There have been many technology efforts to control the way in which an individual may use content. DRM is the most obvious one but there have been many protocol and regulatory changes that have attempts to accomplish this. The Broadcast Flag is one that keeps rattling around in my head and may be coming back in another form.

In the end this is attempts to create a technology solution to a people problem. On this I complexly agree with Dave – people think content is free and it isn’t. Unfortunately it has been the content providers that have pushed this point and get offended when if bites them. On one had they have been unable to gain a direct revenue model (consumer pays) and rely on a secondary revenue market (consumer watches, brands pay for ads, ads bias consumer behaviour, brands earn revenue).

Some providers have already questioned this model like this article from ReadWriteWeb;  “Financial Times Expects Direct Payments” I already pay (voluntarily) for many of my ‘free’ podcasts.

So back to the original discussion, is accepting Ads prior/along with content something viewers should expect to ‘give up’ to keep content free? The existence of RSS feeds have already seen this battle of full versus excerpted feeds. The Vancouver Sun does that with their feeds that combined with a slow loading website caused me to drop them from my feeds and resort to a Google News Alerts instead. Most sources are prepared to provide an RSS feed which allows viewing of content without viewing the entire page.

I think part of my view is shaped by the fact that Advertising is just Voodoo to me. I really can’t get past the idea that if everyone stopped advertising the market wouldn’t be much different from the way it is today. Probably pretty niave but that is what is at the heart of my attitude toward it.

No matter what technology you try, you may get the Ads to me, but you can’t make me care….

The spelling and cut and paste issues are a real limitation of using an iPad as a portable writing tool. It’s like the iPad should be made for blogging (a Twitter or longer microblogging) but justdoesnt deliver – yet.

That gets me back to the concept of text entry and content creation on the iPad. The keyboard (especially in landscape) is awesome and the predictive text is better than ever but….

There are two issues I personally run into on a regular basis and they are above and below the keyboard itself. When trying to touch type the letters themselves are okay but the space bar is a pain. I frequently miss it on the low (bezel) side and my words run together. This is a particular problem with my WordPress posts where the spell checker doesn’t work. This would be insanely frustrating for the average user.

The other is missing the keyboard to the high side which encroaches on the text arrea. Cashing my cursor to to the bottom of what I’m editing. Also a little maddening. Again this is something that is unique to the idea of an on screen touch keyboard.

I had one major need for a laptop last night when I was mixing a live blog with a IM Chat but even that I hung on to the iPad until the app switching just got silly. Any rational person would have switched about half and hour earlier. So there is your limiting case, can you replace your computer with an iPad – not exactly, can you massively downside your need for your computer – absolutely.

Things that are making it easier,
Online services such as Google, Flickr(Yahoo) are totally usable on the iPad, including YouTube. There are apps that can do that too, but not the same need as on an iPhone.

I’ll start posting some of my iPad screens and explaining what is on them in the coming days. I’ve got about 100 apps on there right now (overkill I know). I expect that number to drop a bit as I have 6 weather apps, 5 book readers and a few other duplicates. Once I decide on the ones I like the others go.

A couple apps to just call out:
First Dan Bricklin’s NoteTaker is the bomb for writing – finger is fine but I use my Pogo Sketch Stylus (Sorry Steve!). Massive improvements for the iPad form factor and v3 looks like it will make my VGA dongle useful in meeting rooms.
Next, Elements the massive Periodic Table reference app with all the Gee-Wiz graphics. But the update this morning was 1.6GB?? That’s 10% of you entry level iPad storage. Well the Tom Lehrer intro music made my Dad laugh and was almost worth the $13 by itself.

Take a look at the specs.

PowerBook 140
9.8″ 640×480 monochrome screen
8MB RAM (max)
80MB HD (max)
6.8lbs
2.25-11.25-9.3 inches
2-3 hrs battery

iPad
9.7″ 1024×768 touch screen
256MB RAM
64GB drive
1.6 lbs
0.5-9.56-7.47 inches
9-10 hrs battery

The screen size is the most obvious comparison and the reduced size is just a small sign of technology progress. If you split the PB140 in half to remove half of the laptops “clamshell” Then the are remarkably similar (20% less all the way around). Physical size changes are more limitedly by the users than the technology. Weight and battery life show the examples of technology progress. Like the iPad the Powerbook introduced a new form factor (maybe not a unique one). The PowerBook pushed the keyboard towards the back and added a palm rest and pointing device towards the front. Again, a change in the ergonomics for the user. Even the arguments over expandability is there; PCMCIA then and SD card slot today.

So I’m going cold turkey on Monday morning with an iPad only day at work.

First the walk to work was considerably more comfortable without the extra few pounds of a laptop and the associated bits and pieces.

I chose to do a fresh sync with iTunes to my iPad so I needed to reconfigure all my applications on the iPad. (a sync of my iPhone backup would have brought all this over) So the names and passwords takes a little work but typing is so much easier that it is not a big problem. Only a few forgotten passwords.

Other than the significantly lighter tote, an interesting thing is the fact that I forget that I have a web browser. I think after a couple years of iPhone use i got used to special purpose applications for most things. YouTube, gmail, Google Reader, and other web apps are totally useable on the iPad.

The on screen keyboard takes a couple minutes to get the rhythm goings but after that it is not that much slower than my laptop keyboard.

The one limitation is the lack of a multiuser mode for sharing a iPad with friend and that seems to happen regularly.

The battery life is epic. As a portable device it beats everything I’ve ever owned short of a couple non-smart PCS cell phones I had. All day connected to WiFi and trying to push it whenever I though about it. From 6 AM to almost 7 PM I’ve gone through about half the battery power. Awesome.

The real punchline for the day is the snappiness of the device itself. I don’t doubt that other devices are faster but this just FEELS fast. Compared to my iPhone 3G is no contest but it even starts to feel faster than bringing up a application on my desktop (Mac or PC) or my laptop (Macbook Pro). The release of iPhone OS 4 will give the ipad even better capabilities but they better not loose any of this zippy feel that really defines the experience.

PS all this was written and edited on my iPad.

The iPad was a regular star of the weekend, the first challege was getting my hands on it. With a poker night with the guys on Friday night – the prize for going bust was you were the first person to get to go play with the iPad. As a result, winning the hand wasn’t as big a deal as you might imagine.

Likewise on Saturday various members of the family got their turns and I was dropping back to the iPhone.

I had avoided buying the Apple case sight unseen as I had gone through many trials with iPhone cases so I thought I would wait. One of the useful finds on Saturday was a new iPad case.

The MiFi, which provides connectivity for the iPad tucks nicely into the pocket on the right. But again there seemed to be the odd time the iPad was unavailable for one reason or another, leaving me with the iPad Mini as my productivity platform

Although I can’t complain much as it was my family who managed to find the case for a very non-Apple price point.

$2.00 at the local Thrift Store….

Damn Straight!

Or as Maxwell Smart would say “and loving it”

I knew an iPad or something very close to it was on my shopping list for a while. I actually flirted with the idea of a Kindle or a Sony Reader. Actually tried the Sony out – didn’t get the job done. I current take my 13″ Macbook Pro back and forth to work with my MiFi for my personal use during the day. The same way I have a personal cell phone to go with my corporate Blackberry. While I can use the company stuff for personal items (within reason) I really chose not to. So the idea of something lighter and reasonably capable for that walk to and from work was really appealing.

But the killer application for me is as a information tool for my flying. I’ve been a private pilot for over 20 years. When I started they had something call A.I.P Canada – the regulations for all things flying in Canada. Updates would come regularly and you would have to take the old ones out and put the new pages in the binder. Likewise charts and airport information would get revised and you would throw out the old and stuff the new in your flight bag. hated that for so many reasons. Well the A.I.P got dropped and is now a PDF, and more of the supporting material is availible online or electronically.

So when this little box arrived, it was a happy day, for me and the several cubic feet of wood pulp I plan on saving each year.

As some have reported, it immediately feels a little heavy. Solid to be sure but it will be interesting to see how the fatigue factor might play into casual use. But that quibble aside for the moment the message with Apple products is clear. This is supposed to be an elegant experience. I nearly laughed at the instructions – both sides of it on a 3×5 card.

Here is the other side:

On startup you go through few questions, including syncing options. I have a fairly big library of music and podcasts so I’m always customizing that. But the only option is Sync (all) or not. Really need to be able to have a ‘custom’ but again that is neither simple or elegant so Apple leaves that out until you go into the options later.
I appears you can use your iPhone backup and use that to set up the iPad – interesting but not for me. Too bad, all the passwords, email set up, would have been nice start.

Given the recent Google ‘friction’ with Apple it is a little humorous to see a Google Terms of Service in the iTunes set up for your iPad

A couple more gratuitous unboxing shots

.

After thinking of some of the comments there are a couple things that are pretty good bets. First, Android as a platform could easily pass the iPhone OS. Second, Apple probably doesn’t care. Now they care a little to be sure. You don’t get to be Steve Jobs or Tim Cook or Jonathan Ives without passionately caring about things. I’ve been in the room when Tim Cook was kicking butts over what was important for Apple so I’ve felt it first hand.

Worse, many will compare the ‘fall of the iPhone’ with the fall of the Mac to the Windows juggernaut. Probably not a bad comparison actually. Apple was fighting IBM (famous 1984 ad), while Microsoft was slowly eating their lunch and they didn’t get focused again until it was too late.

But that is exactly why you can’t expect this time to be the same. Anyone think Steve Jobs forgot what that was like? Do you think anyone that has been with Apple for more than 6 or 8 years doesn’t remember what its like to be on the outside looking in?

Plus, I like Apple’s business model and I think there is no lack of focus. Their business model, like their products, is simple. They build something and sell it to you and make money at that.

Fundamentally Google doesn’t sell anything to the people that use their services. They sell those people to other companies. That is what an advertiser does and that is the business Google is in. They are the new century’s version of Mad Men.

And even if every critic is correct, Even if Apple business model collapses in the weight of a “free and open” onslaught, the next day – whoever is running Apple – is going to get the smartest people they can find and decide how they can make another awesome, magical, or revolutionary product.

In that way Apple has an advantage over Microsoft and Google; who have never really been beaten, and Yahoo and Palm; who have never really come back.

And if we are to speak logically, what better place to go than Mr Spock:

Captain Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott: …then we’re dead.
Captain Spock: I’ve been dead before.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) – Quotes from Spock: IMDB

It all started with my Dad’s investment in an Apple ][+ in 1979, given my career since that was a pretty useful investment in my future. It was also the computer I had almost as long as any other. It lasted me from High School through beginning of University. We started out with a TV monitor, later added a green phosphorus monitor. It lasted me through many term papers, despite the fact it didn’t have the ability to do lower case type until we updated it with a special chip.

While in University I debated buying a newer Apple //gs or that new Macintosh. The colour of the //gs won the day and it lasted me through the balance of university and into my first job in Prince George.

When I came back to University to do my Master’s degree the //gs was getting long in the tooth. At that point the Macs were getting color desktops but also the first Powerbooks came out. Given that I had a very small apartment at the time the idea of a Powerbook 140 seemed to work well. I sold that on after a few years and bought my first real Mac desktop with the PowerMac 7100. It was color and I vested in a massive Radius Pivot Monitor which required as big a desk as I could find.

Then came the 90s with the quick succession of PowerMacs. The 7100 gave way to a 7600 which promptly got fried in a power outage. The early 90s also included a brief flirt with a 286-based PC running the pre-Windows versions of Microsoft’s OS. I also added a LaserWriter Select 360 which lasted the second half of the 90s and the early part of 2000s. It was replaced with a 8600 thanks to the insurance company. I also inherited a Powerbook 5300 (still monochrome) from my job. Acutally owning 2 Macintosh Computers. Almost unheard of among any of my geek friends. I also added a slightly used LCII from a friend to have 3 for a breif period. The 5300 and the LCII didn’t make my move to Victoria in 1999. The 8600 was purchased just as the G3-based machines were coming out.

As the 8600 lasted in to the new millenium, it finally gave way to a PowerMac G4 (which is still in use elsewhere in my family). At this point the big CRT monitor – now almost 10 years old – gave way to an Apple Cinema Display (with ADC connector) flat panel LCD. But shortly after I also got the first of several PowerBook G4s. This started with the Titanium model, the early part of 2000s included a breifly owned 17″ Powerbook before I sold it for my company owned-15″ Alumium Powerbook followed by a 12″ Powerbook while I worked at Apple, finally back to a 15″ Powerbook after I left Apple. I did pick up a Mac Mini as my Media Center machine connected to my living room TV and a backup to my laptops. Most of the 2000-2008 was laptops only. The Laserwriter had given way to a big bad Xerox 5400 printer, which actually cost more than any computer I ever bought.

I did have a breif interlude included a Athlon-powered Windows PC, before the move to an intel-based MacBook Pro (15″) that could do both my regular work and any Windows work I needed. That lasted for my days as a consultant working around town. On a whim in 2007, I added a 8-core Mac Pro which was deeply discounted on the Apple Refurbished products Store. After I went back to regular employment I sold the Macbook Pro on (again still used elsewhere in my family).That lasted for almost 2 years with no laptop until 2009 when I got a Macbook Pro 13″ (which I’m writing this on). So As 2009 ended I had a Mac Pro (8-core), a Macbook (13″), a Mac Mini (Core Duo), a Apple TV (bedroom TV), and an iPhone.

Interestingly I never really owned a iMac or non-Pro Macbook. These are the typical consumer devices but never made it into my house. Although if I had to do it again that new 27″ iMac really would have looked good in place of my Apple TV and my 26″ flat panel TV.

I consistently had errors with the orange sync icon bouncing in the dock waiting to sync a file, while the other machine reported a 0 byte file on the iDisk. With the introduction of a third machine (Macbook Pro) it simply wasn’t worth the hassle.

Stepping in for iDisk is DropBox , which I have been using for ‘cloud’ storage for some files on one machine. While DropBox has a basic free version, it is likely I will be using a paid version.