want one, but of course that would mean I would need to get myself a home and a backyard first. Well, we can file this under future plans! Below are some amazing backyard home offices I found from around the web. They are all so unique and peaceful, I would find it hard to pick just one.

Not even kidding, just buy it. Seriously stop reading this review and download the game now. Your still reading, why aren’t you downloading it? GET IT ALREADY!!!

Okay, okay – you want a real review, got it.
I happened to browse the app store today to see that the newest installment of Angry Birds has been released. Now, I haven’t played Angry Birds since the original, and I have avoided the updated games Seasons, Rio, and whatever else they might have come up with. I really didn’t like Angry Birds too much anymore, it was old and boring. That was before Space.

Well, I am not saying that the Dodocase is the Presidents iPad case of choice, however, this visual evidence is quiet persuasive. Yes, President Obama totes his white iPad 2 in a classic Dodocase, which begs the question, what color is the interior lining? Inquiring minds must know!

In order to test out the quality of the iPad 3’s iSight camera, the other day I went around the house taking random pictures. Some of them, I ended up making minor adjustments to in the new iPhoto app, which I have to say from the short time I was in the app editing the photos it was very easy to use and surprisingly full featured. So here are the pictures I shot, which I think came out very nicely. Overall I am pleased with the quality of the photos, but what do you think?

I just revamped my masthead as you may notice above. It needed an upgrade and so did the desk itself. I don’t even use my iPod Touch very much anymore, so I replaced it with some iPad 3’s for a much more up to date look. I also changed the idea board a little by replacing an apple logo with a new logo that Cousy made for me a while back. I love elephants and so a pink elephant will be my official blog logo. I guess that means I’m the pink elephant in the room, but I am okay with that!

Let me know what you think!

 Having just ripped open my new iPad 3 for the unboxing video I promised, I have spent the last few hours or so fiddling around with the new device to give all of you an idea on how significant an upgrade this model is from the iPad 1, which I have owned for about two years. Obviously, as I do not own the iPad 2 this review and comparison will mostly speak to the differences in the first and third models, but I know I will touch on things that will apply to current iPad 2 owners who may be considering the upgrade. First things first, I just can’t keep my hands off the device. Not sure if it is the change in size and weight or the general sparkly newness of a brand new device that is causing this, but either way I know me and this new guy are going to get along very well!

Right off the bat, the form factor, size, and weight of this device are a pleasant shock. Mimicking the design of the iPad 2 but with a little extra, albeit unnoticeable girth, the iPad 3 feels completely different in hand than the iPad 1. The screen too feels a little different as it does not seem as wide as the iPad 1 and indeed, although the screen is the same size, the bezels are different between the two models. It almost feels like I have less room to hold the iPad 3 around the edges than the iPad 1, but this is more of a psychological fear than a realistic one.

The iPad experience between the first and third generations is also similar yet remarkably different. Similar obviously because they are using the same operating system so I am familiar with how to navigate and use the iPad, however, the screen resolution is astonishingly crisp and clear. I never thought of my iPad 1 as having a subpar display, but this one blows it out of the water. Just quickly reading a few documents and webpages, you can really tell the difference and it leads to a more immersive experience. Another factor for this difference in user experience is the speed of the machine. If I recall the speed of my iPad 1 at first use, it was certainly fast, but as the time progressed it became a little laggy. Not to say it was unusable but this new iPad is bringing me back to that old feeling that the device I held in my hand was really quick and advanced. Now, if this speed begins will begin to lag eventually, we will have to see, but for now, it is quite snappy.

The final notable difference between the iPad’s 1 and 3 are of course the cameras. With no cameras in the iPad 1, this is an entirely new feature to me, and an upgrade to any iPad 2 users. From preliminary shots I can see that both cameras are a strong quality. The iSight is obviously better than the FaceTime camera, but I wouldn’t say the FaceTime camera is that bad at all. It feels similar to my macbook pro’s FaceTime camera which to me is a decent quality. The video on the iSight camera is also quiet nice and I would say it is comparable to the quality I get on my Cannon Powershot which does HD and regular video capture.

Overall, I am very happy with the new iPad and I am glad I waited for the 3 instead of settling for the 2 because for some who gets as much use out of the device as I do, I know this model has the quality to last me potentially longer than my first iPad.