according to jeff

Read John Fidel’s review of PocketBible on his iPad.

Laridian’s PocketBible for iPad is Here

I’ve had my iPad for about a month now, and have concluded that I am an iPad fanboy.

While the iPad can be used to watch movies and listen to music and lots of other stuff, too, my use of the iPad has really boiled down to the following.

• Reading the Bible via PocketBible from Laridian — as I write this, we’re finishing up the free iPad update, so this should be available to you “soon” also.
• Reading my Amazon Kindle books — faithful readers may recall that I am a fan of the Kindle 2. Since a Kindle reader is available for my iPad, I can now download and read books on my iPad, just as I did on my Kindle. This is particularly nice because my wife, who didn’t think she would like reading on the Kindle, likes reading my Kindle. So, now she reads on the Kindle and I read on the iPad. Plus, we can share the same Kindle library!
• Quick and easy Web browsing — the iPad turns on and off so fast that it is ideal for quickly checking a Web site, such as facebook or my Yahoo fantasy baseball teams. While a laptop is nearly as portable, there’s something liberating about how quickly the iPad turns on and off. No need to lift a lid, boot up or login, wonder if I should plug in to charge the battery, etc.

Before the iPad was released, proponents of eBooks were concerned about two possible issues with the iPad.

1. The weight of the device would tire the hands
2. The backlight would tire the eyes

I was concerned about these as well, but have now used the iPad enough to have an informed opinion about them.

1. The weight of the device would tire the hands — the iPad is noticeably heavier than the Kindle. The added weight (and perhaps the size) mean that I don’t use the iPad during some activities, where I might have used the Kindle before. For instance, the Kindle is easily held while walking on a treadmill. I don’t think I’ll hold the iPad while on the treadmill. However, this might be resolved by adding a stand to the treadmill or buying a case that makes holding the iPad easier.
2. The backlight would tire the eyes — I haven’t noticed an issue with this. While I find the Kindle equally easy to read, the iPad’s backlight means that it can be read “in the dark”. The Kindle requires some kind of external light.

The iPad screen is absolutely beautiful. However, one side-effect is that it collects fingerprints like a dime-novel detective. I’m constantly needing to polish it with a fine cloth. (In fairness, however, when the iPad is on, the fingerprints are not noticeable.)

The battery life has been equally impressive. While it won’t run as long as my Kindle, it lasts much longer than my iPhone. Of course, my iPad doesn’t have a cell radio that it is powering and monitoring, so the comparison isn’t exactly fair. Nevertheless, I find that I sometimes need to ration my use of my phone to get the battery through the day. I never have to do this with the iPad.

The iPad case feels slick, like the original iPhone. As a result, I had to get over the feeling that I needed to grip it carefully to avoid it slipping through my hands. With use, however, I find that it is easily held onto and my perception of slickness, while not going away entirely, has lessened.

Partly as a result of the slickness and partly because I’m hip like that, I’ve been on the lookout for a stylish folio case. I was hopeful that Rickshaw Bagworks would meet this need. However, their first iPad offering is a sleeve, not a folio.

I opted for the non-3G version of the iPad, which also means that my iPad doesn’t have a GPS receiver. Since my iPhone has 3G and GPS, I decided that simple WiFi connection would be more than sufficient. This has proven correct; I’ve not yet been a situation where I needed 3G nor GPS.

Some have lamented that the iPad doesn’t do multitasking. Meh. Everything starts and stops fast enough. Fullscreen apps are easy to use. I haven’t missed it. (Plus, iPhone OS 4 is to have some sort of multitasking. I’m not yet convinced it will be a positive step forward.)

Others have lamented the lack of Flash support. Meh.

Perhaps the biggest disadvantage of having an iPad is getting ribbed by your friends for being a gadget-boy. Just shake it off, and tell yourself that they’re just jealous. Because, probably, they are!

The spate of “reader” comments continues. Here’s just a sample of the insightful comments that I’ve been receiving.

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It has been a while, dear readers, since I offered any new fare. However, I make it up to you now by publishing some of the random comments that have made it through the WordPress spam filter.

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What do these commentators all have in common? Is it:

• They are all excellent writers themselves?
• They all (well, mostly) have a wacky name? (I’m looking at you, “Proven Work At Home Income Opportunities”)
• They all are huge fans of my blog (but then, who isn’t?)?
• They all are, shall we say, punctuation challenged?
• They all are unfailingly polite?
• They all have an ingenious plan for how to promote their own link by adding an inane comment on an otherwise excellent article?

Hmm. I don’t know… so hard to choose.

Given (a) that incidents of unexpected acceleration by Toyota vehicles are not statistically significantly different than those for vehicles from other manufacturers (I read that on the Internet so it must be true) and (b) the questions about the accuracy of the alleged incident in California regarding a Toyota Prius that raced up to 90 MPH and couldn’t be slowed (the brakes don’t share wear consistent with the report, the behavior cannot be duplicated, the “victim” has hired a lawyer, etc.), one must wonder whether the class action lawsuit brought by Toyota vehicle owners, alleging the decrease in value of their Toyota vehicles, should be directed to the media, rather than Toyota.

My phone system upgrade is complete, and I’m happy to report that I’m happy with the results.

Here’s what I previously had.

1. An office phone number through QWest.
2. A home phone number through QWest.
3. A cell phone plan through AT&T.
4. A two-line phone in my home office to manage my “work” and “home” phone lines.

As I previously wrote, my two-line phone started having problems and needed to be replaced. This opened the door to think about alternative solutions.

So, here’s what I’ve done.

1. My office phone number has not changed, but my office phone line has been disconnected. My office phone number now rings to my cell phone.
2. My home phone number has not changed.
3. My cell phone number is now my “work” number.
4. My two-line phone in my home office has been replaced with a one line phone and a bluetooth gateway to connect my cell phone to the system.

Now, my “work” number is my cell phone, not a land line into my office. So, even when I am working off-site, I’ll have access to my business phone. When I am home, then the bluetooth gateway connects my cell phone to my home phone system, so I can make and receive cell calls using either my phone system or my cell phone.

Switching my cell phone number to my work number was easy, but did take a few days and a few phone calls to work out.

In summary, I’m pretty happy with the new system, and would recommend both my new Panasonic phone and the XLink bluetooth gateway.

Stephan Pastis, author of Pearls Before Swine, has a funny blog article about a lame email scam: http://stephanpastis.wordpress.com

Today I received the following email, a thinly-veiled and thoroughly unconvincing attempt to have me do something that would result in bad consequences.

Dear Facebook user,

Due to Facebook policy changes, all Facebook users must submit a new, updated account agreement, regardless of their original account start date.
Accounts that do not submit the updated account agreement by the deadline will have restricted.

Please unzip the attached file and run “agreement.exe” by double-clicking it.

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

How many “red flags” to you see? Here are some.

1. I do have a Facebook account, but not with the email account that received this message.
2. Every zip file received via email is suspicious.
3. Every exe file received via email is even more suspicious.
4. Since Facebook requires a login, any changes can be handled online when I login.
5. Legitimate emails from real companies rarely contain such obvious grammar errors.
6. The header indicates that the email isn’t from facebook.com at all, but from exploitativehf79@[somewhere].com.

Since you’re already a regular reader of my blog, I know that you’re smart enough not to fall for something as lame as this. But perhaps you can find even more reasons to be suspicious of this email. If so, leave a comment and share your insights.

I splurged today and bought a new app for my iPhone: FlightTrack.

One of the features that makes the iPhone such a great experience is the ability to find and download apps via iTunes and the AppStore, either directly on the phone or from the computer that I synchronize with my iPhone. So, as I was sitting in the airport, ready to send Bethany off on her flights to Oberlin, Ohio (actually to Detroit and then to Cleveland), I found, purchased, downloaded, and configured FlightTrack to show the status of her “to” and “from” flights.

At $4.99, FlightTrack is one of the more expensive iPhone apps. However, it is super easy to use and very convenient.

FlightTrack provides the same information that is available at www.flightstats.com. It provides arrival and departure times, gate numbers, weather information, and even a flight map. For instance, Bethany’s flight is currently over Lake Michigan at 29,000 feet and traveling at 475 mph.

While it’s kind of fun to follow a flight, I expect that it will be most useful to determine if a flight is on time or delayed.

For being the kind of story that makes me say, “Bah!”, Wuthering Heights makes the naughty list.

I’ve just suffered through the 1939 film edition of this Gothic romance, and the only further thing I have to say is this: “Bring on Jane Austen.”