Strange & Charmed

Incase Origami Workstation for iPad

I think I have found the perfect solution for writing on the go. The Incase Origami Workstation for iPad is a simple but unique Apple Bluetooth keyboard case that folds into a stand for the iPad. Not only does it lock your keyboard in place for a secure fit, but it also allows you to use your iPad while it is in another case. I am really enjoying the simple factor about this, and also the fact that it does double duty as a case for my bluetooth keyboard. All in all, this case is a great option for those who want to turn their iPad into a mobile workstation with the help of a case/keyboard/stand solution, and for only $30, it may be one of the better deals on the market right now! (Keyboard not included!)

The Pink Mac

Gaming For Under $1 – Solipskier

Basics: Solipskier is a fast paced skiing game where you draw the slopes to pick up speed and do jumps. Paint your own cliffs, do tricks and slalom through games to get huge scores. Currently 66% off for a limited time only.

Gameplay: You place your finger on the screen and draw a line for your skier to ride along. Every hill, dip, jump, and gap is created with your hand movements. Along the way you build up speed and make jumps to build up your score. You can go through gates to increase your speed and can go through a tunnel of gates to get your speed WAY up. You have to watch out for red gates which will kill your skier and jumps where for a moment you are not allowed to draw a path. Keep going fast and jumping high to set your own high score for each run you try. There are no levels, no achievements (That really needs to be added), and no real goals – just go as long as you can and rack up as much points as possible.

Controls: Amazingly simple – you just place a finger of your right hand on the screen and start going up and down to draw out the path for your skier to go along. Think of Line Rider, but your rider is moving while you draw. One way to build up speed other than the speed gates is to make a short up and down motion to create constant rolling hills. When you do make a jump, take your finger off the screen and your skier will automatically do tricks to boost your score, just watch out for his height indicator so you can make a landing for him! You have to be careful with your path too, since if you make too sharp of an angle upward or somehow create a wall, your skier will crash into the ground. Alerts come up on the right side of the screen with a distance indicating what is coming up, such as a gate or a jump. A bit tough at first to see some of them if your hand is blocking that part of the screen, but with some time you develop your own way to notice them and the little cues they give.

Graphics and Sound: The graphics are good for this game with crisp lines and nice colors. The skier is just a white stick-man and the graphics are rather cartoony, but it works well for the game. One thing I love is when you build up speed, a very stylized rainbow shoots out your back to give you the feel of speeding along the ground. The most noticeable thing of this game is the music! A heavy guitar rock solo plays which just pumps you up to go fast and pull of big tricks. It is very cool! In addition, the music playing after you inevitably crash and die is such a somber piano solo that I felt sad for my little guy every time he passed away.

Overall: This is an awesome game! It is a perfect time waster for when you have nothing to do for 5 or 10 minutes. It’s controls are great, music is amazing, and the concept is simple and pulled off well. Get this game while it is on sale and you wont regret it. Even if you are viewing this post later and it is back at the normal sale price is $2.99, it still maybe worth it to buy this game. Although a bit of research shows me it’s been on sale “for a limited time” since December 21st, 2010 – so you may not have to worry too much of a price increase.

Cousy’s Grade: A-

tech

Gaming For Under $1 – Tiny Planet

Hello folks, I wanted to let you all know I am launching a (hopefully!) regular article highlighting new games for the iPad! Best of all, for those on a budget, all of these games will be .99 cents! For this first installment of Gaming For Under $1, I will review ‘Tiny Planet’

Basics:
This is your basic defend the tower game, however instead of a tower – you are faced with alien invaders swarming down, trying to attack your very own planet. You rotate your player around the outside of the planet, shooting the whole way and repealing the baddies and keeping your skies clear.

Gameplay:
Pretty basic – you spin your player around and he shoots the invaders. As time goes by minor upgrades will pop up, and later you can unlock different and more powerful upgrades. Also more and more invaders will come and come, until your planet is too damaged (3 hits, and your dead but you can regain health through power-ups). There are no levels, completions, anything – just survive for however long you can.

Controls:
I have a problem with most iPad games, since the controller will inevitably take up and cover much of the screen where the action is happening, and that problem plagued this game. You are supposed to use two thumbs to rotate your player around, (I found myself abandoning that for one finger) and because you finger(s) are covering parts of the screen and invaders come from all corners, you often miss a few until they are seconds away from crashing into your planet. Also, as the player rotates, he shoots automatically and to be honest randomly, with no real way for me to control. I would just put him in position under an invader and just waited for a shot to go off. It was pretty fast to shoot, but still out of my control.

Graphics and Sound:
The graphics for this game are cartoony style, but it does it well. It is hard to do any graphics on an iPad badly, so I have no complaints for the cartoon style chosen and any “realistic” graphics would not have fit the feel the game was intended to have. The game has a very nice and simple melody going on while you play, and it will be muted if you have your music playing. Invaders make a very satisfying squash sound when you hit them, and as your health decreases, a heartbeat sound gets louder and louder – both for indicating your health and to induce a panic in the player.

Overall:
A simple game with no ground-breaking gameplay elements. I would hope further updates increase the amount of upgrades to make the gameplay a bit more diverse, and hopefully the cost to unlock those upgrades goes down. (After one game I got 12 stars to use to unlock upgrades, however the cost of the upgrades were 15 stars, 100, 150, 200, 300, and finally 400 stars, so it is going to take awhile to get them all) If you want a game to pass 5 minutes, then by all means spend the money on it, but if you are looking for a more long term game to get invested in, then maybe pass this one up.

Cousy’s Grade – C+

The Pink Mac

Why I won’t be buying the iPad 2 but why now is the time to buy if you are still holding out

As you probably already know, tomorrow Apple begins selling their new, slimmer, sleeker, faster, dual core, dual camera iPad 2! I, like most Apple fanatics, was in awe of the new model as I watched the event online, but as an owner of a first generation iPad, I had to think long and hard about whether I wanted to shell out another $500 for the newest model, or sell my original iPad to offset the difference. Inevitably, however, I decided that the new iPad 2 was not for me because there was nothing new being offered that I would actually use.

The cameras, while a great addition, are not something I need in my tablet. I have a digital camera that also does great HD video, and a MacBook Pro with iMovie for video editing and Photo Booth for self portrait taking. What I love about my current iPad is that it does everything I need it to do when I am on the go, which means web surfing, emailing, reading, writing, and app use. I can’t say that I have been in a situation yet where I thought to myself, I could really use a camera in this iPad. That doesn’t mean others haven’t been in that situation, but it just isn’t one of my needs and it certainly doesn’t warrant me spending another half a grand at least on a new model.

My opinion of the iPad has always been thus: the device will become what you need it to become, if your willing to open your mind to it. The tremendous success of the iPad has come from the fact that various individuals have been able to use the machine to do a variety of tasks that it was probably never originally expected to do. Since I am already beyond thrilled with the tasks I am able to accomplish with my iPad, I have no use for a new model with a few extra features, and that is that!

Now, to the second part of this post, why I think anyone holding out on the iPad should take the plunge on the iPad 2. Simply put, this new model is the best its going to get in terms of features. Now that the iPad has two cameras and an even faster processor (on top of the fact that the first iPad is still pretty darn fast) there isn’t much more anyone would need that would realistically be put in future models. It’s not like next year Apple is going to install a DVD drive in the machine, thats not the direction tablets are going in. Maybe, just maybe the iPad will get a retina display, but the quality of the current screens is nothing to complain about. The iPad probably won’t get an SD card slot, because it’s not a device centered around expandable memory, but rather ‘in the cloud’ memory.

There is a laundry list of features people think they want in the iPad, but honestly, I don’t see Apple expanding much more. So for anyone who is holding out, all I have to say is to go for the iPad now, and to buy a model with the specs you may need in the future. Max out on internal memory if you think you may need it, and go for then 3G if you can afford it, because their is nothing worse than regretting your purchase and forcing yourself to upgrade sooner than you need. Apple may wish all it’s customers would upgrade their devices every year, but in reality those apple fanatics are few and far between.

Now to go back to something I mentioned earlier, my opinion of the iPad is that it is what you make of it. If you know you want an iPad or think it may be useful to you in some way or another, my best advice is to go with the iPad 2 and begin using and enjoying the device sooner rather than later. I bet you will surprise yourself with the use you get out of it once you have it in your life. It has been such a great device for myself and for so many people that I think it is worth the risk to go for it now!

The Pink Mac

Phillips Fidelio Portable Speaker Dock

If you are a frequent reader of this blog, you have probably figured out that it can sometimes take me a long time to pick between multiple options of a device or accessory that I need. In particular, I had been searching for a great iPod speaker with charging capabilities for over two years when I finally found a speaker that suited all my needs only a few months ago. I had originally wanted a Bose Sound Dock Portable Speaker, but I found the hefty price tag of $399 to be much to high for an item I knew I would not be using on a daily frequency. I wanted something cheaper, but still with a Bose like quality of sound. I also wanted something small and slim that would fit nearly anywhere I needed to put it, another issue I had with the Bose speaker as it was a bit larger than I desired.

I know there are plenty of iPod speaker docks out on the market, but sifting through the designs and reviews I never found a quality item that suited my exact needs. Plenty of docks worked well enough but incorporated some design element I did not want, like an alarm clock or a radio feature, both of which I was desperately trying to avoid. I just wanted a small dedicated iPod speaker and finally, I found my precise match in the Phillips Fidelio DS7550 Portable Speaker Dock. At $129.95, the Fidelio was highly rated with an excellent sound quality that has been compared to that of a Bose system time after time. It’s portable slim frame, rechargeable battery, and charging dock capabilities were exactly what I wanted and look excellent paired with my first generation iPod touch that remains permanently docked to the unit. To make matters even better, the Fidelio line of products has a free dedicated App to help manage your playlists which I have downloaded to my iTouch and find very useful.

My overall opinion of this speaker is that is an unbelievable deal at nearly 1/3rd the price of the Bose portable dock, but with a full array of functionality, superb sound quality, and a great volume range that fills my entire apartment. Although it took me years to find it, it was certainly worth the wait!

tech The Pink Mac

BookBook for 13" Macbook (Pro)

It’s been some time since I have seriously blogged here and since I have the day off and nothing to do, I decided that today was as good a day as any to catch you up on my tech acquisitions from the past few months. One of which is the Twelve South BookBook for the 13″ Macbook (Pro). This very unique laptop case has been the primary home of my white 13″ Macbook since I was given it as a present last summer. I had been struggling for some time with the idea of hiding my unused Macbook in plain sight until this nifty case came into my life.

As you can see from these pictures, the BookBook has a beautiful antique suede exterior that truly looks like an antique book, but is strong and sturdy, providing great protection for the laptop inside. In contrast, the interior is a beautiful bright red fleece like material that acts as a soft cradle for your laptop, protecting it from scuffs and scratches. One great feature of this case that I like is how it enables you to use your Macbook while it is still completely encased and protected. Now, one comment I feel I must make is that you may notice that on Twelve South’s website that they suggest this case only for the aluminum Macbooks and Pro’s, because they suggest that the red interior may discolor a white Macbook. I, however, decided to disregard this warning and still used the case to protect my Macbook. It has been over 6 months since I began using this case on my Macbook and still it seems that the interior of the case has not discolored the white casing of my Mac. This does not mean that another case may not discolor your white Macbook, as Twelve South probably has good cause for making this suggestion, but in my experience with the case there has been no problem!

Overall, this is a very nice case for those who either enjoy the look and feel of old books, or perhaps need a case that can hide the Macbook in plain sight. It is a bit pricey, starting at $79.99, but at least for me, the price has been worth the quality of protection.

Moleskine tech The Pink Mac

What’s in my bag 2.21.11

Since I am home from work today for the President’s Day Holiday in the U.S., I decided that I should refresh my flickr feed with a new “what in your bag” picture. Since I bought the iPad early last summer, it has pretty much completely replaced my Macbook Pro in day to day use. Since I no longer carry around a full out tech bag, I recently purchased a new spring tote for my lighter tech load. It took me a long time to find a bag that was both fashionable and practical for carrying my expensive toys, but ultimately I ended up choosing this Gia Milani large tote from Target. It was a complete bargain for just $36 and it has a nice sized center zippered compartment that fits my iPad perfectly and makes an inconspicuous hiding spot for it.

Contents (Left to Right, Top to Bottom):

3G iPod in it’s silver business card case

Silver Zebra camera case

Bronze oversized wallet

Bowers & Wilkins P5 Headphones with pillowed carrying case

Blackberry Tour

Baggu in Peacock

Large Ruled Moleskine

16gb Wifi Apple iPad in SGP Argos case

tech

Its about time!

On 1/11/11 @ 11am (this had Steve Jobs written on it from the beginning), Verizon’s CEO and President announced that they had finally partnered with Apple and are bringing the iPhone to Verizon customers. Since the iPhone was released in 2007, people have wanted this amazing product to be on the Verizon network which is, lets be honest, better in every way than AT&T. Here are my initial thoughts:

Hallelujah.
Should I run to the Verzion store now and set up a tent?
Do I still have enough money from Christmas left over to buy one?
Woot.

Quick tech talk – reports on information on the phone are a little thin right now but here is what we know:

Release date – 2/10/11 (current Verizon customers can pre-order on the 3rd)
Same price as before $199 16GB, $299 32GB with 2 year contract
It is not a 4G phone
A BIG difference is CDMA = No calling and surfing the web (honestly though, talk to the person, stop checking Facebook)
The antenna is slightly altered but it was probably to fit the CDMA guts and not to correct antennagate.
And probably the coolest thing – it will act as a mobile hotspot for up to 5 devices.

Now what strikes me as odd is that people are ALREADY complaining about the announcement today. Because it is coming out in February it will not be a 4G phone. People are outraged that Verizon rushed this to market, because it’s not like we’ve been begging for this for years, and are calling the whole thing stupid and to just wait until the next iPhone. Ahh greed, you’re always present aren’t you?

As for me? If I will get an iPhone I would get one now. I don’t need a 4G phone since I don’t use the web that much on my phone, and when I do I don’t need to download a vast majority of content. When the next upgrade is announced in June, sure there will be some upgrades – but guess what? June 2012’s upgrades are going to be even better than that! Will you wait for then? Of course not. This starts a huge debate of when it’s time to settle down with the current lineup and wait out two years of better devices then the ones you own. But for me it boils down to this – I want an iPhone for Verizon + Verizon has the iPhone = me happy no matter what 🙂

For any additional information check out the Verizon store’s FAQ on the iPhone.

Moleskine The Pink Mac

NaNoWriMo Victory 2010!

Good news everyone! On Tuesday I finally completed NaNoWriMo, hitting the 50k word mark making 2010 another NaNo success for me! I know I was away from the blog for the whole month of November, but I actually found this NaNoWriMo a little more difficult than last years. The novel I wrote this year required so much more research than my prior year’s novel and it ended up taking up much of my time just figuring out all the specifics I needed to get my story rolling in certain parts.

This NaNoWriMo, however, was not a complete success for me 🙁 I actually ended up giving up on attempting to write the novel on my iPad a few days into the project. It really wasn’t the iPad’s fault fully. I was having no trouble with the data input, but the issue I had was that I love Scrivener and I wanted to continuously update my novel to a Scrivener file I had created for it and the going back and forth teased me with all the great functions Scrivener has to offer and I ended up forgoing the iPad so that I could write my novel with the Scrivener app. I actually fully attribute my two NaNoWriMo wins to Scrivener because it makes it so easy to write and keep track of your text and your research that it seems silly not to use the program. I really wish that Scrivener would develop an app for the iPad, but I believe Literature & Latte has already come out saying they have no plans to create such an app. Pity, because I have been looking for an Scrivener like substitute to write on my iPad on the go, but nothing seems to be as functional as the true Scrivener application so I have been disappointed each time.

In defense of the iPad as a writing tool, I did find it very useful when I was writing and during my off time when I was researching because it was like having a second computer screen that I could pull up information in. I would frequently find myself sitting with my iPad and my moleskine notebook writing down details for the book that I found online. I also started using the application DropBox for syncing of documents between my iPad and Macbook Pro. My DropBox account served as a backup system for my Scrivener file for the book which was great because I could pull up the document on the iPad and review sections when I wasn’t writing or at my Macbook.

Overall, although this NaNoWriMo was more of a challenge for me, I ended up learning alot and finding some great little tricks for my iPad. I still believe the iPad is a great aid for writers on both short and long form projects, but until the right applications are created that cater to it’s strong points I will have to stick to Scrivener on my Macbook, but I’m okay with that 🙂

The Pink Mac

NaNoWriMo 2010 and the Quest for the iPad Novel

Well, it’s about mid October now and you know what that means? November and NaNoWriMo are right around the corner. In a few short weeks I will once again embark on a quest to write a 50k+ word novel within the month of November, but this year I have added a bit of a caveat in the mix. I plan to write the novel on my iPad.

Why, you may be asking yourself? Well, because one of my major goals for the iPad (yes, I have goals for my electronics) is that it become a super portable writers desk of sorts. So, the best way to put my goal into motion is to actually attempt to write something substantial on it, and NaNoWriMo is the perfect opportunity. I have been mentally psyched for NaNo ’10 since I finished my last novel in late November 2009 so I think that excitement and energy will help me tremendously with the slightly daunting task of writing a complete novel on an iPad. Obviously, the iPad is a decent word processor, so it’s not an impossible feat, but I believe that the lack of a physical keyboard and even the use of the bluetooth Apple keyboard at times will be a major test of not only what the iPad is capable of in terms of extended writing sessions, but also how it can fare as a tool to keep a writer on track through the use of brainstorming apps, note taking, and reference.

Currently, I am researching useful applications for the task; software that will help me keep my ideas flowing but also give me the ability to quickly multi task when necessary. {Any suggestions on apps would be helpful and appreciated!} Of course I will be attempting to chronicle my NaNoWriMo + iPad adventure here on The Pink Mac- you guys will keep me motivated and accountable! It will be an attempt because, lets face it, it’s difficult enough to write 50k+ words in a month without adding blogging into the mix, but since this is a subject near and dear to me, I am going to try very hard to get both done!

So, in the meantime, before NaNoWriMo begins, I will give you guys some updates on apps for writers and my general progress preparing for my November challenge! So Stay Tuned!

{Image via here}