No idea if this is legit.
Tag Archives: iPad
Scott eVest (not as nerdy as it sounds)
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I carry a camera, iPhone, keys, reading glasses, ballpoint pen, and sometimes a wallet (I don’t like carrying it in my hip pocket). They fill up a sport coat and then some. So when I saw the Scott eVest, I had to have one.
I’ve had it a couple of days and I’m still finding pockets. This line of clothing is designed for for folks with lots of gadgets. And while the pocket depicted above was not designed for the iPad (as far as I know), it fit perfectly.
Carpenter’s Tools
When I began working at KBOA in 1972, they were using the same basic style of headphones that they had been using for 20 years. WWII era Bakelite’s designed for durability, rather than fidelity or comfort.
When they became available (a couple of years later?) I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD 414’s. As I recall, I paid about $60 for them, out of my own pocket. A lot of money in those days (I was making about $14K when I left KBOA in 1984).
But they were wonderful. Light, soft foam ear pieces… and they sounded GREAT. The music sounded great and I sounded great. I looked forward to putting those headphones on.
In the nearly 40 years since, I have purchased a lot of what I considered to be the “tools of my trade.” Microhones; my first computer; digital audio recorders; laser printer; CD drive; video cameras; laptops; and –most recently– the iPad.
I have always looked on these purchases as investments. Not in my company, rather in me. I could have waited until the company thought it made sense to purchase these tools but I was impatient. And I was right. The things I learned (still learning) usually improved my skills and enhanced my value.
Most of my co-workers throughout the years took a different view. If the company wanted them to have and use the latest tools, the company should pay for them. Can’t argue with that.
But I’ve always thought of these purchases as the “carpenter’s tools.” A carpenter friend once explained to me that master carpenters would not think of using someone else’s tools. They took pride in the things they built and insisted on having and using their own tools, that went with them from job to job.
And, if you have a good accountant, you can take the expense as a deduction. Happy Tax Day.
Minnesota school replacing text books with iPads
The Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop (Minnesota) School Board approved $265,000 to purchase 230 iPads for students, upgrade all school buildings with Wi-Fi and provide technical training for everyone starting next year.
Apple Computer is providing the school with some assistance. If this works out, the school in Winthrop could become a model for the nation. Bet this isn’t the last time we see this.
Think of the possibilities.
Tests are on PW protected website. Software could determine right/wrong answers on the T/F and multiple choice questions. Huge time saver for teachers. Parents could see student’s answers to help them.
Week One impressions of the iPad
It’s been a week since we got our hands on the iPad and I must say I am very impressed with the device. I use the term “device” becuse it doesn’t feel like a computer. Or a PDA. Or anything else I’ve used. I honestly believe this is a new… thing.
One of the more interesting things I observed this week is how people physically relate to the the iPad. Let me see if I can explain by describing something that almost never happens.
Woman A is sitting in a coffe shop with her laptop computer in front of her and Man B comes over and says, “Is that the new (insert name of computer here)?”
“Why yes, it is. Would you like to try it out?”
“If you don’t mind…”
(She gets up, the man sits and begins to open her programs and files and poke around)
Never happens. But a common occurance this week with the iPad. Part of this is just the size and shape. Like a book or magazine, small enough to pass back and forth.
And part is the intuitive user interface. Even if you’re not an iPhone user, most folks find the one button that turns the iPad on (instantly!). Then it’s just tapping the icons and off they go.
And I found myself demo’ing the iPad while standing. Again, something that never (rarely) happens with even the smallest net book.
I encountered the normal sort of anti-Apple resistance from techies:
“So what does that thing do that I can’t do on my laptop?” (Arms folded in convince me defiance)
Non-techies were more inclinded to say, “Ooh. I want one. How much?” …after playing with it for 5 minutes.
I ran in to a couple of closeted OCD’s that couldn’t bring themselves to touch to screen because they could see the fingerprints of those that had touched it before them. Explaining that everything-has-fingerprints-you-just-don’t-see-them did not help.
It was a fun –if less productive– week. And each new app brings fun and discovery. And I have no doubt we will quickly find ways to use the iPad on the job. Seems to me it could easily replace a lot of the laptops our sales staff and reporters are lugging around. Time will tell.
ArtStudio app for iPad
I got so bummed out by all the bitching about why the iPad sucks, I had to take a little art break. I have zero skills in the drawing/painting department, yet find this little drawing app more fun than a Jordanian gigolo.
One in five docs plan to buy an iPad
“The scenario sounds straight out of a sci-fi movie — the doctor pulls out her touch-screen tablet computer from the drawer of instruments. She calls up the patient’s chart with a few taps and proceeds to add a note to the page with her latest diagnosis. A visualization pops up, and she flips the screen over to give the patient an idea of what ails him.
Doctors are presuming the iPad could make this scene a reality as soon as next week. One in five doctors say they plan to buy an iPad, according to a survey of 350 clinicians by the San Mateo medical software vendor Epocrates.
iPad first impressions
Okay. I’m a little relieved. I love my MacBook Pro and I was a little worried the iPad might steal me away. After a couple of hours with the iPad, I’m no longer fearful of falling out of love with my MBP. But it will take some time playing with the iPad before I can offer any useful insights. But here are some first impressions:
It won’t save newspapers and traditional media. I tried the New York Times app and it was a step down from the browser experience of the NYT (and I could not copy/paste from the app. WTF?). I suspect that will be the case for most media sites.
I think I’ll watch more YouTube videos than I do on my laptop. It was just… handy.
And I’ll read some books (I bought the ebook version of Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson (Even though I have several hardback/paperback versions). It was fun to search the 1,100+ pages and then copy/paste. Not a big deal unless you’re a reader.
The Netflix app is kind of nifty. I can see watching movies on the iPad. In bed and and on the plane. Very different from watching on a laptop.
And the ABC app. We’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy. The TV just might be how your meemah and pappah watch their favorite shows. The iPad could be how YOU watch them. When you want… where you want.
I’m gonna open comments on this post but don’t bother weighing in unless you’ve had your hands on one of these (i.e. Don’t know a movie/book you haven’t seen/read).
This is a game changer, kids. You’ll have one of these by Christmas.
UPDATE: It’s Monday morning and my buddy David and I have had our iPads for a couple of days. Here’s 20 min of first-impression chit chat. AUDIO
UPS has their iPad game face ON
Just had a visit from Jake Green. Jake is the manager of the local UPS office and, although today is his day off, he drove out to our house to verify someone at this address had ordered an iPad.
UPS had been calling my office number and got no answer. So Jake was just checking. Seems UPS has an elaborate security protocol for iPad deliveries. A few mistakenly got on trucks for delivery and frantic calls went out to drivers instructing them NOT to deliver.
The Jefferson City UPS office is delivering 20 iPads today. Mine is on a truck with 14 others. UPS is taking this as seriously as Apple. Very impressive.
Beyond the iPad
Doc Searls’ fantasy for the iPad involves interactivity with the everyday world:
“Take retailing for example. Let’s say you syndicate your shopping list, but only to trusted retailers, perhaps through a fourth party (one that works to carry out your intentions, rather than sellers’ — though it can help you engage with them). You go into Target and it gives you a map of the store, where the goods you want are, and what’s in stock, what’s not, and how to get what’s mising, if they’re in a position to help you with that. You can turn their promotions on or off, and you can choose, using your own personal terms of service, what data to share with them, what data not to, and conditions of that data’s use. Then you can go to Costco, the tire store, and the university library and do the same. I know it’s hard to imagine a world in which customers don’t have to belong to loyalty programs and submit to coercive and opaque terms of data use, but it will happen, and it has a much better chance of happening faster if customers are independent and have their own tools for engagement. Which are being built. Check out what Phil Windley says here about one approach.”