The Village Blog…

Apples iPad

So here we are March 12th and the Pre-orders started today at 8:30am EDT with various Mac News, Rumor sites and technology analysts reporting that based on their estimates that these puppies were being ordered at an astounding rate of 25,000 units per hour! Is that number really accurate? I doubt it, but it certainly fuels the fever pitch which is something that no tech-company other then Apple, Inc. can garner in the computer industry.

So I have to admit my first reaction to this device was somewhat underwhelming and comparing it to an overgrown iPod Touch was easy to do.  So you can look & listen to your photos, music and even movies on iPad and YES they will look nicer then on the iPhone 3Gs but that is not very compelling to me. Now Apple reports of 150,000 existing apps that are all just ready to be loaded on your iPad. Ok, but I already have them on my iPhone. Maybe I could put them on my iPad… but again not very compelling.  Next up comes a 9.7 inch web browsing experience in your hands.  I can see it being a great experience, but not enough to make me put my laptop away. The productivity apps like email, calendar, google maps are OK but, I have them on other devices. So what remains are really two functions/features which are iPad specific. It is in these two areas that get me excited.  If you have not seen the Apple Keynote, it was these same two areas that got the most reaction from the audience in what otherwise was a very subdued keynote.

eBooks and iWork Apps, and Games

Where I see the biggest potential is with Books and Periodicals. With a device such as the iPad a users experience can now combine text, audio, and video into a very engaging and intimate experience. Of additional interest to support this, Barnes & Noble announced formal support of an B&N iPad App to read and access their bookstore!  So I have to believe Amazon will not be far behind!  Penguin a publisher in the UK showcased upcoming books that provide the kind of intimacy that will revolutionize peoples reading experience. While the video below starts with children’s books, it gets really interesting when they get to the fiction, travel guides and star charts!

Custom iPad Apps like Keynote, Pages, and Numbers will allow me to have enough power in standard business applications that I could easily leave the MacBookPro at home. With iPad I could teach my Social Media classes via Keynote and respond to email, and work on proposals with Pages and Numbers. I believe that these applications are just scratching the surface on what can be done with iPad specific applications!  The last area that I believe has huge potential is the gaming marketing, but I will save my comments on that topic for a future post.

What is going to happen in 3 weeks?

1. New Version of iTunes – We can expect that right before April 3rd we will see the launch of a new version of iTunes. It will at a minimum it will incorporate the sync services for iPad, and add sections to the APP Store for iPad specific Apps. I would also suspect that a Book Store menu will appear in iTunes so you can not only purchase but backup purchased books to your computer. I for one hope Apple produces booking reading apps for your iPhone, Mac & PC like both Amazon and Barnes & Noble have done with their e-reader devices.
2. Guided Tour Video – I also suspect that before the end of this month we can expect to see an Apple Guided Tour of iPad that you can watch to learn more about this new device along with several How-To documents on the use of particular apps or settings.
3. Another Commercial – We have already seen the first commercial for iPad, thanks to the Oscars but I suspect that another one will surface before the launch showing off more usage of the device.
4. Revamped Apple Store – Finally on the evening of April 2rd if you happen to live near an Apple Store, expect the windows to be covered so that the window displays can be all “iPadded Up” and a section of the store carved up for both demo units and a plethora of accessories for iPad.
5. No iPads! – What you won’t see are any iPads in the store before April 3rd.  Apple unlike other tech companies (thinking Gateway & Dell) knows that you don’t tease your consumers with “Oh Look” check out my new sexy gadget/computer but sorry you can’t buy it now or get it here approach!

Well you might be wondering well am I getting one? – You Bet!

Between the potential with iBooks, iWork Apps, and Web Surfing I see great potential and opportunity from this device. In fact I pre-ordered the iPad 32GB WIFI model at 8:34am this morning, with an order Acknowledgement back from Apple at 9:04:06!

What you can expect to see and read here over the next three weeks:

• Updates and comentary on the iPad and aforementioned predictions
• Unboxing Video on April 3rd
• Comparison of iPad to other e-Readers such as Nook and Kindle
• iPad as a replacement to my MacBook Pro
• iPad for gaming

Will Apple’s iPad live up to being both Magical and Revolutionary or just another gadget looking to solve a problem that doesn’t exist?  At this point I believe it is too early to say, but I for one see awesome potential here!

I would like to hear your thoughts!

Skeeter All things Apple, Products of Interest All things Apple, iPad, iPad compared to Kindle, iPad compared to Nook, iPad unboxing, iPad verse Kindle, iPad verse Nook, iPad Video Review

The Virtualization industry for the Apple Macintosh has existed for almost as long as the Macintosh, with one of the first virtualization products (at least that I used) being hardware based on the Macintosh IIc back in 1987.   Warping forward to 2010 how times have changed for both software and hardware manufactures and “with Hell Freezing Over…” Apple made the move to the Intel Chipset.   In my humble opinion one of the best decisions Apple ever made!  In the Virtualization space today the players are Parallels Desktop 5, VMWare fusion 3, and Oracles’ Virtual Box, with the predominate lead going to Parallels.  What sets Parallels Desktop 5 apart from other Virtualization software really boils down to it’s mature and thorough feature set and just raw performance emulating Windows.  If your interested in a short comparison of Parallels and VMware I created a screencast here, late last year.

Parallels Desktop 5 is all about raw speed, performance and reliability.  Leveraging the release of Mac OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard, Parallels Desktop 5 now takes advantage of the 64bit OS, Intels VT-x2 Technologies,  and can utilize up to 8 CPU’s on the most powerful Mac the MacPro.   What does this mean?   In simple terms it means booting up in Windows XP in under one minute or even less with Windows 7.

Here is where you select a virtual machine to open.

I can now suspend a windows instance in less then 10 seconds, and when I need to go back into windows with just one click Windows is back and operational on my Mac in less then 10 seconds!  Truly amazing.

Performance is clearly carried through in both application performance as well as graphics including OpenGL 2.1 and DirectX 9 support.   What this has meant to me is that I can easily run applications like MS Word and Internet Explorer with performance that is better then most windows machines, and quickly test my website designs and video production for Windows compliance.   What has also much improved in Parallels Desktop 5 is the ability to play 3D games now in a virtualized environment, and get performance that makes casual gaming very acceptable.  For a more detailed look on gameplay within Parallels, I created a screencast late last year that you can find here.

What sets Parallels Desktop 5 apart is a well executed user interface and mature feature set for each Virtual Machine.   Parallels has created a very unobtrusive interface to launching a Virtual Machine instance, and accessing the hardware & settings of the environment.

Hardware and VM Settings Seamless Integrate with running Virtual Machine

The interface has been well thought out with the ability to configure every feature/function of the virtualization experience with a very comprehensive set of options.  While there are over 70 new features that are included in this release and certainly too many to cover here, the most important features to me are the performance improvements and the new Crystal Mode of operation.  To see Windows 7 literally melt away so that only you only see the Windows program running next to your mac programs is simply brilliant!

Notice that MS Word 2007 is running to the left of Apple Pages!

In summary Parallels Desktop 5 sets a very high bar and a new standard in Virtualization software.   The product offers an incredibly robust feature set, performance that is just amazing, and rock solid stability.   I personally use Parallels Desktop 5 on both a MacPro and MacBookPro daily, and my experience has just been stellar!   I for one will be interested to see how Parallels improves on this incredible release!

Skeeter All things Apple, Products of Interest All things Apple, Parallels Desktop, Skeeter Harris, Virtualization

The Worlds Most Advanced e-reader

Having ordered two nooks (one already received) and another due right before Christmas, I am now second guessing my decision to buy this product.  The feature list should have been a Kindle 2 killer – PDF Support, Lending Books, Color LCD, at the bottom of the display…..  However speaking from owning a Kindle 2 and selling it the day the nook was announced might have been a mistake.   Especially after several reviews  that mostly trashed the nook.  I decided to head over to a Barnes and Noble store to see one in person to see if what I was reading was true.  By far the worst review I read/watched was from NY Times’ David Progue, but I also read some fairly decent reviews from WSJ, Money, and several technology blogs including CNET.

So with all of these comments (mostly negative) in mind, I tried to approach the very helpful lady and nook staring at me behind the nook display with an open mind.  What I found to my surprise is that the nook actually faired better in my hands and opinion (a lot better) then what I had seen and read online.

Nook Display

I found the display to be easier on the eyes with the darker ink then my Kindle 2 was, and the form factor and the color LCD looks brilliant together and its extra weight actually felt like quality high-end product then “made in China” junk.  The color LCD provided a beautiful way to navigate the OS and to me gave the nook more of a premium “iPhone” device feel to it instead of a plastic toy feel with pre-school buttons like the Kindle 2 keyboard.    The menu options made sense to me and I was able to browse books, look at the store, buy a  book, and open up sample PDF’s.

The so called “formatting issue” is definitely there but it was not as bad as I had read it to be and when I asked the nook lady about it, she explained that since each book has it’s own set of font’s embedded in the file the nook has to truly format the book for the device.   So when I think about it that way, it actually is a step forward and brilliant because each book can choose it’s own font and control it’s appearance.   That (to the best of my knowledge) is not something the Kindle 2 did so there was never any formatting that needed to be done.  Additionally this only happened the first time you loaded the book, and then on subsquently going to the book it just jumped right in like Kindle does.  I suspect that with this capability of rending when the document is opened actually provides for a better reading experience and more accurate representation of a book or diagram (thinking PDF).   While a little slow it was not something that would make me walk away from this device.

With regard to horrible “page turning experiences” it was slightly slower from what I remembered with the Kindle 2 but again nothing as bad as I had read.   The ability to browse the store worked well and buying a book or magazine (in my base PC Mag) worked well, putting them into a queue and automatically notified me when they were done downloading.  Overall right on par with the Kindle 2.

Concerning battery life – “David Progue – Please stand up so I can slap you” – His statement 7 days Kindle 2 verse 2 days nook, is a complete mis-representation.   The nook will last 10 days with just the book and 3G Wireless turned on, if you leave WIFI on it drops to 2 days.  There really is no reason to leave WIFI on unless your hanging out at a Barnes and Noble store and if so it is very easy to go into the color LCD and turn the WIFI on as needed.    Additionally the fact that the nook does not have a browser – well get over it.  The Kindle 2 had one – it was a joke and besides.  I have an iPhone a MacBookPro if I really want to surf the web, i’m certainly not going to do it on an e-reader!

After spending almost an hour playing with the nook at the Barnes and Noble store I feel I could easily lose the nook in my hands, the page turning experience and the buttons to turn pages felt natural and unobtrusive to me.    The color LCD quickly disappears out of site and the backlight goes out quickly so it just melts away from being distracting to your eyes.    Being a Kindle user since the original Kindle came out what 2 years ago – well the user interface experience is completely different on the nook and I kept trying to approach this device like a kindle.     Once I got around that I found the UI to be very easy to use and self explanatory.    Barnes and Noble – if your reading this – Do yourself a favor – Create a “Getting to know your nook video” that walks the user through the most common functions or using the nook coming form the Kindle.  Just a thought.

The device does show it’s 1.0 heritage in the software and I do agree that you can “build up a series of commands” so that you watch while your nook is off doing anything but what you intended.    While I can see this could become very annoying, being aware of this is half the battle.   I would like to think that between Android 2.0 and nook software updates this issue will pass.

I did ask about the “Book Lending Issue” and the helpful B&N lady was right there to explain that the company plans had really fallen victim of the publishers and they were still working on this.  So let’s just hope that with time these restrictions get relaxed because it’s really is a great idea and was a selling point to me.

So now with this information and some time to play with a nook in my hands – did I make the wrong decision?   – Absolutely not!     I have to say that this device is getting a lot of unfair press and poor reviews, which is really too bad and unfair.   I would encourage anyone who like me was second guessing themselves to find a Barnes and Noble store and check it out.   I also have to give wonderful kudos to my new friend the “nook lady” at the store.  She was super friendly, knew her product in and out, and was completely up to speed on what was being said about this new device, and was able to talk openly about the reviews and provide me solid explanations.  With this new information in hand, Christmas is now feeling just that much further away and I once again feel like that 10 year old boy,  I once was.

Skeeter Products of Interest Barnes and Noble, eReaders, nook, Skeeter Harris

Well I have been a proud owner of the new Kindle 2 for about a week now, after unloading my Kindle 1 on eBay for what I felt was a fair price!   With the new Kindle 2, Amazon made the decision to lower the price slightly but at the same time to not include a jacket for it.   In my option this was a wise decision since I was never a fan of the original jacket anyway and the lower price could be used to pay for a jacket anyway.

I looked at and actually purchased the Amazon Kindle 2 jacket, but knew when I looked at it that I wanted something more and searching the Amazon Kindle store lead me to the accessory manufacturer M-Edge.   While the Amazon jacket is not a bad accessory – it holds the Kindle securely (unlike Kindle 1) it does not have anything to keep the jacket closed or hold a reading light.   After reading about these cases on the Amazon site, and then finding the M-Edge site I decided to order one for new new Kindle 2!

Well, I got my Pebbled Fucsia (a.k.a. Purple) case today in the mail – actually a full week earlier then expected and I have to say I am thrilled with the quality of the Jacket.  The M-edge executative jacket is made of great soft rich feeling leather with the a very smooth and scratch resistant microfiber sewn on the inside where the Kindle 2 sits!   The jacket has a very sturdy feeling with what appears to be either very heavy cardboard or a sturdier material on both the top and back of the jacket, this puppy is not going to easily bend!  On the top cover of the jacket M-Edge has placed three pockets (one large & 2 business card sized) and on the inside spine there is an elastic loop that is designed to hold the optional e-Luminator booklight.  On the backside of the jacket, where the Kindle sits, M-Edge has placed 4 corner leather anchor points to securely hold your Kindle 2 in this high-end jacket!  WIth the Kindle 2 securely in place in the jacket there is aproximately a 1/16″ edge that surrounds Kindle 2 by the M-Edge Jacket – this in my opinion serves two purposes – it helps in holding the Kindle in your hands and in the event you drop the Kindle, it will project Kindle from taking a direct hit when it lands on the ground!  Finnally the M-Edge jacket includes a leather loop that connects from the back to the front of the jacket to hold the jacket closed over the Kindle to protect it.

My overall impression of the jacket is that while expensive ($44.99) it is a very well designed and manufactured accessory for Kindle 2.  It does not add any more bulk to the Kindle then Amazons case does, it comes in many colours, looks smart, and with the ability to add a light for night reading that integrates into the jacket, this is a must by accessory for my Kindle!

You can purchase this case either on Amazon’s website or directly from M-Edge, however it will get shipped to you directly from M-Edge!

You can see more aout this accessory here -

Skeeter Products of Interest Kindle 2, Kindle 2 Accessory, M-Edge