iPad 2 cover - functional art

So I am really loving my iPad 2, and I just found a cover, made in the Netherlands, that is a attractive (more so) than the device it protects. The cover is made by Miniot and can be seen here.

The craftsmanship stands out, certainly, as does the functionality. I have the basic smart cover for the iPad and it works great, don't get me wrong. This is not a NEED, rather a want based on aesthetics and the very slight functional improvement. How cool is a wooden cover on the high tech iPad - function meets natural beauty. Nice work guys at Miniot.

Photo editing on the iPad

For editing photos on the iPad - the tablet surprisingly comes with no real options and the built in photo browser is good for only basic reviews of collections, not even cropping and rotating. I found a large number of free, limited function apps, but none compare to the paid (cheap) app, Photogene.

This app lets me edit, adjust curves, saturation, crop and more in a non destructive manner, leaving the original image intact and only permanently applying changes to exported images. The app is well worth the small fee for the functionality and is the go to editor now for me.

iPad 2

So I did it - I broke down and bought the iPad 2. It was a bit of an impulse buy, since it happened serendipitously that I was in Target when the shipment of 2 arrived. I took it as a sign and bought one and I am very happy with it. The unboxing was simple, the device, a cord and a plug. No user manual to much around with, just plug it into iTunes and go. The biggest struggle was what content to keep where, since even though I have the 64g model, it is no where near enough storage for even just my music, let alone all the other goodness. I settled on keeping a subset of my playlists on the iPad, the rest on my iPod touch and only moving over a subset of my photos and movies to keep room for the apps I want to use.

I'll throw up a few more posts as I work out the best configuration for this little gem, from office apps to photo apps and more. My goal is to keep the apps as low cost as possible, going with free wherever there is a good alternative.

As an eReader, it is great for magazine style reading and casual browsing, but I definitely prefer my kindle for prolonged reading. The eInk vs tablet display is no real comparison for long reading sessions and ease on the eyes. Overall - totally pleased and glad I went this direction even though I was certain I was headed for a Motorola device.

It's been a while

I let a whole bunch of other projects get in the way of the blogging for quite a while now, as is clearly evident from the dearth of posts here. Over the last several months, I have used my droid heavily and the shine has come off the romance. :) It started shortly after the Froyo update, when the device went from rock solid to flaky. A complete reset seemed to stabilize it a bit, but it has never really been the same, even when brought back to factory defaults.

I can live with a little flakiness in a device, but when I rely on it as my primary means of navigation and entertainment when traveling, a random reboot in the middle of driving to the airport in a strange city is not really as funny as it might sound. Flakiness aside, I am also dealing with a hardware issue - the home button has decided to work... sometimes. Again - not the end of the world, but tedious none the less. I need to make time to get it into the Verizon store to see what the warranty (if any) will do for me.

You might think with these issues, I am no longer happy with the device - not the case. I am occasionally thrilled with it and amazed by it, and alternately ready to throw it out the window, but then, is that so unlike some relationships we might have with some family or friend? For now, I will keep using it and waiting on the contract to expire, or possibly repair my wife's broken screen on her old droid. Till then -

keyboard for the droid

I‘m composing this post using my freedom pro keyboard on my droid. The longer I use the droid, the more I wonder what I did before I had it.

The mark of good tech is how well it integrates into your life and how it can change productivity or pleasure. While I‘m getting used to this keyboard, the overall experience is great. Short texts and even emails are easily done on then phone, but longer typing is just easier on a keyboard. I will say, the voice recognition is pretty good as well though and I used that the other day for the first time while driving. This keyboard is effective and fairly easy to set up, plus being available for under 100$.

Conference & changing plans

I was scheduled to be in Europe this coming week to speak at the ELN / informatics conference in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, I have landed in the hospital with a respiratory infection. According to my dr. who just had a scope and vacuum down my lungs, it's like someone jammed gummy worms in my lungs. Nice picture, eh? Well, needless to say, since I cannot even carry on a decent conversation, the international travel will be out as well as the speaking for the moment. He is anticipating a long recovery cycle post release so I will have to figure out the work thing as well.

In the meantime, my wife is holding things together at home and running ragged. Hopefully, I will be home soon and we will get in a smooth grove to steady things out with home and kids as well as figuring out work.