So as many of us know, Apple is preparing a press conference "about the iPhone 4". Nobody knows what it is going to be about, but most assume that its going to talk about the antenna design and well publicized issues. Now when I bump into someone (without an iPhone 4) around the water cooler they say "How about that antenna? You having all those problems? heh heh". The thing is, when asked I don't know what to say. Yes I think if I squeeze the phone really hard i can get bars to go down, but only soft of, and only sometimes. I do not have problems with dropped calls at least not any more than I did with other ATT phones.
But what it DOES do, is allow me to make and receive phone calls from the first floor of my house for the first time since the first iPhone and the Motorola Razr. I think the first iphone didn't have as many antenna, sensors, and do-dads to interfere with the good old Edge network, and the Razr, didn't have anything.
Despite being left-handed and therefore ostensible the most afflicted - I'm very happy with the phone. I'm not having any significant problems, and while I don't doubt that people ARE having problems, I'm curious about the actual scale of those problems.

Bluray is looking more and more like one of the high end audio formats that appeared as the successor to the CD - like it will be beaten by Internet downloadable formats.

An incredibly dim lightbulb went off for me this morning about the iPad, iPhone, iWhatever. It never occurred to me that Apple's app and book DRM would work the same way their other media DRM works, in that you can share with 5 authorized computers.

I find all DRM annoying but as much as I love the Kindle, it is very locked down in that you can not share a book with ANYONE.  I can understand the desire to not have your books posted all over the intertubes for free, but the fact that I could not lend a book with someone in my household bugged me.  I forgive DRM, as most people do, for the convenience offered by the kindle (a devil's bargain).  

So, back to the dim lightbulb.  Apple's ebook DRM is the same as its application DRM and movie DRM, that is, you can authorize the content on 5 devices.  

Books downloaded from the iBookstore can be placed on up to five computers you own that you’ve authorized with your iTunes Store account. You can sync your books to any iPads you own. Audiobooks and ePub files you've added to iTunes will appear in Books under Library. To sync Books to your iPad, connect it to your computer using the cable it came with. In iTunes, select iPad under Devices, then click the Books tab. Choose the books you would like to read on iPad then press Sync. Books will sync to iPad even if iBooks is not installed; to read synced books, download iBooks from the App Store.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4059

I still love the Kindle and for pure reading it surpasses the iPad, but this slightly less restriced level of sharing with Apple is making me think twice.  Or at least making me think about WHERE I buy a book before I buy it.  

Ok, so you want to know what I think of the iPad that I bought for my dear wife that I won't let her use so that I can type this post on it? Here go:

1. It is fast. Really. Surprisingly. Fast. I think the fact that it is fit-to-purpose computing it just seems snappier than even my overpowered MacBook Pro. Switching between applications, zooming, scrolling, keyboard... It's snappy

2. The keyboard is unexpectedly usable. I'm a fast iPhone dual-thumb typist despite not matching what i do on a full keyboard. I'm finding using the same sort of zen-let-the-autocorrect-prediction-work-for-you way that serves me well on the iPhone works doubly well here on the iPad. No, it's not a full size keyboard by any stretch, but it's plenty good for me to write a long email without suffering, or even to write this post. I could see taking this into meetings instead of a notebook.

3. The industrial design is excellent but this is hardly worth mentioning because its the same level of quality we have all grown used to with the iPhone and MacBook. That being said the screen is big and bright and beautiful. Text is crisp and it's easy on the eyes all around.

4. The applications on launch day are impressive. I'll save a list of favorites for another post, but what is important is that there are thousands written specifically for the iPad. Enough to keep you busy downloading for a while and if this is day 1, I can't wait to see what is out next month or next year.

5. It is the ultimate web browser. It's amazingly comfortable and intuitive way to browse. Reading a web page in portrait and intelligently sized for the ipad has a completely different feel than browsing on a computer with even a very large screen. You can actually sit back and browse and it feels more like you are reading a book. Think about it the next time you hunch over the laptop on your coffee table. I can't overstate the importance of this most basic "feature".

Thats enough for now.  Its great, Its met my expectations and then some.  Can't wait to get my own :)