Apple iPad = iFail ?

I have a love hate relationship with Apple. They have a history of making amazing technology, but with that, a consistent retardation of features to insure future model marketability. This plan is smart but extremely annoying. The iPod and iTunes combo - brilliant. iPhone = revolutionary for the mobile phone market. iPad? Who needs it?

With a base price of $500, the iPad is a whole lot cheaper than many speculated it to be; however, can it really compete with all the $200 netbooks? Let's compare the features:

Feature Generic Netbook iPad

Built in keyboard Yes No ($69)

Webcam Yes No

Touchscreen No Yes

Read Ebook PDFs Yes Yes

Video out Yes Yes

Optical Drive No No

USB Yes No

SD card reader Yes No

Print Yes ? (most likely requires paid app)

Adobe Flash Yes No

Internal Storage 160GB+ 64GB max

When you compare the features, it's easy to see that the iPad doesn't really measure up to most of the netbooks on the market even in the $200 range. While I think the iPad is cool, here are some things that I believe should have been changed.

1. Webcam - with the addition of a webcam, the iPad could have been an excellent business device. They built in a microphone assumably for voip - why not throw in a camera? The only logical guess would be that they will include a webcam on future models.
2. Swype for text input - If you don't know what Swype is, check out http://www.swypeinc.com/ to get the full low down. Basically, it's the next innovation in text input. Swype is "finger tracing text entry". If you want to see Swype in action you can check out the video below. Not only would Swype have taken up much less of the iPad screen but I believe it is a whole lot less awkward than the iPad's QWERTY keyboard. Granted, this is based soley on conjecture, but I have a hard enough time typing on a netbook keyboard with tactile feedback. I can almost guarantee my iPad writing would look about the same as a monkey's.
   


3. Gesture area - Apple should have used the ridiculously thick bezel on the iPad and taken a cue from Palm to make a gesture area on the iPad. I find the gesture area so much more intuitive on my Pre that when I use an iPod touch it takes me a second to adjust.
4. Flash card slot - If you are going to use the iPad as a photo frame, why not make it a whole lot easier and throw in a flash card slot? Additionally they probably could have made it a lot more inexpensive had they not included all that flash memory and left that part up to the consumer.
5. Computer to sync - The last point sort of leads into this: While iTunes is great and the iTunes store on the iPad is cool, you are still going to need a computer to sync the iPad with. You can't just get a bunch of songs, movies, photos on a memory card and pop it in. Ok, I know in theory you could just go and download each song and movie from the iTunes store, but that would be a pain in the ass and again, what about your photos?
6. No USB - I know the dock connector functions as a communications device, but it would be nice, if you are selling a quasi-computer, netbook competitor, that you would allow the attachment of at least some USB peripherals.

My biggest problem is that Apple could have turned this into something that every major company in America would have bought for their employees. The system admin could load apps onto the iPad that were approved and it would essentially be locked down unless an employee hacked it (which could happen to any computer). A webcam goes without saying in today's business world. The fact (at least to my current understanding) that you will have to buy a special docking station keyboard, further jacks up the price. They could have allowed USB keyboards, mice ethernet adapters, etc to allow you to plug one cable into a hub at work and go.

So again, who needs one of these? iPad doesn't exactly compete with a regular netbook unless you buy the $69 keyboard. It's rather expensive as a video player compared to a portable dvd player ($70) or an ebook reader (Kindle $200). There are lots of cool games for the iPod, and now the iPad, but do they really compete with PSPs or Gameboys? It's hard to play a lot of games without a physical controller. If someone comes out with a game controller, I could see the iPad taking precedence over the current hand held games on the market.

The iPad rolls several devices into one but I doubt a majority of consumers will want to pay that much, especially when it's kind of an inconvenient size. My prediction is that the iPad will take off enough to warrant future models but not in the way it could have, had Apple not had their head so far up their own ass.

White Collar is back! - Hard Sell

White Collar, (USA Network) is back and this episode is as good as all the others. Before the winter hiatus we were left wondering about which side Peter was on. The last scene we saw was Kate meeting with Peter in a hotel room. Peter was wearing the same ring that was on the hand in the photo of Kate.

The episode centers on a group of stock brokers who are falsely driving up the price of stocks by getting lots of people to invest in them and then selling out their own holdings just before everyone else realized that it was a sham. Neil is tasked to break into the group by posing as a stock broker looking for a job. Of course in Neil fashion he nails the interview, a hard sell to Peter on a redirected phone call, and starts making connections.

While discussing the case at Peter's, Neil goes upstairs to use the bathroom and discovers a picture with Peter wearing the ring assumed to be worn by Kate's captor. He confronts Peter and Elizabeth where they explain that it's a 10 year ring that all FBI agents get. Neil apologizes for doubting Peter and leaves. Elizabeth asks Peter when he's going to tell Neil about his meeting with Kate. He replies "after this case is over, then I'll decide".

Peter goes undercover as well this episode for reasons that aren't all that important. What is important is that both he and Neil are at Avery's (one of the partners in the brokerage) when goons show up with the mole in the organization, one of the secretaries. Both Neil and Peter realize that things are going to end badly for her so Peter outs Neil as they mole. They sell it by claiming that Neil was hired by Avery's business partner. Neil then goes to Avery's partner (Reid) and claims that Avery hired him as a spy. It's a big game of pointing fingers to get information.

Reid tells Neil that Avery holds all his incriminating information in a ledger book. The task now is to find where the ledger is hidden. Avery has a state of the art vault to protect his comic book collection and that is where Neil and Peter assume he must keep the ledger. There's one problem, getting the ledger without activating the security system - a system that includes sucking all the air out of the room to suppress a fire.

Neil sneaks into the vault only moments before Reid shows up and starts letting Avery have it. After a few moments they both realize that they have been played against each other and Avery grabs a shotgun to go after Neil. Peter runs ahead of Avery and gets in the vault just as Neil grabs the ledger to activate the bullet proof door, protecting them from Avery's shotgun discharge. Neil gives Peter his 5 minute air tank and they both look for the kill switch. Neil finds it and passes out. Peter has the choice to let Neil die and hope the cavalry comes to save him or open the door and risk getting shot by Avery. He pulls a pistol from his waistband and hits the switch. With impeccable timing the FBI show up and he isn't forced to shoot Avery.

Neil is fine and Peter tells him about the meeting with Kate. We see the flashback and discover that Kate is just using Neil to get something, it appears, for both her and Fowler. Neil is dumbfounded and doesn't want to believe it. He tells Peter that he will get what Kate/Fowler wants: a music box. The episode ends with Morris talking to Neil about the music box. Neil tells him that he never had the music box.
Neil - "Everyone assumed that I took it and I never corrected them".
Morris - "It did make you appear super human."
Neil - "Image is everything"
Morris - "Now what?"
Neil - "Now I find the music box."
Morris - "And steal it?" (Neil smiles) "Welcome back"

Project Runway Season 7 Ep2

All That Burlap

"She's so beautiful she would look good in a burlap sack" is the premise of this week's challenge. The designers were driven out to a farm to meet the models and "shop" for their materials. Models doubled as clients for the challenge and also were allowed to choose their designer. Mila was left for last by the models and had a little hissy fit about it wondering in her confessional "am I chopped liver?" Good grief - someone has to be last. It doesn't mean everyone hates you.

Only fifteen minutes were allowed to confer with the models and shop for materials from the bins in the farmers field. The contestants then headed back to the workshop to begin working on the outfits. Tim came to check on the progress and gave Jesus a slight verbal lashing for "skirting the challenge". Jesus' garment was a burlap skirt entirely covered with ribbons: hardly innovative. Ping continues to be eccentric but this week she is actually using her mannequin.

During the fitting Mila continued to stew over the supposed snub from her former model. Someone needs to take the phrase "it's just business" to heart. The workroom was a little crazier than normal with several designers attempting to dye their fabrics on plastic sheets strewn across the floor. Anna had a really cool idea to use a potato as a stamp and imprint a design on the fabric.

- The Runway -
Bold = Winner, Red = Loser

Jay - Stunning. I can't believe it was made from burlap. - Judges impressed "looks expensive"

Pamela - It looked like something a 15 year old made for the 4-H fashion show - Judges "too short and too tight. not sophisticated. A plain potato sack would probably look better."

Anthony - So Hot! At a quick glance, I thought the model was Angelina Jolie.

Ping - Again WTF?!?!?!?! I really don't think that Pamela's dress was worse than Ping's. In fact I think Pamela's dress was slightly better. It seems like the producers like her and are protecting her.

Ben - Fabric looked like he used the same dye as Anthony. Dress was cute but a little plumping.

Mila - Sexy. Amazing for what she had to work with - Judges "farm to the future - fantastic"

Anna - I'm not a fan of the color but I like the design and the use of the potato stamp on potato sack was kind of poetic.

Emilio - Dress was simple design but it fit well. I loved the pattern though, the colors popped.

Jesse - Looked like a riding suit - ehhh.

Seth "The Magician" Aaron - Sick design! This looks like something you would see on a professional runway.

Amy - I was going to say it was kind of weird but at second glance, I found it kind of cute.

Janeane - Looked like a frumpy red carpet dress. Almost good.

Jesus - I thought it was ok except for the fact that it used so much ribbon and the asymmetry over the ass.

Jonathan - Looked a bit like lingerie with all the black lace down the front.

Maya - Beautiful mix of colors, her background coming through on this dress quite clearly.

I like the episodes where they have an unusual material to work with like the newspaper challenge in season 6. It really shows who has the most creativity and innovation. Another good episode.

WebOS Patch - Name Launcher Pages

I have been using the Palm Pre for about 6 months now and for the most part I really like it. I have been very tempted to switch to an Android phone but what I'll probably do is just wait till the prices come down on a Nexus One and buy one to mess around with.

WebOS works ok out of the box but it really kicks ass once you start to customize it through patches. The easiest way to load patches is to install Preware through WebOS Quick Install. Once Preware is loaded you can install patches OTA on the Pre or Pixi. I was excited last night when I discovered a patch that I had wished for when I first got my Pre. The patch allows you to label each launcher page and navigate to each page through a drop down menu without swiping.

As you can see I have 7 launcher pages denoted by the small vertical lines in the bottom right corner. There is a label at the top of the launcher page that says "Main". This is the label for my first launcher page filled with the items I use the most. I also have a patch installed that resets the launcher to the first page whenever I open it.

When you tap on the title bar at the top of the launcher if drops down a menu to choose which page you want to navigate to. This is great for someone who likes to organize things as much as possible. I don't have to swipe multiple times and wait for it to animate the scrolling. Just tap and go.

Project Runway Season 7 Ep1

I love to watch cooking shows and Project Runway and I'm straight (sue me), so I was happy to see that another season of PR was already on the air. Season 7 will have all the drama of the previous season if not more. We have a contestant, Janeane, who has cried about 10 times already in the first episode; the producers love her guaranteed. The cast is varied 8 men and 8 women of several ethnicities. A couple of characters seem the same as contestants from last season, Mila (Louise), Ping (Malvin), Janeane (Christopher). Some of them look the same while others fill the same character roll as previous seasons contestants.

I have to just take a side note to say that Heidi Klum is looking HOT HOT HOT and is currently pregnant in this season. Moving on.

The challenge was to grab a bunch of various fabrics laying around Central Park and then sort through those to fit whatever you really wanted into your bag. Contestants then had to make a look that best represented them. Most designers seemed to have a pretty clear idea of what they wanted to do and got to work. Ping is unique because she doesn't use a mannequin since she never uses one at home. Emillio was making a very complex pattern by hand sewing strips of one fabric onto another. Tim was very concerned that Emillio would not finish his dress completely, something that has never happened on Project Runway. Jesus made a leather short dress but after realizing how tall his model was after meeting her, he tacked on an additional foot and a half or so of leather to the bottom of the skirt. Needless to say the seam was quite visible and a bit of a put off.

All the dresses can be viewed here

Amy - decent, not too blown away by but good. Not sure what the deal was with the right boob. It looked like she forgot to put a pad in the left side or something.

Anna - Well made dress. Simple as far as colors and fabric go but it was pretty and I could easily see many women wearing it.

Anthony - The whole thing seemed kind of 90's to me which I am not a huge fan of. I don't understand the gigantic atrocity attached to her left hip. Makes the dress unwearable in my opinion.

Ben - Nice personality with the dress and seemingly well made. The model, however, sucked. She looked like she had never walked a runway in her life. I hope she shapes up or they give her some classes.

Christiane - I don't know why but I kind of like hers, or at least I want to like it. The colors are nice but it was obvious that it was hastily made. I am sure she is great at what she does if she has enough time.

Emilio - Seriously impressed from a "not sure if this is going to happen" to winning dress. Very beautiful. I would want my date to be wearing something like this on a night out. Well deserved win.

Janeane - For all the crying and stressing, I don't think she did all that well. It looks like something that many Hollywood women would be seen in paparazzi photos wearing but I'm not a fan.

Jay - The colors and shape of the outfit are great but I can't stand the hideous flowers attacking this dress.

Jesse - Looking at the picture again on the website, I have become more of a fan of this dress. It looks like something from the 50's which seems to be coming back into style with the likes of Mad Men etc. The red shirt poking out of the jacket top was done very nicely.

Jesus - My comment before Michael Kors said it was "it looks like a freakin' crocodile coming down the runway." Would have been much better if shorter but probably would have rocked if it was a different material.

Jonathan - I could see this for sale in a store window. It's not as eye popping as Emilio's but still a good piece.

Maya - Really not impressed. The dress was more or less a fairly simple tube dress that looked like it was being attached by a giant fabric ruffle. The dress wouldn't have been impressive without it but with the appendage it just looked aweful.

Mila - Looked like something a hot 35-40 something would wear. I'm digging it.

Pamela - Pretty but it kind of looks like a maternity dress. The back though was a downer because it looked like she could have turned her sleeves into wings and flown away. Kind of retarded.

Ping - WTF!!!! This is the worst excuse for a garment that I have seen in a while. Well really since last season when Malvin made his bird outfit. I cannot believe the judges liked this and that Nichole Ritchie would actually wear it. When I saw this come down the runway I said "she looks like a gypsy". I think it's extremely unfair to judge Christiane on her sewing when Ping sewed next to nothing. Maybe more when into it than it looks but from all appearances, she grabbed some fabric, scrunched it in a few places, let it hang in others and then put some stitches to hold it all together. I wish I had two more hands so I could give this dress 4 thumbs down.

Seth Aaron (who will now be referred to as the magician because that's what he looks like) - Super hot and sexy! I am thinking that he should have won but am still happy with Emilio's win. The only thing I didn't like were the straps that pulled away from the dress on the front. I would have liked them sewn to the dress but otherwise I love it.

I loved Emilio's and The Magician's dresses and would be very happy if my wife could wear either one. Good judging with the exception of Ping who I hope goes home very soon.

This season should be just as good as all the others as long as Ping's design aesthetic doesn't wear off on the other designers.

Fox's 24 Season 8 Premiere

There isn't a whole lot to say about the 24 premiere. It was standard Jack Bauer saving the world while being misunderstood and impeded by red tape. This season starts with Jack about to leave NYC with Kim, her husband and their daughter to go back to live in LA. His packing is interupted when an old informant comes to him for help. The man has been shot by members of the seasons terrorist group and says he has information about the plot.

There are the usual demands for immunity in exchange for information, moles in organizations, bad guys holding innocent people hostage in exchange for help with their plot - nothing too new.

I am sure I'll catch the rest of the season but most likely on Hulu. I don't really feel compelled to watch something I can fairly easily predict and be bound to 9 o'clock on Monday nights. Reading a good book at that time is probably a better use of my time.

Hopefully this is the last season of 24. While the show has been pretty good throughout, it's getting a little ridiculous and hackneyed.

Fox's Human Target "Preview Event"

When I first saw a preview for Fox's new series Human Target I was excited to see it. After seeing a couple of other previews, I started to wonder if it was going to be any good. Since the 24 2 hour premiere was directly after Human Target's hour I decided to just have an evening of TV premieres.

Human Target stars Christopher Chance (Mark Valley) a body guard with a knack for blending in to draw out the would be assassins. His business manager Winston (Chi McBride) is a rather no-nonsense type of guy who doesn't seem to like people going off book or being too unpredictable. Thrown into the mix and apparently come to stay is Guerrero (Jack Earle Haley) a hacker, informant type who Winston has a strong dislike for. Each episode is a new client Christopher has to protect by assuming a different role.

The preview episode has the group protecting a high level employee of a train company who was desiring protection after her mechanic found a unexploded bomb in her car. Without spoiling the episode it was entertaining enough but I found it a little lack luster. This might have been due to the fact that I have a feeling like the show won't make it and I don't want to get invested in a show that is going to be canceled. Unless a story arc is introduced that ties each episode together such as the conspiracy behind Michael Weston's burn notice in USA Network's Bur Notice, I don't see the show going very far. In the current network TV climate I don't think a show can get enough ratings without something to suck you in. The one exception to this is a comedy. While Psych, also a USA Network show, is a crime drama it is also a comedy. I don't care about the fact that there is very little that ties each episode together.

Christopher and Guerrero both give off a bad-boy, "I don't care about consequences or your opinions" type of vibe. I generally like this type of character; however, I think that I might have to pass when it comes to this show. Typically for that type of attitude to work you need another character to balance it out which usually adds good comedic and/or dramatic elements. I don't see Winston as being the right type of character to pull that off. Currently the shows seems a little one dimensional

I'll give it a B+ since I enjoy action shows but they will need to seriously impress me in the next few episodes before I drop it from my viewing roster.

Smoke Free Movies

The anti-smoking advocates have really lost it. The NY Times published an article about anti smoking ads being run in retaliation for all the "free tobacco advertising" that James Cameron's latest movie Avatar provided through Sigourney Weaver's character. An organization called Smoke Free Movies is paying for the ads with money from a 1998 lawsuit against the tobacco industry.

America is turning into a bunch of fucking retarded morons. We can't have smoking in movies now? What about all the movies with excessive drinking or drug use? Or how about murder? I find it an odd paradox that liberals in America claim to want tolerance but they are so intolerant toward their little pet issues. NEWS FLASH - No one is completely tolerant unless they are completely apathetic!

The whole smoking thing really pisses me off because everyone knows it is bad for their health; however, illicit sex for example, is also hazardous to your health but loads of movies promote screwing around and no one but religious "nuts" protest against it. Liberals believe they are some how enlightened to the way life should be because they are intellectual and "care". It's all a load of horse shit.

Tolerance is ruining America - plain and simple. I believe we should love everyone but love doesn't = tolerate. A parent loves their children but it they have any sense they won't tolerate bad behavior. You have to draw the line somewhere and America is fast losing perspective as people cry to stop drawing lines. When you decide to stop defining what you want life to look like then someone who does care will come and define your life for you.