Apple forgot this note at the end of the ads.

*Usefulness Not Included.
Of course I'd be a bad nerd if I didn't have anything to say on the topic of the iPad. It's probably a little late to jump in, but here's what I think.

As a college student who just got a netbook (love it!), I know a little about portability-related goodness. As a general dork who thinks about gadgets a little too often, I know a lot more about what I want in a device. Since this thing is allegedly a new category of device and it's supposed to be ultra-portable, it seems appropriate that I chime in.

The first allegation about the iPad is that's an overgrown iPhone, what with the structure and the unitasking and such. I agree that it is very similar, with one caveat: I would never want a phone this big and expensive-looking. Friends of mine have expressed that they would be interested in an ipad with phone functionality, but when posed with the situation of walking in a bad neighborhood and needing to call a taxi, they get antsy and say they would want to use a normal cell phone or even a pay phone.
So, the device fails as a phone because you will get mugged for it and because it's too big and unwieldy.

The second allegation is that the iPad is a fancy peripheral and not a stand-alone computer. As a netbook owner, I've heard this before, and I actually have a snazzy set of peripherals for it (mouse, keyboard, external hard drive and disk drive, and my tv actually doubles as a monitor), but the only peripheral I use regularly is the mouse. Sometimes I'll hook it up to the monitor when people want to watch youtube videos in a big group, but that's pretty rare.
Since one of the biggest complaints I've heard on the iPad is the lack of a kickstand to make it into a proper monitor, I'm already inclined to agree. On hearing how awkward it is to hold and use the keyboard, or to lay it flat while trying to type and look at the screen at the same time, that's a big ten-four. It's also my understanding that it hurts your neck if you try to place it on your lap and it's too heavy to hold up to eye-level for an extended period of time. As far as I know, it doesn't even have USB ports to connect these things, so you'd need something to convert the standard apple device charging port into usbs, which is ridiculous.
It sounds like a pain in the neck (hah!) to use and that it definitely needs something else to make it tolerable. With that in mind, I know that I wouldn't want one as my main computer, while my netbook serves that purpose just fine.

Flash Support! This is just ridiculous. I recently got a firefox app that would block everything using flash and give me the option to activate them or not, as a trick to save RAM. This exercise, in addition to freeing up my RAM, has drawn to my attention that flash is everywhere. I would be so irritated to not be able to see flash.
This is a no-brainer, and given its prevalence, Flash is not going away very soon: certainly not by the time they come out with a 2nd generation iPad.

Price. People who can afford to have 2+ computerish devices per person and already have smart phones and mp3 players and psps and such will buy this. People who can afford one computer per person or per household will not, because it is not sufficiently useful and is not particularly unique.

My overall assessment is negative, in case you hadn't caught on to that by now. I may make a post at some point about my ideal portable device, but this certainly is not it, for reasons of size, lack of function, and unnecessary flashiness.
In conclusion, bring it on, apple fanboys.

There's a browser for that.

I'm just going to say it: I don't understand apps.
Applications, sure, on a computer, but the fascination with apps is just beyond me.

My main concern is that they're just unnecessary.
Almost all of the app-friendly devices also support web browsers. I could sort of understand apps if a browser is unavailable, but as far as I know, most people have them.


The over-specialization of apps is a real problem. You have dozens, including one for ordering pizza hut, one for mafia wars, one for your Facebook status, one for twitter, and one for Geico. You can access all of those things from a browser, and it will be better from a browser!


Waah, I need to access all my favorite stuff in three seconds or I'll just die!
That's what bookmarks are for.

Better yet, a browser (on a netbook, which I think is the current ideal device) has tabs! Tabs are the ultimate in multitasking. You can have each of the above 'apps' open at once, in the form of websites!

The worst app of all has to be email.
Yes, email is important; there's no way that I'm denying that. However, you don't need to be alerted by your pocket vibrating every time eBay says "don't miss out on your watched items!"

Apps clutter up your desktop. Pages and pages of little icons: how infuriating to page through to find what you want with no organization. As far as I know, you can't make folders on a device like an iPod touch the way that you can on a computer... and since something like the iPad functions much the same as an iPod touch, again, you have a lack of clean desktop space.

So, Apps don't have any special function that a browser & website don't already. They're far too specific, so that you end up with way more of them than you need. I would not be surprised if most apps on a device are used less than 5 times. Then, you end up with a cluttered device and don't get to enjoy your snazzy background.

Conclusion: Apps are stupid and we'd be better off without them.

Image from ismashphone

Video Nerd Update!

I totally forgot to mention that I got that TV from Target the day before I left for spring break. It is beeeautiful. Unfortunately, in the process of setting it up and moving it around, the sheathing on one end of the coaxial cable broke off and I couldn't fix it. I'm going to need a new one of those, and I'll also hunt around for an HDMI... to hook up my new XBOX 360 that could possibly already be at the campus post office!

I'm so excited to become a DDR dork.


In other news, the internet in my dorm room has now been off for almost a week. I've given my laptop to the IT people to "inspect" and will hopefully be getting it back in a day or two.
Thank goodness the XBOX came when it did or I'd have shot myself days ago.

Branching out in Nerd.

Over Winter break two months ago, I spoke to my mother about how I never had video games. She revealed to me that when I was in first grade she asked me if I wanted a video game console and I said "no." This floored me. I always thought that she was just cheap and/or being mean to me. Really, who takes a six year old so seriously?

I recently came into a reasonable sum of money and experienced a lot of stress. Since stress is the result of a change, the change to being able to afford something I want was freaking me out. I knew that I wanted a system, but it isn't like me to spend money like that. I worried about how long I would get to keep it, if I would need to sell it in a year once I'm out of college and not safe anymore. I don't feel justified in buying something nice like that. I always got the next best thing when I was a kid, so having my first choice is mind-blowing.

Another problem is that my TV is not going to be compatible with anything more complicated than cable or a DVD player. I'd need a new TV for it to work, but it would have to be all-or-nothing. I've found a TV at Target that's cheap but they don't have it in stock and may not be getting it back. I've seen XBOX-360s on craigslist and ebay but I'm skeptical of their condition. I don't want to buy something and have it break in a month; then I'll really feel wasteful.

I've gone into Gamestop a few times to get the lay of the land. I always feel uncomfortable in there because I think they know that I didn't grow up with this stuff. I don't want to ask any questions because I feel like a child would know the answers. So I'm left with a series of google searches to tell me about these consoles, games, controllers, guitars, hard drives, memberships, etc.

It's disheartening to get into this so late. It's not cool to start being a video game geek in your 20s (and when did that phrase become applicable?), and I don't know how I'll handle being so behind the times, and watching my miraculous new system be replaced by a newer version in a year or so.

The short of it is: I want a 360. I want to play games and make up for lost time. I, however, don't have anyone to help me figure out how to go about it. I don't have any video gamer friends, I don't have much knowledge, but I want this and I'm going for it.