Since moving blogs over to my own domain I’ve been using the default theme until I found one I liked.  I’ve posted to my social networks a couple of times to see if I could get some recommendations, to no avail.

The Emerging & Instructional Technology Lab, of which I am the Director, is moving its web presence from a wiki to a workpress site.  As part of the process, one of our talented student assistants searched out some themes for the new site.  Although for now we’ve decided on a different theme for that blog, there was one I like a lot and decided to make it the theme for my own blog.  Thanks Kevin!

Feel free to let me know what you think.

A friend posted something to Facebook about her musing over buying a Kindle or an iPad.  Given the two are so totally different, it was easy to advise her:  If you want a device to read something on, and that’s pretty much about it, go with the Kindle.  If you want to do more, via apps, then the iPad is the choice.  An interesting discussion among her friends ensued hashing around on some finer points, but mostly everyone who responded agreed that she should probably invest in the iPad.

[soapbox]

I don’t see tablets as toys.  I see that many people use them that way, but many also do not.  So, let’s try to agree that the iPad is a device, nothing more, how you USE the device depends on how it would be categorized to you (and others who use it in similar ways).  A parent gets one for email, web, movies or shows, but to keep mini-me happy, sometimes you open a game app and let them play (like, in the car).  Its a device.

[/soapbox]

I promised my friend I would post to my blog what apps I have on my 1st Generation iPad Wifi.  Quick history, I got mine on day 1, which JUST SO happened to be my birthday (define providence?)  I bought the smallest drive and not on 3G.  I do not currently own a laptop and so I use my iPad for a few things at work but it is my mobile technology of choice for my doctoral work at NYU.  I do have a desktop, and I do use that a lot, but for mobile devices, its my iPad.

Two main apps for schoolwork: DocsToGo Premium and iAnnotatePDF.  DocsToGo lets me interact with documents (create, edit, etc…) and iAnnotatePDF does exactly what you’d think from the name, plus much more.

I have foursquare, HootSuite, Facebook, Ping.fm, Twitter, LinkedIN, Flickit, Echofon, and Google+ in a folder called Social.  I’ve stopped using foursquare (grew bored of it), use HootSuite for all the Twitter accounts, Don’t usually do Facebook on the iPad or my iPhone, but I use the app when I do (meh – expected more from the app), don’t use the Twitter app, don’t usually connect to LinkedIn on the iPad or iPhone, used to use Flickit to upload pictures, have stopped uploading so …, Use Echophone when I only want to see @aj_kelton, don’t use the Google+ app often.

In a folder called Travel I have: Weatherbug, and TWC (they use different station points), Maps, which is an awesome tool for finding things (and built into the iPad OS), Boingo’s Wi-Finder (I subscribe to Boingo, don’t use it often but it pays for itself every time I do.), and an AWESOME traffic app called INRIX.  I have the free version.  I find it especially helpful in the NY/NJ tri-state area and in the City.  Its usually spot-on accurate and, its freaking free!  How cool is that?  :-)

In a folder called Utilities I have: Calculator XL, BatteryLife, Find iPhone, Translator, Convertor, iHandy Level, Flashilight, and Speed Test.  Most are self explanatory, and there may be other apps that do the same thing that you like better.  I find BatteryLife  particularly useful on my phone, don’t really use it on the iPad.  If you subscribe to me.com (transitioning to iCloud), you could have a tracking service for the iPad and iPhone.  It works quite well.  iHandy Level is free, and a good thing to have when you need it.  I find it more useful on my phone.  Speed Test is also handy, if you can what your upload/download speed are and how long a ping takes.

I do have a folder called Games.  I don’t consider myself a gamer, so I very rarely use any of these.  Some I prefer to play on my iPhone.  So, for games I have: GF All-Stars, Jenga HD, WTD, BClassicLite, Morocco, Magic8ball, Cubes Lite, Anaconda, Dragon’s Lair, Mirror’s Edge, AngryBirds Lite, Robot Rampage, Tree Planter, Cut the Rope, HornetSmash, Blimp, and Time Killer.  Nearly all of them I downloaded because someone suggested I do\.  I play Anaconda a lot, and I’ve gotten addicted to Robot Rampage, thanks to my advisor {shakes fist at Chris], I was mildly into Mirror’s Edge for a very short time, but then I got stuck and just don’t have the time to invest.  The most interesting one to me is The TimeKiller, by SAS.  Read the story here. Its fun.

In my Entertainment folder I have: Pandora, Shazam, IMDb, iTunes (Store), YouTube, Music (my iTunes), Videos, Starbucks, and Urbanspoon.  No surprises here.

Under Communications I have: Skype, LucyPhone, Dragon Dictation, NumberGuru, Tungle, Messages, MagicJack, Flipboard, Contacts, and a delete duplicate contacts app.  I rarely use Skype from the iPad, NumberGuru does reverse look up on a phone number.  Very cool app, and free.  Tungle I use because my advisor uses it, so that’s how I book time with him.  Its fine, its a good program, and it does sync to my gCal.  The MagicJack app is worth having.  Just like Magic Jack, it lets you talk free across the country.  Flipboard I don’t use, but I know people who do and like it.  Contacts is contacts but, a word of warning, if you have the iCloud service (or me.com) and you sync over multiple devices, if you don’t have the settings just right, you WILL get duplicates.  I had way too many of them.  Had to get a duplicate contact deleting program.  It worked as it said it might, but I was disappointed in the end.

Under Gadgets I have GiantTimer (very cool, useful, and free), iBannerHD (also useful but not frequently), Mappiness, which I don’t do anymore, and a QR app, which is useless to me since I have a 1st Gen, so no camera, but I have my apps synced and so it came over from the phone.

In Finance I have Bank of America, Capital One, an app called CheckPlease (for dividing the tab or figuring the tip) and a very cool program called GroceryIQ.  I use it mostly on my iPhone but its great for keeping a shopping list, you can scan in the bar code and it will add it, a number of options, and I think it was free.

Under Productivity I have Blackboard Mobile Learn (yuck!), Kindle (love it), iBooks, Dropbox (could not live without this cloud service.  If you don’t have an account, they are free up to 2GB I think, use this link http://db.tt/BRaYbsL and get 250MB of extra space for free (and I get 500MB), Evernote (never use but know folks who do), Wiggio (tried, meh), ShowMe (cool app, was in beta, think its out now, no use for me but I could see it big in some types of courses or levels), Keynote (much prefer over Powerpoint, but Mac only except on the iPad), WordPress (all of my blogs are WP (the one you’re reading now, and this, this, this, this, and especially this), so this gets used a lot), Inkling (interesting, will be awesome as the library grows), Eventbrite (used for ELD11 and will use again for ELD12 – one of the best designed apps I’ve ever seen), RememberTheMilk (still the best to-do list out there, I think, even though I’m not using it for a shopping list anymore, ironically), and BookMyne, an app I can use to interact with the MSU library.  Its a great app, very helpful.

I have the mail program to read my main Google email account, to which all of my other accounts are forwarded.  There are some things that can’t be done on the iPad that can on a computer, but it is good enough for 99% of the use cases.  I also use Safari as the web browser.

whew [wipes brow]

Has my world changed?  Well, yes and no.

I think this is going to do exactly what I expected and wanted it to do.

I’m not writing these blogs to try to convince anyone to get or try an iPad.  However, please don’t be such harsh critics, some of you, until you actually work with one.  I’m not saying its going to be for everyone.  Its a tool.  It serves a purpose.  If you have not call for this particular tool, nothing I can say will changed your mind – nor would I try to.  If you need a saw, my telling you have great a screwdriver could do the job is not going to make the screwdriver as good at the job as a saw.

I’m writing this because I want to share with you what I’m going through.  Perhaps one or two of you will be able to make a better decision from what I’m learning.

I brought the iPad to an Easter gathering today.  Everyone was, of course, interested in seeing it.  Two other guys there said right away, after holding it, turning it on, playing with it a bit, that they were going to buy it.  Boys and their toys – so that does not surprise me.

I was able to go through all the pictures I took in Brasil with my mom, who had only seem them on the small camera screen before.  Have them to flick our way through, on a nice screen, with an amazing resolution, was a great experience.

Many people have made hay about this being a consumer’s item and not a producer’s one – in other words, there is no creativity, just consumption.  Right.  And.  Thats the point of the tool, at least at this point in time.  It took a while for cut/copy/paste to come to the iPhone, so I’m guessing there will be great things added over time.  And if any of those things are deal breakers for you, then wait.  That only makes sense.

Right now, as I write this blog, I have it sitting next to me slideshowing through my pictures from iPhoto.  I’ve not toyed around with how to set this up, but I can tell you it is nice to see many of this pictures dissolve in and then give way to another.

I know I said it yesterday, but I’m going to say it again today.  Get yourself the Apple iPad cover, if you get an iPad.  Its classy looking, sleek, nothing fancy, and converts to a stand that tilts the unit on a good angle for typing.

Today I started to move around some of my icons on my desktop.  As I mentioned, I was able to quickly move all my applications from my iPhone to the iPad.  When they first showed up, however, they had been reorganized alphabetically.  Actually, thats no big deal.  Some of the apps I use on my iPhone I won’t use on the iPad.  Some apps that have a lower profile in my iPhone use will get more use on the iPad, so I’m going to have to make decisions on which to put where.  For now, I’m waiting to see which I use most.  I did, however, run into a wierd problem tonight.  I was trying to move a desktop icon to a different screen (to the right) and it won’t let me move it.  I’m not sure why some can and some cannot be moved.

I used Skype to be part of a conference call.  It is one of those apps that are really iPhone apps but have been scaled to the iPad, but not customized to it yet.  I’m sure they will come out with an update soon enough.  So, even through there was plenty of screen real estate, I could not do many of the things that can be done on the full version but not on the iPhone version – like initiating a conference all.  Once I was invited it, it works like a charm.

I am NOT writing this blog from it.  I could, but I’ve chosen not to.  I have a laptop hooked up to a second much bigger monitor and that has a keyboard.  As easy as it is to use the iPad and its keyboard, why use that when I have a full keyboard and computer right in front of me.

If you have any burning questions about the Ipad, post your thoughts in any of the comments fields.  I’ll try to find the answer.

I mus apologize.  I first wrote this yesterday but posted it into the wrong blog.  I am reposting it here, with my regrets for the delay.

*****

Today is my birthday, which only some of you knew, but it is also the release day for Apple’s iPad, which I’d be surprised if any of you didn’t know! Sensing a bit of destiny there, I reserved one and picked it up this morning at the Apple Store in the Garden State Plaza in Paramus, NJ.

It was a great experience to be part of a product launch, especially one that could potentially have a great impact on the industry. Apple has a pretty amazing record, in this regard. The iPod and iPhone both revolutionized industries. Yes, they’ve also had one or two forgettable moments, but recently they’ve been on a pretty good streak.

Kudos, in a huge way, to the incredible staff at the Garden State Plaza Apple Store. These guys were having fun, they were enjoying putting this item into people’s almost as much as the people enjoyed getting them. I said almost.

It’s going to take a while to really know if this is going to work and how well but the initial response is positive.

I like the form factor. It is easy to hold, at least for me – some with small hands might think otherwise. Take a net book and remove the bottom keyboard part. Now, all you have is the screen. That’s about the size of the iPad. I am far happier carrying around half the size and weight of my net book! Which was already nicely portable. Starting Monday I will take it to school and see if it works for me.

The interface is totally Mac – clean, simple, easy to use, and very familiar.

I am using it right now to write this blog entry. When all my iPhone apps downloaded quickly once I connected, my WordPress app came with it. When i first went to use it it prompted me to update my iphone version, but that took all of two seconds and then I was off and running, using a familiar, but much more usable version of what I was doing on my iPhone. I’d say I’m more likely to do a blog entry using the iPad then the iPhone. It is so much easier to type on the iPad.

Speaking of typing, I’m amazed at how well this keyboard works. Some of the nuances will take a little getting used to, but I’m flying along pretty good here.

I was impressed with the photo framing feature. It turns this into that digital frame I’ve just not bought for myself because i couldn’t understand why the charge so darn much for them.

More later.