iPad is in the House!

WARNING: This post may be a little on the geeky side. I've done tech for the last 30 years, and am told I no longer know how to not use geek-speak, so bear with me, and Google the TLAs and FLAs for more in depth understanding.

As you already may know, Misti got an iPhone for Christmas, and I've been very impressed with how much it has become part of her every day life. She uses it as much or more than I use my Blackberry Bold. I have been very impressed with the app selection (particularly all the FREE ones) and Apple support (although getting the WiFi to work consistently has been an ongoing problem). 3G connectivity has been working fine, and she has an unlimited plan, so hasn't missed the WiFi much. I got an iPod Nano as my 5 yr commemoration gift with Akamai, so I have also tasted of at least some of the cool iPod content. I really like the Nike+ pedometer app as well.

KK got her new iPad WiFi/3G today. We installed the iTunes update, synced the iPad, and were off and running. We activated the 3G unlimited data access plan with ATT with amazing simplicity. The smoothest device activation on a cellular data plan I have ever seen! Then of course we HAD to do the obligatory speedtest.net visit. Turns out "they have a App for that" I think we may end up saying that quite a bit. With WiFi on, using our Comcast 12 Mbps broadband and a Netgear N router, we clocked 8531 kpbs D/L and 2456 kbps U/L. With ATT 3G, we clocked 1772 kbps D/L, and 355 kbps U/L. That's at least twice as fast as the speeds I got (from same location) with my Sprint 3G USB (Novatel) on the laptop - go ATT! No wonder Misti isn't worried about fixing the intermittent WiFi problem.

Kristi's excitement grew the more she explored. She loaded the iBooks app, and looked at the movies available for rent or purchase on iTunes. Then we decided to try the Netflix site. We have been able to watch Netflix (powered by Akamai now ;-)) on just about every computing device in the house (Wii, laptops, desktops, iPhone, and the Theatre+ HD from Seagate that my brother Bryan helped us get with his employee discount last Christmas), so we went to the site and tried it. Up pops guess what, yep, another App. So we downloaded the Netflix app, and were able to immediately stream an season 4 episode of Bones, and also tested a movie (Julie and Julia). Playback was smooth and flawless, with NO buffering. Website browsing was also lightning fast as we tried gmail, facebook, etc.

All was going just peachy, until she tried Google Docs. The read-only nature of her book on gdocs was a disquieting and tearful event. Apparently, the mobile browser "Safari" that ships with the iPad does not support a key HTML attribute "contentEditable" which Google Docs uses:

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Docs/thread?tid=621ad46f8aa70336&hl=en

http://developer.apple.com/safari/library/technotes/tn2010/tn2262/index.html#SAFARI_ON_IPAD_READINESS_CHECKLIST-6__USE_TEXTAREAS_INSTEAD_OF_CONTENTEDITABLE_ELEMENTS

This setback took a lot of wind out of her sails, as one of the key reasons she got the iPad was to be able to use Google Docs on her writing for her upcoming novel "Eye". I did some quick research on the subject (I too was very surprised that this did not work already, and found the limitation noted in the Apple Developer notes, and several blogs. Luckily, I found references to an App in iTunes store called "Office2 Pro" that looks like it may do the trick, but only time will tell. Sounds a little buggy at present.

All in all, the device is very sleek, and will work very well for consuming media in many formats, and may eventually be a laptop killer when the office productivity apps are ready for prime time.

Now then, what does all this have to do with the theme of this blog? Well, there's an App for that! Actually, several. My favorite is the "LDS Music" app, which allow you to have the hymns and primary children song book (words and music and graphics) with you on the iPad. Having the free www.lds.org internet version of the scriptures is pretty awesome too. Imaging being able to fully prepare a lesson for sunday school, priesthood, or primary from any location or at any time, including the online reference to all Ensign, New Era, Friend, and other gospel library resourses. Imaging being able to show the latest lds.org videos at church from your iPad hooked to a library TV. Any where access to www.mormonsmadesimple.com is pretty good for missionary work as well, to explain the LDS church in a non-threatening third party perspective with simple illustrations/animations in a video format. radio.lds.org is also highly recommended!

Podcasts on a variety of interesting LDS subjects are available as well. My favorite so far is the History of the Hymns.

I'll be trading up from my Blackberry to an iPhone very soon now. We will save $15 a month on the difference on the data access plans from ATT (as if that were the only incentive). Blackberry's App Store is growing, but will have a long way to go to equal what I have seen on the Apple App store.

To my mother, and the mother of my children - Happy Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day, and I want to take the opportunity to thank my mother and my wife and the mother of my children for all they have done, are now doing, and will do to help me and the children live a better life. Its amazing to me the influence a mother has over her family. This year, my wife Misti has gotten serious about improving her health, and by extension, the whole family has benefited tremendously. I have had some pretty crazy diet ideas in the past (Dr. Atkins, South Beach, etc. that I never really felt were following the Word-of-Wisdom counsel to eat meat sparingly. But, as my last post explains, the Culprit and the Cure, Food, Inc. (the DVD), and most recently, a book specifically about the Word of Wisdom have helped me realize my mistakes and set a new course (much less meat and dairy and fat, much more whole grains, fruit and vegetables). Weight loss is naturally following, and I have lost 27 pounds so far. Misti has lost even more with less to loose. She is rigid about counting her daily calories and is much better at it that I think I ever was when doing the LA Weight Loss program. I am very thankful for her good example and support in fixing low calorie low fat meals for the family. I think we are eating now very similar to what I remember my mom doing when I was a kid. Lots of home made whole wheat bread, granola, skim or soy mild, etc. We haven't quite gotten to making our own sprouts, or downing shots of wheat grass juice, but we are making progress. Happy Mother's Day to both of the mothers in my life.

This also happens to be the first day we or any one else has attended the newly reorganized Hazel Dell ward. Last Sunday at Stake Conference, the Stake Presidency announced that the ward boundary lines in most of the wards in the stake were being redrawn to more evenly distribute the membership and help the stake grow. During that meeting, we found out that our home address was now on the boundary line, with our house falling within the Hazel Dell ward, instead of the 1st Ward. Several other families from the old first ward were also impacted, including a major portion of the choir members, so now Hazel Dell ward will have a strong choir member base (when it gets re-organized). Because of the change, the primary had not yet had a chance to practice together for a Mother's Day number, so for the first time I can remember, the primary did not sing to their mothers. Misti was a little sad about this. Brother Miles had prepared a treat for the mother's and gave them all (including all females 18 and older) a package with candy bars in it (diet sabotage - don't know if Misti is going to eat hers or not). She said she would have rather had flowers or a plant this year.

The Hazel Dell Ward Bishopric was also reorganized, with the old bishopric members release, and the new ones sustains and set apart following Stake Conference. All previous ward callings were released, so there is much reorganization going on currently. Today, a new financial clerk was sustained for the new bishopric, and I was sustained and set apart as the Elders Quorum Secretary in the new Elders Quorum Presidency, with President Mark Brogan, Corey Johnson 1st Counselor, and 2nd Counselor still to be named.

Our corn is all planted at the Stake Center Garden, and we have some of the backyard planting, but still have a fair bit to till. Elms just got their tiller back from the shop, so we need to arrange with Trent before the elementary school plant order comes in.

We found out today that Johnny's cub scout camp in the Hazel Dell ward is right in the middle of our planned family vacation. We are checking into if he can still attend with 1st ward.

Kristi and Traci will now be attending the Clark Ward (YSA). Looks like a good plan for them, there are very few YSA in Hazel Dell ward.

I've tried to call my mother several times today, but each time, the phone is busy. Guess they don't have call waiting. I'll keep trying.