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.