Why I now dislike the iPad

Like everyone else in the land of Geektopia yesterday, I was glued to my monitor as the live blog spewed forward information about the iPad event.  I was in awe and amazement of this wonder product that will liberate us from the doldrums of being stuck with outdated devices.  I mean this thing has it all for $499.  It makes my 3rd generation iPod look like a reel-to-reel tape player.  16GB of storage, Wifi, iTunes, Safari, ability to use iWorks productivity software, movies, e-reader.  The list goes on and on.
But after 24 hours, the buzz has worn off and the hangover has made me see more clearly now. 
Why would I want to buy a device like this?  Seriously.  I have an iPod Touch and LOVE the thing.  It has my music, movies, games, web browser and email courtesy to the awesomeness that is Lotus Traveler.  But for $499 for the low-end iPad, why wouldn't I want to take that money and buy a netbook?
I know last week in Orlando walking between sessions and hotels, that multi-pound brick in my backpack that consisted of my laptop with extended battery.  I would of loved to have something like a netbook that would have allowed me access to Lotus Notes and the Administration client along with VPN access to the corporate network.  Sure, it's Windows.  Sure, it's only 1 GB of RAM, but, it can do so much more then the iPad can.  And in some cases, about $100-150 less! (If not more if you shop around)  Plus, if I feel like I'm missing out on my iTunes...well, I can install the software and authorize the netbook.  Movies too. And, most netbooks have a webcam built in as well.  Something lacking from the iPad.  Oh...I forgot to mention that multitasking thing too.  But, since it's a Windows device, that's a given.
So, will I want to buy one of these devices?  Likely no.  I have the iPod Touch and that thing is 'da bomb.  If I had an extra couple hundred lying around, I would likely buy a netbook instead.  Or a Nikon.  Do I think that this device has opened up an entire new category of connected user, oh ya.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but it's safe to say that Apple is going to make a lot of money off of this thing.

Redneck Tech

Living in the "hill country" of east central Ohio as I have for the past 10 or so years, I have found a lot of humor in Jeff Foxworthy's "You might be a redneck" routines. Seriously, if you are ever around New Philadelphia, Ohio sometime, stop into the local Wal Mart and you will see what I mean. I'm not hating on the good people that shop there, we do often because we can get more for our money there, but you'll see what I mean. But I've not only seen that in the people around me, I'm starting to see if more and more in myself.
Today I had on my list of chores the task of running some RG6 and Cat 5 from the downstairs to the living room. Doesn't sound like too much of a task, right? Wrong. The basement is all dry walled and the ceiling is finished as well, so drilling holes between floors is out of the question. The only way to the cable wire from down stairs up is to use the cold air return shaft that runs from the unfinished laundry room downstairs to behind where the tv is upstairs. Okay, still not a problem, right? Wrong. It's about a 7 to 8 foot run. Now, I could go somewhere and buy one of those fancy tools that help you feed cable through a conduit, but that costs money you know. So that's when the redneck computer geek in my shines through.
Thinking that I needed a way to run the cable down the shaft, I went to the garage and grabbed my old fly fishing pole. I taped the two cable together, then taped the cables to the end of the fly rod. I removed the end of the vent in the laundry room and started to push the fly rod down the shaft with the cable attached. After a few minutes, I gave it one more push of the fly rod, went upstairs and behold! There was the end of the fly rod with the cables attached. I pulled the cables and fly rod through the vent, and ta-da! I was good to go!
So today I came up with...
"You might be a redneck computer geek if you use a fly rod to fish cables rather then using is to grab fish out of a lake."
Time to continue on with my list of chores.

So I bought a toy today....but it's going back tomorrow

Ah, the joys of video editing.

For the past several years I've really enjoyed taking the home movies, capturing them to the computer, editing them down and then burning them off to a DVD. A great way to preserve family memories and kill off a lot of dead space you usually get when you are video taping an event. The only downside to doing that is getting the movies from the tape to the computer. That always takes forever and usually is a hard drive killer. So when I heard about all these new camcorders coming out with hard disk drives built into them, it peaked my interest. Movies right to the format I want them in for editing, taking a lot of the work out of the process. The only downside to those is the pricetag. Usually starting around $300 and going up quickly from there. So when I saw the Aiptek ISDV2.4 camcorder for $99 this past week, I decided I would pick one up to check it out. I did. It sucks.
Okay, I know I shouldn't expect a whole lot for $99, but the product website says it captures video at 720X480 in MPEG4 format, DVD quality. Sounds good. But once I got home and tried it out, I was at a loss for words. But leave it to Denise to find the right words for me. It looks like it was taken with a cell phone. And the 8 mega pixel built in camera, not much better.
There is a plus to this device. It is small and can easily fit in a pocket to carry along with you. This is the kind of device you may want to give a kid to play with or use for a neat toy. But if you are in the market for a camcorder that can do something cool with and want it to look good, then pass on this device.
Guess I'll just have to save my pennies.

Well, looks like I'm going to get Blu-Ray. Toshiba throws in the towel.

Yesterday, Wal-Mart announced that they will phase out the sale of HD DVD players and movies. Now today, Toshiba, the big dog of the HD DVD format equipment, is giving up on HD DVD all together.

Wow. Sony actually won a format war for once!

Another nail in Palms coffin?

Ready for the Google Phone? From Reuters:

FRANKFURT/LONDON (Reuters) - British chip designer ARM (ARM.L: Quote, Profile, Research) will show a prototype mobile phone based on Google's (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) Android platform next Monday at the Mobile World Congress wireless show in Barcelona, a source close to the company said on Thursday.

Google and ARM declined to comment on the report.

Deutsche Telekom's (DTEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) T-Mobile and Taiwan's High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC) (2498.TW: Quote, Profile, Research) have said that they plan to offer phones based on the open-source Android software platform this year.

Internet search leader Google may upset the wireless industry with its software system designed to make the Web as smoothly accessible from mobile devices as from PCs, challenging Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research), Microsoft (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Apple (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research).

It is also bidding for wireless spectrum in the United States in a move that pits it against entrenched carriers like AT&T (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Verizon Wireless (VZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research)(VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research).

Its operator partners in the Open Handset Alliance announced in November include China Mobile (0941.HK: Quote, Profile, Research), NTT DoCoMo (9437.T: Quote, Profile, Research), KDDI (9433.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and Telefonica (TEF.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) -- which have all said they are working with handset makers to develop Google-based phones.

Research firm Strategy Analytics has estimated that Android will be in two percent of smartphones this year.

Wow. Will this slam another nail into the coffin of the once mighty Palm empire? I wonder if Lotus Notes Traveler will be available for it by Lotusphere 2009?

Did you hear what sunk the Internet last week?

This past week, parts of the Middle East and India were without Internet and phone service. And the cause for this calamity?

Anchors Aweigh! (read all about it)