There seems to be a lot of chatter online these days regarding Apple’s intentions for the future of the Mac in light of the meteoric rise of i-devices such as the iPad and the upcoming iPhone 4. Others are discussing the role the iPad might play as a notebook replacement device. I think that both of these topics miss the point that the Mac and the iPad (along with smaller siblings, iPhone and iPod Touch) both fill needs and niches. There are a number of things that I can do on my iPad that I used to do with my Macbook Pro. The ease of access, portability, instant on and off are among some of the conveniences that the iPad fulfills. I recently listened to Dave Hamilton (Mac Observer and Mac Geek Gab Podcast) discuss the use of an iPad at an all day conference and I would agree that it is an awesome device to use when you are moving from keynote to workshop, etc. at a conference. Another writer for The Mac Observer, Ted Landau writes:

These are not one-or-the-other alternatives. There’s room for both.

An analogy that fits well here is the microwave oven. When microwaves first arrived, manufacturers attempted to market them as a complete alternative to the traditional oven. Cookbooks showed how you could cook virtually anything in a microwave — from steaks to cakes. The sell didn’t work. People quickly discovered that microwaves could not do it all — at least not well. Traditional ovens never disappeared. Yet, microwaves became a huge success — because it did many things better than a traditional oven. Today, nearly every home has both a traditional and a microwave oven.

Read the rest of Ted’s article at

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/the_mac_lives/?utm_campaign=shorturl

WINTHROP – It seemed Gibbon Fairfax Winthrop GFW High School students couldnt get enough of the new iPad computers Thursday in Principal Jeff Bertrangs office.One student played the piano with a shortened keyboard on her iPad.Another student read a book on his iPad.Another student listened to Spanish words.Bertrang pointed out how definitions of words could be found on the iPad.The iPad – a wireless, touch screen, tablet-sized computer – was released in early April by Apple Inc.The school district allocated $267,748 to its technology fund to become what is believed to be the first school in the country to have the devices at a cost of $479 each.

(Winthrop is my mom’s high school alma mater!)

via iPads are Apple of GFW’s eye – NUJournal.com | News, Sports, Jobs – The Journal, New Ulm, MN.

iTeleport works from both my iPhone and iPad, but I admit that using my iPhone sounds like it would be a less than satisfactory experience based on the size of the screen, especially in working with my desktop computer which uses multiple monitors. The iPad however is a perfect screen size for managing all of the computers in our household. This is particularly helpful when I am in one part of the house and my wife or kids are having a computer problem that needs my assistance and they are somewhere else in the house. In addition, it helps me initiate applications and manage files on both of my computers directly from my iPad.

Not much visible difference in Snow Leopard, but things do seem a little snappier.

I had some trouble with the caching of the photos from the Mac’s library to the iPhone. Simplify Media released an update today which seems to have corrected (my problems at least) and I was finally able to see my photos remotely.

Facebook will be releasing version 3.0 of their iPhone application soon so I am excited to see what video posting features that app will have.

What is iCal Day you ask?

The icon for the Mac application iCal is a depiction of a little desk calendar, set to July 17th, which happens to be the date when iCal was first introduced to the world at Macworld Expo in New York City in 2002, by Steve Jobs.

When iCal is launched, its icon in the Dock automatically changes to display the current date. So July 17th celebrates the only day of the year where iCal’s icon doesnt have to update. It displays the correct date even when the application is closed. As far as I can tell, the first one to recognize this marvelous day was Steven Frank, who refers to it as iCal Synchronicity Day.

via Celebrate iCal Day with your own iCal Day hat!.

Chances are youve already heard about the iPhone 3G S and some of its cool new features and same goes for the iPhone OS 3.0 and its cool new features. What you might not have thought about, however, are the apps which many developers have slaved over for weeks that were entirely rendered obsolete by the new features the iPhone will include. Read on for a list of 15 apps whose days are coming to an end.

via 15 Apps Rendered Obsolete By The New iPhone 3GS : iSmashPhone.