When the iPad was first announced, my reaction towards it jumped up and down a lot. First impression, CRAP, it was just a big iPod Touch/iPhone with out the phone. Second, I started to see where Apple was going with it, pointing out where other tablets had gone wrong with Full Operating Systems that were designed for keyboard/mouse input and power. Then I came around to the Crap side again. Obviously I went back to the positive after a while, and I’m glad I did.

Yes the iPad will never be a computer/laptop killer, although I do believe it will cut in on netbook sales, several reports also claim that the iPad has eaten into Netbook sales since its release date. But what people need to see, is that the iPad is not a touch screen computer, it’s a touch screen media device. The iPad is all about content consumption, sure with apples $10 iWorks app’s you can edit and create pages/numbers/keynote files. But the iTunes store, App store, Internet browsers everything is designed to consume media. Download movies or tv shows from the itunes store and watch it on the go, the screen in the iPad is great, better than I’ve seen in several other touch screen devices and some of the netbooks on display at Harvey Norman.

The iPad is easy to use and that is probably because of closed up nature of the product, you don’t have to worry about viruses, because everything that’s installed on the iPad needs to make its way through Apples App Store. The keyboard is only slightly smaller than a normal Apple Laptop/Wireless keyboard and doesn’t take any getting used to.  NO USB PORT? OMG… You can live with out it. The iPad has a 30-pin dock connector that can be ordered with a keyboard for those that want a keyboard, you can even use the Apple Bluetooth keyboard if you want to type for long periods of time off the touch screen. Apple also sell a Camera Conection kit which comes with Two 30-Pin Dock Connectors that allow the iPad to accept SD Memory cards and USB input from digital cameras to import into the iPad, It’s also been said that the 30-Pin/USB connector allows the use of USB Headphones and Keyboards to be used with the iPad. External Storage devices? No the iPad can’t use them how ever.

I’ve found that since having the iPad, I’ve used my iPhone less if anything. Laying down in bed, I check everything on the iPad, easier to see and use. I can read the Australian Newspaper every day before getting out of bed through their application, catch up on emails and twitter. With IM+ Messaging application I can chat to people online, and I can even have that run in the background with Push turned on. Multi-tasking may not currently be on the iPad, but it is in the works. iPhone OS4.0 is in development and due to be out in the next month or two.

So in the end, the iPad isn’t a computer replacement. I still use my iMac and Macbook, but it’s a good media device, I’ve found myself around my family more while being on MSN at the same time talking to friends, I’m actually Multi-tasking myself more. Is that weird? Yes.

Steam, an online distribution and management software system designed by Valve, which allows users to buy and download games to their PC’s has recently announced that it is bringing its Steam service, and Source gaming engine to Mac’s in April this year, Source is the gaming engine behind many of Valves own game titles, and many of their games will be compatible for Mac on release date. With the Half-Life series, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal and Left 4 Dead 2 all set to come to mac some time in April.

But it seems that it wont be just Valve’s own titles making the shift to Mac gaming, with the potential for other publishers who use Steam to distribute their products being very excited about the coming support for Mac’s.

For years, the lack of gaming on Mac’s has always been an easy Jab for PC fanatics against Mac’s. But Valve’s coming support could see that change. Although the majority of users have moved away from PC gaming and into console gaming, with XBOX 360 and the PS3.

Valve has stated that from now on, all of their future games will be released simultaneously on Windows, Mac and the Xbox 360, with the first new title to be released for Mac to be Portal 2… So apparently the Cake isn’t a Lie…

Chatroulette is a website that allows you to anonymously have video/voice/text chats with anyone around the world. No user accounts, No names, just two windows one showing your webcam, another showing the strangers webcam and the most basic text functionality. You click Start and away you go, connecting to a random stranger on the site, and at anytime you or the stranger can click next and skip to the next stranger.

I looked around the site for a while, having several random conversations with anyone and everyone that would talk with out clicking next on me. I had the webcam disabled, and its obvious that half the users are only visiting for the sexual voyagers who are there in force. With every 5 or so random strangers being some dude with his dick out going to town for the camera. Thank god there is a next button! Occasionally you see a stuffed animal, a note from a 14 year old asking chicks to show her boobs and very rarely you will find some one that just wants to chat with some one new.

If you ever want to waste a bit of time, check the site out. Http://Chatroulette.com but be warned, the site is Not Safe For Work / School as the content is unpredictable and uncontrollable. I just keep your bits in your pants ok?

Below are some screencaps from the site. You can see more at Buzzfeed.com

http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/30-more-great-chat-roulette-screenshots

The Apple iPad only runs on the current iPhones operating system, modified for a larger screen, it brings a few new features with it such as iBooks, building off the popular App Store that hit it big with the iPhone and iPod Touch. iBooks is an App for reading and buying eBooks from Apple. All current Applications for the iPhone OS will work on the iPad, but until they are adapted for a larger screen will run in a small iphone size window, unless you run it 2x in which case the applications pixels are doubled for bigger size but lower quality.

With a Wifi only version the device comes in cheap and is a great contender for the Amazon Kindle and other various eBook devices. But with the Apple iPad you can do more than just read books, you can write emails, produce Word, Spreadsheets and Presentation Documents with Apples iPad versions of iWork. As well as listen to iPod Music, watch movies, surf the web with your fingers and write emails.

The Wifi + 3G version means you can use the iPad anywhere with full connectivity, but that comes at a price dependant on your service provider. The iPad looks like it could be real competition for the Netbook market which Apple seems to be trying to target at the moment, but instead of making a 10” Screen Macbook with cheap crappy with an Operating System designed for higher specifications, they created a different device, with a more specialised OS. After all on a $300 Netbook whats the point of running Windows XP considering you cant run Photoshop, Games. The iPad aims to take the basics of what an Netbook is used for and expands on that.

When it is released I will most likely buy one, and when I do, I will write a  Hands-On Review!

January 27th invite

On the 27th of January (American time) Apple are holding a Media event, now the exact purpose of this Media event isn’t known by anyone other than those in the inner-circle at Apple HQ, but with their invite and advertisements stating “Come See Our Latest Creation” many can only assume that it is of course the subject of much rumour and speculation, the Apple Tablet Device, said to have been in the works many years, and to have been shelved several times but with the purchase of 10″ Screens by Apple and many places “Quoting” discussions and information, many people are jumping to the conclusion that the illustrious tablet will indeed be the center piece of this media event, along with iPhone OS 4.0 and possible slight updates to the iLife suite.

Artists concept image of the Apple Tablet

While no one knows for sure that Apple is releasing a Tablet at all this year, many sources have been claimed to have said that Apple will be releasing or announcing a Tablet in the first quarter of 2010. While rumour sites are abuzz with speculation and wishlists and artist-renditions of the device. Most people are certain that there will be a Tablet because of two reasons, the last time there was this much hype about product releases. Apple squashed such rumours well and truely before the event, to prevent the let down of certain products not being released from hurting their sales of other devices. And the second reason being that a few app creators for iPhone/iPod Touch Applications have been asked to create higher resolution versions of their apps, most likely for Apple to demo on the Tablet device.

Being the junky that I am, I will likely purchase this device if it’s some great new advancement, but it will want to be more than just an over grown iphone other wise my wallet may just stay shut, and at the moment the majority of talk has it running iPhone OS. Which could be the major let down of said device. There’s no way I’m going to be able to cover all the rumours and speculation here, so if you want to see what others are saying about the possible device, check out Macrumors.com

After downloading the lot, I quickly got to work, creating a young adult sim called Marc Sterman, an enthusiastic writer new to the town of Riverview. After a few hours of playing around, removing walls, creating walls. Changing windows again and again and finally selecting a set of stairs. I managed to come out with something that I’m quite proud of.

Screenshot-61

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Disclamer: The rules were that the outside walls
had to stay the same there was nothing
about not adding extra outside walls

The only time anyone really knows in advance that something new is coming from Apple is when they announce World Wide Developers Conferences, of Press Conferences to showcase their new products, there’s a lot of speculation, with people having said its going to be x Tuesday every other week. Due to the fact that Apple has a trend of releasing products on Tuesdays.

But really… none of you care about that, hell I don’t even. I just want to know if new ones are coming out or not, the consumer in me wants to buy an iMac, but I’m paying attention to the internet this time and watching the trends, unlike when I brought my new Macbook Pro 15” only to have the range get a complete spec bump and price drop 3 weeks later (after I spilt orange cordial all over my 13” MB which is now acting as an entertainment system connected into my TV and surround sound)

What I wanted to say and just point out is that with the rumoured release of new Apple computers, there is expected to be a price drop, but what we should see is a price drop on the current machines, especially here in Australia. With the economy the way it is, the Australian dollar is at 92 cents US. In the Australian Apple Store Online an entry level iMac costs $1999.00 the very same machine in the American Apple Store is only $1199.00, chuck the numbers into XE.com and you see that if you were to buy an iMac from an American Apple Store, rather than the Australian Apple Stores you would save $700+ so why are we still being charged $1999 for the entry level iMac Apple! WHY!

[/End Rant]

So today’s oh-so-flattering picture is of Claire! She moved into a place basically around the corner from my house and this afternoon I went to visit her, just as she decided to start making a chocolate pudding. The picture was captured on my iPhone and Edited the crap out of in iPhoto. (She tried to get me to paint her nails, which she will tell you was a bad thing todo as it became obvious I can’t stay inside the lines)

So today, this photo was about the highlight of my day. I woke up late… like 11 – 12 ish and then had to head to work at 1.30 So my day hasn’t been all that interesting, but when I got home there was a package waiting for me. Matt sent me a copy of Windows 7 Release Candidate, because every time I tried the download failed. (it is legal) and now I have it to play around with until it is released officially on like the 22nd of this month.

If you want an interesting blog to read
go check out http://www.iRelle.ii-blog.com

So today I was lazy, and spent most of the day playing around on my Windows PC. Something I havent done for a while because it has a habit of crashing every 5 mintues, good old windows. So today my picture, was taken 15 minutes before the end of the day and is of my keyboard… YAY so much for great photography… Its also taken on my iPhone… YAY for quality.