This and that

Ok, I'm not one to pump out blog postings just for the hell-of-it.  I typically wait until something strikes me as weird, funny, or disturbing and then start to think about how I feel about it.  If I'm moved enough, I'll start to put some thoughts down here and then blast them out to the universe, as I'm pretty sure they won't get read here on this planet.  But that's ok.  I don't expect that everyone will be excited about what I have to say so I just consider it "therapy."  Much cheaper than the real thing don't you think?

So, what's got my panties in a bunch today?  You guessed it, the iPad.  More specifically, the over-hyping of the iPad since it's been out.  It appears that I'm not the only one who thinks this either.  This morning's ZDNet article "The five most overly hyped tech products in 2010" lists the Apple iPad as the 5th most over-hyped tech product this year. 

The writer's premise is that, while Apple did a masterful job at making people think they needed an iPad, the problem is that they made people think an iPad can replace their laptop.  The reality is that the iPad, and it's applications, are great but they don't actually let you be as productive as if you were using a laptop or even a netbook.  I laugh everytime I read about a new accessory for the iPad that includes a keyboard.  Don't they realize that if Steve Jobs had wanted you to have a keyboard on the device he would have made it that way?  Sure, Apple introduced keyboard accessories when they launched the iPad, but they don't really expect anyone to use them.  That's why they spent so much time on making the touch experience so "magical."

Suffice it to say, I was very happy that this ZD Net writer was brave enough to stand up against the Apple Faithful horde and speak his mind.  I completely agree with his remarks about the benefit of the iPad as being primarily a consumption of data device and not a productivity device.  Good on ya mate!

The second article I saw today was about the fact that the game "Angry Birds" would not be available for the Windows Phone 7 devices until next year.  Maybe.  The developer of the game, Rovio, says that porting their game to the WP7 platform is hard.  This probably means they don't have any WP7 developers on their staff and since they are based in Finland (Nokia country) it's understandable. 

The reason I'm unhappy with this isn't because I have a new WP7 device either.  I don't.  I'm not ready to switch carriers yet and my choices for WP7 are AT&T and T-Mobile.  I would like to get a smart phone, but my choices on Verizon's network are more limited.  I could get a Samsung, HTC, or Motorola smartphone but these are all Android-based.  My other choice is a Blackberry.  The good news is that "Angry Birds" is available for Android phones but I'm not convinced Android is as cool as everyone says.  Maybe it should be one of the tech products that is considered "overly hyped" by ZD Net?  My son does own an Android-based phone (Samsung I believe), likes it, and does have Angry Birds on it. 

My son also has an Apple iPod Touch with Angry Birds for my grandson to play, hence my addiction to the game.  Since I babysit two days per week, I get to play the game as well as a ragdoll game which I like.  Most of my access to these is during nap time (his not mine) and only if they send the iTouch along with him.  However, I do really like the "physics" type games and play them on the PC as well.  My addiction to these is under control though as I haven't reached the stage where I'll do anything to get my hands on a device that supports these games. 

So, what's my point?  Good question.  I think it's that, while I'd love to have enough scratch to buy whatever new toy I liked, I think the iPad would be used primarily for playing games and I don't want to spend that much just to play games.  I've spent way too much on Gameboys of every flavor, DS (no HD yet), and other handheld game devices to last a life-time.  I play games on my feature-phone, Wii, Xbox 360, laptop, and desktop PC so I would say there isn't a game platform I haven't at least tried.

I also think my point is that I think the iPad is completely over-hyped, like all Apple products, and I refuse to buy-in.  I probably won't buy-into the Android-tablet devices coming either.  I just can't see the point.  Maybe I should just get a Kindle and forget about the games?  Of course, I hear they're making Kindle games now too, so I guess I can't get away from them.  Fortunately, I do like games after-all.