To say that Gary Arndt is an intrepid traveler would be a massive understatement. Arndt, who runs the Everything Everywhere site, has been traveling the globe for over four years, has visited over 100 countries in that time, and has been documenting his incredible array of experiences in photos and blog posts.

He recently contacted me to let me know he’s been a reader of this site since the iPd launched (yay!) and that he’s done an extensive review of his 12 months of traveling with an iPad, offering his assessment of the iPad as a device to travel with.

It’s a very thorough and well written article. Here are a few of the sections that I found most interesting:

On the iPad and Photography:

I have to confess that the first thing I thought of when I heard the iPad announcement was that it would be a great way to showcase my photos. I was right. The size and the colors make it a great way to share my photos with people I meet while traveling.

As a camera, however, the iPad is horrible. Data from Flickr shows that despite the popularity of the iPad2, hardly anyone uses the back facing camera. Not only is the image quality poor, but holding a tablet in front of your face to take a photo is really awkward. I personally never use the front facing camera either, but I can see I use for it at least with video calls.

Continue reading →

Like many of my generation, I grew up watching BBC shows, particularly comedy shows. I remember laughing really really hard at those classic sitcoms back in the day. Side-splitting laughter. So when I heard the BBC has brought out an iPad app with TV shows available for streaming to a European audience, I did not hesitate for a single second. Download of the free app iPlayer done, I proceeded to look around. Continue reading →

iTunes was updated yesterday, to Version 10.2.2. The update contains a handful of bug fixes – including one for issues with iPad sync. Here’s the list of changes / fixes:

• Addresses an issue where iTunes may become unresponsive when syncing an iPad.
• Resolves an issue which may cause syncing photos with iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to take longer than necessary.
• Fixes a problem where video previews on the iTunes Store may skip while playing.
• Addresses other issues that improve stability and performance.

I hadn’t noticed any sync problems with iTunes, but I don’t sync often. Have any of you experienced the sync issues mentioned above? If so, hopefully this update will resolve those for you.

My big Labrador, Baz, is a pretty smart guy. Like most dogs, he appreciates routine – and gets a little excited when he knows it is time for meals, a good walk or a play session. He has an incredibly accurate body-clock and knows when to start bugging me if I fall a little behind on the dinner schedule.

Over the last week or so, I’ve noticed a new trick in his timekeeping and awareness. Most every morning, I grab my iPad 2 as soon as I’m sort of conscious and go through my email and check out news from various sources – before I ever get up on my feet. Generally when I close the iPad 2 smart cover, it means I’m getting up. Which for Baz means, it’s breakfast time and time for a long walk.

The result is that now whenever Baz hears the click of the iPad 2 going into sleep mode in the morning, he’s on his feet, bouncing around in excited and happy circles, nudging against me with his big schnoz, staring at me intently, and generally letting me know that I better not even think of doing anything else other than getting him some food.

I guess the takeaway from all this either that I’m way too predictable and need to vary up my mornings a little or that Labradors are smarter than iPad smart covers, or a little of both.