One thing I realized about the iPad WiFi + 3G (as they’re calling the 3G version) is that one could have it as their only computer for a rather low cost. For about $730, you can get the 32GB 3G version, pay $30/month and have access to the Internet everywhere AT&T has coverage (it seems to be able to revert to EDGE if 3G is unavailable). Pay $30 more and you have a full office suite. This satisfies what most people use netbooks for (web browsing and typing documents). It beats paying $800+ for a laptop plus $60+/month for internet (or even the $40+/month for cable/DSL). Albeit, you can’t multitask and you’d probably want the keyboard as well, but the original iPhone retailed at around the same price, and it didn’t even have the App Store.

The iPad isn’t as revolutionary as Apple made it seem. The iPhone was revolutionary. It brought touchscreen phones a huge boost, and when they opened it up for apps it also revolutionized the industry. Suddenly we have a new job title: iPhone developer. They had designed a system that was intuitive, creative, and successful. The iPad uses the same system, only bigger. Sure, the new apps look nice and with the added real estate, you can do more on the screen, but it’s not a revolution in the industry. If you look at old blog posts rumoring this device, it seems that the “giant iPhone” sentiment was taken as a joke. A family friend of mine joked once at an AT&T store, pointing at the giant iPhone display and asking if she could have that exact phone, since she wouldn’t have to worry about losing it. It took them a while to realize she was joking, but it’s not that funny when they actually make the “giant iPhone (or iPod Touch).”

Many think that Apple is holding out on this release of the iPad in order to release a second generation iPad with camera, faster speed, and whatever else people are asking for. One thing they could be waiting for is the development of 4G/LTE. This could be why the rumored Verizon announcement didn’t happen, since they may be waiting for the second generation to do this, or the June “International Edition” could have CDMA iPhones/iPads, with AT&T ‘s exclusive iPhone contract ending around the same time.

My recommendation on this is to wait. While it is still a cool device and can prove quite useful, it still seems crippled and that a refresh, similar to what they did with iPod Touches (where they added a speaker, side volume controls, Nike+, and it seemed to run better), will make it better. Who knows, maybe the iPhone OS 4.0 will bring multithreading to the iPad and solve at least one concern. I’d give the iPad (with 3G option, otherwise it really is just a giant iPod Touch) a 7/10 for being useful and relatively inexpensive for an Apple product, but it has its flaws and shortcomings, and left a lot of people a bit disappointed.

Design has always been my weak point. I could judge a design on its quality, usability, ease of use, etc., but I don’t possess the creative spark to make my own design for a website. This had been a crippling point for me in my quest to remake my website. I didn’t want simple, childish colors I had in the past (red and blue were dominant on my old websites), and I like my school colors (Black and Gold!), but they, too, wouldn’t make too great of a design, at least in my mind. When I attempted to make a stylesheet on a basic website skeleton, I was getting the technical stuff right, but the colors never worked for me. I tabled the project so many times until now, when I sucked in my pride and went with a WordPress blog.

The result is surprisingly smooth. Any holes on the backend user experience I can fill in with my own technical knowledge, so I don’t feel too frustrated, but I don’t feel like I have more “stuff” than I need. I didn’t need a bloated CMS that had 800 plugins built in, with forums (that nobody would use), wikis, member blogs, complex organizational schemes, etc. I had Drupal before, but upgrading it to the latest version was so complicated, it made installing an OS look much simpler in comparison. WordPress even lets me publish articles at a later date, which will come useful as I plan to release articles weekly, on different days depending on the category.

Being able to focus on content, rather than the layout, control, and inner workings, I can focus on the real purpose behind this website: to share information.  I no longer have to worry about reinventing the wheel, I can now use the wheel to carry the information out to the world.