Why You Need an iPad
Without a doubt, Apple’s iPad will be a game changer as a mobile device. Will it eliminate Kindle? No. Will it replace all Netbooks? No. Will it replace laptops and smart phones? No. What it will do is create a new platform for applications that has not existed until now. Plain and simple the success of the iPad will come from the tsunami of Apps that will be written for the device and take Apple’s App Store from outstanding to awe-inspiring. Where the iPhone OS unlocked the potential for incredible mobile applications, iPad will take that software development to new heights. Here’s how:
Imagine waking in the morning, showered, dressed, coffee brewed, breakfast ready. The typical person’s morning might include a newspaper, TV on a favorite financial or news channel and laptop open to check email, Facebook, Twitter, from overnight. Enter the iPad. Instead of 3 devices (TV remote, laptop, smartphone) and a paper you have a single device with all those things in one. Imagine a news site which not only displays the news but also streams a live feed from the TV station you normally watch. A CNBC, Bloomberg, or Fox News app that does this is not out of the question on this platform. Now imagine you’d rather just watch your HDTV and read The New York Times on your iPad. Using one of the many Universal Remote apps developed in the App Store you turn on your TV from your iPad, change the channel, set a Tivo recording for tonight, and then return to the Times app for the days headlines. All possible because of this platform.
The work day begins and today you find yourself on the road instead of in the office. It just so happens you needed a presentation for your trip but accidentally forgot that you saved it to your work PC desktop and not on your Sharepoint site where you could have downloaded it. Using another great find in the App Store, and the beautiful 9.7″ IPS screen, you’re connected to and controlling your office PC in seconds and posting your presentation to Sharepoint or emailing it to your iPad. Yes, Windows users will love iPad too. With your presentation now downloaded and available you give your presentation using the iPad and the Pages/iPad compatible bluetooth remote you bought while attached to the customer’s projector over WiFi. No laptop necessary, no cords, no hassles. On the ride back to the office a call comes in, not to your mobile phone, but through 3G enabled Skype on your iPad, and with bluetooth enabled your car’s handsfree system takes over and you make plans for the evening. All while your iPad never leaves your briefcase.
I’ve illustrated only a few concepts that I think will become a quick reality with this amazing new device and as you can see when you really start think about the possibilities it becomes clear the iPad will fit into everyone’s life. While the Kindle is great for eBook junkies, and the netbook is the great cheap alternative to a laptop, the iPad will not only offer comparable experiences to each of those devices but the iPhone OS platform will only limit what’s possible to the designer’s imagination.
Facebook – Social Tool or 2nd Job?
These days I am wondering if Facebook is still the useful social networking tool it once was. When I first signed up for Facebook it was exciting reconnecting with old friends, old neighbors, family, and colleagues. Sharing personal photos, videos, and stories was enjoyable, doing fun quizzes on occassion, even airing a political debate or two was common. It all seemed to make sense and was an enjoyable part of an evening or lull in a work day. Then one day Facebook got REALLY big.
If I were to make an anology I’d say Facebook has become like any typical magazine on the newstand, with the information you really want buried deep inside a mess of everything you don’t care about. Where magazines have advertisements Facebook has games, polls, quizzes, request, events, suggestions, products, etc. now outnumbering valuable information 5 to 1 on my news feed. It has become so cumbersome it’s almost a second job going through everything just to stay on top of it. Another sign that Facebook even knows that the information is reaching tiring levels? The “Like” button. No longer do you need to comment on someone’s post to show your appreciation for it, now you just click “Like” on your way to the Request section for responding to the 37 “Farmville” gift requests you have.
These days I find myself more a drive by Facebook user, and since my Notification bar often exceeds the vertical length of my computer screen it’s no surprise I find myself more interested in Twitter and it’s limited capacity for information.
Netflix and the Oscars
I am an avid Netflix user and frequent (2 movies a night on a good day) movie viewer. While this post isn’t about Netflix I must say this is by far the best movie delivery system we have ever seen. I am fortunate enough to live close to a Netflix DC so I get my movies in 1 day but with the addition of the online streaming, and with HULU to cover all our real-time TV needs, I think we finally have digital video nirvana.
This week I was starting a new tradition of attempting, though I do realize it will be difficult, to work my way through watching every Oscar nominated film in five categories, Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress. I will give a short review of each film as I watch them and hopefully provide at least some perpesctive on why I would or wouldn’t recommend the film to someone. So without further adieu my reviews begin with the following three films:
“The Wrestler”
This film came to me as a recommendation from my cousin Michael long before I decided to watch all these films as I mentioned. He insisted I see it since we are both Mickey Rourke fans and I have to say I wasn’t disappointed. This is by far the best film Rourke has ever done and his performance was brilliant. He commands this character and the performance as if he has lived this life before, as if he knows exactly what his character is thinking because he has thought it himself. The film itself is done in the documentary style, much like “Rachel Getting Married”, and this gives it that very personal, gritty feel that it needs. I couldn’t help but find myself feeling overwhelmingly saddened by the story itself, the horrible things that happen to Rourke’s character, to his colleagues in the wrestling world, and to his daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) and stripper/girlfriend (Marisa Tomei). I was left with the feeling that even though he did make it to the rematch at the end of the film, and we are left wondering what will happen after he jumps off the top rope, that he died as a person much earlier on in the film when his daughter so coldly destroyed him during an argument after missing a dinner date with her. Overall this is a film that won’t leave you with a great feeling except in the fact that you got a chance to witness the single best performance by Mickey Rourke in his career. The story is sobering in many ways and each actor brings a great performance which lends itself to the overall quality of this film and it’s no wonder it was nominated and won the awards that it did. See it, and you will be deeply moved by the quality of the performance. I was.
“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
“Little Miss Sunshine” (LMS) immediately came to mind when I saw this film and knew that Penelope Cruz won the Best Supporting Acrtess Oscar for her role. Alan Arkin won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar when he played the foul-mouthed grandfather in LMS. He was good, don’t get me wrong, but when you have a character that is in a supporting role, and then you kill him off in the first 40 minutes of the film, how can you possibly consider the role for an award? We barely had enough time to get to know him, let alone evaluate his performance as award worthy.
In VCB Penelope Cruz first appears on screen at 52 minutes into the film. The film is 97 minutes long and in the remaining 45 minutes she appears in one half of the plot that makes up the entire story. She’s good, really good at times (kitchen argument comes to mind), but how can you take 20-25 minutes (I think I am being generous) of screen time and determine that it was the best? I haven’t seen any of the other nominated films in this category yet but for me it would have been disqualified because there was simply not enough time and material to make a decisive decision.
Back to the film itself. It’s fun, romantic, funny at times, and for me probably the single Woody Allen film that I enjoyed watching. With the exception of his tendency to let the camera go out of focus on close shots(on purpose?), I felt the narrative and the narrator made the film move along nicely for the entire hour and a half. My only criticism, Best Supporting Actress award aside, was that the ending left me wanting more. I guess it left the story to the imagination of the viewer but I felt Allen could have given us just a bit more to wrap things up a little more neatly. See it if you have nothing better to watch but your life will go on happily if you pass on this one.
“Rachel Getting Married”
I have to say that of the three films I watched in this first group this was a very close second to “The Wrestler”. Anne Hathaway was incredible in this role and the whole movie played out with exactly the tension one would expect to see from a diverse and dysfunctional family attempting to plan and have a wedding. I was particularly drawn to the emphasis on music in the film, the constant drone of the different groups who made up the wedding band, and the rehearsal dinner performances that were both surprising and surprisingly entertaining. This is a heavy film, heavy on the mind, heavy on the heart, but a recommended film for people who love a good drama. There is no shortage of it.
Now lets discuss Hathaway and her snub. Penelope Cruz won the Oscar, we know this already, and having not seen the other films yet I am hesitant in saying this, but Hathaway should have won the award. Her performance was incredibly deep, from her rehearsal dinner speech which bordered on certifiable yet touched exactly the nerve it needed to touch, to the emotional admittance in a 12 step meeting about the death of her brother. This was an Anne Hathaway like we’ve never seen before, and much like Mickey Rourke, probably her best performance to date. Well at least in my mind. It was incredible how such profound sadness, when set against what is arguably the happiest day of someone’s life, can affect not only the people involved, but the people watching. It left me wondering exactly how you can compare her performance to Cruz’s and pick Cruz over Hathaway. Can someone enlighten me?
Chuck Season 3
I’ve decided to start writing on my blog again and what better way to do it than with a short piece on my favorite TV show. NBC’s Chuck was picked up for a third season today after weeks of wild speculation and rumors. Needless to say I kept more than busy in the last 15 days thanks to TV By The Numbers “15 Days of Chuck” and I can say that I, and many Chuck fans, are really glad to know the show is coming back. There has been crazy debate since the announcement today, with Chuck not returning until March 2010, but I remain very positive since coming back in any form is better than not at all. With the AHA Campaign (http://weheartchuck.blogspot.com), the Subway foot-long campaign, and the various fan support campaigns it’s no surprise that NBC saw an opportunity in a completely engaged fan base. We can only hope they support the show in the off season and promote it well enough during the Olympics to see the ratings jump making next year’s discussion not about renewal but about how many years they are going to pick up. Until then, DVDs, webisodes, and NBC forums will have to fulfill the Chuck craving in all of us.
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