I picked up an iPad when they first shipped in the UK at the end of May. Here's some random observations after three months of use.

1. It's no match for a desktop or laptop for continuous desk use. I hardly never use it when I'm at my desk.
2. Since I got it, my previous out-and-about device; my 15" MacBook Pro, has turned into a desktop. It never leaves the house and having an iPad will probably considerably extend the time before I replace the MacBook. The iPad is small enough to go pretty much anywhere and last for hours which is a big plus.
3. Every time I visit the App Store I'm disappointed by the same old apps always being in the featured section. Like for months. Doesn't feel like there's a massive amount of iPad app coding going on.
4. Screen smudges and smearing is a real niggle. I have invested in several strategically placed microfibre cloths around the house, in my case and in the car. I hate using it in smear mode, particularly in bright surroundings.
5. The Apple case is shit. Functional, but too 1990's in design. Get a Dodocase.
6. I'm being ground down by Update fatigue. This doesn't only apply to the iPad, obviously, but literally every day (sometimes multiple times a day) my App Store icon shows a little red badge number indicating one or more of my apps has an update waiting. This is a bigger topic which deserves its own post. And it's my fault for having so many apps, but it's growing tiresome. They should have a weekly update day, or something.
7. Apple's spreadsheet app, Numbers, is pretty shit. Just an elaborate viewer all told.
8. It's a pain that you can't sync AND charge it with USB (on my 2006 Mac Pro anyway). I now have an extra white cable on my desk.
9. It's cool that iPhone apps scale up to run on it, but it really is a compromise. Before long you get narked at the pixelation.
10. It isn't the second coming of Christ, but for a first go it's closer than any other device to earning that description.

Nice to see Tony Blair's memoirs released on both paper and digital form on the same day. It's a shame that expressing admiration for Blair always feels like it ought to be accompanied by a liability disclaimer or apology, but I always admired him in a paternalistic, almost fatherly way. With Blair it felt like we had a real, ballsy leader.

I'm professionally curious to see how the Foursquare vs. Facebook Places thing plays out from a PR perspective, so over the weekend I decided to run an article search on Techmeme to get some opening mention counts. I then quickly decided to open that up to include other tech brands for the hell of it - it's quick to note down 50 search results in a spreadsheet. I ran each search term for Summary, a mention in title and first few words of the article, and Full which captures mentions anywhere in a news article.

I will try to remember to re-run these numbers weekly or monthly and see what changes. These are also top of mind, might be missing some interesting names worth tracking.

Mentions (All)

Mentions - Location Services

...I believe that Facebook represents the high water mark of social networking, as we understand it today, a time dominated by social networking applications, as if our social interaction is something best managed in a single enormous database, whose rows and tables are designed by a small group of developers in one company. Facebook is the new AOL.