Walt's Corner

It seems that everyone is up in arms about Apple’s decision to do away with the orientation lock on the iPad. I’ll agree that having that lock available as a physical switch has been pretty handy.

Initially, this switch was to be a mute switch just as the iPhones and iPod touches have them are designed. Somewhere along the line that was changed. iPhones and iPods are running iOS 4 now, and that capability is only a double tap and a swipe away. Since iPads only have iOS 3.2, it only made sense to give iPad users the orientation lock within easy grasp, given the less app-switching capabilities.

Now that iPad is about to catch up with its smaller siblings in regards to the iOS, it only makes sense to me that that we gain our mute switch back. My iPad follows me to bed at night; tucked within its case, plugged in, and iPhone resting on top of it (plugged in as well and ready to wake me up in the morning as my alarm). Sometimes I forget to silence the iPad. If only it were as simple as muting my iPhone – that is lean over and slide a switch. But alas, I can’t. I have to first pick up the iPhone, move it over, open the iPad cover, hit the home button, swipe to unlock, and then press and hold the volume switch, put everything back.

In sum, I’m looking forward to gaining my mute switch back. Should Apple include an option to select how I want that switch to act? It would be nice, I admit. But in the long run, it doesn’t really mean that much to me. I could take it or leave it – either direction. I also admit that either way it goes whether it’s a mute or a lock, whatever it’s NOT still won’t put me in that much of a bind. It’s definitely not worth the trouble this news seems to be generating.

I ordered the Acase iPad Case off Amazon’s Best Deals page over the weekend. Prime Shipping and no taxes pulled $25.95 out of my account. List price goes for around $79.

My first impression of this case is that it is solidly built and very attractive. It look and feels every bit of $79. Unfortunately, those same reasons are why I prefer the little Apple branded folio. This thing is huge. With my iPad in there, it becomes the thickness of over 3 iPads stacked on top of each other.

The description “Interior suede lining for scratch protection” was a bit misleading. Only half the interior is suede lined, and that would be the back half of the iPad. There were no pictures of the folio in an open configuration where one could see the suede. Granted, that’s probably the most scratch susceptible portion of the iPad, but I was really looking forward to the entire lining being suede. Having a suede lining covering your screen is probably more troublesome anyhow. I can imagine the oils from the screen becoming embedded in that lining from the frequent contact, forever marring your freshly cleaned display.

My biggest complaint about this case deals with the cover. When you open it, it has 4 protruding rectangular bumps on each end – top and bottom. I’m not sure what the purpose of these are but I’ll tell you what they do. They make the cover sag in the middle when closed, and I don’t like the way that looks at all.

All controls, the docking port, and speakers are not obstructed in any way. There is a button closure, and a Moleskine-esq strap on the back that I’m guessing is to put your hand through for added support while reading or extended viewing. That extra support will be needed because the folio itself will add 12 ounces to the weight of your iPad – that’s more than half the weight of the iPad alone. I’m sure this folio will provide outstanding protection while garnering many compliments, but for myself, I prefer the ugly old Apple branded folio. When more protection is needed, I’ll proudly slip my iPad into this folio.

So the good General is retiring and the latest news from CNN is that he gets to keep his 4th General Star because the President said he could. But what does this really mean? Let me state right off the bat that all this information is publicly available. No big deal.

All the information:

Who is the General? (Wikipedia)

What is the salary of a specific rank or grade? (will download a PDF)

How is military retired pay calculated? (about.com article)

Did you know that Generals, in general (no pun intended) get paid less than what they would get if they were to retire? For the purpose of this post, I’m taking the liberty of dropping the cents. According to the military pay tables, the General’s (grade of O-10) base pay is listed at $17,785. But read the small print at the bottom to find out that the actual amount he can receive is currently capped at $14,975, and that’s just base pay. On top of the base pay, an additional $223 for subsistence (food) is awarded. I’m sure there are other specialty pays for the expenses that come with the current job, but these monies in effect get applied to expenses that would not have otherwise been incurred, so I’ll just disregard those. I hear you asking a question, “Why list a higher base pay if you’re just going to cap it?” Because there has to be some motivation to hang around for retirement! After all, retirement is not based on the capped pay, but the actual base pay. Retired pay is not capped.

So how is the General’s retired pay calculated? The General has over 34 years of service, I’ll just say 34 years and we’ll know that’s low-balling it. 34 years of active duty service will net the General 85% (a formula calculates 50% for 20 years of service with an additional 2.5% per year, prorated down to the month, and added to the 50%) of what his final base pay happens to be during his final month of active duty. We’ve already determined that to be $17,785, so that puts his retired pay at $15,117 per month or $181,000 annually. Now that’s a fat check!

So what’s the deal in the CNN article talking about the President letting him keep his 4th star? Nothing, really. Other than the pride that accompanies getting to say you were a 4-Star General and a war hero. It doesn’t have anything to do with the retired pay, since we’ve already established that retired pay is based off of whatever his last active duty base pay was, and that can’t be changed. After all, whether the General has 3, 4, or no stars, a $1.29 will still get him a cup of coffee at Denny’s. So the General is not really being hurt in any real sense of the word. He’s going to go ahead and retire and earn more disposable pay in the process while doing (relatively) infinitely less. And you know he’s probably going to go out there and get another lucrative job in the meantime.

Today I kept track of my data usage while on 3G using what I would refer to as minimal internet usage. The day began with 15 MB already used and my  battery level was at 61%.

I deleted 7 messages in Mail (MobileMe, push), then clicked link on email from Apple to check the status of my Apple iPad Case via FedEx. It’s in Hong Kong, from China.

Lunch time: checked usage. Browsed tv guide (iPad version) for tonight’s episodes of Lost and V. Checked weather with WeatherBug (no video). Checked RSS feeds with NewsRack (33 feeds, 2 new articles). Checked Amazon’s Deals section on Amazon’s iPad app. Browsed my bank website through 1Password. Browsed the USA Today app and read a couple articles (did not look at the day in pictures).

During the day Mail had downloaded 10 messages, 2 of which contained attachments less than 50kb in size.

Back home under the umbrella of my airport Extreme, I switched off 3G and checked my usage – 26MB. Battery is at 43%

Using what I would call minimal usage, I still managed to eat through 11MB of data. I can’t imagine what I would do under regular usage. I guess the Prez of AT&T was correct in stating that us users really have no idea how much data we are really using.

My iPad arrived yesterday at 1:34 PM. Unusually early for a new Apple device to arrive at my door. Past experience has shown me that if Fedex claims I’ll have my item by 3, I’ll get it by the end of the night, if at all. Once, the item didn’t arrive on said delivery day. My solution was to go to CompUSA and buy the product. The following Monday when the item was delivered, I simply rejected it.

I am very impressed with everything. I played with it all day and most of the night, and still had over 50% battery life available. It is very fast. Just about as fast as the equivalent task on my 27 inch iMac. Safari rips through web pages. Every sweep of the screen, opening and closing of applications happens instantaneously before your eyes. I’m currently writing this on my iPad in WordPress utilizing my Apple Wireless Keyboard. There is no lag between hitting a key and seeing its character appear on the iPad’s screen.

Most applications I have downloaded for the iPad are first rate, except for this WordPress app. They should have left it in the oven for an hour or two more. Hopefully, they’ll get it straightened out soon. I had some serious issues with copy and pasting into WordPress. I was only able to get it to paste once. Right now I’m having an issue with the built-in spell check. WordPress tells me that the word is misspelled, and when I select the correct suggestion nothing happens. There also appears to be no way to enter a tag or category. The fields are there, but claim there are none and refuses to let me input one. I’ll have to look into that more after I finish writing this. (Update: they eventually let me input a new tag, and my categories eventually showed up)

I had already bought my major applications (Pages, Keynote, Numbers) and they were transferred during my initial sync. I received this notification that Activation was in progress and that it might take awhile. After the sync the message persisted, but was able to be dismissed and the iPad was ready for use.

I was excited to see that a couple of my iPhone apps are ready for the big screen: Amazon, IMDb. I was disappointed that a couple of my apps were not ready, mainly Apple apps: iDisk and Gallery. Other apps were ready, but had to be downloaded because they are considered new apps altogether (I’m looking at you, AIM, Twitterrific, and The Weather Channel Max). AIM has a pretty decent app. It might be more useful in the future when they are able to pull off some multi-tasking, but as it stands now, you can’t chat with anyone while doing something else. That is what my iPhone is for, right? It’s my constant “chat window” sitting next to my iPad.

Selecting my 3G data plan was pretty painless. It’s not really an “app” that’s built into the iPad, but rather a browser window of sorts opens up and gives you the options and you have to click your way through the plan. You have to create a login/password account, and that’s what you have to enter every time you want to see your account details, like how much data you’ve consumed. I found that even though I was connected to my Airport Extreme the whole time, iPad still found a way to register a MB of data. If you really want to turn off the cellular traffic flow, I suggest you put the iPad in airplane mode, then turn your wi-fi on. I purchased the $15 plan just to see how much I will use. Hopefully, I can get away with that plan for a month. If so, I’ll go ahead and probably just let it automatically renew itself.

The iPad folio cover was pre-ordered with the iPad, but is backordered and scheduled to ship next week. A quick search on Best Buy tells me it’s also out of stock at my local store. Someone is selling one on Amazon for $90. I’ll pass on that deal, seeing it retails from Apple at $40.