WHAT I’VE BEEN READING: The WIRED app for the iPad

It’s pretty neat. There’s a lot to be said for embedding video and audio, (even – if not especially — in revenue-generating ads) and the interactivity in articles (click buttons to view different products that are being reviewed on the same page, or get a step-by step of the assembly of that famous ice hotel or listen to a Trent Reznor track in progress) is handled in an unobtrusive, natural manner that reminds me of a highly-refined version of their website. There are issues, though: the vertical scrolling inside of an article is not obvous enough and I was honestly a bit confused the first time I came across it and while editorial has worked hard to make sure the layout works in both landscape and portrait orientations, there’s at least one article fragment in the inaugural installment that is driving me up the wall

Still, $5 for a future magazine that doesn’t litter my floor with those annoying subscription cards and cleverly gets me to look at and interact with advertising? That’s a perfect price point. This is the first issue of Wired I’ve read cover-to-cover in years and I’m pretty sure they’ve got their hooks in me for future installments.

My first week with the iPad

Short version, for those of you who want to get to the heart of the matter:
Oh, fuck yes.

Longer version, for those of you who require nuance and such in your commentary:
Oh fuck yes, you guys.

Seriously, such a pleasure to use and while I am halfway in the bag for Apple, I tend to err on the side of wanting platforms that do exactly what I want to do when I want to do them. For the last year or so, I’ve used a Windows XP netbook as my main writing/work/whatever device when not at home, and it’s worked perfectly well for me. The iPad, however, does exactly what I use the Netbook for: email, websurfing, porn, but with better battery life and less of a reliance on the, shall we say “quirks” that Microsoft’s operating systems have. I’ve not been interrupted once this week with a security update or needing to get a driver to do something basic, and everything just works. I’m a big fan of “just working,” particularly when it comes to things like the internet, wireless, etc. It’s what I like about my iMac at home, and it’s actually what I like about the XBox and Zune platforms as well. Others view this as removing choices from your experience, and while I can see their point of view in some sort of “smash the system, rah, open source everything” way, I also simply don’t have the time to fuck around and I want to do what I need to do.

Question One You Might Have: Do I miss Flash?
No, not really. Most of the things Flash is used for are things I don’t really do that much with my portable platforms. I don’t play a lot of Flash games, I don’t spend a lot of time on video sites that aren’t YouTube (which has an app included in the iPad OS.)

Question Two You Might Have: How’s the battery life?
Splendid. I’ve been out with my iPad with Bluetooth running (for the wireless keyboad — more on that in the next bit) and I’ve used 10% of the battery life in an hour and change while using WiFi. 3G does strain it a bit more and I’m sure if I were watching HD video, it’d drop faster, but with consistent general use, I’ve been charging at the end of the day with 30-40% of the battery life still available.

Question Three You Might Have: How’s the keyboard built into the OS?
It’s pretty good for short emails, Tweets, etc. Apple has a bluetooth wireless keyboard that’s about $60 that is lightweight and easy to toss into your bag. I use it and love it, but I presume any Bluetooth keyboard would do.

Question Four You Might Have: Comics?
Putting aside my disdain for some of the interface quirks in the Marvel/Comixology app (and the fact they need to trim the white space of their pages to maximize the art-to-screen-ratio on older material,) they are pretty fucking great. I’m now seriously interested in producing comics for this platform.

If you have more questions, ask!