Mike's Blog. May the Gods help us all.

I wrote up a thought on the new Apple iPad, and because it was in an out of the way place, I wanted to put it in here.

The problem is, that for the past several years all the speculators kept saying ‘Apple is going to release a tablet at the next conference.’ Then blogged about how they were horribly disappointed. Apple isn’t stupid though (you don’t get $55B in profits for being dumb) They waited until the time and technology were right to release the product. The problem is that they explained the device as a competitor for netbooks, when it really is not. A netbook may be thicker, may have less computing power, may have less battery life. But a netbook’s strength is in it’s ability to run any application you want (like your MacBookPro). The iPad being just an XL iPod Touch and only running apps from the appStore is it’s weakness, unlike it’s smaller brother the iPhone who’s biggest strength is the appStore. The lack of flash support is directly tied to this. A web device simply cannot ignore flash. HTML5 isn’t ready to take it’s place, and will be a huge thorn in the side of the iPad. The reason that it doesn’t support flash, is adding such support would render the entire app store useless. 95% of the apps you can buy in the app store could just be made in flash and could be found free on the internet. Why pay for an app when even a locally cached website running flash would do the same thing for free? This is why streaming video sites like YouTube have started testing displaying videos in HTML5. (if you use the Google Chrome browser, you can already try this)

The iPad’s other weakness is, while the touch interface works great for a device like the iPhone, it’s not the best way to interact with a computer. Nobody is going to edit a spreadsheet or write a text document with a tablet. Yes the iPad has an available keyboard dock. But now you’ve transformed the device from one that you can hold in your hand, to one that requires a flat surface. I’ve owned a tabletPC for 2 years now. I carry it with me everywhere I go. And while I love using it for general web apps, any text input longer than this post right here, would require me to flip the screen around to reveal the keyboard. I love my tablet, but trying to touch type a reply such as this one causes one to run out of patience very quickly.

One thought that has come out of this product idea is a change in the way we treat print media. It’s dying, we know it’s dying, print media knows it’s dying. The most interesting part of the iPad introduction was how they were showing off the NewYorkTimes reader. People see newspapers going away because blogs are free. But not everybody who writes a blog is a good writer, or can provide good content. Content that I feel will be worth paying to read. Because who has better sports stories, Joe’s Hockey Blog, or Sports Illustrated? TimesInc, (owner and publisher of hundreds of magazines you know and already read) put out a demo video of the future of their magazines using Sports Illustrated as the example.

http://vimeo.com/7939946

Now you don’t need a tablet device to do that, any computer (netbook/laptop/desktop) can do that. But I mentioned that Apple compared this device to netbooks. Really their competition are eBook readers. Yes the Kindle and Nook do not have the power or features that the iPad has. But at CES last week DOZENS of new eBook readers were announced and displayed. Devices with color eInk displays and touch screens. THESE are the competition for the iPad because they fill the gap between the iPod Touch and the MacBook. Cheap media readers that can bring interactivity to the traditional model. Nobody is going to use an iPad to do spreadsheets, (nobody uses iWork now as it is) but treat the iPad as a fancy eBook reader and it begins to show it’s true potential.

Once the iPad is released and settles into the market, we’ll see a convergence. The iPad becoming a better eReader, and eBook readers becoming better web devices.

~Mike E.

After a 15 year hiatus, I got to see my Cousin Valerie again. It’s odd seeing people after such a long period of time. The last time I saw her we were playing games in the back yard as kids. Now she’s got her husband and daughter in tow. They’re all nice people, and her daughter Alaina is incredibly adorable. She was all smiles the entire evening. This year has been the year of catching up with old friends (and now family) so lets keep the momentum going.

Time to go to the RenFaire this year has been quite limited. So when I had the opportunity to take Nicole AND Ari, I jumped on it. Ari is such a ham, and a cute one at that. She’s so much fun to walk around the Faire with. The crowd this weekend was light due to the rain that rolled through in the morning. By noon the sun was out and the weather was perfect. We enjoyed a few shows, some beer and kettle corn, and some window shopping.

Eric is finally home from Iraq. Because words cannot describe how happy we all are to have him back, I’m just going to leave you with the pictures. Enjoy.

What an amazing weekend. For those that don’t know, the 24hrs of Lemons takes it’s name from the historic 24hours of LeMans. But this race isn’t for million dollar race cars, it’s for cars that cost less than $500. The organizers also do not take themselves seriously so everything from tech inspection to penalties is done in the most fun way possible. Bribery and comedy are the name of the game. This race my friends had TWO cars entering the race, so with over 20 of my friends going to this event, I couldn’t miss it. One car was a 1987 BMW 325e. It’s been painted brown and had large foam quills bolted on to make it look like a porcupine. The joke being that it’s the worlds only BMW with the pricks on the OUTSIDE. The other car is a 1984 Chevy Camaro. Painted to look like the old road racers of the past.

With the help from a great friend of mine, I was able to get free airline tickets. I arrived in San Diego and Don and I headed up into the desert of Cali. When I arrived at the airport, it was 76ºF and breezy, however as we drove further inland the air got hotter and dryer. Once we reached the track it was almost 100ºF with 0% humidity. Not the best weather for driving around in a 1976 Ford pickup with only 2 windows for ventilation. When the breeze would rustle through you’d think it would be great, but it was really sucking all the moisture out of your body. We combated this with lots of water and by turning the bed of the truck into a swimming pool.

The first night we went to a Mexican place for dinner. I was very happy to enjoy some Mexican Coca-cola to wash down the burrito as large as my head that I was served.  We ended the evening by sitting on the grass outside the Motel 6 drinking and enjoying the night. Since I was sleeping at the RV, Scott, Rich and I headed back to the track. This is where the real excitement was. Hanging out with the other teams as they did their last minute modifications or in some instances, engine swaps, was a lot of fun. And what the ‘racing experience’ is all about.

The sun woke me up far too early Saturday morning. A few last min checks and the drivers meeting and we were on the track. I was scheduled for the first shift as pit crew. But with SO many people there I was able to go up to the track fence and take pictures. What’s interesting about watching these cars run is not how each car is done up in it’s own theme, but that most of the drivers are amateurs. Many have never been on a road course before. So we sat at one of the more difficult corner and watched people go flying off the track into the dirt. The Porcubimmer was running strong and looking great. The Rockett Camaro was suffering from overheating problems.

Waking up to biscuits and gravy the next morning made up for the sun shining in my eyes and waking me up way too early. Once out on the track the Porcubimmer was doing great. It was in 7th place until the throttle cable came off the gas pedal. A quick fix but the time in the pits dropped them down to 9th place. This is nothing to scoff at, for a starting grid of 100 cars and for a group of people who set out to have a good time first, and win the race second. The Rockett Camaro was plagued with overheating problems all weekend, and was eventually DNF’d because of an oil leak. But it did live long enough for each of the drivers to get seat time, and when it WAS out there it was quite fast.

Alas it was time for me to head home. After the long trip down I5 back to the Howard homestead for a shower and dinner, I was back at the airport waiting to take my redeye home. It was an incredibly busy weekend, but I could not have asked for more fun with my friends in the desert. I cannot wait to get out there and see them again.