Is Steve Jobs More Obnoxious Than A 5th Grader?

Full disclosure: my phone is a T-Mobile G1, running Android 1.6; I own one Asus netbook and use another at work; all but one of my computers run Windows. Yet I own a Macbook, an iPod from virtually every line going back to the black & white pre-video days, an iPod Touch that I can't live without, and the iPad that I'm writing this blog on at this very moment.

Steve Jobs needs to stop acting like a 5th grader and more like the CEO of a highly successful company.

I am sick and tired of hearing Steve Jobs trash his competitors' products in the process of promoting his own. "We don't know how to build a sub-$500 computer that's not a piece of junk." "Netbooks aren't better at anything." "Folks who want porn can buy an Android phone."

First, the netbook. I run music education software for all of my classes, kindergarten through 5th grade, plus Microsoft Office 07 and iTunes daily without a problem. (In fact, it's the Windows version of iTunes that is slow and sluggish, even on my "big" computers at home.) I can count on one hand the number of times my Asus has crashed in 2 years. Just because Apple doesn't know how to do it doesn't mean that nobody else can.

Obviously, I like Apple's products. In fact, if the iPhone wasn't exclusive to AT&T, I'd have one instead of my G1. The iPhone is still the most popular smartphone out there, with sales outpacing all of the others combined. In fact, Mr. Jobs pointed this out during an Apple keynote. So why the nonsense about porn in the Android market? Is this simply an extension of Apple's feud with Google?

Steve Jobs's trash talk is making Apple look like the captain of the high school football team: top of the heap, but picking on the lesser students to make himself look even better. You may be insecure, Mr. Jobs, but your products aren't. Let the i-line speak for itself.

Spiffy the iPad

Yes, I was one of the 91,000 people who pre-ordered an iPad.  Yes, I was waiting on the front porch on Saturday, April 3 for the UPS truck.  Despite the rain.

Yes, I love Spiffy.  (Come on, I named my iPod Touch Touchie and my T-Mobile G1 Droid, long before Motorola ever got into the Android market.) But he's not without his problems.

The cons:

•  The much-reported wi-fi problem.  I haven't had a real problem connecting so far, but the signal can be pretty weak.  And downloading a webpage can be really sluggish.

•  Unexpected app freezes.  I've run into this with apps that access the Internet, specifically The Weather Channel's TWC Max+.

•  Unexpected app closure.  Really irritating when you're in the middle of a game and you lose all progress.

•  Stupid design flaws like forcing Pages users to type in portrait orientation in order to see the toolbar.  I have very small hands for an adult, and I can't type comfortably or accurately.  Guess Apple expected me to shell out for the keyboard dock.

•  Even more stupid, putting the docking socket on the end, rather than one of the sides.  It's primarily a media consumption device; who wants to watch a 2 hour movie in portrait orientation while in the dock? And don't try to turn the iPad to landscape orientation while in the dock.  It falls over.

The pros:

•  It's gorgeous!  The screen is huge compared to the iPod Touch and iPhone.  It makes viewing everything better, from webpages to photos to e-mail.

•  So far the games I've installed from the iPod look good at 2x size.  Granted, my standards probably aren't as high as a lot of people; I'm very much a casual gamer, and the console I own is the Wii.  But I really like the fact that I don't have to re-purchase games to be able to enjoy them on the iPad.

•  Games are a lot more fun with the bigger space!

•  Battery life is wonderful.  I've used it for e-mail, gaming and surfing the Web for about 2 hours total a day, and I've only had to charge it twice since the 3rd.

•  It's so convenient to have it nearby for a quick lookup on the Web.  The touch interface is really user friendly, rather than having to drag the laptop onto your lap and use the keyboard

•  The speakers are great!  No need to plug in external speakers.

•  It feels very solid in my hands.  I was worried that I'd be nervous carrying it back and forth from school every day, but that stopped after the first day.

•  Both the iBooks and the Kindle Reader apps look really great.  I haven't read for more than about 10 minutes at a time, but I had no problem adjusting to reading on-screen.  I especially liked the Kindle Reader's ability to change the background color to make it a little easier on the eyes.

•  The iTunes app is so much more user friendly than the one on the iPod Touch.  It's much more like the desktop app.

Overall, after 18 days of use, I really like the device.  I'm finding new uses for it each day, and I'm eager to see what the developers come up with to really let the iPad shine. 

Old Doctor, New Doctor

I didn't mean for this to be my first post.

But hell, the Doctor has a way of interrupting things, doesn't he.

I've been a Doctor Who fan since I was in high school, back before the Interwebs, my dears. That would be about 1982.

I've been through Regenerations. And if you don't know what that means to a female, it means PAIN. It means a male that you've gotten attached to is leaving you.

I've been through Tom Baker regenerating. Peter Davison regenerating. Paul McGann barely having a chance to breathe, for God's sake. And Christopher Eccelston, despite my "I'm not getting emotionally involved with another Doctor, oh DAMMIT he's regenerating".

None have been as hard as David Tennant's regeneration. Okay, none other have involved red wine, but I'd like to think that's an anesthetic, to dull the pain I know is coming.

Somehow I'd missed the "Specials" that David Tennant's Doctor produced between his RSC jobs, and I ended up buying them on DVD from -- where else? Amazon.com. I'd put off watching them, because I knew he'd regenerate at the end.

But tonight, BBC America premiered Series Whateverthehellnumberitis with Matt Smith. And I needed to move on with my tv-viewing life.

So I watched all the specials, and sobbed through The End Of Time parts I and II. OMG, having the Doctor revisiting all of his companions before he regenerates is DEATH, stretching for 15 minutes. And of COURSE, Rose had to be last. If you've watched Doctor Who in the past 4 years, you know. I sobbed like an immediate member of my family was dying.

On to Matt Smith. God help him if he wants to replace David Tennant in my (fickle) sci-fi heart.

Welcome to ShASTh...ooh, shiny!

Welcome to the first post on what I hope will be a daily blog: a place for me to talk about what's currently on my mind.

Having taught for 18 years, I've come to understand that I have a very short attention span. I have a theory that I wasn't this bad when I started teaching. I think it's a learned condition, and that I've learned it from my students...

...oooh, shiny. Multi-tasking while posting, watching the Tigers @ Kansas City. They seem to have waterfalls inside their ballpark. Could someone please explain the point of waterfalls inside a baseball stadium?

See what I mean? I barely finished a thought before another observation crowded its way in. But that's me. And will be, on this blog.

Hope you'll tag along. I'd love to hear your thoughts on my thoughts. ;-)