Listen to Rush for Cheap! And Other iPad Wonders.

I am really enjoying my iPad.  My wife and I gave each other iPads for Christmas.

What I like especially like about my iPad is the availability of cheap applications, or "apps," that are quickly downloadable.  I am listening to Rush Limbaugh on a radio station broadcasting in New Mexico, and it is loud and clear.  The app is called "Conservative Talk Radio," and it cost $3.  In addition to Rush I can listen to a long list of other conservative pundits, assuming they are currently broadcasting.

I am a Rush 24/7 user, having paid around $25 for the privilege.  However, listening to that on my regular PC laptop isn't nearly as good.  There are often delays due to cache and other issues.  Listening on my iPad is much better -- no delays, no hiccups, it just works.  Apple's technology is just superior.

Other apps I use are for watching live television from Europe and other areas of the world.  I like to watch French television to improve my French, and the broadcasts are clear, the audio perfect, and the audio and video perfectly in sync (there is no time gap between them, as you sometimes see on a PC).

I can also watch the BBC broadcasts as well as television stations in Russia, China and South America.

Another app (free) allows me to watch NASA television, live.  The other night I watched astronauts frolicking within a space station, plus the control room in Houston, as well as various presentations.

Most apps that I add to my iPad are automatically uploaded to my iPhone as well, over the "cloud."  Photos are interchanged between iPad and iPhone automatically as well.

Other apps that I use on my iPad are these:

Skype -- Free phone calls to anyone in the world, with video as well as audio.  I talked to my cousin in Dallas, and a friend in South Carolina, and it worked perfectly.

YouTube -- Has a free app that works far better than accessing YouTube from a browser.  I like to watch "French in Action" videos in bed at night, just before sleep.

eBooks -- Read books on your iPad, many of them free.  I am reading "Les Miserables" on it.

Kindle -- I buy almost all of my books in Kindle format, and they are accessible from my pc, my iPad and my iPhone.

iTunes -- Music!  I rarely use this app, as I prefer using my pc to burn purchased songs to a CD.  However, it allows one to use his iPad as a kind of skinny boom box.  I like to sometimes listen to Beatles music while shaving in the morning.

Blogger -- With this free app I can post to my blogs using my iPad.

Netflix -- I can and do watch movies on my iPad and they are clear and the audio perfect.

Foreign Language Dictionaries -- I have free apps for French and Spanish, useful tools for a student of languages (as I am).

Texting -- This is not an app, it is built in to iPads.  I can and do text friends and relatives who have either iPads or iPhones.  Unfortunately, you can't text people who have non-Apple phones....but maybe there's an app for that!  I'll check.  (Update:  there are several.)

Should you get an iPad?  Heck yes.

Practical Uses of an iPad

Okay I have a new iPad, an early Christmas present. I never really wanted one before because you can't (I thought ) use them for spreadsheets or word processing. However, I was wrong about that. I just bought an app for $10 that produces spreadsheets similar to and compatible with Excel. It also allows you to word process and do graphic presentations.

Blogger has an app that allows me to blog from my iPad, and I'm doing that now, mainly to try out its capabilities.

So an iPad allows one to do these tasks, assuming he has a WiFi connection:
1. Browse the Internet;
2. Blog;
3. Take photos and videos (Internet not required);
4. Read and send email and tweets:
5. Download and play videos and music;
6. Stream both audio and video from the Internet, like on YouTube (I listened to Rush today and the iPad has a port for connecting earphones);
7. Buy apps to play games, like the popular "Angry Birds";
8. Use other applications like spreadsheets and word processing.
9. Read books in Kindle format using a free app.

You can do all of these things with any modern laptop, but the advantage of an iPad is its portability and long battery life. You can put it in your briefcase, or in your purse if you have the mini model, making it usable for work or entertainment from an airport, a mall, a park or just about anywhere.

Rainy Day

It's a rainy day and the wind has blown most of the dead leaves off of my persimmon tree, revealing a lot of unpicked fruit. I took a photo of the tree and am attempting my first post from my new iPad.

I took the picture with my iPad but can't say I am terribly impressed with the quality.  My iPhone takes much better pictures.

Wifey and I gave ourselves an early Christmas present, two new iPads.  She got the mini and I got the regular size, though I would have been just as happy with the mini:  the quality of this new product is great and it is more transportable than the larger sized iPad.  Both iPads stream videos with exceptional clarity.

I should note that wifey's major task with hers is to conquer the next level of "Angry Birds."

Telecommuting and Working From Home

I am working from home this week, logging into the network at work via logmein.com (it's great for remote working).  I found out that I can even turn on my camera at work and see who's in the conference room (where I generally work).  My associate was surprised when I described to him what he was wearing.  "I was watching you in the conference room" I explained.  "You sneaky devil you," he exclaimed.

I am actually getting work done from my home office and it is pretty cool.

Logmein is free to try and they don't bug you about becoming a paid subscriber.  I will though, it's worth the price of $69 per year per computer.

Apple Unveils the New IPad

Steve Jobs unveiled the new Apple IPad yesterday.  It is a new computing device somewhere between an IPhone and a laptop computer.

The Ipad has a much larger screen than an Ipod or an Iphone and only weighs one and a half pounds.  Users can watch movies, listen to music and surf the web, send and read email, and look at photos, among other tasks.  Unlike an Iphone, the Ipad can download files from the web.  Like an Iphone, the Ipad has a digital keyboard that Jobs says is very easy to use.

Pricing for the new device will be between $499 and $829, depending on options like 3G and storage space.

Apple continues to be the number one innovator in personal computing, in my opinion.  The new Ipad is a computer, one that can easily fit in a briefcase.  However, can it be programmed for Excel and Word?  Without these office applications, the Ipad's use will be limited and it will be the equivalent of a very large Iphone:  still very useful, but not a replacement for a laptop.

Would I buy one?  You bet.

Via:  UK Mail Online

Rush Limbaugh's New HD Video Cam

Subscribers to Rush Limbaugh's 24/7 club can now watch Rush live in high definition.  I often listen to Rush on my computer but today decided to check out his new HD video cam.  It is amazing.  The quality and size of the video stream are greatly improved.

At the right is an actual-size screen capture I made of Rush's broadcast today.