Day Two Hundred Sixty-eight: Evening of April 30th 2010

Splinter Cell: Conviction has been played through, and I was wrong about Sam Fisher's Third Echelon tech contact, Anna "Grim" Grimsdóttír. The designers did a nice job of misdirection. Sam would talk to Grim and the next thing you know enemy operatives were all over the place. It seemed like she would always send him into the teeth of the storm. Of course, it might be the fact that I don't 'sneak' well, but still it seemed strange that I wasn't able to find the path of least resistance. Oh well, it's done and I hope to return and try it at a higher level of difficulty, but I have other games to explore and test my skills.
Speaking of other games, I played Dead to Rights: Retribution for about three hours and the there were times when I was having fun, but then I would have trouble figuring out what I should be doing. I could check the objectives but they were broadly painted and weren't much help. So muddling through would occur, and I would be happy that I was playing on the easiest level of difficulty. I think that I'm about halfway through, but I can't be sure.
I want to get back to Army of Two: The 40th Day and finish Chapters of Deceit on the PS3 and I've forgotten about Bioshock 2. It not as engrossing as the first installment but still a good game and I'm going to have to have the manual open to refresh my memory regarding button assignments. Hopefully, it will come back to me quickly.
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
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Day Two Hundred Sixty-seven: Evening of April 29th 2010

Time consuming activities (not negative, just time intensive) and plumbing damage control were the key elements of today's twenty-four.
I did manage to check out the copy of Dead to Rights: Retribution that I received yesterday before I left the house. I spent a little over an hour and a half of running, punching, shooting. I began playing as the hero's canine sidekick. That was a first for me, and was fun most of the time. I hadn't learned the controls, but I enjoyed running through some of the bad guys.
Playing as the lead character, my initial objective was to save the employees at a large media corporation. This scenario introduced the key combat components of the game. One component that is explained is called 'focus' which is Slo-Mo view of the action. It can only last as long as an indicator show it can, and not only acts as an offensive bonus, but your defense is improved. I don't recall any other game that I have that offers this feature, but I'll check somewhere down the line. It does add a bit of control in a hostage situation. I'll probably play a bit more tomorrow, but I'd like to get back to Splinter Cell: Conviction and finish that one.
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
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Day Two Hundred Sixty-six: Evening of April 28th 2010

I was going to write about accessing the downloadable content, Chapters of Deceit, for Army of Two: The 40th Day. Something came up as I was about to start typing out the entry.
Earlier in the day, I received the camera adapters for the iPad (USB port and SD Card reader). So, before typing the intended entry, I tried importing photos from my iPhone to the iPad via the USB adapter. I selected a small set of photos on my iPhone, hit the sync, and it worked. It worked too well, I accidentally sent duplicate images to the iPad. When I opened the Photos app, I discovered the duplicate images. I highlighted one of the duplicates and the word 'Copy' showed but that was all. What happened to 'Delete'? I plugged in the iPad to my Mac Book Pro, opened iTunes and tried to find the photos on the device - No Luck. I went online and searched to find how I might be able to delete the doubles. The forum that I hit said to do what I just did. Right now, I'm not sure what to do, other than go back online and do a deeper search. Hopefully, I'll be able to find a solution to this problem.
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
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Day Two Hundred Sixty-five: Evening of April 27th 2010

Last night, just before slipping off to Nod, I reached the big battle in Splinter Cell: Conviction before the final scene (I hope). I'm basing this statement on the intensity and difficulty of the fire fight that developed. I have had the most trouble moving through this scenario. I have moved through the banquet room in variety of ways, without success. Once or twice I've come close to clearing the room, but have failed because I tried to take on the remaining enemy fighters head on. I should know better, but I still don't sneak well. Somewhere along the way I'll figure it our. I'm to close to quit.
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
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Day Two Hundred Sixty-four: Evening of April 26th 2010

"Hold down the left trigger" - That is the action needed to take advantage of cover in Splinter Cell: Conviction. Now I just have to implement this when needed, but it's going to be hard because I've developed some serious bad habits, and I'm homing in on the conclusion to the game (I think).
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
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Day Two Hundred Sixty-three: Evening of April 25th 2010

I've notice that I have developed a bad habit in Splinter Cell: Conviction of jumping out in front of the enemy soldier that I'm trying to take out using hand to hand combat. Part of the problem is patience. I need to wait until the soldier has walked past my hidden position. And I still don't quite have a handle on the directionality of my character. This is most apparent at corners. I thought that holding the 'A' button would flip my avatar in the correct direction, but I haven't been very successful with using it. I'm going to have to pull the manual out and double check what the correct button or button combination is.
On the plus side, I figured out how to move to the next part of the mission that I was stumped on last night. Of course it was right in front of me, and how I missed it, I don't know. But I found it and moved on.
I think that I'm very close the the final mission. There is a character that is leading me on, using lies and misdirection to move me forward. So I know that there will be a serious settling of scores with this character in the near future. The question will be what that character's motives are. I hope that I can discern what those motives are.
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
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Day Two Hundred Sixty-two: Evening of April 24th 2010

So I managed to play about two an a half hours of Splinter Cell: Conviction. I played until I hit a stump point and then a dizzy spell.
The 'stump point' occurred when I finished a hold a place mission and now have to move on to complete the primary mission. I spent about twenty running up and down stairs, climbing through windows, moving along ledges, shinnying up and down pipes, and not finding any avenue of escape. I'll try once more before I call up a walk through.
The 'dizzy spell' happened because of all the spinning around. This usually happens when I play first person shooters, and I move around in a dark closed in spaces. That pretty much describes the area that I'm in right now. What this means to future game play? Simply put, I've got to get out of the situation as soon as possible. If not, I'll be repeating the 'dizzy spell' again with an increase in the frustration level. That is something I'm not looking forward.
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
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Day Two Hundred Sixty-one: Evening of April 23rd 2010

I managed to play some Splinter Cell: Conviction and I'm sorry I haven't been playing it every day this past week. This is a fun game, easy to get into and challenging to play. And the fact that I have to relearn the controller keys is bothersome. I keep throwing grenades when I want to reload my primary weapon. That is a very frustrating mistake, but at least I haven't killed myself doing it.
The other thing is how wonderful the graphics look on the 40 inch flat screen sent through the HDMI connection - Wow. I don't know why I haven't finished this game, but I think I'm going to devote more time finishing it in the near future.
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
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Day Two Hundred Sixty: Evening of April 22nd 2010

My wife left with the Torx (not Torq) screwdrivers in my tech repair kit. She had the adapter to hook up the internal hard drive. She was, as we used to say on the firing line, locked and loaded. I wondered if all the files would be recoverable.
About ten o'clock I received a call from my wife that she was having trouble with taking the iMac apart. She started to read the tools needed and she mentioned a Torx-10 and a Torx-8. I stopped her and said we don't have that small of a Torx bit. Then, I told her that I'd check and get back to her. Checking my tools, confirmed the initial assessment. I wondered if I could overnight an inexpensive set of bits, and work on the project. I went online and found an inexpensive Torx set at Amazon.com. When I called my wife and told her what I had found, she asked me if it might be at a local hardware store. I knew it wasn't at the local hardware store, but there was a Home Depot on the way home. Returning to Safari, I find that there is a similar set at that hardware store. I text the part numbers and description to my wife so that she can pick it up on the way home.
After dinner the disassembly begins. Unbelievable, the engineers a Apple must not have wanted anyone to increase the storage capacity of the computer. Luckily, my wife isn' planning on using the machine anymore, so I didn't need to be really careful about the pull apart. I had the hard drive out in about a half hour, and my wife was transferring the students' files to her external hard drive - mission accomplished.
Now it's time to clean up. I'll ask my wife if she wants me to salvage anything else before the unit is trashed.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
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Day Two Hundred Fifty-nine: Evening of April 21st 2010

The hard drive issue from yesterday remained unresolved because a Torq-10 bit wasn't available to unscrew the external cover from the back of the defective computer.
When researching the procedure for opening the Mac, the images associated with disassembling the unit showed Philips head screws, so my wife knew that she had that type of tool, so she left the bit set at home. Low and behold, the screw head showed the asterisk shape of a Torq bit. The phone call was made and the search began. It really wasn't much of a search, I knew where all the bits were. My only question was, "Did I have a T-10 bit?" Both sets of tools contained the needed Torq bit. That means tomorrow we will find out if the adapter works, and the students' will be rescued. I certainly hope so.
On the gaming side, I can, with certainty, say the insanity difficulty setting requires a serious re-evaluation of my tactics and use of cover. I managed to finish the Omega quests, but only after restarting the scenario from the beginning once and eight restarts from various locations. So I managed to play Mass Effect 2 for about two hours before I had to get dinner.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
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Day Two Hundred Fifty-eight: Evening of April 20th 2010

So a minor excursion into Mass Effect 2, seeking Archangel, a long afternoon errand, and then dinner.
So what was the adventure with technology today?
It started with a phone call from my wife. A sense of urgency was evident. A computer was down, and student's project was trapped on the hard drive. That project was important and of course there wasn't current backup (aah, teenagers). Troubleshooting for the computer had resulted in no improvement. The unit started, flashed a gray screen and ultimately shut down. My wife visited the Apple forum and FAQ support site to double check her troubleshooting procedures, tried a few additional suggestions, and then called me about the availability of a hard drive enclosure to salvage the data on the student's hard drive.
So the search began. I knew that there were plenty of enclosures, but I decided to to check out the price range. Offhand, I didn't think that she would have to spend more that fifty dollars. The search confirmed that. So, I texted her that she needed the basic specs for the HD - size (2.5" or 3.5") and type (SATA, PATA, IDE) to make sure we picked up the right case. From previous experience, I knew it would be a 3.5" SATA, but a double check is worthwhile. About twenty minutes after the initial post, I remembered that there were adapters the bypassed the enclosure and hold up to the 'naked' hard drive. I informed her of this and she was excited about the possibility of getting it. With it you can pull a drive out, collect the data, return it to the machine, and ship it off for repair if needed.
That evening after dinner, we went to a local MicroCenter and checked out the enclosures and file transfer adapters. As we walked in, there were two enclosures on shelves to the left of us. I think they were about thirty dollars. We studied them and then moved to hard drive section, knowing that if all else fails we could return to that shelf and pick up one of those enclosures. There was a large selection of enclosures. Prices ranged from about twenty five dollar to almost ninety dollars. Continuing the search, we found the adapters, and started looking through the selection. That became a problem, because we couldn't figure out which one to get. To further compound the problem, the price range was reasonable and very close from model to model. We picked one that had the Mac OS symbol on the box.
Of course we didn't leave, she needed a new keyboard, which we found in the Apple section of the store. Browsing is fun,and we had fun. She finally picked out the latest Apple keyboard, and we returned home. It was a successful excursion.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford.
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Day Two Hundred Fifty-seven: Evening of April 19th 2010

No games today, but I worked on shifting the WiFi router around to improve the signal strength on the first floor. I had purchased a specially designed wall mount for the Airport Extreme and spent the afternoon moving surge protectors around, shifting plugs around, and reorganizing the hookup cables. In the end, I managed to reposition the router about six feet from its current location. It seemed to work, but it wasn't until ten minutes ago, that I was able to see if the signal strength had improved. I'm sitting in a chair, that is the farthest away from the wireless unit, and just successfully downloaded an app. My wife confirmed the improved signal. After battling the tenatious cables, I feel a sense of accomplishment.
There was a 'Plan B' ready, just in case. That entailed the purchase of an Airport Express, and wirelessly extending the network. The drawback was the extra hundred dollars that needed to be expended to purchase the unit. So I am doubly happy about the success of the relocation.
Maybe I'll be able to play a bit tomorrow. We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
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Day Two Hundred Fifty-six: Evening of April 18th 2010

It was very much a pastiche kind of day as far as gaming was concerned - a little bit of this and then a little bit of that. The only console game played this afternoon was Mass Effect 2, and I made the mistake of sitting in the recliner, (or as I'm going to start calling it "The Seat of Slumber") and fell into a rather deep sleep. I didn't get much done, other than finding a few medallions from the crew of the original Normandy who didn't survive, before I had to break for dinner.
I didn't t get a chance to find a new location for the WiFi device, which is sort of disappointing because I could call down to the first floor to check on the signal strength before mounting it to the wall. I guess I'll get some exercise running up and down the stairs during the day.
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
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Day Two Hundred Fifty-five: Evening of April 17th 2010

As usual, Saturday has filled with little chores, so it was difficult to spend any quality time with any of my console games. But I was able to install a utility, TuneRanger on my Mac book Pro and my Toshiba, that I though would help in synchronizing and organizing my various iTunes collections.
The key to synchronizing with this application in network stability. The directions are adequate, and the heavy emphasis on network settings should have clued me in. My first mistake was synchronizing all files, including movies and TV shows. The program seemed to freeze when it started to download the first movie, when in reality, the wireless network uploading/downloading speed was slow. I reset, which means restart, both my PC and my Mac, and made sure only the music was set to transfer. I started the process, watched for a while as the songs started to transfer, then left to work on the laundry. When I returned about thirty minutes later, about eighty songs had been transferred with more appearing as I watched. I checked the connection strength. The next thing I notice, song transfers were failing. I was confused, and wondered what was happening. As I flushed the failed tunes, I asked my daughter how the network was. Her negative reply pointed me in the right direction. The network let me down. I'll have to rethink my idea about what to do the next time I try it out.
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
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Day Two Hundred Fifty-four: Evening of April 16th 2010

Playing some the games that I had purchased has proven to be fun and a great way to kill some time. The three that have consumed the most time are Fieldrunners, Plants versus Zombies, and, my iPhone favorite, The Creeps! HD. They are all tower defense games, although Plants versus Zombies is more of a variation of that type of game.
I almost missed working on this post because I thought that I was doing really well in Fieldrunners, but I was wrong (I only reached the 63rd level). I guess that that means they are addicting. I know that my daughter has finished Plants versus Zombies, definitely lapping me (I'm at Stage 3-4, shy of halfway). The Creeps! HD is similar to the iPhone version, but not the same so far. It doesn't offer the expansion packs that are available for the iPhone, and the iPad version doesn't offer the "Door Buster" mode. Maybe that will appear as an update later. This game is still fun and frustrating to play. Maybe that balance is part of being a good game.
Right now, I'm considering getting the iPad version of Civilization. I've enjoyed the gameplay and the frustration of trying to successfully complete the PC game. Like I said, I'm considering it.
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
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Day Two Hundred Fifty-three: Evening of April 15th 2010

I had a chance to get some quality time on Splinter Cell: Conviction, and found it to be an enjoyable experience. I don't mean that it was easy, on the contrary there were a number of situations that required thoughtful analysis.
Situational tactics and equipment selection require careful assessment of the potential choices. Then the "rubber meets the road" and you find out just how good your choices were. There is another saying that fits here, "Some times you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you." If you've eaten the bear, then things worked out as close as possible to your projected outcomes. If it doesn't work out then it's start over time from the last save. There were a number of times when I was required to react to unexpected challenges, and that's what raised the level of playing the game.
While watching Attack of the Show, the host mention a bug in the video game that caused the system to freeze. But a patch had been released prior to my start up of the game. So all thing seem to be functioning normally, and I'm glad. I wouldn't feel comfortable playing on the console knowing that anytime everything would go away, and then what? This is a mute question. I would descend to the deepest depths of frustration and put the game away until I forgot about the game - I would do a mental reset. That would take a while.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford. 
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Day Two Hundred Fifty-two: Evening of April 14th 2010

A busy day with some chores inside and two errands out of the house.
I played a little Splinter Cell: Conviction, restarting the game on the Xbox 360 Elite. I was complacent, and was killed sooner the yesterday's attempt. I took a risk and, because I'm learning the cover system, I left myself open to a shotgun blast. Oh well tomorrow is another day.
Yesterday, I was waxing poetic about Apple's productivity software. When I was finished I wondered about a database and today I found the app that actually works between the iPad and a Mac or a PC. Its file compatibility isn't with Microsoft's Access, but FileMaker's personal database Bento 3. I glanced at Bento for iPad's specs today, and it seemed to offer a basic set of DB functions. There was one caveat that caught my eye. The iPad version of Bento might have trouble handling a large database created in Bento 3 on a Mac. It sounds like a memory issue, so would having the larger iPad memory eliminate that problem?
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford.
-- Post From My iPad using Pages.

Day Two Hundred Fifty-two: Evening of April 13th 2010

I was watching the tour of the iPad apps and was amazed at the depth of features offered by Pages, Keynote and Numbers.
Pages is the word processing app, Keynote is the presentation application, and Numbers is the spreadsheet program. The tour spends a couple of minutes for each of the apps, demonstrating the major features. I like the import/export capabilities, especially the compatibility with Microsoft suite of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
If you are considering the iPad, you might want to check out the tour of the apps or read through the tech specs for the productivity set of Pages, Keynote, and Numbers.
On the game front, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction was released today and I picked up my copy. After playing for an hour or so, I'm going to have to re-think my approach to game play, stealth and cover are important, so I'll have to stay away from the run and gun approach that I've grown accustom to in Army of Two: The 40th Day.
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford.
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Day Two Hundred Fifty-one: Evening of April 12th 2010

I found the last radio message in Army of Two: The 40th Day, and for the first time I found all of the messages,or items in a game without the aid of a cheat or a walkthrough - sense of achievement (not to mention a PS3 trophy).
I've had less success gaining access to the DLC, and my web search has only added to the confusion. One site describes Chapters Eight and Nine, while another states that it appears after the hospital scenario. I don't know. I'll keep playing the current game through to the end and see if I can find the DLC. If not then I'm shifting back to Final Fantasy XIII.
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford.
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Day Two Hundred Forty-nine: Evening of April 10th 2010

Well I was wrong about where the DLC occurs in Army of Two: The 40th day. I played the last section of the final chapter and "The End" was my reward. So it was time to go online and find out what was going on.
The search was frustrating. I started by searching for Just the DLC, and that gave me a number of release announcements, a few reviews, and not much else. I moved through about six or seven pages and nothing specific was found. I modified the search and added a request for location. Thinking back, I should have requested a walkthrough. As they say, "Hindsight is twenty/twenty." Anyway, the DLC occurs after the hospital chapter. Well, I'm glad I started a new game yesterday. As of this entry, I've almost finished the hospital chapter and will be looking for the DLC.
While I was playing, I noticed that there was a trophy for 150 kills with a pistol, so I decided that I would try to attain that level of proficiency with my pistol. You have to get up close to eliminate an enemy with the minimum number of shots. So let this challenge continue.
I noticed that this app, BlogPress, doesn't have font modification menu, other than size (Large, Medium, or Small). I'll have to edit these entries on my laptop later.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford.
-- Post From My iPad

Day Two Hundred Fifty: Evening of April 11th 2010

Moving through the scenarios in Army of Two: The 40th Day, but no DLC has been accessed yet. I'm going through the mall right now and I'll be on the lookout for any clues to the upcoming adventure. I'm going to check out the Internet later to see if there is anything more specific than the earlier information.
An interesting thing occurred, when I was checking out my stats, I have found all but one of the radios without the use of a walkthrough or cheat sheet. The only missing radio with related transmission is the thirteenth one. It is appears later in the game, but I don't when or where.
Most of the day was spent on getting everything ready for the week. So, I was only able to play AoT for about an hour. I'll work on it tomorrow, but I want to get back to Final Fantasy XIII as soon as possible. I want to see if I can actually finish a Final Fantasy game.
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford.
-- Post From My iPad

Day Two Hundred Forty-seven: Evening of April 8th 2010

So Bioware's new DLC for Mass Effect 2 is challenging and I wish there had been an introductory adventure to meet Kasumi. Her special ability, an invisible phase move from one location to another, is similar to the Borderlands' female character. When the ME 2 character materializes it is usually next to an opponent, which she can dispatch if her victim is in a weakened state. This ability can be called upon through the skills select, fosters teamwork, and requires thoughtful targeting. I noticed that there are occasions when Kasumi puts herself in harms way-meaning in the middle of a pack of enemies. Every once in a while it results in her death and the use of a med-gel pack.
I made the mistake of playing the scenario on the 'insanity' difficulty setting. It really fostered teamwork and the use of cover. In the heat of battle, you could here Kasumi yell out the direction that the next wave of baddies were coming from in the final boss battle. It took me over two hours of actual combat to finish that final battle. It was very satisfying. I guess that playing at the most difficult level engenders that feeling. I'm glad and it wasn't a mistake to play it at the 'insanity' setting.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford.
-- Post From My iPad

Day Two Hundred Forty-six: Evening of April 7th 2010

A new DLC from Bioware for Mass Effect 2, Stolen Memory, was released yesterday. It adds a new team member, the twelfth, a master thief named Kasumi. I downloaded it today, and just started the mission, so I'll have to play a while, before I really have a sense of the loyalty mission that is associated with the character. Although, the mission described in the setup is a break-in disguised as a party crashing with Shepherd acting as the primary diversion at a party, allowing Kasumi to get the data that she wants.
I tried to check out reviews and found that Bioware's servers had trouble handling the downloading requests yesterday. I'm glad that I didn't remember that the due date was April 6th. I would have figured it was my network that was at fault. I had to finish up the mission I was on before I could actually start Stolen Memory scenario.
Some how I have destroyed yesterday's entry. I thought that I had copied and pasted the closing statement, but it appears that I saved today's entry over my previous entry. I'll try importing from Pages tomorrow.
We shall see.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford.
-- Post From My iPad

Day Two Hundred Forty-four: Evening of April 5th 2010

I guess you can say I'm iPadding. I thought it might be interesting to try typing out today's entry on my iPad. I'm working in portrait format and not having much of a problem using the keyboard, of course using the 'hunt and peck' method.
The ladies in the house continue to have fun utilizing their iPads. My wife commented on the iBook store, noting how the preview feature helped her decide not to purchase a book after read the first twenty-seven. My daughter is still miffed over some of the negative press regarding iPad, and enjoying skimming through her apps.
Well, I' going to cut this short and prepare dinner for the dog and give the cat her medication.
For as long as it's needed, I'll keep closing this way. Please check out a good organization that's providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you can afford.
-- Post From My iPad

Day Two Hundred Forty-three: Evening of April 4th 2010

Repeat of “OMG - The ladies of the house were totally into their iPads.”

I came down after getting everything settled in; dog walked, laundry dealt with, and I’m ready to help set up for our Easter dinner. What do I see and hear? The iPad is in use displaying recipes for rack of lamb, a string bean casserole and a conversation describing apps dealing with recipes. I’ve got some clearing out to do, so I listen, detecting the glee filling each cook.

Later, I begin to clean house on the iPad, removing any iPhone specific apps (camera and tool related) and minimally used apps (location of speed trap, bus stop times). Then I search through to see if there are any new updates for the iPhone apps and iPad counterparts. Of course I play The Creeps! on the iPad. I notice a difference in game play, minor variations, and some aren’t covered in the ’Help’ descriptions.

Finally, just before I started working on this entry my daughter informs me of an app, Desktop Connect, that allows you to access the desktop of her Mac Book Pro. It will permit the iPad to control the Pro, opening applications and seeing what is happening on the laptop. One benefit, no problems with Flash, because the iPad has become a virtual screen for the laptop. The downside, the setup directions are a bit confusing.

It was at this point that the screen went white and was unresponsive to any attempt to bring it back to a normal state. I am a bit perplexed and angry. there was a bit more information, but I guess I'll put that on a back burner. There is a storm outside, but nothing threatening. The computer was running on battery, so even that wouldn’t be a problem. I guess I’ll do some diagnostics now, just to see if it is anything detectable.

We shall see.

For as long as it‘s needed, I’ll keep closing this way, please check out a good organization that’s providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you is can afford.

Day Two Hundred Forty-two: Evening of April 3rd 2010

OMG - The ladies of the house were totally into their iPads. I mean from the moment they had their hands on the device, they were into downloading apps, testing them out, and moving onto the next experience. I had to do my chores, so I had to control my urge to fool around with my iPad, but I definitely enjoyed seeing the ladies having so much fun. My wife popped with this quote, “Ka-ching Day for Apple!” Later in the day, my daughter commented, “Why so many haters?” noting that the iPad wasn’t intended to replace a laptop. I haven’t taken any time to look at what was being said around the Web. Truth be told, I really didn’t care (other than tech issues, when they show up).

When I opened the box, I noticed the single index card sized sheet printed on two sides. One side had an image of the iPad and the other side setup directions. Basically, you are directed to update iTunes and work your way through a sync. You make decisions about what you want to include and sync the device. I wanted to include the movies, the iPhone’s music collection and all the apps on it.

I wanted the apps to test out which worked and how they looked on the iPad. I found out that when you activate the app it opens iPhone size and you can enlarge it by pressing on a ‘2x’ button located on the lower right corner of the screen. Of course the doubling of the image degrades the aliasing softening the image, but the games that I played worked, along with some of the other productivity apps.

Once that was done I began searching for iPad versions of the apps that I had. I found a few of them, some were free and other cost ranging any where from $1.99 to $9.99. IBook was a free download with Winnie the Pooh as a sample book to view. I downloaded a book using my iTunes account to see how that worked.

Finally, looked for apps that I wanted to try. I was happy to see that Plants vs. Zombies was available for download. I also purchase Apple’s Pages and Autodesk’s SketchBook. I haven’t really checked out the functionality of either of them. I was to busy with the games, Plants vs. Zombies HD and The Creeps! HD (both time vacuums). Maybe I’ll check the productivity apps out later.

It has been a fun day with the iPad. I hope tomorrow will be another one.

We shall see.

For as long as it‘s needed, I’ll keep closing this way, please check out a good organization that’s providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you is can afford.

Day Two Hundred Forty-one: Evening of April 2nd 2010

Ran errands, recycled boxes plus packing materials, and played The Creeps! for a while. The sinus problem is hanging on but in a much-diminished state.

We, my family and I, spent some time reading the early reviews of the iPad. Overall, they are positive but I’m sure that there are some negative reviews because of the new nature of the machine. If the reviewers are looking for a laptop, they’re probably not going to be satisfied. After reading and listening to the commentaries about the iPad, I began to wonder about something I hadn’t heard anybody mention – How long will it take to charge (or recharge). I guess I’ll find out within the next twenty-four hours.

For as long as it‘s needed, I’ll keep closing this way, please check out a good organization that’s providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you is can afford.

Day Two Hundred Forty: Evening of April 1st 2010

Another heavy sinus headache day, so very little tech usage today. I tried some Mass Effect 2, played four hours, but dozed off for about three of those hours. Of course, I was mining most of that time, not the most exciting activity in ME2.

One thing that was exciting was the discussion about Apple’s upcoming release of iPad. Major reviews seem to be favorable (New York Times, Wall Street Journal), although techies will point out its short comings. The interesting point made is this device is neither a laptop replacement or a larger version of Apples iPhone. Apple has created a new category of computing device.

My iPad is coming and I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do with it.

We shall see.

For as long as it‘s needed, I’ll keep closing this way, please check out a good organization that’s providing aid in Haiti and make what ever kind of contribution that you is can afford.