iPad Day is Today!!!

It's not very often that I don't at least head to my local Apple store on the day of a new product release, even if I am not purchasing...just to take in the festive atmosphere of the long line outside the store.

But, today, given the rain and the fact that I was not getting a new iPad, I did not check out my Apple store.

That is not to say that there was not a new iPad coming to my house.

I had preordered for Jim his very first iPad.

I've spent the week hovering over the FedEx tracking web site wondering why it was sitting in Ontario, California all week long. But finally, on Wednesday night, it was on the move. And shortly after noon today, the FedEx truck was in front of our house with Jim's new iPad. The FedEx delivery person told us that his truck was filled with iPads...I'm sure he's had a great work day delivering them to their eager and happy recipients.

As is the case with Apple products, within minutes, Jim was up and running...he didn't even have to get out of the chair where he had been reading a real book...you know, the kind that is made of paper?




At any rate, Jim is off to new adventures with his iPad and immediately was showing off images in the new retina display...of course my photography and our computer screens do not do these images justice...you have to see the real thing!!!

Have fun Jim!!!

THE LIGHTS HAVE GONE OUT: REMEMBERING STEVE JOBS

The world became a little different yesterday when Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple died at age 56 of pancreatic cancer.

And, the lights went out, literally! For the first time in the history of Apple Retail stores, the big Apple logo that identifies each and every store and that is illuminated 24/7 has gone dark. It's hard to see in daylight but will be an eerie reminder into the evening...Apple Retail's version of a flag flying at half mast.

Steve Jobs showed us how to "Think Different." And in the last 30 or so years, we have done just that, no matter what the level of our technical expertise. He made tech stuff understandable to just about everyone. Apple products are loved throughout the world from seniors who use their iPads to email and keep in touch with their families to film producers who create blockbuster movies on their Apple desktop computers.

In fact, the way I learned of Jobs' death was through a text alert from a local radio/TV station that I received on my iPhone at 4:40 p.m PST yesterday...Just the way Steve wanted it to be.

In my household, we've had a least one of every Apple product that has been introduced since my very first Apple IIsi in the 1980s.

Apple products are beautiful, intuitive, functional, easy to use, fun to use.

I am such an Apple fan that I belong to Apple clubs, go to Apple conferences, wear Apple-logo clothing that I buy at the company store on headquarters campus in Cupertino, and even worked at an Apple retail store in my home town for several years.




Around the world, the Apple curious and faithful are paying tribute to Steve Jobs at Apple stores.

I visited mine this morning and the memorials to him were starting to be placed outside the store...flowers, post-it messages on the windows...Inside, I hugged and talked to several of my former colleagues...we are family and it felt good to grieve together.

Thank you, Steve for enriching my life.

I'm in love...AGAIN!

Well, this morning dawned a bit overcast and cool. But that did not stop me from my mission: It was off to my local Apple Store for its 9 a.m. special opening for the first day of the iPad.

While I had not pre-ordered an iPad, nor was I planning to purchase one today, those crazies of us with Apple in our blood, attend these events, whether we are buying or not. So there I was, camera in hand, greeting some of my former colleagues from the store.

The line was not as long as I expected...actually, there were two lines, one for people who had pre-ordered and one for people who wanted to buy today.





At about 8:55, the store staff walked the line, high-fiving those in line, some of whom had been there all night. Even with a reserved iPad, there is that weird desire to be the first to get one.




Unfortunately, even though all I wanted to do was look at and touch the iPad, I was not allowed in the store until its usual 10 a.m. opening time and even then, I had to beg to get in...the plan was to keep the store traffic under control and to have staff dedicate itself to selling and setting up iPads.

With about an hour to spare, I went down the block to Barnes & Noble to have a cup of tea in their café. While sipping my tea and checking my email on my iPhone, I noticed a young man working on his Apple MacBook computer. After a bit, another customer came over to him and, as their enthusiastic conversation got louder and louder, I realized that they were talking about this guy's new iPad that he had just picked up!!!

So, I gathered up my stuff and went over to talk to them. This photo shows the iPad next to an iPhone.



This is the first iPad I've ever touched.

After the three of us chatted, as only Apple nuts do, for about half an hour, I headed over to the Apple store.

One of my reasons for not wanting to buy an iPad right now is/was that I am looking for something lighter than my laptop in weight, but with most of its capabilities. I didn't think the iPad was "there" yet. A big deal for me when I am traveling is to be about to download photographs from my camera to the laptop. I knew that the iPad does not have a USB port, but what I did not know is that there is an accessory, the iPad Camera Connection Kit (available late April) which provides two ways to import photos and video from a digital camera: each of the two connectors in the Kit plugs into the dock connector on the iPad; one can connect to your camera's USB cable and the other holds the SD card from your camera. Wow! And, only $29 for the Kit.

My first impressions: The iPad feels far lighter to me than the first Kindle I ever held. Images on the screen are crisp and vivid. Scrolling though the one book that comes loaded free on all iPads, is amazing; it is just like paging through a book in hand. Typing on the keyboard is very close to real typing on a real keyboard. Oh, and the screen size is not that much smaller than the screen on a 13" MacBook.

Will I buy one? Very possibly...I still have a few more questions to get answered, but one thing I know for sure, Spring is here and I'm in love AGAIN.