My wife thinks we should get an iPad so that I'm not bored while in France at that family's home. I think that while it would be pleasant to have such a device, after the trip, either a) the device would sit unused, or the laptop would sit unused, or the laptop or the device would get glommed onto by the daughteroid. I don't like those ideas.
I'm also not fond of the idea that the iPad seems to exist to Make! Things! Fun! No kidding, the Apple web site says that with the iPad, checking your mail is Fun! I tend to have a more sober view of life. I like applications that do things for me -- give me insights I didn't have, help me think about things in a new way. Apps like Angry Birds strike me as silly. Have I played PC games? Yes, and liked it. But do I want to spend several hundred bucks so that I can do it on a new platform -- one that, by the way, doesn't have a real keyboard or mouse? (Though, of course, you can buy one). Ah....no.
But if anyone knows of an actual useful application on an iPad -- something that extracts keywords from articles, something that analyzes new articles, does effective speech to text, something -- hell, I don't know, helps me mow the damn lawn better -- I'd like to know about it. Something useful. If the word 'fun' appears in the description -- I'm likely not interested. Ditto "enjoyable". For five hundred bucks, it's got to make my life better. Fun? I can handle that on my own. Better.
Otherwise, iPad? iPooed.
5 comments:
Hmm... it's good entertainment for Baby? I was given one for Mother's Day/Bday.
I like it because I don't have to lug my laptop everywhere. I can put it into my purse and it's like always having pictures with me when people ask to see them. That means less wear and tear on my laptop, which is good for me.
Portability would be a significant selling point for me as well. My wife pointed out that we do take occasional day trips where that'd be nice. Not that often, though.
After writing that post, I came this close to saying Oh well, what the hell, because I realized that its built in camera (and mic, I assume) would mean I didn't have to get the webcam I'm contemplating for my online French lessons. Applying the cost of the webcam to the iPaid -- sorry, iPad -- would bring the price down from jaw-dropping to startling .... and then I found out that it didn't have a USB port, so I would not be able to easily plug a thumb drive into it. (I understand that a docking station does allow that.) That knowledge took the glow off.
My wife even said I could consider it a gift for her birthday. This, from the woman who got irritated when I exceeded our Christmas budget two years ago to give her an iPod! But she knows that I'm always willing to get nifty stuff for her; always reluctant to do so for myself. I guess I just need to not get a vote?
I looked at that BidRack. How can they possibly offer iPads for one fifth the retail cost?
They can't, I don't think. Apple keeps very close tabs on the retail prices of their products. They're probably buying iPads cheaply from somewhere like eBay; or they might not be actual iPads.
I'm waiting until I have enough money to buy an iPad. But I drank the Apple Kool-Aid sometime ago... :-) I think about all the paper I carry on a camping trip, and an iPad (with an iPhone) looks just the ticket. When I pack for a trip, I'm ruthless: paper is heavy! And yet I still end up with more paper than I need. Maps, for instance. I've learned to buy all the maps I need in one go; if I wait, I invariably end up traipsing from bookstore to bookstore looking for the map I need for tomorrow. The maps only last one trip, so I have to buy them again for the next trip. At $5 or so a go, it gets expensive. And then there's something to read at night. For some reason I always pack a decent tome. It gets mailed back after a day or two. And I keep a diary of my trips. I also keep a small notepad to write down gas purchases, food, fun things to see and so on. That goes in my pocket, but it's still paper. By the time I've finished, I've got more paper than clothing! (Which actually isn't difficult; I pack light on clothing.) An iPad/iPhone combo would solve all those issues!
Anyway, at the rate I'm going, I should be able to afford an iPad a year or two after they're rendered obsolete.
Obsolete as in iPad Mod III, or The New Better Apple Gizmo that will totally invalidate the losers who still have iPads?
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