I did it. I said I wouldn’t. I said I will hold out for purely ethical reasons, but it is very hard to resist the iPad. The first impression in-store is simply – awesome. This of course is not a surprise and is something that one can expect from apple these days. Warning: This is a long post .. Here are some thoughts, after a day of use: It’s fast. Much faster than the iPhone 3GS. This is good news for the upcoming iPhone. The battery lasts a really long time. It was around 80% and I used it for incessantly until it died 7/8 hours later. The a4 processor is at this point THE chip to kill for. If you have any samsung shares, I would dump them now, and load up on apple (although they are a tad pricy these days) iPhone apps are useless and look ugly on the iPad. Don’t bother synching any of them The keyboard is a lot more usable that I thought it would be. I’m typing this post at about 60-70% of my usual typing speed. (Only true if inclined at an proper angle – the perfect angle: the one you get with the iPad case). I missed the universal back button. I’ve been spoiled by the freedom-toting nexus one robot ;) Other small annoyances include URL copy pasting between apps, and how the app store lists apps. Exiting the app store every time I install an app is also mind-numbing. I know I can use a Mac and install all apps at one go, but I didn’t spend a 1000 dollars for workarounds. Although I could type very well, creating a blog post is not this device’s forte. For one, all the switching back and forth, is a nightmare, and there is simply no way to get the links to apps for instance from the ipad. Adding images is a pain as well (which is why this is a purely text-only post). It is really nice until you want to go beyond its function as a consumption device. Even a little, and it makes you want to get to a mac/pc in a hurry. Some apps are just stellar, that make it worthwhile go through the above mentioned niggles. I don’t feel any remorse at having bought it, but at the same time, I’m not floored by everything either. That is actually the strength of the device. It is the first time a computing device completely disappears and you interact with data. The experience depends on the app that you are using. Instapaper does a great job, so does the gmail web app. ...

I turned 30 yesterday. A whole day has passed since I left my 20s. They say it is a big day. They say it is a dreaded day. It was neither. Just busy (which is good). I chanced upon [Douglas Adams’ post][1] from 1999: > 1. everything that’s already in the world when you’re born is just normal; > 2. anything that gets invented between then and before you turn thirty is incredibly exciting and creative and with any luck you can make a career out of it; > 3. anything that gets invented after you’re thirty is against the natural order of things and the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know it until it’s been around for about ten years when it gradually turns out to be alright really. > Apply this list to movies, rock music, word processors and mobile phones to work out how old you are. ...

This is a test post to see if Dave Winer’s OPML editor works with a self-hosted wordpress blog. There is something geeky about seeing crappy fonts on a screen, that makes one want to use a tool more. I’ve known of the OPML editor for a few years now, and have tried several times to find a neat use-case for it in my workflow, and it never had a compelling enough reason for me to stick with it. I’m hoping that this new wordpress editor tool will make me want to use this more. ...

A recent conversation about Melody Gardot, and her songs, her recovery and music therapy led to the following thoughts. It’s some deep shit, but struck me as something that I should share. If you could care less about such things, move along, and forget that this every happened. If not, read on. It might just inspire some more thought Person 1: You know I’m beginning to believe that each time something hits us hard - there’s going to be a lovely gift - only thing you don’t see it right away. Takes years sometimes. If only people realise this everyone will want to have problems all the time!! ...

[caption id=“attachment_737” align=“alignnone” width=“300”] So long oppression[/caption] Thanks for the iPhone, Mr. Jobs. There is a new way to protest the iPhone. I don’t have to sign petitions anymore. I can now take my $500 elsewhere, for a slightly more open experience. I didn’t ask for much, but I don’t have to wait on your whim any longer (no offense meant to you personally, Mr Jobs).

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There are several issues that people have uncovered in the last 2 days that it has existed. For me, of all the features that Buzz lacks, one thing really stands out. There is no way to just see a list of the conversations (without the whole list of comments expanded by default). This is the main reason that I *had* to unfollow Scoble, Michael Arrington, Louis Gray and a bunch of others. Take a look at this conversation, and you would understand why. ...

Did anyone else notice that buzz has an RSS feed for everything!! Here’s a conversation that @Thomashawk started Here’s the feed for that entry Here’s the feed for the owner’s entries Theoretically, one could build a service that aggregates only specific conversations (and keep them updated), or only a small group etc… No more reading data from a firehose!! That is very nice. P.S: also this could be a way to aggregate all your webservices into one super feed, that can then be posted elsewhere (comments and all!!) ...

http://www.defectivebydesign.org/ipad If you think that the iPad is promoting DRM of apps that will lead computing in a direction that will undermine the freedom that we currently are enjoying, freedom the seeds of which have been sown over the last few decades, the visit the link above and sign the petition.

about the iPad, or so I thought. Then I realized with every single one of them writing pages upon pages of commentary, I’m not going to bring in too much insight. I’ve hence, tried to curate some interesting articles that I found. You’ve probably read most of them already, but in case you have been in a di-lithium mine on Remus. Yup! That’s right, I do like Star Trek. Now do you understand why I loathe - hate - despise what has been done to the iPad!! PADD!! arrrrggghhh! serenity now! serenity now! ...