Standing On Boxes

Finally got around to moving the last fic  The Two here. (Unless I missed one.)

Some parts of it are in dire need of revision. Someday. After I finish it. Not sure when that’ll be but the only thing I’ve done to it in the last 4 years is revise the first 3 parts. So… it could be a while.

I was thinking about my first programming experience this morning while I was getting ready for work.

And then things went meta and I started thinking about HOW I got to thinking about that in the first place. So bear with me for a moment. (I’m not going to explain all of the tech things I mention along the way. Sorry. There’s a google for that.)

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{I need a lolcat for this!}

So, Steve Jobs announces (finally) the mythical Apple tablet device. I’m not going to go over the features (has or missing). Every tech blog on the planet has details or you can even go to the official Apple iPad website

Other than the name… iPad? Really? … I actually want one. I’ve been waiting for a tablet for ME (and not all the jealous tech-nerds that hang out in the tech blog comment sections (they already HATE the iPad with a seething passion – and it’s only been half a day.)) and this is the first thing since a Newton MessagePad (I’ve got one of those in a box somewhere) to come close.

Let’s get the low-hanging fruit negatives out of the way first:

1. 1. I wanted something a little smaller. The iPad 1.0 is slightly smaller than a pad of paper. I was hoping for a more portable trade paperback size.
2. To get GPS you have to get the more expensive model ($130 more) (actually AGPS (Assisted GPS) — I hope it works without a data plan! Some AGPS devices apparently require a network connection to work. I’m pretty sure I have a couple apps on my iPhone that use GPS even without a 3G connection.)
3. Not enough details available on how some things work (I went browsing through the iPhone OS 3.2 SDK docs but couldn’t find what I wanted to know. (Is it violating the 3.2 SDK NDA to even admit I have a (legal) copy of it? Hmm..))

Things that have sold me on it — in no special order.

• 3G potential – with no AT&T contract required (Already have that because of the iPhone) – even if I don’t use it.
• iWork
• Support for iPhone apps
• Bluetooth keyboard support
• iBook app supports ePub (Here’s hoping it can read non-Apple/iTunes Store procured eBooks. If Not there’s always Stanza and eReader)
• Grown Up (!!) versions of the standard iPhone apps (email, notepad, calendar, etc.)

I do wonder about the “Camera Kit” – it includes a USB-iPod Dock adapter so you can plug your camera directly into the iPad. Does that mean you can plug in other devices that have USB based storage in the same format? (Wild guess — the only app that can access that “mode” is the one that lets you import photos from the camera.)

{Pause while I watch the recording of the event — MUCH better info than I got from the live-blog I read earlier.}

Magical/Intimate – key words from Steve Jobs about the iPad.

But let me mention THE app demoed today that really sold  me on the potential of the iPad: Brushes (It’s an app for artists). This kind of app pushes the iPad beyond being a media consumer/device into being a device to create with.

It’s not just a mobile web browser.

So, watching a show on one of the History channels. An actual historical discussion of the historical background behind the current belief in the AntiChrist (aka Is the Book of Revelations real?) and prophecy.

(Of course, I say that because it fits my own beliefs about such things. I prefer fact based discussions of religion.)

So… they’ve just gotten to the part where they explain that the current belief in the Anti-Christ is actually based on the ideas of a British traveling preacher from the 19th century that really have no basis in the Christian bible. (Sounds like it’s all just the Christian variety of conspiracy theorists.)

And at that point there’s a 60+ second commercial for some kind of fancy crystal cross for people to buy as a gift – for baptisms, confirmations, etc. and to remind people of their religion.

Sure, that kind of thing happens a lot. Commercials targeting an audience based on the content of a tv show isn’t new. Google does it on the internet even. But when it’s a late night tv show? They almost always seem to get it wrong. The commercials are usually aimed at the people who WOULDN’T watch a show like that. Or who would have changed the channel as soon as they discovered it wasn’t a fanboyish show about their favorite religious topic (As rare as those might be.)

I need to spend some time revamping/revising my list of recommended/favorite fics and fic writers. Not today, but soon.

I was just rereading Mhalachai’s crossover fic Agent Afloat Atlantis (A Stargate Atlantis/NCIS crossover centered around Ziva) — which is only better than my favorite Mhalachai fic Physics of the Spin (Rory Gilmore goes to Atlantis) because it is finished.

And as I was reading it, I tried to figure out why I like it so much and why is her writing so much better than mine?

And I think I figured it out. Her characters (Okay – borrowed characters)  move/float inside of lyrical descriptions of movement and scenery.  (Couldn’t find an example, now that I want one.) The characters in her stories don’t just talk. They live in worlds that have color and movement and sound.

Reading one of her stories? It isn’t reading in the pedestrian sense of slogging through piles of words. It’s reading like listening to the music of the words. Or something like that.