Jan
27
Photo from gdgt.com
So, today was Apple’s big reveal of the iPad. The device is pretty cool. It’s only a half an inch thick and weighs in at one and a half pounds. The screen is 9.7″, uses a proprietary 1GHz chip, 16, 32, or 64GB flash storage. Of course it has 802.11n and Bluetooth. It comes with the standard things; accelerometer, compass, speaker, mic, and dock connector. They claim that they have been able to squeeze 10 hours out of the battery via media usage. They’ll have it in two models: WiFi only and add 3G through AT&T. They have two data plans: $14.99 for up to 250MB (ya, tha’ll go far), and $29.99 for unlimited data. For the international market, the device is unlocked, so it can use any wireless carrier. Lastly, the pricing: it starts at $499 for the 16GB model.
My take on it? Meh. It’s a cool device, but I have no use for it. Just like I have no use for a netbook. On top of that, it looks like they took a rolling pin to the iPod Touch. I already have an iPhone and I don’t need a bigger one. Thanks, Apple, but I’ll be skipping this one.
Dec
25
Good for you. Welcome to the cult. Make sure you download a few important things:
- VLC Player (This is a great open source media player. It plays DVDs, CDs, and just about any digital media format. However a good alternative to this would be to download Perian which will extend Quicktime’s usefulness if you’d rather use QT.)
- Google Chrome (This is the newest kid on the block in the world of web browsers. If you’ve already given your life over to Google, this is a logical step. It’s a very slim browser – it’s probably the most basic browsing experience today.)
- Open Office (This is an excellent alternative to Microsoft Office. It’s free and since it’s open source, it’s constantly under development. Therefore, it’s constantly being improved on. If you’d rather go with Apple’s option, take a look at iLife.)
- Quicksilver (This is a great application switcher. This is waaaayyy beyond [Command] + [Tab]. If you’re into keyboard shortcuts, you can setup Quicksilver to do any number of things; compose an email, read your email, control iTunes, open files and programs… the list goes on. I’ve even setup a shortcut with an Apple script to lock my desktop to keep my kids from breaking something.)
- Onyx (Onyx is essential because it gives you the ability to change a ton of things in the root programming of OS X. For example, you don’t like the default wallpaper on your user sign on page? You can change that. If you don’t like the genie or suck effects when programs minimize to the dock, you can disable those animations altogether. There are loads of things you can do with this program. So, if you’re comfortable with a bit of “customizing”, this program is for you.)
