Moving and such.

I know I’ve been missing for a week or so since January ended, but I have a very good excuse. The last few weeks have been crazy time for me because I was (1) promoted and (2) transferred for work! So, in said time frame of me being absent, I have been (a) looking for apartments, (b) buying obscene amounts of furniture, and (c) moving during one of the biggest snowstorms to hit the Northeast in years! Finally, just yesterday I was able to set up the Airport Express in my apartment so that I could get wifi and not have to sit at the edge of my bed attached to a chord if I wanted to surf the web. Actually, I have been doing a good amount of NOT surfing the web in the last few weeks, aside from when I was at work while I had nothing to do because my impending transfer caused restrictions on my workload.

Tomorrow I start my new job in this new city in which I now reside (clue in picture above). So I thought I would take this time to warn you that I could possibly go missing for a week or so again, but I will try my hardest not to!
By the way, since this is a technology blog I should probably say something related in this post, so I will just mention how much I love my Airport Express! It is small and easy to set up- I just used Airport Utility on my Macbook Pro and it was set up in like 2 minutes! I also like that it is compact (since it was meant to be portable) and the range is perfect in my little apartment! I actually used it at home a few times and the range is really awesome for this little guy- I had it set up downstairs and I still had a full signal from upstairs (and this is in a home that is about 3,000 square feet I would say- so it covered the range of the linksys router at home).
Moral of the story: Apple’s Airport Express= Awesome + I love WiFi!
{Picture via my boyfriend, taken on a snowy walk yesterday}

Could Content Redeem the iPad?

I read this article the other day, writen by the notable tech writer Andy Ihnatko that got me thinking about the practical nature of the iPad, which I had previously deemed impratical. Okay, so as I have already said, this thing is a big iPod Touch- I wouldn’t say it’s an iPhone necessarily because thus far it is not a phone, although with a Skype application this could indeed make voice chatting and even calling a feature, but that is a conversation for another post.

Never the less, the iPad’s greatest asset is its screen real estate, which is arguably larger than a majority of netbooks out in the market (if anything 10 inches is the max for netbooks), but unlike said netbooks, the iPad comes with a multitude of content, some you may have to pay for, some you may not, and of course I am referring to iTunes. See, for someone who already has an iPod(s) full of content (movies, music, apps, ect) you are already pretty well set up if you were to buy an iPad, which is certainly not the case if you were to buy a netbook or a tablet of another brand.

Now the big A-HA moment I had while reading the Ihnatko article was that, I, and I am sure a nice slice of the consumer market, have an interest in ebook readers, and so the ibookstore available to iPad users (question; is this ibookstore going to be available to iPhone or touch users??) gives me (and you!) the ability to fullfill ebook desires and make use of my iPod content at the same time. Of course the math of this decision would be more than simply…

ereader= $250
netbook= $300
total= $550
$550>$499 (iPad)
iPad Wins!

You have to take into consideration the fact that the iPad would be a means to spend even more money on content that you now need to own because you have a screen larger than a cell phones to work with. Apple is running a business after all and they will try to seduce you into their ever growing content market one way or another.

For me, I think it is time to refocus my thoughts in a new area. I know I want a tablet, and in light of the availability of content for the iPad perhaps it could be the tablet for me. I certainly have a good amount of time to think about it, but I fear my anticipation for the device may cause me to purchase too soon, something I ended up regretting with my iPod touch. Remember, longing makes the heart grow fonder!

It’s a Big iPod Touch.

Over the last few hours since the announcement of the iPad, I have been thinking about it’s features and lack of features to decide if this is something I would even bother owning. Let’s discuss these features.

The iPad has a few things I am very excited about. Not only does it do web, video, music, email, documents, calendar, contacts, and a wide variety of apps, it is a nice sized ebook reader as well. My favorite feature, however, is the 3G connectivity that comes at a decent rate without a contract. This means you can take all this fun with you when you leave the house or wifi enabled areas.

When it comes down to it though, this thing is just a big ipod touch that can (if you buy the 3g enabled model) constantly access the internet. The only difference will be that the apps developed for the iPad specifically will probably make the device feel more like a Mac. That being said, it is a far cry from a Macbook. One of the biggest problems with the iPad is that it, like an iPod touch or iPhone, can only run one application at a time it seems and I am definitely someone who has multiple applications running on my Macbook at a time, so why can’t I do this on the iPad?

This also brings up a few connectivity issues I have been thinking about in regard to the iPad. I am a little disappointed that there is not an SD card port for importing photo’s. Since this is such a portable device, I would think they would include one so that you can add photo’s to the device while you are away from your computer. There is always importing from email or the web, but if you wanted to take this on a family vacation for instance, and you just took a bunch of photos you want to email to friends and family, you won’t be able to. The lack of flash built in to the device also concerns me especially with viewing webpages, you think Apple would have been able to build this in somehow by now. Also, there is no video output which I think is odd since this is a media device. {I know Apple is making a whole variety of cables you can buy to do some of these things, but that seriously takes away from the fact that this is supposed to be a very wireless device.}

So, those are my main complaints for now. I am thinking that perhaps maybe this device isn’t for me. Although that could change as I begin to see all the amazing apps that are sure to be developed for this thing that would perhaps make living with the few issues I have worth it.

Welcome iPad!

I am completely flabbergasted! Apple has finally done it, they have just announced the iPad, the not so mythical tablet mac! Here are some quick pictures from the live blogs, and I will have to get back to you more later, but basically this thing is a giant ipod touch. It appears to be running a more advanced version of iphone software and is about 10 inches. It is pretty much everything we have been hearing and seeing from the rumor mill.

Apple Event Live Blogs!

The day is finally come! At 10 am pacific time, Apple will begin it’s live media event in San Fransisco. If you are like me and would like to follow the progression of the event, you can do so at Gizmodo and Engadget– both are live blogging!

See you all after the event- I’m sure I will have something to say about it!

My Life in Gadgets: Laptops.

The progression of gadgets and electronics has been something I have been thinking about a lot for the last few days. In the next few days, Apple could possibly announce a life changing device to the market- but what is life changing anyway? When I think about it, nearly every gadget I have owned has been life changing, even within the scope of similar devices. As generations of them progress, they become more featured and intuitive, suiting the needs of the user to a greater degree.
Consequently, all this deep thought on electronics forced me to recall all the gadgets I have owned, so I thought I would share with you the laptops I have owned throughout the years.
My first laptop was given to me in 1996 at age 10. I can’t recall the brand of the computer, but it looked very similar to this photo above. It was grey and thick and ran Windows 95, and what I thought was very interesting about it was that it had a trackball for a mouse. It was heavy and had a small screen, but it could connect to the internet via a phone line and so I loved it!
The next laptop I owned was a Compaq Presario 1200 series which I received in 1999. Coming from that old clunky early 90’s laptop, this thing was light and fast and had a much more attractive form factor, not to mention it had a floppy and CD-Rom drive. It also ran ‘the new operating system’ Windows 98. At the age of 13 when I was given this machine I had no clue about operating systems, but the jump from Windows 95 to 98 opened my eyes to a new world of computing I never understood before. I have since become an OS junkie.
In 2003, the year before I went to college, I bought this even more modern Compaq Presario 2500 series. This had the largest screen of any laptop I had owned, or have owned since. It also had a DVD drive, so this was also the time I converted from VHS to DVD- a little late, I know! This machine also ran, what to me at the time, was a revolutionary new operating system- Windows XP! Everything about this laptop seemed more vibrant and refreshed, and I remember having the distinct feeling when I bought this that I had entered the future.
As we all know, college is a crazy time in a persons life. They learn new things, they experiment- some of it good, some of it bad. As an Art History major in college I was surrounded by these new machines I had very little knowledge of before this time. I mean, as a PC user for all of my life until that point, I had been conditioned to think of Macs as the enemy and an inferior computer to the PC, but I was never really taught why. So, in college I dabbled, and unsurprisingly, I liked it. So, in 2006 after my PC died on me in the middle of Maymester (May semester), I started researching Macs. Coincidentally, this was also nearly the exact same time that the intel based white Macbooks were announced and so I took it as a sign to convert.
By 2009 when I upgraded to a 13 inch Macbook Pro, I was already indoctrinated into the Macintosh lifestyle and haven’t looked back. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for me technologically, as looking back from that very first laptop over 10 years ago, I have made such a substantial jump in my fluency with computers that I wonder how much further it will all progress in the next 10!

Creative Writing.

If Apple does not announce a tablet-like device next week, we seriously need to rethink the integrity of journalism.

Why? Well, I just read through this Wall Street Journal article that outlines specifics of the impending tablet device learned by the authors through “people familiar with the situation,” “people familiar with the matter,” and “other people briefed on the device.” So, what exactly is the ‘situation’ anyway? Well, they certainly aren’t referring to characters on the Jersey Shore, so lets take a look at the credible information the authors of this highly specific work of journalism have gathered. Apparently, this Apple Tablet will be a true Jack of all trades, functioning as an e-reader for books, text-books, magazines, and other written content; a Television (if you sign up for what I can only assume would be an optional subscription fee); a music player (of course); a video gaming system; and finally, a web browser that you can navigate through the use of a virtual keyboard (squashing any rumours that this device might be a touch screen laptop).

So, back to my original statement- if this turns out false next week, then what in the world is going on with the state of journalism today where a highly detailed article can be published by a major national newspaper and use incredibly vague sources? It’s one thing to publish an article like this and give the name of specific employees or officers of the company that were spoken too, or even refer to the position of the source like ‘a member of the marketing team,’ but to just flat out say nothing better than ‘says a source who knows’ is ridiculous and discrediting in my opinion. I know when it comes to a topic which has been so controversial or kept under wraps for so long it’s hard to get people to go on record when they could potentially be putting their job on the line to disclose information they most likely are supposed to keep secret, but the editors that let this go to print have better have received some very reliable backup if they were to put out a story like this. This says so much about the state of our media today- that a hot story can sell for more than the price of one’s integrity, but as long as a profit is turned journalistic accountability dissolves.

Conceptual Design.

In the spirit of the Apple Tablet that may or may not be introduced at next weeks Apple event, here are a few of my favorite touch screen/ tablet mac concepts. There are tons of these all over the internet, but I am sure that if a tablet does come out next week, it will look like one of these. Apple should hire some of these people to design their actual products btw!

By Invitation Only.

As you may have already heard, one week from today (January 27th) Apple will be hosting a product event in San Francisco, to which it distributed via email the above invitation to “Come see our latest creation.” Although many blogs have been talking about what could be coming next week, mainly discussing the possibility of an Apple Tablet, I think that this invitation, although cryptic, is a clear confirmation of all the tablet rumours.

Learning from the past.

Apple is a notorious creature of habit. They very frequently hold similar events at the same times each year to refresh or introduce a product. For example, around October/November, Apple usually refreshes their iMacs, in September their iPods, and in January/February their Macbooks. Now, I realize there have been exceptions to this rule, as we have seen mid year updates on Macbooks/Macbook Pros, but for the past few years this has generally been their pattern. So now, this January we have confirmation from the company that they will be unveiling something new.

Evaluating the evidence.

Since we have established the Apple pattern for product launching, lets turn to the actual evidence- the invitation. We can tell from the tag line that this is not just going to be a product refresh, they have clearly created something new, or at least new-ish. What I mean by new-ish is that the concept or body of the device they are unveiling could be something we have never seen from Apple before, but it could deep down inside be similar to something they already make. This certainly leaves room for an Apple tablet, as the concept of a tablet Mac is certainly different in design and form than what Apple currently has in their Macbook line, however, deep down inside it is a computer. Now, this could also mean that they have created something non tablet as well. But lets continue to evaluate the evidence before we jump to any conclusions.

There is more to the tag line than just revealing that Apple has something new up it’s sleeve. I firmly believe that Apple always eludes to their product in the tag line directly. A good example of this would be last falls iPod event that was tagged “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it.” That tag line eluded to both the musical aspect of the event and the ‘roll’ was a double entendre also describing the video aspect of the new nanos (i.e. camera’s rolling). But back to next weeks event and the line “Come see our latest creation” which I believe is full of meaning, particularly in the word ‘see’. Now, although this could be taken directly on one level as the invitation to watch the unveiling, I think we have another double entendre situation and that this is to be taken as a clue that the device is going to be very visually oriented, maybe incorporating the aspects of an e-reader, touch screen or just faster graphics. So what sorts of Apple products are visually oriented? Well, Apple made a big fuss over perfecting the screen of their iMacs, and the Macbook line has great graphics and ever increasing screen quality. More so than any other product of Apple’s, their Mac line is very visually oriented. Whatever they are releasing is clearly going to be a part of Apple’s long tradition to enhance user experience through an ever expanding notion of the graphic user interface. The last few times we saw Apple move in this direction the iPhone’s graphic touch interface was developed, the Mac line was given a major graphics boost and finally, the screens of all of their products went full glass. Perhaps someone else could look at this chain of events and say they have nothing to do with next Wednesday’s event, but I think Apple has been in the business of expanding the visual interface of computers since the very beginning and when they say ‘see’ they really mean ‘see.’

The final piece of evidence we have about this event is the invitation graphic. I know some believe it to be inconclusive, but I believe it is giving us a great visual clue as to what is going to be coming next week out of Cupertino. To me, this image has the silhouette of a macbook and out of a multi colored background (eluding to the visuals of the device again) comes a glowing Apple. What does the multi colored background have to do with anything, you might be thinking? Well, Apple likes to use those paint splashes when it is alluding to device colors, as we have seen with the 4th generation Nano line which was represented by dripping paint, so perhaps this device incorporates a portable audio, but what I think they are hinting at with this image is touch screen capabilities. Why? Think finger painting. I know it seems puerile, but from the standpoint of Apple and the font of irony which is their marketing, what would be more ironic than a touch screen or tablet computer being compared to a child finger painting. I mean, technically, you could do so with a touch screen Mac and because it is digital it would be mess free!

Jumping to conclusions.

Honestly, I think that this visual evidence from their invitation paired with what we know Apple likes to do historically, there is a good chance this event is going to reveal a touch based computer. Will it be a tablet? Perhaps. If we listen to the rumor mill we might get our expectations crushed come next week just like we have for the past two years since all these rumors have become a business in and of themselves. So I am just going to make the safe bet right now and say Apple will be introducing a touch screen device. Whether it be a Macbook with a touch screen, or a tablet Mac or even an enlarged iPod touch, I think all the signs point to touch screen with some great graphics. Stay tuned to find out!

Wii Watch Netflix.

I was beyond excited when I heard the news that this Spring Netflix will finally come to the Wii! I personally cannot wait for this because I am a subscriber to Netflix, which I mainly use to stream movies to my Mac, but now I will be able to stream videos to my TV, which I currently only use to play Wii with! So this is really a win win situation myself and my TV as we will be spending much more time together very soon!
Apparently, this will be achieved by using a special Netflix DVD that you can request from Netflix, which will download the necessary software to the console, allowing you to stream content from your wifi internet connection. Although other console video game systems already have the ability to stream content through the web and this is long over due, I am glad to finally see Nintendo catching up with the rest of their competitors in this aspect!