I spent an hour playing with my friend’s new iPad (3) over a lunch this past weekend and may have had too high of expectations. It was nice, but didn’t leave me with the must have desire that I expected. The AT&T 4G version operated similar to my son’s wifi only iPad 2 that I found it “not much different,” although didn’t put the 4G connection through a serious test – concern over the limits.
Of course the just out of the box unit didn’t have many apps on it and for the first time I found the opening and closings of apps a bit clunky compared to my old webOS Palm Pre phone … flipping through open cards, etc (I should have noticed this before???) Also, the impressive retina display didn’t blow my socks off as many reviewers commented. Yes it was very sharp, but not having the iPad2 next to it, I didn’t really have anything but my previous usage to compare it too. I’m sure over time the new display would be appreciated, especially for photos and maybe for reading fine type, but in just casual surfing I can’t say it jump out as shocking.
My conclusion was that, unless I’m missing something, I might be just as happy using a discounted (if they exist soon) iPad 2. What I will be watching for is the battery life report for those who spend time on 4G or 3G. Am I missing something?
The flowers have been blooming this year for over a week now… far earlier than after previous winters. I’m not an avid “global warmite” or in a panic over climate change… but it has been an unusually mild winter and does give concern over the potential lack of snowpack supplying water to the southwest US – farming, wild fires, excessive population, underground water tables? I’m probably making a very amateur observation but it is challenging to make the conclusion that “man” has all that much to do with global climate changes … although agree with my son who does study water aquifers and heavy over use of the mid and western U.S. underground water supplies for irrigation … often in waste. But that’s another subject that has more to do with wisely managing our natural resources.
Friday was one of those days I would rather forget … and I know Taylor would say the same. For me, it was a day of running around to hospitals, dentists and doctors with my son … for Taylor it was a obviously more painful.
He was Uptown in Oxford (Miami University-Ohio) on a Thursday night and met some of his friends at a bar … not my preference, but he is 22 and in college. The evening ended about 1-1:30 and the girls headed back to their rooms in one direction and Taylor back to his house which is in another. Usually he would be with a group of guys, but this evening he was alone (an obvious mistake … but it is “small college town” Oxford).
The sidewalk is well traveled but not so well lit but even at 1AM there are students walking home or standing around outside. Unfortunately for Taylor, two thugs decided to bash his head … no provocation and not even time to look to see who hit him. He blacked out and the next thing he remembers is the rescue squad trying to get him to the hospital. The nurse used his cell phone to call his sister in Columbus who in turn call home.
After some observation and a CT scan they released him, but recommend a stitch in his eyelid and to have a surgeon look at his orbital tripod fracture. Of course the surgeon recommended surgery (we’ll get a second opinion). In the meantime he was able to get a temporary cap on the fractured molar by the dentist, but needs a crown. Ugh.
Hopefully a good night sleep, a little reduced swelling will give a better perspective on things in the morning? (btw … reminds me of his rugby injury)
I’m not planning on going to Walmart to stand in line at 12:01AM to buy the new iPad, but would like to end up with one at some point. From the reports I’ve been reading, the battery life is still excellent (10 hours), the retina display unbeatable (super sharp) and the added weight/thickness hardly noticeable – WSJ review. After the long road trip with my son and his iPad2, I can’t see a reason not to opt for the Apple tablet even though I do like Android and webOS. I probably could live with the iPad2, but the price differential isn’t that significant compared to the third generation, especially considering the number of hours I expect to use one (base model $399 vs. $499 —accessories could be a bigger cost factor)
The Top Gear crew filmed a Peugeot 207 S 2000 racing down the snow covered twists and turns near the ski resort Ravascletto (Monte Zoncolan in the Alps). The video below displays some pretty impressive driving with drifting and high speeds by the 6 time Italian rally champion Paolo Andreucci. Beautiful scenery that … debatably … might be better left to skiers with poles rather than “rip roaring” Peugeot? —this from an automotive enthusiast. On a side note, how effective is relocating the short throw gearshift to a higher position?
This month Venus and Jupiter are putting on a great show and stand out in the evening sky. The warm temperatures and clear atmosphere gave me an excuse to sit outside and take a couple photos. (a few facts)
As is blatantly obvious in my business (printing), publishing history and information to paper is becoming as obsolete as recording sound to vinyl or video to magnetic tape.
The Encyclopedia Britannica, which has been in continuous print since it was first published in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1768, said Tuesday it will end publication of its printed editions and continue with digital versions available online.
The flagship, 32-volume printed edition, available every two years, was sold for $1400. An online subscription costs around $70 per year and the company recently launched a set of apps ranging between $1.99 and $4.99 per month.
The company said it will keep selling print editions until the current stock of around 4000 sets ran out.
Interesting educational video explaining the super moon a little over a month away in May 2012. A couple of the points were interesting, such as the word “lunacy” (lunar) coming from the folklore of strange things happening under a full moon. The couple centimeters of tidal change also surprised me. It was less than I thought considering the gravitational pull would scientifically be greater when the moon is closer to the earth; obviously not that much different? Anyway, the science.nasa.govYouTube video is worth watching.
Strange story about the Loop Current that runs around the southern tip of Florida and a three month voyage of the abandoned Lucky Dog (previous story).
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL –
A boat that sank in the Gulf of Mexico in December has reappeared – on a beach on the east coast of Florida.
The "Lucky Dog" went down about 170 miles off Madeira Beach, which is near St. Petersburg, around December 27th.
It appears to have gotten into the Loop Current, which runs around the southern tip of Florida, and made its way to Ponte Vedra Beach, near St. Augustine.
The boat was spotted in the surf Sunday night. It’s now sitting on the beach behind Pam Harrington’s home.
She said she’s been told the vessel’s owners are responsible for removing it from the beach.
After the boat went down, the two men aboard spent the night in a life raft before being rescued by a U.S. Coast Guard crew out of Fort Myers Beach.
Twitter said Monday that it has acquired micro-blogging service Posterous, but will leave it up and running.
Both companies announced the acquisition in a pair of blog posts that were posted Monday.
“Today we are welcoming a very talented group from Posterous to Twitter,” Twitter said in its post. “This team has built an innovative product that makes sharing across the Web and mobile devices simple—a goal we share. Posterous engineers, product managers and others will join our teams working on several key initiatives that will make Twitter even better.”
Posterous, founded in 2008, is a simple blogging platform, known for its mobile app. The company’s entire purpose in life is to “help you share easier,” the company has said – somewhat mirroring the goal of Twitter, whose entire platform is built upon users sharing short bursts of content and pictures. Although Twitter recently integrated photo and video support, it still lacks the ability to share photo galleries. Posterous also includes the ability to add posts by email.
“The opportunities in front of Twitter are exciting, and we couldn’t be happier about bringing our team’s expertise to a product that reaches hundreds of millions of users around the globe,” Posterous said in a blog post. “Plus, the people at Twitter are genuinely nice folks who share our vision for making sharing simpler.”
Posterous Spaces will remain up and running without disruption, Posterous added. “We’ll give users ample notice if we make any changes to the service,” the service said. “For users who would like to back up their content or move to another service, we’ll share clear instructions for doing so in the coming weeks.”
Of late, Twitter has been said to be redoing its brand pages. It’s also unclear if Twitter will pull back Posterous content from search engines; the company licenses its stream of tweets to Microsoft’s Bing, and most recently, Russian search engine Yandex, but does not make them available to Google.
The AT&T 4G version operated similar to my son’s wifi only iPad 2 that I found it “not much different,” although didn’t put the 4G connection through a serious test – concern over the limits. 
