The iPad I am using has been to MS, what about yours?
-Travis, using the iPad
Monday, August 30, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Four days so far...
Four days so far with the iPad. So far, so good!
I'll admit that when the iPad was first released, I wasn't at all interested. First of all, it sounded like a glorified iPod touch. Along with that, I selected a iPod Classic in order to avoid touch screens-I'd tried an iPod Touch and just never seemed to be able to get it to do what I wanted it to do. Thirdly, I really didn't dig the name. Add to all this that I'm somewhat of a minimalist when it comes to having the latest tech gear.
Poor iPad. Hardly any shot at all at winning this Mac user over!
Then I got a touch-screen phone and got better at manipulating that interface. Then I was first introduced to an iPad at our last SLAC meeting of the spring semester. It looked cool, and felt cool. Then they ask us to use them for six weeks to test them out? It was too much to pass up.
So, I picked Rosie up on Tuesday. (It was decided that it should have a name, at least for the next six weeks, by my roommate, who wanted to test it out the second I touched the "on" button.) As with all Mac products, it was incredibly easy to get started. The interface is extremely intuitive and really works for a highly visually-oriented person like me.
The only problem I encountered in setup was getting on the Richmond network. After trying to troubleshoot it myself, I brought it to the Help Desk and they had me set up and ready to go in under five minutes. I'm no tech guru but I think all the had to do was manually put the system's IP address in the server/network/whatever it's called.
So far, I have imported photos and music through iTunes, surfed the net, processed and sent emails, played music and Youtube videos, and even used it as a data entry device for the ballroom club's table at the Student Organization Fair.
I have also downloaded a few free Apps including the complete works of William Shakespeare (searchable!), a free radio App with thousands of channels featuring everything from classical to current Broadway hits, and a lighting designer App that allows you to scroll through every Roscolux light gel available in their catalog by color. The Shakespeare program will be really helpful for my Shakespeare Lit class and my roommate (a dance major) ) has been surfing the radio program for music that she might use for her University Dancers choreography piece. I wish I was going to have this next semester because Roscolux is the lighting gel company used by the Department of Theatre and this App would be really handy for Production Studies II!
One thing that I worried about that I am actually relatively pleased with is the keyboard. I'm actually using it to write this now! It is definitely helped by the easel-capable cover, but it's reasonably easy to type. I do have to make relatively frequent corrections, but I anticipated absolutely hating typing on it! I won't be writing papers with it anytime soon, but it's great for quick emails, quick notes, and surfing the web for fun or information retrieval.
Other impressions thus far:
. Web browsing is great-even the ballroom club's website looks fantastic!
. Above comment also applies to Facebook, though Facebook chat is not available (except for possibly in a paid App form)
. People want to play with it! It definitely has the aura of something shiny, new, hip, and relatively unknown.
I may take it to class next week-we'll see. I don't want it to become a distraction, and typing on it definitely is more difficult than my usual pen-and-paper system.
One last thing: it is great to be able just to carry this and not my laptop around when I need web browsing ability but not full document processing features! It's so much lighter, more compact, and easier just to start up even than my little 13-inch MacBook!
I'll admit that when the iPad was first released, I wasn't at all interested. First of all, it sounded like a glorified iPod touch. Along with that, I selected a iPod Classic in order to avoid touch screens-I'd tried an iPod Touch and just never seemed to be able to get it to do what I wanted it to do. Thirdly, I really didn't dig the name. Add to all this that I'm somewhat of a minimalist when it comes to having the latest tech gear.
Poor iPad. Hardly any shot at all at winning this Mac user over!
Then I got a touch-screen phone and got better at manipulating that interface. Then I was first introduced to an iPad at our last SLAC meeting of the spring semester. It looked cool, and felt cool. Then they ask us to use them for six weeks to test them out? It was too much to pass up.
So, I picked Rosie up on Tuesday. (It was decided that it should have a name, at least for the next six weeks, by my roommate, who wanted to test it out the second I touched the "on" button.) As with all Mac products, it was incredibly easy to get started. The interface is extremely intuitive and really works for a highly visually-oriented person like me.
The only problem I encountered in setup was getting on the Richmond network. After trying to troubleshoot it myself, I brought it to the Help Desk and they had me set up and ready to go in under five minutes. I'm no tech guru but I think all the had to do was manually put the system's IP address in the server/network/whatever it's called.
So far, I have imported photos and music through iTunes, surfed the net, processed and sent emails, played music and Youtube videos, and even used it as a data entry device for the ballroom club's table at the Student Organization Fair.
I have also downloaded a few free Apps including the complete works of William Shakespeare (searchable!), a free radio App with thousands of channels featuring everything from classical to current Broadway hits, and a lighting designer App that allows you to scroll through every Roscolux light gel available in their catalog by color. The Shakespeare program will be really helpful for my Shakespeare Lit class and my roommate (a dance major) ) has been surfing the radio program for music that she might use for her University Dancers choreography piece. I wish I was going to have this next semester because Roscolux is the lighting gel company used by the Department of Theatre and this App would be really handy for Production Studies II!
One thing that I worried about that I am actually relatively pleased with is the keyboard. I'm actually using it to write this now! It is definitely helped by the easel-capable cover, but it's reasonably easy to type. I do have to make relatively frequent corrections, but I anticipated absolutely hating typing on it! I won't be writing papers with it anytime soon, but it's great for quick emails, quick notes, and surfing the web for fun or information retrieval.
Other impressions thus far:
. Web browsing is great-even the ballroom club's website looks fantastic!
. Above comment also applies to Facebook, though Facebook chat is not available (except for possibly in a paid App form)
. People want to play with it! It definitely has the aura of something shiny, new, hip, and relatively unknown.
I may take it to class next week-we'll see. I don't want it to become a distraction, and typing on it definitely is more difficult than my usual pen-and-paper system.
One last thing: it is great to be able just to carry this and not my laptop around when I need web browsing ability but not full document processing features! It's so much lighter, more compact, and easier just to start up even than my little 13-inch MacBook!
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