After upgrading my iPhone to iOS4, I did run into a problem with my voicemail.  Attempting to access the Voicemail tab would cause an endless series of Password prompts.  I tried several different passwords I thought it might be, but none of them worked.  In the end, I ended up calling my number, jumping into voicemail, setting a new password, and then entering it on my phone.

It looks like the same thing happened to people last year.  Carl had the same problem on both of their phones.

I noticed this morning that my iPad clock was 15 minutes slow.  I hadn't noticed that before.  I know I last synchronized with my Mac two days ago.  A quick Google search turned up this Apple support thread.

Despite buying the 3G iPad, I haven't yet needed to give AT&T my money, so 3G data was turned off.  I turned it on, and the time quickly reset to the correct time.  I turned data back off, and will keep an eye on it.  My guess is that "Set time automatically" means something different for WiFi only models and 3G models (i.e. the 3G models expect to get the time from the cell network.)  I wish it would pull the time from the GPS satellites.

Of course I'm talking iOS4.  Yes, I'll update, but I'm giving it a day or two.  RunKeeper, which I use, posted that their iOS4 compatible update hasn't been approved yet.  Many other apps I do use have been updated in the past couple of days, especially Evernote.  The only critical app I'm not sure about is eWallet.  Their edition is ancient, and they are silent on their blog.  I tweeted a question to them, so we'll see what they say.

[UPDATE]
I upgraded.  As reported, RunKeeper Free crashes on startup.  I usually only run on the weekend, and I hope their update goes through by then.  No issues with anything else so far.

While eating lunch one day in London, I pulled out the iPad to do a bit of surfing on the restaurants free WiFi.  When the waiter brought my food, he said everyone was "quite jealous" of my iPad.  I said something about only having to wait another week until they would be available in London (28th launch - another Friday).  He said he was waiting for the iPhone 4g, but was concerned that there might not be a UK phone provider ready with a 4g network.  I decided not to correct him.

I know that all the tech sites have reverted to an iPod naming scheme without a better name for the supposed 4th generation iPhone, but I do have to wonder if this misconception is widespread.

If is is what people really think, Apple has a bigger problem with the leak than I previously thought.

I received a shipping notice from Apple this morning for my iPad 3G.  It's shipping FedEx overnight.  Unfortunately, it's only a shipping record at this point, and FedEx can't tell me anything.  I was guessing yesterday that Apple already had these things in a warehouse in California, and would overnight them.

The Apple Store is now reporting that new iPad 3G orders will ship by May 7.  I received the following notice from Apple:
"We would like to confirm that your order will be shipped in late April as communicated at the time you placed your order. You will receive a confirmation notice when your order has shipped."

A lot of iPad talk at last nights Scout committee meeting.  I was the only pre-order at a table full of iPhones.  One guy was going to pre-order until he found out his company was going to evaluate them.  Another said the price was too high (I wonder who paid for his iPhone?)

I'm excited for the people getting theirs tomorrow.  I know that the 3G one is the right choice for me, but the waiting is pretty painful at this point.

I got this email about 8 hours after placing my iPad order.



No AppleCare in Texas?  Hopefully this is only temporary.

I ordered the iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G 64GB, which is item # MC497LL/A.  I added Apple Care, the regular dock, a second power cable, and 2 - 3 day shipping.  $1,081.42 with sales tax.

[UPDATE]
I forgot to mention, there wasn't an option for engraving anything on the back.  I'm a bit bummed about that one.

Way back when, I signed up for the iPhone developer program, downloaded the SDK, read a few articles, never bought an iPhone or iPod Touch, and never actually built anything.

Now with the iPad, I think I'll buy one, and wanted to take a look at the SDK.  Well that's a no go.

Unless you're hiding under a rock, you've probably seen something about Apple's newest device, the iPad.  On the surface, the iPad is essentially a large iPod Touch, or a large iPhone (with only 3G data, no phone.)  But it's really so much more.

I have a long history with tablet devices.  I loved my Tablet PC, until I killed it.  I searched long and hard for a Tablet to replace it, but by then the Windows tablet world was dying.  I know there are still tablet choices out there, but they're really esoteric.  At one point I described my ideal device as
"this is basically to replace the primary usage of my tablet (One Note, email, web surfing, blog reading/posting, light document editing.)  I've come to recognize that if One Note had a full featured Pocket PC version (i.e. with complete ink support), then I would almost be happy with a Pocket PC, although I think I would like a big one that doesn't exist.  I'm thinking something like a 6" or 7" screen, at least 800 x 600.  I still want it to be thin, maybe 1 cm?  8 - 12 hours battery life.  Built-in WiFi.  A fair amount of storage built in (1 GB.)  2 SD card slots, with at least one of them being SD/IO.  USB host support, at least drivers for keyboard, mouse, and storage."

How close did Apple get to my ideal device, as described in August 2006?

no ink support - even though OSX has inkwell, neither the iPad nor the smaller devices have anything ink related.  The onscreen keyboard does look pretty nice.  I tried the iPhone keyboard, and never could get it in 5 minute increments, but everyone I know who has one says they get used to it.

• One Note - I've switched to Evernote for their cross-platform support.  They've already said they will have an iPad version.  In fact, I'm writing this post in Evernote right now.
• email - check
• web surfing - check - although no Flash
• light document editing - slick looking iWork apps.  I guess I now have an excuse to get iWork for the MacBook
• 6" or 7" screen 800 x 600 - bigger - 9.7" 1024 x 768 - I guess we'll need to hold one to understand how big that is
• thin - 0.5" ok that's 1.27 cm
• 1 GB storage - that's just hilarious.  16 GB to 64 GB, but no SD card slots - I am intrigued by the camera connection kit
• keyboard - yes keyboard dock and bluetooth keyboard support, we don't know about mouse

A few more use cases which make it great for me.  Mary has a Kindle.  She loves it.  I've been reading eBooks on my Pocket PC/Windows Mobile devices for close to a decade.  Mostly from Peanut Press, which became Palm Reader, then eReader.  eReader is now owned by Barnes and Noble.  The nook is supposed to read eReader books as well as nook books.  Guess what, and iPhone can read Kindle books, eReader books, and nook books.  I assume an iPad will be able to as well.  Obviously, there's the whole LCD vs. eInk screen issue.  We'll have to see how readable these things are in direct sunlight, but I don't read that much outside anyway.

Battery life - 10 hours with 30 days standby is pretty awesome.  Oh and it charges over USB.  I'll just have charing cables for this thing everywhere.

I'm not sure at this point if I'll want the AT&T data plan.  Yes, it sounds cool.  Yes it would mean I could surf personal sites at work without my employer knowing what I do (nothing work inappropriate, just not necessarily their business.)  It is worth $30 a month.  It's too bad they didn't use a normal sized SIM.  If they had, I could just stick the SIM from my phone in there if I needed to.  I suspect I'll buy the 3G version even if I don't activate it right away.
My biggest gripe is the name.  It seems pretty dumb, and it's much more than a Pad.  Sketch Pad?  Doodle Pad?  Who knows what they were thinking.  Maybe Steve didn't like iTablet or iSlate.  Couldn't they have at least called it an iPadd?  In Star Trek a PADD is a Personal Access Display Device, and is definitely one of the tablet devices which geeks worldwide know and love.  Heck, they even showed Star Trek all over the keynote, and their website.

Now, I just have to wait.