I've seen pictures of the queues in London that look like that. But not in Manchester, there was nobody queuing to buy there, but about 20 or so people having a look at them.

My first hands on experience with a iPad was actually a couple of weeks ago when I was in Preston, the local CEX had one in the window for sale so I asked to have a look at it.

Yeah, I'd imagine that the regent street store will have had stupidly long queues, but then again I personally wouldn't go anywhere near that store on release day of a limited stock product.

As an aside, one of the demo apps on the iPad was Starwalk, liked the app so much that we bought it, it's super cool on the iPad and just as cool (but smaller) on the 3GS, uses the accelerometer, gps and compass to make identifying the night sky a very cool experience. Slightly less cool on the 3G because of the lack of a compass.

You get random queues at the Regent Street store sometimes. Not 100% sure why. When it is around the release date of a new product however, it'll be absolutely heaving for days. When the iPod touch was originally released, I went there a week or two after and there was still quite a wait to actually purchase one even with their extra staff with mobile CC terminals.


I've tried the Google equivalent for Android and whilst it is cool, it still doesn't make it any easier for myself to identify those stars! It just still looks like a mass of really faint dots of light to me

The equivalent for Android, Google Sky Map is free. It's a neat application. Lots of wow factor.

I think that many fewer stars than you might expect actually have names. (I expect all the visible ones and more have some sort of code name these days, but there are seemingly no more than several hundred 'Polaris'es and 'Betelgeuse's.)

I think you've got a higher opinion of the patience of the ancients than I have. I was surprised there were as many as a few hundred with individual names.

Most of the visible stars have deterministically-allocated code-names by the Bayer or Flamsteed schemes, both based on the constellation they're in and an order-of-brightness ranking within each constellation.

Peter

Well, less than expected when you look at a small portion of the sky on a smartphone. There are several dozens of stars visible in the viewport, yet, at most, three or four with names. It ends up looking really sparse.

I was at least surprised that the main stars in prominent constellations are not all named. For example, only two of the stars in Orion have traditional names, and neither of them in the belt or sword.

I used that just two nights ago. We were all eating outside on the beach, and there was a very bright object in the sky. My wife guessed Venus, and sure enough Google Sky Map showed that it was. I also suspected I could see the big dipper, and used it to show that too. Very neat.

Oh, did anyone else notice there's a trade show going on right now for failed products? They're calling it Computex. Everyone seems to be showing off slate/tablet products that will never ship or that will fail miserably once they do. It's like everyone is competing in a race to the bottom.

I actually used it to help align a telescope so that I could get these shots of Jupiter and moons. They didn't turn out too bad considering we were missing the attachment to allow us to hook the camera up through the telescope. As a result, we were forced to mount the cameras to the top of the telescope. First was taken with some sort of DSLR and the other was taken with my Sony DSC-T700, which isn't known for good astrophotography.

http://db.tt/etNwhb
http://db.tt/cFnHwI

Apparently Sauron has been reborn on Jupiter.

Yeah, it's a pity we didn't have the Barlow lens handy.

I have an honest question for you iPad owners out there. I tried using one again yesterday by logging into my test Google account I created (I wasn't going to log into my own account on a display unit). I once again tried out Google Reader in desktop mode, this time knowing how to scroll the story area.

My question is: why was it such a jittery experience?

I'm not asking to bash the product (I like the thing, I just can't spend that much money for it right now). I'm asking because I was a bit surprised. While I was scrolling through the stories (in expanded view, to be fair), I found it to be noticeably lagging. It just didn't feel like a smooth scroll.

Sorry, I'm just trying to understand what's going on here. Is it how Reader was written?

I'm assuming the desktop version is optimized for desktops, that now commonly have at least a gig of memory, fastish processor and so on. While Safari on the iPad is decent, it still has far less resources compared to a desktop or even a net book. Out of curiosity, how well does google reader work in desktop mode in the Nexus One?

I haven't dug into the code much, but it feels like google reader is using javascript for scrolling instead of letting the browser handle it, hence the need for two fingers to scroll.

If you do go with an ipad or other tablet, look for a dedicated app. I see 9 ipad specific ones searching the app store for "google reader". I can't really comment on any of them though, since I still don't use reader or orhter RSS services.

Not at all, sir! However, the Nexus One doesn't have "the best browsing experience of all time." Plus, it's a cell phone, and I'd want more screen area to view the stories in.


I thought it might be something like that. I think they do that for two reasons: First, as you scroll it marks things as read, and second, because you might have hundreds of unread news posts, it only loads a certain amount at first, and loads more after you've scrolled past a few stories. Both of these could also contribute to the slower speed. Unfortunately, both of these are reasons why I love that view.


The main problem with this, and the reason why Apple and any non-Google device would be out of the question (if I couldn't use the site), is that I simply do not give any web site or application my Google login. It's simply too valuable to me. There are apps on the Android platform that require the login, but there are some that don't. I believe those apps talk to the OS in a manner which gains them access to the account without knowing the login information. I don't know if that's a worry as well, but it makes me feel a little safer. Ideally Google would release an app for Reader themselves, but I guess they feel the mobile site is enough. It's okay, but nothing, IMO, matches the full experience...


So in the end, I don't really blame the iPad, but I would still say that it's another case where I'm not getting the full web browsing experience, and it's on my second-most used site (after GMail).

Do they actually block it, or does something else fail? I was mostly asking since the Nexus One is pretty comparable to the iPad as far as processing power.

Logging into Google Reader then scrolling the extended story area in a similar way to the iPad was resulting in spikes all the way up to 80% CPU when using Firefox on my Mac. Memory usage also went from 50MB at open to 200MB after scrolling back 10 hours worth of stories. So yeah, it's just not an application optimized for a tablet or phone browser.

iPhone OS 4.0 may bring some improvements to the iPad in terms of javascript performance, but it's hard to say how much. Odds are Google is going to need to tune things on their side if the "Desktop" variant of Reader is going to be the preferred one on the iPad.


Well, there is a difference here. Normal sites that display text and images via pretty standard HTML work fine, as the power needed to render/display them is pretty minimal. Web apps like Google Reader are quite a bit different, running (doing a quick check) ~700k worth of scripts and an additional ~250k worth of style sheet info. Thats the downside to Web apps compared to native apps. The device is now forced to both compile and execute code, instead of just having to worry about execution. Time will sort this issue out though, either with more powerful processors or better optimizations in the javascript compiler.

As for your paranoia, I can somewhat understand if you have so much info tied to that one account. My issues with using Google heavily are more concerns with having all my data out there somewhere, uncontrollable by me both in terms of what is done with it, and also how I access it. As I've voiced elsewhere, the downside to Web apps is losing control of when upgrades happen. I am forced into their new version, complete with new UI tweaks and all, instead of being able to upgrade and learn the new features when I want to.

All valid reasons for rolling your own when it comes to this stuff. I just don't want to bother, so I find Google to be the best product of its kind. Security will always be a concern, but when it comes to the fear of them changing something in a way I don't like, fortunately Google has a very healthy philosophy of "not only is there another option for each of our products, but we let you get your data out of most/all of it." Basically, I like this.


*edit*
As for the Google Reader stuff, that's all true as well, though as I said, I think it tends to reveal more of how that statement of "the best browsing experience ever" has some caveats to it. I can't argue about the way you interact with the device, but the fact remains that there are things I can't do when browsing the web on the iPad (or any tablet, I'd say). I could get around these things, but it seems like I'll need to do it with alternatives.

In Google Reader's case, I'd say that I'll have to wait for Google to release the equivalent to its iPad-optimized GMail app. I've played with that, and it's actually very good!

As for the Nexus One, the page loads, but is completely scrollable and just a static page. I can click on links and open different feeds, but I can't scroll the story area at all (two-finger scrolling doesn't work).

NOOOOOO!!!

Wow, was I bummed last night. Here's the story:

• I cannot pay $500 for an iPad
• When it came out, I figured,"why not enter a couple contests to win one?"
• I entered a contest Dreamhost was putting on, where I just had to tweet something with the word "Dreamhost" in it
• I never heard anything
• Last night I installed the official Twitter client on my Nexus One
• For the first time I checked my "mentions"
• They'd contacted three times over about three weeks
• I'd won an iPad
• They gave it to someone else
• 

Ouch

Dude, that sucks.

They only tried to contact you by one of the worst inventions ever?

Hey, don't knock it, it's the same reason we got to see one of the, umm, worst movies recently... (Transformers 2)

Yup. Really, I blame the hype around Twitter more than anything. The entire idea of Twitter, as I keep hearing the tech press talk about it, is that it's a stream that you jump into and out of at any time. If I were just checking my main Twitter page, I'd have to watch it like a hawk to see that message from Dreamhost float by.

But instead, it was a creation of the users (@ replies), that were used to inform the winners. I believe you can check these replies (or "mentions," as I believe they're calling them now) from the site, but it's mostly something that seems to be done through 3rd party apps.

Grr. That really sucks. It's not the end of the world, and I didn't have an iPad yesterday either, but it sucks knowing that if I'd installed that app two weeks ago, I'd have one now.

Twitter has the following kinds of messages:

1. Normal messages that go into the stream along with everything else
2. @replies, these also go into the stream, but are directed at another user and only show up to others when they have the recipient as a follower. This is a way to have a small reply thread
3. Direct messages. These are private, similar to PMs here.

All of these are visible on the twitter.com page and in every client. Sucks that you missed out on the free iPad, hopefully this will help if you try for other twitter contests.

This just in. Apple to Google: "Suck it."

They haven't outright banned other ad service providers, but they've done something even more clever, good for consumers and good for protecting their IP. They've put in language in the most recent SDK licensing agreement to forbid certain types of data to be collected by third parties without the consent of the end-user/customer and certain other types outright.

This helps protect customer privacy and it also helps prevent competitors like Google from gaining inside knowledge they can use to help their own products and marketing efforts.

EDIT:

Oh, the agreement also excludes ad companies that are owned or affiliated with device or OS companies - as they'd be able to obtain competitive information to use against Apple's own products. This essentially blocks Google's AdMob from being used in apps. So essentially, they've done exactly what I suggested, but only to Google (at this time).

I'm LOVING this because it completely devalues AdMob, which now it appears Google paid far (far) too much for when they stole it from under Apple (who were already in talks with AdMob for a sale). You'd swear there was a group of screenwriters behind the scenes controlling the world.

END EDIT.

I'm sure this is going to be added to the DoJ inquiry. I hope with all my might that it comes around to bite Google in the ass and opens up a bigger inquiry into their own data acquisition/retention practices. They're no Facebook/AOL, but they're down-right scary nonetheless.

I think more than ever, Apple needs to make a play for their own map/nav IP. Let's see if my second suggestion to Apple plays out.

The ban isn't because Apple are especially concerned about their customers though. It is purely for the protecting their IP as you mentioned. They're furious at one of the companies that collected usage metrics for some apps which discovered that several people were using something with the ID of iPhone3,1 all around the Apple campus.

It is a bit sketchy anyway that they used to collect that much data and included your GPS location as well.

Huh? Please, explain how this is specifically good for consumers.

I will agree that it's a great platform for their customers, but their customers are not consumers, they're developers.

I don't necessarily care about this development, I just find it weird to claim this helps consumers. Of course, it doesn't really hurt them either.

I am not an Apple fanboy. In fact, I detest everything Apple, because if it's different from what I'm used to, it can't be any good.

That said, if Apple were to acquire its own map/navigation system that ran full screen on an iPad with maps as good as Google Maps, and if the navigation worked in Mexico (!) and through regular GPS satellites and internal maps, not through some cell network (not a lot of cell phone coverage around here) I would stand all night in the rain in front of the nearest Apple store to buy one. Price would not be a consideration.

My experience here in Mexico with GPS navigation has been... spotty. My Garmin GPS (with aftermarket Mexico maps) has been useful, in that eventually it will get me where I'm going, IF I can give it an acceptable address. That's a lot harder than it sounds, because I can't just put in "1819 Avenida de Las Americas, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico" because... do I want to get into this? Sure, why not. Guadalajara grew from a bunch of smaller [towns][villages][neighborhoods][suburbs] each with their own street numbers, but the street names are common. These areas are known as Colonias. There might well be half a dozen different "1819 Avenida de Las Americas" in greater Guadalajara. So, with the Garmin I have to first give it the name of the Colonia. This information is not easily come by. The best (and so far only) solution I have found is to feed the address into Google Maps on my computer, and it will flag all six (or however many) matching addresses there are, labeled A B C D E F, and I'll look at the map and make my best guess as to which of the six is the one I want. Then Google will tell me the name of the Colonia, I can put that into the Garmin along with the street address, and the Garmin will get me there. Sort of.

The maps I have for the Garmin are pretty much unaware of such trivialities as one-way streets (about half the streets in Guadalajara are one-way), and with those maps the Garmin is perfectly happy telling me to make a left turn onto Hidalgo from Lopez Mateos Sur when Lopez Mateos is a limited access divided highway and no left turn is possible. At that point, Ms. Garmin tells me in a slightly disgusted tone of voice (I love that, no doubt whoever put that into the voiceware was subsequently fired for having a sense of humor!) "Recalculating..." and tells me to make another impossible turn a quarter mile down the road. When something like this happens, I just exit Lopez Mateos anywhere I can, get off onto side roads, and let Ms. Garmin try and find the way without making impossible demands.

So, on a whim we bought a TomTom GPS unit, on sale at Amazon for something like $89 complete with Mexico, US, and Canada maps. The Mexican mapping is far less complete than the Garmin's. For example, where I live (third-largest town on Lake Chapala with nearly 20,000 people) is mapped only to the extent of showing the Carretera (highway) through town, no other information is given. Roads on the outskirts of Guadalajara are frequently not shown, and even on major roads street address number information is frequently not available so I have to shoot for the nearest intersection. But... I don't have to know the name of the Colonia (the TomTom shows all the matches and I pick the one I think is best) and the GUI of the TomTom puts the Garmin completely to shame with options like avoid toll roads, avoid unpaved roads, select an itinerary that matches the route I want to take instead of the shortest distance.

As much as I dislike Apple, I strongly suspect that I would very much like their idea of navigation software, and if it ran full screen on an iPad, where I could actually see in great detail what was going on, I would be a happy first-time Apple customer.

tanstaafl.

It helps consumers because now developers are prohibited from collecting any data without express permission from the customer using the application. As As developer, you must include a permission request in your app if you want to collect data.

Incidentally, while Apple's WWDC is targeted at developers, as a company, their customers are end-users. Developers come a very distant second to the average joe consumer.

Making data collection more transparent and opt-in is good for the consumer.

Doug... I'm confident that the current Nav vendors will eventually update their apps to take advantage of the iPad's larger screen. I wouldn't expect TomTom to be first, but perhaps one of their competitors like Navigon will have it soon. Unfortunately I don't have any idea what their maps for Mexico are like.

I did use a Garmin Nuvi extensively the last time I was in Portugal and its maps were a little bit out of date, but generally very good for everywhere I went (and I was on some pretty small back roads in places with a population of less than 50). Map detail in other European countries is even better from casual browsing (though I didn't do any nav outside of Portugal). From what I remember, the Nuvi did offer the option of picking from multiple matches when it found them. There were a lot of things to complain about otherwise with the Nuvi though.

Only "issue" with using an iPad as a GPS is that you only get the GPS in the more expensive model that has 3G wireless. Using an external GPS is out of the question without jailbreaking it as well it seems.