iPad

I was given an iPad at my job.  I never would have bought one on my own.  I am not a fan of apple and I don't have the money to buy one.  However, now that I have one I must say it is handy to have my calendar, email and a web browser to carry around in a light, thin, wifi connected, touchscreen, package.  For reading the text in books a kindle is still much better, but for color PDFs the ipad is better.  I brought it home and the kids disappeared with it and played lots of games.  I like eufloria, osmos, and world of goo.  However, the most amazing thing is star walk.

In star walk you hold the iPad up to the sky at night and look through it.  The stars that appear behind it are connected together into contellations and labeled.  You can click on a star or planet to bring up more information about it or search for a visible satellite like the ISS.  Arrows show you where to point it to and the display updates in real time.  It is like you are looking at the sky through an information window.  We were all standing out in the yard at night searching for new southern constellations that we haven't seen before (this is the furthest south we have ever lived).  The neighbors probably thought we were crazy.  Also, you don't have to only use it at night or outdoors.  You can use it to find where sky objects are inside and/or during the day.

I remember reading about augmented reality years ago in science fiction books like "halting state."  With applications like star walk on an ipad it feels more like we are living in the future.  I am keeping an eye on new applications like "Google Goggles" where you can take a picture of an object and it identifies it for you, tells you where you are, brings up info from barcodes, etc.  You can even take a picture of a sudoku puzzle and it solves it for you. 

After using the ipad for a while I find myself trying to touch the screen to move windows around and activate buttons on my laptop, and briefly wondering why it is not working, instead of using the keyboard. 

Even F got in on the act.  She quickly learned to use the touch screen to scroll and look through pictures.  Here are some pictures of her playing with the iPad.  She had just woke up so her hair is still a bit fuzzy. 

A close look at the screen.