Apple today announced its much hyped product iPad. Steve Jobs introduced the product as something in between iPhone and McBook. When he explained this, it made perfect sense to me and by the time presentation ended I wanted to get one. Price point for 16 GB device is $499 and it seems reasonable for a multi touch device with sharp OLED display, Apple A4 processor and wifi connectivity. A flurry of application that seems to attract you at once are incorporated in the device and many more better applications and games would be developed in future. Most attractive application would be iBook which makes iPad direct competitor to Kindle.

Here are the two main reasons that made me change my mind:

Do I really need a device between iPod touch (which I own) and a laptop? I looked for its usage and tried to see which all situations I will need an iPad. When I am commuting I use my iPod to listen to music/podcast etc. When I am in cafe, college etc I use iPod to browse and do normal internet work. For all complex tasks I use my laptop. Where does iPad fit? I can’t use it to listen to music, so I will have to carry iPod and I can’t work on some essential software if I use iPad. An argument can be made about web applications taking over desktop applications but I still prefer my old style keyboard to be used. iPad has a dockable keyboard but is it easy to carry it all the time and when at home why not use laptop?

Many people called it Kindle killer but I don’t see that happening. Undoubtedly reading books on a colored screen would be pleasure but it will cause significant strain on eye. OLED is good for shorter reading periods but prolonged usage will cause serious strain. Kindle not only will provide E Ink  based display which is much more pleasant to eyes. Kindle despite being black and white, and with poor UI will score better. Adding to that would be Kindle’s content deals with publishers and recently released SDK that will help developers come up with better tools.

I am happy that device came up, it will not revolutionize the industry but will push industry to come up with better devices. We will have a surge of eBook readers soon in market as well as help in raising standards for Netbook. Another added benefit would be that Kindle’s prices will come down and I am waiting for that day.

I have been using iTunes application store for some time now and have found these 10 applications/games very useful.

1. AroundMe – Application that locates you on map and then you can browse through nearest Banks, Bars, Coffee shops, Gas Stations, Hospitals, Hotels, Movie Theatres, Pharmacies, Pubs, Restaurants, Supermarkets, Taxis and Theaters.
2. WordPress – Blogging application that allows you to connect to WordPress blogs as well as self hosted WordPress. Very useful apps for short posts.
3. Twinkle – Location based twitter client. It locates fellow Twinklers nearby ( Till 50 miles radius) and shows there tweets. Really nice to explore fellow twitter user in your area.
4. Facebook App – Much better than the Facebook iPhone interface. This not only allows you to comment on status and other things that are not allowed but also helps you use Facebook chat.
5. Fring – This is the chat/VOIP application that can be used to connect to google talk. Wonderful application.
6. Active Eagle – This application is used to locate you and then update your location on FireEagle.
7. Movies – Another application which locates you and then finds out which movies are running in nearby Theatres. Not only that it gives you other movie related info such as ratings, box office collection and links us to IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes.
8. Wikipanion - This is a very handy application, sometimes it gets hard to check wikipedia on mobile safari. This app formats Wikipedia pages for iPhone and displays then in nice sections.
9. Hangman – Hangman game.
10. Spaceman - A very graphical game, try it now, it is free for sometime only.

PS: I have not ordered these apps in ‘Top 10′ fashion, order of importance can differ as per usage.

Friday:

Release day for iPhone. People are waiting excitedly in queues outside stores and unlucky ones are refreshing engadget for the videos.

India bounces back into the series with a six wicket victory. More important than that was the way Sachin played, a brilliant knock of 93 before being beaten by Tshabalala. Sadly he missed the century second time in the row. But fans love this, the maestro is back in form, every pull shot he played the crowd gained the confidence. He crossed the 15000 run mark too.

Learnt a lesson, not following a design pattern can leads to disaster. Problem that has been bugging since Monday is solved. Just had to look into When a Singleton not a singleton and things became clear.

Saturday:

iPhone released, videos out. Look superb and engadget confirms that all the features are at par with what was advertised. People have ripped apart the iPhone to found out what hardware it uses [not for the faint hearted]. iPhone’s Firmware is out on internet and people are trying to get into the system.

Massa taken the pole position at Magny-Cours. Ferrari is clearly ahead of the McLarens. Thanks to the rigorous testing and new aerodynamic package. Alosno had gearbox problem and would be starting 10 from the grid (probably). Only threat to Ferrari is Hamilton’s brilliance.

Valentino Rossi wins the Dutch GP. An excellent race, Rossi started from back and finally reached the top. Once again Rossi proved that to win a race you don’t need the fastest bike.

All the critics and news channels who were criticizing Sachin Tendulkar have taken a U turn and are praising his brilliance.

Sunday:

Match delayed due to rain and is shortened to 31 overs each side. South Africa is restricted to moderate total, excellent bowling by Zaheer, Ganguly and RP Singh. Chasing is not easy, Tendulkar falls cheaply and when it was looking as if the ‘one many army’ is going to fail once again in a final, Dravid and Yuvraj rescues from a difficult situation. Good to see Dravid’s aggression and Yuvraj back into the finisher role. Sachin was awarded Man of the series, but he shared it with Yuvi.

Iceman shows he is not out of the championship race and wins the race followed by Massa and Hamilton. Ferrari got a perfect setup now and hopefully it will continue throughout the season. McLaren’s strategy of 3 pit stops would have failed, but once again Hamilton came to the rescue. Alonso was aggressive but luck did not favor him. Wondering why all the aggression is there from McLaren team only, Kimi get back in the form.

Overall a great weekend for all sports/tech lovers. I realized that I did not cover Wimbledon and 20twenty. Only match I kept track of was Paes-Damm Vs Auckland-Huss. It was an interesting match and in the end paes lost the temper and had a discussion with referee. But most of the matches at Wimbledon were washed out.

Trying out Safari on XP but then, it doesn’t have proxy support as of now. Searching for some work around, now only intranet is accessible. When trying to access internet, the browser is crashing