iPads and Browsers and more!


The latest tech news besides the release of new versions of both Chrome and Firefox, was Apple's announcement today of their new tablet, the iPad. I know lots of people will make fun of its name by referring to feminine protection devices, but it actually looks like an interesting device at a reasonable price point of just $499 for a 16GB 1.5 pound device with a 9.7" touchpad. It basically looks like an iPod touch on steroids, so it will not fit in your pocket, but will easily slip into a backpack or briefcase to be hauled anywhere. All versions support built-in WiFi and support all iPhone/iTouch apps so it will be usable from day one with a billion applications as well as being a general purpose document viewer, media player and browsing platform. I am not sure why someone would buy a Chome OS netbook instead of an iPad unless it was a whole lot cheaper.

And speaking of Chrome, I have been playing with the new version 4.0 of Chrome and Chromium which includes the new Bookmark syncing and extensions. I tried out the bookmark synching and it works well. allowing me to sync and merge my Chromium bookmarks on my Linux box with my Chrome bookmarks on my XP laptop. Nifty cool. I have not tried adding extensions, though, since I actually prefer to keep my Chrome browser extension free. I thought Firefox would be my loaded browser with all the extensions, but now Chrome can do it too! As for the new Firefox 3.6, it does seem faster, but the main improvements are improved security and the new "Personas". I switched my Firefox between the Ice Age, Star Terk and Groovy Blue Personas which are then saved in your browser and you can switch to and from at any time. Pretty cool looking, but really not so functional. In any case, I enjoy playing around with new browsers!

My last predicament was looking at the Geeks.com $1.99 shipping offer on $50 purchases by using the SAVEGREEN code to see if there was anything worth buying. They seem to be keeping this promotion going for a while and I keep trying to find something worthy of spending some of the university's money. I noticed their cool $4.95 compact flash to IDE adapter is included in the promotion, but the biggest compact flash card they have is an 8GB card for $24. Oh well, it is always fun to shop around, but even cheaper to buy nothing!

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