My new iPad 2

OK, my first disclaimer is that I don’t work for Apple, own Apple stock, or know anyone who works for Apple.  I’ve had (and loved) Mac products for several years, but until now I’ve really resisted getting an iPad.  When they first came out, I thought it was the silliest thing I’ve ever heard of and a clear case of a company creating a new thing that nobody needs.

A number of things led to my decision to buy an iPad 2:

1) I can carry all of my work pdfs.  I now have close to 1000 scientific papers that I can carry everywhere I go.  I’ve been traveling a lot lately, and this is very handy.

2) I can have ebooks.  I am reading my first ebook, “Quantum Man”, which is a great new biography of one of my heros, Richard Feynman.

3) I can do presentations using keynote and thus (maybe) do away with carrying my laptop on short trips.  I give a lot of lectures and seminars these days, and this would be very nice if I can get to the point where I really trust doing this.  (I’m sure I will lug my laptop for a few trips until I verify that the iPad version works well…)

4, 5, 6,…) I can listen to all of my music, surf the web, do email, learn Spanish, …

I also wanted to make an iPad case, and it is hard to make a case for something you don’t have.  I came up with a design that I really like.  It is simple, easy to use, light, protective, and it is pretty handy to keep things like receipts and airplane boarding passes during a trip in the flat pocket on the front cover.  I’m now making some slight modifications to make things work just a bit better, and that should be available soon.  Like all of my products, this is done one at a time and is completely hand made.  It takes a long time, and I’m often busy these days.  I definitely won’t be able to make a lot of these, but if there is interest in them I will be able to start offering them.  Just email me for more information (arthur.edison@gmail.com).