Some background on the reviewer (it’s not me). He’s an artist/illustrator. The man, the reviewer, the Spencer Lindsay (you’ll see some of his goods on his blog).

Here’s what he’s got to say:
======begin Spencer iPad review=======

OK.

Full day and a half of using my iPad and I can’t get it away from my teenage daughters – hence the snappy title.

• Battery Life:
  • Absofuckinglutely unstoppable. I’ve had it on for the entire day today, playing movies, surfing the web – ooohhh… the web surfing… and drawing on it.
  • As of 8:15pm, battery is at 65%
• UI:It’s cooler than SJ made it look in his easychair rollout talk. Smooth, fast and responsive without even one hiccup so far.
  • If you have an iPhone or a touch, you know what to do.
• Apps:
  • I bought iWork.
    • Pages: Pretty damn cool. Kinda hard to type fast on the slippery keyboard, but I think I can get used to it. Extremely intuitive interface with one exception: where are all the files kept and why are there multiple copies? Must look into it.
    • Numbers: Seems exactly as useable as pages – I’m going to mess with it tonight.
  • iPhone apps sometimes crash.
  • iPhone apps look a little yucky compared to the “HD” versions of the iPad apps.
  • Google Maps app is shockingly fast and useable. The multitouch stuff really is amazing in this.
• No Flash.
  • I have yet to find this a problem. CBS even has a (FREE) iPad app that lets you watch their shows (FREE) and it acts just like Hulu. I’m guessing that all the networks are going to do this if they like money. 700,000 sold in one day… yoiks!
• GPS, Compass, Accelerometer:
  • All work flawlessly with most apps, though some of the app store purchases seem a little “rickety”… possibly the new API – I know there were some changes between iPhone and iPad.
• Screen:
  • Sharp, crisp and fast.
  • Sticky fingers do leave some smudges though, I’ve had to clean it twice today but there’s been a ton of fingers on it.
• Movies: Awesome. Clear and sharp and very fast to load.
• Books:
  • I’ve purchased one book: Dies the fire, and it’s very readable – The one thing I might add is a “lock scree rotation” button. Occasionally, while shifting positions, the screen rotated on me.
  • There are a bazillion free downloads of all the classics. It felt funny loading Tolstoy and the collected works of Shakespear on it but I did it because I could.
• Mail:
  • Pretty much the same a iPhone mail with more room.
• Safari:
  • Holy mother of God this is where the iPad totally shines for me. The speed is fantastic, the refresh speed of the graphics is amazing and the multitouch to zoom in and out of pages at will is just so cool.

I had it with me at the aquarium today and the reactions were anything but ambivalent. I got one of two reactions:

1.) OMG is that an IPAD!! Want!
b.) Oh yeah, an iPad, I can’t believe you bought one. (editor’s note…it’s an inside joke with “b” following “1″ in our lists)

The naysayers usually say: But it’s just a big iPod Touch…

My question is: “is that a bad thing?”

Still trying to figure out if this will replace the MBP… it might.

=====end Spencer iPad Review======

Spencer then went on to ramble on about what happened on Day Two of his iPad experience.

=====Spencer’s iPad Thoughts Day Two====

Day two.

Left it on the kitchen counter.

In a half an hour, Clan Lindsay had looked up a map of Santa Cruz, checked housing listings, googled images of Lady Gaga all while listening to the new Black-Eyed Peas album.

It’s more of an appliance than I thought.

=====end Spencer’s iPad Thoughts Day Two====

And there you have it folks. An everyday consumer with a family seems to think “yes, I like this machine”. Forget all the “pundits” and “experts” who complain about the lack of a camera or that it doesn’t have a keyboard. This isn’t a laptop for crying out loud. It’s a new device. As I stated/asked in my last iPad piece with my predictions, it’s created a whole new category. I’ll admit I want one. It won’t replace my laptop but it will certainly be a nice device to have in the living room, bedroom, kitchen…

Kudos to you Apple for creating yet another winner and making countless millions craving to spend more money on your devices. Sheesh…anyone want to send me one to review?

1. Palm announcing their phones heading to AT&T
2. Samsung is introducing a bevy of new phones
3. A number of Android-based phones are being announced across all carriers and manufacturers
4. AT&T is talking about their network and is also wanting more spectrum
5. Sprint announcing their 4G phone

So what does this all mean? It’s all about the phone again. Consumers want a phone that does more than simply make phone calls and this is clearly evident with the slew of manufacturers building Android phones that will be sold on all the major networks.

Predictions:

1. Palm is going to bite it - Sorry Palm…I love you but it’s just too little, too late. The Palm Pilot was revolutionary. Good job…too bad you rested on your laurels. The Palm Treo was a great phone. Too bad you rested on your laurels. The Palm Pre is a great phone running on a great OS. Why did you announce to the world what your phone would do and then wait half a year for everyone else to implement those features in their phones while you didn’t even release one to the public yet? Now the iPhone is the clear leader and Android-based phones are quickly gaining ground.
2. Android phones will become more widespread - It used to be just a phone for geeks however the quirks are getting worked out, the form factors are getting cleaned up, and all the carriers have them while all the major manufacturers are building them. Hate HTC? Buy a Samsung. Hate Samsung? Buy a Dell. Hate AT&T? Use one on Verizon or Sprint. You get the picture. It’s not just a novelty anymore…it’s a clear competitor to the iPhone for any user to purchase.
3. Sprint will continue innovating - Sprint is the number 3 carrier behind Verizon and AT&T and they know it. They’ve done a good job slowing down the mass migration of customers to other carriers and are doing a good job at getting phones. Their prices are great and their 4G expansion is moving along steadily. These are things that they need to do to stay alive. It may not be enough to push them up to being the number two carrier anytime soon but it will keep the other carriers honest and keep the innovations coming.

Usually CTIA announces a couple cool phones and then that’s that. I remember when the Samsung Instinct was announced. “Yay cool!” and then nothing. The Palm Pre last year…rock on…but then what? This year’s announcements however seem to illustrate something greater, that the big picture is actually changing rather than simply being a show where a couple cool new toys are introduced.

Seriously people…be HAPPY you can get two million dollars, especially now in this economy. While so many people (save from those AIG execs) make a modest living and live paycheck to paycheck. A few more put in a good day’s work and make a bit more. However, this being the celebrity-crazed, sports-loving, voyeuristic society that we live in, we love to see the football players with their multi-million dollar contracts, the movie stars that make $40 million per movie, the companies that are being run by college kids that are being bought for hundreds of millions. Time to come back to reality…

I was reminded that we need to come back down to earth as I was talking to a friend (and coincidentally a business partner from another company we co-founded and sold off many years ago) about one of his pet projects that we’re about to revitalize. Years ago we parted ways (on a good note of course! no speculation here people…we’re best friends and always will be) as he went off to law school and I continued on with my wily ways. As a Mac user he was having a frustrating time in a PC-centric world of law and education, thus he started up the site Mac Law Students. He was bound and determined to find solutions to his Mac problems (what time tracking software is there for the Mac? How can you take an exam that was designed for PCs? What’s the best solution for…) and report this to other law students who didn’t want to trade in their Macs simply to go to school and practice law. (In a funny random side note, my first real gig out of college was doing support for an IP law firm that was all Mac-based aside from the Netware server here and there). The site became fairly popular but as we all have time constraints he could not continue on with this after graduation. It’s been a while since that decision was made and he decided it’s time to bring it back.

So just what does this all mean? What am I rambling about? I start with billion dollar deals and then move on to a small niche site? Stay with me here…

We  have no illusions that doing this site will make anyone stupid rich. And ya know what? That’s ok. It’s kind of a fun project to work on and could bring some sort of notoriety down the road, but it’s just a fun thing for now that could help fund a hobby or two.

Or could it get bigger? Who knows. I mean, wasn’t that company Apple started in a garage? Did you know the first Apples had a WOODEN case? Or those other little companies (FaceBook, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc) started in dorm rooms or as small things that happened to get big? I believe so.

Not EVERY venture needs millions in seed money just to get off the ground. Take a good idea, some passion, and some hard work and you can succeed. Not only can you succeed, you can go nuts and thrive.

So if you’ve got a good idea that you want to try, just go ahead and do it. Maybe you’ll get rich. Maybe you won’t. However, if you don’t even try there’s a 100% chance you WON’T have something to sell off for a hefty price. At the very least, find something you enjoy doing and then you can have something fun to do. At the upper end you’ve got something you can possibly retire on. Think small and go big.

“It’s too hard to start one.”
No it’s not. There are companies out there that handle all the work for you and help you choose between a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or LLC.

“It’s too expensive.”
No it’s not. You can do all the paperwork yourself and only have to deal with the licensing fees and such or again, you can get in touch with one of those company forming entities and lay down $500 or so and have them do it.

“I don’t have time.”
Really? Is “Wheel of Fortune” keeping you from achieving financial independence?

You don’t have to aim for the stars to get your own company going. Don’t think you have to compete with Microsoft, Target, Chevrolet…whoever it may be in order to succeed with your own company. There are so many niche things out there that you can do. Better yet, do what you like…and get paid for it.

Do you like to sew? Do it…sew to your heart’s content and then sell your goods online, at a flea market, at a consignment shop.
How about programming? I’ve seen some simple programs be the foundation of companies as they’ve grown over the years. You can do it too.
Photography? Design? There’s a need for that, both digital and print.

I just want to emphasize that you don’t need to make $100,000.00 a year with your new company to be successful. Wouldn’t it be nice to make an extra $20,000.00/year just by doing what you already enjoy doing? So why not do it? With unemployment rates the highest they’ve been in the past 14 years, it’s worth a shot. At least you’ll be pulling in some revenue in the unfortunate case of getting laid off. This can help you survive until your next gig. It can also hone your skills as you look for something new. If nothing else, it’ll show potential employers that you’ve got the will to succeed. It also affords you the luxury of not having to find such a high paying job out in the market place as you’ll already have this side gig bringing in supplemental income. That means you can have more jobs available to you as you get to lower your starting salary range.

Go on. Get out there. Start a new company. Many giant companies started in dorm rooms, in garages. If you want to be the best, there’s hope. If you want to keep it simple and simply have a supplement to your income, keep it small. It’s that easy. There aren’t many good reasons out there why you shouldn’t have a business of your own right now. Start up and have fun!

Nowhere in the history of gaming has anyone ranted about Apple as being a platform of choice for gaming. Nope. Just not there.

Enter the iPhone. Have you seen how many games are available for this thing? According to one article at the LA Times there are nearly 1,700 games available since the App Store opened in June. Good…freaking…googly. Those are mammoth numbers! From simple games developed by unknown developers to well-known games developed by the bigger names in gaming, games dominate the downloads for the iPhone.

When the iPhone was first released it was widely speculated that the iPhone was Apple’s Trojan Horse into the enterprise. Perhaps it is. However, one cannot ignore these numbers. With already 1,700 games…one thousand seven hundred…in a mere five months, Apple may be sneaking their way into a new source of revenue. We can only guess what they’ll do with this information. Perhaps they make a handheld gaming device to compete with Nintendo’s DS Lite or Sony’s PSP or maybe they’ll think bigger and go for a console gaming system. Maybe they’ll do nothing and let it be a niche product for the phone (can we really call 7 of the top 10 iPhone apps “niche”?). I don’t know…but Apple is clearly comfortable with exploring opportunities beyond desktop and laptop computers. Time will tell but I for will be keeping my eyes on this development.

Another technology that perplexes me, one that I thought was on its way out a decade ago, is Cold Fusion. New coding standards, richer XHTML capabilities, and new languages would surely make this closed system obsolete, right? Wrong. A decade after thinking its days were limited (I had no timeframe in mind, I just saw the writing on the wall. Well, at least I THOUGHT I did…) I still see .cfm on many pages that I hit as I’m surfing around.

It’s tough to predict the future when it comes to the Internet and other computer-related technologies. Things that seem like a sure hit can fail for a variety of reasons (marketing, bad implementation, politics, etc) while other technologies that seem as if they are becoming obsolete continue to exist, and sometimes thrive. For now I guess the safe bet would be to use the technologies that have the most compatibility and sadly, the most backing. I say sadly because backing can come from deep wallets wanting to push a particular standard for reasons of profit rather than promoting the most useful and promising technology. Goodbye Betamax, sorry Minidisk, you had a chance Ogg Vorbis but not good enough, you were fun while you lasted HD-DVD. There goes that semester of programming I took in Pascal…

The discouraging thing is that in this day and time, business and technology moves along at a MUCH faster pace than it did even just a couple decades ago. Our product could be obsolete by the time this patent gets granted. Every month that goes by is tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of missed revenue.

We’ve heard of the USPTO reforms that are supposed to be taking place. When will we actually see these changes? How many millions of dollars must be lost before the USPTO becomes an efficient machine? The economy of the U.S. would benefit from these changes and the U.S. would also become competitive in the international marketplace. Until these changes take place, thousands of good ideas will fail to make it to market at a relevant time, businesses will fail to have a chance to succeed, and our competitive advantage will continue to deteriorate.

What do you make of these commercials? Do you believe that Exxon, the company that posted $10.89 BILLION in profits in quarter…not a year…but a mere three months…is dedicated to other energy sources? Why should they? $10.89 billion. Staggering.

There has been talk of alternate energy sources (bio-diesel, electric, solar, etc) but none have taken off. Even with oil prices where they are, these alternate sources have gone nowhere. Why is that? Well…let’s think of the infrastructure we’ve got right now. We have cars that run on gasoline. We have gas stations peppering our lands. Buy an electric car, where are you going to recharge it? Bio-diesel? Can’t really find those gas stations anywhere either. So we’re stuck with what’s readily available.

Ponder this though. These petrol companies know consumers are feeling disenchanted with current gas prices. Hybrid vehicles and scooter sales are on the upswing. More people are taking mass transit. This means less gasoline is sold. So perhaps these companies WILL look for alternate sources of energy to sell to consumers. But…are you ready…here’s where it’s all about to make sense.

Let’s go back to that $10.89 billion in profits in three months. They easily have enough money to dump into R&D. They could come up with a product to sell to consumers. Next, they already have the most expansive distribution network available in the land. You hear people complaining about a Starbucks or a Wal-Mart on every corner, but what you REALLY see is a gas station on every corner. And in the most remote lands as long as there is a highway. 

So there you go. I would actually be surprised if I didn’t see one of the oil companies introduce a new non-petroleum based product. They’ve got the money, they’ve got the distribution, they’ve got the willing consumer. It’s only a matter of time before we see the next retro-fitting of our gas stations and what they will offer for their new methods of revenue generation.

The new venture (I’m still finding it odd calling the new company Clearwire…bear with me for a bit) hopes to have 120-140 million users of the network by the end of 2010. That’s a rather nice number considering we’re almost half way through 2008. It could be interpretted that since the deal is now in place, numbers have been set, and names have been named that they expect a rather aggressive and robust rollout of the network.

I’m looking forward to seeing how AT&T and Verizon’s gambe to pooh-pooh on WiMax will turn out as they decided to opt for LTE (Long Term Evolution). WiMax is expected to compete not only in the wireless market but also with fixed-line broadband. It’s no wonder Comcast and Time Warner wanted in on this deal also. You can expect some interesting new services with Google in the mix and we know Intel has a lot at stake here as they’d love to sell WiMax-enabled chipsets.

Oh what a glorious way to start the day. Sprint has been in the news a lot over the past few days. The rumor of Deutsche Telecom buying them, the rumor of Sprint selling or spinning off the Nextel division, Qwest dumping Sprint for Verizon…but this news is just exciting not only for investors, geeks, and business people but also ultimately for the consumer that will be able to use this network. I can only imagine the myriad of offerings that will be available to the consumer, from streaming TV shows and movies to your laptop to broadband coverage no matter where you are. Now the question is…which cities will this be rolled out in and in what order?

I think Sprint Nextel really is getting it together as a company. It has been and will continue to be a tough road for just a bit longer but they refused to go down without a fight and now they’re proving that the rumors of their death were just slightly exaggerated.

Exciting times for us all. Let’s see how the competition reacts to this and what other offerings we will soon have before us.