What's Up Mac?

What's Up Mac?

By Bill Rose

When the iPad was first released in the Spring of 2010 I naturally wanted one for all the usual Mac Fanatic reasons. It was cool. It was unique. It was cool. Back then I saw the iPad as a toy strictly for entertainment and little else. To me the big reason to have an iPad was for trips so I could watch a movie, read a book or listen to music.

This summer saw my "perfect storm" of Mac ownership. I already had a great 2010 21.5" iMac tricked out with 8GB of RAM, a Terabyte of hard drive space and married to a 3GB Time Machine backup external hard drive. I just got the iPhone 4 last spring when my carrier Verizon finally got their own version. During the summer I added the Mac notebook of my dreams when I got an 11" MacBook Air. The perfect storm came together when a friend of mine sold me his 16Gb 3G/WiFi iPad 1.

Since owning the iPad I have found out it is handy as a portable entertainment system. I have movies on it plus Netflix, Max Go, HBO Go and the ability to stream any of the 96 digital movies I have on my iMac. I have over a dozen books on iBooks and almost 1000 songs in iTunes. I have a lovely screened in front porch on my house that is my favorite room especially when the weather is nice. I used to set up my notebook Mac on a folding table which took time plus you had to move the table every time you got up. The iPad changed that whole routine. Now the iPad has joined my morning routine of coffee on the porch as I can check email, the news, FaceBook and still read a book while listening to music, I can easily put it on a table when I'm not using it and when I am using it I'm surrounded by all the natural beauty we have here in North Central Florida. Heaven. It's even a great tool to quickly identify a new bird species that has found one of my front yard bird feeders.

But I also have found I can put my iPad to more practical use. I have Pages on it and it came with a Apple keyboard dock so I can actually create content on it. I use Pages to create story boards for fiction writing keeping my iMac desktop for the apps I use to actually write which are StoryMill 4 and Scrivener 2. I can reference my storyboards on my iPad and not have to switch screens on my iMac. It's convenient. It's a cheap multiple screen alternative with the added advantage of having my second screen be a tablet computer. I also use the iPad to get reference material I might need for my fiction writing. Again it's a convenience that saves time and effort. It proves to me that the iPad is more than a toy though I still would not want to replace a notebook with an iPad on a permanent basis.

I have also come to appreciate the visceral thrill of an iPad. I love my iPhone but it's small. The iPad feels more like a computer but it's the perfect size to just carry around. Typical of all Apple products it feels comfortable in the hands and it's cool factor is off the charts. The touch screen makes navigation both easy and natural. The plethora of apps out for the iPad is staggering. My favorites are Zite, BooksApp and iCollect Movies Pro.

Zite is a customizable magazine app. It asks you what your interests are and then it collects content in those areas that might interest you. BooksApp and iCollect Movies Pro are both cataloging apps. You can scan the barcodes on your books or movies to enter them into your database or you can do a Google search or by author or title. I have lots of books and movies and I can never remember all the titles so over the years, especially with books, I find myself buying a title I already own. Now I can see all the titles I actually own so I don't buy the same titles twice. All these apps are available for the iPhone too and you can find them in the App Store.

I like to hang out at Books A Million and the iPad is a perfect companion for these excursions. It's great in the car on longer trips and certainly nice to have around the house. It's also great when you are watching sports to get updated info about a specific player or team or watching a movie and you can't remember an actor or the year it was released. It's still cheating but never again should you be stumped for an answer to the Final Jeopardy question. It's easy to use so other members of the household grab it when they want to reference something and it even comes in handy in the kitchen when you want a chicken recipe you haven't tried yet.

The release of iOS5 and iCloud have made the iPad even better. I love quicker net surfing and tabbed browsing in Safari now. There isn't a lot of content for Newstand yet but I like what I have seen and of course I like the automatic synch features. Most of all I like the new Notification Center. It's far less intrusive and shows everything from text messages, to Facebook updates and breaking news. I also like the new Reminders app which has replaced searching for a pen and notepad when I take messages or when my wife asks me what we need from the grocery store.

For now the iPad 1 is perfect. Like my iPhone 4 I can wait till the next generation comes out and the rumors are an iPad 3 is in the pipeline. I'd like to have a camera so I could capture a hummingbird feeding on my feeders in the front yard and certainly faster is always better. It's also great for a FaceTime walk around conference so I could show distant family the latest changes we have made at Casa Rosa or ask my far handier brothers advice on household repairs or upgrades. It's also great to video conference with them as one lives in Texas and the other in New Jersey. We might even drag my Mom on camera though it takes time before she's ready for her closeups. ; )