Rhiannon Lives Here

The iPad is one of those devices that everyone uses a little differently. It’s unlike the iPhone which has a primary capability and selling point (ie: the “phone” in “iPhone”), despite all the other stuff it can do. It’s also unlike a Mac, which is often viewed as a task machine, a way of getting real work done. It’s no surprise, then, that many people have been asking the question:

“Just what exactly is the iPad for?”

I guess the best way to answer this is by saying that it’s different for everyone. It excels in performing a variety of tasks, and I figure this is the reason why the iPad advertisements have shown all of the things the iPad can do, rather than just focussing on one or two primary tasks. How would you even decide what a primary task is? And who gets to decide that? Even Apple hasn’t told anyone how this device should be used. It’s all one giant experiment.

It’s all about us showing Apple how we use the iPad.

I’ve spent three weeks with my iPad now, enough time to figure out how, when, and where I use it. I bought it with the intention to use it primarily at home, as a portable and interactive way to browse the web and read my morning news, read books, comics, and magazines, and watch videos when I’m away from the big screens of the iMac and TV. Basically, I intended to use it as a versatile media consumption device.

Here’s the verdict: It’s awesome at all of the above, and I’m using it exactly as I’d imagined (and hoped) I would. Even better, I’m using it for tasks I didn’t think I’d bother with too much, such as email, photos, and games.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the tasks I use the iPad for, the percentage of time spent doing these tasks, the apps I use for these tasks, and how I go about using them (app links are for iTunes).

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I think all those people calling the iPad a game changer are right.

I've spent two solid days with the iPad now, and that's how I feel. For me, it's not the "in between" device that Steve Jobs was going on about. It's not a device that fits between my iMac and my iPhone. It's a device that just fits. Full stop.

Let me back up a bit and give my initial impressions of the iPad Wi-Fi 16GB, in a messy, disorganised, ultra-compact (I hope) format.

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Despite being perceived by others as a die-hard Mac fangirl (not confirming, not denying), I wasn't always a devoted Safari user. When I bought my first Mac in 2005, I used Firefox because I considered it the best cross-platform browser at the time. This was helpful since I also used Windows on a regular basis (hey, I like PC games, okay?!). It wasn't until February 2009 that I began to use Safari as my default browser. That was when the public beta of Safari 4 was released. It was fast, it was slick, and I made the decision to say goodbye to Firefox for good. Since then, I've had a completely monogamous relationship with Safari for all my serious web browsing needs.

Until today. <insert dramatic music here>

I thought it was time to see what all the fuss was about with Google Chrome for Mac (beta). Sure, I'd tried it before, a little bit, but not enough to come to a proper conclusion. In all honesty, I didn't give it a fair go because I was content with using Safari (the way it integrates with everything Mac, especially MobileMe bookmark syncing to my iPhone, is a hard thing to give up). Today, however, a developer release with extension support was announced. The one thing I always liked about Firefox was its extension support, and it was something I always missed from the switch to Safari.

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I'm passionate about music and audio. It's such a huge part of my life that I don't mind dropping a fair amount of money on a piece of audio gear that will improve the sound quality of the music I listen to. This hobby can get expensive though, and so I'm also keen to find cheaper audio gear that sounds great for the price that I can then recommend to others. Last time it was the Yuin PK3 earbuds at sub AU$60. This time it's the JVC Marshmallow earphones at sub AU$15!

I discovered these on the Head-Fi forums where they are a community favourite for their price vs performance. Their official model names/numbers are the HA-FX33 and HA-FX34. The 33's are the older model whereas the 34's are newer, but other than a few minor differences (which I'll get to later) they're both pretty much the same.

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After a full day's worth of contemplating, I bought the new Nintendo DSi. Okay, maybe a single day counts as an impulse purchase. Either way, it was an upgrade from the DS Lite that I bought in 2007 after selling an original DS Phat. Reviews of the newest version of Nintendo's famous Dual Screen hand-held gaming console are aplenty, but what I really wanted was a comparison of the new DSi to the DS Lite so that I could decide whether it would be a worthwhile purchase or not. I had trouble finding the information I wanted, so I thought I'd write my own comparison for anyone thinking about 'upgrading'.

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Speakers are a necessary component in a desktop computer setup for anyone who listens to music, plays games or watches movies on their computer. The problem is that a giant gap exists between the sound quality of “computer speakers” and that of high quality home audio.

Fortunately, Audioengine saw this problem and set out to remedy it by creating the Audioengine 2 (A2) active speakers. They're the little brother of their larger and more powerful flagship A5 model, but don't be fooled; these little puppies sure pack a punch. The Audioengine 2 speakers aren't exclusively for computer use, but they were designed to pair well with a computer because of their small form factor, price point and aesthetics

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Some people like to use a case to protect their expensive digital devices. Others prefer to keep their devices completely naked, either because they want to keep the aesthetics and form-factor, or they simply just don't care whether they drop or scratch it all that much. I fall into the former category when it comes to the iPhone 3G; as much as I like the aesthetics, the plastic back makes it really slippery with absolutely no grip, and I just couldn't live with myself if I dropped and broke it. Afterall, I'm stuck with my iPhone for the next 24 months on a contract.

Finding a case that I liked was a bit of a pain. Not many cases were available at launch, and only a small percentage of those were any good. The one that stood out to me was the Capsule Rebel, made by SwitchEasy. It has a unique visual style and plenty of colour options, and the website claims that it uses a "special new material called ADSP (Adaptive Dynamic Soft Polymer)" as well as a hard plastic shell to protect the iPhone. It retails at about AU$29.95 which is somewhat average for an iPhone 3G case at the current time.

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I recently purchased the Yuin PK3 earbuds after searching long and hard for some portable headphones for my iPod Touch and MacBook. I came across the Yuin PK3 after scrolling through Head-Fi and my local headphone store's website, Headphonic. The PK3 has received a lot of good feedback from a lot of people and they're even better than I expected them to be.

Firstly, I will say I'm a bit of a closet audiophile, so some decent headphones for my portable rig were important to me. However, I only rip music to a compressed format (128kbps AAC) for my portable gear, and I don't use a separate headphone amp or external DAC with them, so there comes a point where the headphones will be too good for the gear they're used with. I wanted to find that sweet spot in the price vs performance ratio, and have something that suited my simple setup without breaking the bank.

The PK3 is the entry level model in Yuin's line of earbuds, its big brothers being the PK2 and PK1. I've tested the PK3 through a few different sources, including the iPod Touch's internal DAC and headphone amp, the same on the MacBook, and through an external DAC and headphone amp combo.

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So, I got a nice new shiny iPod Touch, right? Naturally, I 'need' some accessories for it. I was going to buy a universal dock. Then I saw the price tag... What?! 80 bucks?! Are you #$&!$?@ kidding me?! Well, thanks, Apple. I love the iPod Touch but it was expensive enough.

Luckily, Apple provides you with the two main items you need to construct your own homemade dock for your iPod Touch; the dock adapter and the USB cable. Just get yourself a small cardboard box (if you don't want to wreck your iPod box), some double-sided tape, scissors, and LOTS of electrical or duct tape, then follow these instructions. Piece of cake!

Mine looks a little rough around the edges, mainly because I painted the cardboard box with chalkboard paint (well, hey, it was all I could find). However, the entire dock was made for $0, so I'm not complaining at all. Just make sure that if you use a different box or container, it's strong and sturdy enough, and not too light. It also needs to be tall enough so that the cable doesn't effectively lift it up off the table surface, or bend too far at a right angle which could damage the cable. The cool thing about the dock being hollow underneath is that you can shove all the excess cable in there and tape it up if it's too long.

The finished product. Yes, I know, the paint job sucks, but it works juuuust fine!

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