Sometimes the glow is so beautiful that I must turn away for a moment.

Well, I finally did it. The inevitable event has a occurred. Today I purchased my first iPad.

I’d like to present you with a completely fair and unbiased review of my new product, but I can’t. I’m happy to admit my limitations in this matter. Unlike most humans, I’d hate to delude myself into thinking I can be clear-minded when I am simply moonstruck my the sweet glow of my new Apple product.

It’s imbued with a fulgent technological beauty. When you touch it, it’s like being pulled into a great masterpiece of art, fully emersed

Photoshoped dramatization of the iPad experience.

within the depth of the frame, being swept away by the brushstrokes. The display is simplicity at it’s finest, perfectly in tune to the flowing feng shui underbelly of the universe.

I am an Apple addict, or applee, as we cats call them. Apple can do no wrong and I do believe that if Apple openly stated their plans to take over the world, I would offer the full and unconditional support of my army of ninja cats without hesitation.

PROS:

• cat friendly operating system, simple & convenient
• an easy to use keyboard with no fur-sticking troubles
• a screen that appears to be impervious to scratches
• research apps to appease my random curiosities (googling curiosities is far safer than learning on the streets)
• a plethora of great apps from nutrition to music (cat piano!)
  

  Ninja cats waiting for the Apple command.

I’m not the first cat fan and I certainly won’t be the last. With over 3 million iPads sold and approximately 1 billion cats in the world, that means more feline applees wanting than having an iPad of their own. I’m thinking of starting up a One iPad per Every Thousand Cats charity group. (I’d do 1 ipad per cat, but let’s be realistic.)

In conclusion, the iPad is perfect for cats of all ages, and I think the humans will like it too.

So, this Apple iPad thing was announced and demonstrated, right? Man, how exciting. How wonderful and interesting and everything. It’s like, man, you know? Or something.

And the thing is, we all wanted to be excited about this, Apple. We wanted to give you our firstborns in exchange for a small tablet-sized device that would revolutionize the way that we interacted with computers and the internet.

But we can’t be excited about what you gave us, Apple. It’s just an iPod Touch with a big screen, Apple. Why did you think that was a good idea? It’s not. Because I already have an iPhone and that has a camera and makes phone calls.

The screen size, Apple, is not the point of the thing. That’s a side effect of the form factor, and the form factor is not why people really wanted a tablet from you.
They wanted a tablet from you because they wanted a fresh round of innovation, Apple. They wanted to be inspired. They wanted to see how Steve Jobs would make an awesome, useful device if he was given an excuse to launch one.

It’s not the size, Apple. It’s the opportunity to release something new. Because you usually rise to that occasion with characteristic aplomb.

But you, you thought it was all about the size of the device. You thought we wanted it for a REASON and that REASON was the FORM-FACTOR. That’s not it at all. We wanted you to push limits, make technology improve our lives in ways we didn’t even know we needed improving. We wanted to be surprised, but we were going to settle for you listening to our suggestions.

Oh, but Apple, why did you do what you did? You didn’t surprise us. You didn’t even listen to us.

Why can’t we run background applications on the iPad, Apple? You’ve built a computer. Why can’t we use it like a computer?

Why isn’t there a camera, Apple? We wanted to finally make video chat a part of our lives on a regular basis. We can’t do that without a camera, Apple.

Why isn’t there built in handwriting recognition, Apple? Sure, we can buy a stylus and an iPhone app like WritePad to do this, but we can’t do it in Safari, or email, or anywhere else. We don’t like typing on onscreen keyboards without tactile feedback, Apple. Why can’t we write instead, with our hands, dead simple, the way we learned in first grade? You put “pad” in the name of the device and yet the device cannot be used as a note-pad.

Why did you pick AT&T again, Apple? Their data network can’t even support all the phones you made. Why don’t you give us a choice, Apple?

Why won’t you allow users to install whatever programs they want, Apple? Why do I have to ask you for permission to do what I want with my device?

Why didn’t you give us a reason to use your device, Apple? Why didn’t you make us think – wow, that’s something I’d like to do someday, as we all looked on in awe, glimpsing into the future? Why didn’t you do that?

All you did, Apple, was make it easier to watch movies on the couch. Now, I don’t mind holding my hot laptop on my chest. But now, I can hold a tablet instead. I didn’t ask for that, Apple. I don’t need that, Apple. I’m not inspired by that, Apple.

I asked to be inspired by the future and by your relentless march into it, leading ahead as a visionary, while we poor naves wandered behind, squinting at the bright light. Instead, you want to charge me 500 bucks for a laptop really big iPod Touch.

Thanks, but no thanks, Apple.

It was watching so much Star Trek that got me interested in the Apple tablet, something I already talked about extensively in a previous post. Characters in Star Trek carry around data pads that are strangely close to what I want out of a tablet.

In the Star Trek future, everyone uses their tablets to read. Books, manifests, technical manuals, whatever, but the fact is: the characters are reading, rather than viewing multimedia content. I know that it’s fiction, but it still surprises me that the show’s writers chose to portray people in the future as readers of plain text. In reality, I doubt plain text will be the outcome of the e-book movement.

It’s not that people don’t read. They do. However, the place for one-way, plain text is dying. The Kindle and other e-reader’s might be doing okay right now, but if other companies come out with something more multimedia friendly in the same form factor, a multimedia device that supports e-books, I’m willing to bet Kindle sales will slow quite a bit.

Physical print is dying, there’s no mistake about that. Newspapers are closing all over the country because they can’t sell enough ads or copies to stay in business, because everything is moving online. And once things move online, they become graphical, pretty, interactive, editable, and comment-able. People have come to expect this, and that’s why a multimedia tablet in an e-reader form factor would do better than the Kindle or the new Barnes and Noble device, because it would support music, movies, and books with interactive features.

It’s about the technology. Right now, companies are focused on taking print books and moving them to an electronic device. But that isn’t enough. Physical books still have many advantages over e-books – they’re light, easy to read, the battery never dies, they are shareable, don’t have DRM, and are free from the public library. Those features are hard to beat, and trying to move books onto a device without offering people advantages over top of what the current technology (books) supports isn’t enough.

All Amazon and Barnes and Noble have done is make books available on a device, with the only enhanced feature being immediate delivery. One good feature and a new list of drawbacks (battery life, DRM, the dangers of owning a 300 dollar device I plan to take to the beach) isn’t enough. The medium demands a new type of content. E-books should be more than print books read on a screen.

E-books need more interactivity. I want to be able to read a book then be instantly able to participate in a discussion about the book, right from my device. I want forums devoted to the book, or the ability to tag comments in the book and share them with my friends. I want to buy (or borrow, preferably) a book and see the comments my friends made about it via a social networking interface built into the device. If my buddy reads a copy of Jim Butcher’s Storm Front and thinks page 57 is awesome enough to comment about it, I want to be able to access his comments right from the reading interface, and be able to respond.

I want to be able to read a classic like Shelley’s Frankenstein and see the annotations by famous literary scholars, if I choose to follow them, almost like the tagging system photo websites use. I want to be able to read a new novel right after it comes out and share my thoughts about that novel with my friends who are reading it too.

I want interactivity built into the book and I want to do it all from the device I’m reading on. The current e-readers don’t come close to that. The e-ink technology, while impressively imitating the experience of reading a print book, can’t support that level of interactivity. The refresh rates just aren’t up to par. A multimedia touch-screen tablet with the choice to optimize the display settings for reading text is probably a better option, unless e-ink vastly improves and can handle more interactivity.

New technology is built on creating a two-way street, and the companies building e-readers need to take advantage of that. Instead, they are focused on making e-reader devices as close to reading a print book as possible, which is the wrong way to go. They need to approach authors about writing for an e-audience. They need to focus on enhancing the reading experience on a device, not just recreating it. Because they won’t win that battle.

Getting people to embrace a new technology is all about the “killer app” concept – the new feature that necessitates a move from the old tech to the new. Social networking, annotation, interactivity built into the text of the book: all these things might not be the “killer app” that makes people switch to e-books on a device, but they are a start.

Interactivity in a book is something humanity has never done very well before – hand written notes in the margins, footnotes that take up the whole page, or separate handouts from professors, none handle interactivity as well as a simple web hyperlink. So if books are moving into the digital, it’s time to update the way this interactivity is handled. Imagine the possibilities for education alone: professors could join a group with their students and comment on aspects of the book they want to draw students’ attention to. Teachers could use book forums to discuss works with their students.

And imagine the possibilities for authors: fast feedback, right from the fans. Right now the music industry is changing, going online, and indie artists are better for it. It’s easier for them to reach their fanbase, connect with them, interact with them, and hear what fans want. I’m sure some authors wouldn’t embrace this type of interaction, but I imagine many would.

Overall, it’s no secret that e-books will eventually win. Instant publishing, over-the-air delivery, and the environmental advantages are all benefits people want to see. But without interactivity and the focus on a more graphical interface, a way of enhancing books with new features, the “killer app” aspects just aren’t there yet. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Sony need to get with the program. Until they do, people probably won’t migrate to e-books or e-readers en masse.

Keep on keepin’ on,

-m.

There are tons of rumors flying around right now about a possible tablet from Apple. Rumors about small, low energy processors and 9.7 inch touch screens top the list. I’ve seen some other blog posts about what a tablet from Apple would could look like and even an awesome video mockup of possible features.

But still, I have to add to the noise. There are a number of possible features that are make or break for me – things that the tablet needs to include to make it attractive to consumers (and possibly business). Everyone is scratching their heads about how a tablet could fulfill a place in the market that isn’t already filled by present technology. So brace yourselves, Apple. Here’s how you can do it:

Use the same multi-touch interface that’s on the iPhone. Users are used to it, it’s intuitive, and it works. The swipes, pinches, and taps are all great. However, unlike the iPhone, the tablet needs to ship with a stylus. Fingers won’t be enough for all the needed features. For ease of use, the stylus should also slip into the body of the tablet for storage.

Support the standard Apple apps for music, movies, and photos, just like on OSX. No scaled down mobile versions should be included, although the GUI’s will probably have to change to make use of the touch interface. Of course, the tablet should be able to play music and watch movies, whether they are streamed or locally stored.

I’d also like to be able to run standard business apps like MS Office, or some acceptable variation thereof. Email is also very important, via Wifi or a data network.

Handwriting recognition is a must. This is the single most important feature Apple can include, especially if it wants to reach the business market. I want to be able to write with a stylus and have my handwritten text reliably turn into printed type without much editing. If I have to do much editing or write painstakingly perfect in order for the tablet to translate my handwriting, they’ve lost me. I don’t mind training the tablet, however.

Also, the “notes” or whatever they will be called, need to have a folder interface that is easy to navigate, fully searchable, and perhaps organized in multiple ways. I want to sort them into folders by date or keywords. I’d like to tag them like blog posts. That would be great.

If the tablet is going to find a place in the market , it needs to not only find a niche between the smartphone and the laptop, it needs to replace (analogue?) technologies, specifically, the regular old notepad. Part of my job has me taking a lot of handwritten notes quickly. Let me take them on a tablet instead of on a legal pad, convert them to type, easily import them into my computer, and I’m well on my way buying an Apple tablet.

Microphone with Voice Recognition for recording lectures and interviews. The iPhone already does this (via the Voice Memos App), but I’d love to be able to take notes while recording an interview on the same device.

People might scoff at this functionality, but for students, taking notes (and actually writing things down) is the first step toward memorization. However, if they miss something, a recording would be great. For journalists, recording an interview while taking notes on their subject’s body language is important. For myself (tech writer), I draw a lot of quick diagrams on my legal pads while engineers are spewing specs at me. I want to be able to record their voices while I draw the diagrams.

I’d also like to be able to control the tablet via Voice Recognition, just like the iPhone, but with more features. All I can do with the iPhone’s voice recognition is call people and control the iPod. I want to be able to navigate the tablet with my fingers, a stylus, and my voice, all at once. I want to open, close, play, e-mail John Doe, New Folder, New Note, Edit, Cut, Copy, Paste, etc. I want to use my stylus to enter information and my voice to easily navigate menus.

Video chat, which means not only a mic, but a small camera. It doesn’t have to be awesome, just functional and easy to set up.

I’d also prefer it integrate easily into a web-interface. I want to be able to email my parents a web address, have them open it, and there I am, talking to them over the internet via a video chat. Who cares if I can’t see them. They’d like to see me.

However, if my parents have the technology, I want video chat to be as easy as making a phone call. It’s ease of use that halts video chat from taking off into the mainstream. I expect Apple could (and should) make it easier.

Full featured web-surfing (read: with Flash) needs to be on the tablet. Safari on the iPhone is great, but I want to be able to do almost anything on the tablet browser that I can do on a computer browser. That means flash and other browser plug-ins.
Full-featured OS. Don’t use the iPhone OS. I don’t want a big-screen iPhone. I want OSX optimized for the touch interface. I want the tablet to be as functional as possible.

Ability to install third party software. I want a fully featured machine, not a glorified iPhone. I love my iPhone and I’ll put up with locked down app store on my phone, I wouldn’t put up with it on a tablet. I want to be able to homebrew and use third party software without big apple (was trying for a “big brother” portmanteau type thing) looking over my shoulder. I want to install anything I damn well please.

I understand that this means Apple might not make as much money from their tablet App Store (I’m sure they’ll have a branch of the app store for their tablet), however, I don’t think they should be as worried about it as they are right now. They’ve already established their App Store as the place to go for apps, and If I’m looking for tablet software, I’d probably go to the Apple Tablet App Store first. If I found a good product that was cheap, I’d buy it. However, if there is an App that I want, I don’t want to have to jailbreak my tablet to get it. It’s the device lockdown I have a problem with, not Apple’s store.

Now, I understand that a third party app might lower my battery life or compromise my data. That’s a risk I’m willing to take as an informed consumer. But I want to be able to make that choice on my own, not have Apple make it for me.

Various Types of Network Access. The tablet needs to be WiFi capable, of course. That’s a given. However, I’d like to be able to purchase a data plan through a cellular provider, if I so choose. I don’t want to have to purchase a 3G plan to buy the tablet, but I want it to be an option. I’d like to be able to choose between a monthly plan and a prepaid contract. I’d also like to be able to purchase limited access for few days, on the fly. Let me explain:

I want to be able to buy an Apple tablet with no data plan, but a SIM card for a network I choose. If try to use the internet without a Wifi connection, the browser brings me to a network “home” screen. It won’t let me on the net without buying a plan, but it gives me several options: buy an unlimited monthly plan, a limited amount of prepaid data (5 gigs, 1 gig, whatever), or a day pass. At first, I just choose to find a wifi connection.

However, two days later I take a weekend trip and decide to just take my tablet instead of my laptop. I know I’m going to want internet access for that weekend, so I buy a weekend unlimited data pass. All I have to do is try to use the net on my tablet. It brings me to the home screen. I choose a 72-hour data pass. Bam! Internet access for the weekend. That’s all I wanted, and that’s all I pay for. The weekend goes well. I surf on the beach, both waves and the internet. Life is good.

The week after that, I decide that I might like more data access. I enjoyed the experience of surfing the net on my tablet, so I decide to buy a limited prepaid data plan. I buy five gigs, right from my tablet. A counter on the home screen tells me know much I bought and how much I have left. Cool.

It takes me two months to get through my five gigs – I apparently love surfing the net on my tablet. I decide to buy a monthly data plan.

A silly example, but you get the idea. The point is: I don’t want the tablet to be tied to one provider when I buy it, and I don’t want to have to buy a monthly plan if I don’t want to. I understand that this means the tablet may be more expensive (since the price won’t be subsidized by the cellular company. That’s fine. I’d pay more for more choice.

Jacks. Two USB, headphones, mic. ‘Nuff Said.

Sync. I want the sync to be as easy as syncing my iPhone. Or even easier. I want to sync all the documents on the tablet with my PC or Macbook, including my email, contacts, notes, and whatever else. Whether this is with the old “briefcase” style folders or whatever. It would be fantastic if there was an over the air option (with a data plan), too.

Battery life. The battery needs to be large and powerful enough to last a full eight hour workday or constant use. Of course, more than eight hours would be better, but at least eight hours is necessary. It also needs to support at least twenty-four hours of standby time, which shouldn’t be much of a problem if it can support eight hours of use.

Well, anyway, that’s probably enough of a wall of text for one day. If Apple is working on a tablet and it includes the above features, I’ll be in line on the first day with my cash in hand (or my company’s cash, if I could somehow convince my boss I needed the thing for work). If the rumors are just rumors, well, someone else should make the damn thing and include this feature list. Either way, I’ll be waiting.

-mispeled out