ATTN: Rich Ipad owners

[Max Hayter]

So, what do you use the darn things for? Have they become a must have daily tool? Tell me all, the good and the bad.

The Ipad2 will be released on March 11th. Will you all be buying the new one and selling your old ones for cheap to poor people?

[KJ Christopher]

So, what do you use the darn things for? Have they become a must have daily tool? Tell me all, the good and the bad.

I use mine a lot for reading email, editing word/excel and other office documents. Taking notes in meetings. I'm pretty paperless. I use my dropbox to sync everything together. I also use the Zinio app for all of my magazines subscriptions (except SportsCar). FYI, the zinio subscription for Racecar Engineering is like $100 cheaper than print. And I can print all the articles if I need too. Haven't had the need yet.

I also hook it up to my HK speakers in the garage and listen to Pandora, Indie 103.1 or my iTunes collection while in the garage. And I take it down to Mike's when we're performing meatball surgery on the monster M3 and just listen using the internal speakers. Battery life doing this is multiple days. Just keep the screen turned off.

The Ipad2 will be released on March 11th. Will you all be buying the new one and selling your old ones for cheap to poor people?

Nope. While I liked the updates for the iphone, I don't currently believe I will be using them in the iPad format. Never say never though.

[Will Kalman]

FYI, the zinio subscription for Racecar Engineering is like $100 cheaper than print. And I can print all the articles if I need too. Haven't had the need yet.

Do you get to keep the articles in some form of open-standards format beyond your subscription end-date? I'm always afraid that I'll find I have a bunch of useless files after the subscription or after the digital-subscription vendor goes out of business and their reader app doesn't work on the next OS revision. And Racecar Engineering is one of the publications that I do archive.

[KJ Christopher]

FYI, the zinio subscription for Racecar Engineering is like $100 cheaper than print. And I can print all the articles if I need too. Haven't had the need yet.

Do you get to keep the articles in some form of open-standards format beyond your subscription end-date? I'm always afraid that I'll find I have a bunch of useless files after the subscription or after the digital-subscription vendor goes out of business and their reader app doesn't work on the next OS revision. And Racecar Engineering is one of the publications that I do archive.

Haven't researched. I've printed a few to PDF that I wanted to have handy. I think I did that from the website as opposed to the iPad.

[Steve Ekstrand]

For things that aren't app driven, I often save as or print to pdf and send to my iPad for easy portable reading on the go. I've got academic journal articles, references, the solo rules, etc, all in pdf stored. I even printed to pdf several chapters of a textbook I was teaching out of to prep over vacation. Lot nicer than lugging the 6lbs textbook around. Not sure how one going on in life without an iPad. ;)

But no immediate plans to upgrade to the Ipad2. Nice thing about upgrading/selling/buying used is that they aren't tied to a plan.

[Tom Denham]

Max,ipad? I thought you had these.

[Robert Puertas]

To play this:

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You know you want to!

[John Stimson]

Mostly used for games.

For web surfing or email checking at home, it's often easier to pick up the iPad and carry it around, than to turn on a computer and wait for it to boot, or log in to the Linux box and wait for KDE to load.

Good for connectivity when traveling.

Useful to carry when shopping to check product info, prices, recipe ingredients.

Useful to carry in the car for navigation. The mapping application unfortunately does not step through the directions by itself, nor does it provide spoken directions. There is a navigation program you can subscribe to though. But if you're lost or just decide to add a destination to your trip, you can pull off the road and check the iPad.

I use it as a portable radio that can receive internet streams. We don't get ideal reception of KPCC on the AM/FM radio, so it's better to carry the iPad out to the garage while I work on the cars.

I use it to read, surf the web, or play games when I know I will be waiting somewhere like a doctor's office. Or jury duty (sigh).

[Will Kalman]

For web surfing or email checking at home, it's often easier to pick up the iPad and carry it around, than to turn on a computer and wait for it to boot, or log in to the Linux box and wait for KDE to load.

Standby mode is your friend here. I put my machine on standby and a key press brings it to life in 15 seconds or less. Still not portable like an iPad but certainly not as bad as a cold boot (although my SSD equipped laptop is absurdly fast at both cold booting and coming out of hibernation - and being fully usable without a long disk thrash).

[Max Hayter]

I have a computer on continually in my living room anyway, so I don't see me using an Ipad other than for games and Facetime with my niece in Spain.

I think I might buy a flatscreen for my bedroom instead - my 15 yr old CRT looks like a dinosaur in there!

[Doug Kott]

I use its reflective surface to signal rescue planes. Most excellent if I want to see what my fingerprints look like too.

[Eric Clements]

I replaced the desktop with my iPad. I haven't been in the office for weeks. Mari, the Apple hater, tries to steal it all the (I do not...mlc edit) time.

ProSolo/Solo rules, convention notes, Nationals chiefs, RV generator service manual, email, web, maps, games, Db meter, it's all in there.

[Jason Rhoades]

Got one as a gift last year. Works for a last check of email and Internet while in bed before sleep, and as a way to check them first thing in the morning. Form factor is much better than a laptop while lying down, where a normal keyboard is awkward.

Used it as a radio in the Camaro in the drive down from Sacramento last September. Over 3G, only lost Pandora for about 10 minutes in one spot.

Works well for consumption of content (music, video, web, email, e-reading) but not so hot for content creation. Sure, you can do it, but there are almost always better ways. 1024x768 isn't much of a workspace.

If everyone in the meeting has them, fine, but if you're the only one, you'll look like a tool.

Max, if I were you I'd wait a few months, as there will be some legitimate alternatives out soon.

Not to mention
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[Toby Larsson]

FYI, the zinio subscription for Racecar Engineering is like $100 cheaper than print. And I can print all the articles if I need too. Haven't had the need yet.

Do you get to keep the articles in some form of open-standards format beyond your subscription end-date? I'm always afraid that I'll find I have a bunch of useless files after the subscription or after the digital-subscription vendor goes out of business and their reader app doesn't work on the next OS revision. And Racecar Engineering is one of the publications that I do archive.

I have subrciptions that ended several years ago but the magazines are still in my library. Not only is the digital Racecar cheaper, I usually get it about two to three weeks earlier than the printed magazine

[Ron Horn]

I use mine daily to browse the web and read e-mail and games.
I have the 16gb - 3g and we turn on the 3g when we go on vacation.

[Arthur Grant]

I have a computer on continually in my living room anyway, so I don't see me using an Ipad other than for games and Facetime with my niece in Spain.

I think I might buy a flatscreen for my bedroom instead - my 15 yr old CRT looks like a dinosaur in there!

You can buy a new 24 inch monitor, a net book with video chat capability and have money left over vs. an iPad. Where any of the pads shine is portability, briefing customers, reading books and documents in any format, and watching movies on the go. I hate my iPhone (or really AT&T) so adding the capability to a device like iPad that ties me to a phone carrier is not an incentive. Same problem I have with Xoom or Galaxy Tab.

[Randy Chase]

Coming... ChaseCam on the iPad. You will be able to do DashWare videos and compare runs on your iPad. Quick analysis of different laps with data.

[Tadd Ekstrand]

For things that aren't app driven, I often save as or print to pdf and send to my iPad for easy portable reading on the go. I've got academic journal articles, references, the solo rules, etc, all in pdf stored. I even printed to pdf several chapters of a textbook I was teaching out of to prep over vacation. Lot nicer than lugging the 6lbs textbook around. Not sure how one going on in life without an iPad. ;)

But no immediate plans to upgrade to the Ipad2. Nice thing about upgrading/selling/buying used is that they aren't tied to a plan.

Great way to save on college books. Last semester I saved a good $400 on books using the coursesmart & Barnes and Noble app.

[Bob Beamesderfer]

Max, if I were you I'd wait a few months, as there will be some legitimate alternatives out soon.

But not necessarily cheaper.

[Bob Beamesderfer]

For things that aren't app driven, I often save as or print to pdf and send to my iPad for easy portable reading on the go. I've got academic journal articles, references, the solo rules, etc, all in pdf stored. I even printed to pdf several chapters of a textbook I was teaching out of to prep over vacation. Lot nicer than lugging the 6lbs textbook around. Not sure how one going on in life without an iPad. ;)

But no immediate plans to upgrade to the Ipad2. Nice thing about upgrading/selling/buying used is that they aren't tied to a plan.

Great way to save on college books. Last semester I saved a good $400 on books using the coursesmart & Barnes and Noble app.

Now that's very cool. I cringed at the price textbooks back in the, uh, days when turbos ruled WRC. The few prices I see for them now convince me that selling textbooks is lower than dealing heroin or running a white slavery ring.

[Steve Ekstrand]

Anything that destroys the textbook mafya is a good thing.

[Robert Puertas]

Anything that destroys the textbook mafya is a good thing.

I wonder how invested the Textbook publishers are in their own printing capabilities... I'm guessing they do sufficiently small runs that they would be better off out sourcing the printing than doing it in-house.
So, it seems like the industry would actually get a lift from e-book sales. After all, all of those used text book sales that they don't see a penny from would all come back to them in the form of e-book sales.

Plus, the potential for interactive models and video content in e-textbooks would make them 1000x more relevant.

[Arthur Grant]

Anything that destroys the textbook mafya is a good thing.

I wonder how invested the Textbook publishers are in their own printing capabilities... I'm guessing they do sufficiently small runs that they would be better off out sourcing the printing than doing it in-house.
So, it seems like the industry would actually get a lift from e-book sales. After all, all of those used text book sales that they don't see a penny from would all come back to them in the form of e-book sales.

Plus, the potential for interactive models and video content in e-textbooks would make them 1000x more relevant.

Not necessarily. The current and planned editions of Adobe Digital Editions mean that a number for universities, professors, etc can self publish into the digital arean with a very usable work. More over with both Amazon and Google willing to carry self published works, the business model for traditional publishers is begining to morph not unlike what we saw in music. If your in high school or college lit, and need to read one of the classics, more than likely its available free, for a dollar or two, or you can check it out for two weeks free as a digital version from you local library.

The high cost of text books are the result of low volume, high set up costs, plus a captive audience. The first becomes an incentive to publish digitally, the second means the author potentially can gain higher margin by reducing or eliminating the role of the traditional publisher, if the captive audience can be made to go digital. More over the technology is there to enforce a limited time owner ship, hinder sharing or allow rental.

The advantage of Adobe is that it is platform agnostic. Google like wise has some very neat technology.

Only sucks if there is a multi week power failure.

[Arthur Grant]

For things that aren't app driven, I often save as or print to pdf and send to my iPad for easy portable reading on the go. I've got academic journal articles, references, the solo rules, etc, all in pdf stored. I even printed to pdf several chapters of a textbook I was teaching out of to prep over vacation. Lot nicer than lugging the 6lbs textbook around. Not sure how one going on in life without an iPad. ;)

But no immediate plans to upgrade to the Ipad2. Nice thing about upgrading/selling/buying used is that they aren't tied to a plan.

Great way to save on college books. Last semester I saved a good $400 on books using the coursesmart & Barnes and Noble app.

My daughter easily does that using ebay and amazon and knowing the difference between editons. But digital has its strong advantages.