Tag Archives: iPad

First iPad on (and before) Missouri Supreme Court

Posted on by

Missouri Supreme Court Judge Mary Russell received an iPad for Christmas and she stopped by the Coffee Zone on Saturday to get some tips on apps. In this photo Mac God George Kopp is showing her something on his iPhone (that’s my Barb in the middle).

Judge Mary is rightly proud of being the first member of the court to have a iPad and mentioned that one of the attorneys arguing before the court this past week used an iPad for notes. Another first.

I’m telling you, these things are going to be everywhere

Saturday afternoon thoughts on the iPad

Posted on by

Today I’ve been reading a book with the Kindle app on my iPad. When I come across a word or a name I’m unfamiliar with, I double-click and jump over to the dictionary app or Safari/Wikipedia. Or I’d hear the ping of a new email or text message (which I usually check, but not always)

If a big story breaks (like the shooting in Arizona) I can watch news updates for any number of sources.

I’ve started taking this connectedness for granted. Yeah, we’ve been doing this for a while on our laptops, but something about getting all of this from a little slab of aluminum and glass propped on my chest amazes me.

Even the book I was reading when all of this occurred to me. I came across it in a blog post… downloaded from Amazon… and started reading on the same device where I first learned of the book. All within 5 minutes. Damn!

A bunch of Mac Heads meet most Saturday mornings at the local coffee shop. Bigger than usual group this morning and as I looked around, we all had iPads. As far as I could tell, nobody brought their laptops.

Someday soon I’ll stop noticing the wonderful things the iPad (and similar devices) brings to me. But maybe there will something new and even more amazing.

iPad Killer: HP Slate 500

Posted on by

Our HP rep brought in the long-awaited Slate 500 today and we all got hands on. No way I could be objective about a device that’s smaller than the iPad, weighs the same; has half the battery life; runs Windows and costs $800. So here’s the PC Magazine review from a from a few months back.

Would like to hear from anyone that has one of these… or can snap a photo in the wild.

UPDATE: Jim Boettger sends along this photo of his docked Slate. “The dongle plugged into the top of the slate is for my Kensington Slimblade kbd and mouse set. Also have Monsoon speakers plugged into dock.”

Tiny projector for iPhone/iPad

Posted on by


Tom Piper demos Laser Pico Projector. A little pricey at $450 but a cool gadget. Just not sure if/when/where I would use it. If the setting is cozy enough for this wee projector, why wouldn’t I just use my laptop or iPad? If I didn’t have those with me, however, the projector (almost exactly same size as iPhone) fits easily in my pocket. What do you think?

End of the desk-top era

Posted on by

I’ve had a computer on my desk at home since 1984. A lot of them. Zenith, Gateway, IBM, Dell and, most recently, a Mac Mini. No longer. I’m selling the Mini.

Oh, there are still lots of computers around the house. The MacBook Pro long ago became my main box (slab?). And there’s the iPad and the iPhone. But it felt like the end of an era.

This weekend I’ll replace my printer and scanner with a wireless all-in-one from HP and as I started making room, I was struck by how many usb hubs and power-strips were being relegated to a box in the closet.

Yesterday I had a chat with one of our IT guys about where things are headed from a business perspective. Are we getting closer to the day when a company tells a new employee they can use their own computer (any flavor they choose) and hook into the company content via the cloud.

I took a little further and suggested the device of chose would be some sort of tablet, not a laptop. Whatever shakes out, things are going to be much different for the users and the IT folks who support them.