One Month In … Whattya Think?

Tempus fugit and all that, but it’s been a month since I posted And We Have Website!, the first post of actual content made to the New! Improved! gneech.com [1].

Whattya think so far? What have you liked or disliked the most? What would you like to see more of? Right now I’m still in fairly experimental mode, trying to work out how much interesting (or at least potentially interesting) content I can post here without it distracting from getting my “professional” writing done. My goal has been to post at least two “substantive” things a week (whether an opinion piece, a fictionlet, a book review, or something similar), peppered with a few more random tidbits every day or every other day. So far it seems to be a good schedule, but I’d be curious to hear if my readers think it’s too much, too little, or if they’d like to see the mix changed.

(Note: I make no promises to accommodate readers’ wishes … I’m pretty notorious for asking everybody’s advice then just doing whatever it is I think is right anyway. But I like to know where I stand before I go jumping off the cliff.)

Lastly, I’d like to know how you got here. I expect most people reading this are doing so through my LiveJournal, which has been acting as a more personal sort of proto-blog for almost a decade now … but I know that some of you out there have come through Facebook and even a few from Twitter, so give a shout-out and let me know who you are!

-The Gneech

[1] A little in-joke, there. Back in the ooooold days of the web, my AOL homepage was titled “The Gneech’s New! Improved! World Wide Web Page.” Ah, the ’90s, you seem so, I dunno, “over a decade ago,” now.

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Originally published at gneech.com. You can comment here or there.

Yesterday's Technology Tomorrow

Writing a check to pay for air pump service call. So quaint! I feel like I should spell it "cheque."

-The Gneech

Itchy Fingers

FedEx trucks keep driving past my house.

YOU'RE TAUNTING ME AGAIN, UNIVERSE, AREN'T YOU???

I'll get my revenge ... somehow!

-The Gneech

iPad Get! So How Is It, Really? (review)

I thought about doing a spoof video of myself geekgasming as I opened the box a la Stephen Fry, I really did. But in the end, I was thwarted by the fact that Mrs. Gneech wasn’t here to operate the video camera, and that I was too bouncy to wait.

So, how is it really? Is it like a laptop? Or just an iPod? What’s the verdict?

Granted, I haven’t exactly been running the thing through its paces, but I did buy the limited 30 days of 3G access and took the thing with me on some errands, I played the first few minutes of “Sam and Max: The Penal Zone,” and now I’ve got it on the keyboard and I’m posting to my blog. So it’s not a bad little test. I haven’t tried the funkadelic “Periodic Table App” or keyboard toy — I’m looking for a gadget I will actually use, particularly when I’m at conventions. Really, that’s what I wanted it for, to replace my Old and Busted laptop with some New Hotness.

Overall, I like it. While it is heavier than it looks, it’s not so heavy as to be unmanageable. The interface takes a little getting used to, (although people with an iPod/iPhone/iWhatever already will have a much easier time) and the apps need a little more baking. On the other hand, sliding, swiping, and touching the screen quickly become second nature and it won’t be long before you’ll wonder how you managed so long struggling with a mouse.

Regarding the apps, most of the ones ready out of the gate are just iPhone apps with either a big black margin, or blown up to double size and fuzzy as all get out, so they will take some time to catch up. Stanza particularly suffers here, because if you double the size of the app, and then shrink the font down in order to get more words on the screen, they’re still fuzzy from being blown up. Guh. That would quickly give me a headache. The iBook and Kindle apps are much nicer in this regard. iPad native apps that make better use of the larger screen real estate are much better, and by this time next year there will be a lot of awesomeness in that department. (I haven’t tried out the native word processor yet; I’m not sure if I want to go that route or just write to the cloud with Google docs or something. I have yet to see how much writing on the road I’ll actually want to do.)

I will say, the shiny shiny screen can be a turnoff, especially once it’s covered in thumbprints. It’s not a deal breaker, but it is just a tad annoying.

Still, the iPad is exactly what I expected it to be — the first generation of a new and all together different type of computer. This is going to be the “pushbutton easy” machine that will start showing up everywhere — in the doctor’s office to call up patient records, in the waiting room at the doctor’s office in place of a magazine or portable game, in the kitchen looking up recipes, lying in bed and watching that episode of Doctor Who you missed last week, sitting on the tray in front of you on the plane and showing a movie you actually want to see. It’s the internet from your comfy chair. It’s your e-mail while you’re riding the bus. It’s gonna be big.

That said, I don’t necessarily recommend running out and buying one now, unless you particularly want one right now. For me, the iPad came at just about the perfect time, as I was looking to replace my laptop anyway and had the money allocated to spend. Certainly, the apps could use some time to cook, and no doubt next year’s model will have a camera and better multitasking (i.e., any at all).

But if you find yourself gazing longingly at one and you’ve got the money to spend, I say go for it. You won’t be disappointed.

-The Gneech

Originally published at gneech.com. You can comment here or there.