Apple's iPad is a lily pad in the tablet computer pond

Today marks another incredible birth date for Apple Inc.  After a litter of iKids over the last few decades another one joins the Mac Clan; the iPad...which shall remain in transportation limbo (electronic incubation) for another 60 days.
 
Although another lagging product from the free-spirited computer and communications technology collective; the iPad in Apple fashion awes the customer upon first glance with an inspirationally shiny screen.

However the machine is no more impressive than the Tablet PCs that have existed for years.

Perusing online one can find a comparable machine for a comparable price.  Or a beefier machine that's really a hybrid tablet/laptop.

Yet the iPad offers no removable hard-drive connection, what you buy is what you get, no information on Apple's site indicated it had more than that Apple 30-pin port.  No USB connection, nor Firewire. 

Former Apple employees disclosed that Apple has been working on such a device "for more than a decade," reported the NY Times.

However, the company executives could never conclusively decide upon why to market a device that was power inefficient and awkward to use compared to a keyboard and mouse, the former employees told the NY Times.

That power inefficiency however, came from Apples' use of PC microchips, stated the former employees speaking about prototypes.

Which is odd considering that Apple has made their own chips for just about every machine, despite the effort involved why didn't the prototypes get a house-heart from the start?

For certainly other Tablet PCs have been lulled by battery longevity, yet they retained the ability to have a stronger battery replace their stock; which Apple has not with the iPad.

But Apple claims to have achieved a 10 hour lifespan per charge for the iPad; while pursuing a mixture of surfing the web via Wi-Fi, watching videos, or listening to music.  All due to their homemade 1 Gigaherz A4 processor, which apparently is a low-powered high-performance chip.

But a combination of the above mentioned processes is like mixing booze; the more the mixture, the faster you crash and burn.  Given Apples history with lithium batteries, 10 hours may be a stretch, but who knows!  They ship in 60 days, Steve Jobs just wanted customers to get their teeth wet with a marketing stint bent on salivation salvation.

More to come Mac-olites.

Pricing options for the iPad.
16 Gigs of memory - $499
32 Gigs of memory - $599
64 Gigs of memory - $699
Most expensive - $829 (3G models = price + $130)
Plus $15 or $30 data transfer per month for internet access.

HP recovery...Vista drudgery

In April the AC power adapter for my laptop broke.  The pin which connected the laptop to the adapter separated from the body of the adapter.  It was a sad spring day.

After having committed to a mission of purchasing a new desktop while maintaining some money for books, the adapter replacement fell down the list of financial priorities.

Which is one thing great about Christmas.  With my Christmas cash on my card after a trip to the bank, I went to Buy.com and bought a generic power adapter and cord.  It arrived yesterday, allowing me to do something I haven't in six months.  I turned on my HP dv6000 and that friendly Vista jingle filled my ears for the first time in over half a year on a warm winter day.

But after six months without my dear dv powering up, she slowed down sluggishly.  Luckily Hewlet- Packard, like other computer companies, has a factory partitioned space on the hard drive loaded with all materials necessary to complete a full reformat and reinstallation of your operating system.

How many clicks did it take to select and run the easily identified option which set the laptop back to it's "factory shipped condition"?  Five...

After a restart I hit the f11 key during start-up.  This loaded some files similar to slipping a Windows CD into the drive which led to the HP recovery window.

"Use this program to recover your computer to its original factory condition." - "Next" - Click 1

"Would you like to launch Microsoft System Restore?" - "No" - "Next" - Click 2 & 3

"Would you like to perform a system recovery?...System recovery is a procedure for restoring your computer to its original factory shipped condition." - "Yes" - "Next" - Click 4 & 5...the rest was patience training. 

The time it took to reformat and reinstall Vista and start-up into the operating system, 24 minutes...

Now Windows is loaded back up, the ol' dv is running well, but I have 70 Vista updates to install and configure.  The only bust to the reboot, three years after purchasing my laptop Vista has bloated like a well-fed balloon.

However, the ability to reformat my machine while fully reinstalling my operating system within a half hour feels great.  Although this operation has become common place for myself, as for other computer users, the advent of a recovery partition has streamlined the manual procedure.

Step 1
-Enter BIOS, select boot sequence 1 to cd-rom
-Save & Reboot

Step 2
-Open cd-rom quickly
-Put in Windows CD
-Closer cd-rom quicker

Step 3a
-If done fast enough mash keyboard when instructed to hit "any key to boot from cd."

Step 3b
-If not done fast enough, restart and consult 3a.

Step 4
-Patience training, windows has to load lots of files to reinstall the operating system.
-After windows files loaded follow on-screen instructions.

Step 5
-Select to reformat your hard drive
-Patience training, this will take 15 minutes to 30 minutes depending.

Step 6
-Wait for computer to automatically restart
-Patience training, wait for same windows files to load
-Follow on-screen instructions to install your operating system

Step 7
-Patience training, your Windows installation will take about 30 minutes.

Step 8
-Update.

See what I mean about five clicks?  Feels great having a streamlined partition.

Windows 7...Microsoft simplified

After a few days of playing with Windows 7 I must say Microsoft...bravo!  What the hell took you so long?

For those of you who many not remember, Windows XP was released in 2001, 8 years ago.

Considering the fact that at that time, the longest distance between two Microsoft operating systems was 3 years (95 -> 98), that is one hell of a stretch.

And we, the PC consumer, have languished in those 8 years.  After disappointing service packs that never seemed to solve the ills of XP and another Windows ME (crap), in the form of Vista; its about time Microsoft puckered up and gave us a nice kiss on the lips.

With that, here's your PC...simplified.

The taskbar's face lift is more than a lift, it's a complete overhaul.

The text that use to stretch taskbar icons into noticeable rectangles has been removed.  Now, like on newer MAC operating systems, the taskbar icons are strictly graphic.  This not only puts more icons in the taskbar, without requiring another row, it also reduced the clutter of text the taskbar could be if you had a lot of windows opened.

Since programs are now "pinned" onto the taskbar, much like MAC OS, all of your windows for 1 program are veiled behind the single taskbar icon.  Got AOL instant messenger open along with a few IM windows?  The AIM running-man is your icon, hover over the icon, and much like Alt-Tabbing a preview of each individual window expands below (or above, maybe to the side, depending on where you place the taskbar), simply click on the one you want.

The search feature is faster than ever, for those of us representing the "on-demand" generation, the search feature beings search after your second key stroke, that's fast.  No waiting for the operating system to collect what you told it to look for, it collects and looks while you tell it.

Libraries have given people the ability to consolidate a hard-drives worth of material into one place.  Have songs saved in your Windows Media File and iTunes?  Set those directory locations (file path) to your "Music" library, and all of your songs will appear in that single window.

With tons of new features, and a complete reappraisal of others, this new Microsoft operating system is everything PC users have been waiting for.

PS: Find yourself to a store with computers that have Windows 7 installed, and just gaze at the depth this operating system has, the images appear 3-D...seriously go look!

The Sheriff of Silicon Valley takes another outlaw down

The high noon sun hung aloft, stranded in the cloudless sky casting a blaze upon the two shadowless figures.  Time stood still for the Sheriff and the Outlaw, for just a short time had this hyper ram-headed outlaw escaped the clutches of the Sheriff.  Now, after a few weeks of frustrating chase the Sheriff had the Outlaw right where he wanted him.

The three who had ridden with the Outlaw since their gang started back in July split, fearful that reprieve wouldn't come, and they were right to, for this Sheriff took Outlaws down for the count not down to the court.

As the second-hand of the clocktower inched towards 12, the nerves of the Outlaw burst with electricity, he was jumpy, sometimes a blessing, but for this calm Sheriff that jolt didn't shock his focus.

Before the Outlaw could drop the hammer of his six-shooter he'd drawn from his holdster, the Sheriff reached outward from his side.

*Click* *Click*

Within the flash of a second the Sheriff had drawn and fired two well placed shots that left the Outlaw hangingly loosely in his saddle.  The two white-colored stur-ups that clamped the ram-headed Outlaw into the saddle no longer maintained their grasp and the Outlaw fell...right onto my carpet.

It took a few days, but I found him.  That damn culprit that had delayed my installation of Windows 7 for the last time!  As I suspected, my computer had 1 bad stick of RAM out of it's 4.

After installing Windows 7 on one good stick.  I shutdown and continued to place all of my RAM back in, stick by stick, checking my BIOS to ensure the motherboard registered each byte, upon placing the second stick back in what did I discover?

3368 bytes registered...RAM R/W test failed.

I had found him, my Outlaw renegade RAM.

Now he's resting in a jail cell called static-resistant plastic bag awaiting his trial at my computer manufacturer, a call placed Monday morning should have a new stick resting in my motherboard by Friday.

Standard Maintainence

To my great success, the culprit has been cornered in the crime of delaying my Windows 7 install.

As I type to you now, I do so on Windows Explorer through my newly installed Windows 7 Home Premium operating system.

After cleaning my RAM heads and blowing the dust out of their saddles, I reinstalled all 4 sticks and gave Windows 7 a shot.

Same old story, the installation hung at the "Starting Windows" screen of uncertainty.

So I yanked the back 3 out and started over...and then it happened.

Marvelous colors of blue, green, red, and yellow began to appear in the center of my screen, rotating like dancing lights bringing about a fancy artistry foreign to a Windows start-up screen, the dazzling colors manifested into the Windows logo before leading my through the install.

After a few weeks of frustrations, business, and laziness, I finally got Windows 7 installed without any problems, on one 2-gig stick of RAM.

Now something important to remember is this.

You must maintain a strict schedule of standard maintainence for your computing-machine to keep it in proper working order.

That means weekly or monthly tasks that need to be done like clockwork.

Familiarize yourself with your BIOS, every start-up you should make sure all your RAM is recognized by your motherboard (it will tells you how much loads each time you start up), so go in your BIOS, disable quick boot, turn off the logo screens, and check to make sure the parts in your computer are registering.

Use the Windows Tools within Accessories in the Windows Start-up Menu, Programs.

Run disk clean up once a week to purge your computer of unncessary temporary files that build up in bulk if forgotten.

Make sure to disk defragment your computer on a monthly basis, this tool helps consolidate files on your computer, install a lot of stuff, download a lot of stuff, do you constantly move large amounts of files around?  These all slow your computer down as bits are saved (like memories of past residencies) so your computer can remember the life and legacy of each file, shorten that legacy using the defragmentor.

A good dusting bi-monthly will ensure your fickle hardware keeps working will full functionality, don't forget to clean out the fans as well.

Stick to a strict code of standard maintainence and you will catch problems like I did, but much sooner.

Random-access memory loss

After a few days of trouble shooting what should have been a simple upgrade installation of Windows 7, I have come to the conclusion that the errors I've suffered thus far...are not the errors of Microsoft.

I have a hardware issue...not a software issue.

What's the difference?
Hardware are the pieces that comprise your computer, your RAM, your CPU, the power supply, video / audio cards, etc.
Software are programs those parts run and project onto your monitor.

Given their nature, these two different spheres of the computer world are helplessly attached at the hip, when one fails, the other usually follows in step (or is the cause of the first failure).
Hardware have programs themselves, called Device Drivers, that are the protocols allowing the parts to interact with the programs.  When the software has a conflict with the Device Driver, the program will crash, but this is not the problem I've had.

The problem I have experienced this time around, faulty hardware. (With the billions of lines of code and microscopic sizes of some computer parts its only inevitable for problems to arise from anywhere, you try keeping track of that much information without slippage!)

So the solution is this.

The BIOS is a manager of your computer parts and basic mechanical function that can be accessed during start-up, all that white text over black background, those are BIOS processes making sure your parts function properly before booting up into your operating system.
(Above is a picture of the BIOS manager menu)

In my case, I have 8-gigs of RAM, yet my BIOS is only registering a little over 6-gigs.  Since I have 4 2-gig sticks of RAM, one bad stick may be my culprit.

So the plan is to take them all out, clean their contact points, blow some compressed air into your saddles on the motherboard, plug them in and see if they all register again.  When your motherboard stops registering things plugged into it, they are usually just dusty not dead, time to clean.

If this doesn't solve my issue the next step is to remove them all once again.  Then insert each stick individually, one at a time and start up.  With only one stick in the computer, once I plug the bad one in (if there is a bad one) the computer won't start up and I'll know which one to have my computer company replace. (Though I can and have built my own in the past, I have a 3 year warranty for this machine and it feels great)

After I've nab my bad RAM stick, or cleaned them so they all register once again, anchors away for Windows 7!

Technical Difficulties

I discovered a few things about Windows 7 yesterday.

For one, when upgrading (rather than fully installing) the operating system, certain programs I have come accustomed to are no longer compatible, or at least the versions I have.

It all started after I inputted the CD into my drive.  Loaded up the menu, shifted through a few windows worth of stuff until the upgrade actually started.

Upon the first restart the installation required, my computer hung in utter desolation at the "Starting Windows" screen.

A call to Microsoft informed me of the compatibility issues I may be experiencing, which would lead to the install...stalling.

Now that I have the programs I needed to uninstall removed, and the drivers I needed to update completed, we'll see about this "several hours" upgrade process...more to come!