Hey tx2sturgis

[Freebird]

It's a dark day here at the Nelson household. My son Dylan won an Apple IPad II in a raffle. He doesn't have it yet, they are shipping it to him and he is supposed to have it by April 1st. I told him he could keep it but it can't leave his room.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Funny....well you know I can take it off your hands...I'd pay a fair price for it!

 

 

Actually I bet you end up impressed...they are really cool....Im in midland sitting in my sleeper using the ipad as I write this...

 

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Back home now...on the iMac....

 

April 1st? Hope thats not some kinda joke they are playing on him...its in bad taste if it is....

 

 

[Freebird]

No, it's not a joke. It's supposed to ship on the 1st and arrive on the 6th. It was not some online contest. He was at a fund raising raffle/dinner with his grandmother. I figure if nothing else, we can use it for a paper weight.

[Redneck]

I don't like my mac book much but I love my Ipad.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

No, it's not a joke. It's supposed to ship on the 1st and arrive on the 6th. It was not some online contest. He was at a fund raising raffle/dinner with his grandmother. I figure if nothing else, we can use it for a paper weight.

 

 

So, uh....you wont even LOOK at the Forum Runner app? Just to see what VR looks like on there?

 

Yeah...right....

 

Since you guys seem to be all windows, all the time, you might have some questions...if so, I'm here for ya boss...

 

 

If he hasnt already done this, I would go ahead and download iTunes, and get his music library imported. That way the iPad will be ready to activate and synch. I'm assuming the benefit people are sending it sealed in the box of course, otherwise, they may have done some setup to it before the kid gets it.

 

I wonder if he will be getting the 3G version...if so, you will have the choice of a data plan so it will be able to surf the internet by using the cell towers. If not, its a wifi device only, so make sure you have wifi enabled on your household internet router.

 

If he wants to pre-load photos, set up a folder just for that, say, on your desktop, and load it with pictures. Now, when the ipad is connected, use the 'photos' tab in itunes to browse to and select that folder.

 

Some windows pc's wont charge the ipad off the USB port, but not to worry. If you see the 'not charging' logo, go ahead and use the included wall charger and give it a couple hours to charge up completely.

 

Oh...and get him a case...I like the Apple case thats $39 ( for the iPad 1) but Griffin makes some nice ones and they are available at your local Wal-Mart, or Best Buy. I think the market will be coming out with some good cases for the iPad2 pretty soon.

 

Lets say hypothetically, that YOU end up taking it on the road, ( and its a GREAT companion on the bike) be sure to get a 2 amp, (or 10 watt) charger that plugs in the cigarette lighter on the bike or in the cage. The little iphone and ipod chargers WONT charge it, even though the connector is the same.

 

When you sign up on the iTunes Store, you can either enter a credit card number, OR buy iTunes cards practically anywhere....discount stores, convenient stores etc. This will let you buy apps that arent free, and of course, buy and rent videos, and download music and books.

 

If he has a collection of mp3s in his music library, they will load up just fine on the ipad, whether they were bought, or 'borrowed' from a sharing site. I dont listen to music that often on the iPad, but you CAN listen to your tunes while you surf the net with the ipad....which is kinda cool.

 

And be sure to turn on home-sharing in itunes and on the iPad...if you do, the iPad will have access to the main computer's music and video library when its in wifi range....everything that is in the itunes library will be available to listen to or watch...(other than rented movies). It cant 'hack' into other parts of the computer, so no worries there.

 

As far as apps..(several are included) ....here are some good ones to download and get you...uh...I mean HIM...started:

 

 

Forum Runner!

 

CNN (news)

 

USA Today (iPad version of the daily paper)

 

ABC.com (free ABC shows)

 

Atomic Web (better than the builtin safari browser)

 

Twitbird (if using twitter)

 

Friendly Facebook (if using facebook)

 

Goby (finds cool stuff near you)

 

Skype (for free internet calling)

 

Amazon (shopping)

 

Amazon Kindle (the kindle reader app)

 

eBay (shopping)

 

Dropbox (file sharing between your devices)

 

Team Viewer (remote control for your home computer)

 

Adobe Ideas (way better than a napkin!)

 

Netflix ( if you have an account)

 

IMDb (movie and TV trivia)

 

PBS (lots of shows and clips)

 

ESPN Score Center (all kinds of sports info)

 

Whats On? (everything on TV and movies)

 

Zinio (magazine reader)

 

Hot Pursuit (fun racing game)

 

Wings (liteweight and relaxing flight sim)

 

Angry Birds (all the kids from 8 to 98 love this game)

 

Cut the Rope (cute game...women LOVE this!)

 

Talking Tom (punch the cat, he falls down)

 

Pool Bar-Online Hustle (save your quarters)

 

Alien Invaders (updated 80's game)

 

PS Express (photo editing)

 

TiltShiftGen (more photo editing)

 

 

Some of those are a couple of bucks but are worth it. With over 300,000 apps, it can be helpful to a 'newbie' to get an idea of some good apps.

 

If you DO find yourself wishing for more horsepower on the iPad, there are several business type apps available, including some 'power point' type apps.

 

Have fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 14, 2011 by tx2sturgis

[Freebird]

No, I actually will not look at the forum runner app. Like I said, this is my son's toy and though I will take a look at it, I won't mess with it much at all. I'm sure that he will appreciate your tips though and I'll make sure he gets them.

 

He told me that it is a base model. WIFI only, no 3G. I already have wireless in the house though and he uses it already with him laptop, his droid and his IPOD.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

No, I actually will not look at the forum runner app. Like I said, this is my son's toy and though I will take a look at it, I won't mess with it much at all. I'm sure that he will appreciate your tips though and I'll make sure he gets them.

 

He told me that it is a base model. WIFI only, no 3G. I already have wireless in the house though and he uses it already with him laptop, his droid and his IPOD.

 

 

We shall see....we shall see....

 

 

 

[friesman]

Kinda like reformed smokers arent they, Don?

 

Brian:stickpoke:

[Freebird]

Worse I think. The first thing I told me son was that I was going to burn it if he becomes obnoxious.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Worse I think. The first thing I told me son was that I was going to burn it if he becomes obnoxious.

 

With an aluminum shell and a BIG lithium battery in the iPad....if you burn it, dont hang around it for very long!

 

 

[Vance]

I see Freebird is keeping an open mind.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

I see Freebird is keeping an open mind.

 

 

Hes afraid of letting a little 'pleasure' into his computer world. I know some other guys like that.

 

 

[Aussie Annie]

Brian....got a question. For our trip to the states would an IPad be all I'll need????????? Just want to be able to email, store photo's and have a ride planner [maps] stored.

Or would I need a laptop?? [Apple of course]

[Condor]

Brian....got a question. For our trip to the states would an IPad be all I'll need????????? Just want to be able to email, store photo's and have a ride planner [maps] stored.

Or would I need a laptop?? [Apple of course]

 

I'd think about picking up a 10" netbook. Should do everything you want... They just don't have a CD.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Brian....got a question. For our trip to the states would an IPad be all I'll need????????? Just want to be able to email, store photo's and have a ride planner [maps] stored.

Or would I need a laptop?? [Apple of course]

 

 

As Condor mentioned, a netbook would work, and it is capable of being a standalone computer, since they normally run Windows XP. I like the iPad for portable computing, but it is NOT a standalone product. It forms a 'relationship' with your main computer. It depends on you being able to activate it and synch it with a home computer, or at least a laptop. So...

 

If you are planning on buying a portable computer when you get to the US, then an inexpensive netbook would work fine...of course an Apple Macbook Air is a fine netbook, but they are NOT cheap. It depends on how careful you want to be with a computer.

 

IF you are willing to buy and activate the iPad at home before you leave...then YES...by all means, an iPad will do a fine job for you. You can surf the web, check email, update facebook and twitter if that applies, check weather, news, listen to music, transfer photos to it with an SD card or USB adapter...and upload videos directly to youtube...they can do it all. You can upload maps as files to the iPad, or use various travel apps, or simply use google maps which is builtin to the iPad. You can watch youtube videos, rent movies, watch tv shows, and even play musical instruments on an iPad. Oh yeah, you can even read books and play games on the iPad!

 

iPads last about 10 hours per charge, so checking email, facebook, and weather reports for an hour or so per day will give you over a week of use. If you buy the 3G model, and pay for an inexpensive data plan, which is $25 per month, you wont even need to be anywhere near a wifi point to do your email and websurfing. It logs on to the cell towers and you have what you need anywhere, even at a rest area, campsite, or scenic park. If your phone has cell service, you will have data on the iPad in most cases. If you dont think you will need the data on the go, you dont have to activate it. And if you use it for a month or two, you can deactivate it later. There is no contract on the data plan.

 

iPads also have a builtin ability to let you know where you left them, if you lose it. You can check in on it's location with an internet connected computer, say, at a library, or use someones iphone to do it, inserting your password in the FindMyPhone app. Many netbooks and laptops are stolen every year...so thats a thought. If you DO lose the iPad, and you cant recover it, you can send a 'wipe' code, and poof...all your data is deleted....so the finder cant use any of your personal data.

 

Hey its only money, right?

 

Let me know if you have any more questions.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2011 by tx2sturgis

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Just thought of this, Annie, someone here could probably activate it for you. Either myself or someone you know here could buy it, activate it, set it up, and get it working for you.

 

Then when you pick it up, you can input your itunes password, get any apps that you need, and also, activate the email and/or facebook accounts. Duh.

 

Never said I was smart!

 

 

 

 

[Aussie Annie]

Thanks for all that Brian. Will probably purchase here, so can get used to it. But when I do will pick your brains for help with set up

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Thanks for all that Brian. Will probably purchase here, so can get used to it. But when I do will pick your brains for help with set up

 

I dont actually know if you have the same 3G cell service there as we have here in the USA...so...

 

 

You can always buy the wifi only model, and then buy an inexpensive MiFi unit here if you find that you need cell data here. If thats not a concern, you can certainly use the wifi in motels and coffee shops and truck stops, if you need it.

 

You know you can always call me via skype if you need help...skype lets you make free calls around the world via internet. I'm not familiar with the Australian iTunes store, or the hardware differences, if any, but can certainly fill you in on things from the USA perspective.

 

 

[autopilot]

No, it's not a joke. It's supposed to ship on the 1st and arrive on the 6th. It was not some online contest. He was at a fund raising raffle/dinner with his grandmother. I figure if nothing else, we can use it for a paper weight.

 

I just ordered the 32 gig, wi-fi+3G, myself, this past Friday and they said the same thing ....ship April 1, deliver April 6. My son has a first gen ipad and after playing around with his a bit, I was sold! The touch response of the display, the virtually instant start-up, the apps, the size and convenience........ I may trade my current phone on an iphone,as well. My problem is I think I'm going to have to buy one for my wife, too! The only real disappointments are that since Steve Jobs hates Adobe, the ipad will not play any flash video done with Adobe....that and the fact you can't just arbitrarily "run" windows stuff on it. (that may not matter because I believe all I'd have to do is log in to my big windows computer remotely and then use everything I need, in a window on the ipad.....I think!)

 

Suffice to say, I'm rather looking forward to having it.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

I just ordered the 32 gig, wi-fi+3G, myself, this past Friday and they said the same thing ....ship April 1, deliver April 6. My son has a first gen ipad and after playing around with his a bit, I was sold! The touch response of the display, the virtually instant start-up, the apps, the size and convenience........ I may trade my current phone on an iphone,as well. My problem is I think I'm going to have to buy one for my wife, too! The only real disappointments are that since Steve Jobs hates Adobe, the ipad will not play any flash video done with Adobe....that and the fact you can't just arbitrarily "run" windows stuff on it. (that may not matter because I believe all I'd have to do is log in to my big windows computer remotely and then use everything I need, in a window on the ipad.....I think!)

 

Suffice to say, I'm rather looking forward to having it.

 

 

Team Viewer is a free app that lets you remotely login to your home pc or mac...its cool and it works great! If your on a fast wifi connection, its pretty quick...on a slower 3G link...it can take a while to get something done, but you can optimize the settings to accommodate a slow connection.

 

The only real downside is you need to leave the home computer on, although a mac has a sleep mode that lets it wakeup when team viewer knocks on the 'door'. Windows may also have that ability, I dont know.

 

 

 

As far as the Adobe Situation:

 

Its a love-hate thing. Adobe apps are fine...many are available on the mac, iphone, and ipad. Its when they went and bought Flash and Macromedia that things got complicated.

 

Flash has WAAAY too many security holes and bugs in it, its outdated, and its a battery and CPU hog.

 

Lots of websites still use it, but lots of other websites are either ditching it for HTML5, or adding some other workaround for all the iPad users out there. Or they just provide an 'app for that'.

 

There are only a few websites that I cant see the videos when using the iPad. I just get over it and do something else. They need us more than we need them!

 

Here is a short piece from the Wikipedia article about HTML5 Video:

 

Usage:

 

As of April 2010, in the wake of Apple iPad launch, a number of high-profile sites have started to serve H.264 HTML5 video instead of Flash for user-agents identifying as iPad.

As of May 2010, HTML5 video is not currently as widespread as Flash videos, though recent rollouts of experimental HTML5-based video players from DailyMotion (using Ogg Theora and Vorbis format), YouTube (using the H.264 and WebM formats) and Vimeo (using the H.264 format) suggest that interest in adopting HTML5 video is increasing.

 

 

So the websites are adapting to the changing needs of the users. As well it SHOULD be.

 

 

But yes, you will love the iPad. See my previous post for some cool apps to get you started. Dont forget Dropbox...its really cool and its free. With Dropbox on your home pc and the DropBox app on your ipad, its super simple to drag and drop files wirelessly from one device to the other..photos, pdf documents, small audio files, ringtones, whatever. You wont be using it for large video files though!

 

Forum Runner for iPad is a couple of bucks but it really speeds up loading of this website...it strips out most of the graphics and HTML codes and just lets you access and read the posts...quickly and efficiently...especially helpful when your on a 3G connection.

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2011 by tx2sturgis

[Guest tx2sturgis]

You KNOW youve arrived when you have a whole THREAD named after you. (never mind that its misspelled).

 

[Freebird]

what you talkin' about Willis?

[Lone Eagle]

Brian, dumb question. I have a Window's XP home desktop and use both Outlook (my main e-mail account) and Outlook Express (my secondary account for STAR Touring business only). I am not that savy on all this computer "stuff" - but may be in the market for something portable to carry around - to be able to check e-mail, etc. Would the IPAD do that - or am I "stuck" to getting the laptop, whatever? Good thread - thanks for sharing your knowledge on this.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

what you talkin' about Willis?

 

Thankyou. Thankyou verymuch.