More on my iPad

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Before I start blathering, I just wanted to say something.

I have about one hundred posts started, just waiting to be finished (no kidding!). I start them, then get carried away, and they become way too long, or go off in fifty different directions. I neglect to edit them, so I just hit "save" but never go back and actually clean them up and post them.

I always think I get too far off topic, and then think, who cares? Am I the only one that does this?

Now that that's off my chest, here's today's prattle.

I continue to love the iPad. Really, if you don't have one, I guess you don't know, but it has absolutely become my go-to choice in mobile devices.

In fact, I rarely use my iPhone any longer. Since I can use Skype on the iPad, that's proved to be a real boon. That said, my iPad doesn't have a camera, so it's not much use for that, but it's a whiz bang device for photo editing. My hope is that the next generation will have a better screen and a better camera. If so, I'm in for one.

I finally found a great bag that perfectly fits my Canon 7D and my iPad, so now I carry both of them with me wherever I go. I'm not traveling light, but I'm prepared!

For now, I'm still impressed with the first generation iPad. If you're on the fence, maybe look for a used first generation. They're a lot cheaper than the new ones and a great way to get your feet wet.

You all surely know by now that I'm a movie junkie. I just discovered a great little app from Roger Ebert that contains over three hundred of his oh so well written reviews. I have to say, I love the way this man writes. His insights are always spot on. It only costs $.99 and doesn't require an internet connection, so it's suitable for an iPad, an iPhone or an iPod Touch.

I've also spent a bit of time watching movies on my iPad. Terry gets tired of my obsession with British "upper class" melodramas, so sometimes, I just stay in bed in the morning and watch an episode or two of my favorite Masterpiece Theater. It's very cool.

As for reading, I've given the Kindle and Literati completely over to Terry. I love that I can have all my books in one place. I might mention that if you're using an eReader, you might want to take a look at a free software called Calibre. It's written to be a repository for all your books, regardless of format. It backs them up, you can edit the metadata to your liking and makes it really easy to load them on to any of your devices. If you like, you can also hook it directly into iTunes.

I'm so impressed with how well the iPad manages PDFs. As you RVers may know, about a year or so ago, we scanned all of our manuals into the computer. It makes it so much easier to find one when we need it, I'm convinced it's the way to go. And this relates to the iPad how? Well, for the manuals that we use most often, I've put a copy of the PDF in Calibre and now have them on my iPad. I've also written up a few "lists" in PDF form, things like all the steps we follow when we hook the car to the motorhome for traveling, how to dump (I always review this, just to be sure) and a list of things to check before we take off. It's very handy.

I also like an app called OurGroceries. While there are hundreds of shopping list apps for these devices, what I like about this one is that it communicates across devices. Both Terry and I have it on our iPhones and I also have it on the iPad. When one of us enters something into the shopping list, it magically appears on all the devices. No more saying we don't have the shopping list with us!

I've also discovered several apps that are just so darn gorgeous, I have to mention them. It looks like many artists are using these devices as a way to self publish. There's a small game called Dreams HD that has such stunning drawings, I find myself going back to it over and over. Another favorite is Forgotten Colours, fifteen small stories with original artwork. If you like Forgotten Colours, they offer a free set of "wallpaper" based on the drawings for your iPad.

I could go on and on (as I said at the beginning), but I think I'll save the second half of my list for another post. Hopefully that way, you can stay awake through all this!

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Postscript-
After I went to ALL THE TROUBLE to edit this for posting, Blogger is down! Maybe this means I shouldn't post it when they're back up?

Nah, now that Blogger is back up, I say post away.