My stab at a review of the Apple iPad

It has been awhile since I decided to review a new product that hit the marketplace. I suppose nothing has caught my eye lately but I feel as if I should throw out my two-cents when it comes to the new Apple iPad. It hit the stores earlier this month and I have had two opportunities to play with one. After some time to digest it, here are some of my thoughts...

The iPad struck me as being a little heavy but the overall size is nice.  For those of you unfamiliar with it, the iPad is basically a big iPod Touch.  It is caught somwhere between a cell phone and a laptop.  You cannot make phone calls on it and you cannot install software on it in the traditional sense.  In that way, it is nothing like a cell phone or a laptop!  Confused yet?  Think of it as a portable way to do all of your social networking.  It is great for surfing the web, listening to music, sharing photos, writing email and watching movies.  It is not so great for word processing or other heavy functions.

(Going forward, I am going to pretend that you are at least somewhat familiar with the concept of how it works and skip any additional, generic descriptions.)

The screen on the iPad is beautiful...the picture is great.  The touch screen works well but it seems to me that the rate sensor (or gyro) is a little slower than that of the iPod Touch.  In other words, when you flip the iPad from vertical to horizontal in your hands, it is sometimes slow to chnage format or does not change at all.  That is quite annoying...the most annyoing thing that I have found to date.

Other facets of usage seemed a little sluggish.  I though the map application was a little slow and the email system had a little lag to it.  Now, don't get me wrong, all of these functions run well, but they did come across as slightly less than blazing to me.  I might be expecting too much!

The current version of the iPad has Wifi capability only.  At the end of the month, they are coming out with a no-contract 3G version where you can connect to the Interent thorugh the ATT network.  That will be neat becuase you could sign up for one month of service at a time, with no contract.  You can also sign-up and cancel right for the iPad itself and not have to call or visit an ATT store.

Other impressions...I thought that YouTube videos played back alittle grainy...but that could be their poor quality and not that of Apple.  I also do not like how small iPod Touch apps show up on the screen...they are tiny!  I would hope that most app vendors would make full iPad-sized apps in the near future.

All-in-all, I really like the new iPad but I do not feel that it would do more for me than my iPod Touch already does.  It might be neat with the 3G function though.  You could sit in a cemetery and upload data to Find-A-Grave in real time (although witthout photos becuase there is no camera on the iPad).  That would also assume the cemetery is within ATT's coverage area.

For now, I will probably not buy an iPad because of its price tag, ranging from $499 to $849 based upon size and 3G capability.  I would gladly accept one as a gift for my birthday but would probably not buy myself one right now...it's nice but not so nice that I would spend my own money!  If the next version comes out with a camera, I would probably jump all over it...but that would be a few years down the road.

What I am genealogically thankful for this year.

I know this is a day late but I was thinking about it last night...what are the top ten things I am thankful for in genealogy this year?  It took me awhile to fill this list but here we go, in no particular order...

1. State budget cuts this year did not severely hamper the Library of Virginia.  In past years, they were forced to lay off employees or even close for extra days during the week.
2. Family Tree Maker 2010 finally seems to be getting stable.  I think I have finally made the long-term switch to that product.
3. Ancestry.com went public this year - it is now on the stock market.  This may turn out to be a terrible thing in the long run but for now it seems positive.  They have a huge rush of cash into the company so I would expect a lot of expansion in the near future.
4. Getting my new office set up.  I am sitting here typing in it right now!  I am not finished with it yet but I should be done by the end of the weekend.  I mostly have to do some trim work and painting.
5. I set out to create a free set of genealogy lessons by email, for the general public, and I actually did it.  I wrote 20 lessons, set up a website and an email delivery system.  You can check it out here:  USA Family Tree.  I have over 1,000 subscribers.
6. I was directed to the Library of Congress site Chronicling America - a free database of US newspapers from the late 1800s to the early 1900s - great site!
7. I bought an iPod Touch.  This, more than anything, changed my life this year.  For about $300, I have a very powerful computer in my pocket at all times.  I am even able to have a viewable copy of my GEDCOM with me whenever I need it.
8. My GPS unit, great for finding my way around old country roads.  It keeps me from pulling over constantly to read a map.  It also helps me to record the coordinates of places that I find, such as an old cemetery.
   
9. I finally got the picture of my great-great-great-grandmother that I knew existed but never took the time to track down.  I found a new cousin, told them how to find the photo, and they tracked it down for us...very exciting.
10. Finally found the middle name of my great-great-grandfather, Joseph Addison Vass, on his daughter's SS-5.  We always assumed his middle name was Andrew so this was a great find.

Well, that is my genealogical to-be-thankful-for list.  What is on yours this year?

Crazy week, lots going on...

It has been a crazy week for me. My free, genealogy lesson site has been taking off - USA Family Tree. I just passed the 600 subscriber mark. My Facebook and Twitter followers are growing as well. I have been swamped at work on top of all this.

I went out and bought an iPod Touch, deciding if I should break down and eventually get an iPhone. I am really leaning towards it now! I have not played around with the Touch for genealogy purposes yet but I have used it for Internet and email, with great results. If you have been on the fence about getting one, I would go for it!

I've got several things in the works at the moment. I am thinking about adding some special pages to my genealogy lesson site, for members only - but still free. I am also thinking about moving this blog from Blogger to Wordpress...any thoughts on that? Wordpress has a lot more features and I have a lot more control over the look and feel of the site.

There are so many thoughts swimming around in my head that I can barely function. On top of that, we are getting ready to move into our new house! The next month will be crazy for me!