Thoughts on the iPad

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Work received a few iPads this month, so we could use for site testing and general use around the office.  I’ve had the opportunity to take the device home a few times, and while I’ll agree that it’s a neat gadget, it surely is not worth $500 for all users.  To summarize:

If you only have a smartphone OR a laptop, an iPad is pretty cool and will complement your mobile life well.

If you have neither a smartphone or laptop, you are the iPad’s target audience, and the device could be a perfect fit.

If you have both a smartphone AND a laptop, the iPad will be redundant and nearly useless for you.

I fall squarely into that last group, and its been interesting to see all the uses other people come up with for the iPad that I just cant justify, because I already have a device for that.  My iPhone can do anything the iPad can (and my iPhone 4 will be more powerful), in a smaller package.  If I need more power, my laptop is a full-fledged computer, and about the same surface area as an iPad.  There’s almost no time where I could really use a device in between the two.

The iPad is a direct competitor to netbooks;  they’re aimed at the same audience.  This is a machine aimed at people who don’t have a laptop, but want a low cost mobile computing device – and to that end it performs most basic computing tasks as well, if not better, than your average $500 netbook. However, it’s not going to do the job of a laptop, and if you want true portability the iPhone may be the better choice.

Ramvik Touch: How it Works

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

I’ll be chronicling the whole process of building my touchscreen table, and this second post will explain just how one of these things works.

Essentially, there are 5 things required for one of these setups.  There are different methods of setting it all up, but these things are the same:

volde.net

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

Just finished setting up a blog for my friend, Meg – she’ll be using it to catalog her cosplay for this year’s Blizzcon, which will be her 3rd time attending.

http://www.volde.net

Introducing the Ramvik Touch

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

My latest project is going to be an ikea hack that will fit in our living room perfectly. I intend to turn an IKEA coffee table into a touchscreen table running Windows 7 with the Surface multitouch pack and multitouch drivers.

Over the next few days, I’ll be posting more details about how such a system operates, as well as specifics on how I plan on building this machine. For now, I’ll post some pictures of other people’s IKEA Ramvik hacks, as well as some videos of other multitouch tables.

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iPhone Games Review

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

I’ve had my iPhone 3GS for a couple months now, and an iPhone in general for about 2 years.  In that time, I’ve had a lot of games come and go on my phone, but only a couple have I actually kept on my sacred 2nd app screen for future play.  I’ll go over each of these games I’ve chosen to keep, and how they stack up with each other.

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