Tag: apple

The iPad Commercial Apple Doesn’t Want You to See

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Apple can be a bit sensitive at times. Apparently they’ve told Newsday to pull a commercial from their website or else they would pull their app from the app store. The video is embedded below (at least until Apple makes Google pull it from YouTube). I guess they don’t like the idea of people smashing their iPad to pieces. I think the video is really funny and actually doesn’t hurt the iPad brand at all, but I’m not Steve Jobs.

Thanks to Consumerist for the story.

If the ad happens to get pulled before you get a chance to see it contact me and I might be able to help you find it using other means.

See also: my review of the iPad.

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UPDATE [5:34 PM CDT]: Apparently Newsday asked YouTube to pull the original video for copyright infringement, so I updated the video to another one. Let’s see how long this one stays up.

New Series Coming Next Week: Favorite iPhone Apps

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Starting next week I’ll be writing a series of posts on my favorite iPhone apps. I’ve tried out quite a few apps and have been able to do some really, really cool things with them that I would never have dreamed of being able to do with a cell phone five years ago. Even though I was a late-comer to the iPhone party I’m now all in. It’s one of the most useful, fun, and innovative products I’ve ever owned.

So, in preparation for this series, I’d like to hear from you. What are the apps that you’ve found that you love? What are some apps that you couldn’t imagine living without now? Which games do you love? Which apps do you hate?

Share your apps in the comments!

UPDATE: I’ll be updating this post with links below to all the reviews I’ve done.

Image by Yutaka Tsutano

The Mindset of 2014 College Grads. What will 2030’s List Look Like?

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We had a conversation at our staff lunch today about the Beloit College Mindset List. The list started at the college as an aid to help their faculty understand how to better relate to new students, but it has grown since its inception into a helpful snapshot for people everywhere to understand how rapidly our culture is changing.

Here’s a snippet from this year’s list:

The class of 2014 has never found Korean-made cars unusual on the Interstate and five hundred cable channels, of which they will watch a handful, have always been the norm. Since “digital” has always been in the cultural DNA, they’ve never written in cursive and with cell phones to tell them the time, there is no need for a wrist watch. Dirty Harry (who’s that?) is to them a great Hollywood director. The America they have inherited is one of soaring American trade and budget deficits; Russia has presumably never aimed nukes at the United States and China has always posed an economic threat.

It’s a pretty fun read with a list of 75 items, some of which made me feel pretty old at the ripe old age of 31.

Looking to the future to when my oldest daughter will graduate (possibly) in the year 2030, I imagine the world will be very, VERY different. Here are some ideas that I think might make the list in twenty years:

  • Will think it’s a bargain to pay $5 per gallon for gas.
  • Won’t have a clue what DVDs or CDs are.
  • Blockbuster won’t even be a memory for them.
  • Apple will be seen as an old, unhip company instead of the elite buzz they have now.
  • Will laugh at their parents talking about facebook, since it will be replaced by something newer and better.
  • Won’t know how to use a computer mouse, since they’ll grow up with touch-screens like the iPad.
  • The daily printed newspaper won’t exist in any form.
  • A “home phone” won’t make any sense in their minds.
  • They won’t understand having to schedule a time to watch a TV show or movie since they’ll be able to watch whatever they want whenever and wherever they are.
  • Going to college will be less popular than taking online classes.

As a church leader, I think it’s good for us to keep an eye on what’s happening in culture around us. I’ve written previously on what churches can learn from the demise of the print industry and I think preachers everywhere should keep their eye on the culture so that they can best present the never-changing message of the Gospel to an ever-changing world. We probably could use an update to the statement attributed to Karl Barth to “Read the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other,” don’t you think?

What do you think the list might include in 20 years? Will my list be accurate at all?

Image by flickr user Matti Mattila

Must Watch Video for All MacBook Owners

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I’ve been a MacBook Pro owner for a little over a year now, and apparently I’ve been winding the cable on my power brick the wrong way this whole time. Lifehacker to the rescue. They posted a video and link the the site Tested that will hopefully help me get a much longer life out of my (expensive) power brick.

The main concept is that you don’t want to put too much tension on the two end of the power cord. That could both create a fire hazard and cause the power brick’s life to shorten. Both are not good in my books.

If you own a MacBook, do yourself a favor and watch the video below. If you’re an Apple hater you’ll probably find humor in the video, too. They take a couple shots at Apple and all of its minions. Good stuff.

Got any tips like this for your Mac products or laptop? Share in the comments!

Six Weeks Later and I Still Love My iPad (Review)

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I’ve had my iPad for about six weeks now, so I thought I’d post some follow up thoughts to my initial review. Bottom line: I still love it!!!

It’s extremely unusual for me to pull out my MacBook Pro (MBP) over the weekend now. Almost everything that I want or need to do I can do on my iPad, and usually do it quicker. It’s really convenient to pull it out and browse the web, check Facebook or Twitter updates, shoot off a couple emails, or play Angry Birds (I’m so addicted to that game). It’s been a great addition to my tech gadgetry.

Here are a few of the things I love about the iPad in no particular order:
– Battery life: it’s flipping amazing. I can use it for about 4-5 hours and it only hits about 50% remaining power. I’ve never seen another device like it.
– Noise: it’s completely quiet (except for pushing the home button). It’s not like the MBP has a jet engine or anything, but it does make some noise. Other laptops I’ve had in the past make even more noise, so having something that produces no noise from cooling fans is awesome, especially when the wife is sleeping next to me.
– Heat: there is none. Again, this relates a lot to using the laptop in bed (which could probably be another post in and of itself), but the iPad NEVER GETS HOT! It’s awesome and I’m not sure how they pull it off. Even my MBP gets pretty hot to the touch at times. Not the iPad.
– Apps: even with the limited selection (for now) there are some really, really nice apps that take advantage of the amazing screen on the iPad. I really like the new Documents To Go app that was released June 1. It does everything I need for basic word processing and office apps (and syncs with Google Docs/DropBox/MobileMe).
– Simplicity: it’s so simple a baby can use it (OK, maybe a toddler). I know because my two year old can turn it on, switch between app pages on the home screen, choose the app she wants to play, and make the apps do what they are supposed to do. It’s really amazing to see.
– Social: it’s a magnet for discussions and better at being social. There have been quite a few times that I’ve been using it out in public and someone has come up and asked me about it. That happens with almost every new tech device, but this seems to happen quite a bit more and the conversations I’ve had have been longer and more in-depth. Pretty cool. Also, when I’m meeting with someone I can just set the iPad on the table and everyone at the table can see what’s on the screen and interact with it. It’s much more social than a laptop.

It’s not a perfect device (hello, Apple: fix the wifi bug soon!!!), but it’s quickly become my go-to computing device. If you need to print stuff frequently (I don’t) you probably won’t like it as much as I do. But if you’re looking for something that’s a lot of fun, easy to use, and just plain works I highly recommend picking up the iPad. I haven’t regretted it once.

What about you? Do you have an iPad? What do you like or hate about it? If you don’t have one, are you planning on getting one? Why or why not? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

iPad Quick Review

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It took me three years to jump on the iPhone bandwagon, but I’ve already jumped on the iPad train. This thing is really, really cool. When I first heard about it from the Steve Jobs keynote I scoffed. I thought this was the biggest miss that Apple has done since the Newton, but I was wrong. This thing is awesome. It’s not quite a computer and not quite a smartphone, but it makes sense to me already. I think it will especially be a really big hit for parents with little kids, as there are already a bunch of apps for it and there will just be more and more that get developed.

If you’re on the fence about getting one, and you have the cash to burn, get it. It’s fun and elegant. It’s not perfect, but it’s still great.

And yes, I did write this post from the WordPress app on my iPad.