Sitting, waiting, wishing

There may be as yet undiscovered tribes in the Amazon who don't know, but most of the rest of the world can't have escaped that this week saw the announcement by Apple of their latest product, the "iPad". 

This was done in their usual way with Steve Jobs, on a stage in front of a screen, onto which were projected, firstly a series of facts and.....well you've probably seen it so let's cut to the chase. The iPad has caused a stir. 

Not all positive, the name has given school boy humour an opportunity too good to miss. But as comedian Ed Byrne said on Twitter "Yes. iPad is a silly name but so is iPod. Complaining about iPad and not iPod is like slagging Jar Jar Binks but not ewoks" 

Next up came the "it doesn't look good, it's not needed, where's the usb port, it's too big, and I won't be buying one" brigade. Let's be honest you all said the same about the iPhone when that was launched, but you've probably got one now! 

Stephen Fry loves it and he was at the launch and has therefore used one. You can see what he thinks here. But it won't come as a surprise that he likes it, as he tends to love new technology.

I think that we'll look back at this launch in years to come in the same way that we now look back at the iPhone launch. The initial product was eye wateringly good, but the next two versions will be the really good ones. There are competitors already but there will be lots more and they will not quite ever get as good as the iPad, in the same way as there is no phone that's beaten the iPhone. 

If the publishers get it right, this could be the gadget that finally gets newspapers and magazines onto the web in away that you can carry around with you. It could also finally break eBooks out into the mainstream, in the same way iTunes did for music. I don't feel though that this is the death knell for the book, but it will make publishers look at the costs of getting their product in front of a reader and realise that an eBook has to be a serious option now that it can be read in the mass market via iBooks. Up until now eBooks have been a bit of an expensive sideshow, but that could be about to significantly change for the better. I have a Sony Reader, that I love but it should be easier and cheaper to buy books for it. (Part of that is living in the UK, it is better in the US), but iBooks should make others up their game as well. 

Finally, the price. Apple products are never cheap, but I expected it to be much more expensive that it appears it will be. That might just make a lot more people put it on their 2010 Christmas list.

Silence is golden

So a new decade is half a month in and my keyboard has been quiet in this little section of cyberspace. Sorry. There are plenty of reasons/excuses but nothing that really holds water except that  I had nothing to say that I felt the need to put finger to key to say.

Life has continued much the same as the last decade, with the minor discomfort of some snow. The election campaign has started, despite the actual date being probably five months away. My bet, by the way, is May 20th.

Things on the sporting front have been interesting. Test cricket is written off by many as being out dated in these days of 20/20 and one day internationals, but three of the four tests against South Africa provided tremendous excitement at their conclusion. The NFL ias drawing to it's Superbowl conclusion. Will Brett Favre take the Vikings to glory? He really is an iconic sportsman in this over-hyped age of sporting celebrity. Closer to home Saints are a clean sheet away from Wembley in the JPT (Johnson's Paint Trophy) and have just drawn Pompey at home in the 5th round of the F A Cup, which will mean two full houses at St Marys within a week.

TV still has too many reality programmes on it. Skating, dancing (times two) and celebrity Big Brother fill the schedules, at least the latter is the last one. What we need is more quality like Wallender or Law & Order UK or even Hustle (although this series is not as good as others have been).

The world of podcasts continues to fill my listening (mainly in the car) The move of Simon Mayo to Radio 2 has meant the loss of the Daily Mayo but now we have two Mayo/Kermode one's on a Friday. The best one I've discovered recently is a football one by comedian Alan Davies called "It's up for grabs" He's a massive Arsenal fan and the podcast is him and two mates discussing the current position the Gooners find themselves in. It's hilarious and even if you don't like football it will entertain you.

Oh and Richard T Kelly commented in his blog about the kind things I said in my book review about his book. You never know just who reads any of this do you?

So that's my duck for 2010 on the blogging front gone. Good day to you