iPad Hands On

*Update* 4/28/10

Some of you may have seen this post and though O.o must be a glitch. I want to assure all of you there was no glitch this was my hands on post. And now for the explanation, i was at the apple store viewing the blog to see how it looked on the new iPad screen when the idea hit me to try doing a hands on review on the iPad. While this may seem like a great idea it turned in to the failure you have all seen for the past month. For some reason I was able to type in a title, but the iPad would not recognize the “Body” section on blogger to be a text field so I was not able to actually post a hand on review. For those of you who were hoping for an actually hands on review then look below.

iPad Hands On (much much later)

The iPad is a very sleek smooth device; I don’t think it would be going too far to say that it is a beautiful piece of technology. The device is very responsive just as one would expect from the makers of the iPhone and iPod Touch. That being said it does feel like a very big iPod Touch, and in some ways that is a downfall. When I was attempting to type on it I found that the on screen keyboard was either to wide or too small for my hands to type normally like one would on a touch screen computer. The apple sales person at the store suggested that I use the “two finger method” which I like to refer to as hunting and pecking for keys and is a very tedious process. I am confident that this like with most new products just requires some new conditioning to become comfortable with and that if I owned one it would become easier to type on. That being said I am still not running out to get one for the reasons I mentioned earlier in a previous post iPad, rock or flop?.

Recommended Listening/Reading

I have recently realized that I never mentioned how I managed to get myself into the skeptical universe, and I feel it is time to pay tribute to some of my “influences”.

My biggest influence would be “The Skeptics Guide to the Universe” hosted by Dr. Steven Novella, “an academic neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine”, and his group of skeptical Rouges.

“The Skeptics Guide to the Universe is a weekly Science podcast produced by the New England Skeptical Society (NESS) in association with the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) : discussing the latest news and topics from the world of the paranormal, fringe science, and controversial claims from a scientific point of view.”

The Skeptics Guide is about an hour long show filled that discuss the latest in skeptical news laced with amusing, snarky, and often geeky quips. On many occasions I have found myself bursting out laughing on my drive to school. Even though this is a primarily science based show, the topics are discussed on a level that even a non-science background person could understand.

It is this show that provided the inspiration for not only the creation of this blog, but also my own podcast Derationalize This! and its own blog (this sites sibling blog).

For those of you who don’t like to listen to other people talk (feels too much like talk radio) or are not interested in the world of podcasts. There are also a number of blogs that are worth taking a look at, and have provided ample amounts of information in what is going on in the world around us.

Blogs to read

• Pharyngula – A blog written Professor PZ Myers, biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris. He tends to put up multiple posts a day, and covers topics primarily relating to science and religion. He is one of the more radical fell known skeptics, but when you want to hear from someone who will show no mercy to lunacy PZ is the one you want to read.
• Bad Astronomy – Phil Plait, astronomer, lecturer, and author, publishes multiple posts a day focusing on mainly the space end of science but will cover any and all science related topics; he also has been known to geek out over sci-fi (Doctor Who etc.). He has published two amazing books “Bad Astronomy” and “Death from the Skies”. Phil is also the ex-President of the JREF and currently working on an undisclosed secret project.
• Richard Wiseman Blog – Prof. Richard Wiseman is a psychologist and the author of great books like Quirkology. His blog updates daily with interesting new experiments or online questions as well as every Friday posting a brain teaser question that he provides the answer to on Monday.
• The Rogues Gallery – a group blog featuring the hosts of the SGU – Steven Novella, Bob Novella, Rebecca Watson, Jay Novella, and Evan Bernstein

I hope many of you check out these other great sites which have given me so much guidance and resources as a skeptic.