I’ve been using the wi-fi iPad for a couple weeks now — since it was officially released in Canada. As it happens, I have also changed employment and given back my work lapto. So, the iPad is now the only tool for on the road.

I continue to be impressed with the functionality of the iPad for reading documents, browsing, the web, etc. The touch screen and the typical interaces with the software make this a simpler task than the keyboard/mouse combination. There are some sites where one cannot scroll within pop-up windows and others where one can. So, there are some situations where I must revert to the desktop.

I find composing posts to this wordpress blog to be quite difficult. I think partially that may be due to the specific theme I am using but it really shouldn’t matter. So, using the wordpress app for the iPad and then accessing the actual site through the safari browser, I can just about do a complete post. In fact, I must create a draft post first on the desktop to get an image with an appropriate thumbnail for the post. Not a good solution — each post takes three ‘touches’ or just one from the desktop.

I am moderately annoyed that the iBooks application still doesn’t have books for sale in Canada. As I also have the Kindle and Kobo apps on the iPad, it isn’t a huge issue. This is really one of the strengths of this device — the flexibility.

Photo:

This crocus image was taken in our yard in the spring of 2010. I used a Lensbaby with a macro +10 ring on it to get the extreme closeup. The Lensbaby naturally is focussed only in a sweet spot and, with the macro ring, the depth of field is very small — less than 1/2 cm in this case.