The New iPad on the Block

After much resistance, I finally relented. With a lot of my productivity app were dependent on the iPad - blogging and link surfing, to name a few, I decided to own one. I was tired of having to share with the boys. Even though they have one each, prying off them were becoming a challenge. And with the school holidays coming up, I might just forget about it.

I decided against buying the 3G version. A wifi unit was just enough for me as both my home and workplace were covered by signals. The one at the office was especially fast. With the new iCloud service and iMessage, synching the units and the Mac at home were made much easier.

The main app I was using is iAnnotate as it allowed me to annotate the PDF files as I was doing a lot of review for the Malaysian Journal of Medicine at the moment. I could just read the files on the fly on the iPad rather than having to open them out on the Mac Air or iMac.

The Big Read

As I mentioned, I picked up Steve Jobs biography yesterday and managed a couple of chapters before bed last night. It was rather absorbing, and tomorrow being a holiday, I might be able to burn through a few more chapters tonight. I was initially hoping to listen to the mp3 version of the book, but it won't be the same thing.

The first chapter revolve around issues he had with his parents - both biological and adopted. How he came close to his only real sibling - writer Mona Simpson. The impression I had was, Steve was a young arrogant man. He demanded high standards and looked down upon those who did not meet his expectations.

Looking forward to the rest of the book then …..

The Update

So, the update was complete and after restoring the apps and all the rest, the process took nearly 45 minutes. No hitches this time.

It was rather tedious as initially the OS was reset, followed by reloading of all the installed apps. So far, the updates went well. All the apps were in working order.

Next, migration to iCloud.

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

Arrived at work to learn about the passing of this great man. He has been unwell for a number of years. We were sort of like wondering if the end was near for him.

It seemed that he managed to keep his personal live off the limelight as there was not a clue on his condition despite the launch of iPhone 4S yesterday. There was no tribute or even a mention of the great man. And I suspected that that was his wish.

In every generation there would be a person who symbolised the period. JFK for instance before him. In my generation thus far, I can unashamedly say that it was Steve Jobs. I would always remember the day I learned about his passing for the rest of my life. Rest in peace Steve .....

iQuit

All this harping ons about Libya and the NATO agenda masked the real news of the day. It was not often that a visionary comes along and change the course of history. It may be through infamy - Hitler -, arts - Picasso -, Science - Einstein -, or sporting achievement - Mokhtar Dahari -, or leadership - George Bush - errrrr, I made some of them up.

Steve Jobs gone jobless and resigned as CEO of Apple, a company he started with 'the Woz' and another bloke who gave up his share soon after - thinking that the company was heading nowhere, mistake of the century if you ask me. Although he resigned to become the Chair of the Board, reading between the line, his cancer relapse had taken its toll, and he did the sensible thing by stepping down. Within an hour o the announcement, the Apple stock took a 5% dive.

It was clearly a sad day, at least for me. I have unashamedly claimed to be an Apple fanboy. I have the iMac, MBP, Mac Air, a couple of iPads, the iPhone, a few iPods etc. I used Mac exclusively in my working life as well as blogging and photography. It had made me very productive in doing my daily chores, and it was not just the hardware element. It was the integration of hardware, software and its tactile relationship. The whole Apple experience.

They are not perfect. There a some quirks with using an Apple system, but often there would be clever work-arounds. The products were innovative and seemed to propel the personal computer experience, and generally technology forward. And it took a visionary to realise that. It did help to have a couple of geniuses around in Jonny Ives and Scott Forstall around .... a couple of people that Apple would do well to retain post-Steve.

So, to Mr Jobs, enjoy your retirement. You certainly deserved it. You have certainly left a legacy. I salute you!