Why I’m Sold on the iPad

There are many, many reasons I’ll be picking up one of Apple’s new iPad devices as soon as humanly possible, but the first and foremost among them is the iBooks software featured in the image above. The Kindle, the Nook, the Sony eReader—because these things are single-use devices, and because they are black and white, they have never appealed to me. Now, give me an eReader with a color display that can also do all of the things I normally need to do when I’m away from the house, and I’m sold.

Truth is, I don’t need a traditional laptop anymore. I hate carrying the weight of one around, I hate how long it takes to boot up and log into (especially compared to my iPhone), and I hate how unintuitive it is for getting simple tasks done when I’m away from my home base. This thing, the iPad, it solves all of those problems. Here’s how:

1. It’s a great Web browser. Sure, it doesn’t have Flash, but I don’t care! For nearly everything I need to read or do on the go, this is going to work perfectly.
2. Its screen is big enough to really handle email. Don’t get me wrong: I enjoy looking at and responding to email on my iPhone. For short messages, it works great. It’s even fine for long messages, in a pinch. But when I’m on the road, email is one of the things I like to catch up on, and this device looks like it’ll be a dream to answer email on.
3. Its screen is big enough to really show off my photos. Photos seem to load fast and look gorgeous. And I can totally see myself setting this down on a dock and using it as a digital photo frame when it’s not in use as something else.
4. Movies, TV shows, and podcasts look amazing. I love watching things on my iPhone, but the bigger screen on the iPad would be a dream for longer trips. And I feel like I could hand it to my (nearly) four year old and let her watch movies on a car trip without issue.
5. It’ll play music. Seriously, the only thing I need to be able to do multitasking-wise is listen to music while I’m working. And this can do that.
6. It runs existing iPhone apps. Yes, I realize that some of them will look unbearably pixelated early on (the iPad scales the apps 2x to fill the screen) but, as developers implement new versions of their apps that can support both resolutions (iPhone and iPad), this is going to be awesome. Buy once, and use in both places!
7. Its Notes, Calendar, and Contact apps look gorgeous and easy-to-use. And it can run Apple’s iWork suite of productivity apps if you choose to buy them (at $9.99 a pop).
8. And, last but not least, it can act as a virtual bookshelf! As I said above, I’ve never been attracted to the Kindle or the Nook or any of the countless other black & white eReading devices. But I’ve always been attracted to the idea that I could hold a whole library’s worth of books on one device. The fact that this thing can read books, in addition to everything else—that’s what sells me.

Oh, and I almost forgot—the thing that really sells me is the price. The base model starts at $499 ($629 for a version that supports 3G connectivity). It’s basically everything I need in the way of a portable computer, and it’s almost as cheap as those cheap-ass, ugly-ass netbooks I see people carrying around and going ga-ga about. Throw in the optional keyboard, the nifty carrying case that can also act as a stand, and I am totally there. As soon as this comes out, and as soon as I can get the money for it, I’m buying one.

How about you?

Geek Force FiveCast 289: Flash and Multitasking on the iPad

In which ECC freaks out about the bitching and moaning about the iPad not having Flash or multitasking capabilities.

Geek Force FiveCast 288: iPad Eve

In which ECC geeks out about the Apple tablet computer, which Steve Jobs is calling “the most important thing I’ve ever done”, which might be announced alongside iPhone availability to all networks, and which might cost $600-$1,000, and which might look like this.

Worth Your Consideration #027

I’m collecting links like mad lately, so it’s time for another edition of Worth Your Consideration.

• Let’s start off by linking up the Star Wars burlesque story that Jon mentioned during this week’s episode of Generation Goat. And, if the still image above and other images in that first link aren’t enough to sate you, here’s video of the debauchery courtesy of Geekologie. And, if that still isn’t enough for you, be sure to check out this video of Princess Peach shaking it for Bowser and all the other toads in the audience.
• You know that we love amazingly disgusting (yet somehow mouth-watering) burger photos. Well, here’s another one: Krispy Kreme Donut Bacon Cheeseburgers.
• You know that we also love Nine Inch Nails. Here’s a video of former NIN drummer Josh Freese kicking ass and taking names on a live version of “Wish.”
• Also on the video front, here’s an oldie but goodie: a circa 1984 dealer training video for the then brand-new Macintosh computer.
• Speaking of Apple, didja know that they confirmed they’ll be announcing their “latest creation” on January 27? Rumors indicate that we’ll hear about the fabled iTablet, iPhone OS 4.0, and iLife 2010 (the WSJ seems pretty sure about the tablet’s arrival, and is suggesting that families will share the device). There are also whispers that we’ll soon be hearing about our iTunes media collections living in the cloud.
• One more Apple link: Every Get A Mac Ad in One Place.
• Moving on! It looks like Spider-Man 4 has a director, and it’s Marc Webb, whose (500) Days of Summer is still on my to-watch list.
• Marc Webb once directed a Green Day video ("21 Guns"), and Green Day is going to be the center of the next Rock Band video game. Dude! How’d you like that transition?
• And, oh, if Green Day ever needs a drummer to replace the maniacally, indecently awesome Tre Cool, then they should check out this kid, whose chops, according to Mashable, “will melt your face off.”
• I’ve become kind of obsessed with videos of talented kids lately. Something else I’ve been obsessing over: stats for things that don’t need stats. And here’s a prime example: Charlie Brown’s lifetime baseball stats.
• Moving on! How long until someone runs over a real prostitute in their real car while too busy running over a digital prostitute in the new iPhone version of Grand Theft Auto to pay attention to the road?
• Something that keeps me from tearing my eyes away from the iPhone or the computer, wherever it is I happen to bump into these things: promos for season six of Lost and jokes about how the sixth season is going to make fans like me even more obnoxious than ever.
• Something I wish I could experience for real, and not just through the hype machine: Marvel Comics. I am really digging the poster for Siege that Joe Quesada did, but the pricing for comics is out of control and I ain’t coming back until they get real and bring cover prices down (which will probably never happen).
• Well, never say never, I guess. I mean, if Marvel’s new overlords at Disney keep making decent money on films like the rumored Tim Burton version of the Sleeping Beauty tale, called Maleficent, then maybe they’ll find some way to bring prices down.
• And, not that the House of Mouse needs any suggestions from me on how to make some dough, but here’s one: Disney princesses dressed up as the villains from their movies.

Geek Force FiveCast 280: Apple Tablet Rumors

In which ECC geeks out about rumors circulating about Apple’s forthcoming tablet computing device.

Worth Your Consideration #026

In no particular order, here are a slew of awesome links I’ve collected over the past week.

• Speaking of “awesome,” my favorite discovery from this month’s NH Media Makers meet-up was Dennis Lees‘ site Awesome Alternatives, which provides… well, it’s kinda self-explanatory, isn’t it?
• iJustine found this fantastic viral video that was made to raise awareness of breast cancer, and, while not particularly geeky, I definitely feel like it needs to be shared. I particularly liked how little awkwardness and embarrassment I saw. Everyone in this video just seemed to be having fun.
• Mel Gibson is set to direct Leonardo DiCaprio in a movie about vikings? That’s what AICN says is happening. And I, for one, agree with their assessment that this film “oughta be...something.”
• Nicholas Cage never got to play Superman (and here is why that’s a very good thing), but he is going to appear on-screen as the superhero Big Daddy in the upcoming film Kick-Ass, and AICN has a poster of Cage in costume and an amazing sequence of Cage training his daughter in the film to become Hit Girl. Neat, says I!
• Less neat: Tobey Maguire as Bilbo Baggins in the upcoming film version of The Hobbit. I mean, I love Tobey, but he ain’t right for that role at all. Right?
• Kinda neat: the trailer for Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood. I still love the Kevin Costner version—yes, go ahead and write me out of your will now—but I’m okay with seeing what they do with this.
• An uneven kind of neat: the trailer for the Clash of the Titans remake. Really, I’m not sure about this one. This trailer goes back and forth from awesome to suck about five or six times in the span of two or three minutes. But I do like this trailer better than the first, so that’s saying something.
• Neat? I’ll let you decide on this one: Rene Russo will play Thor’s mama in Thor.
• This one too: the new trailer for Alice in Wonderland, the Johnny Depp version.
• Definitely neat: Bryan Singer will return to the X-Men film franchise as director of the next movie in the series, X-Men: First Class.
• And now we need a neatalternatives.com, too.
• Moving on… Long-time Fivers will remember our posts on the McGangBang and the McNuggetini, but I think that even those of you who witnessed those monstrosities will be unprepared for the McDonald’s Big McSausage Egg Surf & Turf Mac.
• Now, to wash the taste of that out of your mouth—as if that would even be possible if you ate that thing—here’s an article about Tara Reid posing for Playboy.
• Hehe… did I just make you throw up in your mouth twice in a row? You’re welcome.
• If you’re crying now from what I’m doing to you, perhaps this will make you feel better: Woman Cries After Seeing Return of the Jedi. Seriously? I thought it was a rule that we only cry after watching The Phantom Menace.
• And, speaking of Return of the Jedi, did you know that Lucas wanted David Lynch to direct it? Do you think the girl above still would have cried if we’d gotten that version?
• Kottke calls Guitar Hero with 21,268 Christmas lights, “possibly the most American thing [he’s] ever seen,” and you know what? I can’t disagree.
• Slightly related (because there’s the music connection, you see): Mario Theme With One Hand Only.
• Also slightly related: Found footage: 6 iPhones almost make a full keyboard.
• Totally unrelated to that: Jorge Garcia just discovered the Hurley “dude” video. I love Jorge Garcia, and I love that he blogs. And, most of all, I love that we are getting closer and closer to the sixth season premiere of the show that made me love Jorge in the first place: Lost.
• I’m sure I’ve talked about Springfield Punx before—probably because the dude who runs it is doing a series of Simpsonsified characters from the aforementioned Lost—but I gotta mention it again, now that he’s posted Simpsons versions of Inspector Gadget, Penny, and Brain.
• And, last but not least (or, well, if you’re not an Apple fan, I guess it might be least): Adweek Media’s Campaign of the Decade is Apple’s Get a Mac ads.

Geek Force FiveCast 273: Things

In which ECC geeks out about Things, the to-do list manager from Cultured Code.

Sports Illustrated - The Tablet Edition

Time, Inc.—publishers of Sports Illustrated and other magazines—has unveiled their vision of what magazines on a tablet computer might look like. And I gotta tell you, Fivers: if you haven’t seen this video already, it’s definitely worth checking out. Whether you’re a sports fan or not, the way that this thing displays content is amazing to watch.

If the makers of print periodicals are looking for a way to save their businesses, I think this might be it. And if Apple, long rumored to be developing a tablet device, wants to make the next big splash in computing, I think this is where they have to go with it.

Your thoughts?

Building A Mac Out Of An Xbox

The lengths that some people go to in order to create one of a kind computer cases is totally beyond me. There was a time when I actually kinda-sorta enjoyed tinkering with the insides of my computer, but that time passed long ago, and the tinkering that I did never came anywhere close to what Will Urbina did in creating the OS Xbox Pro, a dual-boot Mac/Windows computer housed inside a heavily-modified Xbox case.

The making of video I’ve embedded above (also available on YouTube) features an occasionally NSFW soundtrack, but is definitely worth a look if you want to see a case-modder getting his geek on.

Thanks to TUAW for linking this up.

Apple Joins AT&T in the Fight Against Verizon

Without naming names, Apple has released two new ads that take the fight to Verizon, whose Land of Misfit Toys ad (the one that attacked AT&T’s piss-poor 3G network coverage) kicked off the early holiday season’s most amusing and biting war of words. It kinda makes me wonder what’s coming next, and who, eventually, will land the knock-out punch.