My iPad Review
I’ve been lazy with my reviews, so here’s one about a product that has helped me catch up lately! I started back to school for the year in August taking on a 19 credit course load! All I can say is: whoa! How is a mom of three busy children supposed to keep everything organized, work and do great in school? I decided to get technical and try another Apple product.
I picked up a 32gb iPad in September in an attempt to better organize my life, and boy have I given it a workout! I have to start by saying that I previously brought my Aluminum Macbook to school everyday in order to follow along on power points, do assignments and have an easy way to look up the information I was looking for. I love my Macbook, but lets face it, it can be a bit heavy and cumbersome. The iPad may seem like a giant iPhone and many people say it wont replace a laptop, I beg to differ.
The iPad comes with many standard features that you may already be familiar with on your iMac or iPhone including: iCal, Notes, Contacts, Mail and Safari among others. We are also big fans of MobileMe to help keep our calendars organized and contact books synced.
After unboxing and playing around with my new toy, I immediately purchased 3 apps that I knew would come in handy to make the iPad an essential tool for me. Pages, Keynote and Task PRO. Pages allows me to download (or load) my study guides and assignments right to the iPad so I can review and work on the go. Pages does come with a lot of useful templates and I am even able to create newsletters and documents for work by loading my own templates too! Keynote allows me to view Power Point presentations my instructors lecture from, enabling me to follow along easier no matter where I sit. I can pull up the information again at anytime without printing off several dozen pages. Task PRO allows me to keep track of lectures, skills and assignments so I always know what I need to get done. The extra wireless keyboard we had for one of our iMacs works very smoothly with the iPad to make typing even easier. Although, I do find that having to turn off the bluetooth when I’m wanting to use the onscreen keyboard again is a bit frustrating.
With wireless enabled I can study and research anywhere on campus or at home. The iPad fits easily in my purse so I don’t have to worry about forgetting it at home, its always on hand so that I can pull it out to study whenever I have down time without bringing a bulky laptop or piles of papers.
Besides the education and organization aspects of the iPad I’ve also found that its become an awesome tool in other areas of my life as well. With the camera adapter I use the iPad to free up camera space and easily share pictures with others. When I’m ready to load them to my computer it transfers full resolution versions of my photos! I won’t have to tell other photographers how valuable it is to be able to proof photos right on location versus waiting until you’ve gotten back to a home computer. Instead of shoving the latest book I’m reading into my purse, I can purchase it for my iPad and have it with me without having to worry about bent pages or losing my place. The screen is also the perfect size for watching movies. Earlier this month I had to bring 2 of my children to a boring meeting with me. Thinking ahead, I loaded a favorite kids’ movie and plugged in 2 sets of headphones. (jack splitters are invaluable for multi-kid families!) The only noises they made during my meeting was the occasional giggle of glee. The iPad helped get us out of there much faster so we could get to the really fun stuff, like playing at the park!
The bad? I want WiFi printing! hey, awesome that it allows bluetooth printing, but I don’t have a bluetooth printer! Our home network is all wireless with wireless printing, it would be amazing to be able to print my documents without having to sync to my computer. Fortunately, Apple seems to be taking this request seriously and promises to unleash WiFi printing to the ipad in November. Yay! I also with this device had a USB port to allow easier data transfer, but I can live without. Many say the lack of camera is a deal breaker for them, not so much for me. I can’t imagine trying to take a picture with the iPad, it just is not light enough to comfortably do so. Which brings me to weight. Sure, its lighter than a laptop, but it does have some weight to it. You wouldn’t want to hold it out in front of you for long, but I haven’t found that I’m tempted too either. I sit with it either on my lap or table anyways, so it hasn’t been a big deal for me.
Overall it has been well worth the investment! I feel more organized now and don’t worry about missing an assignment or not having my materials with to study. I’m sure I’ll get a lot more use out of it as I continue on as well.
Pixelmator Review
I’ve long been a fan of Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro (the old non-screwed up version, lol) on my PC computers. Two years ago I found the Mac love and made the switch. Unfortunately my PC software was not compatible and I began a search for software that was tailored to the Mac work environment. Of course Photoshop is Mac friendly, but I wanted to see what else was available. This led me to Pixelmator.
Pixelmator is a layer based graphic editor for Macs. I was skeptical at first and I downloaded the demo on 2 different occasions to see how I’d like it and instead left it untouched each time. I was intimidated by the prospect of learning a new setup. Recently I made the leap and purchased the program, knowing that if I just did it I’d be forced to play with it more. Boy am I glad I did! The layout is very similar to Photoshop, so if you can use Photoshop you can use Pixelmator… but I must say I find Pixelmator’s interface more eye appealing.
| First off, being made for a Mac instead of being just Mac friendly, Pixelmator’s interface is pretty slick. I like being able to drag the windows anywhere on my screen without being restricted in any way. The basic brushes and filters that come with are a great start right out of the box, I haven’t had to go search for more yet as the ones that come with have accomplished all my tasks so far. There are just a ton of them! This program is also fast! I found Photoshop a bit slow, but Pixelmator just loads, no waiting!
Pixelmator does have a learning curve and if you are not used to Photoshop or working with a graphics program then I highly recommend trying out a few of the tutorials! I tried these tutorials myself and had a lot of fun creating some desktop wallpapers. Pixelmator has a whole learning section right on the website to help walk you through and get you used to working in this environment. |
Format: Download Developer: Pixelmator System Requirements: Intel or PowerPC, Mac OS X 10.5.7 or later, Core Image supported graphics card Processor Compatibility: Intel or Power PC Price: $59.00 single user |
I’m making these wallpapers available for download, I created these in Pixelmator using the provided tutorials. Try one for yourself! To download Desktop Wallpapers click on the image to open large image and then right click image and select save from the menu.
Web Review: Cultures For Health
Cultures for Health: Where Healthy Food Starts We offer a wide selection of starter cultures for yogurt, sourdough, kombucha, kefir, etc. as well as a range of products to support a whole foods lifestyle. Widest selection available online. One stop shopping for your culturing and fermentation needs!
Julie contacted me requesting a web review of her site. This website owner told me she also has plans to do some work on her site coming up and would love the feedback.
How this works: I will review this website on both technical and artistic properties and give each a “pear rating”. I will also include why the site got the grade it did and what things could be done to improve the site.
See how her site did after the jump Read More…
Can WSM Review Your Website?
I’m always looking for new ways to get my readers involved and I received a suggestion to do reviews. I think this is a great idea! Most blogs do product reviews, but since my readers are looking for web site tips I thought I’d do web reviews instead!
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No, but a link back is always appreciated if you wish to show your thanks!
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