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The Apple iPad - Turn Ons and Turn Offs
I’d be a bad parent to throw the iPad into the same category as one of my kids, but I do love it.
Yes, it has only been a week and I’m sure that I’ll find some of the flaws that the anti-iPadders are talking about, but thus far, they have yet to materialize.
So, in the spirit of a Playboy centerfold...
Turn On’s:
- Yes. It turns on instantly. Just like my phone and my MacBook when I don’t shut it down. I simply push the button and I’m online. It is the way that computers should be. The fact that people have to wait 5-minutes for Windows to boot up in 2010 is an embarrassment to the human race.
- The Kindle – The Kindle on the iPad just rocks. Some people complain about the glare, but I spent most of this past weekend on the beach reading off of it and it was fine. I didn’t have to reposition my chair, didn’t have to move around or tilt it in an uncomfortable way. Yes, there was a glare, but not nearly as bad as I get on a laptop.
- The Kindle II – Best practice – if the white background hurts your eyes (it does mine) switch to black background with white text. Eyes all better.
- Family time – Because of the form factor, it is a great family game machine. I kill zombies with my son and serve diners with my daughter. We curl up on the couch together and play. I busted out Pictionary on it the other night and all four of us spent about 45 minutes drawing and guessing and had a blast. There is a version of Sorry I’m aching to try.
- Video – Because it is true HD, I find that I’m watching more video (not Hulu yet, though) on it than on my laptop. We are a one TV family and I like that while my wife watches television, I can watch quality video on the iPad in another room. Check out 'The Raven' for a perfect example.
- iPhone apps work – this is really nice.
- Bedtime stories – There are some amazing kids books out there and it is cool, especially Alice in Wonderland, how they work. I hope more come out.
- Google Maps – It is generally a cool application, but having the iPad on the counter and looking at a map makes me feel like a modern day Magellan.
- Netflix – Hell yes. Watch instantly kills on the iPad.
- BoingBoing – They’ve built a really nice interface specifically for the iPad.
- Video – Apple needs to get over this petty squabble with Adobe and support Flash. Apple is asking all web developers to support a different video standard and that is kind of dumb. Hulu is coming out with a premium version soon that will support the iPad. That will be nice to see.
- Weight – Despite the form factor, it is a bit heavier than I was expecting. Not that it weighs a ton, but compared to a Kindle, it is different.
- No Social Books – My big vision for Kindle / iPad / etc. is that they build a social service that allows me to see how other people mark up their books. Brad Feld has a great book shelf and actually does a good job sharing what he reads. Other people I follow, not so much. I’d love to not only see what they are reading, but also see their mark ups and notes. I’d pay a bunch for that service. Shelfari gets kind of there, but I'd like to see what people I follow jot down in the notes.
- Publishers aren’t quite there yet – I saw the video for Mygazines and that is what pushed me over the edge to buy an iPad. Their content isn’t for me, but I love their vision and I hope that other publishers get on board with similar types of services. I'd really like to see Golf Digest put out an iPad edition that has tight integration and video.
- Fragility – Mabye it is because I’ve had my iPhone for a long time and I’m used to it. Maybe it is because my iPhone has a little condom it sits in. For whatever reason, I don’t think of my iPhone as that fragile. The iPad on the other hand, I feel like I’m carrying around a precious plate of glass. I’m worried that if it drops, if it lays wrong in my bag, if I stare at it the wrong way, It will break. Hopefully that will go away.
- iTunes – I’ve always felt that for managing music, iTunes was okay. Add Podcasts, books and videos and it starts to suck. Add another profile or another device and it becomes totally worthless. I have things on my phone that I don’t want on my iPad and vice versa. It should be easier to manage these profiles independently of one another. Right now the experience fails huge.
- App Splurge – One thing I didn’t account for was the limited number of free iPad apps. As soon as I got it home, I had to spend $50 on books and apps. Not the end of the world, but at ~10% the purchase price, it was a surprise.
- Fingerprints...
- Video – I’ve heard that there is a pretty nice VGA / HDMI cable that you can hook to your television, but I’ve got no experience with it. It would be cool to see. It would be cool to see this used as a presentation device too and I’m sure that at Web 2.0 next month, it will be.
- Business apps – I like having access to the information for work, but I haven’t had the opportunity to check it too frequently yet. Right now, I’m still rocking 3-screens so anything too important, I use my laptop.
- 3G – I opted not to get 3G. For one, I’d rather eat broken glass than give more money to AT&T. Second, I’m rarely in a spot where 3G works and wi-fi isn’t available. As more restaurants and cities make it available, the need for 3G will dwindle.
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- The iPad, A Story. [Part 1] (macstories.net)
- Steve Jobs Confirms iPad 3G Will Be in Best Buy Stores on April 30 (crenk.com)
- Social Media Updates for 2010-04-25 (chris.pirillo.com)
- Review: Why iPhone OS 4 will make Apple's iPad a knock-out hit (mobile.venturebeat.com)
- My iPad Adventure So Far (ducttapemarketing.com)
A Must Read for Managers - Netflix Freedom & Responsibility Culture
Culture
I loved this presentation that was leaked by Netflix. Not only is it a great recruitment tool, providing some visibility into what the culture and expectations at Netflix are like, it also espouses the importance of giving employees freedom and flexibility.
I'm less interested in the vacation policy. Being in sales, the vacation policy is whatever you want once you've hit your number. Seems like it is the same at Netflix. I'm much more intrigued by the lack of processes and approval at Netflix. It is nice to see a big company encourage smart risk and recognize people appropriately.
It is a must read for anyone that runs a company or builds a team, especially a growing one.
As always, thanks TechCrunch.
View more presentations from reed2001.
Customer Service - Compare and Contrast - Updated
I'm Trying Real Hard
This was frustrating. From Netflix:
Aaargh. It's infuriating when you try to do the right thing only to be kept down because two big companies can't seem to get along on something as silly as DRM. I do love the watch instantly service from Netflix. It is great, but this is just a drag, I'm finally a fanboy and this is what I get.Watching instantly on your computer
Our apologies — instant watching is currently not supported for Macintosh. Our goal is for Netflix members to enjoy movies and TV shows on whatever screen they want. We're required to use Digital Rights Management to protect movies watched instantly online, and right now we only have approval for this protection on Windows Operating systems, not the Mac. Apple does not license their DRM solution to third parties, which has made this more difficult, but we are working with the studios and content owners to gain approval for other solutions. As soon as a studio-approved DRM for the Mac is available to us, whether from Apple or another source, we will move quickly to provide a movie viewer that enables you to watch movies from Netflix instantly on your Mac. In the meantime, you can use your account to watch instantly on any compatible PC, and Intel-based Macintosh computers can watch movies instantly using Boot Camp, Parallels, or Fusion to run Windows.
