so for this year, my wife opted to get me a gadget that i didn't think was at all necessary, but it's too cool anyone who'd pass up on it would be insane.
she got me a wi-fi enabled ipad2 with a whopping 64-gig memory. i thought that the ipad2 would be just as great as an ipad3, and i really do not understand all the fuss about the new ipad. the only differences are the screen resolution, the camera and the processor. i suppose it all boils down to how you really would use it and what you would install in it.
after debating with myself, i decided to christen my new toy 'phaidros,' which in greek translates to 'bright.' on its own, the device is awesomely challenging. it could present some issues, such as when you need to load movies and just won't take any format. everything has to be apple (or in this case, ipad) compatible. i wanted to continue with the 'tradition' of naming my things with greek monickers, so i thought phaidros would make such a cute cousin to my laptop, eros. and of course there's my phone kairos, and my external hard drive, which i named alexios.
as we all have come to know, apple, by definition, is 'zen.' my ipad came in a simple white box, approximately 9 inches in height x 7 inches in length. the box had a paper/cloth lining underneath, carefully stitched in place to (i assume) protect the very sensitive glass interface. and everything inside is either covered with a thin clear plastic or encased in yet another white box.
so there's the pad itself, then the usb cable, which of course you can use to either charge the device or update your pad files. then there's a 10-watt usb power adapter which then needs to be connected to a plug (which in turn, would need to be hooked up to another adapter, as our usual electrical outlet does not support it). inside a flat, little box, you will find a basic 1-page reference to what your ipad looks like and where its buttons are, then there is the paper-thin manual (which no one really would bother reading, not just due to the insanely small texts but that we'd rather discover what magic this device can do on our own) and a couple of apple stickers (which i love!!!). i still have not found a surface where i would like to use the sticker on.
a tip for those who wanted to get an apple device? be ready with an itunes software. for without it, you cannot upload anything on to your device. the good thing is that there are a lot of host sites that would allow you to download the application for free, as a matter of fact, you can go to the apple website - and in it, you'll find two versions of itunes - one for mac computers and another for window-based computers. when you try to fix what's inside your pad, itunes will ask you to first register your product (it would even ask you for the name of your pad, which i thought was sweet) and it will do the rest of the stuff for you. it will look into all your mac-compatible files - name it - pictures, music, videos - then it will synchronize everything.
and i mean synchronize. this sync thing is awesome. as a matter of fact, even if your devices (laptop and pad) aren't connected by the usb cable, itunes will automatically sync the files as long as both devices have are hooked up to the internet. now, that's a treat!
the next thing you have to consider is getting a file conversion application. i got 'aimersoft' from the web and the freeware isn't at all bad. i needed a converter for my video files and the final output had the application's watermark but i didn't really mind it. this application will let you choose between an hd and non-hd output format, which boils down to not only how good you want the resolution to be but how much memory you have on your gadget.
phaidros is roughly around two weeks old and you bet we have bonded. i have been going nuts about some of the cool apps you can download from the apple app store. i got some nice apps for writing, for downloading e-books, utilities (especially an alarm clock), games (i am in awe of this thing, the resolution is impeccable) and mind puzzles (sudoku, dominoes, scrabble, trivia, etc.).
i know there's still much to explore and i am very excited about it. this definitely is one of those times i feel it's okay to be a kid again, or a kid at heart for that matter.
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